muscular, wild-haired things that still paid me visits every night in my dreams.
I dragged my thoughts away from all of that and started listening to my friend, Val. She was one of that rare breed of friend that transcended time and space. It didn’t really matter that we’d both moved across the country a million times in the past few years. When she was in town, we hung out. And if neither of us would be in the same town for a few months, we found a way to make it happen. So when she knew she’d be near New York this week, we made sure that meant she got a place to stay and scheduled as much time together as we could manage.
Val was a former dancer turned instructor. She still had the slender frame and gracefulness, but thankfully had learned to enjoy herself a little more than in past years. I was happy to see hear actually eating carbs as she chewed her bagel.
“Is Texas still a no-fly zone?” Val asked. Her thick brown hair was pulled back in a bun, but exploded in a wild, poufy chaos of curls. She had rounded features with caramel colored eyes I always found comforting.
“Texas is… yeah. I haven’t even talked to Lance, so it’s basically an open wound I’m not in any hurry to poke.”
“What about the fact that I saw you on a magazine cover?” She pursed her lips and tilted her head in a way that let me know she’d been dying to tease me about it.
I sighed. “Seriously? I hadn’t heard about that, but I guess I shouldn’t be surprised.”
“The picture was actually really flattering. Then again, Chris Rose was practically swallowing you up in it. It looked like if he kissed you any deeper, his tongue would’ve popped out of your asshole.”
I cringed. “Thanks for that disturbing image.”
“So?”
I wiggled my head around, trying to decide what to even say for myself. “Well, I told him to basically get lost after that.”
“So I was right in guessing he was bullshitting? I knew my best friend in the whole world wouldn’t have been secretly dating a superstar and not tell me. Especially if she was tangled in some scandalized secret wedding slash fake wedding.”
I grimaced. “Yeah, well, you called it. Except I kinda sorta hooked up with Chris Rose a couple weeks ago. On an airplane,” I added with a devious wiggle of my eyebrows. I couldn’t help it, okay? Trophy dick may not have been a widely accepted aspect of female culture, but it should’ve been. Hell, I should’ve been able to get his gorgeous cock molded and hung up on my wall like some big game huntress.
Val didn’t react for a few seconds, then she flashed an uncertain smile. “Where’s the punchline?”
“There isn’t one.” I leaned forward, gesturing vaguely with my hands to show her how big it was. “It was fantastic. And stupid. But fantastic.”
Val reached across the table to slap me. “Stop lying to me.” But she was smiling broadly now.
I spent the next few minutes filling her in on the fiasco Chris and his wedding turned out to be, wrapping it up with my version of events at the aquarium restaurant.
“Wow,” Val said. “And you seriously told him to go fuck himself?”
“Not in those exact words. But what was I supposed to do? I mean, how could I live with myself if I agreed to something like that.”
“Because it sounds like he just wants it to be an excuse to be around you more, doofus.”
“What?”
“Think about it. The guy is cornered in the stupid mess he and his brother created. If he’s not ‘engaged’ he’s got to at least be off the market. He obviously likes you, and even if he was hiding the truth about this whole thing to you, he’s probably thinking now you two can finally bump uglies again.”
“I doubt it. I think he just wanted to use me, and I was the one who happened to be standing close enough when the shit hit the fan.”
“Oh, come on. You modeled wedding dresses for him. You tried cakes. You picked out colors and decorations and themes. Think about it, Belle. You practically planned your dream wedding with this guy. So what if it’s fake? You get the best of both worlds if you go along with it. A fast and furious relationship with Chris Rose, no strings attached. A dream wedding. Then a ‘this shit ends here’ clause to make