17. Celina

SEVENTEEN

CELINA

It had been so nice of Felicity to invite me over for Thanksgiving, but there was no way I could turn down Miles's invitation. He'd sounded so sincere, it would have broken my heart to tell him no. Still, that meant I'd need to break the news to Felicity, which wasn't something I was used to. Many times in my life I'd done things I didn't want to do, simply because having uncomfortable conversations mortified me.

I texted Felicity, asking if she wanted to have lunch the next day. She'd mentioned getting together, and I thought it would be more polite to cancel the plans in person. She agreed and told me about a place downtown that made really good sandwiches and had homemade soup. Once I put my phone down, I'd taken a moment to give myself a little self-congratulatory pep talk. Not only had I been the one to initiate a text message, but I planned on canceling plans I'd made with someone. What had gotten into me since coming to this town? It was like I was turning into a whole new person.

I had a hard time sleeping later on at night, mostly because I couldn't stop thinking about what Miles had done to me the night before. I'd even contemplated ordering a toy online to see if I could bring myself to the same explosive orgasm he had, but chose not to. Partly because I didn't think I could, and partly because if I did, I was worried I'd spend every day and night doing it over and over again.

I got to the restaurant for lunch, groggy from lack of sleep and nervous about what I needed to tell Felicity. It was so bad that I had to look at myself in the rearview mirror once I had parked and give myself a little pep talk. Thankfully, I'd arrived early and was able to get a seat before she got there.

She came in not long after. We chatted for a bit and then ordered. She got a Rueben and a bowl of broccoli cheddar soup. I got a club sandwich and cream of potato soup. It sounded great and everything I saw coming out of the kitchen looked delicious, but my appetite was almost non-existent.

I finally decided it was time to tell Felicity I wasn't coming for dinner. "Hey, um, can I ask you something?"

She took a sip of her water, and nodded. "What's up?"

"Well…uh…okay so, I know you asked me to come over for Thanksgiving, right?"

"Yeah, is something wrong?"

"No. Yes." I shook my head and felt the familiar heat of a blush creeping up my chest. "I mean, Miles invited me for Thanksgiving. He's getting together with his friends, and he sounded so excited to have me join them. I don't want to disappoint him. Would you be super pissed if I went there instead of coming with you to the city?"

Before she could answer, the server brought out our food and put it in front of us. Felicity took a small nibble from her sandwich, then shook her head and waved me off. "Celina, seriously, it's fine. Not a big deal. I mean, I doubt you'd have had a good time anyway. The house would be packed with people, and my family are big time talkers."

I grinned and sighed a breath of relief. "Oh good. I thought you were going to be mad."

"Mad? No. That's silly."

Feeling like the weight of the world was off my shoulders, I picked up my own sandwich. I had it halfway to my lips when I stopped. Something tickled my mind. The memory of the conversation we'd had when Felicity first invited me over. I put the food down and frowned, trying to pull the discussion out of my head. So much had happened in such a short time, it was hard to get it. Had I heard her right the other day?

"Felicity?"

She finished a bit of her soup and glanced up at me. "Yeah?"

"Um, sorry, it's not important. I'm only confused."

"About?"

"Well, when you asked me to come over for Thanksgiving, you said your family was out of town, and no one would be at the house in the city. But you just said the house would be packed. I'm confused."

Felicity stared at me for several long seconds. Long enough for it to grow uncomfortable. Finally, she frowned and looked toward the ceiling. "Oh shit. You're right," she said, shaking her head. "I did say that. I was wrong. They're going out of town for Christmas, not Thanksgiving. My bad."

Felicity chuckled quietly to herself as she picked up her sandwich. She was acting the way I did when I'd said or done something dumb. It looked like I wasn't the only one who messed up. It wasn't a big deal, but I did notice that Felicity seemed more tense and on edge as we ate. Probably worried she'd say something else that was silly. That's what I'd have thought anyway.

"So…" Felicity said, "…what does Miles have planned for this big shindig?"

"Just a get-together with his friends and their families. Two of his friends have new wives. I think it'll be fun."

