Friend Zone (Friend Zone Series Book 1)
Friend Zone
Copyright © 2018 by Nicole Blanchard
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical reviews and certain other noncommercial uses permitted by copyright law. For permission requests, write to the publisher, addressed “Attention: Permissions Coordinator,” at the address below.
Bolero Books LLC
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San Diego, CA 92128
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Publisher’s Note: This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are a product of the author’s imagination. Locales and public names are sometimes used for atmospheric purposes. Any resemblance to actual people, living or dead, or to businesses, companies, events, institutions, or locales is completely coincidental.
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Contents
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fifteen
Chapter Sixteen
Chapter Seventeen
Chapter Eighteen
Chapter Nineteen
Chapter Twenty
Chapter Twenty-One
Chapter Twenty-Two
Chapter Twenty-Three
Chapter Twenty Four
Chapter Twenty Five
Chapter Twenty Six
Chapter Twenty Seven
Chapter Twenty Eight
Chapter Twenty Nine
Epilogue
Dear Reader
Frenemies
Acknowledgments
About the Author
Also by Nicole Blanchard
Dedication
To Atticus and Vyolette, sweet angels too precious for this earth, and their mother Mia, a great friend.
Chapter One
Charlie
There was no way to escape.
Trust me, I’d checked. The small half-bath had no secret doorways, and the window was so minuscule I couldn’t fit through it even if I lost the pesky freshman fifteen I’d packed on two years ago. I opened it despite my misgivings and despaired at the slow progression. The air filtered in, clammy and thick, but my desperate lungs drew it in greedily. My fingers dug into the windowsill and I prayed for the first time in ten years. Please, God, don’t let me faint.
The knock at the door made me screech, and I clapped a hand over my mouth.
“Charlie,” came a familiar voice. “You okay in there?”
“Liam, how many times do I have to tell you not to interrupt me when I’m on a date?” I washed my hands and gave a quick look in the mirror. I frowned at my reflection. Limp dirty blonde hair that fell rain-straight to my shoulders, plain brown eyes opened so wide I nearly scared myself.
Get it together, Charlie.
I opened the door and peered beneath Liam’s raised arm. “Andrew didn’t follow you, did he?”
“Why?” He sounded amused. I narrowed my eyes at him as I straightened. How could he be amused at a time like this? “What? I thought you got off on this part.”
“What part? I don’t get off on anything!” The screeching continued, and it was definitely coming from me. There must be something in the water. It wasn’t like me to be so frantic and…unhinged.
Liam merely smiled that one-sided smile that made me want to sucker punch him. It made the dimple in his right cheek peek out to say hello. It was a tease, that dimple. It made most girls swoon, but it made me want to deck him because he only shared it with me when he was trying to piss me off, which he did with infuriating regularity. “Now, Charlie, you should know better than to keep breaking it off with these puppies if you aren’t getting laid on the regular. Maybe that’s why you’re so uptight.”
I looked to the ceiling. Maybe I’d find patience there. But there was no spiritual aid to be found, unless you counted the water stain that kind of looked like Jesus if I squinted just right. I’d grown sick of water stains. My dorm had them. My first apartment had them. What was it with college haunts and water-stained ceilings? One day I’d own my own home and there wouldn’t be a water stain in sight.
“Focus.”
I glared at him. “I am focused. Focused on not planting my fist in your face.” I shoved around him, which wasn’t easy considering how bulky he was. For a bartender-slash-veterinary student, he sure packed on the muscle. I guess it was hauling around all those kegs and delivering…I don’t know calves or whatever it was he did at his family’s farm that made him want to be a vet.
“Don’t let your anger out on me because you aren’t getting any.” Liam followed close behind as I squeezed through the packed hallway of girls in skimpy dresses trying to get to the bathroom. Most of them side-eyed me until they caught onto the fact that Liam was much more interested in checking out their racks than paying any attention to me. After a lifetime of friendship, I was used to their reaction.
“I’m not angry.”
“If I weren’t getting laid, I’d be angry. Andrew must not be doing it right.”
I spotted Andrew at the standing table where I left him, but paused instead of going to his side. I really hated this part. As I weighed my options, I said distractedly, “Then how do you explain the fact that you’re a dick to me 24/7 if you’re always getting laid? And Andrew is perfectly…nice.”
“I’m not a dick,” he said. My snort caused him to smile again, dimple twinkling. “Okay, well not all the time. Besides, I’m only like that with you because, you know, we’re friends. The only time you should really worry is when I turn on the charm.”
