Page 161 of No Headlines Please

My sister never lost her cool, especially in front of strangers. And now, there she was, dropping two f-bombs in a single sentence within moments of us walking through the door.

As I watched in stunned disbelief, she pointed straight at Maddox. "Do you know how worried I was? And how worried Maisie was? Do you know how many times she cried on my porch swing? And me, too?"

Her voice rose as she glared daggers at my date. "So, what was it? You wanted to keep Delaney all to yourself? That's really fucking selfish. You do realize that, right?"

Whoa. Make that three f-bombs.

I wanted to say something, but I was too stunned to speak.

Next to her, Ryder said, "Babe. Come on."

She whirled to face him. "What?"

He smiled. "You don't have a porch swing."

She stared. "That's all you have to say?" She threw up her hands. "Obviously, I meant at the other house, Maisie's place, where I was staying until we moved here. And don't play dumb, because you've only sat on that porch swing a million times."

He leaned close to her and lowered his voice. "You know you're cute when you're angry, right?"

Her mouth opened and closed several times before she whirled back to me. "And you." She looked fit to be tied. "What the hell are you doing with him?"

61

Not My Secret

Maddox

And there it was, the warm welcome I should've expected, with Delaney getting caught in the crossfire.

I wouldn't stand for it.

I told Tessa, "If you want to yell, go ahead. But yell at me, not Delaney."

Before Tessa could reply, Delaney whirled to face me. "Look, I appreciate the sentiment, but she's my sister, and I'll handle it." She turned back to Tessa. "With him, huh? What's that supposed to mean?"

"Oh, come on!" Tessa said. "You always did have a terrible sense of self-preservation. What? Was Jack the Ripper not available?"

Delaney smirked. "No, he wasn't – being dead and all."

Tessa's mouth tightened. "You're completely missing the point."

"No, I'm not," Delaney said. "And scratch what I said earlier. You're acting worse than Mom, because even she wouldn't flip out like you're doing now."

"Yeah? Well, maybe I care more than Mom does."

"And maybe I care that you're being rude to my date."

"Your date?" Tessa scoffed. "Do you realize what happened to the last girl he dated? Did you even read her book?"

I stiffened. Fuck.

Ryder moved closer and said in a quiet voice, "Tessa." He reached for her arm. "Come on. He's our guest. We talked about this."

Tessa turned to glare at her fiancé. "Yeah, well that was before he showed up with my sister. And thanks a million for letting me know who she was hiding out with." She threw up her hands. "And why didn't you, by the way?"

He snorted. "You've gotta ask?"

"Yes, actually, because you're not telling me squat."