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“Cute,” I said with a smile.
“So? What did Angel have to say for herself?”
“Same old bullshit. She’s on a journey, and can’t we be happy for her, blah blah blah. I told her not to come back this time.” I looked at my lap. “I told her that we didn’t need her anymore. That I would take care of Waverly and we’d be fine. Waverly heard. And we spent the rest of the day cleaning crummy furniture and baking a yellow cake.”
I took a sip of coffee and hummed. “This is good. Taste’s…wait.” I lifted the cup away from my face and turned it around. The Pie in the Sky bakery logo was stamped on the cup. “You didn’t.”
“Didn’t what?”
“Tell Jazz you were coming here?”
“Who do you think made you that coffee?” He gave it a chin nod. “That thing is a sugar coma waiting to happen.”
“Duke,” I snapped.
“What?”
“You can’t—I mean—really?”
“That caffeine must not’ve kicked in yet because you’re not making a lick of sense.”
“You can’t go to Pie and the Sky and buy me muffins and weird concoctions that my friend made up for me.”
“Why not? I always buy you muffins.” His brow furrowed. “Well, not always muffins. Sometimes a Danish. Cookies. Croissants.”
“Stop,” I said, my lips quivering.
“What’s this about? You don’t like muffins? Or other baked goods?”
“Duke.” I nudged him with my foot, which he grasped and held onto. His thumb stroked across my arch and I nearly purred.
“Tell me, Willa.”
“Jazz and Brielle are already giving me shit,” I said.
“About?”
“About you and Savage. They don’t believe that I’m just friends with you.”
“Well, you and Iaren’tjust friends.”
“We’re not?”
He pinched my big toe. “You don’t have sex with your friends.”
“What about friends with benefits?”
“Doesn’t exist,” he said.
“Fuck buddies?” I tried again.
“Jesus, woman, where’s your sense of romance.”
“I’m hoping I can deflect with humor.”
“Try again.”
“I wonder if kissing you that night was a mistake,” I said quietly. “Because now we’ve crossed this line, a line we said we’d never cross again when we were sixteen, and now… There’s so much at stake this time, Duke. Our friendship. Your friendship with Savage. My friendship with Savage. The three of us. What if we continue down this road, and it doesn’t work? I couldn’t bear to lose you. Either of you. There’s a lot of stuff I can get over. Not having you guys in my life… God, Duke, I’d lose my shit.”
