“I could only afford about fifteen-kay right now. Why, do you think I should have gotten a bigger diamond?”
My brain’s going to explode. The poor Starbucks kids are going to have to clean chunks of brain matter off the walls. I can’t believe he did this. “She doesn’t love you.”
“She hasn’t given me a chance.”
“You’re going to give me an aneurysm.” I pull in an annoyed breath. “This is a joke. You’re kidding me, right? You can’t possibly believe that she’s going to leave the man she loves for you. He beat you to the punch, man. Sack up and deal with it.”
“She didn’t give me a chance,” he repeats, like I’m supposed to understand.
“No, you were too chicken shit to take your chance when you had it. She never knew you were flirting with her! You had to make it obvious, that’s what MacLaine did! And you don’t hold a candle to MacLaine, Russia. He’s it for her.”
“You’re not making sense.”
My eye-tick is back, blood pounding right underneath my eyeball. I’m going to kill him, and it’ll be worth it, especially when everything is going according to plan. “She doesn’t want big diamonds. You don’t get it, you don’t get her. I don’t think you ever did.”
“I love her, Katie. I really do. I don’t have to prove it to you. I have to prove it to her.”
“No. I said no. You can’t do that to her. Leave her be. She’s engaged with someone she loves, you moron.”
Russia gets a gleam of determination in his eyes and I might as well have signed the divorce papers for Sera and Hunter and they aren’t even married yet. “We’re going to see about that,” he says, and leaves.
I sit like a bump on a log until Sera comes to meet me and offers to buy me a caramel macchiato. I don’t say no.
“Here you go, buddy. It’s been a whole week since I told you you’re the big MOH, but I didn’t mean that you had to start planning it right away. I know how busy you are.”
I shake my head. “I need to start sorting out my priorities.” I get a high five for using that reference properly. “As such, you and MacLaine’s wedding is numero uno. Okay, I just lied. Dean is numero uno for the foreseeable future and you and MacLaine come second, but really the marginal increase on those two is so minuscule, you can’t really be bothered by it.”
“So you told him?”
“Told me what?” Dean says, coming to sit down with a paid book in his hands. “Thanks for the book recommendation, Sera. Brent Weeks is an awesome writer. So you girls do your thing, and I’m going to go hunt down a stuffed chair so I can read. Call me when you’re done, kitten?”
Dean’s face gets close and he kisses me lightly. Now I want to rip his clothes off.
“I… I love you.”
Crinkled eyes stare back at me, and his face looks like it’s going to split he’s grinning so hard. “Right back at ya. Take however long you need, I don’t mind. Sera, I hear congratulations are in order. Come on in for a hug,” he says, getting up, book in hand and wingspan extended to the fullest.
Sera obliges him and laughs when he gives her a squeeze.
“Alright, girl-time, Dean. I’ll see you later, okay?”
Dean nods and salutes me.
I look away from my hot boyfriend, yeah, boyfriend, and see Sera staring at me with bright eyes. Ah, shit, she can’t do this to me.
“Don’t you see, K?”
“What? What’s wrong now?”
Sera shakes her head, sniffing. “You landed a nerd! A nerd! The world is an awesome place!”
Yeah… I guess I did. I’m more than okay with that.
Chapter 30
I get more than my share of complements when it comes to my presentation skills. I excel at making my colleagues relaxed, and I can say what I need to with confidence and alacrity while responding to any kind of critical analysis with enough badassery that my boss always gives me a nod of approval.
Except here I’m surrounded by my friends – friends that are as good as family… and Dean.
I don’t want to screw this up. My mouth rivals the dryness of sandpaper and I hastily take a large swig of my champagne. The music peters out and the DJ announces my name over the speakers. I get a mixture of a polite applause and whooping coming from the boys’ table, along with Josh yelling for me to ‘chug, chug, chug!’.
What a freaking animal.
I stand slowly to my feet, feeling again like everything below my knees is made of Jell-O and my fingers are numb. I pull a smile on my face because that’s what you do when you’re about to give the maid of honour speech at your best friend’s wedding.