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“Dude, Grammy was blowing up my phone in the middle of the night to ask if I’d heard from you.” Davis doesn’t look too happy with me.
Meanwhile Harry is grinning from ear-to-ear. “He was probably too busy having fun with his blow-up doll. Maybe that’s why he couldn’t be bothered to answer the phone.”
My smart-ass cousins gifted me with a hideous, full-body 'latex lover’ when I was leaving Honey Hill yesterday. They claimed that she’d keep me company here in this new town. Against my will and despite my protests, the assholes stuffed the ugly sex toy into the backseat of my car.
They thought it was hilarious. I did not.
My eyes connect with the blow-up doll who’s now perched next to my duffel bag in the corner of the room. She’s sitting there, making her obnoxious ‘O’ face at me.
I nearly fall off the damn bed. That ugly shit scares the crap out of me.
Dammit. Why didn’t I chuck that thing into the bushes on the side of the highway when I had the chance?! Now I’m gonna have to figure out how to get rid of it without further embarrassing myself.
“Y’know what? If I had just kept to myself and spent the night with my blow-up doll I wouldn’t be in the mess I’m in now.” I grunt.
Jasper’s head tilts to the side. “Are you okay? You sound a little…off.” He leans closer to the screen. “And do you have a black eye?”
The guys all lean in closer, inspecting my face.
“No one put any weird local voodoo on you, did they?” Davis’s eyebrows rise in alarm. I’m assuming he’s reliving the wacky weekend he and his wife, Alana, spent in Starlight Falls a little while back.
“Voodoo.” My head bobs slowly. “Voodoo. That would explain it.”
Harry laughs. “Stop being weird. Tell us what happened.”
I swallow. “I took a woman back to my motel room last night.”
“Way to go, man!” Cash blurts out. “I knew this move would be good for you. A hookup might be just what you need to get yourself out of the grip of your crazy ex.”
Jasper nods, looking impressed. “That’s a good thing, dude! Quit making that constipated face.” He squints at me. “Still doesn’t explain the black eye, though.”
“Hold up. Don’t get too excited just yet. I should probably back up and start the story from the beginning,” I say with a mirthless laugh. “After the short forty-five minute drive to Starlight Falls yesterday, I got lost when I arrived in town. So I rented a sketchy motel room right off the highway for the night.”
“Okay, but you’re fine now. What’s the big deal?” Harry looks confused.
I scrape my palm across my face and the stubble that’s growing there. “I popped into the bar next door to the motel for a drink. That’s where I met the woman who spent the night with me. Sadly, she was just as crazy as the women I’m used to.”
Jasper flinches. “Oh boy. Not another fixer-upper. You might as well give up your medical license and get into the construction business.”
“Not a chance,” I assure them, climbing up on the bed to pull Felix’s music posters down from the ceiling.
“You realize that your fixer-upper pattern is a control thing, right?” Davis is saying. “Instead of constantly choosing a partner you think you have to fix up, why don’t you just date someone you’re actually compatible with for once?”
“You all are not listening to me.” I fume. “I’m not dating this woman. It was a one-time thing. Definitely a one-time thing.”
Cash’s eyes narrow like he can sense that there’s more to the story. “If it was a one-night stand, Mason, tell me why you sound so high-pitched and distressed.”
My lips flap on a loaded sigh as I roll up the posters and shove them under the bed. “It sort of blew up in my face about twenty minutes ago, when I just found out that my one-nighter is Felix Brighton’s freaking sister. And just to top it off, she is going to be living right here in the house with me. Across the damn hallway.”
All of my cousins freeze on the screen. They go still for so long that I find myself checking to see if we’re still connected.
Then Harry speaks. “The fuck? Dude. That’s…a lot. Even for you.”
“I know, right.” I rake my fingers through my hair, keeping my voice low as I speak. “Jeez—how fucked up is my luck? She was just some hot girl at the bar next to the motel. And I stupidly ran out after her to protect her from the creeps who were following her when she walked out. Except, she mistakenly thought thatIwas following her. Next thing I know, she was pulling a self-defense move and punching me in the face. And then, she was kissing me. Then we were in my motel room. And now…this.”
Jasper hawks a laugh. “You’re screwed, man.”
“Tell me something I don’t know,” I say, hating how defensive I sound. I get lost in the memory of last night as I speak. “In retrospect, going to my motel room with a girl who’d just punched me in the face was a dumb move, but the second we started kissing, I realized how badly I needed to blow off some steam. And blow, I did. Like a freaking geyser. Again. And again. And ag—”
