Page 57 of Mastered By Love


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“Thanks.”He stares at my hands.“What the fuck happened to you?”

His parents and aunts are subtly ignoring me—unlike Danica, who is very obviously ignoring me.

“Oh.”I move my injured wrist behind my back.“Something dumb.I’ll explain later.”

His eyes narrow as he frowns.

“Snacks?”I say, holding up the bag again.

Dmitri takes the tote and looks inside.He pulls out Gage’s flask.“What’s this?”

“A loan from Gage.He’s thinking about you, wanted me to pass it on.”

“Fuck.Thanks.”Dmitri opens the flask and takes a swig.

Not a single one of his family members is acknowledging me.It hurts.At one point, I looked up to Danica and Dmitri’s parents like they were my own.I used to wish I was their daughter.

Dmitri glares at his family and leads me to the far end of the waiting room.

He holds out Gage’s flask.“You might need this more than I do.”

“I’m sorry.I shouldn’t have come.I just—I like your grandfather, and I’m worried about him, and I thought everyone might get hungry because sometimes there’s a lot of waiting?—”

“Leah.”He sets the tote bag down on a nearby chair and cups my face.His hands are warm and they smell pleasantly soapy.He always smells so good—it should be illegal.“I want you here.My family doesn’t matter?—”

“Yes we fucking do.”Danica’s voice comes from behind me, and suddenly her middle finger is held up between Dmitri and me.

I squeak and jump back from Dmitri—which means I fall right into Danica.

She catches my arms—and despite being four inches shorter and about twenty pounds lighter than me—she manages to keep us both upright.

“Sorry, sorry.”I pull away.

Her pale gray eyes meet mine.“No.I’msorry.I was a dick.You don’t have to apologize anymore.Now give me some of that whiskey.”

I shift my glance over to Dmitri, who’s smiling like a proud older brother.Then I throw my arms around Danica.I don’t even bother holding back my tears.It’s pointless to resist.Our rift has been like a splinter jammed under my fingernail.Now it’s finally gone, and the relief is heady.

“Stop, don’t cry.”Danica squeezes me.“I’m already crying.I missed you so fucking much.”

“Same,” I whisper.

Danica, Dmitri, and I take seats next to a stack of magazines about local hot spots.We share snacks and pass around the flask.It’s more Danica and I who pass the flask—Dmitri declines.

He gives my wrist a pointed look.“Now would be a good time to tell us the story.”

“Oh.Uh.Well, it’s a long story,” I hedge.

A disappointed shake of his head, and his gray eyes grow more steely than usual.“Leah.”

“Ooh, he sounds serious.”Danica takes another swig from the flask and passes it back to me.

I take my own healthy swig and share the story.Dmitri is properly furious, Danica indignant, and I just want to forget about it all.After a lot of negotiation, they finally let it go.I breathe easily, no longer in the hot seat.I’m sure this isn’t the end of it, though.That random woman is still out there somewhere.And who knows how many other mentally unstable followers Nicola has?I only fell on the sidewalk.Next time, I could fall into traffic.

Later.Nicola’s unhinged followers are a problem for Future Leah.In this moment, I’m reunited with my bestie.Even though the circumstances are sad and stressful, I want to make the most of it.

Amid hushed worrying about her granddad, Danica and I chat about the things we missed while we weren’t speaking.I have the sense she isn’t telling me everything.I hope it’s just that she doesn’t want to share all the fun details of her dating life while Dmitri is sitting right here.Or…maybe she doesn’t trust me?The idea guts me.

I’ll wait until the two of us are alone before asking her, though.I’m such a chicken.