I roll my eyes. “I’m concerned you know the love life of the Jonas brothers.”
“I’m concerned you thought you’d marry one. If you need help, I’m a great password creator. I’m thinking …” He fakes deep thinking, running his palm over his chin. “Rex’s_biggest_fan. It suits you better.”
If my parents weren’t behind us, I’d kick my foot out and trip him.
“It’s an old email and hasn’t been high on my priority list. I suggest you find a new hobby because your password ideas are worse than the Game of Thrones finale.” I rub my forehead before yawning. “It’s too early for me to deal with you right now. I need coffee, snacks, and Tylenol PM to knock my ass out.”
“You want something that’ll keep you up but then also something that’ll make you sleep? Sounds like a legit plan you thought out well. New plan: coffee, snacks. No Tylenol PM for you.” He ruffles his hand through my hair, screwing up the messy bun I took a full ten minutes to perfect. “I can’t be sitting next to you while you’re drooling and dreaming about me. It’s also a short flight. You don’t want to show up all cracked out on cough meds.”
I hold up a finger. “A.) I don’t drool.” I hold up another. “B.) Sounds like the perfect plan for me.”
We get coffee, snacks, and unfortunately no Tylenol PM before heading to our terminal. Luckily, we don’t have a long wait before boarding the plane. They welcome first class, and the flight attendant doesn’t fail to check Rex out as we take our seats. Rex grins and winks at her as he makes himself comfortable next to me in the aisle seat.
“All right,” he says after the flirty flight attendant quits giving him googly eyes and starts to actually do her job. “How are we playing this?”
I take a sip of my iced coffee, blinking. “Playing what?”
He leans into me and lowers his voice. “Am I the best friend? Boyfriend? Wedding date? What’s my role here?”
His role? I pull back in confusion. “Uh, my best friend.”
He draws in closer to me. “Just the best friend?”
“Just the best friend,” I slowly repeat.
“Gotcha. If anything changes, let me know.”
What the …?
“Do you want to act like you’re someone else?” I draw out.
“No, I want to make sure you know I have your back and won’t let anyone give you any shit. If they want to know why you don’t have a boyfriend—which, from what you’ve told me, is a regular question from them—say it’s me. I’m game.” He tears open a bag of chips, snags one, and offers them to me.
I shake my head. “I can’t lie to my family and say we’re dating.”
“Sure, you can. Think about it. If you change your mind, I’m all up for role-playing.”
I chew on the edge of my straw. “I’m sure you’re all for role-playing.”
“Eh, it’s usually not my kink, but I’ll do it for you. I have your back if vultures come your way, talking shit.” He tips his head down and takes a sip of my coffee while it’s in my hand.
“Aw, Carolina brought her best friend as her date. How cute,” Faye, my bitch-faced cousin, announces when we walk into the banquet room.
Dread clouds my mind when she steps in front of Rex and me, her irritating girl squad behind her. Her diarrhea-colored hair is pulled into a high ponytail, and she’s wearing a white dress that hits her knees. Across that white dress is a sash that says, Bride!
How annoying.
Everyone here knows she’s the bride, considering it’s her wedding.
This hell wedding is a weekend affair. Tonight, we endure dinner. Tomorrow, we’ll suffer through lunch and then the wedding.
I slapped Faye in the face when I was fourteen because she’d ripped apart my favorite book.
Got grounded for a month and my phone taken away.
It was worth it.
My parents added that I’d be grounded for the rest of my life if I touched her again. They said that in front of her, so Frightening Faye knew she could bully me more since being grounded for the rest of my life didn’t sound like a party. Lucky for me, she moved away her freshman year.
Unlucky for me, she came back a week during the summers to visit my grandparents. One year, my parents demanded I allow her to tag along with me to Rex’s house. She flirted with him the entire time and made fun of my one-piece bathing suit, so Rex kicked her out, making his mom drive her home. That was when I knew Rex would always have my back. He could’ve easily ditched me and hooked up with Faye, but he knew my history with her. Shoot, he hardly muttered a word to her with the exception of telling her to leave his damn house and never come back.
