Something About Harry(70)

This was more like the Astrid she’d learned to appreciate early on in their friendship before they’d teamed up with Leah and Ying. Mara let out a breath. “I’m so relieved. I worried about it all night. I didn’t call or text because I didn’t want to push you.” Mostly true. She had worried Astrid would hack off her limbs and use them to make a Mara marionette. Relief flooded her from head to toe, almost making her shaky.

Astrid waved a dismissive hand and smiled. “I’m really happy and excited for you. All the time invested finally paid off. So, if you don’t mind me asking, when did this happen? How did I miss it? Was I being selfish again?”

Now the lying began—again. She turned to wash her hands in the sink, letting the disinfectant soap pile into her hand until it looked like soft-serve ice cream. “Just two days ago. Harry asked me out, actually kind of suddenly. I never picked up the vibe from him. Well, you know that because we talked about it so much. So I was surprised, but I said yes, of course, and we just sort of clicked. It’s nothing official yet. But we figured it would be stupid to try and hide it.”

Astrid nodded her consent, a smile still fastened to her face. “Definitely not easy with the kind of gossip that goes on here. How are you going to handle that, by the way? The human and werewolf thing? I mean, the humans won’t think anything of it, but the werewolves will be curious. I know the rule no longer applies to us dating humans, but you know, the old order still exists in some narrow minds. Everyone knows you’re my friend, so I want to give the kind of answers you’re comfortable with. Just say the word.”

Mara paused for a moment, trying to pick up any sign Astrid was just giving good face, but there was nothing. Not a hint of dissent. She turned to face her to find Astrid smiling. “For now, we’re just trying to see what happens. Day by day thing. So maybe just say we’re taking it slow and that’s all you know?”

“You got it. And I’m still sorry I kind of ruined the intro bit.”

Mara gave her a sudden, grateful hug, partially out of relief that she was pretty sure Astrid wasn’t the one who was snatching people out of their lives, and partially because when she tried, she was a really good friend. “It’s all good. Forget it and come have lunch with Harry and me today, okay?”

Astrid smiled again, holding the door of the bathroom open for Mara. “You bet. Save me a seat.”

On another sigh, Mara waved to her and skipped off to her beloved lab, happy in the knowledge she had Astrid’s support of her new relationship with her pretend boyfriend.

She ran right into Leah on her way back down the hall. “Hey? You okay?” her friend asked.

Mara forced herself to look her directly in the eye. “Yeah. I’m good. Why do you ask?”

Leah rolled her eyes, brushing her sandy hair away from her face. “I just saw you leave the bathroom with Astrid. Is she giving you shit about you and Harry? Because I know what she’s like, and she’ll suck the life out of all the fun. Just like she does with everything else that even remotely smells like happiness.”

Mara squeezed her arm. “Actually, this might surprise you, but she apologized for being so awful to Harry yesterday. Said she was happy for us, and that she was just upset because I didn’t tell her about us first.”

Leah made a face. “She’s a nut, Mara. You be careful around her. Who says she should have been the first to know anyway? Is she like your mother now? That’s why we stopped indulging you at lunch when you talked about Harry—because Astrid always acted like it was just a secret between you two instead of all of us. She got mad at Ying once because she mentioned something you’d said about Harry, and Astrid didn’t know about it. It made Ying and me uncomfortable. It’s like she wants to wear your skin or something.”

Mara made a face, taken aback by this new information. “Grim.”

Leah snorted. “No kidding. But anyway, as long as you’re okay—just know we’re happy for you. He’s hot. So, so hot. I’d be jealous if not for the fact that you’ve been crushing on him forever.”

Yeah. Forever. And now here she was. At the end of forever. Instead of divulging that, she smiled at Leah, grateful for her support. “Thanks, Leah. Thank Ying, too.”

Leah squeezed her arm. “Will do. Gotta run—see you tomorrow. Don’t do anything I wouldn’t do with your hot new boyfriend, huh?” She chuckled as she turned to leave.

If only he was really her hot boyfriend.

A big hell yeah for all things fake.


* * *


HARRY fought to concentrate, loosening his tie and ruffling invoices needing approval on his desk. He was still working at blocking out the overwhelming buzz of voices in the office, but it was distracting and took all of his effort to focus on the task.