Page 16 of The Lucky One

“I guess?” I huff out.

It technically shoved Holden and Laila together, but part of that arrangement was also Sebastian Gold. His family owns the local banks and they tend to offer things in a quid pro quo manner.

Since I’m armed with knowledge about him and his weird deals, I won’t be repeating that mistake. And to my knowledge, Weston doesn’t know who that is.

So we should be fine.

The song bleeds into ‘You Belong With Me’ and I drop my head back into a groan.

“I think this house ships us, Goldilocks.” Weston grins at me gleefully, curving his hands into a heart shape.

“That’s it. I just upgraded you to menace status.” I turn away from him and head to the kitchen to find something to eat.

I’m exhausted and just want to take the edge off so I can climb into bed and sleep this entire day off. Maybe even the past month. But as soon as I go to open the fridge, it won’t open.

There’s a smidge of space between me staying rational and losing it. I let out a scream of frustration and Weston appears in the doorway.

“Problem?”

I exhale and rub my temples. There’s a headache forming there, sharp stabby pain that is only going to make me more unpleasant to be around.

“The fridge won’t open,” I mumble.

“Why don’t you let me fix something to eat? Go get settled in your room. Relax.” He motions at my clothes again and I snap.

“There’s nothing wrong with looking nice, you know.”

“I’m aware.” The way a smile plays around his lips makes me want to scream again.

“You have to dress nice when you travel for games,” I say, stabbing the air in his direction.

There’sno wayI’m admitting that I’ve looked up how he dresses on travel days out of morbid curiosity. It was a very brief moment of weakness when I wanted to know why he thought so highly of himself after Holly’s wedding, and I deeply regret it at the moment.

“I’m required to,” he replies. “You’re not.”

There’s no talking to this man.

“Fine. I’m going to change. Maybe you’ll have more success than I did.”

He steps out of the way so I can leave the room and I head straight for my suitcase at the base of the stairs. Maybe being on different floors will be enough space between us.

“Wait a second.” I frown. “There were stairs here.”

Now there’s only an accent wall with a gorgeous painting of bluebonnets at sunset. My favorite season all year.

I close my eyes and count backward. There better be multiple bedrooms on this floor. Once I get to zero from twenty—twice—I yank up Louie’s handle and pull it toward the hall. Bailey is sitting outside one room that I have to assume is Weston’s so I continue on in hopes there’s another.

And there is. Hallelujah.

The smell of garlic sauteeing floats on the air and my stomach growls.

“Of course everything is working for him,”I sigh. Bailey follows me into my room, sniffing the whole perimeter like he’s on patrol. “You know, I don’t appreciate beingshipped.” He lifts his head to glance back at me, then resumes his work. “And now I'm talking to a dog.”

Maybe tomorrow will be a whole new day. Everything will reset and it will be fine.

Right?

six

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