I stiffen, holding in a breath, while racking my brain for the perfect comeback.
“She brought her boyfriend,” Rex abruptly corrects next to me. His arm wraps around my waist, and he pulls me in closer to him, my hip hitting his.
Faye’s mouth drops open. Her eyes and finger ping back and forth between Rex and me … between my apparent boyfriend and me. When she finally speaks, her words are choked out, “You two are—”
“Dating? In love? Sure fucking am,” Rex says to her with no hesitation. He stares down at me, a tender smile spreading across his face. “We’re much more than friends, but we do agree on one thing: we are fucking cute.” His gaze turns nasty when he looks back at Faye. “I knew you’d be so happy for your cousin to find love. Maybe we’ll invite you to our wedding.” He makes a show of looking around the ballroom. “It’ll probably be less stuffy than this shit, so it might not be your thing.”
Oh my God.
I’m struggling to hold back not only my surprise, but also my laughter. This is why Rex mentioned pretending we’re in a relationship. He knew Faye would give me shit for bringing him.
Faye stares at us, speechless, before stammering out words, “I, uh … need to find my fiancé.”
“Good idea,” Rex says, turning us away from her and capturing my hand in his. “I’m in desperate need of some alone time with my girlfriend.”
Rex’s grip is firm as he leads me out of the room and into a deserted hallway before releasing me.
I hold up my hands, my palms facing him. “Whoa. I thought we weren’t playing the dating thing.”
He tilts his head, as if he’s studying me, and I do the same.
Faye’s shock of us dating isn’t surprising. Rex is the complete opposite of me. I’m wearing a black dress with a white collar, looking like Wednesday Addams, and my black-rimmed glasses. It was necessary for me to wear black in mourning of her husband losing his soul. I didn’t shower before coming to the dinner, so my hair is half-straight, half-looking crazy.
Rex is wearing a black button-down shirt and dark jeans, his hair perfect even though he hasn’t touched it since this morning.
“We did say that,” he answers, shoving his hands into his pockets. “That changed. Fuck her. No way will I listen to her talk shit about you. She would’ve given you hell all weekend for being solo.” His dark eyes level on me. “This weekend, you’re my girlfriend.”
“Uh …” I draw out. “We have some issues with this game, boyfriend.”
He arches a brow. “Which are?”
“First and foremost, we’re sleeping in separate rooms.”
“Easy fix,” he says with a relaxed smile before it turns boyish. “I’m being a gentleman, respecting your ’rents. Your dad is a preacher. Of course we’re not sleeping together.” His grin moves from boyish to cocky. “I have motherfucking values, Carolina.”
“They won’t buy it.” I shake my head and nervously walk circles around him. “This is so stupid.”
He grabs my hand, spinning me around to face him. “We’ll share a room then. It’s not like we haven’t shared a bed. Shit, I took your virginity.”
I push his shoulder, feeling a deep blush ride up my cheeks, and force myself not to cover my face. “Oh my God! Shut up!” I frantically glance around the hallway, and my response comes out in a low hiss, “People can
hear you!”
“We’re dating, babe. They already assume we’re fucking.” He reaches out and runs his hand over my chin, causing me to shiver. “Now, come on, my sexy-ass girlfriend. We have a dinner to get to.”
That’s the first time he’s brought up taking my virginity. I’m still shocked at myself for building up the courage to ask him that night. Like I told him, I didn’t want to go to college, hauling around my V-card, yet I also had no interest in handing it over to a random guy.
I trusted Rex to be careful with me, to make me comfortable.
He knew I was a virgin and wouldn’t make fun of me for my inexperience.
The best decision I ever made was letting Rex Lane take my virginity.
Well, the best decision for my vagina.
