Page 14 of Never Kiss and Tell

“You should have known she’d be like that. Girl has every second of her day planned out. All chicks are like that for their weddings.”

“Why do you think I’ll never get married?”

Why anyone thinks they need to getmarried is beyond me. It’s a trap to make you spend more money and settle with the same person for the rest of your life. I’ve never met a woman I can’t live without and I don’t intend to. People are disappointing and I don’t fall far from that spectrum. If I met one, she would hate me in a couple weeks.

“I don’t know how she does it. It’s constant. Flowers, dresses, catering. It’s all she talks about anymore.”

“Don’t forget going to classes,” Jake adds. “I swear, that girl loves school.”

Andi recently decided to go back to school for “interior decorating”, leaving her little time for much else with planning her and Tom’s wedding. I’ve barely seen her since Christmas and it’s the end of May.

“She needs an assistant.”

“She won’t do it,” Jake quips, making me laugh.

“Yeah, she would say they’re lazy or rude. Meanwhile, whichever poor girl she hired would just be trying to acclimate to doing fifteen different tasks at once.”

Jake chuckles, kicking the tire of my truck. “Well, thank fuck Bailey’s coming down to take some of the edge off. She’s probably one of the only women that can stand Andi right now.”

My stomach falls to my dick and my breath catches painfully. Are you fucking kidding me?

“Why?” I snap, harsher than I mean to. “How the fuck do you know that?”

Jake shrugs. “I don’t fucking know. Andi said she asked her when I was in the bar today. Said she had to get your house ready for her.”

I grit my teeth.Myfucking house? “And when was Andi going to tell me? She just going to let her show up? Let me shoot her because I thought someone broke in next door?”

The house I live in is split into two halves. Mine being first and the other being an exact replica, save for the girly decorations my sister added. It sits empty a lot of the time, but Dad likes to rent it out for travelers or Mardi Gras.

And I guess now, little annoying, blonde brats.

Jake throws his hands in the air. “Hey, man. Don’t shoot the messenger. I don’t care if it gets me out of the line of fire.”

“She’s spoiled. I’m not taking care of her.”

“She’s a rich kid. What do you expect? Isn’t Andi kind of the same?” Jake snickers.

“True, but Andi knows her place. She doesn’t go snooping where she’s not wanted.”

“Wrong,” Jake points out. “She’s just not as up front about it as Bailey. Whydoyou hate Bailey so much? I would have thought she would be right up your alley.”

He’s not wrong. In fact, Bailey would be perfect, if she didn’t speak.

“She’s annoying,” I grumble, trying to remember the last time I saw her. Mom’s funeral. She brought that little prick she was engaged to. I haven’t heard anything about it, but no doubt they’re married, now. “You know, it must be nice to not have to worry about a schedule.”

If I could just up and leave home for five weeks, I would gladly take that vacation, but I have a business to run and responsibilities.

Jake shrugs. “I don’t know. I think Andi’s just trying to gether away from California for a while.”

“Well, could she do it at her own expense?”

My phone goes off and I reach into my back pocket to check it. It’s a reminder that I have practice tomorrow. Since Mom died, I’ve taken up boxing in my free time. Just something to keep me in shape and help me let go of some of my pent-up frustration. When I first stumbled into the gym, I was a drunk. I was weak. The guys there kicked my ass until I started training. Now, I’m one of the best the gym has.

“You training in the morning.”

I rub my eyes, suddenly tired. I know I won’t sleep, though. I’m too pissed off over sharing four walls with Andi’s little best friend for the next five weeks.

“Yeah. I should probably get going.”

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