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“Where’d your boyfriend run off to?”
The question almost knocked me off my feet. The way Ace had asked it sounded as if there was no arguing that Nick’s proper title was “boyfriend.”
“He, um, he’s not—we’re not… I—”
“Shy, come clean. You two are together. I can practically smell his dick on your breath.”
I shouldn’t have been surprised by Ace coming out with an X-rated phrase, but here I was, guffawing in shock.
“What? Is it someone else’s dick I’m smelling?”
Rex laughed behind him. “Leave him alone. Look how red you’re making him.”
“He’s getting red because he knows it’s true!”
“It’s not true,” I said, feebly trying to keep up appearances even though my skin felt like it had caught fire. “We’ve just become good friends. That’s all.”
“Yeah, good friends. And me and Rex are two nuns practicing for the big nun exam.”
“A big… you’re crazy.” I hoped I could get off this topic.
“And you’re hiding something.” Ace wasn’t going to let it go.
“I’m not hiding anything.” But I was still going to try.
“Then text Mason right now. Tell him you miss him.”
Annnd, I was done trying. “Fine. Fine. It’s true. You’re right, Nick and I have been together. Kind of. It’s complicated, all right? But Mason’s no longer in the picture. We’re done. We’ve been done for a month and some weeks now.”
“Yeah, I had a feeling about that. Especially since I had talked to him a few weeks ago and he already told me.”
“What!” My head bobbed forward. “Are you serious? You knew?”
“Yup. I just wasn’t going to say anything. I figured you would tell me when the time was right.”
I rubbed my forehead, taken by total surprise. He hadn’t given any indication he knew. Ace had always been good at keeping secrets, but kudos on him for not breaking with this one.
“And, booooy, can I just say one word: upgrade! You seriously went up a thousand levels with Nick, compared to Mason, for sure. I mean, Mason and me were kind of good friends in college, but with the few things you’d shared with me about you two, I knew you deserved much more. And Nick looks like much more times some.”
My smile grew uncontained. “He’s a good guy. A really good guy.”
“So why aren’t you chasing after him right now? Something bothered him. Go and soothe him.” Ace purred the last of his words, rubbing up on Rex and batting his long lashes at me.
“Here,” I said, handing Ace my drink. “Finish this for me. I’m going to go find my prince.”
“Oooh, already calling him a prince? Damn. He really must have dicked you down good,” Ace said, drinking out of both his drink and mine, the two straws in between his smiling lips.
I figured I would break the whole “prince of Spain” thing to them a little later. I laughed and waved him off, saying bye to the pair before turning around and scanning the crowd, not spotting Nick or Luna anywhere. I didn’t think he would go back into the foam, and Luna definitely didn’t look dressed to party in a field of foam, so I wondered if they had left the room altogether.
Outside of the party, the atmosphere was much quieter. My ears rang as I stepped out into the quiet hallway. There were a couple people walking over wearing their bikinis and swimsuits, ready to party. I went past them, heading down the hall, looking around for any sign of Nick or Luna.
I was passing a lounge area when I spotted him.
Nick stood against the green-and-red wall, his head in his hands. He looked so broken. Defeated. It crushed me. I went over to him and put a hand on his shoulder. He looked up, his eyes registering mine, his pulse matching mine, and then he shook my hand off. It felt like a slap. I didn’t know what to say, where to go, what to think.
Nick walked around me, shaking his head, his hands turned to fists. “I knew it would happen. I was stupid. Stupid to think it didn’t matter.”
“What happened, Nick? Talk to me.”
“Better yet, here. Let me show you.” He held his phone out. I already knew what I was going to see, but I grabbed it anyway.
There we were, pictured walking through the Christmas market. Nick had his arm around me and his lips pressed to the top of my head. A smile of pure joy was beaming on my face. Holiday lights twinkled in the background, a pile of wreaths just next to us. The thing looked like a Hallmark card. It was actually a beautiful shot, and one I would have been proud of under different circumstances.
Instead of pride, my gut twisted in fear and dread.
There was no denying this was the prince. And there was no denying he was kissing me.