Felicity rolled her eyes, and not in a funny way. It was almost spiteful. My body tensed. I didn't like the way she'd done that. It was like she thought the whole thing was dumb.

"You know, you should be more mindful of the company you keep, Celina."

"What does that mean?" I asked, shocked at the way Felicity was acting.

"What I mean is that Miles and his friends are a bunch of degenerates. You need to stay away from them if you want to remain safe. Safe and uncorrupted."

I crossed my arms, trying to subconsciously protect myself. I had no idea where this was coming from. Was she being hurtful because I said I wasn't coming over for Thanksgiving? That seemed ridiculously childish.

"Their own families don't even want them," she went on. "What kind of people are so terrible even their own kind don't want them around? And don't get me started on their wives." She made air quotes around the word wives. "They're just as sad and pitiful as the men."

My anger rose. I almost never got angry. Shy, embarrassed, uncomfortable? Yes. Angry? Not usually, but it was rearing its head listening to her talk about Miles and his friends.

"Felicity, my parents didn't want me either. They got rid of me, so what does that mean? Do you think the same way about me?"

"Celina, you know that's different. You're a…" She stopped, almost like she was about to say something, but held off.

"I'm a what?" I asked, my voice rising. Suddenly, I wanted to be anywhere else, around anyone but Felicity. "You know what, I don't care. I suddenly don't feel very good. I think I'm going to go home."

Felicity's face changed then. She looked almost panicked. "Wait, Celina, no. Please, I'm sorry. I haven't had a good day. I didn't mean to?—"

"Enough, Felicity. Goodbye."

I stood and walked out, too emotionally exhausted to stay and try to let her apologize. I was drained and upset. How could she say those things? What had gotten into her? As I walked to my car, I wondered if I'd made a mistake trying to be friends with her. Maybe Miles had been right about her after all.

There wasn't anywhere in town I wanted to go, so I went straight back home. Once I was in my apartment, I collapsed into the couch and stared into space. I really wanted to talk to someone, but the only person I knew well enough was Miles, and he was probably at work or something. As upset as I was, I still didn't want to bug him. Instead of calling, I sent him a text. Then he could see it and respond on his own time, and not feel hurried.

He called me back almost immediately. "Celina? What's wrong?" He sounded worried. I'd never had anyone care about my wellbeing the way he seemed to.

"I didn't have a great day," I said, my voice tiny and sad. I felt awful for it. Even in my own ears, I sounded pathetic.

"You don't sound like yourself. Tell me where you are, and I'll come pick you up."

I told him I was at my apartment, and true to his word, he was there in less than ten minutes. I met him outside and climbed into his truck. He pulled away and started driving without asking questions or pressing me for information on why I was so upset. It was a kindness that made me like him even more.

After driving around for nearly half an hour, I took a breath and finally spoke. "I had a fight with Felicity."

His hand tightened on the wheel, the knuckles white and taught for an instant before relaxing. Still, he didn't press me. No questions. Instead, he nodded and shot me an encouraging glance.

"She said you and your friends were loners. Unwanted. That you were somehow terrible for that. It made me feel awful because if that's true, then I'm terrible. I was unwanted, too. I don't know your story, or your friends' stories, but the way she was talking, she thought you were all bad guys."

Miles sighed and looked, for want of a better word, conflicted. "Listen, there's a lot of ground to cover when it comes to me and my past. The same goes for Tate, Blayne, and Steff. I don't think you're ready to hear all that. It's a long story. I can promise you this, though, once you meet the guys and their families and make your own conclusions about them, I'll tell you everything. Deal?"

He made it sound like something top secret. What could a few guys have in their past that was so hush-hush? I knew they weren't bad people, but sometimes good people got caught up in bad things. Was that what the truth was? Had they done something terrible in the past by accident? Or had they been forced to do something? My writer's mind skittered across dozens of possible scenarios, but none really made any sense. Instead of diving too deep into the black hole of possibility, I did what had now become second nature. I trusted Miles.

I nodded. "Okay, deal."

