I let out a relieved laugh. Out of everyone, I valued Stefan’s approval the most. After all, since our father had gone to prison, my oldest brother had taken over as head of the household.
“This calls for a celebration,” Luka announced.
“There’s champagne in the fridge!” Tori said, heading into the kitchen.
Stefan popped the bubbly open and poured a glass for everyone, including a few sips’ worth for both of the pregnant Wives.
“I’d like to raise a toast to the joyful union of Emzee and our future brother-in-law, Ford,” Stefan said as we all lifted our glasses. “We’ll have to invite him over for the next dinner and properly welcome him into the family.”
Everyone started talking all at once about how happy and supportive they were, how beneficial it would be for someone in the Zoric family to make a match with a son of the Malones. I washed down my guilt with all the champagne that The Wives couldn’t drink. There was nothing I could do but just go with it. The family deserved some good news, after all.
Across the top of my champagne flute, I caught Tori’s gaze. She lifted her eyebrows in a questioning manner and I shot her a pleading look. This wasn’t the time to talk about it.
“It actually makes perfect sense,” Luka said. “You two have known each other forever.”
“Yep,” I said, drinking more champagne. “Shall we sit down and eat?”
Once dinner was over, I insisted that my brothers leave us women alone to have some girl talk while we loaded up the dishwasher and tidied up the kitchen.
“What happened?” Tori wanted to know, a sly grin spreading across her face.
“I thought this was a temporary thing,” Brooklyn teased. “Did you take my advice to bang him and he ended up proposing on the spot?”
“Of course not!” My cheeks went hot. “Look, I can’t talk about it just yet, but please do not breathea wordto my brothers about the origin story,” I said, lowering my voice. “I promise I’ll fill you in later. For now…just roll with it,” I said.
Oh, the irony.
Emzee
Chapter 14
Now that our families had been told about the engagement, it was time to break the news to our friends. Or rather, Ford’s friends.
It wasn’t until we had sat down and discussed all the people we needed to tell that I realized how few people I actually hung out with other than Ford—after all, I hadn’t been popular in high school, my art school co-eds from college were more like casual acquaintances, and I traveled so much for work that the only friendships I really maintained were with Tori and Brooklyn, who already knew what was up with my whirlwind relationship.
Thus, the group we were planning to meet up with definitely consisted of more of his circle than mine. Unfortunately, they were mostly people we’d gone to high school with…not my main tormentors, but they’d certainly gone along with the torture I endured. And all these years later, they were still very cliquey. No matter how many times Ford had brought me along to socialize with them, I still didn’t quite feel tight with the group. I’d never have even been a blip on their radar if it hadn’t been for Ford taking me under his wing.
Did I want to spend a whole night out with them? Hells no.
But these were Ford’s closest cohorts, and he wanted us to share our news together.
He had a whole big event planned to celebrate, with all of us going out to his favorite club, drinking and dancing until the sun came up.
I was anxious about the whole thing, which was how I always felt when I hung out with this particular group. It would have been easier for me to just stay home and let Ford tell them the news on his own, but I knew he wanted them to see us together.
“We really need to sell it,” he’d said. “It has to look 100% real.”
It was already far too real for me. How was I going to survive the next fifteen months?
“Oh, and don’t forget to wear something hot,” he’d reminded me earlier that evening.
Right. I couldn’t help remembering the way he had looked at me the night of the ball—how his eyes kept straying to my exposed back, how his warm hands had trailed up and down my spine, lingering right over my ass. The thought of dressing up for him again made my skin tingle. Especially knowing that we were going to be performing tonight.
Though I was kind of glad to have the show of lovebird-ness to make me feel more included. It gave me a thrill of anticipation, outweighing the usual dread I felt when I knew I’d be hanging out with his friends. After all this time, I’d long forgiven them, but I’d never forget how cruel they were in high school.
Maybe tonight would be different, though. Maybe I’d finally be welcomed into the group.
After doing my hair and makeup—sleek ponytail and smoky eyes with a dark lip—I laid out a few outfit options on my bed and tried to decide exactly how hot I wanted to look for Ford.
