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MACI
Amber slapped a hand over her mouth and struggled to swallow her coffee before she burst out laughing. “Oh, I would’ve paid to have been there. Stupid night shifts at the hospital getting in my way of all the fun stuff.”
“You should’ve seen the look on Shelby’s face when Bryce pulled me in for a long kiss right in front of her.” I grinned against my cup before draining the rest of it. “It really was priceless.”
“I would’ve even suffered through being near Bryce if it meant watching that skank get put in her place.”
I rolled my eyes at the comment.
Amber had never hidden her feelings for Bryce—not that I knew what triggered her hatred for him in the first place. Regardless, it’d become more of a running joke for us than anything, and it wasn’t like she could actually hate him. He’d inadvertently brought us together a couple of years ago, and we’d been best friends since.
It’d been my twenty-first birthday, and after a night filled with bar hopping and Bryce being...well, Bryce...he’d somehow ended up with a concussion, and we’d spent the rest of my birthday in the ER.
Amber had been one of his main nurses when we’d finally gotten him into a room, and not more than twenty minutes later, my night of too much drinking and not nearly enough food decided to make a reappearance all over my shoes. In my still-drunk mind, I hadn’t even been upset about puking everywhere. I’d started crying because my favorite shoes were ruined, and “favorite shoes can’t be ruined on my birthday.”
Amber and another nurse had cleaned everything while I’d sat there, crying like a three-year-old over my shoes. After they’d finished, a pair of sequined Uggs appeared in front of me. Amber had told me they were her current favorites, and I could borrow them. It’d been a lasting insta-friendship, even though she wouldn’t let me live that night down.
She groaned and roughly tossed her phone onto the table. “I swear this guy is a machine. He never stops. I mean, never. If it weren’t for the fact that we have jobs, I don’t think he’d ever let me leave the bed.”
“Is this still Aaron? You said you two still sneak into the closets at the hospital...” I drifted off, letting my accusation sound more like a question.
“Exactly. Machine,” she said slowly, annunciating each syllable as if I’d just confirmed everything for her. “Let’s just hope for my vagina’s sake that we’re busy tonight. I need at least a twelve-hour break from that man before we go back to one of our apartments, or he’s going to break me.”
I shook my head, feigning sympathy, and almost chickened out of asking my next question twice before finally blurting, “Do you actually enjoy having sex?”
“Is that a trick question? Of course I do. Who doesn’t?”
“I just—I don’t know. In the books I read, the women have these amazing partners, and I know what I’m reading is fantasy,” I hurried to add. “I mean, seriously, I get that. But I don’t enjoy sex with Bryce at all. It has nothing to do with wishing it was like what I read, it’s just really, really bad.”
Amber stared at me in bemusement. “Then why are you still seeing him? Maci, you’re hot; it’s not like you wouldn’t have a chance with anyone else. You don’t have to settle for him.”
“I’m not. He isn’t even my boyfriend. You can’t settle for someone you aren’t technically dating.”
“You also can’t get out there because he’s always with you and stops anyone from coming near you.”
I sighed and twirled my empty coffee cup between my fingers. “I know.”
“Just drop him. And since you two only have this friends-with-benefits thing going on, it shouldn’t be a big deal to end it.”
“We’re not together because my brothers would flip if they knew I was dating anyone.”
“No, you just think your brothers would flip,” Amber argued. “There’s a difference.”
My jaw dropped and I gave her a look like she was delusional. “Max Bertrand asked me on a date right before college started and canceled via text the day of. I saw him the next day, and he turned and literally ran the other way, Amber. He had tape on his nose and huge bruises under his eyes.”
She shrugged. “Maybe he didn’t want you seeing him like that.”
“He still runs away from me—you’ve seen him do it. Besides, my brothers fessed up to it.”
“Huh...” She seemed to be reaching for something to support her argument before finally throwing her hands up. “Okay, fine. They’re a little protective.”
“A lot protective.” I rolled my eyes and snorted. “Anyway, Bryce knows all that and is completely fine with staying how we are. Eh, well...for now.”
Bryce figured we would be a legitimate couple eventually, but he also expected me to change in that time, and there wasn’t a chance in hell of that happening. I was positive the only reason he was okay staying “just friends”—for now—was because we both knew his family didn’t approve of the way I looked. I didn’t fit in with their perfect, country club friends and multi-million-dollar house, and I was more than okay with that.
I grew up in a loving home, and my mom always encouraged each of us to find who we are and be that person. And that person wasn’t a back-to-her-blonde-roots, polo-wearing, club-for-brunch-on-Sunday kind of girl.
I wasn’t goth or grunge or a peace-pushing, tree-hugging hippy. I was just Maci. I’d dyed my hair a vibrant red years ago and had never gone back. My nose was pierced with a small hoop, I had a few tattoos, and I cussed too much from growing up with older brothers—something Bryce was always getting on me for. If those were reasons enough for Bryce to keep me hidden from his family, then so be it. It helped me keep him hidden from my brothers.
