Page 116 of The Crowned Garza

Oh, God, yes… No, Tillie,stop. Do not launch yourself into his arms. It’s the praise you like, not the man.“Chase...”

“Jesus, Tillie. Come on. Youmustknow how I feel about you by now.”

Weary from a whirl of conflicted feelings mixed with a dose of sleep-deprivation, I scratch my forehead. “Let’s talk about this when I’m not so tired and buzzed from overly expensive champagne, okay?”

With an agreeing nod, he jerks his chin to the wooden gate. “Go on in. I’ll call you in the morning.”

Before I can fully turn to open the gate, he leans in and steals another quick kiss. Just naughtily swift enough to escape reprimand. Hands up in surrender, a sheepish smile on his lips, he steps back. “I couldn’t not.”

Once inside, I head upstairs, take a warm bath, then sneak into bed with my best friend.

Several weeks ago, I discovered a borer beetle infestation at my house. Which was around the same time Sunny was scheduled to fly in and crash with me while she enlisted Red Cage’s help with some serious stuff going down in her life.

As a result, we’ve moved into Tripp’s house in Venice for the time being, while my house is undergoing fumigation and some minor renovations.

By now, she’s used to me sneaking in bed with her to be near her or annoy her. She normally sleeps like the dead, but she must’ve not been asleep for long because she stirs the moment I snuggle up behind her and curve my arm around her middle.

“Hey,” she mumbles groggily. “Where have you been? You’re usually in bed long before I am.”

“Chase showed up at my workplace to cash in on that solid he did us with the Red Cage meeting. Dragged me off to a fancy, celebrity-infested event.”

“Oh, yikes. I’m sorry. I know you must’ve hated every minute of that.”

“He kissed me.”

“Took him long enough.” She emits an excited little squeak. “That man is gaga over you. Is he worth the hype?”

“Oh, very.Sucha great kisser.”

“Better than X?” she prods, eagerness in her tone. “Please tell me he’s at least better than X. Because Ireallywant you to get over that jerk.”

There’s no universe, parallel or otherwise, in which that’s possible. “No one is better than X. I mean…he’s X.”

Her sigh is laden with disappointment. “Dammit, Chase. You hadonejob.”

That tugs a giggle out of me. “I love you. I’m so happy you’re here.”

“Get some sleep and refill that tank, wild one.” She pats my hand. “You’re gonna need it to break Chase’s heart.”

~

Fraud:You look good together. You should marry him. [attached: img_00632.jpg]

I tap the attached image to expand it. A tabloid-watermarked photo of Chase and me at the event we attended two nights ago. Turns out a photographer caught us when we were leaving and sneaked some shots at us.

It’s true. Chase and I look surprisingly good together.

Saint thinks we’re dating. BecauseI’veled him to believe that.

After the Ibiza debacle, I’d broken up with Creed, foolishly believing something would come of me and Saint.

But then Saint did it again.

Ghosted me.

Creed never left, though. He showed up again and again. Relentless in his wooing. Asking me to give us another chance. And I eventually did. Because I genuinely liked him. I did. But not enough to let him drag me down the destructive path he refused to get off of.

It got to the point where I had enough and gave him an ultimatum to choose between rehab and us ending for good. Unsurprisingly, hedidn’tchoose rehab, and that’s where we ended.