We drove around for several more hours, talking, as he showed me more of the area I'd been living in for the last few weeks. As the sun started to set, he turned to me. "How about dinner?"

My stomach rumbled at the mention of food. I hadn't eaten any breakfast and only had two or three bites of food at lunch before I stormed out. I nodded. "I'm starving."

"Okay. There's a little place down the road here. They sell—and this is gonna sound weird—the best meatloaf sandwich you've ever had."

"Meatloaf sandwich?"

He laughed and held up his hand. "You just gotta trust me. That and their homemade fries are gonna change your life. Let's go."

Twenty minutes later, we were seated in a place that looked like a cross between a dinner and a grandmother's living room, but the food smelled amazing. We drank our drinks as we waited for the food to come out.

"What are you going to do about Felicity?" Miles asked.

"I have no idea. I'm not used to having friends, but even I can tell she's acting weird. It's like she did a full one-eighty. I don't get it."

"Maybe you need to give each other some space. You guys really did only meet a few days ago. You haven't done anything wrong, so I don't want you thinking like that. Sometimes people have friends who get jealous when they start to split their time with someone else. Kind of like a territorial thing."

I chuckled. "Territorial. Like a wolf or something."

"Uh, yeah, sort of." Miles gave me a funny look, then sipped his water.

"Why are you so interested in me?"

"What do you mean?"

I sighed and shrugged. "You could have anyone. Why me? I'm…I don't know. I'm me."

He surprised me by reaching across the table and cupping my cheek. "I don't want anyone else. There is no one on this planet more suited for me than you. You may not be able to see it right now, but soon you will."

The warmth from his fingers on my cheek seeped into my skin. Almost like it was radiating across my face and down my body. I lifted my hand and brushed the back of his knuckles. "You know, you say that a lot."

"I promise it will all make sense soon."

I called Miles the next night to ask if I needed to bring anything for Thanksgiving. He'd said no and that he'd be over to pick me up around eleven. There was no way I would show up empty-handed at a stranger's house for Thanksgiving, so I looked online and found a recipe for red velvet cheesecake cookies. The picture looked delicious, so I went to the store to grab the ingredients. Baking gave me something to do to keep my mind off everything I'd been dealing with. It was a good way to destress.

I let myself sleep in the next morning, so I'd have enough energy stored up to get through the day. As much as I trusted Miles, the thought of going to someone else's house was daunting. New people, small talk, and introductions? Running a marathon sounded less exhausting.

Miles knocked on my door at eleven, and he looked sexy as usual. He stepped in and saw the platter of cookies on the counter. "I told you that you didn't have to make anything."

I grinned. "You can never have too much dessert, right?"

He laughed and pulled the plastic wrap back to grab a cookie. He popped it into his mouth and chewed. His eyes went wide as a groan of pleasure rumbled in his throat. "I'm afraid everyone else is out of luck. I'm going to eat all these before we get there."

I nodded at a separate container on the kitchen counter. "I made a double batch. If you really think they're that good, we can come back tonight and have second dessert."

He finished chewing and raised an eyebrow. "And what about the third dessert?"

I tried to hide a sheepish smile but failed. The tips of my ears burned. "Let's just deal with dinner first."

He laughed in a good-natured way and let it drop, for which I was grateful. I enjoyed the sexual tension, but I had to keep my head on straight so I wouldn't make a fool of myself at Tate's house. Miles seemed to notice my stress level.

"Hey, any time you feel uncomfortable or overwhelmed, let me know. I'll get you out of there, no questions asked."

I studied his face. He was serious, I could tell. It made my heart speed up, and butterflies stormed through my stomach. He really would leave his friends' Thanksgiving celebration for me if I were too nervous or stressed out. I still couldn't get over the idea that someone could care for me so much. Someone I met such a short time ago. Having it was wonderful—the thought of losing it was terrifying. That was why I sent my agent Tiffany a text on the walk to his truck. I was going to re-up my lease of the apartment for at least another month. There was no way I could leave Lilly Valley yet. Not until I knew for sure what was going on between Miles and I.