“You’re always a fucker, you’re just not usually so tetchy.”
“I’m stoic.”
“Like someone pissed on your cornflakes. I mean, I can’t imagine why I thought seeing your archenemy be humiliated might make you smile,” he mutters, reaching for his own glass.
“He’s not my enemy,” I reply loftily. “He is below my notice. Mostly.”
“If only that were true. Sometimes I think the world would be a better place if you two just hate fucked and got over yourselves.”
Chapter 8
EVIE
“What do you mean he can’t be my unicorn?” I drop the phone from my ear, bringing it back just as quick. “Who died and made you the boss of me?”
“I wouldn’t be your boss for all the bourbon in Kentucky.” Riley snorts. “You are unmanageable.”
“Doesn’t stop you from trying.”
“I think the word you’re looking for iscounsel. You know, like a friend worried for you and your mental health.”
“My mental health is just fine.” I glance up, distracted as a group of teenagers passes by the front window. Riley lives in a mews house in a super bougie part of Chelsea, on a narrow street of pastel facades and overflowing window boxes. Lined with buildings originally intended as coach houses—to accommodate the horses and servants of those living in much grander spaces—the cobblestone lanes were laid for hooves rather than quaintness. These days, the inhabitants are more likely to own five-hundred-horsepower Aston Martins than coaches with two high-stepping grays. Home to London’s artsy and affluent, the street is also an Instagram hot spot.
“If you want the truth, last night was just what I needed.”
“I can’t get my head around it. A one-night stand is so unlike you.”
I hum a noncommittal sound and cross my legs, running my finger around the hole in the knee of my leggings. Well, notmyleggings, but what Lori, Riley’s roommate, begrudgingly loaned me. Gosh, her face as she opened the front door for her morning run and found me about to stick the key in her mouth.In my wedding dress, with my hair bedraggled and my skin beard-burn pink.Trust Riley to have gotten it wrong because his roommate hadn’t gone away for the weekend after all.So much for raiding her closet in peace.But at least Riley got his cleaner to leave her key. Without it, Lori might not have let me in.
“It’s not every day you get humiliated at the altar.”
“I think you have that the wrong way around, Evie. Just do yourself a favor and avoid the hair salon.”
I reach up, snagging a lock of wayward hair and sliding it behind my ear. How spooky; I’d just been contemplating booking an appointment after I’d grown my hair out just for yesterday. “Why?”
“The effects of a revenge bang are usually short lived. Revenge bangs on the other hand ... Remember the great tenth-grade hair experiment?”
“How could I forget? But last night wasn’t revenge.” It was an experience like no other—an experience I won’t ever have again. “I see it more as just returning the favor.”
Riley chuckles. “Oh, I bet Bitchell will justlovethat.”
“I don’t really care what he thinks. I am so over thinking about yesterday and what an idiot I’ve been. You know, when I read those texts, my love for that asshole was snuffed out like a cheap candle.” I click my finger and thumb together. It’s the truth but not the whole truth.
“I’d like to snuff him out,” Riley mutters.
“I mean, if I never really knew him, how could I have loved him?”
“Evie, honey. Love is like an orgasm. If you have to ask yourself if you felt it, the answer is, you didn’t.”
“Maybe we both fooled ourselves into thinking we were in love, or else why did he cheat? And if I really loved him, wouldn’t I still be distraught?”
“I don’t know. I’m still trying to figure out a reaction to your one-night stand.”
“Is the air a little thin up there on your high horse? Because I recall a certain someone taking twins home recently. Twins! That’s just nasty.” I frown as the doorbell rings. “Who can that be?”
“Sadly, my psychic powers are on the fritz, along with this damn leg.”
“You’re so crabby. Do you need better pain meds?”
