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He laughed. “I know you do.
And it’s adorable.”
“It’s not adorable. It’s tough. And gangster. I’ll cut a bitch,” I said, trying to channel Rachel, but I sounded silly instead.
Nick laughed again as he held me close, our bodies moving in perfect rhythm, not only to the music, but to each other. Even our breathing was perfectly timed. Nothing felt the same as it did when I was in Nick’s embrace.
“I need a drink. You want something?” I asked, pulling out of his arms.
He placed his hands on my shoulders to steady me. “I’ll get us drinks. You wait right here. What would you like?”
I briefly considered a vodka with Red Bull, but cast that aside when I remembered Rachel once saying that everyone who drank that concoction ended up smelling like cedar chips from mouse cages. The last thing I wanted was to smell like a mouse cage for the rest of the night, so I opted for the next best thing.
“I’ll just take a beer.” When Nick turned away, I called out, “A light beer!”
“Such a girl,” he teased before walking away.
“You’re just temporary, you know,” a shrill voice said, tearing a hole straight through my happy bubble.
I turned to face Carla, who stood a few inches taller me and made sure I knew it by the way she looked down on me.
“As opposed to what?” I shot back.
She sneered. “As opposed to what I am.”
I rolled my eyes, shifting my weight in an attempt to appear uninterested. “Which is?”
“His future. Do you think for one second that his dad would let him end up with someone like you? A girl whose parents own a deli in the Valley?”
She said the words deli and valley like they were laced with poison. I was fighting the urge to claw her fucking eyes out when it hit me that she’d done her research on me. Someone was obviously threatened, whether she acted like it or not.
“Unlike you, I’m not trying to marry Nick.”
She forced out a laugh. “It doesn’t matter, anyway. That would never happen. You won’t last, and you won’t be around for long. Nick will eventually get bored with a girl like you. If he’s not already.” She cast a glance in his direction. “And I’ll be right here waiting. I always get what I want, sweetheart,” she said with a small shrug and a smirk. “Always.”
I glanced at Nick, whose eyes locked onto mine and then widened when he realized who I was talking to. He quickly grabbed the two bottles of beer and hurried in our direction.
I turned to Carla. “Not sure why you want someone who doesn’t even like you. But—goals?” I used my fingers for air quotes.
“You really think that he doesn’t like me? That our fathers haven’t been planning this union for years?” She let out another evil-sounding laugh. “Nick won’t have a choice in the matter. And either will you,” she informed me before stalking away.
Nick won’t have a choice in the matter? Her words rang in my ears as my stomach rolled.
“Jess, are you okay? You’re pale. What the hell did she say to you?” Nick stepped in front of me, forcing my eyes to focus on his.
“What the hell was that?” Rachel came up next to me and planted her hands on her hips.
“Nothing,” I said.
“Doesn’t look like nothing. You’re shaking, Jess.” Rachel looked around the room. “You want me to go kick her puta ass?”
Smiling, I looked over at my roommate. “No. She’d probably sue you.”
Rachel let out a sound somewhere between a frustrated scream and a growl. “You’re right. I hate her, Nick. How are you friends with her?”
“I’m not,” he said.
“Good.” Rachel gave him a hard look before heading back to Trevor.