“You, charm? I doubt there’s anything you could do that would ever make me forget what you were like at twelve with all your acne and that high-pitched voice. Sorry, buddy, there’s no coming back from that.”
Liam coughed and eyed a bombshell redhead who was giving him a sympathetic look. He leaned closer to me. “You promised me you’d never mention that again.”
“And you promised you’d never interrupt another date.”
“You can’t be calling this a date,” he replied, disbelief coloring his voice and expression. “Especially not if the sex is only nice.”
My thoughts ground to a halt and I reached up to tug at my hair. “What do you mean by that?”
Redhead forgotten, Liam reclined against the wall next to me and jerked his head to where Andrew stood checking his watch. “You only bring a guy here when you’ve reached the dumping phase and I’m not about to give you a sex education lesson.”
“Dumping phase? How did—what do—how did you know I was going to break up with him?” I stumbled through my response, my voice nearly giving out several times in my attempt to speak. “I don’t need a sex lesson from you.”
I rolled my eyes. “You have no idea how it’s going to go.” I paused, biting my lip. “Do you?”
Liam waved at his manager when he began to shoot him impatient looks. That was Liam, totally unconcerned about the fact that he was supposed to be actually working. It drove me almost as insane as his ability to see right through me did. “This isn’t the first time you’ve brought a guy here when you want to break up with him and I doubt it’ll be the last. What’s the reason this time? You two have been kicking it for longer than usual. He do something stupid like propose?”
At my silence, he straightened and tried to keep a straight face. “Holy shit, did he propose?”
My hands knotted, and I looked away.
He snorted. “You’re kidding.” When I didn’t answer, his expression grew serious. “Whoa. You’re not kidding. Congratulations? I guess a lifetime of nice sex may be someone’s idea of a happily ever after, though I’m not sure who.”
For the first time in my life I understood the phrase about gazes shooting daggers and I wished mine would. He’d be dead ten times over. “Don’t be ridiculous.”
“Ouch. Poor guy. Now I actually feel bad for him.”
I followed Liam to the bar and accepted the beer he offered. I figured I’d need more than one before the night was over and drank deeply, hoping the cool brew would soothe the dryness in my throat. “I didn’t mean for it to go this far. We got along so well and he seemed to understand I wasn’t looking for anything serious.”
“This is what I mean about you and these guys. That’s how I know you’re about to break up with someone. You always bring them here. I almost feel bad for him,” he said as he studied Andrew. “He has no idea you’re about to break his heart.”
“I don’t break their hearts!” I sipped from my beer, contemplating his words. At least, I don’t think I do.
Liam took an order from a couple who could barely keep their hands, and mouths, off each other while I worked up the nerve to walk over to Andrew and get it over with. It didn’t escape my notice that I’d never been so into a man, Andrew or otherwise, who got me so hot I forgot we were in public. Maybe Liam was onto something about nice meaning something bad.
“Don’t worry,” Liam said when he was finished with the couple. “I’ll keep an eye on him in case he freaks out.”
“You’re making this out to be a bigger deal than it is.” Maybe if I repeated it enough, I’d start to believe it.
He leaned on the counter after handing me another beer. I hadn’t even realized I’d downed my first. “C’mon, Charlie. You and I both know you’ve left a trail of men in your wake. It was only a matter of time before one of them got serious before you managed to shake them loose.”
“You make me sound terrible.” Was I really that bad?
“No, you’re not that bad.” He was smiling again at my habit of speaking my thoughts out loud, but this time at least I didn’t want to punch him. This time I was thankful he was my best friend, so he could lie and tell me all the things I wanted to hear instead of the truth. “But you better let him down gentle.”
I polished off my beer and accepted a third. I had a feeling I was going to need it. “Thanks for being here, Liam.”
“Anytime, shortstack. Don’t be too hard on yourself.” He winked at me as he straightened. “Besides, you need someone who’ll rock your world. Not someone whose nice.”
“You’re really asking for it,” I told him.
I could only sigh as I made my way through the crowded bar to Andrew’s side with guilt hanging like a heavy weight on my shoulders and settling uncomfortably in my stomach. It didn’t help that when he heard me approach, Andrew turned to me with a wide, slightly wobbly smile on his face.
“There you are! I was about to come looking for you.”
“I’m sorry I took so long. You know girls’ bathrooms.” I waved a hand, but he still mostly looks confused.
“I ordered you a cosmopolitan, but I see you’ve already gotten a drink.” We’d been together long enough he’d memorized my drink order. It should have caused a pang of affection to chime in my chest, but there was…nothing. I frowned as he pushed the glass across the table. Noticing my expression, he asked, “Is something wrong?”
