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Chapter 16 – Briana
My phone blared atmy bedside. Pushing the satin eye mask off my face, I reached out for it blindly. It took a second for my brain to adjust before my fingers stabbed the buttons on the screen. I held it up to my ear.
“Hello? Bri?” came a familiar voice.
“Oh my word, Soph! Are you okay?”
“Yeah, yeah. Sorry to call so late—”
“It’s two a.m.,” I said, confirming that it was indeed that saints-forsaken hour.
“You’ve got to come out here.”
Just like that, I was awake. “Soph? Are you drunk?”
“No—a little.” She sneezed. “That’s beside the point.”
She wasdrunk-drunk then.
“Soph?”
“You’re going to lose your chance to have Viktor. What the hell were you thinking letting him go like that?”
My chest constricted painfully. Five weeks. It had been five damn weeks since I’d seen him. And I hadn’t told Sophia about the pregnancy scare, because as much as we vowed distance wouldn’t affect us, it had. Now I simply pushed any thought of the Russian grizzly away. It hurt to think about, and I hated that I still cared for him.
“Bri? Bri?!”
“I’m here,” I croaked.
“Oh, saints, you’re crying!” Sophia slurred. “Younevercry.”
Ha! How little she knew. “I’m not,” I sniffed.
“Look, I know it’s been awkward since he came back. Both of you being so moody meant it ended in a clusterfuck. I get that. But Bri, don’t let this chance go,” she pleaded.
Blinking hard, I cleared my throat. “You waited weeks to get toasted and call me about this. Is there any reason that you chose now to do so?”
“I’ve had all I can take.”
It was hard to say if that was everything; she’d never been this smashed before. Maybe life in Cali wasn’t all sunburns, beaches, and tacos. “Is everything alright, Soph?”
“Peachy.”
“If you say so. Okay, I’m going back to sleep now—”
“Briana Marie Pelto! You get your ass out of bed, pack a fucking bag, and get on the next plane out here. I’ll have a man pick you up. His name is Toli. He’ll have a sign, and I’ll make him wear bunny ears,” Sophia giggled.
“It’s not a good idea. Your brother and I aren’t compatible.”
“Bullshit. You two are perfect. It’s taken seven long damn years. You get out here, and you fight for your man.”
He said he wouldn’t be my fake date again. He said it had to end. I couldn’t go crawling out there. Not after he made it so clear. “Goodnight, Sophia. Take an aspirin and drink a bottle of water.”
