The Allure of Dean Harper (The Allure #2)(57)
$1,000,000: Saying shit like “Let me set you up with someone.” I don’t want to date. I want to stab someone. If you set me up with a man, I will stab him. His blood will be on your hands.
I was planning on using the money raised to buy a swimming pool full of ice cream.
“I see you added a new one to the list today,” she said, walking around the futon and pushing my legs aside so that she could sit down.
$0.50: Using words that start with the letter “D”.
“Yes and you’ve already broken it quite a few times,” I groaned, reaching for her purse. “It’s not that hard, Jo.”
“You don’t think you’re asking a little too much of me?”
“Jo, I don’t expect you to understand. You’re basically living out a Lifetime movie with Julian. You live in a magical fairy world where real problems don’t exist.”
“That’s not true. Just this morning, a bug flew up my nose as I was walking to work.”
“Did you just make that up?”
“Want a bite of my sandwich?” she asked, changing the subject.
“Yeah.”
“Should I just shove it under the pillow and assume you’ll find it?”
“Yeah.”
I chewed on a bite of the sandwich she slipped under the pillow for me. It was soft and simple and reminded me of my childhood. After slipping me another bite, Jo spoke up. “Are you still wearing his medal?”
The futon’s cushion pressed the cold medal against my chest. It was heavy and unwieldy and I wore it every day, like an albatross. I’d nabbed it from the opera house bathroom with the intention of giving it back to him—surely, he hadn’t meant to leave it behind—but then I’d slipped it around my neck and the weight had felt good. The medal represented everything Dean had struggled for in life and when I wore it, I pretended that included me.
“I’m not not wearing his medal, if that’s what you’re asking.”
“Lil, we need to set you up with someone already, just to get you focused on someone new.”
“YES!” I cried.
“Really? You want me to find someone?”
“Of course not, but I can finally afford my pool!”
Chapter Forty-Eight
Dean
Julian and I were halfway through a Saturday morning bike ride when his phone rang. He waved me over to the side of the road. We hopped up onto the sidewalk and I pulled out my water bottle, guzzling down half of it while he spoke on the phone.
“Yeah, I can be there in a second,” he said. “I’m actually biking right by your place now.”
He flashed me an apologetic smile, but I shrugged him off. If it weren’t for Julian, I’d have been working my way through a pile of building plans.
“We need to pause the ride?” I asked as he hung up.
He nodded. “Josephine wants me to come take a look at their dishwasher before she calls in a maintenance request.”
I smirked. “You ever fix a dishwasher before?”
He laughed and hopped back onto his bike. “Never. My plan is to bang on it a few times and then tell her to call in the request.”
I shook my head and pulled out onto the road after him. He stood and pedaled fast to set our pace and I raced after him, appreciating the lack of weekday traffic. By the time we reached Josephine’s apartment complex, my legs were on fire.
I locked my bike up beside Julian’s and thought of Lily. It was a maddening game, trying to convince myself that she and I were over. I knew I’d ruined it. It’d taken so long to peel back her stubborn, annoying, controlling layers so that I could catch even a single glimpse of her vulnerable side, and in that same night, I’d taken whatever measly amount of trust I’d earned and tossed it out the window.
She wouldn’t give me a second chance. Lily was too smart to waste her time on a guy who didn’t have his priorities in order.
I followed Julian up the stairs to their apartment and debated whether or not I should wait for him outside. I hadn’t seen Lily in two weeks and she’d made it perfectly clear that she didn’t want to see me. Her emails about being sick were obviously a ploy to get out of having to endure an awkward situation.
Julian knocked on their door, and I took a deep breath. My heart was racing from my bike ride. I’d pedaled fast and that’s why it was hard to breathe. That’s why.
Josephine pulled the door open and greeted us with a smile that faltered for only a moment when she saw me.
“Dean! I didn’t realize you were with Julian.”
Julian dipped down and gave her a kiss as we stepped through the front door.
“We were on a bike ride when you called,” I explained, scanning the apartment for Lily. It was a tiny space and it only took a second to realize she wasn’t there.
I hadn’t considered the fact that she wouldn’t be home and I hated the ideas that cropped up in my head for why she wasn’t there. Had she spent the night out somewhere? With the blind date guy?
I stepped farther into the apartment and caught sight of an enormous empty jar with my name on it on the countertop. Josephine caught my line of sight and bolted toward it, ripping it away before I could make out all of the words.
I smirked.