Page 87 of Don't You Dare Marry Me

“Yeah.” Elia’s lips curled upward, and she dragged her gaze down Nicola’s body and then back up. Was Elia checking her out? Not in a sexual way but in achecking her out for her best friendkind of way?

Nicola wasn’t sure how she should feel about that. She shuddered as she stepped around Elia toward the refrigerator.

“I’ll only be staying one night,” Elia answered.

“That’s fine. Abagail’s house seems to be a revolving door for one- or two-night visitors.”

“What do you mean?”

“First Greer and now you.” Nicola opened the refrigerator and stared at her food options. She hadn’t actually thought this far ahead, just knew that she had to eat something before she went to bed, otherwise she’d wake up feeling like absolute shit in the morning. She finally pulled out one of the pre-made meals that Abagail’s personal chef kept there and popped it into the microwave to warm up.

“Greer stayed here?”

“Yeah?” Nicola frowned, crossing her arms and leaning against the counter as she stared Elia over. “I’m sorry, but you’re not quite what I expected.”

“What do you mean by that?”

“Well, Abs is rich. And you’re… down to earth.”

“The two aren’t mutually exclusive, are they?”

“No.” Nicola narrowed her gaze, her defenses coming up immediately. She probably shouldn’t have said that, but she’d never been one to be able to hold her tongue either. “But they are for you.”

Elia’s lips pulled into a tight smile. “Abagail and I met when we were kids at school. I’ve never quite been able to shake her.”

“Have you tried?” Nicola wanted to ask if she’d tried fucking her because that seemed to be the obvious way to get rid of Abagail quickly, but she didn’t suspect they had. While Elia definitely gave off the queer vibes, she didn’t seem like Abagail’s type at all—too closed off, too cautious.

“Not really.” Elia went back to the plate that she had in front of her, which looked to be a mixture of small snack items and different dips or sauces.

She had to be comfortable there if she was digging into Abagail’s kitchen like this.

“Speaking of… where is the notorious Abs?” Nicola asked, flicking her gaze up to Elia’s face before dropping it back to her hands.

“She’s in the library.” Elia finished putting some pickles on the plate and dried her hands on a towel that she had next to it. “Did you want to join us?”

“Oh, I don’t think that’d be a good idea.” The microwave beeped, and Nicola pulled out the bowl of food, burning her fingers on the bottom of it before she slid it onto the stainless-steel counter so she wouldn’t do any more damage. “I don’t think she wants to see me right now.”

“Why would you think that?”

“Just a feeling,” Nicola muttered as she rummaged around for a fork and knife. She was going to hide away for as long as she could so that she could stay there as long as possible. Once she had enough saved up, she could skip out and find her own place to rent. Until then, she needed to keep a low profile.

“I’m fairly certain that Abagail is far fonder of you than you might think.” Elia leaned against the counter and made direct eye contact with Nicola.

It was unnerving, like she could read into whatever Nicola wasn’t saying and feeling and understood instantly what was going on inside her. Could she actually do that?

“Doubtful.” Nicola dashed her tongue across her lips and broke eye contact. She couldn’t keep up with that. Elia was out of her league when it came to that, and Nicola didn’t want to catch up with it either. She just wanted to escape.

“All she’s done tonight is talk about you.”

Nicola snorted. “I’m sure, with how annoyed she is that I haven’t left the house yet, and the fact that she keeps having to come to my rescue.”

“Rescue?” Elia prompted.

Nicola shook her head. She wasn’t going to say any more on that if Abagail hadn’t already answered it. She rolled her shoulders, but she didn’t leave either.

“If there’s one thing that I know about Abagail it’s that she’s fully capable of love. She just doesn’t show it in the same way that you’d typically expect.”

Frowning, Nicola looked back up at her. “I don’t think I understand.”

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