Page 37 of Sour Notes

“Well, Mia, if you ever get tired of him and want a real man, feel free to look me up. I’ll show myself out.”

Red hot fury floods my veins and I shoot to my feet so fast my chair falls to the floor with a bang. It’s becoming a habit these days, apparently.

“What did you just say?” My voice comes out low, menacing, my muscles bunched so tight, the veins in my neck and forearms bulge.

His eyes widen and he picks up the pace, scurrying towards the front door.

I turn to follow when Mia halts me in my tracks, grabbing my hand.

“Hey, hey, it’s okay, baby. Let him go.” She cups my face, her thumbs stroking my rigid jaw, and I fold like the little bitch I am for this girl.

“He’s a di⁠—”

She surges up to her tiptoes and stops me with a kiss. The third one she’s offered voluntarily tonight. “Thank you for defending me,” she whispers against my lips before bending down to pick up my chair and pushing me back onto it.

Everyone’s looking at us with a mix of bemused and elated expressions on their faces, and in the mix of all the commotion, the random girl left too.

Mia turns to her mom, my hand in hers again, shaking her head. “Mom, I told you not to interfere. Now look what happened.”

Yeah, now look, Maria.

My dream girl is holding my hand, has kissed me multiple times, and I’m calling her my girlfriend.

Maybe I should be a tiny bit grateful to Maria for interfering.

Not that I’d admit that out loud. Mia would have my balls in a second.

I’ll just keep living in sweet denial.

Except it’s fake. She doesn’t want to be with you for real you idiot. If she did, she’d have agreed to go on a date with you months ago.

“I’m sorry, Mia. I promise we won’t interfere again, will we, Christine?”

Ahhh, so my mom was involved. No wonder I had a mystery plus one here tonight too. Jesus.

“Absolutely not.”

“It’s such fantastic news, though.” Maria pauses to clap her hands. “It also works out perfectly because Niko called earlier to say there’d been a mix-up with the Cavos hotel booking and we were short a room for the wedding. Obviously, that was fate all along. We didn’t pay the room deposit because we wouldn’t be needing it. Let me go call him and tell him the good news before he does anything drastic.” She jumps to her feet, striding into the kitchen.

“Awww I wish we were going to the wedding, Mom. School sucks.” Izzy looks sadly at my sister.

“Niko mou, great news. We don’t need another room. Swayze and Mia will share because they’re⁠—”

Wait. What did Maria just say? Did she just tell my best friend I’m fucking his sister? That I’ll be sharing a room with her? A bed???

My palms break out in a sweat and I swipe my free hand on my jeans. I can put on a show for dinner, maybe a couple of hours at a push, but I can’t spend two weeks on a Greek island sharing a room with her in a friggin’ honeymoon hotel.

There's no way. I’ve seen the photos. Each bedroom is essentially a secluded cave with a huge bed and a plunge pool looking out to sea. Where am I supposed to sleep? On a fucking floaty?

Mia must feel me tense up again because she squeezes my hand under the table.

Oh no, you wench. Your touch won’t work this time. You’ve signed me up to toss my heart into a fucking blender, ready for you to shred it.

It’s a hard no from me.

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MIA