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I stared down at the dress Shaw had pushed into my hands after she’d selected it from the rack. “Okay, this will look killer on you, but I’m too round for this kind of outfit.” Even though she was a new mom, her body had snapped back to its flawless shape in no time at all.
Sighing, Shaw didn’t argue with me. Instead, she went back to looking at the other racks in the boutique. I didn’t even want to go shopping. I never felt comfortable in the designer boutiques in Nashville—or anywhere else, for that matter. But Piper and the other two had shown up at my front door and dragged me out of the apartment over Luca’s garage and into the back of Vi’s SUV.
My parents were hosting a party for both Pixie and me later that evening. Pixie because she’d been given theall clear. She was officially in remission and had remained there for the past six months. If there was anything worth celebrating, it was her continued good health. As for me, they wanted to acknowledge my part in her recovery. We were only a few weeks from the anniversary of when I’d donated my bone marrow to Pixie, which was why she was now cancer-free.
I didn’t really want to celebrate my role in it. Honestly, I didn’t think it was appropriate. But when Pixie had found out that Mom and Dad wanted to throw a party in her honor, she’d insisted it be a joint celebration. If I refused to be in the spotlight with her, then she didn’t want the party. I loved her too much to tell her no—something she knew and had shamelessly exploited—so now I was stuck with having to be front and center. It wasn’t my idea of a good time. If anything, it was one of my biggest nightmares, but Pixie was stubborn, and I wanted her to celebrate her victory against cancer.
“Trust Shaw’s judgment,” Piper urged as she took a few selections from a nearby rack and examined them before slinging them over her shoulder. Grasping my elbow, she walked with me to the back where the changing rooms were and practically pushed me into one before moving to the open room beside mine.
In my head, I could already see the seams splitting as I tried to wiggle the dress over my body, but I stripped down to my bra and panties. To my surprise, the dress went on with ease, and I was even able to zip the back without any issues. Turning around, I examined my reflection in the mirror, enjoying the way the skirt floated around my knees while the top clung to my breasts. It was the perfect mixture of innocence—so my dad wouldn’t lose his shit—and sexy, which would ensure Jenner couldn’t keep his hands off me.
Then again, Jenner always had his hands on me. He couldn’t seem to help himself. If I was within touching distance, then he touched. If I wasn’t, then his eyes were constantly glued to me. It was getting to the point that I distracted him even when he was working. His entire focus should be on Violet and Love Bug when they went out, and it was…as long as I wasn’t with them too.
Luca had actually hired a second bodyguard directly from Barrick and Braxton. I understood his need to protect his two favorite people, but I’d been upset, thinking they wanted to replace Jenner. But then Jenner had sprung something else on me, which had been the true reason why Luca had hired someone to step in as Violet’s personal protection when he wasn’t available.
The local police chief was retiring, and while the small town of West Bridge had five other cops on the payroll, none of them was truly qualified to take on such an important role. The mayor had approached my parents, who had arranged a meeting with Jenner—without my knowledge.
Without even discussing it with me, Jenner had accepted the offer to step in for Police Chief Stafford. Unlike the sheriff position, the chief of police position was an appointed one, typically by a city manager, but West Bridge wasn’t big enough for a city manager. So Mayor Teller had officially appointed Jenner.
It wasn’t until it was a done deal that Jenner had “surprised” me with the news.
He thought I would be happy that meant he was a full-time resident of West Bridge. He wouldn’t be working for Vi any longer, which meant no traveling when she decided to visit her parents on the West Coast or followed Luca to whatever city where he had an away game during football season.
But for one, I didn’t like surprises. If anything, I hated them. Throughout my school years, I’d learned that surprises were never a good thing, which had carried over into the rest of my life. For another, how could he make such a life-changing decision without consulting me first? Our one-year anniversary was only a few days away. When he spoke of the future, he made me think I was going to be a part of it.
Yet, this was one of the biggest decisions of his life, and he hadn’t mentioned it to me once.
