Page 169 of Rising Heat

She hands my phone back and leans back against the couch.

“Darcy.”

“Don’t.”

“I’m just saying, men who think something is casual don’t demand to meet your best friend within twenty-four business hours.”

“That feels made up.”

“You know what I mean.”

“We’re going,” I tell her before I can spiral any further. “But you need to behave.”

“I always behave.”

I glance at her sideways.

“I behave in ways that feel authentic to me.”

I drop my head back against the couch cushion with a groan while she smiles over her cup.

“Wear something hot,” she says. “I want to watch them look at you.”

“Oh my God.”

“What?” She shrugs. “I support women.”

I roll my eyes and reach for my phone.

Darcy

See you boys tonight.

Tyler

Can’t wait.

Mack

Wasn’t so hard, was it?

Ridiculous.

And somehow I’m smiling at my phone anyway.

CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT

darcy

Getting ready with Bex is exactly as chaotic as it’s been since we were seventeen and exactly as necessary.

We’re both in the bathroom at the same time because that’s apparently a habit that has outlasted geography and several major life events, music too loud, Bex at the mirror finishing her liner with unhurried focus.

“Move,” I say, for the third time.

“Twenty seconds.”

“Bex.”