Mallory glances at Tyler. He gives her a questioning look, then shrugs.
“You weren’t out of line,” Mallory finally says. “It’s more like we’re trying to be nice.”
Finley’s eyes widen. “Oh. I didn’t mean to start something.”
“Don’t apologize,” Mallory says. “We’re sorry Grant has shitty taste in women.”
“To be fair,” Tyler says, setting his coffee cup on the table, “so did Alex until Finley showed up.”
“Hey!” I protest, but strangely, I’m not insulted.
“Finley must have picked you for some unknown reason,” Tyler goes on dryly. “Because I know you picked the others. And they were—” He cuts himself off, seems to consider his words, then says, “Let’s just say they were as bad as Eloise.”
“What makes Eloise so bad?” Finley asks, ignoring that he lumped my exes in with Grant’s girlfriend. Out of loyalty or because she really doesn’t care? I suspect the latter—especially since she’s insistent this remain platonic.
Maybe I assume the latter because I don’t expect loyalty unless it’s demanded by a legal contract. Finley and I do have a contract, but there aren’t any clauses about loyalty. Then again, I doubt Finley would knowingly be mean to anyone, me included. Maybe she thinks bringing up my exes could be painful.
Is it weird that it isn’t?
Mallory turns to Tyler. “If we’re going to tell her about Eloise, where do we start?”
“We could start with the complaining,” he says with a look of distaste. “I don’t think anything makes her happy.”
“I think complaining makes her happy,” Mallory counters.
Tyler tips his cup to her. “Fair point.”
“She even complains about Mom’s cooking,” Mallory adds.
“What?” Finley cries out in horror. “No!”
Mallory smirks at me. “So did one of Alex’s exes. What was her name?” She turns to me. “The girl you dated your last couple years of college?”
My heart slams into my ribcage and a cold sweat breaks out at the nape of my neck.
“Debbie,” Tyler says.
“That’s not it,” Mallory dismisses the name with a wave.
I tell myself to calm down. That they don’t know anything about what happened, and Deidre did complain about Mom’s cooking.
“Come on, Alex,” Mallory presses. “What was her name?”
“Deidre,” I force out, pretending to be disgusted. But my stomach is churning, and it’s not from my lingering hangover.
I’ve buried all that shit in the past, yet the mere mention of her name is enough to rattle me. To be fair, I’ve been skirting around the incident, as my dad calls it, ever since I got here.
“Okay, enough about Alex’s exes,” Finley says, slipping her hand around my arm and giving it a squeeze. “No girl wants to know the ugly details about the women who preceded her.”
“I do,” Mallory says.
Finley laughs. “That doesn’t surprise me in the least. But I still don’t know what to expect from Eloise other than she probably won’t be happy.”
“Isn’t that enough?” Tyler deadpans. “Just stay out of her way and don’t make eye contact and you should be fine.”
Finley shakes her head, smiling. “Surely there’s something redeeming about her otherwise, or why else would your brother be dating her?”
“Sex,” Tyler says flatly. “Grant claims he’s never had better.” He cuts me a dry look. “I always figured the same about your exes.”
