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Her brow wrinkles and she stares at me. “Emily, you know that’s silly, right?” Her serious whisper is almost worse than her light sisterly teasing.
“No, it’s not.” I sit forward and take her uninjured hand. “You needed me, and I wasn’t there.”
“Sooooo,” she draws out the word and tilts her head in a teasing way, “are you planning to follow me to college? Be my chauffeur and drive me everywhere, forever and ever?”
“No.” I shoot a glare at her. “But I’d like to get you to college in one piece.”
Libby bites her lip and stares over my left shoulder. “Emily, can I tell you something without you getting mad?”
“I don’t know,” I answer in a low, skeptical tone. “Let’s find out.”
“I wasn’t upset when you didn’t answer me that day. I mean, I was a little worried about you, but I thought you didn’t answer me because you were having a good time with Dex.” She lifts her shoulders in a sheepish shrug. “And honestly, I wanted to hang with my friends longer.”
I’m sure the intent behind her confession is to alleviate my guilt. It doesn’t. “I still should’ve been there.”
“Emily,” she groans.
I hold up one hand to stop her. “I get what you’re trying to do, and I appreciate it. I’m still the adult here. The one responsible for your safety. But thank you for telling me that.”
“You’re not mad?”
“No. Of course not.”
“You’re going to work things out with Dex, right?”
I glance away. “I don’t know.”
“Watching you two up there with Lincoln yesterday, you looked like a couple.” She rests her hand on my leg and squeezes. “He seemed to make you happy, and I really want that for you.”
“You mean, you want me occupied so I don’t hover over you.”
“Well, that would be a killer bonus.” She grins at me. “But seriously, you guys seem good together.” A frown creases her forehead. “I’m not a little kid who needs your constant supervision anymore. Don’t make me the reason you can’t be happy. That’s not fair.”
Tears sting my eyes. “Please don’t ever think that.”
Her phone buzzes and she tugs it out of her pocket. “Oh no. I need to get to rehearsal.”
“Uh, you might want to tell your director to settle down. We have a long ride ahead of us.”
“I know,” she answers absently while she taps out a reply on the screen. “But I missed yesterday. I can’t not be there again.”
“All right. Let me get dressed. We’ll have breakfast with Serena and get on the road, okay?”
“I’ll go see if I can help her with anything,” she says.
“Thanks, pudding.”
She pauses at the door and glances back at me. “Please, think about what I said.”
I give her a weak smile.
It’s all I’ll be thinking about.
Downstairs is much quieter than it was last night. Serena’s sitting at the counter, sipping a glass of water.
“Morning,” I say.
She turns and sets her glass down with a clunk. “Hey. Did you sleep all right?”
“Perfect.” I glance around the kitchen. For now, we seem to be alone. “Where’s Gray?”
“In the garage with Z and the boys.”
“Oh, is Lilly here too?” I ask.
“No. She and Hope are coming over later.”
I’m never going to get a better opportunity to ask my questions than right now. “Uh, how about that Swan girl?”
Serena shrugs but her eyes seem to turn wary. “I think she stayed at the clubhouse. Why?”
I slide onto the stool next to her. “How well do you know her?”
“Well enough, I guess. She’s always stuck to hanging out at the upstate clubhouse. What’s wrong?”
“Why does she seem to be friends with everyone but hate me?” I ask.
Her mouth twists to the side. “How do you mean?”
“I don’t know. She kind of went out of her way to be a bitch to me last night.”
“Really?” She sounds so distressed, I feel bad for bringing this up now. She sighs. “I think she and Dex were kind of serious for a minute or two a few years ago,” she says slowly, like she’s a veterinarian breaking bad news about someone’s cat. Sorry, Fluffy isn’t going to make it…
“Oh. He never mentioned that.”
“Maybe I’m wrong,” she hurries to add. “I don’t know how serious they were. Dex is pretty private. But they must’ve hung out a lot at Crystal Ball when she worked there too.”
“Wait, she’s a dancer at Crystal Ball too?”
“She used to be.” She frowns. “I don’t think she dances there now as much as she helps wrangle the other dancers.”
Ah-ha. Dex did tell me about her. In a roundabout way. I just didn’t put the pieces together.
“Maybe he did mention it, but I didn’t realize that’s who he was talking about,” I mumble, feeling incredibly dumb all of a sudden.
“Dex is pretty straightforward,” she says. “And Swan…she’s not an ol’ lady but from what I’ve seen and heard, she’s important to the club. Plus, she takes care of everything at the clubhouse. In most MCs she’d be known as a house momma.”
