Page 14 of Beyond the Hate

Nova’s nose wrinkles. “Oh yeah. I forgot.”

Maya giggles. “I didn’t forget the way you tried to tackle the cheerleader when she left Hudson’s place.”

Nova sniffs and lifts her nose in the air. “Yeah, well, I’m engaged to Hudson now and we have a baby so little Miss Cheerleader can go for a short hike off a cliff.”

They maneuver me until I’m sitting in between the two of them in the second row behind Chloe and Sophia. Why am I not surprised Chloe and Sophia managed to finagle front row seats?

“Is this seat occupied?”

I drop my chin to my chest at the male spoken question. Seriously? What ishedoing here?

“Nope.” Nova smiles at Eli. “Please, join us.”

“Thanks. How have you been?”

Why didn’t I bring earplugs? I have a supply of them at the lab. If I could plug my ears, I wouldn’t have to listen to Eli speak. His gravelly voice causes tingles to erupt in places tingles have no business erupting when it comes to Eli, aka Enemy Number One.

“I’m good. And I’ve heard you’re doing extremely well.”

He chuckles. Ugh. How can a chuckle from a jerk sound this good? It’s unfair. And plain wrong.

I eye the exit. Maya clamps a hand down on my thigh and leans close to whisper, “You’re not going anywhere.”

I narrow my eyes at her. “I can make all of your romance books disappear.”

She giggles. “No worries. I have an e-reader now, too. Caleb bought me one as a surprise gift. He claims there’s no more room for books in the house. He’s silly. There’s always room for more books.”

Maya is obsessed with romance novels. If she’s not working or hanging out with us, she has her nose buried in a book. Or, at least, she used to. Now she spends her free time with her fiancé. I’m happy for her. I am. Caleb fought his demons for her. And she’s happy. She deserves it.

But I am not happy with how she’s teamed up with the rest of our friends to tease me about Eli. I thought she’d ignore their attempts to matchmake me. I thought wrong.

Chloe glances behind her. “Oh, hey, Eli. I didn’t expect you to be here.”

He raises an eyebrow. “You didn’t contact my assistant and ensure this meeting was on my agenda?”

I should have known. My friends and their matchmaking. They need to stop interfering in my business. If they knew what Eli had done, they’d… Hold on. They don’t know. Maybe I should tell them. I scowl. Tell my friends about the biggest humiliation of my life? Nah. I’ll pass.

Chloe bats her eyelashes at Eli. “Who? Me?”

He chuckles. “My mistake. It must have been another Chloe Summers.”

She waves her left hand at him. “It’s Chloe Fellows now.”

“Congratulations. I heard you got married. I can’t believe a man on Smuggler’s Hideaway managed to tame the wild child.”

“Lucas isn’t a native smuggler.”

“I call this meeting to order,” the mayor, Lana, hollers from where she stands in front of the room. “There’s one item on today’s agenda – the sexiest man of the island competition.”

Several people in the back catcall. The competition is a favorite among natives and visitors alike. Probably because it’s required to kiss a man before you can cast your vote for him. Which is also why we’re here today. The kissing requirement is under fire. As it should be.

“I’m afraid I’ve brought you here today under false pretenses.”

At the mayor’s announcement, the chatter in the room increases until it’s nearly a roar.

“False pretenses?” Chloe rubs her hands together. “This is going to be fun.”

Sophia bumps her shoulder. “Don’t get too excited.”

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