“I don’t mean her looks. It’s a given that she’s a knockout,” he states.
My eyes go into slits. “I thought you were married.”
“I’m not dead.” He side-eyes me. “She also doesn’t need your brand of trouble.”
“I’m going to tell you that it’s time you stopped talking.” The hand on my leg balls into a fist.
“Well, no surprise, I’m not going to.” He chuckles. “I’m going to do you and Collins a favor, something this town doesn’t do enough for her. Just drop it and move on. I get it, the thrill of chasing someone who says no is exciting. But you are going to move on, and she’s going to be the one who people talk about.”
I want to ask him what he means by that, but Everleigh comes back out with two boxes in her hands. “Here,” she says, handing them to Brock, “you can drop this off at the station. Give one to the guys there and then make sure Collins gets that.” She taps the box on the bottom. “I think she works three to three.”
“For you, baby”—he gets up and grabs the boxes from her—“anything.”
“He just called Collins a knockout,” I report, and Everleigh laughs.
“Well, she is.” She shrugs her shoulders. “She always was.”
“Yeah,” Brock agrees with her, and I hate it when he’s in a playful mood.
“I like you better when you’re broody and angry,” I tell him, “and not this.”
“You fuck with Collins, you’ll get a very angry Brock, and he’ll fuck with you like you’ve never been fucked with before.” He looks at Everleigh, who looks at me with her eyes widening.
“Oh no.” Everleigh shakes her head. “You can’t go there. Leave her alone. She’s been through enough.”
“What?” I ask, confused, looking at both of them. “What do you mean?”
“See?” She points at me. “Right there is reason number one why you need to just go bark up someone else’s tree. You should go to Thatcher’s tonight. I heard there is a group of girls who are in town for a team-building exercise. They came in here this morning, just your type. Not from around here, bubbly and cute.”
“I’m going to go before I get really insulted by you guys.” I push away from the table. “I’m a respectable man.” I put my hand on my chest. “And what happens between Collins and me is between us. We are both two consenting adults.”
“Does one of you want two broken legs?” Brock glares at me. “I’m not talking about her.”
I roll my eyes. “I have to go now. This has been so much fun. We should never do this again.” I turn and walk out of the bakery, looking right and left, but I know she’s long gone.
All I can do is picture Collins and her wild eyes as she sat in front of me, so nervous and scared shitless that it radiated off her. I should have known it was as bad as it was. She was shaking when I got here. She did start to calm down, but as soon as someone came into the bakery, she started trembling again, like she wanted to crawl out of her skin. Truth be told, I don’t think I would have been as brave and quiet as she was when she told me the news. I would have come in guns blazing and shouting down the rooftop.
“Dude,” Brock says. I groan and turn my head, rubbing my hands over my face. “Seriously, don’t be stupid. People probably started the phone chain when they saw the two of you sitting together. Take it from me, don’t do that to her.”
“I’m not doing anything to her.” I put my hands on my hips. “We literally just had coffee.”
“That is not what everyone else is going to say. It’s going to be you being the victim, and all eyes will be on her, and buddy, I’ve got to tell you. The eyes are not going to be kind.” My back goes straight at his words.
“What the fuck are you talking about?” My tone is tight, and he just looks at me.
“It’s not my story to tell. Just let it fucking go and leave her fucking be.” He doesn’t give me a chance to say anything. Instead, he just turns and walks away, heading down to his garage.
I put my head down, and I can hear her voice again: I’m pregnant. My head spins as I walk to my truck.
I get in at the same time the phone rings, so I put it to my ear. “Yeah.”
“Hey,” Caleb says, “can you do me a favor?”
I look out the window of my truck at the people walking down the street, my eyes still stupidly scanning for her. “Yeah, what do you need?”
“Can you go to Sierra’s house and pick up a couple of things for her?”
“What?” I ask, not sure I heard him. “What kind of things? Like clothes and shit?”