Not the best decision for my heart.
8
Rex
This rehearsal dinner is stuck up as fuck.
I come from money. Not trying to sound like a pretentious asshole, but my family is the wealthiest in Blue Beech. I’ve never acted as snobby as these people, and they’re not nearly as rich as my family.
My family’s money isn’t my money, obviously. I never take advantage of that or run to them for exuberant amounts of cash. They paid for college, but when I decided to move into my own apartment, that was on me. I make most of my income from winning video game tournaments.
But no matter how much money I have had or will ever have, I’d never look down at people like they are—with the exception of Carolina’s parents. Most of the people, including good ole Faye, are treating the servers like shit, complaining about the food, and as soon as one family member turns their back, someone is already talking shit about them.
No wonder Carolina didn’t want to come.
They made a show when they realized they had to move around seating arrangements to make room for me.
“We didn’t think she’d have a plus-one,” Faye’s mother said, her over-injected lips giving my new girlfriend a mocking smile.
Her family members are firing off question after question, as if trying to catch us on our lie. They’re so desperate; it’s sad. It’s easy, playing this game because we know everything about each other. We’ve done so much boyfriend-girlfriend shit together even though we can never be boyfriend-girlfriend.
I can’t cross that line because I can’t lose her.
She’s one of the most important people in my life.
The rehearsal dinner is in the banquet hall of the hotel we’re staying in. It’s also where we’re having brunch in the morning, and the wedding will be held outside the hotel in the garden.
“That was dreadful,” she mutters when dinner is finished and we head back to our rooms. “Thank God you came. I would’ve smothered myself with my napkin.” She blows out a breath and loops her arm through mine. “We need to get out of here before they play another round of Twenty Questions. Swear to God, they were more interested in our love life than the bride and groom’s.”
Carolina isn’t much of a touchy-feely person, except with me, which makes me feel so damn special. It took her a while to warm up to me and my charm. Now, she has no problem leaning into me, sticking her feet in my lap, and resting her head on my shoulder when she’s tired and we’re watching a movie.
Me, on the other hand? I started the whole arm-over-the-shoulders shit as soon we talked. Like she says, I have no boundaries when it comes to her—with the exception of never, ever, ever having sex with her again. That is the only boundary … and hurting her.
“Our love life, huh?” I ask, and she tucks her face into my chest, not wanting to have the conversation of me calling her out for her love life comment. “It’s simple, why they paid more attention to us. The bride and groom are lame as fuck. No one cares about them.”
She pulls back to playfully slap my stomach. “Rex! You’re going to get us kicked out of the wedding.”
We disconnect after stepping into the elevator, and I hit our floor number. Since her parents had already booked her room, I had to bribe the hotel manager to put me next to her.
“I don’t think you’d have a problem with them booting us,” I comment as the elevator doors close. I lean back against the wall and cross my arms, staring at her.
She looks gorgeous. It’s always hard for me to keep my touches platonic, but it’s fucking hell when she dresses up. Her dress hardly shows off any skin—and by hardly, I mean, the bottom of her legs, ankles, and arms. My cock twitches as I remember how perfect she looks under that dress. With every friendly touch I give her, there’s not-so-clean thoughts behind it on my end. I’m proud of how strong I am for holding back.
At dinner, she pulled her black hair into a ponytail, showing off the neck I’d shoved my face in after I came inside her. All I thought about during the main course was how soft her skin would be as I kissed that neck … how she’d react to my lips on her.
She lights up every damn room she walks into, and I hate how much people give her shit for being her. She doesn’t have a boyfriend because she’s selective—thank fuck—and I respect that she’s picky.
“True, but my parents would,” she says, cutting me out of my thoughts.
She’s right. Her parents are all about family and doing the right thing. They’re also strict and expect Carolina to be perfect. That’s one issue I have with them. Carolina was always stressed about school because they put so much pressure on her. She wasn’t allowed to get a bad grade or miss homework because they were focused on her scoring a scholarship. She got a B on a paper once—a fucking B—and her parents lost their shit. She’d hung out with me the night before, and they blamed it on our friendship.
