I up his speed without him realizing and he fumbles to keep up, falling off the back of the treadmill.
Payback is a bitch.
Chapter Eleven
Rian
“A date?” Blanca’s eyes light up.
“With Jax?” The disgust in Sierra’s voice tells me where her allegiance lies.
“He asked.” I sit in Sierra’s plush living room on Sunday afternoon. I guess when you date a prince, you end up living a cushy lifestyle.
“Is that the only reason you’re going out with him?” Blanca asks. She’s sitting cross-legged and reading a bridal magazine. They’ve yet to set a date, though I know she’s getting pressure from her mom about having a big Italian wedding.
“No.” I fall over on the couch, clutching a pillow to my stomach. I wish Dylan was the one who had asked me out, but I have no control over him. The look on his face this morning when I told him made me think for a second that he didn’t want me to go. Then he smiled and said it was cool. “He’s a funny guy actually.”
“I ran into him in the elevator the other day. He asked me why I would want to get married.” Blanca’s face shows no emotion, I’m not sure where her mind is. “I had three commitment-phobe brothers. I’m familiar with the type.”
“See!” Sierra refills our glasses of wine.
Blanca raises her hand. “But I’ve also witnessed what happens when they find a woman who brings them to their knees, so I can say with confidence that sometimes the playboy falls.”
“Hardly ever—except in a romance novel.” Sierra sits next to Blanca and points at the open page of the magazine. “Beautiful.”
“Too revealing.” Blanca flips the page. “Shall I remind you that you’re with a prince who didn’t exactly keep his dick in his pants?”
Sierra smiles as if she’s remembering something. It’s common knowledge that she and Adrian slept together their first night together. Not that any of us care, but if he was like that with her, I’m sure there were girls before her.
“Where is he anyway?” I ask.
“Sandsal. Gets in tonight.” Another million-dollar smile is on Sierra’s lips. Adrian has to go back and forth to his country on occasion until everything is done and the new rules of the monarchy are official. Long story that I don’t care to get into. Sierra points at another page in the magazine. “Oh, I like that one.”
Blanca turns the magazine so that I can see it and we both laugh.
“What?” Sierra asks.
“That’s you, not Blanca.” The dress is a skintight mermaid-style design. Blanca is more a fairytale Cinderella-style dress girl. As for me, I have no idea what I would want to wear.
“Sometimes you have to go outside your comfort zone,” Sierra says. “You have the body.” She stands and disappears into the kitchen.
A little of the tension releases with Sierra’s departure, though it’s not because of her. Sierra and I met in college, and I was intimidated. She had a quick tongue, never afraid to tell people what she was thinking. Her personality was loud and boisterous. You either hated her or loved her. I guess you can be drawn to your opposite, because I never cared if I stood in her shadow or was drowned out by her ability to control everything. In some ways, I envy that side of her. If Jax had cornered her in the grocery store, she would’ve known exactly how to react. Whereas my comebacks come twenty minutes later.
“I’m kind of nervous,” I say to Blanca.
She looks up from her magazine, shuts it, and scoots closer. “Why?”
I shrug, sipping my wine. “He’s forward.”
Blanca’s lips turn down. “I’m not sure this is such a good idea. I mean, if you still like Dylan and you’re trying to get a reaction from him, what if you don’t get the one you’re looking for?”
She sips her wine as I recall my day with Dylan in New York City. When he took me to his foster mom’s grave. How much he divulged to me. More than he has with anyone else as far as I know. I almost understand how someone growing up like that could leave someone scared to lose anyone they care for.
“I’m not trying to get a reaction out of him.” The words feel like a blatant lie coming off my tongue, but I have to save some face. “I think maybe it’s time I move on.”
There’s a little truth to my words. I’ve been pining away for Dylan for years, and though I did hope for a reaction from him, maybe it really is time to accept that nothing’s ever going to happen between us. I can’t put my life on hold forever, hoping that will change.
Blanca nods. “True enough. See what else is out there.”
I twist my hands in my lap. “But Jax doesn’t bite his tongue, and you know me. I’m slow on the uptake. I’m polite to a fault.”
“Oh, Rian.” She puts down her wine and slides over, wrapping her arm around my shoulders. “If you’re not comfortable, don’t go. If you want to go, then just be straight with him. If you’re uncomfortable, call me. I grew up with three brothers—I know exactly where to hurt them.”
I laugh, understanding what she’s saying. “It’s just… what am I going to wear? A cardigan and mom jeans?”
“Dramatic much?” Blanca says.
Sierra comes out with a tray of cheese and crackers and grapes.
“We’re not royalty,” Blanca says, laughing and sharing a look with me. “I’d happily take chips and guacamole.”
“Well, this is what I have. Believe me, if I served this to the queen, she’d probably turn her nose up at it.” She falls into the couch and appraises Blanca’s arm around my shoulders. Her finger waggles between us. “What’s going on?”
“Rian’s a little nervous.”
Blanca says it nicely, but in truth, my heart has drummed all day whenever I think about the date.
“I’m not his type,” I say.
“You don’t even know his type,” Sierra says, which I guess is technically true, but I checked his Instagram account. There’s definitely a specific type of woman he hangs out with.
“I have no tattoos. There’s nothing edgy or sexy about me.” I could keep going, but Sierra’s eyes widening with excitement stops me.
“Uh oh,” Blanca says, laughing because we’ve seen that look on Sierra’s face more than once. The last time was when she decided to enter a contest to win a date with Prince Adrian Marx. Of course, that worked out pretty well for her. “What are you thinking?”
“Makeover!” Sierra tosses the rest of the cracker into her mouth and springs up off the couch, her hand on my arm pulling me up. “Come on.”
“Like what kind of makeover?” I say, allowing her to tug me off the couch.
Blanca follows us.
“Nothing crazy. We’ll just show off your amazing body a little more than you usually do. Maybe some more dramatic makeup.”
Before I can blink, I’m on Sierra’s bed and she’s lost in her closet. Blanca runs her hand down my arm, shooting me a sympathetic smile before joining Sierra in her closet.