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“Please, please eat the pizza,” Jeremiah grumbled. “I don’t want to eat pizza for the rest of the week.”
I rolled my eyes at Andrew, and he snickered. “Fine, fine,” I said. “We’ll take one for the team, but only because Jeremiah begged.”
As we all picked our slices, Andrew said, “So, Muscle Head is working late, huh?” Though his voice was light, casual, that erratic muscle in his jaw jumped. I could almost hear him grinding his teeth together from the effort of trying to hold back his words.
I felt a muscle tick in my own jaw at the derisive nickname he gave my fiancé. “Don’t call him that.”
“He calls me Andy, so it’s only fair.”
I sighed, knowing I wasn’t going to win this fight. “I’m sure Michael will be on his way soon.” I forced a smile to curl my lips. “Something probably happened at the store. He’s not usually late.”
“Why are you doing that?”
I fought the urge to retort, and my anger finally won out. “Doing what, Andrew?”
“Being disingenuous.” He squared his posture, facing me with narrowed eyes. “You’re among friends. Muscle Head isn’t here to see what a good little wife you can be.”
I heard a low grunt of a cough somewhere behind me. Cat muttered, “Well, shit.”
“What the fuck is that supposed to mean?”
“It means exactly what I said.” Andrew leaned his hip against the kitchen island, crossing his arms. “Alicia, your whole life right now is disingenuous.”
“My whole life? Jesus, cut the hyperbole, Andrew.”
“Is it hyperbole, though? Think about it.” He stepped closer, uncrossing his arms to bracket my body with them. “You spend most of your energy showing Michael what a good catch you are, being the good little fiancée. You use the rest of your energy showing your parents what a good little daughter you can be, following all their rules, even at almost twenty-five. And for what? What does that get you?”
My watch beeped, but I ignored it in favor of feeding my rage. Andrew didn’t know shit about me, and frankly, I was tired of hearing his opinions on my life. “Go to hell, Andrew. You don’t know the first thing about my relationship with Michael. Or with my parents.”
“I don’t, huh? So you do tell him that it drives you crazy when he doesn’t put his bag on the hook.” Andrew watched me with defiance blazing in his eyes. I tried to focus on his words and not the delicious place they were coming from. “You stood up to your parents and told them that you don’t want a bunch of fake-ass socialites at your wedding. That you regret missing Ana’s wedding. That you wish you saw your nephew more. You say all that to them, Alicia? Or do you just think it and hope they get it through osmosis?”
I didn’t say anything because fuck me if he wasn’t right. “What’s your point, Minnie?”
His huff of a laugh rippled through my body. His breath caressed my upper lip. “My point is that you have spent so much of your life covering up all the shit you’re dealing with that you don’t even know who your real self is. Tell me, Ace, what is it that you’re so afraid of? Why can’t you just be yourself, with your real feelings?”
“I can, and I am.”
“Prove it then.” He pushed off the island, crossed his arms again. Challenge burned in his eyes. “I dare you to be your full self, all day, every day, for the next week. No holding back swears, no baby voice, no holding your tongue. Pure, unadulterated Ace. With everyone.” He narrowed his eyes. “Including your parents and Michael.”
I lifted my chin, the point of it jutting out. “No problem.”
He smiled without humor. “Good.”
We stared at each other for a few moments, my face burning, his wearing a smug smile, before Catalina almost audibly rolled her eyes.
“Now that we’ve established that,” she said, “can we fucking eat?”
Michael didn’t show up.
Throughout the movie and conversation with Cat, Jeremiah, and Andrew, I snuck peeks at the door, hoping that anytime, he would ring the doorbell. I sent him multiple where are you? texts. And yet, nothing.
Finally, Cat caught onto what I was doing. She put a gentle hand on my shoulder and said, “I don’t think he’s coming, Ace.” I sighed and shook my head. What store-related emergency could have kept him this long? I wondered.
Admittedly, though, after I wrenched my eyes from the door that last time, I forgot all about Michael. The conversation flowed, and it was like Andrew and I picked up exactly where we left off years ago. I hadn’t realized how much I missed the grounding force of our friendship until he replanted our roots. At one point, I looked over at him while he was mid-laugh. He threw his head back and let it loose to the ceiling, the sound bouncing off the flat surface. His Adam’s apple bobbed to its own private symphony, and I closed my eyes to the sliver of skin and muscle of his abs exposed by his long, languid stretch. It was all I could do to stop myself from imagining those muscled, sinewy arms wrapping around my frame and picturing his low-pitched voice vibrating my insides as he thrust into me over and over again.
My watch beeped. Asshole fucking watch. I breathed deep, glad that no one could hear my thoughts.
Of course, he caught me mid-breath. He smiled. “You okay, Ace?”
