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"No, I will deal with him."
"Okay, because if you don't, I have the feeling your husband-to-be will because I know he talked toThe Sun."
I turned to her, mouth agape. "He did what?"
"Yeah. They were asking questions of your friends, for commentary, and he was like, ‘There's no way on earth she'll marry that guy.’ So maybe we should do something about him."
Gemma, of course, knew about the whole fake situation. But now that was even murky waters because it didn'tfeelfake. I was marrying him, wasn't I? That felt real. "How much of a problem do you think he's going to be?"
"Honestly? You're going to have to deal with him promptly."
And that was why I loved Gemma. No matter what, she was going to tell me the truth. It looked like I was going to have to have a conversation with Andrew whether I wanted to or not.
After exchanging a few text messages, Andrew met me at the cafe an hour after class. Ryan and James were sitting at the table next to me, trying to look nonchalant and blend in. James managed it better than Ryan. At least they'd both ditched their suits and looked normal-ish except for the fact that they were enormous. Especially Ryan. He was a six-foot-five hulk of a guy, but I knew from experience that he was shockingly fast. When I went running, he kept up with ease, even when I tried to drop him.
He would never say anything, just school me with his eyes. His quiet reproach was the worst, like a parent's. I actually had started to like them all and didn’t mind having them around.
"Who the fuck are the freaking dudes over there?"
I glanced up startled. "Oh, hi."
"Who are they?"
I frowned at him. "No one. Don't worry about them."
"I saw them following you around the other day too. Could they be courtesy of your new fiancé?
I sighed. "Andrew, let's not do this, okay? Can you and I just… I don't know, talk?"
"Were you ever going to tell me that you were getting married to somebody I don't even know?"
"First of all, it’s none of your business who I’m marrying. Second of all, we've been seeing each other for a while, and I didn't know it was going to be serious at first, so I said nothing. That's why I really couldn't come to your department thing. I'm seeing someone."
"But you and I—"
I took a deep breath. "Are only friends. Have onlyeverbeen friends. I value your friendship, but that means that you can't talk about me to the press. That was really rude, Andrew."
He frowned over at my bodyguards and James scowled back. "I don't like it. He's controlling you. Look, he’s got men following you around."
"Andrew, I need you to understand that you don't know everything about my life, okay? They're there for my safety because I nearly got mugged." That was sort of true. "Jasper was worried, so he hired bodyguards."
Andrew's gaze shifted. "Still, I don't like it."
"Well, the good news is you don't have to. Only I have to. And as my friend, I would hope that you would be happy for me."
"But I don't know anything about him. And he just came out of nowhere. Where was he all this time when I was putting in the work?"
"Putting in the work? Are you kidding me right now? Do we need to take you to the school nurse for your hearing problem? Let me repeat. We. Were. Never. Going. Out."
He sighed. "Fine." He got the attention of the barista and held up two fingers, meaning he was ordering us twoAmericanos. I didn't have the energy to tell him I really, really didn't like Americanos. I always told him not to get me one, but he got me one anyway. And if he was paying attention, he would have noticed I never drank them. But maybe Ryan or James wanted one.
"Listen, I guess maybe I should tell you that some other guys approached me after I talked to that reporter."
My heart fell into my stomach. "What?"
"Yeah, they were asking about you and stuff.”
"Lord Jesus Christ, what the hell did you tell them?"
