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“Yeah, next time just hit me in the head and tell me to shut the fuck up.” Archie laughed. “Fuck that’s a relief. We can call off the plan now.”
Wait…“What?”
His expression shifted, his lips compressing.
“What plan, Archie?” Irritation scraped through the fog of desire, and I pulled away a little to study him. “What were you guys going to do?”
Shoulders drooping, he caught my hands and plucked the suit out of them. “Don’t get mad.”
“Yeah, it’s a little late for that. What were you guys planning?”
“Not so much planning as we were going to set him up with a couple of girls that we know are… let’s say more into free love.”
My stomach bottomed out, and I shook my head. Tugging my hands out of his, I shoved off the bed. “You wanted to set him up, so I’d see him making out with someone else.”
“Yeah, we’re assholes. But we didn’t want you seeing him, and if he went for the bait, then he sure as shit didn’t need to be seeing you.” He pushed the covers back and slid off to follow me. “Frankie…”
“Don’t,” I told him and shook my head. “That—that’s a shitty thing to do.”
“Protect you? I think not.” He blew out a breath. “Frankie, I wasn’t going to shove some girl on his dick. I was just going to give him the opportunity.”
“Make sure I saw it?” I raised my eyebrows. “Make sure I knew that, once again, I wasn’t good enough?”
“No,” he said. “No, it’s—fuck. He’snotgood enough.”
“You don’t even know him.” Ice shivered up my spine. “I can’t believe you guys. All of you? This is what you were all planningafterI told you how making me untouchable felt?”
“It’s what I was planning because I’m going to choose you first no matter what,” Archie said. “Like I said, if the guy had the opportunity and he took it, it was on him…”
“It doesn’t matter if I get hurt in the process?”
He sighed. “Of course that matters… c’mon, Frankie…”
“No, I think you need to go home. I have to finish getting ready for work and this goes a lot better if I’m not crying while I do it.”
“Frankie…” But when he tried to take my arm, I pulled it away.
“Archie, just go.”
“I don’t want to leave it like this.”
“Well, we don’t always get what we want.” God knew, I didn’t want to leave it like this, but right now… The ache in the pit of my stomach expanded. My lips still tingled from where he’d kissed me, and I was painfully aware of every place on my body he’d touched. “I need a bit.”
“Frankie, I’m sorry,” he said, exhaling.
“You’re sorry, I know,” I corrected him. “You’re sorry it pisses me off, but you’re not sorry about the plan.”
The plan.
Him. Jake. Coop. God… and Ian.
So much for actually hearing me. “Please, just go.”
“Fine, but I’m not out. I still want to see you.I’mstill crazy about you, and I meant every word I said last night. I don’t want to see you with other guys.” He scooped up the bracelet he’d given me the night before from the dresser and fastened on my wrist while I stared at him. “This? This still means something.”
He pressed his thumb against my palm, but when he leaned in, I turned my face away. That hurt almost as much as their plans.
With a sigh, he let me go and then grabbed his keys, phone, and wallet. After stuffing them in his pockets, he said, “I’ll see you tonight.”
