“Of course not,” Jensen said, like it was the most ridiculous idea he’d ever heard. “He’s not even her type.”
I completely understood the whole protective vibe he had going on, probably better than most. But that didn’t mean it didn’t piss me off to hear him say that. And believe me, I saw the hypocrisy in that.
Shane let out a snort and looked at her man. “Oh, honey. It’s sweet how oblivious you are. Willow’s had a thing for Stone practically from the moment he stepped foot into town.”
And it just kept getting worse.
“She’s a sweet girl,” Aunt Caroline stated, nodding approvingly. “You could do a lot worse.”
“Look, guys, it isn’t like that. We aren’t together.”
Just like that, the atmosphere shifted.
“So Fletch saw you with someone else?” my sister asked in confusion.
“No. He saw me with Willow. And we did kiss, but it was a mistake, and I stopped it before it went too far.”
“Ah, shit,” Jensen muttered, flopping back in his chair and scrubbing at his face as Shane’s eyes narrowed into vicious slits.
“And you expect to get points for that?” she snapped sarcastically, sending a chill down my spine. “If it was such a mistake, why the hell did you kiss her in the first place?”
“I—” couldn’t answer that question. “It’s complicated, Shane.”
“So let me get this straight. You’ve known all this time that she’s had a serious crush on you, but even though you knew you had no intention of going there with her, you kept doing nice things that could potentially give her the wrong idea, like giving her rides and loaning her your truck while her car’s being fixed—”
Jensen’s eyes widened. “You loaned her Big Red? Dude! What the hell?” He looked at me like I’d just betrayed him.
Before I could attempt to defend myself, Shane continued. “Then you kiss her, out in the open for anyone to see, in the middle of the parking lot of the most popular bar in town, during one of their busiest nights of the week. Do I have it right so far?”
I opened my mouth, but my aunt got there first. “Oh, Stone,” she admonished with a shake of her head.
“I didn’t do anything wrong!” I defended. “She kissed me.”
“So you pulled away instantly?” Shane asked in a tone that said she already knew the answer to that question. When I clamped my mouth shut, she let out a sigh. “You really are an asshole, you know that?”
“Mommy said a bad word!” Brantley shouted.
“It’s okay this one time,” Jensen assured him, shooting daggers at me. “Uncle Stone is an asshole, so Mommy can say it, but you can’t.”
“You realize you just crushed that poor girl, right?”
“I—I didn’t mean to,” I finally confessed. But it didn’t matter, because no matter my intentions, no matter my reason for shooting her down, I’d still hurt her.
This was going to go down in history as the worst fucking weekend ever.
Chapter Eighteen
Willow
“That son of a bitch,” Aurora hissed between her teeth. “He’s dead. That’s it. I’m gonna kill him so dead. And I’ve watched like a bazillion murder mystery movies and serial killer docs and all those true crime channels, so I totally know how to do it and get away with it. His body will never be found. You have my word on that.”
So, the whole grabbing-life-by-the-balls thing had started off pretty rocky, but it was okay. All right, it wasn’t okay. It sucked something fierce, and the sting of Stone’s rejection still left my skin feeling raw and exposed. But I did my best to pull myself up by my bootstraps—whatever that meant.
I gave myself the weekend to wallow in my sadness. I ate all the junk food and watched movies that made me cry until my eyes were red and nearly swollen shut. Then, when Monday morning rolled around, I got dressed in one of my nicest outfits and spent extra time on my hair and makeup, wearing it all like armor, then headed off to work, determined to keep my head up.
Apparently I hadn’t done as good a job at it as I’d hoped, because it took no time at all for Lark to realize something was wrong. After work, she and Aurora had all but dragged me to a local sandwich shop for dinner, and at their insistence, I dove in, telling them about the whole disastrous event, starting with dinner with my sisters and ending with Stone’s devastating rejection.
I considered it a win that I hadn’t started crying again when I relayed the story to them, but that was probably because I’d run my tear ducts dry over the past couple of days.
Lark reached over and patted Aurora’s arm. “All right, easy there, psycho. I’m all for hurting the bastard, but I’m thinking more along the lines of a nice, hard junk punch. Not something that could get us put away for life.”
Aurora gave her a sour look. “Did you not hear the part where I said I’m basically a genius at getting away with murder? Your lack of faith in me really hurts.”
She rolled her eyes at Aurora and looked back at me. “Just ignore her. I’m so sorry, honey.”
I looked down into my glass, stirring around the lemon wedge in my water. “It is what it is, right? I’ll be fine.”
“Yeah. You will be,” Aurora said with a serious expression. “You know why? Because you’re a beautiful, brilliant glowing ball of sunshine and kitten fur and rainbows, and he’s just a big crap cloud.”
“Poetic,” Lark deadpanned.
“I thought so. Anyway, he’s an asshole, and he doesn’t deserve you.”
“She’s absolutely right.” Lark nodded in agreement. “You can do so much better than him.”
Aurora lifted a finger. “Also, I’m sorry to say this baby cakes, but your sister is an asshole. She’s out. I’m your sister now, and I’ll do right by you, sugar.”
Lark gave her a disgusted look. “It doesn’t work that way, Rora. And that’s still her sister.”
Aurora’s face took on an air of haughtiness. “Not anymore. I just decreed it.”
God, I loved these crazy-ass women.
“And I also have a brilliant idea to help you get over Sir Asshole McDouche Nozzle.”
I was almost scared to ask. “Oh?”
“Yep!” Aurora beamed with so much excitement you’d have thought she discovered the cure for erectile dysfunction. “We’re gonna get you laid!”
“Oh my God, Rora!” Lark cried. “That’s a terrible idea! She just had her heart broken. Trying to set her up with some random hookup isn’t going to make things better!”
It really wasn’t. And I really wasn’t that type of woman.
Aurora pouted at Lark. “Why do you always have to ruin my fun?”
Lark rolled her eyes on a laugh. “You’re ridiculous.”
“I think you mispronounced amazing.”
I decided it was time to break in before things escalated and they got into a hair-pulling match. “I appreciate any and all suggestions, really. But I think for now I just need a little time to lick my wounds. I’ll get over it. Believe me, it’s not the first time I’ve had a crush on a guy who didn’t feel the same about me. It’ll just take a little time.” Or at least that was what I was hoping.