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I choke on my drink and give her my middle finger while I’m trying to get the alcohol down my throat. Damian rubs my back instantly and hands me a glass of water that I take a small sip of. “Veronica!”
“What?” she asks with a look that sayswhat did I do?“It’s a valid question. It’s what Mrs. E would have asked,” she says referring to my mother.
I glare at her. “Okay well, Mom, can you not?”
“I love Shay very much,” Damian says and I snap my head towards him, not expecting him to respond or to saythat.“My intentions with her are to give her whatever she wants. To make her happy. I spent a very long time trying to deny my feelings for her and I don’t want to do that anymore.”
Veronica’s eyes snap to mine full of excitement and like she’s already thinking about where we are going for my bachelorette party.
SHUT UP!
I know!I smile.
She turns her gaze back to Damian. “That is…so sweet.” She sighs dreamily before turning to Derek. “Why don’t you say cute stuff like that to me?”
“Don’t start,” he says, wiping his mouth with a napkin. “You laugh whenever I try to do anything romantic and then just try and get in my pants.”
“How is this going to work though?” Jeremy interjects and Veronica and Derek both turn their previously humorous gazes to him. They both frown just as Damian and I turn to him.
“What?” I ask, already annoyed at where this conversation is headed.
“I mean, you have to understand how hard it will be for him to be both?”
“Jeremy, we talked about this,” Veronica says, and I hate that there’s a conversation that the three of them have had about me and my relationship. “We aren’t doing this again.”
Damian shifts uncomfortably next to me and I hate that he’s probably piecing together that there’s already been one conversation regarding us that he knows nothing about.
“Does Cooper even know? Your PR team? How are you spinning this story exactly? Aren’t you worried that people are going to think you’ve been together this whole time? That you were cheating on Paxton?”
“No. People decide to date people that they’ve known for a while all the time. I didn’t cheat on Paxton.”
“You can’t be so naive that you think people will just buy that nothing was going on while you were with Paxton,” Jeremy argues.
“I don’t think it’s really your business what goes on between us personally or professionally,” Damian adds and I wince thinking about how the rest of this evening is going to go.
“I’ve known Shay just as long as you have, actually a bit longer.” I roll my eyes internally at the juvenile thinking. “She’s my friend and I care about her.”
“And I don’t? You’re her friend. I’m her man, there’s a difference.”
Veronica’s eyes widen and looks at me with a grin she’s trying to hide because she lives for that caveman attitude.
“We should take some shots,” Derek says, trying to break through the tension.
“We should absolutely not take some shots until everyone is on the same page,” I say looking at Jeremy. “We are getting married this season, J. I am not going to be going back and forth with you about this for the next three months while we are supposed to be disgustingly in love. I won’t be able to handle it, and the writers will kill me if I go to them and ask for me to break off our engagement or leave you at the altar in the series’ freaking finale. The producers are taking notice that our chemistry is off so I need you to get on board or we are going to have a lot of long nights of reshoots.”
Veronica groans. “Please guys, you remember what it’s like when we aren’t on good terms,” she says pointing between herself and Derek.
“I’m fine,” Jeremy says.
“No, you’re being unsupportive and judgmental and frankly a pain in my ass,” I snap.
“Because I don’t think you’re thinking this through.”
“Thinking what through? I’m in love with Damian. We’re together. That’s it! That’s the tweet!” I yell and I look at Derek. “You know what, I will take a shot.”
“That’s my girl.” Derek points at me, before going to the bar cart I’d rolled out when we came outside.
“You and I both know that it’s not that simple. When you two go public, everything changes,” Jeremy argues. “Are you ready for them to go digging into your past?” He looks at Damian. “Because they’ll have a lot of questions about your first wife you were still married to a year ago,” he snaps.