We shuffle out of the elevator when we hit our floor, and she digs through her clutch for her key card.
“Are you coming in and hanging out?” she asks while unlocking it.
“Only if you promise not to fall asleep in ten minutes.”
She glances back at me as we walk into the room. “I can’t make any promises. Stress makes me sleepy, and my stress meter is in the double red.”
I flip on the light. “Stop being stressed then. Who gives a fuck what these people think?”
She sighs. “I know.”
I snatch the extra key card lying on the desk. “I’m taking this.”
She falls down onto the bed and drags her heels off her feet. “Huh?”
I hold up the card. “This is my copy.” I open my wallet, pull out my extra key card, and drop it where hers was. “Here’s my spare for you.” I stick my new key into my pocket. “In case I need to get into your room or you need to get into mine.”
“Gotcha.” She jerks her head toward the bathroom. “Let me change first.”
“Same. I’ll be right back.” I run to my room and change into gray sweats and a tee.
When I return to her room, she’s walking out of the bathroom, wearing similar sweats and an oversize tee with our high school’s logo on it.
Technically, they’re my pajamas since both items used to belong to me. Swear to God, every time she stays over, another piece of my clothing goes missing. My attempts at getting them back have stopped because I never win.
I grin. “I’m going to have to start charging you for your theft,” I say, falling down onto her bed, lying on my side, and holding my head up with my elbow. I might complain, but secretly, I love seeing her in my clothes.
She rolls her eyes. “Yeah, right.” She tugs at the bottom of my shirt. “They don’t make women’s clothes this comfy. Therefore, your clothes are my clothes.”
She makes herself comfortable next to me, her back against the headboard, and turns on the TV to Live PD.
It’s our favorite show.
Twenty minutes later, Carolina is knocked out.
I chuckle to myself and carefully slide off the bed, not wanting to wake her. I throw the covers over her, kiss her forehead, and then go back to my room. As soon as I walk in, my phone rings.
“Hello?” I answer.
> “Hey, little bro,” Sierra, my older sister, says on the other line. “Are you busy tomorrow? I think my computer is on crack, and it needs you to take it to rehab. I can’t access any of my clients’ files.”
“Sorry, sis, but I’m in Texas with Carolina all weekend,” I reply.
“Oh, I like,” she gushes.
Everyone in my family is Team Rex and Carolina Need to Date. There isn’t one person who dislikes her. In fact, sometimes, I think they like her better than me.
“Shut up,” I grumble.
My grumpiness doesn’t faze her.
“What are you doing? Couples retreat?”
“Piss off. She had a family wedding and didn’t want to go alone.”
“I wish you two would start dating. You pretty much already act like husband and wife; it’d just have more benefits.”
I make a gagging noise. “Gross. You’re my sister.”
She laughs.
I yawn. “I’m wiped. I’ll look at your computer when I get home.”
We say our good nights, and I notice a text from the chick I’ve been hanging out with lately.
I ignore it.
Ever since Carolina came to me, heartbroken, it’s been hard for me to be around other women. I always want to make sure she’s okay. I hate seeing her hurt, and it kills me when I think about her falling for a complete scumbag who took advantage of her.
I hate how much I care about her but can’t imagine her not being in my life.
I love Carolina Adams, and there’s nothing I can do about it because I wouldn’t survive losing her.
9
Carolina
Rex isn’t answering my calls.
If he overslept, I’m kicking his ass.
All eyes have been on us since his relationship announcement. If we’re late, there will no doubt be more gossip. I brainstorm on possible excuses for our tardiness.
We overslept.
Had wild morning sex.
Got it on in the shower.
Okay, I need to stop with the sex cop-outs.
Just Friends (Blue Beech) Page 7