Page 72 of He Loves Me, He Loves Me Not

Kevin pulls a business card from his wallet. ‘Drop the deposit here by the end of the day, and I’ll have the paperwork drawn up while I wait. No keys until the last payment is made. I won’t be ripped off. You fuck around; you lose fifty big ones.’

‘Understood,’ I say, my heart racing in my chest. ‘I’ll head to the bank right now.’

‘Let’s go.’ He herds the three of us towards the door. ‘I got other places to be.’

Before he exits, he reaches behind the brown paper and yanks down the for-sale sign. Holy shit, we did it. I know it’s not a done dealexactly, but we’re way closer than we were.

The three of us watch as Kevin disappears around the end of the block before all breaking into laughter.

‘You freaking goofballs,’ I say. ‘I almost had multiple heart attacks back there. When did you two come up with this?’

‘After the Altman wedding. We did some roleplaying, and it just came to us.’

‘Gross.’ I direct that at Jake, who’s still doing the talking.

‘We got you a shop!’ he says, lifting a hand for a high five. It takes me a minute, but I high five him like the dorks we are.

‘Looks like you owe me.Again,’ Brynn says.

Jake peels the mustache off his upper lip and presses it to the center of my T-shirt.

‘Top-notch cover, by the way.’ I motion a chef’s kiss. ‘I hardly knew it was you.’

He bows dramatically. ‘My mom always said I could have been an actor.’

‘She might have lied to you.’ I laugh. ‘Brynn, though, you went the distance, and I’m thoroughly disgusted by what I’ve witnessed. I’m going to need to go home and scrub my eyeballs. Excellent investigative work on a guy you went to school with nearly twenty years ago.’

She laughs. ‘Oh, honey. You act like this was my first investigation. Not even close.’

I should have known. I don’t even care what she had to do. Their doing this was huge and I’m not sure how I’ll ever pay them back.

18

HOLLYN

Friday Night – At Dax’s Apartment…

I’m sorry, Hols. We’ll talk. I’m just not ready yet. -V

She’snot ready yet? I stare at the text. I freaking knew it. Maybe she hasn’t said the actual words ‘I stole your boyfriend’, but I know it was her. She’s waited weeks to send this text.

‘Everything OK?’ Dax knocks at the bedroom door again.

We were supposed to leave ten minutes ago, and here I am, still half-dressed and now preoccupied with a text I never thought I’d get. I don’t care that she’s stolen my boyfriend. Day by day, I think about him less and less. But she and I were friends, or so I thought. The least she can do is be honest with me.

I click out of the text. ‘Yeah,’ I lie, standing in my bra and panties in front of suitcases on the floor piled high with every piece of clothing I own.

‘The show’s gonna start without us if you don’t hurry up, Hols.’

‘I know, Dax. I’m almost ready.’

I want to tell Victoria off. But if I piss her off, I probably piss off Tristan even more than he already is, and then I’ve got no leverage to get my money back. If I stay on her good side, maybe I can somehow sweet talk her into convincing him to do the right thing. I won’t hold my breath, but if there’s even a hint of possibility to do this without involving my parents, I have to at least try. They’re disappointed in me enough.

‘You sure you’re OK?’ Dax yells through the door again.

‘Yes!’ I grab a dress from a suitcase and slip it over my shoulders. Shoes, shoes, I need shoes. I step into a pair of hot pink strappy heels, lacing them around my ankles twice. One final check in the mirror to make sure I don’t look like a troll in heels, and I open the bedroom door to Dax.

He steps back, his eyes moving over me slowly. ‘Wow.’ He shakes his head as if he can’t believe it. ‘You look gorgeous,’ he says, a shy grin on his face. ‘I suddenly feel underdressed.’

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