A Night to Remember: The Complete Series by Cassie Mint

Author:Cassie Mint [Mint, Cassie]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Black Cherry Publishing
Published: 2024-08-08T00:00:00+00:00

Lucy

It’s louder down on the street, cars rumbling past the sidewalk as drivers lean on their horns. It rained for an hour or so earlier, and the ground is black and shiny, reflecting their headlights. Tires swish through shallow puddles.

Huddled in the doorway out of the way of the pedestrians, I fumble with my phone, trying to keep it together long enough to order a ride home.

It’s ridiculous that Darius’s words should make me lose control like this—that every time I replay them, it feels like being stabbed.

Practice. That’s all he ever promised me from tonight.

And practice is what he gave me.

So why do I feel sick with betrayal? Why do I want to headbutt his stupid, handsome face? Why is my chest a smoking crater underneath my dress?

Finally, I find the app I need. Browsing for nearby drivers, I clench my jaw against the threat of tears.

I will not cry here.

I will not sob out my broken heart in the street below my office party.

I will make it home, change into flannel pajamas, and then fall apart like a grown up, damn it.

Ride confirmed. Tracking the little dot of my savior on the map, I stare dry-eyed as my driver inches through traffic.

That was my first kiss.

My only kiss.

Darius took that from me, and it didn’t even mean anything to him. Is that allowed? Is that what I agreed to with this fake date? Am I an idiot?

“Lucy.”

Normally, the deep, smooth sound of Darius Amin’s voice makes butterflies explode inside me. Right now, it makes my teeth grind.

“Lucy,” he says, coming to my side. Didn’t hear the front door open, or I would have made a run for it, even in these heels. “There you are. Please, don’t leave like this.”

The really messed up thing is that Darius sounds as wrecked as I feel. Like tonight is an emotional rollercoaster for him too, but that makes no sense.

He’s the heartthrob who sees me as a friend, nothing more. This is all a big joke to him.

I’m the dumbass on a fake date with her crush.

And when I put it like that, I can’t even be mad at him. Not really. Darius hasn’t done anything that I didn’t agree to—eagerly.

“Just a headache,” I mutter, tilting my phone so he can see my ride is nearly here. Darius snakes a hand out faster than I can react, canceling my ride with the tap of a button. “Hey!”

“Don’t lie to me, Lucy.” Great. Now he’s pissed off, too—and when I finally look up, Darius is rumpled and angry, his normally smooth appearance fraying. “You can feel however you need to feel, but don’t lie to me, damn it. Not me.”

But I do have a headache. It’s called Darius Amin.

And there’s a simple cure: a ride home, alone, and then a pint of butterscotch ice cream on my sofa. This treatment is tried and tested, okay? Because this is not my first rodeo. Not my first meltdown about loving the man in front of me—it’s just the first one that he’s seen.

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