Page 28 of Rope Me, Cowboys

“What’d he say?” I asked, a ridiculous lurch in my stomach. I was pretty sure it was nerves, not the desire to puke, but I couldn’t be certain. I’d taken a lot of shots.

“Oh, just that you weren’t answering your phone,” Mark said.

I grabbed for my purse, rummaging for my phone, but before I could find it, Haley wrenched it from my hand and dashed into her room. I stumbled after her, protesting all the way.

“Just let me see what he said,” I said, grabbing for my phone, which she had extracted from my purse.

She thumbed through my texts. “He said…blah blah blah, bullshit bullshit bullshit, lies lies lies.”

“What did he really say?”

“He’s worried about you and wants to talk. I guess not too worried to stop getting a blowjob, though. Notice how he waited until he came to start texting.”

“You’re right,” I said, taking my phone. “I’m erasing his number…right after I text him.”

We were still wrestling over the phone when Mark stepped into the room, still munching on his Chinese. “That would be hot if one of you wasn’t my sister,” he said, holding up his phone to snap a picture. “I’ll send this to Charlie, tell him he turned you into a lesbian.”

We thought he was kidding, but fifteen minutes later, Charlie texted to say he was outside. Haley threw open her window, which overlooked the street. “Amber says to eat shit and die,” she yelled.

“I just want to talk,” he yelled back. “Amber, just hear me out.”

“What?” I said, sticking my head out the window next to Haley. I cupped my hand around one ear and leaned out further. “I can’t hear you. It sounds like you’re talking through a mouthful of pussy.”

“Come down and talk,” he yelled. “Please?”

Someone yelled at us to shut up, but I didn’t care. It was like a hole had been blown in my chest, and it was full of pain and anger and vengeance. And tequila. But the point is, I wanted him to hurt like I was hurting.

“Do you have any soup?” I asked Haley. “We could stick it in the microwave.”

“I have something better,” she said.

While Charlie howled for us to come back, we ran to the fridge to get the two dozen eggs she had there.

“Psycho,” Mark muttered. “I’m getting out of here.”

He went to his room, and we went to the window.

To be honest, I don’t think I hit Charlie with a single egg. My hand-eye coordination was not its best. But Haley had played softball for a while, and her aim was much more accurate. So I handed her eggs, and she threw, and Charlie swore at us.

And then the cops showed up.

23

Amber

After a week of weirdness with my stepbrothers, I couldn’t take it anymore. One night when the guys had gone to bed, I was creeping along the hall to the bathroom, careful to step lightly so I wouldn’t wake them, when I saw a light on under Holden’s door. He’d been the least weird to me since I’d hit on pretty much all three of them, so I figured it was my best shot. I gathered my courage and tapped on his door.

I heard him murmur something, so I pushed open the door. He looked up from where he was sitting at an easel, and his eyes went wide with shock. He jumped up, his big thigh knocking into his canvas, which went crashing to the floor, along with tubes of paint and brushes.

“Oh, sorry,” I said, flustered by the chaos. “I didn’t mean to startle you. I thought I heard you tell me to come in, but maybe you were just talking to yourself. No judgement, I mean, I talk to myself all the time.”

“It’s okay,” Holden said. He’d grabbed up the canvas and replaced it on the easel, but not before I saw enough to know he was painting a naked blonde girl.

“I didn’t know you painted,” I said, relaxing a little. I knelt to help him gather up the tubes of oil paints.

“Yeah,” he said, not looking at me. I was pretty sure he was blushing.

“That’s really cool,” I said.