I’ve been waiting for Pay.
The world is full of Brandts. There’s only one Payden Hardick.
I’ve been willing to wait quite a while to hear how Payden truly feels, but I’m not willing to wait forever. I don’t need him to morph into some over the top Prince Charming reciting Shakespeare and spreading rose petals beneath my feet. I just need him to be honest.
Two plus decades of friendship entitles me to that much, doesn’t it?
I deserve the truth. And if this dress helps wrangle it out of him, well, so be it. This is my last attempt to see if we can be more than friends and if nothing comes of it then so be it.
But I’m done waiting.
Done.
Pay looks so cute walking into the kitchen to meet us. No holes in his jeans, a nice crisp button down – this is definitely the cleaned up version of my best friend.
It’s the second I see how the blue of his shirt magnifies the blue of his eyes that I begin to hate Missy. I hate her even more when she suggests that we drive separately. Bigsby is only ten minutes away and that isn’t a lot of time to work with… even for her, but it is still too much time for her to be alone – with Payden.
I heard him arrive. I knew the sound of his shiny ‘vette, and I knew part of him wanted to stick it to Brandt by arriving in a vehicle that couldn’t possibly be topped.
Men are idiots.
Brandt is from a wealthy family, but nothing like the staggering wealth of the Hardicks, more on par with the Timms. And he is most definitely sure to be impressed by the shiny machine parked in my front driveway.
Yet, as we file out the front door, Brandt says nothing. He obviously sees Payden’s car, you can’t miss it even if it wasn’t parked right in front of us. And it is most definitely right in front of us… but he chooses not to remark.
I am old enough to recognize the beginnings of a dick measuring contest when one is playing out right in front of my face.
Missy, on the other hand, squeals when she sees the car and runs, as well as she can manage in her Eiffel Tower shoes, straight to it. Payden follows her, not even glancing at me, and I can’t help but watch the two of them.
He seems hesitant. I knew that her full speed ahead mode would be a lot for him to handle, but she leans suggestively against the side of his car and strokes the blue paint as though she’s never seen anything so wonderful in her entire life.
I nearly vomit.
Missy doesn’t know shit about cars... not that I really do either, but I’m not the one posing for a non-existent, racy photoshoot all over the damn vehicle. She looks ridiculous.
Payden has to be turned off. I know him. She’s not his type.
When a smile spreads across his face and he shyly offers Missy a couple of details about his revamped toy, I struggle not to let my jaw drop.
“Um... you gettin’ in, Jess?” Brandt’s voice, sounding mildly annoyed and more than mildly jealous, rips me out of my daze.
I whirl toward him, nodding like a happy lunatic. “Of course! I didn’t get all dressed up for nothing! Let’s go!” I open the passenger side door of Brandt’s much more modest four door sedan and slide in swiftly – but incredibly carefully.
Brandt starts up the car and takes off without a glance at Payden and Missy. “I guess rich guys gotta show off their stuff, huh?” He laughs to soften the comment. Brandt knows that Payden and I are incredibly close, and probably realizes that he can’t get away with being too derogative toward Pay without pissing me off.
“He’s really not much of a showboat type of guy,” I mumble, looking into the rearview mirror to see if Pay and Missy are following us yet.
They aren’t.
And I don’t like it.
Maybe Missy will attack him and screw him right in my front driveway. I wouldn’t put it past her. And yet my dumbass is the one who gave her the opportunity to do so. If I’m upset, I need to be upset with myself.
“I’m really glad we’re finally doing this,” Brandt speaks up, interrupting my thoughts once again.
I look up at him, managing to retain a smile, but feeling myself flood with alarm. “Finally doing what?” I’ve been friends with Brandt for a few years. I know he’s not a creeper or a jerk, but if he’s been harboring some type of crush toward me... that I hadn’t known at all.
“I guess I can tell you now. I mean, I kinda thought all of this time that you were hung up on your friend back home, so I just kept my mouth shut. I didn’t even believe Missy when she said you’d agreed to a real date.” Brandt blushes.
Thanks, Missy. So much for “just for fun”.
“Oh?” Is the only response I can manage. I hadn’t agreed to a real date, I’d agreed to a “just for fun” double date.
“Yeah. It’s kind of embarrassing. I’ve been crushing on you since like, the first time we met. You were always mentioning Payden though. Always. But now,” he gestures behind us, “I can see he’s clearly interested in Missy, which means you’re clearly not taken.”
Brandt smiles at me widely, still pink in the cheeks. It would have been adorable if I wasn’t reeling over the fact that he thought Payden seemed interested in Missy.
Clearly interested. He said clearly interested.
“What makes you think Payden likes Missy?” I inquire, trying desperately to keep the panic and dismay out of my voice.
Brandt takes a careful side-glance at me. “Is it a problem if he does?”
I laugh then. Full tilt Jessie Timms laughter filling Brandt’s car like a balloon. He sort of chuckles along with me, but I can tell that he is more than a little confused.
“Of course it doesn’t matter if he likes her! He’s supposed to! Missy will be so freakin’ happy, her head will explode!” I keep laughing and envisioning Missy’s head actually exploding.
It’s not such a horrible image.
“Yeah. The whole drive down she was obsessing over the luck of getting to go on a date with the unbeatable Payden Hardick.” Brandt sounds as though he is pouting a bit, and I almost feel sorry for him.
“Hey. Believe me, Payden’s a humble guy. The Hardicks might be ungodly wealthy, but you wouldn’t know it from talking to them. Not any of them.” And that is the truth. Even Preston, with his incessant suit wearing and overly generous money spending, isn’t a rich dick if you sit down to have a simple chat with him. He’s just a person. They all are just people.
“Yeah, yeah, yeah. You’ve known them forever. Safe to say you’re mildly biased,” Brandt observes, shooting me a small, understanding grin.
He really is pretty cute. And he told me how he felt about two seconds after he realized I was actually available.
How refreshing.
And you don’t want him at all. Not even one tiny bit.
I sigh loudly before I can stop myself and Brandt’s eyebrows pop up. “You alright?”
“Of course. I didn’t get a lot of sleep last night. I was just so excited for this, I guess.” I give him another giant, fake grin.
“It’s gonna be a fun night,” he assures me, nodding as we cross into the Bigsby city limits.
Right. If by fun, you mean torture, and if by torture you mean watching the guy you’re in love with get mauled by your hot friend…