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“She’s spending time with Syd’s mom today. A girls’ day out, she called it.” His voice doesn’t catch like it used to when he says Syd’s name. But it’s also clear he’s not fully on board with not spending time with his daughter when he’s got the day off.
Ty comes back and sets the game on the table, grabs the remote for his stereo, and turns on Taylor Swift. We all smile, shaking our heads. We’re secret Swifties, which isn’t so much a secret since Laney knows and she spilled the beans to Danae.
Taylor Swift’s latest hit plays softly on the radio in the background as Romel opens the box and shuffles the cards, randomly grabbing three before sliding them face down into the confidential envelope. Ty looks at his cards and then covers his clue sheet when he glances at Gabe, who’s fighting back a smile as he tips his chin up, pretending to sneak a peek at Ty’s sheet.
“No cheating! I know you peeked last time we played.”
Gabe laughs. “No, I didn’t. You’re just pissed I figured out the clues before you did.”
“Fuck off,” he replies, but his usual grin fills his face.
“Where’s Danae today?” I ask Gabe. Danae is the woman he hired to be his housekeeper after accidentally getting her fired from her waitressing job—even though he’s one of the cleanest guys I’ve ever met. He fell hard for her, and they’ve been inseparable since they got together, but even more so after her stalker ex came after her not too long ago.
“She’s hanging out with my sister,” he says, taking a sip of his beer. “Where’s Alayna?” he asks with an arch of his brow.
Fucker.
“Probably at home.”
He chuckles from his chair next to me.
“What?” I ask.
Once he’s finished marking off which cards he has on his clue sheet, he looks up at me and says, “When are you gonna tell us what’s going on for real with Alayna?”
I stiffen. “What do you mean?”
Gabe throws me a look. “Come on, dude. We know you better than anybody,” he says, gesturing to the three guys around me. “And while we’ve all been betting on how long it would take you to see what was right in front of you the whole time—”
Ty cuts him off. “Hold up. You were completely unaware of anything remotely close going on with them until Romel and I pointed it out, and even then you didn’t really believe it until even Danae saw it.”
“Wait a second. You guys have been talking about my love life and my best friend?” I knew Ty had wondered based on our conversation when I had my revelation about my own feelings, but I didn’t realize it was something they’d discussed together. They all kind of shrug in confirmation. “For how long?”
Gabe shakes his head as if he’s shaking away my question. “It doesn’t matter. The point is what’s going on? Is this for real or what?”
I stare down at the cards in my hand and then put them face down on the table and rest my elbows on the edge. “You know my new PR rep?”
They all nod.
“Well, she wanted me to get into a fake relationship. I refused to do it unless it was with Laney.”
Before I can even explain further, they all begin to get indignant.
“Are you fucking kidding me, Dom?” Ty asks, understandably outraged after the conversation we had before Laney and I started dating publicly.
“You really are an idiot,” Romel says, shaking his head like he’s never been more disappointed in me.
“Damn, man. Danae was really rooting for you two. Hell, so was I. I can’t believe it’s not real,” Gabe says.
“Are you guys going to let me finish before you decide I’m a world-class idiot?” They gesture for me to carry on, so I do. “I said I would only do it with Laney, but before she even agreed, she confessed that she was in love with me. I don’t know if she thought it would drive me away or what, but it had the opposite effect. It made me finally face my own feelings. I even talked to Ty about it.”
Now Ty’s in the hot seat. He shoots me a glare as both Gabe and Romel go off on how he could keep this from them. I swear, we’re the fucking Golden Girls sometimes.
“Enough,” I say, loud enough to be heard over their bitching and moaning. “I only talked to him about it first because he came over when I was feeling pretty low about the whole thing. I never planned to keep it a secret, but I’ve been focused on Laney. Once she agreed to this “fake” relationship, I knew I had limited time to prove to her that it could—and should—be real.”
“So is it real now?” Romel asks.
I let out a heavy sigh. “It’s real for me. Fuck, it’s as real as it gets. She’s the one. She’s…fuck, I’m so gone for her it’s not even funny. This is a total chick thing to say, but the first time we kissed, I knew I was done for.”
