Page 20 of Pick Me

I shoveled more potatoes onto my fork and said, “Oh, well, thank you, Matty, for creating such a delicious meal. Did you make the sauce? I might need to get the recipe.” Not that I’d be able to use it since I was a terrible cook and risked burning down the apartment block. A fire that would only come second to Thea’s, and I refused to give her something to taunt me over. She already had enough ammunition on that front, it seemed.

“I didn’t make it for you,” he gritted out, his knuckles going surprisingly white, considering he was only holding a fork.

“Matty,” Britt hissed, elbowing him in the side. “Be nice.” Her hair was curled, which was unusual for her, and she was wearing a tight black dress with a V-cut. She looked like she’d made an effort, which seemed odd since they were planning on staying in tonight.

He huffed out a breath as he looked back at his wife. “I am being as nice as I can be to a guy who showed up to our house uninvited when we had plans.”

“Plans?” I looked between the two with confusion. “You told me you were staying in when we talked at the gym this morning. I didn’t think it would be a problem.”

Matty’s jaw flexed, his knuckles still white. Hmm… interesting. Why was he so angry about this? Then it all started to come together.

Matty making a fancy steak dinner…

The candles all over the room…

Both dressed awfully nice for a meal at home…

The soft piano music playing in the background…

Matty was trying to get laid, and here I was, shoveling his beef into my mouth, cockblocking him like an oblivious motherfucker.

Slowing my chews, I placed the cutlery on the table and said, “I’m sorry if I ruined any of your plans. I honestly didn’t think you had to work this hard to get laid once you were married.” I wiped my mouth with my napkin and waved my hand between them. “I just kind of thought it happened.”

Britt shook her head, a small laugh leaving her lips as her cheeks heated. “Jackson, please don’t be sorry. It’s okay. That’s not what we were doing. At all.”

I raised a brow before pointing my thumb over my shoulder. “Are you sure? I can go if you’d prefer?”

“Yes.”

“No. No. Don’t do that.” Britt slapped Matty’s chest, which barely made a move against my floppy-haired friend but emphasized the giant rock glinting on her finger. Seriously, how much money did Matty have to afford something like that? “Matty was just joking.”

“No, I wasn’t,” he grumbled.

She rolled her eyes. “Ignore him. He’s just in a crabby mood because I told him my brother Bryce is coming over this week before his game.”

“Ah, Bryce. He’s the big one, right?” I puffed out my shoulders to make the point. Bryce Brennon was a football player who didn’t get much attention. Probably because he was a third-string quarterback, but we all couldn’t have Tanner’s level of publicity. Britt nodded, and I huffed out a laugh. “Then I’m not surprised you don’t want to see him. What do you say to a guy after you boink his sister and marry her without anyone knowing?”

“Jackson…” came another grumbled warning from Matty.

Was I ticking him off?

Whoops.

Britt wrapped her palm around Matty’s hand, soothing him. “Bryce actually really likes Matty. It’s Sam we’re still working on, but we’ll get there with him, won’t we?”

Matty grumbled, and as I watched their interactions, I couldn’t help but admire them. They were just so… cute. I couldn’t think of a better word to describe them, which was weird, considering I was used to them being friends secretly pining for each other. Now they were married and living together in the span of a few months.

“Is it weird being married at twenty-one?” I asked, not thinking about what I was saying. Something I did a lot.

They gawked at me, and I shrugged. “I don’t know. I mean, you’re still in college. I know you both only have a semester left, but it must be weird, right? All your friends are going out, drinking, and sleeping with random people, yet here you are. Living by the beach in domestic bliss.”

When I say living in domestic bliss, I meant they werethrivingin domestic bliss. The house was more like a castle than the small beach house they’d originally described. The view alone was breathtaking, and the modern take on a Californian beach house suited them. Matty bought it—another reason I should have considered marrying my best friend—but I was too late… and I wasn’t Britt.

“None of our friends are sleeping with random people. Except you.”

“Not true,” I huffed out on a laugh, and looked out the window behind Britt and Matty. It was dark, but I could still make out the waves crashing against the rocks. It really was peaceful here. Much more peaceful than at my house with Thea.

“Name one other person we hang out with that isn’t in a committed relationship,” Matty said, bringing me back to the conversation.

---