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“You don’t have to walk up with me,” I rush to say. “That makes it sound like I’m hiding a husband or something, doesn’t it?” I laugh. “I’ve got nosy friends.”
“I could meet them now and put them at ease. You are spending the entire weekend with me.”
“Right.” Tonight’s been so perfect I don’t want to ruin it. “How about tomorrow when you pick me up?” I suggest. That will give me time to talk to them. He doesn’t look like he wants to agree at first.
“Tomorrow.” He leans down and kisses me goodbye. I hold him close as I wrap my arms around his neck. A throat clears, breaking us from the moment, and I look over to see Harlow standing there with an unreadable expression.
I push back from Dash but he doesn’t let me go. “Hey, Harlow,” I say, feeling extra awkward. It’s worse than I thought it would be since they’ve gone out on a date.
“Hey.” She drags out the word as her eyes go between Dash and me.
“I’m Dash.” He holds out the hand that isn’t holding on to my hip to shake hers. Harlow scoffs a humorless laugh, ignoring his hand.
“I’ll see you inside.” She shakes her head as she walks toward our building.
“She didn’t seem happy to meet me.” He nods in the direction Harlow walked as his eyebrows pull together. “Is that your friend?”
“She can be protective.” Does he really not know who she is? “Harlow lives across the hall from me, but we’re friends.”
“I get it. Girlfriends should stick together. There’s a lot of assholes out there.”
“Yeah,” I agree. What the hell is happening? How does he not remember her? Because she clearly knows him.
“I’ll win them over.” His hand slips down from my hip and he squeezes my ass. “You’re going to have to walk away from me or I’m pulling you back in the car.”
I step away from him, not really wanting to leave. I’d rather get in the car, but it’s time to face my friends and get this all out on the table. I want to be with Dash and I’m hoping they can put their judgment aside and accept it.
“I’ll see you tomorrow.”
“You will, but I’m going to text you. I won’t be able to help myself.” He gives me his boyish, excited smile that melts my heart.
“Later.”
I walk into my building but peek over my shoulder one last time to see if he’s still watching. He’s standing there waiting for me to go inside and it’s the sweetest thing ever. Once I take the elevator up, I don’t get a chance to get my keys out of my purse before the door is flying open and Blair pulls me inside.
“Spill.” I see Harlow and Cherry standing behind her with their arms crossed.
“Hey, guys.” I hold my hand up and wave at them.
“Cut the crap,” Blair snaps, and Cherry and Harlow look surprised at her tone. “You’ve been avoiding us.”
I sigh and drop my purse down onto the counter. She’s right and it was rude of me. My friends care about me and I would be hurt if the roles were reversed.
“I’m in love with him,” I blurt out, and no one says anything. They stand there with shocked expressions, so I keep going. “At least I think I’m in love. I’ve never been in love before, but he makes me feel things, and, well—”
Blair holds her hand up, cutting me off. “You think you’re in love with Thanos?”
I nod.
“He didn’t even remember who I was, Brooklyn,” Harlow scoffs.
“He was totally checked out on our date,” Cherry chimes in, and I inwardly cringe.
“Well, he wasn’t checked out on her.” Blair raises her chin at me.
“He’s just trying to get in her pants,” Harlow adds, and they all wait for me to say something.
“It’s not like that. He’s really sweet. I can’t believe he’s the same guy you told me about.” The need to defend him claws at me. If he checked out or something on their dates like Harlow said, I should ask him straight out. I feel like I know Dash and he wouldn’t do that.
“He was online on the app today.” Blair pulls out her phone. “I knew you must have been really into him with how you acted last night and today. So don’t be mad at me, but I went digging.”
Of course she did.
“Maybe he was deleting his profile?” I take a step towards her with my eyes on her phone, but Blair continues.
“We set up a fake account and he asked for a date later tonight.”
“It’s ten o’clock,” I blurt out. How could he go on a date tonight?
“People go out after ten.” Blair’s voice softens and I shake my head no, not wanting to believe it. They must have the wrong person. “Did you agree to go?” I find myself asking.
