“What do you mean you’re not staying?”

I stared at my boyfriend Robert and blinked. “It’s my birthday. You know how much I love my birthday.”

Robert slid his gaze around as if terrified I was going to make a scene. And why shouldn’t I? We were at the bar. All my friends were inside. It was my birthday and he was trying to weasel out of it.

“Look, it’s not that I don’t want to celebrate your birthday. And I swear to God I will make it up to you, but I do have to work. King Cassius has a lead on the crown prince. I need to go to Barbados tonight. I’ll be back in the morning. And we’ll do this tomorrow, just you and me.”

I tried not to let my anger simmer over. How many times had he cancelled something with our friends, or my friends, in favor of doing something with just the two of us? It was almost as if he were embarrassed to be seen with me. But that couldn’t be true because he always took me around his parents and his friends. It was just my friends he didn’t want to be around.

“You can’t keep doing this to me. You’re always backing out on things that are important to me. But if it’s your favorite football team, God help me if I’m not right there next to you between your father and your brother watching as a family, and that’s a first game match. This is my birthday.”

He frowned. “You know how seriously my family takes its football.”

“You don’t even like football.” I threw up my hands. This had to be a joke. This couldn’t be real. He was not trying to abandon me on my birthday. “Robert, tell me this is a joke. That you’ve cooked up some elaborate ruse with Ariel and Michael to surprise me or something.”

He frowned and looked at me as if I had three heads. As if such a thought would never have even occurred to him. “But I don’t like surprises.”

Oh God, why was I dating him again?

“See, here’s the thing, it’s not about you. It would be a nice surprise for me. I like surprises. I like any time that my boyfriend shows me he cares about me. It’s a nice thing to do.”

“Penelope, you’re being absurd. Look, today or tomorrow, it doesn’t matter. I’ll see you tomorrow, you know, on your actual birthday. Right now, duty calls. You should know about duty. You’re a member of the Royal Guard too. You know how important finding the prince is.”

I tipped my chin up to glare at him. “Something tells me you volunteered for this particular duty. Anything so you wouldn’t have to spend time with me.” I shook my head. “I’m starting to think that maybe you and I together isn’t going to work out.”

The words left my mouth dry like sawdust, but lately it had just felt like a lot of work trying to keep us together. Robert had been a part of my family unit for years. He’d just always been around as my brother’s best friend. He was handsome, smart, and a Royal Guard. My parents respected him, and my brother adored him.

And he was good-looking.

He'd started showing interest in me. Finally, after years of crushing on him, he liked me back. It was like something about going to university had changed me. Oh yeah, I’d grown breasts. So that was helpful. I’d thought everything would be perfect.

But it wasn’t. For starters, he never actually seemed to want to have sex with me. It was just bogus. Such bullshit. Why was I the one begging for sex?

It wasn’t that I didn’t want all those things. Marriage, kids, raising another generation of the Royal Guard … and, well, orgasms. I would actually like some non-self-administered ones again though.

Ariel always made a face about that, as if there was something wrong with him. But I thought it was great. He had conviction. That was one of the things that drew me to him. He took his work seriously. He took his family seriously. He took everything seriously.

Except for our relationship.

Robert’s eyes went wide. “Penny, you know you don’t mean that. You know how I feel about you. Don’t do this because you’re being childish.”

The thing was, I wanted to do just that. Let my anger take over. Scream, and wail, and throw things. But that would have been conduct unbecoming of a lady, let alone conduct unbecoming of a Royal Guard. My parents would have flipped.

“I don’t know what I’m supposed to do because it feels like you don’t make me a priority.”

For the first time, he looked panicked, like I’d finally gotten through to him. “This is important right now, but not more important than you, okay? The unit leaves in an hour. As soon as I’m back I’ll come find you, okay?”

I didn’t really have a choice, did I? He had been given orders, and my being pissed about it wasn’t going to change anything. “Yeah, I mean if you have to go, you have to go.”

“Look, we’ll talk tomorrow, okay? I’ll pick you up and we’ll do something all day that you adore. You call the shots. Anything you want.”

“You don’t get it, do you? I want you to think about all the things that I love and plan it all out.”

His brows furrowed as if I'd started speaking Greek. “I don’t—”

I shook my head at Ariel when I saw her drive up to the bar and climb out of her Fiat. She gave me a big wave until she saw who I was talking to. Then she marched over like she was on a war path.

We’d always had each other’s backs since school. For her, things weren’t always great at home, so my house had become a sanctuary. She always said, my house was how she pictured a real home. I knew she didn’t always want to go home, thanks to things with her folks, so I had her over as often as possible.

And well, she was loyal to a fault. If she had her way, she'd start a fight with Robert and knock his ass out just to protect my feelings from his assholery. But that’s not what I wanted. What I wanted was for everyone to be happy to celebrate my birthday.

But you don’t always get what you want. “Go. Do what you need to do. I guess I’ll see you tomorrow.”

Robert leaned over and brushed a kiss on my cheek. “I really am sorry.”

“Yeah, I hear you.”

Ariel bounded over. “Why did that look so intense? Please tell me it was because he got you the wrong present and not because he disappointed you again.”

I was always comforted by having her near. We’d had each other’s backs since we were six and Jamison Briggart made it a point to steal our plantain chips every snack time. Alone we cried, but together we stood up to him. We’d been besties ever since.

I wrapped my arm around her and let her squeeze me tight despite her deceptively petite frame. “Yeah, I’ve always been a shitty liar, so I can’t tell you what you want to hear. And I just had a really long day.”

“You don’t need him. You have me, and half the Royal Guard is inside. So we’re going to let the cute boys buy us drinks until you forget your problems, okay?”

I loved her. Tonight, we’d celebrate. Tomorrow, I’d face the music. “Sounds like a plan.”

I tried not to look back at the retreating form of my boyfriend. Was there something wrong with me? Was there a reason why I couldn’t have my own prince charming? I mean, he was perfect, wasn’t he? So why wasn’t I awesome enough for him?

Ariel snapped her fingers in front of my face. “Hey, don’t let him do this to you. You are awesome. Now, let’s get a drink. We’ll do a lot of shots, dance on the tables, and let the cutest members of the guard flirt with you. We’ll celebrate your twenty-second birthday. Sound good?”

I gave her a determined nod even though I wasn’t feeling it. “Yep, sounds good.”