Prologue

Aubrey Rey

The sky was dark now, the sun had just set behind the hills, taking with it all the oranges and pink hues in the sky. Making it match my mood.

“Shit.” I heard her. I knew she would come. She would give up her night of snuggling up to her man to be here for me. I wanted to say thank you. I wanted to bawl my eyes out.

But that wasn’t me. Instead, I chugged back the Tequila Sunrise I had made myself and looked up at her with as much of a charming smile as I could muster.

“You sound funny when you curse.” I giggled, and I saw the smile my best friend in the whole wide world gave me. It was one I knew I would eventually get.

Fuck, there was no pretending. It was a pity smile. The one you give your best friend in the whole wide world when their heart breaks and you have tried to warn them a million and a half times before.

“Oh, Bee.” Worry was etched on her pretty face. Both of them.

“Don’t Bee me, you!” I slurred, my head swimming. “Haha. I said don’t Bee me, but it sounds like be you,” I rambled, highly amused with myself. “Oh, Lee… There are two of you. You would have been an awesome twin.” I giggled again, trying fruitlessly to ignore the pain.

“I’m pretty sure Kenzie would disagree with you.”

“She prob-probably would.” I nodded, my head heavy. Her older sister was a cool chick. Serious, but a cool chick.

“What happened?” she asked gently, breaking the silence. I didn’t turn to look at her.

I was sitting on the loveseat I had saved meticulously for. The delivery guys had looked at me like I was crazy when I had them set it out on the balcony of my apartment, but after everything was said and done, they had even mentioned how perfectly it fit. The small sitting area was cozy and colorful, but with the darkness now draping over us as the day had turned into night, everything was dark, like my heart.

“She came in,” I said and felt Lee shift on the seat next to me.

“And she is?”

“I heard her talking on her stupid bedazzled cell phone.”

“Aubrey, you’re not making sense.”

“Who even bedazzles anymore, you know? Apart from twelve-year-olds.”

“Bre—”

“He’s going to propose.” God, it made me sick. I really thought things had changed. I thought he was finally seeing me. I’d obviously been wrong. But it’s what you got for falling for your manwhore boss. “He’s probably already betrothed.” I sounded pathetic.

“Betrothed. Oh boy, we’re using the big words now,” she teased, and I couldn’t muster the energy to look for a witty comeback.

“You don’t know, Lee.”

“Babe, talk to me, so I can know.” Her arm wrapped around my shoulder, pulling my head onto hers, and I rested it there, looking out at the great sky. The air had a slight chill to it, and it made sense. Halloween was around the corner. Maybe I could get a witch costume and live in it. Forever.

“I’m glad I got the top floor,” I tried to change the subject. The tequila had been a great idea. It made me unable to focus on the topic on hand and particularly charming.

“It sucks when the elevator’s broken,” she pointed out. I knew she was right, but I didn’t feel like admitting it. Then again, I never liked admitting I was wrong.

“Maybe, but look at the sky. The sky’s so big.” I sighed.

“Talk to me, Bre.” Guess subject change wasn’t going to work.

“He’s going to be someone else’s.” Damn. Saying it out loud hurt a lot more than just thinking it.

“And by he we mean your—”

“Don’t say it.” I dramatically popped my head up, which only made the balcony spin. Trying not to let the booze and balcony get the best of me, I tried hard to glare at both Lenas. “I’m a cliché!”

“Honey, you are not making any sense.”

“A big honking cliché! Working for the man, and the man doesn’t even see me!”

“Oh, babe, you’re so lucky I left my cell inside. I would have loved filming this,” she teased, and I rolled my eyes, wincing at how dizzy that made me.

“I’m not even a Dolly song,” I sourly said out loud, still looking out toward the sky.

Beech Grove was beautiful, a small hidden gem of Southern California.

My home.

Now I would probably have to leave. It would hurt too much to be here.

“What?”

“I could just stay.” It was home, and it’s not like being around me would even matter.

Not to him.

“You aren’t going anywhere,” she scolded.

Of course, she would. She couldn’t fathom the idea of not having me, her bestie, around now that Father Time had knocked her up.

“Oh, crap. I’m so going to tell Knox you called him that.” I looked at her and started to laugh when I realized I’d said the words out loud.

“You have Father Time and baby nugget. You’ll be okay without me around all the time. Maybe I could go to LA and just, I don’t know, blend in the crowd.”

“Babe, you can’t go anywhere. This is home. Screw—”

“What?” I looked at her and tilted my head, slightly confused, smiling sadly as I remembered where I was going with my tirade. “Oh no, I mean the song. She leaves because she would be in his way, but not me. Nope.” I shook my head, and this time when I sighed, all the emotions I had been holding in felt heavier. “I’d still be there, and he wouldn’t even know I was. Because other than picking up his stupid suits from the dry cleaners and reminding his stupid beautiful face about meetings, he doesn’t see me.”

“Aubrey.”

“Lee?” I turned to my best friend. To my sister from another mister. My soul sister. The one other person in the world who got me. “I think I gotta look for a new job.”

“Okay, Bre. We will get you started tomorrow.” She stroked my hair. That was nice. She was the best. I really didn’t deserve her.

“Okay. New job will fix it, right?” I mumbled, my body melting deeper into the loveseat, resting my head on my knees.

“If he couldn’t see what was right in front of him compared to the blow-up doll. It’s so his loss.”

“Thanks, Lee.”

“It’s the truth,” she whispered, and I knew my usually sarcastic best friend wanted to cry. But that was normal. She was pregnant. Pregnant people cried. A lot, as I found out being around Lena and her baby daddy slash hubby, Knox.

“No crying, Lee!” My lips tingled and felt looser than ever.

“Anything you want.” Her face softened.

“You’re going to be an awesome mom,” I shared, and her eyes widened. I wasn’t the feelings kind. I didn’t do emotions and ooey gooey. “Okay, that’s settled. Job hunt starts with a hangover and a trip to the Halloween store tomorrow.”

“Halloween store?”

“I need a costume.”

“What?” She laughed, utterly amused with me.

“I need something to aspire for.”

“For Halloween?”

“For next year. This one is going to suck.”

“Ahh. Gotcha. How about a princess?” she suggested, and I snorted.

“Can you imagine me as a princess? As if. Who the hell would be my knight in shining armor?”

“You never know what life will throw at you.”

“Hmm…” I silently disagreed. I knew what life would have in store for me and my drunk ass. Cats. Lots of them. But since I was allergic, I’d probably be known as the crazy dog lady, or maybe the fish lady who drowned in her home when all her fish tanks broke because her finned pals planned a mutiny against her. “And Lee?”

“Yeah?”

“Don’t let me fall in love ever again.” I sighed, my eyes heavy with unshed tears. I felt her pull me closer and tucked my body into hers. “Never, ever again,” I muttered as I fell asleep and drifted off into a dreamless state.

More than a Knight Coming October 4th,2018