Page 45 of Carved in Ice (Made of Steel 3)

I swallowed hard. Fiancé? Was that what he was referring to me as? My insides felt like they flipped over. I liked the sound of that. We had talked about getting married after all this. “Good. I’m glad you’re allowed to be with him still.”

She didn’t respond.

“Liza, are you still there?” The reception was terrible in Eli’s bedroom. Much worse than it was in my room.

“Yes.” She sounded annoyed now, like she usually did when talking to me.

Had I missed something? “Is everything okay?”

“No, everything’s not okay! How could you not tell me that you two are engaged? You’re my best friend.”

Her words hung in the air awkwardly. Best friend? I thought she hated me. “Eli and I aren’t engaged… he didn’t like get down on one knee or anything like that. There’s no ring on my finger.” I shook my head. Not that a ring mattered to me. I didn’t need anything like that.

“But you talked about it.” She sounded so accusatory. Like I had killed her puppy or something awful.

“Yeah, we talked about it.”

“Well, he’s on a lot of painkillers but clearly he thinks it’s a done deal. You should have told me right after it happened.”

“I would have if I thought it was official. You’d be the first person I’d tell.”

“Really?”

“Of course.” Who the hell else would I tell? I wasn’t allowed to leave the apartment. I wasn’t allowed to see Kins or…anyone else. Miles had popped into my head, but I dismissed the thought of him. Why would I tell Miles anything? He was the freaking worst.

“I hope you know how much I value our friendship,” Liza said.

I did now. And the fact that Liza didn’t hate me made me smile through my splitting headache. “I do. We should do a girls' night soon,” I said, knowing she wouldn’t take me up on it. Despite what she said, Liza did not like being around me. She preferred hanging all over V. I eyed the door. I needed to get out of this apartment.

“Um…yes! How about tonight?”

Huh? “How about what tonight?”

“Our girls' night, of course. We should make it a weekly thing. Saturday’s are probably better, but it can be Sunday just this once.”

What the hell had I just done? “Liza, you should probably stay with Eli. He needs you.”

“Why? He’s not my fiancé. I’ll be home tonight for dinner. I’ll get takeout. This is going to be so much fun!”

“Okay, but how is Eli doing?” I stepped to a different spot in the room to try to get better reception. It sounded like my call got dropped. “Liza?” The call had definitely ended. She hung up on me! I still had so many questions for her. Was Eli feeling better? Was he going to be arrested? Would it be safe for me to go to him soon?

I sighed and sat down on the edge of Eli’s bed. I didn’t want to have a girls' night with Liza. All I wanted was to be snuggled up to Eli.

I stared at the door to his room. Not believing that V was Don would be nice too. And my headache vanishing. And Don being behind bars. Or dead. Really I wanted a lot of things to change.

Ow. I massaged my forehead with my fingers. If girls' night involved drinking I was going to have to pass. I should have listened to V and drank some water last night. I hated that he had been right.

But maybe tonight wouldn’t be a total loss. If there was one person who was as eager as me to figure out who V was, it was Liza. Tonight could be more of an investigation instead of being filled with pointless gossip. Besides, two seconds after spending time with me and Liza would remember that we weren’t friends. We were acquaintances at best. Who lived together. And ate most meals together. And… my train of thought stopped. When the hell did Liza become my best friend?

Chapter 21

Sunday

“I’m so excited,” Liza said and set down the Chinese takeout containers on the coffee table. “I just need to go change real quick.” But instead of leaving, she just stared at me.

“What?” I lifted up one of the containers. “Thanks for bringing the food.” It came out as more of a question than a statement because she was making me feel uncomfortable under her scrutinizing gaze. “I’m excited too,” I added. What did she want me to say?

“Aren’t you going to change too?”

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