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“Deal? What deal?” Kayla’s on full alert now. “I don’t like the sound of that.”
“Her boyfriend broke up with her right before an important family event, so I offered to take her to a wedding. She needed a friend. That’s it.” That’s not close to ‘it’ but I’ve already said too much.
“Tell me you didn’t pull some stupid Carter-esque stunt.” She presses fingers to her forehead right above her brows, talking to the ceiling with closed eyes. I’m pretty sure I’ve seen Mom react the same way to various things us boys have done. “You’re too smart for that. Tell me, Cole.”
She’s talking about my second-oldest brother, Carter, who decided to take his best friend’s little sister to a client meeting as his ‘wife’. It worked out in the long run, but it was messy, for Carter, his now-actual wife, Luna, the company, and even the client. And that’s almost exactly what I did. I even considered calling Carter for advice. But I don’t tell Kayla any of that.
“Her family is bad, Kayla,” I answer without answering. “Not like ours. Bad like... mean and hurtful. And she’s this bright sunshine that sees beauty in the ugliest of people. She called me ‘sweet’, for fuck’s sake.” I’m not explaining it right, not really, but I don’t know how to express how good Janey is and how shitty her family is without getting angry all over again.
“You can be sweet,” Kayla repeats, but she sounds pissed about it. “So what did you do?”
I don’t reply, and Kayla leans across the table, her voice low and hard-edged and her eyes icy. “I can call Kyle right now. Have him stop by and fuck your shit up.” The threat is real and meant whole-heartedly.
It’s a legitimate threat, too. I could take Kyle... once upon a time. He’s my little brother, after all. But these days, he’s more jacked than all of us brothers put together and has zero sense of self-preservation. He’d probably enjoy beating the information out of me. Or just beating me up for the hell of it, no reason needed.
I growl but admit, “Told them I was her boyfriend.” Kayla lifts a brow, knowing there’s more and not accepting anything less than all of it. Right now. I roll my eyes and sigh. “And fake proposed to her in the middle of the dance floor so everyone would remember that and not the wedding.”
I expect shock. Horror, maybe. But Kayla laughs loudly. She covers her mouth, trying to contain it, but it escapes, becoming even more boisterous.
People are looking at us again.
“You did not!”
“Shut up,” I snap. “It’s not funny. Janey caught the bouquet, and the bride literally attacked her.”
Still laughing, she says, “It’s hilarious! You... proposed... during someone else’s wedding? That’s awful... so wrong.” She’s shaking her head and waving a hand like she wants me to stop talking so she can get control of her giggles and catch her breath.
When I glare, she only laughs harder. And people definitely heard her say I proposed to someone because she said it at one hundred decibels and this damn coffee shop echoes like crazy. They’ve probably decided I’ve got another woman sitting at home now because there are several women giving me stink eyes who were looking at me with interest when I came in earlier.
Not that I care about any of them.
Eventually, she finally sobers enough to speak, but she’s still laughing as she asks, “She okay... from the... whoo... pull it together... attack?”
“Physically? Yeah. Emotionally? Probably not,” I growl, anger rising as I remember the scratch Paisley left on Janey’s cheek and the look of terror in her eyes when I yanked Paisley off her. “Which is why you’re not meeting her.”
“You mean why you’re sitting here moping and not at her place right now,” she corrects.
I amp it up and give her my top-notch, go-to-hell scowl. She grins, unfazed, as she wipes the tears from her eyes.
“This is why I don’t tell you shit. I’m sharing important information here, for the first time in the history of fuck-all, and you’re laughing about it.” Okay, so I’m a little grumpy that Kayla isn’t treating this like the groundbreaking deal that it is. I’m growing over here, trying new things and whatnot, and she’s giving me a hard time in return.
“What would you do without me? All of you are stupid as can be,” she says, and I’m pretty sure she’s talking about me and my brothers. Or maybe all men? “Call her.”
She moves to grab my phone, and I snatch it out of her reach. “She needs time. I’m giving her time.” It’s basically my mantra at this point. I’ve said it to myself so many times this week.
Kayla pins me with a pretty decent version of my own fuck-you look, all humor gone now, and I get a glimpse of why she’s a scary force to be reckoned with at work. Carter told me that once, and I’d thought it was amusing, but I see it now. “Never thought I’d say this to you of all people, Cole, but...” She lets it drag out for maximum impact. “You are a coward.” She says it matter-of-factly, which makes it cut that much deeper. “You run away from the family, and now you’re running away from this woman. Janey, you said her name is? You’re right. Don’t call her. If she’s as great as you say she is, she deserves a man who will be there for her, not cut and run when she needs you most.”
Fuck. That hurts.
“That’s not what I’m doing,” I declare. But it sounds a little lame in my ears even as I say it. “I’m trying to do the right thing here, for Janey’s sake.”
“No, you’re keeping her at arm’s length like you do everyone because she’s in a messy situation and she makes you feel something, which you don’t like. And no one calls you on it because what would be the use? You’d grouse at them and ignore it, probably disappear for a while. But this one conversation with you has been more real than we’ve had in years. And I liked it.”
She doesn’t sound like she’s liked it or likes me very much at this moment.
“And now I have to go be happy-happy-joy-joy and sell Unicorn Universe to some asshat who’ll probably look at my boobs the whole time,” she finishes, standing up to leave.
“Wait. What?” She said a lot and I’m mad as fuck, but she’s still my sister and I’ll destroy anyone who disrespects her that way.
