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“Now you're not making any sense,” I tell him.
“You don’t need to make sense of what I’m telling you, Carson, you just have to do what I say. The River Boys need to be kept in line. I’ll leave it for you to issue that warning.” He hangs up the phone, leaving me confused, angry, and dare I say it, scared.
“Ifeel like I have a high school band playing in my head.” I rest my elbows on the table while my fingers massage my temples.
“You wanna talk about what happened?” Maisie asks, sounding almost sympathetic. I can’t remember much about getting home, other than the fact Zayne drove me and I was trying real hard not to vomit in his car.
“You were with Leonard Mason.” Leia slams the refrigerator door and places a bottle of water in front of me. She doesn’t seem quite so understanding.
“I was drunk,” I explain, as if that's an excuse.
“I don’t care if you were half dead. You know what a creep that guy is, his whole family is crazy.”
“That’s not true. Garrett says Joe is different.” Maisie, ever the optimist, chimes in.
“Yes, but she hasn’t agreed to go to the dance with Joe, has she?” Leia argues, and I focus on the vein in the side of her head that looks like it’s about to explode.
“How are those pregnancy hormones?” I smile at her as I unscrew the lid on the bottle and wash down the tablets Maisie has laid out in front of me.
“Okay, I’ll admit that it was a bad call, but I’d just told Daniel to leave, I felt bad, and I needed a distraction. That’s how I ended up in Cahoots, getting drunk, and when Leonard asked me it seemed like a good idea at the time. Don’t act like you’ve never done something stupid with a Mason, Walker. This is just a dance. You married one.”
“Harsh and totally not fair.” Leia crosses her arms and Maisie immediately steps in to defuse the situation that's brewing up here.
“Let's just reset. Leia, don’t take that personally, Savannah is terrible with hangovers and, Savannah, do you really wanna go to this dance with Leonard?” She looks at me.
“Of course I don’t.” I roll my eyes and blow out a breath, admitting defeat. “Okay then, it’s settled, you call Leonard and you tell him you were drunk and that you don’t wanna be his date.”
“I don’t have his number.” I slump forward on the table, wishing I could just erase what happened last night and go back to bed.
“I’ll get it for you. I’m sure Garrett has it. If not, Wade knows plenty of people from the Rodeo circuit that will. Problem solved.” Maisie looks pleased with herself as she leaves me and Leia alone in the kitchen to get back to the triplets.
“I didn’t mean to get so snappy, I was just looking out for you, same way you looked out for me when I was married to Caleb,” she admits, sitting down opposite me and peeling the wrapping off a candy bar.
“You want half?” She turns it into a peace offering, but the sweet smell of it makes me gag.
“I need some air.” I drag myself up and head out the back door onto the yard, at the same time that Cole is pulling out of the yard in his truck.
I’m relieved that I’m not gonna have to face him, especially after what happened with Leonard, but that relief is short-lived when he slams on the brakes and swings his door open. He keeps the engine running as he marches toward me, and I can tell from the look on his face that he’s real mad.
“Don’t start,” I warn him before he comes any closer.
“I’m not startin’ nothin’. I just want to know why you're doing this to yourself?” he questions me.
“Doin’ what?” I shake my head in confusion.
“Mason, of all the guys in town you could choose. You go for Mason as a rebound.” He laughs at me cruelly. “It’s your life, Savannah, I can’t tell you what to do, but it’s my family that will have to pick up the pieces when he treats you like every other buckle bunny he’s had in the past.”
“Rebound?” Now it's my turn to laugh. “Don’t flatter yourself, Cole, and it really is none of your business who I talk to. Jealousy isn’t a good look on you,” I lie because, on Cole, everything is a good look, especially frustration… which is what I'm seeing right now.
“Savannah, I’m not jealous. I’ve been askin’ you to move on, beggin’ ya in fact. I don’t care that you’re going to some lame assed dance with another guy. Have at it. I just thought you were better than Leonard fuckin’ Mason.” The harshness of his words sinks into my stomach like an anchor.
“Screw you.” I turn my back on him and march back inside the house, slamming the front door and growling in frustration when I make it to the living room. Maisie and Leia are relaxing on the couch, flicking through some home design magazines, and both of them look surprised by my outburst.
“What the hell happened?” Leia checks.
“I’m going to the dance with Leonard fuckin’ Mason. That's what happened.” I storm my ass upstairs so I can get back under the covers.
1 Week Later
