Katya nods, believing him without falter. “That’s what I thought.”
Luka swings his head to Camila. “We stopped being friends when we were caught doing drugs.”
“Wow.” Camila has nothing else to add but that, and I try to compartmentalize my feelings. I pick up Rudy and place him on my windowsill. All the while, I feel the heat of Luka’s gaze.
I nudge Katya’s chair with my foot. “You can open your present from me.”
Katya slips off a tiny card beneath the bow. Flipping the card, she laughs and flashes the script to everyone. I wrote: For Posh Spice.
Then she begins unwrapping the purple paper.
I still feel Luka staring at me. It makes me curious. I’m supposed to be the observer here.
Maybe he’s wondering how I am. I take a breath, and I brave a glance his way.
Luka leans coolly against the wall, a Nova Vega show poster hung above his tousled dark hair. The longer I observe him, soaking up his features—his nonchalant, relaxed posture and radiant eyes—the more his lips upturn.
And then he mouths, I love you.
I feel my smile emerge, and I press my fingers to my lips. My eyes dart cautiously to the other girls, but their focus isn’t on this captivating, heartbreakingly gorgeous guy.
Luka acts like he’s invisible, but I see him. All of him.
His earnest grin grows brighter. Like a shooting star across blanketed, quiet night.
Katya gasps, and our gazes break.
She springs to her feet, eyes big. Tissue paper flutters to the floor, and a sequined, gunmetal gray dress is draped over her arm.
With shaking hands and fixated eyes, she reads a birthday card from the designer of that particular dress.
“What is it?” Camila asks.
Katya tries to play it cool, but she’s almost hyperventilating. “Rose Calloway wrote me a birthday note. She’s my…” role model. “She means so much to me.” Katya sniffs loudly, stifling tears. “She wrote ‘Katya, confidence starts within, and I believe this dress will help add fire to your strut. Be you. Be proud. Happy 17th Birthday, from one powerful woman to another.’” Kat looks to all of us. “Rose Calloway called me powerful.”
We’re all tearing up at Katya’s reaction to that. She wafts her hand by her face. I can practically hear her don’t ruin your makeup chant.
Katya sniffs again and then she wraps her arms around my shoulders. “Thanks, Baylee. This was…”
“You don’t have to say.” I hug back, my arms around her waist. “I know what it means to you.” I wish I could’ve given her Marvin, but our stuffed dinosaur is part of a past that has no place for our future.
We’re both grown. And moving somewhere else.
Somewhere new.
“Oh my God.” Camila gapes at me as I split apart from Katya. “You know Rose Calloway?”
“No, my aunt does. She’s the brand and marketing executive for Calloway Couture.” Rose’s fashion line. “But I’ve never met Rose Calloway.”
It took a couple phone calls to Aunt Lucy. I asked her if I could have the most “glittery” Calloway Couture dress on the sale’s rack. After I explained the gift, Aunt Lucy said, “I can do you better than that.”
The note definitely outshined the dress.
Camila shakes her head in awe. “You’re two degrees away from the Calloway sisters and their men.” Her mouth drops further. “Do you know Ryke Meadows? Do you have his number? I’m not joking when I say this: he’s my soul mate.”
Luka listens like a fly on the wall, and I think I’m the only one that catches the amusement in his gray eyes.
Thora wads up tissue paper. “You’d dump Craig?”
“For Ryke Meadows, the holy grail of all rugged, daring, women-adoring-and-protecting men. I’d dump everyone for him.”
Glass shatters outside, and someone shouts, “WHO SAID DIMITRI HAS A TINY DICK?!”
Camila cups her hands to her lips and yells, “THE TINIEST!”
Chatter explodes, and I mostly hear the name “LUKA!” among them. They really want Luka to relay an answer.
Grinning, Luka pops an orange Tic Tac in his mouth. When he notices me staring, I make a face at him. Almost like a serious pout.
He makes the same face back and then gestures me over.
I’m scared if I approach Luka, I’ll just sink into his arms and look up for a kiss. And he’ll say yes because it’s too hard to say no now.
Our emotions are at an all-time high. It’s safer staying away, even if I hate it.
So I mouth, later.
He nods, understanding.
Katya hugs her dress to her body. “I’d dump everyone for Connor Cobalt.” Rose Calloway’s husband.
“What?” Luka cringes.
Thora and Camila are smiling, and Katya gives her brother a look like you’ll never understand. “Connor Cobalt is the smartest man on the planet,” she reminds him.
His brows scrunch, and he shakes out another Tic Tac. “That’s the only reason you like him?”
“I like that he’s always well-dressed, and he respects Rose Calloway’s opinion. And he’s a genius,” she emphasizes like this outweighs all.
Luka is fishing for something else. “That’s it though? Nothing else?”
Katya is confused, and then realization hits her. Now she’s the one cringing. “I didn’t say anything about sex!”
His brows jump. “If you Wikipedia Connor Cobalt, his sexual preferences are in his bio.”
“I was thinking it,” Camila chimes in.
I’m stuck on the fact that Luka searched Connor Cobalt on the internet before. “Is he your favorite?” I tease Luka like he once teased me.
He instantly smiles at my question, remembering our food truck outing. I wish I could call it a date. “No,” he says, “but I know who yours is.”
“Who?” Katya asks me.
“Not Loren Hale,” I announce.
Luka tilts his head at me. “Come on.”
I give him a look, and then sigh into surrender. “I mean…if I had to choose, it probably would be him.”
Luka grins like he caught me. Maybe he did. But if it was Loren Hale vs. Luka Kotova, there is no contest. There’s only one man who completes me.
Thora asks, “In terms of Connor Cobalt’s bio, are we talking about what I think we’re talking about…?”
Katya sighs. “The fact that Connor Cobalt is into BDSM, yeah. And maybe I do prefer that.”
Luka’s face is frozen in shock, processing this at a snail’s pace. I watch. Staring. I think he’s not sure how he should react. If he should wince or smile or do nothing at all.
He asks, “Do you know what BDSM is?”
“I’m seventeen. God,” she groans. “I know I look young and all of you baby me, but I’m aware of what’s outside. I live in sin city. I’ve met working girls—I’ve been propositioned to be one, and I said no.”
“I know,” Luka says. “I was there.”
“I’m reminding you.” Katya huffs.
Camila leans forward. “Have you tried BDSM?” she asks her.
Luka immediately steps off the wall. “This is my cue to self-eject.” His voice is easygoing, and he heads to the door.
Katya isn’t hesitant to answer. “Not yet, but I’ve read scenes in one of Thora’s books.” Paranormal romance. Thora often lends them to Katya.
“They’re good books,” Thora says confidently. “I mean, solid stuff.” She shakes her head at herself. She was doing really well there.
“Very solid,” Camila quips. “I loved the one about the twelve-inch vampire cock.”
I watch Luka pause by the door, more interested than he’s letting on. People-watching is a serious form of entertainment of mine, so I understand the lingering.
“The Forgotten Night,” Thora names the title. “It’s in my top ten favorites, but not just because of the vampire dick. Though that’s…”
“Hot,” Camila finishes.
Thora looks grateful when Camila finds the words that are tangled in her head.
Luka nods to Camila and jokes, “Have you met Dimitri? Guy’s massive.”
Of course Luka puts a good word in for Dimitri. That’s the opposite kind of relationship I have with his cousin.
“He’s not that massive,” I assure Camila. “He’s tiny.” I squish my fingers together to a microscopic size.
Luka laughs at me. “He’s fucking huge.”
I squish my fingers even closer.
“Which one of you has actually seen his dick?” Camila asks.