Not noticing her life being on the line, or maybe she does and doesn’t care, Nova claps and does a small dance in her chair. “Aw, you’re still in the honeymoon phase. Are you guys planning on going somewhere nice?”
“Oh! What about the Halloween party?” Olivia asks. “Are you both doing something fun? I can totally see you guys pulling off Morticia and Gomez.”
Jaxon’s dark eyebrows bunch together as he looks between Olivia and Nova.
Yeah, I’m just as shocked as he is. I was so worried about them being awful toward Dahlia and Jaxon, which leaves mefeeling awful I even assumed that of them. They were on the same page about Mickey and his friends being jerks. We were just too scared to walk away because of the backlash we would have gotten.
“Right, Maddy?” Nova says, drawing me out of my thoughts.
I blink and turn to her. “Hm?”
Everyone at the table stares at me, expecting an answer.
Nova smiles. “I was telling Dahlia how we don’t mind if she wants to join us shopping.”
“Oh.” I look at Dahlia, then Jaxon, who’s staring at me with less hate, but it’s clear he’s still guarded. “Yeah, I don’t mind at all. It’ll be fun.”
“See!” Nova claps her hands. “We can get stuff for our Halloween costumes.”
Yeah. It’ll be fun. I only hope I can keep my mouth shut about her relationship. That will be hard when I hoped to get advice about dating my brother.
“MILLION DOLLAR BABY” TOMMY RICHMAN
After Dahlia finishes eating, we leave the food court and walk through the mall. Time passes quickly as we shop. After visiting a few stores, I realize I’ll have to purchase the items I need online. I only hope I can get them before the Halloween party.
I peek at Dahlia for the hundredth time. She’s holding hands with Jaxon, who refuses to leave her side.
It’s sweet how perfect they are for each other. The more I watch them, the more I notice how Jaxon will do anything tomake Dahlia happy, whether it’s holding her shopping bags, buying things she looks at for longer than fifteen seconds, or giving her a heart-wrenching smile when she shows him something that’s piqued her interest.
I can’t help but wonder what it would be like to have a love like that.
Justin wouldn’t do anything sweet like Jaxon does for Dahlia. My fiancé would sneer at anything I showed him. He’d walk ahead of me and tell me to hurry up. Hell, he probably wouldn’t even want me around my friends. He’s the type who’ll shut me away from the world so he can control my every move.
My thoughts slip to Ryder and how he would treat me.
Butterflies fill my stomach.
Ryder would likely be my shadow. His hand would slip onto my waist as he leaned over to look at whatever I held. He’d probably murmur something dirty in my ear or compliment me. If we were alone together, he’d hold my hand. At least, that’s what I would hope for, anyway.
Or he’d be like how he’s always been: distant and cold. He’d shrug and tell me to move it along so we could leave.
I frown at how fast my thoughts turned for the worst.
“You look upset.”
I jump and slap my hand over my chest, directly over my racing heart. Dahlia offers me an apologetic smile and briefly touches my arm to apologize for spooking me.
I force a smile and shake my head. “I’m fine.”
She glances at my friends, who huddle at a clothing rack as they search for the next thing they’d like to buy. Jaxon stands off to the side, acting as Dahlia’s own personal guard dog while giving her space to interact with me.
“The classic response when you really aren’t fine,” Dahlia says with a soft laugh. “It’s okay if you don’t want to talk about it.”
“Wait.” I snag her wrist as she pulls away from me. Dahlia’s lips part in surprise, but she doesn’t move.
My face tingles from the weight of Jaxon’s glare, but I refuse to look away from Dahlia. He doesn’t move from his spot, arms crossed over his chest. At least he isn’t automatically going on the defense.
“Are you . . .” I nervously lick my lip.
