“Really.” It comes out far more incredulous than it has to. No wonder Cade agreed to keep things low-key. No wonder he got so high-strung at the movies that night! I bet he spotted her in the crowd. My stomach churns just thinking there’s some hussy out there trying to snag my man right from under me. The nerve of this pathetic little thing. I’m practically Cade’s girlfriend. I’m more familiar with his body at this point than I am my own. Hell, I think after Piper’s birthday disaster, I’ll head over to Cade’s house and make my feelings clear as crystal. Of course, I’ll have to fess up to knowing his sister—knowing that I knew exactly who he was when I landed naked in his bed. That will be the hard part, but once that bandage is ripped off clean, we’re off to a freshly mended start. That is, until tomorrow when we have to sit Princess Piper down and let her in on a couple of hard truths. I’m pretty sure she’ll die on the spot when she finds out all those late night heated discussions about Hot Buns were directly related to the boy who’s been gifting her noogies all her life.
Yes, it will be awkward, but it will be necessary. Sometimes, painful things have to happen for us to move on to the next phase of our lives. Hopefully, that won’t involve a physical altercation such as a mandatory beat down from Piper to me. I like my features just the way they’re arranged, my teeth included. No need to involve emergency rooms or cosmetic surgeons.
My hand moves absentmindedly to my scar and lingers there a moment.
“Hey, is everything okay?” Piper nudges my knee with her bare foot.
“Yes. Just fine.” I smack her pretty pink toes as if they were roaches. She knows I hate her sticky feet all over me. “In fact, I have to run across the street to see that girl, Roxy. It looks as if all my interviews for my marketing class are happening at the same time. I’ll be back in a second. I promise, I’ll make it quick.”
I grab my backpack and blow the birthday princess a quick kiss.
I can’t wait until tonight. Long after Piper has blown out her last candle—most likely after I’ve done a little blowing of my own—I’m finally going to profess my love to Cade James.
And hopefully by tomorrow at this time, this entire nightmare will be long over.
As soon as I hit fresh air, that nervous energy that’s been clinging to me all morning eases up just a smidge. I may not have to dish out a lie after all tonight when I tell Piper I’m about to lose my lunch. I was already swaying on my heels back there just thinking about it. Maybe I’ll squeeze that visit with my sister in a little earlier than anticipated. I don’t think she’d mind seeing me twice in one day. I just can’t get my head around what I’m about to do.
My feet carry me quickly past the dormitories, out onto the old world cobbled walkway that leads past the Hallowed Grounds café, and a friendly face offers a warm wave from the table on the end.
“Hey, stranger!” I hop over and offer Sammy, my sister-in-Tennessee-arms, a quick hug. “I’m just on my way to Briggs Apartments across the street to do a quick interview for my marketing class. You want to come with?”
“Sorry, no can do.” She gives a coy little smile. “Tonight’s my big date night with Mr. Right, and, if I want to keep him, I’m going to need to get all artillery ready to fire, if you know what I mean. Can you recommend a good hairdresser? I’ve sort of made a last-minute decision on going the full Monty, hair, nails, cleaning up the landing strip if you know what I mean.” She gives a little wink. “If things go well, and I have a strong feeling they will, I’m thinking this evening is going to end with a—”
“Bang!” I finish it for her, and we high-five. “You go get yours, girl. I’m so very happy for you. There’s no way he’s going to let someone as fantastic as you walk out of his life. And once you land him horizontal tonight, you make sure you show him one wild time. We Southern girls may look and sound as sweet as peach pie, but we are sin through and through underneath those sheets. Make him beg for mercy, and then make him beg for more. By this time tomorrow, you are going to have him eating out of your hand”—I stand to leave—“among other places!” We share a wicked cackle as I quickly text her the locales of all my favorite hot spots. By the time that girl is through, she’ll look like the supermodel I already know she is.
Once my good deed for the day is done, I whip my way across the street and into Briggs Apartments for my sweet little treat with the owner of Sprinkles Cupcakes. I take the elevator ride up, and as soon as the doors whoosh open, my senses are taken over by all things heavenly chocolate.
