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“Mom, what the f-”

“Because I’m not from an elite family?” I asked calmly, ignoring the way my blood boiled under my feverish skin. “Because I’m an immigrant?”

Mrs. Voss gaped at me for a full three seconds before she scrambled to compose herself. “Of course not,” she said, offended that I’d even suggested such a thing.

“Then I’m afraid I don’t understand what you mean by that statement.”

“If this is about Daniella,” Reid warned, her voice turning hard, “I suggest you drop the subject.”

“Come on, Reid,” her mother insisted. “Why would I bring her up when you’re newly married, and happily so, I hope.”

“Ecstatic,” Reid grunted in response.

“It’s just, there doesn’t seem to be much happiness here,” she tsked. “You’re sitting about a foot apart on the sofa, and you’ve barely looked at your new wife.”

“Which couldn’t possibly have anything to do with the fact that my mother kamikazed our weekend out of the blue, could it?”

“You certainly never let that stop you when you were with Dani.” Reid’s mother turned to look at me. “You know, when they were together, it’d be impossible to get a word in edgewise! They only had eyes for each other, it was so sweet.”

“I said to drop the topic,” Reid gritted out.

“I’m only pointing out that you and Dani seemed much better suited to one another,” she said defensively.

“People are different,” I said quietly. “Not everyone is comfortable being physical around strangers.”

I knew, because I was one of those people.

“A pity,” she simpered, turning to me. “I know how much Reid loves physical affection.”

“Mom, seriously, enough,” Reid said, the strain in her voice painfully obvious. “If you have such an issue, we’ll prove it to you.”

Without waiting for her mother to respond, Reid turned to me, a question swimming in her eyes. She lifted a hand to my face and slid closer, and all too soon, she was inches away from me.

Confusion turned to realization, and realization turned to panic.

Reid was going to kiss me.

She waited, and I didn’t move, some logical part of my brain remembering the roles we were supposed to be playing. But the less logical side of me wanted to shriek out in surprise. My heart lodged itself in my throat, my breaths coming in short, panicked puffs that I was sure she could feel blowing out over her lips.

But any shame withered away at the touch of her fingertips on the side of my neck.

At the warmth of her breath on my lips, mixing with mine.

And then, she was kissing me.

And I melted into it.

Reality stuttered for a moment, long enough for me to forget that we were sitting in front of Reid’s mother, that we were supposed to be pretending. For a moment, all that mattered was the bittersweet sensation of Reid’s lips on mine, hard and anxious, a stark contrast to the softness of her fingertips on my neck. Like she didn’t want to hurt me.

She pulled away and that tiny tear in reality was sucked away, and I blinked at her a little stupidly.

She wasn’t looking at me.

“Satisfied?” she sneered, leveling a glare at her mother.

A little slow on the uptake, I turned to look at Mrs. Voss just as she rolled her eyes, her lips pursed in distaste.

“I never doubted you for a second,” she lied. Her phone chimed, saving me from the ire in her gaze, and I forced my eyes to the ground.