“Phone call for you, sugar,” Shadae Huxley called out the back door. “Says she’s a friend of Nyx’s.”
I frowned as I set down the rotted fence post I’d just pulled out of the ground. “Can you take a message? I want to get this next post in and the hole filled before it gets dark.”
“Do I look like a damn secretary or your mother?” Shadae shook a spoon at me. “Now, you best get in here before I start thinkin’ you’re messin’ around on that sweet girl.”
I knew better than to argue with the woman who served as my boss, my landlord, and my friend, even though I had a few things I could’ve said about the less-than-sweet Nyx Phoenix. As I walked toward the house, I pulled my shirt from my back pocket and wiped my face.
September was almost over, but it was still hotter than Satan’s balls. For a moment, I let myself wonder what it was like in New York, but then I pushed the thought away. Nyx had just left, and I hadn’t found out about it until I’d gone to her cabin to walk with her to breakfast and found the note she’d put on her door. It’d been addressed to Shadae and Brew, and there hadn’t been a single damn word for me.
I didn’t know what Nyx and I had, but I didn’t think that total exclusion boded well for us.
“Did she give you her name?” I took my shoes off, leaving them on the porch before stepping inside the kitchen.
Shadae held out the phone. “Kaimi Edlund.”
I recognized the name, and an unreasonable fear went through me. Kaimi was Nyx’s best friend and the person whose wedding Nyx was attending this weekend. Was she calling because Nyx hadn’t arrived yet? Or had Nyx wanted to end things with me but been too afraid to do it herself?
The questions raced through my mind in the few seconds it took me to put the phone to my ear. “Hello?”
“Is this Bradyn?”
“It is.”
“My name’s Kaimi Edlund. I’m a friend of Nyx Phoenix.”
“I’ve heard of you.”
“Then you know that Nyx is here in New York for my wedding.” She made it a statement and then got right to the point of her call. “She doesn’t have a plus-one, and pretty much everyone else we’ve invited is coming as a pair. I was hoping you’d come be her date, starting tomorrow night at the rehearsal.”
Of all the possibilities I’d considered in the last two minutes, an invitation to a wedding hundreds of miles away hadn’t been one of them.
“The fact that you’re calling instead of Nyx makes me think she doesn’t know about us talking.” It was the politest way I could think of to address the proverbial elephant in the room.
“She doesn’t,” Kaimi cleared her throat, “but she doesn’t always know what’s best for her either.”
Considering the little I knew about Nyx, that made sense, especially since Kaimi was family. Like Nyx, I knew that real, true family had very little to do with DNA.
“I’d like to surprise her,” Kaimi continued. “She told me about how well the two of you hit it off, and I think she’ll be thrilled to see you.”
My ears burned, and it had nothing to do with the sun I’d been working under most of the day. How much had Nyx shared? I wasn’t a prude or ashamed or anything like that, but I wasn’t an exhibitionist either.
Sex, for me, was a private thing. Sure, I didn’t mind risky stuff like when Nyx and I had been in the hayloft or getting a little hot and heavy at a club like Hades, but details weren’t something I usually shared. The fact that I didn’t know if I could say the same about Nyx bothered me.
“I’ll help out with a plane ticket and hotel if the cost is an issue.”
I appreciated the offer, but it still made me want to laugh. Not too long ago, I would’ve been able to use a private jet and rent a hotel room at one of the best hotels in New York. Now, thanks to my principles, the most I could do was say that I didn’t need financial help.
“No, thank you.” I glanced at the clock. “Money’s not really the problem. It’s flight availability. I don’t know if I can get one in time.”
“Another reason it’d be better as a surprise.” I heard footsteps across the line and thought she must be pacing. “If you’re not able to