Page 25 of Monsters in Love: Lost in the Stars
Margot
“What the hell is wrong with you?!” I scream from across the apartment living room.
Aiken sits on the couch, shrugging at me, playing the fool as usual, while Emily and Xavian argue in hushed whispers in the corner by the kitchen. I throw my hands up, too exhausted to continue to shout. I’m done. I should have walked away the moment Kallista retired and worked on my own business or furthering my education.
Managing Em’s socials, schedule, even taking over wedding planning for her so she could focus on therapy and her doctor’s appointments—that I was happy enough to handle. But I did not sign up for … whatever this is. A PR nightmare. And despite my protests, Emily didn’t keep her publicist on the payroll when she retired.
Aiken got his ass thrown out of the Terra Ball game because he had to start shit with the rival team. He couldn’t help himself, apparently. And guess who had to clean up his mess, as usual? Me, Xavian, and Emily. My best friend’s reputation was almost put through the meat grinder all on account of some thrown hot dogs.
“Kal’s wedding is in one month, Aiken. One! You promised you wouldn’t go around starting trouble!” I hiss and reach into my handbag to pull out a tube of lipstick. He grunts in response, and I lob it at him. It bounces off his head with a plink.
“I didn’t do shit,” Aiken says, and not for the first time. We heard all about it on the scrammerjet ride over here.
We got off easy. No one had to pay Aiken’s bail, and we won’t have to get any lawyers involved. But the pap bots were all over the scene as we were leaving, and they got some very unflattering photographs of Emily. They’re already on every talk show, smattered across the holodecks with headlines such as “Has Kallista gained TOO much weight?” For crying out loud, I can’t let her see those. What if she regresses from the stress?
Aiken huffs. “Now sit down, woman, before you give yourself a stroke. I can see a vein bulging in that pretty little neck of yours.”
My fingernails dig into my thighs, poking holes through my stockings. “W-Woman? Excuse me?!”
Emily spins around, holding two steaming mugs of hot beverages. Probably tea. “Can you two please stop? I already said the photos don’t bother me. I’m done with that life.”
Xavian kisses the top of Emily’s head and ruffles her hair before moving to the couch to flop down next to Aiken.
“Yes, but ‘that life’ is not done with you,” I remind her. “Your wedding is all anyone can talk about.”
Emily sighs, then hops into Xavian’s lap like her cat, Milo, who is wisely staying out of the thick of things and snoozing in her bedroom. “So let them talk. It’s not like this wedding is for them. It’s for me and Xavian, and the people who love us,” she says.
Xavian wraps his arms around her middle and squeezes. “Seriously, Margot. You really do need to relax. I’ve seen what happens to some of the guys on the team if they allow their stress to go untreated. They end up in the hospital.”
I cross my arms and let out a huff. It’s not that I don’t agree with what Xavian is saying. I do, but relaxation? Taking it easy? That’s for other people, not me. A luxury that I can’t afford, because if I stop spinning the plates for everyone, they’ll drop to the ground and shatter. I won’t let my best friend’s wedding suck because I couldn’t handle things for her.
Emily lets out a long sigh, and Xavian rubs her back. “I wish you weren’t even planning the wedding at all. I told you that Xav and I were happy enough with Latrixia City Hall.”
I rub my temples and frown. Aiken’s staring at me. I can feel his eyes penetrating my very soul. When I jerk my head up to look at him, he continues to stare at me.
“She’s right,” Aiken grinds out. “This whole wedding circus was your idea. You got yourself into this mess. Get yourself out of it.”
But I know Emily. Deep down, I know that while she’d be quietly resigned to going to City Hall to get married, it wouldn’t truly make her happy. I know this because when we were younger, all she could ever talk about was her dream wedding. Her dream dress. Her dream life. And then she won the singing contest that launched her career, and it was as though all of that was finally coming true … until it wasn’t. Emily has endured so much heartbreak and disappointment.
This is the least I can do for her after the years of unhappiness I unloaded onto her.
Emily gives Xavian a quick hug before hopping out of his lap. She moves toward me and places her hands on my shoulders, and even the pressure from her delicate fingers on my tired muscles feels like bliss.
“Let’s go to the spa today,” she says, then lifts an eyebrow. “Your shoulders are like bricks, Margot.”
“I don’t have time today,” I say, and pull away from her touch. “Besides. You just went yesterday.”
Emily rolls her eyes. “Yes, you do. I checked your schedule earlier.”
My mouth falls open. “Since when do you look at my schedule?”
“Since you left it open on my coffee table the other day. I might’ve screenshotted it because I knew you’d try to say you were too busy this week when I know for a fact you’re not,” she says. “You’re creating work for yourself, like Aiken said.”
Aiken lets out a throaty chuckle from the couch. I scoff. “Excuse me, but we’re here to reprimand Aiken for his behavior at Xavian’s game, not to analyze my working habits.”
“More like your over-controlling habits,” Aiken mutters. “Go to the spa, woman. One more knot in your neck and your head will pop off.”
I shoot a glare at him and ball my hands into fists at my sides. “You shush. We aren’t done, you and I.”
“Don’t I know it,” he says, leveling his dark gaze at me.
A shiver courses through my body, and I’m almost worried Xavian and Emily will notice. I hate how this Gorcian gets under my skin so easily. I hate how every comment goes straight to my thighs. If they only knew how often I thought about Aiken while I pleasured myself in bed on a nightly basis, they’d send me on a three-week cruise around Messier 16.
Xavian gives his friend a pointed look and shakes his head. “Aik. Enough, buddy. You’re going to give Margot an aneurysm.”
I turn toward the door, and Emily lets out a soft sigh. “Just please get some sleep, at the very least,” she murmurs.
“Fine,” I say, before yanking the door open and fleeing into the hallway. But there’s no way I can let my guard down. Not around Emily and definitely not around Aiken. That asshole already scents my weakness with those super-sensitive Gorcian olfactory senses of his.
What I need is to get through this wedding without incident, and then I can finally let my hair down.