Page 30 of Beautiful Crazy

“Of course, we’ll do it, Had,” Lacey answers for us both, beaming ear to ear. “But I want a t-shirt that saysBridal Bitchor it’s a hard pass.”

Hadley’s eyes light up. “Oh, my God that is an excellent idea. It’s a deal.”

“Are you sure about this, though?” I ask Hadley. “I mean, I’m not family or anything.”

Lacey and Hadley both stare at me. Hadley tilts her head. “Are you crazy, girl? I’m pretty sure out of the three of us, you’re more a part of the Fox family than we are, well, except for that part about Lacey and Graham last month, so please…enlighten us. What on earth would make you think you’re not a part of this family?”

Shrugging, I take a step back. “I just mean, Emmett and I are friends, yeah, and we live together but we’re not like…together. Not like Lacey and Graham or you and Beckham.”

Hadley rolls her eyes and Lacey snorts. “Riiiight. Not together. Okay.”

I raise my arms out to the side. “What? We’re really not.”

Hadley crosses her arms over her chest and narrows her eyes at me. “You know Emmett’s had a crush on you for like…a year, right?”

“What? No, he hasn’t.”

Memories of last night flit through my brain. Memories of Emmett’s fingers running through my hair, of his forehead against mine. I could be wrong, but he looked like he was about to kiss me had I not turned around.

Oh, my gosh.

What if he is interested?

My face falls and Lacey points to me.

“See? You know! You’re thinking about it right now. Tell us what you’re thinking about. Did something happen? Eeeeek! Are we going to be the first to know?”

“You guys, it was no big deal. I mean the whole night was weird from the porn talk to the—”

“Waaaaait a minute.” Hadley puts her hand up. “I’m going to stop you right there.”

I close my mouth and stare at Hadley.

“You just said…porn…talk.”

I nod silently and a smirk grows across Lacey’s lips. She takes a bite of her second Swiss Roll, as she watches me and then calmly asks, “So there was porn talk…and when did this happen?”

“Last night.”

“Uh huh,” she notes.

“But I don’t know what they were talking about exactly.”

“Who is they?”

“My Dad and my brother and Emmett.”

Hadley and Lacey exchange smiley glances again. “And why was there porn talk with the guys and where were you?”

I let out a sigh. “Soooo, it was my mom’s birthday yesterday and we were there celebrating, but my stupid brother thought it would be a great idea to tell my parents that Emmett and I are not only a couple, but a serious one, in order to take the burden off himself. I guess my parents wanted to be in on his proposal to Jenny, but he wanted it to be a moment just for them, so he lied to them to get them off his back about the whole thing.”

Another glance happens between Lacey and Hadley but they’re both trying not to smile too broadly.

“And so, my father has this thing where he would always put the guys I would bring home through the Chesney inquisition.” I use finger quotes on that last part. “And I guess part of that must have included porn. That’s what Emmett told me in bed last night.”

“In bed. Last night,” Lacey repeats.

Hadley nods. “With Emmett.”

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