Buried secrets, two girls with the same face, and a boy who loved too much.
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When Travis and Nicole meet on a bus for the first time, he thinks she's his ex, Rachel, who broke his heart two years ago. But he doesn't understand why she's pretendin...
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"WHY AM I EVEN convincing you to come to your own birthday party?" Merlinda glared hard at her phone.
"Honey," came Cy's amused voice. "I understand the unfairness, but at least you know it's not difficult to convince me. All you have to do is show me those perfect tits."
Totally baffled, she stared at the screen. "Cyrus Damien Jordan, I'm driving, you imbecilic perve!" I wondered if she knew a blush covered her cheeks adorably.
"Come on, Mama, just unbutton your shirt," unaffected by her outburst, he drawled.
Despite her flushed cheeks, she looked down her nose at him in that regal way only she could pull off and said through gritted teeth, "I'm not unbuttoning shit."
That affected Cy. "Merlinda, no, don't say 'shit'!"
"Then stop acting like you're some sex-starved lunatic."
"I am sex-starved," he pointed out and earned a withering glare.
"You're impossible to deal with sometimes."
"It's only when I'm horny."
"You're always horny."
"Only when I'm around you. I mean, which guy in his right mind wouldn't be horny if he saw you? You're the sexiest—"
Wisely I covered my snort with a cough. He was silent for a few seconds, then asked Merlinda quietly, "Is someone else in the car?"
"Of course."
"Don't tell me it's Mrs. Rafferty!" He was alarmed. "I promised her I wouldn't so much as look at you with lust until you're thirty and we're married."
My next snort was so loud I slapped a hand on my mouth.
"Or worse, Marilyn," he begged. "She invited me for Bible studies last month, and I happened to assure her last week that I'm born again and living like a monk."
Merlinda couldn't help but laugh, too. "Don't worry, it's Nicole." She turned the phone stand so the camera faced me. I was met with Cy Jordan's handsome face and his easy smile.
A rush of fond memories immediately filled me. He was one badass and ruthless spawn of Satan who was head over heels in love with his girlfriend. My mind took me back to last year, when he took me shopping in order to bribe me into telling him Merlinda's favorite things so he could throw a surprise birthday party for her.
When Merlinda found out I was hanging out with her boyfriend behind her back, she assumed the worst. It caused a terrible rift between our friendship and her relationship with Cy as well.
By the time everything had been settled, I'd distanced myself from Cy completely. No random checkups. No sharing of funny reels on Instagram. Nothing.
And without me having to say anything, he understood. He was a good guy and one of the few people who saw past my facade, thanks to the day I hammered him about him having to face his feelings about Merlinda before he totally lost her.
