His patronizing tone chafes, leaving me feeling petty.
“She said any woman who went for me would get her heart broken.”
I hear my brother groan. “Look, try to see it from her perspective—”
“Her perspective?What kind of perspective could she possibly have? She’s not involved.” My words are clipped, angry. “Zoe and I wanted different things. I broke it off. End of story.”
“Hey—” The word is laced with warning. It takes a lot to rile my older brother. He’s the gentle giant of our family. But I’ve cracked his composure. “Lark, take your head out of your ass for a minute and give Maggie some credit. Herperspectiveis the one that’s aimed at your battered roommate.”
I don’t know what I expected him to say, but I’ll admit, it wasn’t that.
Bear gives it to me. “You call her over there to help this girl who’s being stalked and threatened by her ex and is just about as scared and vulnerable as she could be.”
I’ve got no argument with this, so I keep my mouth shut.
“Mags knows women like this. A guy like you stepping up to help her in her moment of need?”
“What do you mean, a guy like me?”
Bear scoffs again. “Take a look in the mirror, little brother.”
I snort.
“You know you’re a handsome devil. Of course, you do,” he throws out casually. “You look just like me.”
I bark a laugh, but Bear gets serious.
“Think about it, Lark. From where your friend sits, your armor looks pretty shiny. Might make it hard to see much else. And someone like that needs to be seeing clearly.”
Some of the fight goes out of me. Some. “But I told Maggie we were just friends.”
“Yeah, and Maggie probably said what she said to that girl to make sure it stayed that way.”
I don’t want to admit it, but I guess I can see where Maggie might have been coming from. Still, the explanation doesn’t feel like enough.
It’s embarrassing to straight up ask it, but I want a clear answer. “So, you’re saying Maggiedoesn’treally think I’m careless with women’s hearts?”
The silence that follows is too long for my liking.
“Lark, is this really about what Maggie thinks?” Bear asks, his voice smoothing out in a way that makes me nervous. “Or is it more about what you think?
And fuck all if my brother isn’t right.
ChapterTwenty
STELLA
“Well, Mercuryisin retrograde.”
This is Pen’s response after listening to me vent for ten minutes. It’s not what I want to hear.
“What does that even mean?” I snap.
Her look goes sour. She jerks the twine knot she’s tying with extra vigor. “I’ve explained this already.”
I slap a homemade Halloween rice krispy treat down on a fresh sheet of parchment. “Maybe I wasn’t listening,” I mumble, feeling more than a little snotty.
Pen silently stews. We each wrap two treats and set them aside on the kitchen counter. Forcefully.
