Page 133 of Shades of Grey & Gold

“Fine,” Nico says, his tone different as he lowers himself by bending his knees considerably to stand a few inches from her face with a beaming smile. “I’ll take her.”

Her eyes practically bug out of her head. She gets even closer to his face, their noses almost touching, and starts laying into him about how she is the one who was supposed to go, she has a plan, she has a speech, and now he is trying to replace her. She is grasping at straws because she’s losing the negotiation as Nico just smiles sweetly at her every word, relishing in it.

She throws her hands up and screams like a petulant teenager, as Nico stands back up to full height, a satisfied smirk at getting a reaction out of her.

“I’m picking what you’re wearing, you big fucking oaf.” She points in his face.

She goes to leave the room, not waiting for a response, but he follows her, saying he has a tux and doesn’t need her assistance in dressing.

“But if you’d like to undress me,” he yells before leaving the kitchen, to her or me I’m not sure, but he laughs as a pillow flies into the kitchen from the living room.

I laugh, but it’s a tired one.

The next weekend, Nico shows up at three o’clock in the afternoon to drive us to the winery outside the city for the four o’clock ceremony and reception.

I’m putting an earring in when I step into the living room and I freeze as an overwhelming sense of déjà vu hits me.

Putting my earring in, my heels clicking on the floor as I walk into a kitchen with a Renzetti leaning on a counter.

But Nico shakes me out of it as he takes a slurping bite of an apple in a suit that probably costs more than the apartment and all the things inside of it, and maybe my car, too.

He looks at Becca, who sits at the table with a disgusted expression.

He smiles at her like a man who won something. I shake my head and take a breath, pushing the memories aside.

“I didn’t offer you that apple,” she sneers under her breath.

“And I didn’t ask permission to eat it.”

I clear my throat and their eyes flick to me.

Becca found me a pink satin floor-length dress for the night.

It hugs my curves but is loose around the neckline and pools a bit around my heels. The straps have tiny pearls that fall delicately down my shoulders and cross at the plunging back of the dress.

Something passes between Becca and me. She gives me the softest, dreamiest smile, and I know she picked exactly what she would have worn.

“Ready? You look lovely,” Nico says matter-of-factly and sets the half-eaten apple back in the bowl with the others.

“She better look nice, the dress costs more than what you pay me in a month.” Becca shoots him a glare as she steps up to adjust the neckline of my dress.

“Well,Idon’t pay you, so…” He puts his hands in his pockets and stands behind her.

“Well, you paid for the dress, so…” She mocks him and rolls her eyes.

She gives me another look and I swallow, reading the things she won’t say out loud in fear of me breaking:I’m sorry, I know, it’ll be okay, you’ve got this.

“I love you,” she whispers and hugs me gently.

“Don’t do anything stupid,” she adds at a normal volume.

“I’ll keep an eye on her,” Nico calls over his shoulder as he walks to the front door.

“I was talking toyou, Nicolas.”

He spins on a heel and bites his bottom lip, narrowing his eyes at her with a smile. “In that case, define stupid.”

Becca points at the door and I try to laugh but it doesn’t come out.