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I smile, thankful that someone other than me sees through their bullshit. But there’s one issue there. “You’ve already told me you don’t like people anyway, so of course, you don’t like them.”
“You’re wrong on one point,” Cole murmurs, his voice deep and thrilling. “I like you.”
I swear my heart skips a beat, like full-on, EKG-worthy arrhythmia, especially when our eyes lock. Cole is serious, his jaw set and gaze boring deep into mine. I want to believe him, but his mixed signals are nearly the size of banner flags. Does he mean that or is it part of the adoring boyfriend role? I’m not sure.
“Well, look what the cat dragged in,” a voice says, drawing both our attention. Nikki is wearing her baby blue bridesmaid dress and an evil grin. “I didn’t figure you’d show your face after that appalling business last night. It was all anyone could talk about after you ran out like a dog with its tail between its legs.”
She’s picking and poking, trying to find the angle that’ll hurt the most and garner the biggest reaction. We’ve played this game before and she’s always won.
No more. Never again, I vow. And though I’ve told myself that before, this time is different. This time, I mean it with my whole heart.
I’m not going to sink to their level and be bitchy back, even though there’s a part of me that’d like to. I’m going to be my best Janey, focus on the good, and get out of here without expending any more energy than I already have toward people who don’t deserve it. That’s my version of badass. Not fighting fire with fire, but rather, not fighting at all, not because I can’t, but because I don’t want to.
Instead of shrinking the way I’ve done in the past, I stand taller, lean forward a little into her hate-filled gaze, and stare back stone-faced, not giving any quarter.
It works. After a moment, Nikki harrumphs, not satisfied with my lack of reaction. “Guess you’ve got your guard dog tonight too, huh? Ruff, ruff!” She barks—literally makes actual barking noises—at Cole, suggesting that’s he’s some lapdog protector.
And now she’s done it.
He’s letting me do this on my own . . . when it’s about me. But when Nikki takes him on, he’s ready and way better prepared than she could ever be.
“You must’ve been embarrassed that everyone heard you and Paisley being bitches. Janey’s told me how hard you two always worked to keep it on the down low,” he says, his voice flat and hard. He could make a scene again. Nikki definitely deserves it. But he’s restraining himself. “Especially since from what I can tell, the two of you never left that high school, mean girl mentality behind. Even now, we’ve barely walked in the door and you’re running over here, tripping over your cheap, synthetic extensions to steal her moment of happiness. It’s pathetic,” he spits out.
Nikki’s jaw drops open, making her look like shocked Pikachu. I’m ninety-nine percent sure she’s never been talked to this way. And I should probably squeeze Cole’s hand to call him off or something since I’m trying to be the bigger person here, but he’s saying all the things I’ve thought over the years and I can’t stop him. A deep, evil part of me is enjoying it too much.
Is it still bad if I let someone else do the dirty work?
Maybe. But letting Cole be his true self doesn’t make me any less of a badass. He’s just one too, in a deliciously different way.
“By the way, where’s that high school boyfriend you locked down by ‘forgetting’ your birth control pills?” Cole finishes with a downright deadly look on his face.
What? I didn’t know that. How does Cole know that? Or is he making an educated guess?
Either way, Nikki’s head swivels around wildly. Is she checking to see if anyone overheard that? Or looking for her husband? Either way, when she sees him, her eyes go wide before narrowing sharply. He’s standing with her sister. There are a couple of other people talking to them too, but her husband and sister simply standing next to each other is enough to have her stomping away from us and across the room.
I lean into Cole’s side and he wraps his arm around my waist. “Too much?” he asks.
“No, it was perfect,” I admit.
We stand around quietly for a while, watching the festivities. A few people stop by to chat and meet Cole, and Nikki was right about one thing—everyone heard what Cole said last night. But he’s not embarrassed by it in the slightest. In fact, he tells Uncle Teddy that he’s proud to love a good woman the best he can.
I think he means love, like with his heart, but given the sly glance Uncle Teddy throws him, he thinks he means with his dick.
