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“What?” She raised her hands. “Nobody will think badly about you. They’ll pity you.”
“You are not helping,” I told her in a warning tone.
“Fine. Shelby, the fixer, is here. Ever think this wouldn’t have happened if you’d been around?”
“How can you say that?”
“Because you’ve always had a spot-on sniffer for smelling the bad in people. You could’ve warned our brother.”
“She’s not wrong, Shelby.” Holden tilted his head toward me. “You always knew who was cheating on who and when danger was in the air.”
“Wow. I don’t know what to say.” Honestly, how could they blame me for following my dreams? That was so not right.
“Not surprising. Seems you lost your touch since you’ve been living your best life in California,” Olivia said, sarcasm in hervoice. “Your Spidey senses have been deactivated with all that sun and surf, and rich-people sensibilities.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?” Suddenly I felt attacked, and I wasn’t sure why my siblings were treating me this way.
“One word. Jake.” Olivia turned around and left.
I sagged in my spot, numb to the core.
“Don’t listen to her. She’s just bitter.” Holden patted my leg.
“Bitter about what?”
“You left her. She hasn’t gotten over it. And she might hate your billionaire boyfriend.”
“How do you know that?”
“She texted me last night. Said he was controlling and arrogant.” He got to his feet and cleaned up the broken glass. “Fair warning… If he gets out of line with Cade nearby, all hell will break loose.”
“I won’t.”
My gaze shot to the door. Jake and I stared at each other for a long second, my innards twisting into a knot. How much had he heard?
He furrowed his brow, then left. Apparently, he’d heard enough. Fabulous.
“That stare down was intense.” Holden took my hand and helped me stand. “I’ll keep Cade in check. You do the same with your boyfriend. Let’s go party. I plan to get drunk.”
Me too.
For the next few hours, I avoided Cade and stayed glued to Jake. No question things were off between me and Jake. He wasn’t giving me the cold shoulder so that was good, I guessed.
Everything was fine until a blonde woman with a baby sat next to Cade. She’d bump shoulders with him and smiled brightly. He’d returned an equally jolly grin and played with the baby.
I’d never seen her before and couldn’t take my eyes off them, not even when a man, who was clearly a biker, sat on her other side and propped a little boy on his lap.
Cade and the mystery woman appeared familiar. I would bet my life he’d slept with her. I just had a feeling. They seemed close… too close.
“Stop staring,” Jake hissed into my ear. “You’re embarrassing me.”
I schooled myself and tore my eyes off Cade. “I was watching Holden. He’s having a rough time, and I’m worried.” Luckily, my brother was seated across from Cade, so Jake couldn’t be certain of who I was staring at. I’d deny it until my dying breath.
“Whatever, Shelby.” Jake got up and went over to the bar.
My face flushed as I felt eyes on me. Anyone could see that Jake and I weren’t okay. I hated we were “off” in front of the whole town. But not much I could do about it, and I sure as heck couldn’t have predicted any of this, especially my feelings after breathing the same air as Cade again.
I flitted my gaze back to Cade just as Travis went behind him and kneeled. Whatever he said made Cade look at me.
