"I can't even drink my worries away," she half laughs, half sobs.
"Probably not the best idea anyways, V. It ain't getting me very far."
She pulls back and wipes her eyes.
"I think you should speak to Harper, Ace. I know what she's doing is fucked up. Like, seriously fucked up. But we all saw how much she loves you. How much you love her. Isn't it worth clearing the air? Maybe then you can move on? Or fix it?"
I chew on the inside of my mouth. It's a battle I have every morning and every night.
I open my mouth—but the door crashes open, and Jett is back in his flamingo shirt, holding two bottles of tequila.
"Did someone say we're partying?" he sings.
I can feel Violet tense beside me. I glance over, and she's watching his every move. Interesting.
"Jett. No one said anything about a party," she says.
He winks at her. She looks away too fast.
"I ain't in the mood to party, Jett," I tell him.
He rolls his eyes and cracks open the bottle. "Wrong answer. Shot." He shoves the tequila in my hand. I can't argue with stupid, so I do as he says. The burn helps. Barely.
"V, wanna come bake some cookies?" Lola calls out from the kitchen.
"See? This is my life now. Baking cookies and doing laundry," Violet mutters.
"I'll take chocolate chip ones, please," I tell her.
She slaps my arm. There she is.
"I'll try not to burn them." And then she's stomping into the kitchen.
"Jett, what are you up to?" I ask, standing and grabbing my hat.
He knocks back more tequila, then hands the bottle to Hunter, who doesn't even question it. I think we're all having quite the week.
"Ace, I can't believe I need to explain this to you. We're going out for a beer, and you, my friend, are going to lose your virginity."
I cough. "Excuse me?"
He slaps his hand on my shoulder, and I tense to resist the urge to throw him through the window.
"Your post-Harper virginity, Ace. You can't spend the rest of your life celibate. You did six years. It's done. Now you can be single—this time, properly."
I take a breath. "You ain't going to let this go, are you?"
I glance at Hunter, who hasn't said a word. I squint at him. "You're in on this, aren't you?"
Hunter laughs. "A little. We've got Ranch 42 secured. We're about to burn the Greeks. To make it three out of three, I need my little brother to move on."
"Asshole," I mutter.
Jett cackles. "Wow, going straight in with anal. Alright, I like your style."
"I ain't doing anything, Jett. I don't need to get laid."
He shakes his head. "No. I'm not watching you do this to yourself again. Your dick will still work on women who aren't called Harper. You'll be fine."
