Page 5 of No Longer Safe

“Well, I don’t think that’s too terrible. You’ll just wrack up a lot of flight points!” I tried to sound enthusiastic, but honestly, I was a little jealous until she dropped the next bomb on me.

“This is probably too much to ask of you,” She tore a corner off of her napkin. I’d never seen her so nervous before. Not even with the football team. “But I really need you. Ace already agreed to everything so it shouldn’t be a big deal.”

I blinked at her as I set my pen down and tried to comprehend what she was implying. “What shouldn’t be a big deal?”

Her grin looked absolutely feral. “Ace paying for you to come to every event, dress fitting, and whatever else is needed outside of this little town.”

“Paying me to do exactly what I wanted to do?”

But then it hit me. I couldn’t afford to go to all the parties, fly to New York anytime Carina’s mother-in-law wanted to throw something, and I couldn’t afford to miss that much work.

Her cheeks colored and she ducked her gaze. “I don’t want to assume your finances, I would never look into your bank statements or anything, but if you think you can swing it on your own… I won’t stop you but honestly, fifteen thousand dollars really isn’t that much to him.”

My eyes almost fell out of my skull. “What on Earth would be fifteen thousand dollars?”

“Your flights, hotels, and whatever else you could need. I mean I thought that number was kind of low myself so if you think twenty would be better, I don’t think he would mind. In fact, it was his idea. I just thought I would have to go through all of this alone with my mom who hates all of them.”

I leaned back in the booth and stared at her shell shocked. No wonder she was so nervous.

She sunk down in the linoleum seat and covered her face. “Did I break you?”

Leaning forward, I lowered my voice. “I think so. Twenty thousand?”

“I might have talked to your principal before school was out too and asked if you could have the time off.” She peeked through her fingers. “She approved it and it’ll be paid time off. She said you need the break and maybe when you come back you won’t hate your life so much.”

I felt like the ground was yanked out from my feet. Hate my job? That wasn’t exactly right. I mean, I didn’t love it but I didn’t hate it either. I wanted so much more for myself but I didn’t know how to take it and anytime I brought it up to Brian, he didn’t want to hear it.

“What about Brian?”

She cracked her knuckles. “Ace can pull some strings but it’s about time you both had a vacation, don’t you think, Audrey?”

Maybe Ace would put some fire under Brian’s ass to get this ball rolling. Maybe all of this pining for more was because I was ready to settle down.

“I’ve been asking him for vacation time and a break. Maybe he will pop the question while we are in a magical place!”

Carina’s eyes flicked down to the checkered table top. “Do you want to marry him?”

“Of course!” The answer was too quick, almost forced and Carina could see straight through it. One of her dark brows rose on her forehead.

“Really? It’s okay if you don’t.”

“How did you know he was the one?” Maybe that would help me.

Her blue eyes grew glassy as she got a faraway look on her face. “He gives me butterflies, that seems childish but when I look at him I see the rest of my life. He’s a little rough around the edges and sometimes scary, but never to me. He would kill for me, but he would never touch a hair on my head. There is so much devotion in his gaze when he looks at me. Talking about italmost hurts. Nothing has felt more right.” Her cheeks colored as she came back to earth.

She’d definitely had plenty of lovers to know what that was like. Disappointment settled hard within my gut. I never knew what any of that was like.

“Does he ever make comments about your weight?” I couldn’t help myself. I had to know. Maybe Ace wasn’t as perfect as he seemed.

Her brows shot up on her forehead. “Why? Oh my gosh, has Brian made comments about your weight? Is that why you wouldn’t drink a milkshake?”

I shook my head. “No, no, I was just wondering.”

Carina wasn’t convinced but she let the topic go. “I need to let Ace know soon if you’ll be able to come with me on all these trips and whatnot.” She double-tapped the screen on her phone to check the time and sat up straight. “I have an appointment with a wedding planner via video chat in about twenty minutes that Ace’s mother set up. We are going to need all the help we can get. This is going to be much more than I thought it would ever be.”

I nodded my head and tried to think of anything else but the way Brian made me feel. He didn’t make me feel any of those things and the orgasms were nonexistent.

She yanked on the side of my hair as she adjusted her small designer purse on her shoulder. It reminded me of elementary school when we first met. “Think about it, okay? I’m sure we will convince Brian to get on board too.”

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