Page 82 of What I Like About You

Maybe Zara was right. Maybe he was avoiding a true compromise due to his own issues. He knew that if he wanted, he could find a job back home with someone other than his family’s company. Did it really just come down to his willingness to put it all behind him?

“Dalton Royce Sutherland the Third!” Drea’s voice called from beneath them. Gone was her normal sweet tone. Instead, she sounded angry. Dalton wasn’t sure he’d ever seen her actually, really, truly angry. And he wasn’t sure he wanted too either.

“Just what the fuck is your problem?” she spat, as she and Leona appeared on the rooftop.

“Well, mornin’ to you too, sugar,” he said, letting his accent shine. He might feel like he got hit by a freight train, but he could still bust out the charm. “Though would you mind takin’ it down an octave or two? Some of us partook last night.”

“We know. These two didn’t make it home last night,” Leona interjected, gesturing between their boyfriends.

“Are you out of your mind?” Drea asked.

“There’s only two of you. I would have thought an inquisition like this would have required full strength from the girl army,” he said, completely ignoring her question, sarcasm dripping from his words.

“Maeve is currently at the spa. Someone had to stay behind. But don’t worry, she wrote a note!” Drea handed him a slip of paper, folded in half. Opening it up, he found the Indigo Royal Resort logo centered on the top and Maeve’s perfect script scrawled below.

Dalton -

You’re an idiot. Fix it. Now.

-M

Good to know where she stands, he thought as he refolded the piece of paper and shoved it into his pocket.

“Explain yourself,” Drea demanded.

“I don’t owe you an explanation.”

“Like hell you don’t!” Leona exclaimed.

“Menina…” Cullen growled.

“No. You sit in that chair and drink your coffee,” she said, pointing to one of the Adirondack chairs. Cullen simply rolled his eyes as he slunk into the seat. Dalton knew that the man knew better than to argue with Leona when she was in a mood. “He inserted himself into our business when you and I had our ‘disagreement.’ He made me call you! And when Kyle took his hiatus, he was all kinds of involved.”

“Disagreement? That’s what you call it? You dumped his ass and sent him packing,” Dalton pointed out.

“Dalton,” Drea said, bringing his focus back to her and what she wanted to talk about. “Why did you go to all that trouble this week to prove to Zara you didn’t mean what you said at prom, to just turn around and do it again?”

“Prom? What did you say at prom?” Leona asked.

“What do you know about—”

“She told me,” Drea answered, cutting him off.

“Oh.” Well, shit…

“What?” Leona asked again.

Dalton looked between all his friends, his body full of mixed emotions. On one hand, the guys had kept their word and kept his secret. But on the other hand, the girls now knew, or at least Drea did, and knowing that made him feel like complete shit. He’d tried so hard to always treat them with the respect they deserved, wanting them to know they were special. Even just as friends it had been important to him they knew they were loved and respected. All he could hope is that they would forgive him for ever saying such a thing.

“I am not going to ask again!” Leona barked. “What the fuck happened at prom?”

Sighing heavily, Dalton decided it was time to fully own up to it.

“I took Zara to our senior prom because she was my best friend and I had a thing for her but was too chickenshit to admit it. A couple of ‘buddies’ were giving me a hard time about bringing her, so to get them off my back, I made up a story about why I asked her,” he said. He paused for a moment, trying to work up the strength to repeat the words yet again. The look on Leona’s face told him to get on with it, but the one on Drea’s was like a punch to the gut. She knew what was coming, and the disappointment was already showing. “Zara overheard me telling them that I invited her because I had the ill intention of taking her virginity. And when they called her fat, instead of defending her, I brushed it off…telling them she’d be like every other pussy in the dark.”

Drea winced at hearing the words leave his mouth, and he didn’t blame her. He winced every time he thought about how he had used them. Leona, on the other hand, became enraged. Her eyes went wide, and Dalton could see her ball her fists at her side.

“You motherfucking piece-of-shit prick!” she said through gritted teeth. Two seconds later her palm met his face. He wasn’t sure what came first, the horrible sting left from the contact or the loud smack it made.