“Holy, holy,” I whimper as I give a hearty knock to the door.
A familiar looking boy I recognize as the bartender from down at the Black Bear answers. He’s sporting jeans and a T-shirt that reads Sprinkles Cupcakes, Best Damn Cupcakes in Town, and I can’t help but smile.
“You must be Cassidy.” He offers a friendly nod. “Rox”—he shouts back toward the kitchen—“your girl is here.”
He leads me inside, and I’m blown away by the wall-to-wall restaurant quality equipment outfitting the oversized kitchen.
“Hey!” a redhead with her hair tossed up into a messy bun comes over, both her apron and her hands are covered with powdered remnants of something delicious I’m sure. “I’m in the middle of decorating a sheet cake if you want to come watch.” I follow her back to the kitchen where there’s a giant slab of marble on the center island.
“This is some place!”
“It’s someplace all right. It’s my boyfriend’s apartment, or at least it was initially. I sort of moved in because he has a working stove—something Prescott Hall severely lacked. That was before we were dating.”
“So, he just let you move in like that?”
“Actually”—a playful smile tugs at her lips as she peers over at him a safe distance away watching two men go at it in some kind of a cage fight on TV—“Cole is my best friend’s brother.” She waves me off a moment. “I know, it sounds so cliché. Trust me, I was the first to notice.” Roxy has a bit of an edge to her, and I like her already. “But it worked out just fine. Sure there was a little hiccup here and there, but Baya is our biggest supporter. My brother, Ryder, sort of wanted to kill him.” She smiles into the memory as if it were a good one. “But that’s to be expected. He’s rabidly protective when it comes to me. Now that I’ve bored you to tears, the least I can do is ask how WB is treating your love life.”
She fills a piping bag with baby blue icing and twists the top of the parchment tight.
I try to play it coy as if my love life is non-existent, but it’s no use. I can feel the confession clawing to the surface. “You’re not going to believe this, but I’m sort of seeing my best friend’s brother, too. Only she doesn’t know it—neither of them does.” I try to swallow down the rest of the story, but it bubbles right up to the top and out it comes. Every dirty detail.
Roxy looks downright gobsmacked once I relay the whole twisted tale.
“Boy, they really need better security down at the Black Bear if those kinds of shenanigans are going on in the restrooms.”
We share a quiet laugh.
Her eyes enlarge as she takes me in. “So, are you really going to tell him tonight after her birthday party?”
“You bet. I’m ready to slay this two-headed dragon and begin a real relationship with the man I love.”
“Only you haven’t told him you love him yet.” She wrinkles her nose. “Dude, you are about to dive into the deep end. Are you sure your friendship with this chick is strong enough to sustain this?”
“I sure hope so. I’ve got my neck on the line and everything to lose. And I can’t stand the thought of losing either one of them.”
She hands me the little blue bag of icing as if it were a consolation prize. “Go ahead and take this one. I have faith in you.”
“What do you want it to say?”
She pulls a tiny index card over for me to see before reading out loud, “Happy birthday Piper.”
I take in a breath and hold it. “That’s her. This i
s her cake! Huh. Today’s her birthday, and, here I am, about to make or break it in oh so many ways.” I take extra care in spelling out the words, but no matter how hard I try to steady my hand, the letters come out twisted and misshapen.
Roxy and I stare down at the mess I made for a moment.
“Just crap, I can’t seem to do anything right. I sure hope this isn’t an omen of what’s about to take place tonight.”
Roxy takes the blade of a giant knife and slices that car wreck right off. She touches up the frosting and spells it out in perfect penmanship, confident and sure.
But Roxy won’t be there this weekend to clean up any disaster that might ensue. No one will be there to give me a do-over when I need it most.
Roxy is nice enough to do the interview before sending me off with a cupcake and a hug.
“You’re going to do just fine,” she spits it out like a command. “Trust me, when you follow your heart, you can’t go wrong. I know it sounds cheesy, but if this guy is just as in love with you as you are with him, then you’ve got this in the bag, sister.”
