Page 53 of Resist
Phoenix’s face shifts, her beautifully high cheekbones fall with the downturn of her lips. “Must be bad.” She reaches a hand across to the steering wheel. “Are you pregnant?”
Fucking hell, she’s serious.
“It’s been less than a week, Foxy. I’m good, but I’m not that good. And even the superest of super sperm doesn’t work that fast.”
Her jaw drops. “It really has been that long since you got laid? Fucking hell. I’d die.” She shakes her head and gestures for me to get on the road. “Pull into a drive thru. I need a coffee.”
I snicker. “Like I’d show up this early without bean juice.” I hand her the extra-large coffee from the cup holder.
“How was dinner last night?” She pops the lid off—like Dad used to when he didn’t want to burn himself on the too-hot liquid inside—and takes a few glugs of caffeine nectar.
Well, I swore everyone at the table to absolute silence until I tell you and Maddie that Sterling proposed, and I’m getting married.
“Fine.”
Her head snaps to me.
“It was good. Great. The pasta was fucking delicious. It was kind of awkward. The others are established dynamics and relationships, you know? I’ve known Sterling a week. It was nice to be included, but I wasn’t sure I belonged in a room where they all know each other so well, you know? And Paige is... kind of terrifying.”
She nods. “I thought you may feel like an outsider. You just need to spend more time with them. They’re good people. Trust me. I wouldn’t let him near your pussy if I didn’t think he had the potential to be worthy.”
“You know my vagina isn’t a mythical hammer from a Marvel movie, right?” I laugh, but more because her head is going to explode when I tell her just how close to me Sterling’s about to get. Before I left my apartment this morning, I sent an email to my personal lawyer to draw up a prenup. How is this my life?
“I know. It’ll take time. Or at least it’ll take time for me to let them in. They seemed more than fine letting me in. And Matty even asked me to play a game of Mario Kart with him before I left. He’s such a sweetheart.”
She nods. “He’s a great kid. Adi’s doing such a good job being his bonus mom.”
We make small talk, drink coffee, eat breakfast burritos from the Sonic drive thru, sing at the top of our lungs, and four and a half hours later, we pull up outside Madeline’s house in Cedar Rapids.
Could this have been a group call on video chat? Sure. But that’s not really how the three of us roll, and telling my best friends I’m getting married isn’t exactly something I want to do via a screen. They’re worth the nine-hour round trip drive. I also may be stalling a little, I’ll take every extra minute delay I can buy myself.
We barely get a foot out of the car before she flings open the front door and screeches at the top of her lungs. Tears spill down her face as she launches herself at both of us, and we group hug for longer than is probably deemed “normal.” We make it all-the-way weird.
She ushers us in from the street before the neighbors complain, and before our asses hit the chairs in her dining room, she’s got mugs filled with fresh coffee in each of our hands.
“Someone start talking.” She levels us with a tearful stare that’s not as mean-mugging as she probably thinks it is.
“Maybe we simply wanted to come and see our friend.”
Phoenix’s head snaps to me at the same moment Maddie snorts. “Riiiiight. That’s bound to be it.” She sips her coffee, scalds her mouth, and swears for a good ten seconds before she turns her attention back to me but I don’t look her in the eye.
“What gives?” She asks Foxy.
In my periphery, Phoenix shrugs. “Don’t ask me. This was all Coco.”
My face burns as the weight of my best friend’s stares lie heavy on my skin. “I’m getting married.” I stare hard at the coffee in my mug on the table, then I pick up both their cups as a precautionary measure, because an outburst is going to happen. I’m not sure which one is going to erupt, but someone’s going to.
There’s a pregnant pause before an explosion of movement. Turns out theybothhave strong feelings about announcing my impromptu engagement.
“What the actual fuck?”
“Who?”
“When?”
“Fuck that, why? You’re going to give in to your father’s antiquated bullshit?” Phoenix slams her open palms on the table, making my coffee slosh over the rim of the cup.
They both glare at me, cheeks pink, eyes wide, and study my face before slowly lowering themselves back into their chairs.