The Dating Experiment (The Experiment, #2)(8)

Peyton grinned. “I have to curb those tendencies around Briony. It’s a true exercise in my own self-control. You’re now the outlet.”

Mellie raised her eyebrows. “Make Dom the outlet.”

“He’s the primary one.”

“Well, I’d hate to hear the shit he gets.”

“I’d like to hear it,” I input. “God knows he probably deserves it.”

Mellie paused, a chip halfway to her mouth. “True. Hey, can I send you Jake’s way?”

Peyton’s head jerked around so fast I thought it might snap off her neck and spin away. “What did he do?”

Like a dog with a bone…

“He made me fire Harley today.” She twisted her lips to the side that was neither a grimace or a smile.

“She was shit,” Peyton said bluntly. “I agree with him. She had too many chances.”

“Wow. One speech about how much of a strong woman you are, and you suddenly like the guy.” I snorted. “Does Elliott know you’re this easy?”

“I slept with him on the first date. Of course, he knows I’m easy.”

“You were supposed to sleep with him on the first date.”

Mellie sighed. “Are you sure you two weren’t born siblings?”

“She’d be dead if we were,” I said with a grin. “Besides, that would make my situation completely awkward, wouldn’t it?”

Mellie paused, then nodded. Peyton also nodded.

“What are you going to do, Chlo? Seriously. It’s not a joke. You just agreed to set him up with someone else,” Mellie said softly.

I stood up and turned my back to them, folding my arms over my chest. “I’m going to set him up with someone. And she’s going to be as insufferable as he is. She’ll be perfect for him. She’ll be super organized and patient and able to handle all his bullshit. I’ll set him up with someone so incredibly meant for him that not even I’ll be able to look at them and feel like he’s with the wrong person.” I turned, taking a deep breath. “And then I’ll be able to get over him. Right? That’s how it works. He’ll be happy with whoever I match him with, and I can move on.”

“Chlo…” Peyton pushed off the sofa and walked to me. She gripped both my shoulders. “That’s not how it works. You’ve denied being in love with him for years, but we knew. I don’t get it. I don’t pretend to understand how you can possibly be in love with him, but—”

“I get it,” Mellie said softly from the sofa.

We both looked at her.

She shrugged one shoulder. “Best friends are honest with each other. We haven’t made our friendships last this long by bullshitting our way through it.”

“I bullshitted,” I offered.

“All right, so not all of us made this friendship last this long by bullshitting.” Her lips twitched. “But, I get it. Dom is many things, but he’s also the guy who stood up for all three of us when we got bullied in school. He shut down rumors and made sure to put the fear of God in every guy who wanted to date us.”

“Didn’t work with Elliott, clearly,” Peyton muttered.

“Not his fault, idiot,” Mellie shot back. “And you know it. Stop playing the victim.”

I laughed and hugged Peyton. “She can’t help it. I still don’t know how she never ended up in Hollywood.”

She shoved me off with a playful grin. “Mellie was saying?”

Mellie rolled her eyes. “I was saying I get it. I might even have had a crush on him when I was a teenager, but I had a period longer than it. That said, he’s always had a softer spot for Chloe, so…”

“A softer spot for me?” I snorted. “We fight more than him and Peyton!”

“All right, so he used to,” Mellie acquiesced. “Now, you’re like chalk and cheese. Whatever. I’m just saying that I understand how you could fall in love with him.”

“Fair enough.”

“But I don’t know if this is how you get over him,” she continued, finally standing and coming over to me. “You’re forcing yourself to. You’re focusing on the fact you’re setting him up with someone and not the fact he’s setting you up on a date, too.”

“She’s right,” Peyton admitted gently. “Stop focusing on him, Chlo. Focus on who he’s gonna set you up with.”

I swallowed, briefly looking down. I knew they were right. I was thinking of it all wrong, but after twenty years of being in love with Dom, I knew one thing.

Fools in love were fucking idiots.

“Okay, fine. I will,” I said, wrapping my arms around my waist. “I’ll focus on the guy he’ll set me up with and the guy I should fall in love with.”

“That’s the spirit,” Peyton said. “And, hey, if you can’t use him to get over my brother with, you can just get under him anyway.”

We all burst out laughing.

I guess, if there was a logic I had to take, it’d be that one.





Chapter Four – Dom


Fall in love, they said. It’ll be great, they said.

Start a dating website with your sister’s best friend.

Nobody said that. I stupidly thought it was a good idea.