Page 169 of My Ruthless Neighbor

I am torn between squeezing them and reprimanding them.

“Why would I party when I’m single?” I force a laugh. “You guys carry on. I’m going to snuggle Goldie and binge watch a Netflix series.”

“Freddie is single too. He’s still throwing the party, isn’t he?” Hannah points out. “And besides, you don’t need a reason to party in L.A.”

“Yeah, but I don’t feel like going out.” And Archer will be here any minute.

Raleigh gets up and stalks to me. Grabbing my shoulders, he squints at me. “Summer, you have two options. Come with us to this party and dance the night away or we could sit down right now and have a talk about what happened yesterday. You’ll have to tell us everything because we are not blind. We saw how your face fell when you saw that picture.”

I open my mouth but he cuts me off. “I know you don’t like to talk about personal stuff. But we are your friends. We care for you. Do you think we can enjoy when our friend is hurting?”

I avert my eyes, my nose stinging. Hannah comes to my side and brushes the tendrils off my face. “We are a family, Summer. And we won’t ever force you to speak about things you want to keep secret. Tell us when you are ready and in the meantime be happy. Be you. The real you who finds happiness in everything.”

A tear rolls over my cheek. Raleigh catches it with his thumb and wipes it away. “Come with us. Forget about everything for tonight and justlive.”

I give them a watery smile. “That was quite the speech.” Both of them chuckle at that.

Sniffling, I look down when I feel Goldie nudging his head to my leg. “What about Goldie? I can’t leave him alone.”

“What about the dog sitter?”

“Look at the time, it’s almost ten p.m. And I doubt she’ll come as it’s Valentine’s Day.”

“Well, look what I found.” Hannah taps away at her phone before holding it up for us to see.

A 24/7 dog daycare. And it’s located near my apartment building.

I bite my lip. “Well, what if he gets anxious? He’s not used to new places. Remember that day when I had to bring him to KIM Advertising building?” The poor baby was frightened and exhausted by all the barking.

“They are professionals and have been running the daycare for the past twenty years. I’m sure he’ll be fine. You can pick him up first thing in the morning.” Hannah says as she is viewing their website.

“But—”

“No buts. You are coming with us and that’s final.” Raleigh starts pushing me toward my bedroom. “Go get ready. You have ten minutes.”

???

“One more round!” Mia shouts over the music as she leans against Chris. She is definitely drunk. Chris doesn’t mind though, because he is smiling down at her.

When she thrusts the drink my way, I shake my head. “Oh, no, I’m good.”

“Is that a diet coke?” Brielle asks as she sways her hips, feeling the music.

“Yeah,” I admit with a sheepish smile.

“Oh, hell no. You need alcohol.” Brielle announces.

“What she said.” Mia high-fives Brielle.

“And stop peeking at your phone every five seconds,” Hannah says from beside me.

We are waiting by the bar in Freddie’s mega-mansion. Yeah, a mansion. That guy is filthy rich. When Raleigh said it was a house party, I imagined red cups and beer and a suffocating crowd.

Though the crowd size is big, it’s not at all suffocating. Because the house is massive and I am not exaggerating.

Raleigh told me that Freddie is the son of a business tycoon but instead of joining his family business, he pursued his career in modeling. And he loves partying with his friends whenever the mood strikes him. Because he can obviously afford it.

I was stunned to see that he even has a basketball court on the property.

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