My smile wobbled and I downed half of the cosmo for liquid courage. It joined the beer already sloshing around in my stomach and the combination ignited. Not a good idea, Charlie. I set the drink down and moved it out of reach. Get it over with.
“Actually, Andrew, there’s something I think we should talk about.”
He rolled his shoulders and shifted in his seat. “Good, I’m glad you mentioned it. There’s something I wanted to talk to you about, too.”
Caught off guard my throat closed on the words and I gestured for him to continue. A sense of foreboding settled over me like a dark cloud and I glanced around surreptitiously for Liam’s comforting presence, but he was still busy at the bar. Besides, I didn’t need him to come to my rescue. I could handle Andrew. I hope.
Andrew took my hand in his and all I could think about was how clammy it was. I had to resist pulling mine away. “You know how much I care about you,” he said and tried to look deeply into my eyes. I hated when people did that. It always made me feel so incredibly uncomfortable. “We’ve been dating for a while now and…”
I couldn’t take it anymore. I wasn’t sure how I’d react if he actually proposed, but I knew it wouldn’t be pretty. “Stop, Andrew. I think I know what you’re going to say.” My heart is beating triple time and I wouldn’t be surprised if it leapt out of my chest and onto the table in between us—but not in a good way.
His shoulders relax and he sends me a grateful smile. “You do? Good. I was afraid we were on the wrong page.”
Oh, you have no idea.
“I found the ring,” I blurted.
His head jerked back so suddenly his whole chair moved with him, making an awful sound against the wood floors. People in our immediate vicinity turned in our direction. I wanted to melt into a puddle at the floor. I should have waited until we were in a private place. It hadn’t even occurred to me he could make this into a scene.
“What?” I’d never heard his voice quite that high before.
I lowered mine in response, hoping to smooth his ruffled feathers before he got upset. “The ring. The engagement ring? I found it when I was at your apartment last week.”
Silence filled the space between us and my ears began to ring, blotting out the sound of the bad karaoke from a couple of sorority girls in the corner. But over the ringing, I heard Liam’s voice berating me for my love ‘em and leave ‘em attitude.
“You thought I was going to propose to you?”
Then it was my turn to gape at him like a fish. “Weren’t you?”
His eyes flicked back and forth as he studied me. He leaned back and crossed his arms in front of his chest. “You were going to break up with me, weren’t you?” He actually laughed and then leaned in across the table. “You were going to break up with me even though you thought I was going to propose.”
The warmth from the alcohol curdled in my stomach. I swallowed hard and pressed my hands into the table for balance. I wasn’t going to throw up in public. I didn’t even do that when I was fresh out of high school and acclimating to the constant flow of booze as a frosh. “You could do so much better than me, Andrew. I’m leaving this summer for a volunteer opportunity overseas. We wouldn’t even get to spend a lot of time together.” All my carefully rehearsed reasons now sounded pathetic and flimsy in light of Liam’s accusations and the pure disbelief on Andrew’s face.
He shook his head and got to his feet. “You’re a real piece of work, Charlie. But for the record, I was never gonna propose to you. That ring is a family heirloom. My mom gave it to me last week for my twenty-fifth birthday.”
I opened my mouth to respond, but he was already
walking away. I downed the rest of the cosmo to wash out the bad taste in my mouth, but not even it could drown out the sound of Liam’s words and Andrew’s accusations.
Chapter Two
Liam
I kept an eye on their table as best I could, but the bar was packed on a Saturday night. By the time I looked up, I’d lost sight of them and their table was empty. As I filled drink requests for person after person my gaze flitted around the room trying find either of them. I cursed under my breath. Never should have let her do this on a night when I was working so I couldn’t keep a close eye on her.
A half-hour later, it seemed half of the university had decided to show up so I hadn’t been able to tear myself away. My eyes are gritty from the flashing lights and lack of sleep. I wish I could say it’s because I’ve spent it with a woman, but I picked up extra shifts here and the pet rescue where I work as a vet tech for extra cash. If I was being honest it’s been a hot minute since I’ve even had time for another woman.
The next girl in line, a pretty brunette with skin-tight jeans and a killer smile, didn’t even do anything for me. “Sex on the beach,” she requested.
But it did nothing for me. Not even when she perched on the bar stool and arched her back to thrust her pretty breasts in the line of my gaze. “Coming right up,” I told her. I was still focused on scanning the crowd to try and spot Charlie and her latest guy, so I only gave her breasts a cursory glance. The brunette pouted until I placed her drink in front of her and she flounced off for another target.