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Ashlyn
Oops. Sorry about that.
Hudson
Oops, she says. I spent forty-eight hours in the bathroom. I may never eat another cookie again unless I need to cut weight for a fight. That shit was fucked up, no matter how cute my little sister is or how much she likes to make them.
Max
Stop your bitching. Five o’clock at my house. Don’t be late.
* * *
Itrip, walking into my backyard that afternoon.
Am I looking at Wren’s house instead of watching where I’m going?
Of course, I fucking am.
Why?
Because there was never a time growing up when she was near me that I wasn’t obsessed with her. We were combustible, even as kids. Why would that change now?
I may have dared her to steal a bottle of champagne from our parents on New Year’s Eve when we were eleven... no, twelve years old. But that’s not how she remembers it.
She’d tell you that was the night I stole her first kiss. I didn’t steal it. She gave it. Willingly, I might add. Well, that might actually have been another dare, but she could never pass up a dare. Wren always had to one-up me. If I did something, she’d do it better. Or at least insist her way was better.
Most of the time, it was.
Not that I’d ever tell her that.
Even then, she had a spark about her I’ve never come across anywhere else.
She’s magnetic, albeit a bit prickly.
People used to say she was stuck-up. The girls in school used to think she was a bitch because she was quiet and prettier than them. But she wasn’t. She just didn’t like big crowds or fake people. She’d loosen up when she was with people she knew. She’d loosen up with me. She was still bitchy, but with me, that was on purpose.
Then that changed.
So why the fuck does my damn dog like her so much?
I came out here looking for Zeus. As far as I can tell, the electric fence is working fine. But somehow, he keeps finding his way into her yard. Guess I’m turning the doggy door off. At least until he realizes he’s fraternizing with the enemy.
Ha. She’d love to hear that.
“Zeus,” I call out as I cross the property line and find her sitting bundled in a blanket on a white Adirondack chair, looking out at the lake. A black puffy pom-pom hat covers the top of her head, and a cup of something steaming hot is in her hands. Her legs are tucked underneath her, and the blanket is wrapped around her body. She shouldn’t look so pretty, but prickly or not, she’s always taken my breath away. Sometimes that’s because she’s just kneed me in the nuts, though, so I tread carefully.
The steam from the mug wafts up, and Wren smiles a contented smile... until she sees me. Then the smile gets replaced by a sour pucker, like she just sucked a lemon. “Still haven’t gotten your fence fixed yet, I see.”
“It’s been twenty-four hours since we talked about this. Sorry if I haven’t had a service out to the house just yet. Some of us have jobs, Red.” Her pale-pink cheeks tinge red so damn fast, but I don’t give her a chance to answer. “I checked the system myself yesterday, and it’s fine. There must be a dead zone somewhere, but I don’t know where yet.” I move next to her and watch Zeus play in the snow. “Is he bothering you?”
“No,” she snaps. “He’s a sweetheart. Unlike his owner.”
He brings her his ball and drops it at her feet before he nuzzles her leg.
“He’s obviously a little ladies’ man too.Again, unlike his owner,” she challenges.
I squat down and grab the ball, then toss it down toward the lake. “ You already know there’s nothing little about his owner.”
