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Holley looked between us. “You two need a room.”CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE – JOSHrule twenty-five: dating is never, ever easy. but it’s worth it.I pulled up in the parking lot outside Bronco’s and killed the engine. It’d been a long, tense week at work, and all I wanted to do tonight was go home, shower, and go to sleep.
Kinsley had other ideas.
Despite my suggestion that she could come over, she’d insisted on us having dinner at Bronco’s.
I said no.
Which was why I was outside Bronco’s.
Obviously, I lost that fight.
I was getting used to that.
At least I’d been able to talk her into letting me take a shower before I came.
I got out of my truck and headed inside, only pausing to lock the doors. I pushed the front door of the bar open and stepped into the foray of madness.
Why she wanted to do this on a Friday night was beyond me.
I scanned the room for her, and it took a good moment before I noticed her sitting in a booth and waving at me. I pushed my way through the throng of people who were absolutely everywhere, narrowly missing being soaked by a kid’s juice, and finally made it to the table.
“Seriously? Here for dinner on a Friday night? What’s wrong with—” I stopped when I saw Colton sitting in the booth. He’d had his back to me, and thanks to the high backs of the chairs, I hadn’t known he was here.
And now it all made sense.
Colton clenched his jaw. “Kinsley…”
She held up her hands. “Don’t yell at me,” she said, looking between us. “Just listen? For a moment?”
Sighing, I slipped into the booth next to her and nodded. Colton nodded, too, and we both waited for her to talk.
“You have got to talk to each other,” Kinsley said, pushing her hair from her face. “It’s been a week, and I can’t take this anymore. I can’t talk to you about the other without both of you tensing up and saying it’ll be okay, but it’s not. It’s not being okay. Nothing about all of this is okay.” She looked at her brother. “If you’ve forgiven me, you can forgive him, too. So stop pretending like you’re waiting for him to talk to you first when you know he’s giving you space.” Then she looked at me. “And stop pretending he’s going to talk to you first. He’s not, and you know it. You’re putting it off because it’s the easy thing to do.”
We both looked at each other, then at her.
“You’re almost thirty years old, for the love of God. Stop acting like you’re both sixteen and jerking off over the same girl in math class. Now move.” She shoved at me, and I got up so she could step out of the booth, then sat back down when she gave me another push. “You two are going to talk. Right now. Or you,” she said to Colton. “I’m going to tell Grandpa what a huge baby you’re being about this.”
Colton’s eyes widened.
“And you.” She pointed at me. “No sex until this is finished.”
It was my turn to widen my eyes.
“Can we not?” Colt looked put out. “I don’t wanna think about that.”
“Then fix this.” She grabbed her glass of wine and headed off into the bar, disappearing before it’d registered that she’d left us without a drink.
“She brings us to a bar to make us talk and doesn’t even buy us a drink?” I said, staring at the empty table then up at Colton. “What kind of shit is that?”
“My sister,” he drawled. “I got this.” He pulled out his phone and texted. A moment later, it buzzed, and he smirked. “Done. I told her we aren’t talking until she sends us two beers and some chili cheese fries.”
The curve of my lips mirrored his. “Nice.”
Colt looked around the bar. “She picked here deliberately, didn’t she?”
“I don’t think she wants you to give me a matching bruise on the other side.”
His lips twitched a little. “I don’t know if I should apologize for that or not.”
“Nah, it’s fine. I deserved it.” I shrugged. “I should have told you.”
“I get why you didn’t.”
“You do?”
“Yeah.” Colt ran his fingers through his hair. “It’s not something you drop over a beer, is it? There’s no easy way to say that.”
He paused as one of the servers put two beers in front of us and told us our chili cheese fries would be over shortly.
“I wish you had, and I’m pissed that you didn’t, but I’m fine with it.”
I sipped my beer. “You are?”
“Yeah. If she has to date someone, I guess I’m glad it’s you.” He shrugged and toyed with the damp label on the bottle. “I already like you and know you’re not a jerk for one. Mostly not a jerk.”
