“Say what now?”
Titus looked back at me. “A group of flamingos is a flamboyance, not a flock.”
Oh well, there you go. All cleared up now.
“That’s enough now, Paul,” Charlie called to his peacock.
The fowl ignored him, hopping into the middle of the fight like he belonged there and fanning out his feathers in a sea of green and turquoise. The flamingos calmed instantly, mesmerized by Paul’s puffed-out strut through the pack of them. Sorry, the flamboyance.
“I’m sorry, but is anyone else seeing flamingos and a peacock right now?” I looked around, seeing all my friends and family with similar expressions of awe as we crept closer to the wild animals.
“Surprise!” Titus whisper-shouted.
I looked at him in surprise, all right. At my frown, he gave me jazz hands, which only irritated me further. “You bought me flamingos?”
“Yeah.” He shrugged like it wasn’t a big deal to buy bright pink wild animals with beaks of fury for your betrothed.
Fuck, that was cool. I used the word betrothed in my head.
Charlie moved ahead of the pack, creeping closer to Paul in some sort of weird crouch that set my teeth on edge. Finnie appeared confident in his abilities, so I tried to copy her belief that all would be well shortly.
Paul shook his feathers at Charlie’s approach. The flamingos remained frozen with one leg down on the ground for each of them. The little girl inside me wanted to run straight for them and push them over just for shits and giggles. Thankfully, I’d matured recently and stayed by Titus’s side instead.
Charlie crooned to the peacock in some kind of animal language and got him to tuck his feathers back in and move away from the flamboyance. The two odd companions kept walking in the direction of Charlie’s house. I wasn’t too sure how long you could get a peacock to walk beside you, but for Charlie’s sake, I hoped it was at least the two miles until his property came into view. We all stared after them, Vee breaking out her cell phone to capture the odd moment forever.
“Let’s get this engagement party started!” Esme broke the silence, along with a loud pop as a champagne cork flew through the air in the general direction of the flamboyance.
The little flamingo legs became a pink blur as they tried to fast foot it out of there, not at all happy with Esme’s loud shout nor being shot at. The beaks started pecking and the flamingo fight began again.
I turned my back to it all and surveyed all my friends, family, and fellow citizens spilling out the back of our house, watching the whole thing with the intensity of a Super Bowl viewing party. My thumb found the band of the ring on my finger, twirling it back and forth, still amazed it was there.
“Did you know a group of ravens is called an unkindness?” I overheard Poppy telling some poor, unsuspecting stranger.
“Oh! And a group of crows is called a murder!” Hazel interjected with a finger jabbing the sky, earning herself some excited guests clapping her on the back. Girl did love a word game.
Titus put his arm around me and pulled me close, his chin resting gently on top of my head. “Good thing you don’t have a desperate need for the spotlight anymore.”
I snorted, surveying the craziness that was Auburn Hill and that also happened to be packed into my backyard. “Got that right. This town is full of quacks. Get it…quack? Peacocks…birds?”
Titus winced. “Yeah, I got it. It just wasn’t that funny.”
I pinched his abs that had an annoyingly small amount of fat on them. “Hey! Be nice to your fiancée!”
Titus wrapped both arms around me and whispered suggestively into my ear. “You know there’s only one way to get me to shut up…”
My brain stuttered to the memory of sitting on Titus’s face that one day long ago. “Holy shit. Let’s ditch this crowd.”
I pushed against Titus’s chest and we made a mad run for it, hand in hand, disappearing from our own party. Ah, how times had changed. I was running away from the party and the spotlight willingly.
And straight into Titus’s arms.
Can’t stand to say goodbye to Amelia and Titus? You don’t have to!! Grab their bonus epilogue right here. But only if you find Elvis impersonators and weddings in Vegas hilarious.
Want more of Hell? Make sure you check out the whole series, starting with the free novella, Man Glitter!
Acknowledgments
Thank you so much for reading Unfriend Me!
Special thanks to Rachel Connolly for the incredible Cover Design and dealing with my complete lack of graphics knowledge. Thanks to Lawrence Editing for cleaning this book up and loving my heroine. Thank you also to Judy Zweifel for triple checking this manuscript and dealing with my complete lack of appropriate dash usage.
To my Rays of Sunshine: you give me life. <3
Also by Marika Ray
Steamy RomComs:
Love Bank - Jobs From Hell #1
Uber Bossy - Jobs From Hell #2
Unfriend Me - Jobs From Hell #3
Man Glitter - Jobs From Hell Novella - Grab it FREE here!
***
The Missing Ingredient - Reality of Love #1
Mom-Com - Reality of Love #2
Desperately Seeking Househusbands - Reality of Love #3
***
Happy New You - Standalone
Steamy Beach Romance:
1) Sweet Dreams - Beach Squad #1
2) Love on the Defense - Beach Squad #2
3) Barefoot Chaos - Beach Squad #3
* Novella - Handcuffed Hussy
4) Beach Babe Billionaire- Beach Squad #4
5) Brighter Than the Boss - Beach Squad #5
* Novella - Christmas Eve Do-Over
Sweet Romances:
The Marriage Sham - Standalone
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The Widower’s Girlfriend-Faking It #1
Home Run Fiancé - Faking It #2
Guarding the Princess - Faking It #3
***
Lines We Cross - Nickel Bay Brothers #1
Perfectly Imperfect Us - Nickel Bay Brothers #2
About the Author
Marika Ray is a national bestselling author, writing steamy RomCom and sweet romances to make your heart explode and bring a smile to your face. All her books come with a money-back guarantee that you’ll smile at