Then there was the whole cop thing. It was a dangerous job. Sure, the chief of police position was more of an administrative job, but there would be times he would be on patrol. I knew him too well. Sitting behind a desk all day, every day would drive him crazy, and he’d be out there cruising around town with the other officers. He’d show up to calls; there might even be times when he would have to use his weapon.
If anything happened to him, it would destroy me.
And he’d taken a fucking job that would potentially put him in danger every damn day.
I’d tried to remind myself that we lived in a small-town miles and miles away from the bigger city of Nashville. Not a lot of action went on in West Bridge. Typically, the only law that was broken on a daily basis was that of the speed limit. But there was that time when one of the sheriff’s deputies had pulled over a van full of people who were being trafficked. And there was that other time when a simple speeding ticket had turned into a shootout because the driver had been carrying nearly half a million dollars in coke hidden in the dashboard of his truck.
Those two instances had been years apart, and the last one had happened when I was around twelve. But I still remembered it being on the front of the local papers for two weeks straight as the entire town waited with bated breath to see if the officer who’d been involved in the shootout survived the two bullets he’d taken—one to his neck, the other to his hip. Our small town had made national news because it had basically stopped the drug pipeline into Nashville. At least, for a few months, until a new supply had made its way into the city.
“Well?” Piper called from outside my dressing room door, pulling me out of my head.
Shyly, I stepped out. The instant her eyes raked over me, I was even more convinced it was the perfect dress for the party. “Holy shit,” she breathed. “How did you get all the good genes? I am so damned jealous that you have all those curves and legs. Why couldn’t I have looked more like my dad?”
“You’re beautiful,” I rushed to assure her. Unless someone knew who our parents were, they never would have guessed that the two of us were actually biologically related. Her dad and my mom were siblings, and then there was the whole thing about my dad and her dad being cousins. My parents weren’t related by blood, but that hadn’t stopped the bullies in school from whispering that I was inbred. They never said things like that about my brothers, though—even though we were quadruplets and had been born within minutes of one another. No, my brothers were considered gods in West Bridge. The golden three of baseball. “You’re small with just the right amount of curves, and you don’t look like a bull in a china shop.”
Her dark eyes began to glitter with each word out of my mouth, so I pressed my lips together and turned to look at the selection of shoes. None of them were my size. My feet were far too big for any of those dainty shoes.
“Courtney Wilcox better be glad she’s gone into hiding from the press right now,” my younger cousin seethed between gritted teeth. “Because if I ever see that bitch, I’m going to give her the beating of her life.”
Ignoring any mention of my biggest childhood bully, I went to the tri-fold mirrors and shifted from one side to the other, examining the dress from every angle. Luckily, I had a pair of flats at home that would go well with the dress. But I’d have to text Jenner to pick them up for me since the girls and I were going to the spa straight after we found appropriate outfits, to have our hair, nails, and makeup done.
They were in one of the boxes I’d packed earlier in the week in preparation for our move. Jenner had found us a house to rent in town since Vi’s new bodyguard needed to be closer to her and would have to live in the apartment above the garage. Luca and Vi hadn’t rushed us to move out, but the apartment was no longer home, and I wanted out of there as soon as possible.
But I was dreading moving in to the rental. Our neighbors on either side of the house had been just as horrible to me for my entire life as Courtney and the rest of her tribe. Mrs. Cain was all smiles in front of my parents, but I couldn’t count how many times I’d heard her stage-whispering about me when I’d been out on my own. Then there were both Mr. and Mrs. Dotson, who would shake my father’s hand and then snicker at me as soon as Dad’s back was turned. I didn’t know why the adults in town had picked me to target with their meanness. It was as if they took pleasure in hurting my feelings.
I’d learned quickly who to avoid in West Bridge and who was safe. Sadly, the number of people who used words and leers to make me feel like less than I knew I was outweighed the number of people who didn’t.
And now the Cains and Dotsons were going to be my next-door neighbors.
Going back into the dressing room, I quickly changed and then went to pay for my dress.
