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I’d acted convincingly taken in front of Mike. I’d shown him that I’d moved on, with Drew Maddox, and I’d slipped away fast enough to leave him sputtering with questions that he’d be forced to mull over for a week before seeing me again at Hillary’s family and friends dinner. Ideally, that week of confusion would give him some empathy for what he’d put me through after the out-of-nowhere breakup with no answers, and we’d wind up having a mature, productive chat about what the heck happened between us.
Despite Mike’s surprise appearance, everything was still going according to plan, and it was perfect.
Until I realized I left something in the restaurant.
“Crap. I left my bag with all the returns in there,” I blurted just as I was about to get into the car. My shoulders slumped as I turned around to look at the restaurant again. “Dammit. This totally ruins my grand exit.”
Drew snorted.
“I’ll go if you’re scared.”
“I’m not scared, I’m just – ”
Ugh. I finished my sentence by simply marching back in, weaving quickly through the staff to reach my bag and then power-walking in my heels toward the door.
Of course, Mik
e caught me on my way out.
“Evie! Hey. Wait.”
“Yes?” I turned around to find him stopping breathlessly in front of me, his eyes searching my face.
“Hey, what’s… what’s going on?” he asked. “What’s this you and Drew situation? This is for real?”
I managed a confused smile.
“Yes? It’s for real.”
“Evie.” Drew folded his arms and gave me a look. “It’s me. Come on.”
“Yes, I know you are, Mike. But what do you mean ‘come on’?”
“You know what I mean.”
“I don’t. What is it?” I ground out, getting irritated. Mike threw his arms out incredulously and laughed big like I’d just made a great joke.
“Stop trying to fuck with me is what! Alright? Please. I know you’re not with fuckin’ Drew Maddox.”
I squinted. “Then what do you think you just saw?”
“I don’t know! You were just hanging out with Emmett and Aly and he just happened to come by. Right? ‘Cause let’s be real here, that man’s a celebrity. He’s famous. He’s not the same as us.”
“Us?” I repeated. I used to live for that word coming out of his mouth, but today I was sure I hated it. “And what exactly are we?” I asked carefully.
“I don’t know,” Mike sputtered defensively. Then I sneered. “But I can tell you what we’re definitely not: models. And Drew Maddox could be dating models if he wanted to.”
I stared at Mike, in awe of just how low he could go. It wasn’t enough to dump your longtime girlfriend out of the blue, apparently. You also had to remind her, once she started dating again, that she wasn’t a model.
“I mean am I lying?” he snorted.
“I’m leaving now,” I said simply, letting just one more second pass before I reached for the door and marched the hell out.
Right away, I spotted Drew leaning leisurely against an SUV parked out front. The eyes of the street were staring at him as he stared at his phone. But the moment he heard the first angry clack of my heel on the pavement, he looked right up and frowned.
“Hey. You okay?”
“Yes. Just do me a favor.” I was already breathless.
