Are they speaking in code right now?
Was this entire outing a date?
Am I following them on a date?
The realization hits with enough force to make me physically stagger.
A date…
I am watching them on a date.
Like some pathetic, lovesick fool skulking through alleyways while the female I love is entertaining another.
At this rate they will be exchanging vows by sunset.
Perhaps that is why Lis brought her here—to purchase rings.
My gaze snaps wildly to the nearby ring jewelers.
Fuck! This is the plan. She has softened her up with sweets and flowers and compliments, and now she will propose.
That’s it. I shove through the crowd, my pulse hammering in my chest. I can no longer stand still and observe this madness. Because if I wait any longer… If I give them even ten more minutes…
I may turn around and find Moe draped in jewels, promised to a lunatic, and halfway through planning their wedding when she promised she would be planning our own.
This is what I get for being a nearly destitute nobody.
I shove through the crowd before reason can stop me. Pedestrians scatter as I plow a path forward, cursing me, some even challenging me to a fight.
I ignore all noise, my vision tunneled to the extreme.
Enough is enough.
“Moe.”
My voice cuts through the marketplace chatter.
Both of Moe and Lis turn.
Moe startles so violently she nearly drops the flowers in her hands.
“Nyk?” Her brows knit together. “What are you doing here?—”
“You are coming with me.” I seize her wrist and drag her with me.
She blinks. “What?”
“Now.”
Lis steps smoothly between us before I can pull Moe away.
“Unhand her.”
My eyes narrow. Protective already. Bold of her to try this with Moe’smate.
“I am removing her from an obviously compromised situation,” I say coldly.
Moe stares between us. “Compromised? What are you talking about?”