“In the bag,” I repeat like a tired mantra. We say goodbye, and I whimper into my cupcake as I wait for the elevator.
I hope I didn’t just inadvertently bag everything that Cade and I have.
Roxy is right. If he feels just as strongly for me, then it won’t matter that I was sneaking around behind both his back and his sister’s. I think after the dust settles he’ll agree with me—it was the best thing. I’m hoping Piper will, too.
Lord knows that girl wields a mean pitchfork, and she isn’t afraid to use it.
But I do love that little devil.
I take a bite out of the frosted red velvet confection before me.
Just hope life turns out as sweet as this cupcake.
I vacillate in a big way regarding whether or not to run down to Jepson to pay my baby sister a quick little visit. (Yes, I did beat her into this world by three long minutes. That little vixen grabbed ahold of my heels and held on for the ride.) But, ultimately, my need to speak with my better half supersedes my urge to pretend to get ready next to my soon-to-be ex-best friend. Piper is going to eviscerate me when she finds out I’ve been banging her big brother like a bongo drum for the last three months. She begged, she pleaded with me to reveal the identity of the boy I’ve been trotting off to pay a booty call to in the middle of the night. Last week, she bought me a pair of frilly panties and a bra for my tushy trot—of course, she said she purchased the wrong size for herself and flung them at me, but I know that girl. She was trying to sauce up my already sizzling bedpan. Poor thing had no clue that it would be her brother who peeled them right off me—with his teeth. There’s no simple way around this. Piper James is going to have a heart attack, and then she’s going to hate me—at least for a little while. If there’s one thing I’ve learned about Piper it’s she needs a fair amount of time to cool off before you go kick-starting her again, or she’s liable to blow up for good.
And that Owen! That sneaky, sneaky boyfriend of hers and his good buddy Rex. I owe them both for keeping their yippy little traps shut.
I itemize on my fingers how many people actually know about Cade and me. Scarlett and Daisy know, too. Hey! Soon enough, I’ll run out of fingers. For some reason, I find solace in the fact so many people are in on our dirty little secret—with the exception of the right people, of course, and that, right there, makes me a little dizzy.
I hop into my car without giving it a second thought and speed my way to Jepson. I spot Caila’s Lexus out front and run straight inside.
Caila is on stage with a group of girls, obviously in the middle of one of her booty sessions. I don’t hesitate hopping on up and making a run for my sweet sis, but before I can crash into her for a much-needed hug, I spot an all too familiar face getting down and dirty with a crowd of forty-somethings looking to bring a little spark home to please their man.
“Daisy?”
Daisy Pembrooke gasps as she slaps a hand over her fuchsia-painted mouth. Her eyes do a quick back and forth between my sister and me.
“I didn’t say a word.” Caila lifts her hand in innocence. “Your friend here asked me not to tell.”
“Oh, hon”—I reach over to Daisy and take up her hands—“I’m the last person who’ll judge you. I don’t see a single thing wrong with wanting to learn some sexy midnight moves. We’ll need to set you up with a nice boy toy to try out your new routine.” I give a little wink in hopes to add levity to the situation. Honestly, my own sister is the actual stripper. It’s not like she’s—
“I’ve been dancing.” She hides behind her hand a moment as the other women disband for a quick break.
“You’ve been what?” I shout the words like a reprimand, so loud in fact a few of the other girls send a tsk tsk my way. “Are you messing with me?”
“She’s not messing with you.” Caila smacks me over the arm. “Come out, Daisy. We can still see you. This is about confidence building, remember?”
“Oh my God, Daisy! I thought you were going to law school?” All that jewelry she’s been buying up, the fancy clothes—it all makes perfect sense now where she gets her spending money. “Does Scarlett know?”
“Nobody knows, and I’d like to keep it that way.” Her features darken as she casts me a look just this side of a threat.
“You got it.” I pull her into a deep, strong hug, and it feels good like this, me holding Daisy’s secret while she’s holding mine.
