Page 47 of Bad At Love

“You’re a lioness when yours are threatened,” DP said, as she sank back into his arms.

“Yes, well. That guy’s a piece of work.”

“Did you see his face when Mona was reading it? I think it hurt him more.”

“Only you could find something nice to say about him, DP.”

One finger drew down her bare arm, and he gathered her impossibly closer. “It gets me hot to see you all worked up over a friend like that.”

“Yeah?” she said, disbelief in her words. “Usually, I’m told to calm down at this point. That it’s not a big fucking deal.”

“That’s never going to be me. Remember when that nasty ass kid bullied Kaasi in tenth grade?”

“OMG, how could I forget? You told his parents that you’ll get a job as a security guard in the school if that’s what it took to keep Kaasi safe.”

“Right after you told them you would curse their dynasty to rot and die.”

They laughed and Chaaru almost missed the next letter. Kash read it out loud, smiling the entire time. Clearly, it was Dom’s homage for Mona.

“Magnificent,” Kash re-read it, dragging Mona to her feet and pointing toward her as if she were an auctioneer showing off the prized item. “One-of-a-kind, Naughty All Night.”

The rest of them stared in awe as Dom stood up and stared at Mona with stars in his eyes. “Twenty-five years in, you’re still a present I’m unwrapping, darling.”

Mona gasped, pressed her fingers to her eyes, whispering she couldn’t cry. Grabbing the mic, she declared her letter the best because, as everyone knew, Dom was a man of few words.

When a staff member brought colorful cocktails, they all grabbed one and toasted the anniversary couple.

Grabbing her around the waist, Dom dipped Mona in a move worthy of Dirty Dancing and kissed the hell out of her. Applause and cheers and wolf whistles surrounded them. Warm tingles broke out across Chaaru’s skin at the sheer happiness painted over her best friend’s features.

And this time, that inner voice that always warned her whispered instead that she too had a chance at that kind of love. She’d learned the hard way that the world would grind you down if you didn’t belong to yourself first.

Now, all these years later, with DP, she knew herself well enough to know that she wanted to belong to him too.

18

“My turn to read one,” Minty said, grabbing a paper that wasn’t just folded but tacked on with a copper paper clip that glinted like a jewel in the moonlight. As if the person writing it had taken extreme care with it.

With…his words and the object of his desire.

Minty unfolded the note with utmost care, taking thirty seconds where she needed only three. “Phew…we’ve got a romantic here, lovelies,” she said, skimming down the note. “A real unicorn among men, if I can say that.”

Everyone cheered.

Chaaru’s nape prickled, her skin feeling too tight around her buzzing body. After what felt like an eternity to her quickening heartbeats, Minty lifted the mic to her mouth, cleared her throat loudly. “It’s a poem.

In a dim-lit bar,two souls did meet,

One waiting for love, one with a heart to greet.

Unaware their destinies entwined in this gloam,

They sparked a debate in the cover of the foam.

An argument sparked, passions set alight,

Over cricket’s finest, they debated the night.

With every fiery word and spirited jest,

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