“What did you come here for?” Caila dabs the beads of sweat off her brow with a pristine white towel. It’s always been nothing but the best for Caila. It wouldn’t surprise me one bit if she tosses it into a trashcan rather than a laundry bin and procures a brand spanking new one each time she feels the need to dab her unblemished forehead. “I know you’re not looking for a trick to add to that little naughty bag of treats of yours. Spill it.”
And I do. I tell both of them how I feel about tonight. How I feel about what might transpire tomorrow if Cade lets it get that far.
“Of course, he will.” Caila strokes my hair like petting a cat. “He’ll let it get all the way to forever because that boy would be a fool to let you go.” I give a private smile because it’s the exact advice I gave Sammy this morning—and, ironically, they were the exact words I needed to hear.
I thank my sister profusely, and we hug it out before I take off.
Daisy and I step out into the parking lot, each looking a bit equally dazed.
“Do you really want to dance on the side?” I hold my hand over my eyes for shade, taking her in as the sun pours all its glory over her. Daisy is a golden goddess. For some reason, the thought of her dancing makes me more than a little bit sad. It’s funny that I don’t at all feel that way about Caila. My sister is a force to be reckoned with. I’ve always known that no matter what road she chose in life she’d succeed by a mile, head and shoulders above the rest. But Daisy is a sweetheart who’s not looking to turn this into a lifelong career. I’m terrified that she’ll be rubbing elbows in the boardroom tomorrow with the very men she’s taking her clothes off for today.
“I don’t know what I want. Right now I want it because I can’t seem to catch a break making any real money anywhere else. Do you think I’m making a big mistake?” She winces so hard it looks as if she’s about to cry.
“Not if you don’t.”
We leave it at that and take off to get ready for Piper’s party. It feels as if everyone’s world is shifting just a little bit this weekend.
By the time I get upstairs, Piper has primped herself into the princess she is, and Scarlett is ready to go, too. They wait patiently as Daisy and I put ourselves together. Of course, I’m not headed to the Black Bear with the rest of them for the big blow out. I’m only in it for the first leg of the journey, the quick jaunt to Wyatt’s ranch to speak with Marley about her Rags-to-Riches story, literally. That also happens to be the name of her clothing line, which has propelled her into fashi
on stardom. Rumor has it, they have a spread in Glitz magazine coming up next fall. She and Baya have really made a name for themselves.
We hop into Piper’s car because the birthday girl insists on driving, and everyone knows the birthday princess gets her way on her big day, and in Piper’s case, every other day after that. She turns up the radio and sings at the top of her lungs all the way out into the rolling countryside. Piper is in a great mood, a shining star of a mood. And, to be honest, her enthusiasm is a bit contagious because by the time we roll onto the property we’re all singing along right there with her.
The four of us stumble out of the car to the quiet looking ranch house. It’s so beautiful out here it takes my breath away. Out in the distance, dozens of horses roam free in an oversized corral, and everything in me is just itching to go over and love on one of those precious beasts. But the air, it’s that fresh country scent I’ve missed so darn bad over the last few months. It’s the scent of raw earth mingling with the animals, the fresh bleached sheets blowing out on an actual clothesline out back. And that one little laundry miracle makes me like Marley that much more. This, right here, is the Earth as God intended as far as I see it.
Piper gives a quick knock to the oversized rustic door, but not a soul answers. She gives another far more aggressive beating before twisting the knob and stepping inside with caution.
“Surprise!” An entire crowd of people pop out from behind the furniture, spill out from the hallways, and every free orifice as the four of us gasp in shock. There’s not a hint of an extra car out in that driveway. How ever they pulled off this mega miracle, it’s amazing through and through.
A thought hits me quick as a train wreck.
Oh God, oh God, oh God! This place is chock-full of family and friends! Gah! FAMILY!
I do a quick sweep of all the cheerful looking faces for that boy I’ve been impaling myself on for the last nine plus weeks and solidify when I spot his smiling, mostly frozen grin quickly melting with that equally stunned deer-in-the-headlights look on his face. But it’s not that shocked expression he’s wearing that has my muscles pulling an early version of rigor mortis. It’s that gorgeous, well coifed, Tennessee beauty queen wrapped around his waist that has me at full attention.