Fuck. I glance around to see if an angry mob is growing. I shoot a pleading glance to Jet and Owen.
“Relax.” Owen pulls Piper in, and she conforms to his body. “He didn’t hurt anyone. Besides, this is what they want.”
Cade nods as if agreeing, but that frown is still plastered to his face. “It’s what they both wanted. Make it last, you two.” He offers a knuckle bump before heading back to the bar with Cassidy in hot pursuit.
The band starts in on a slow song, and Piper evicts Owen from his seat as they head to the dance floor.
“You want to do this?” I take a quick nip of Scarlett’s ear, and she jumps to her feet, taking me with her.
Jet stands and pulls me in, pretending to sock my gut. “If you’re happy, I’m happy. I’ll catch you later.”
“Where are you off to?”
“I’ve got a tattoo to fuck up.” He gives a sly wink as he heads for the door. Jet knows I didn’t mean it. He’s the best tattoo artist on the East Coast as far as I’m concerned.
Scarlett leads me by the fingers to the beating heart of the dance floor. I wrap my arms around her, and we begin to sway to the lethargic rhythm. Her perfume sways around us like a poem. I can get lost in Scarlett for a thousand years if she’d let me. And even then, it wouldn’t be enough. She hikes up on her heels and touches her lips to my ear.
“I checked in with my dad again. He’s pretty down.”
“You think it’s too late to save the day?”
“Never say never.” She shrinks a little in my arms, her bottom lip tugging to the side. “I even enlisted Sabrina to help.”
“Desperate times call for desperate sisters. I’ll talk to my mom in the morning. Maybe we should take them out to dinner. I’m pretty sure we can straighten this whole mess out before dessert.”
“I’m glad you think so. I just want to see my father happy again.”
“I know.” I press a soft kiss to the top of her head. “I want that, too.” My eyes close as we rock slowly to the music. I never thought for a minute Scarlett and I would be the obstacle that threw my mother and Bradley off course. I thought for sure all of those skeletons in my mother’s closet would be the ones to derail her impending romantic future. If my mother truly wants happiness, I think she needs to come clean as much as Scarlett and I do.
I’ll talk to her in the morning, all right.
She just won’t like what I have to say.
After a long night at the Black Bear, our group disbands, and I head back to the house alone. Scarlett said she wanted to change before she came over, and I’ve been walking on air ever since, tidying up, making sure my boxers aren’t strewn around like confetti. Cade and I use the same housekeeping service, so the place is usually spotless, but since this will be my first night at the house with Scarlett spending the night, I want it to be extra special. Our crew of friends down at the Black Bear bounce through my mind. Not only do I feel lucky to have Scarlett in my life, but I’m feeling pretty stoked to know the entire lot of them. It’s pretty cool the way we’re breaking off into pairs—and happy about it at that. I feel bad for Jet now that he’s the odd man out. Owen has Piper, Cade has Cassidy, and I have Scarlett. It feels nice to know that Scarlett and I fit so well, not only with each other, but within the neat matrix of couplings. Come to think of it, there’s an odd girl out of the mix, too—Daisy. I’ll have to ask Jet what he thinks of her. She’s a beautiful girl, and Jet’s a great guy. Suddenly, I feel like a matchmaker—which is usually Owen’s specialty.
I turn on the TV and scan through the channel guide until I hit up a smooth jazz music station. Smooth jazz? I flip around a little more until I hit soft rock. That’s something Scarlett might appreciate a little more. A dull smile comes to me, and I don’t fight it. I want to please Scarlett Kent in every single way. I want to know every nuance about her so I can have her needs met before she even realizes she has them. Scarlett and I are about to prove every single one of our naysaying friends wrong. We’re in it to win it. Scarlett has become my singular need. Even this house feels empty without her.
My phone buzzes and spins over the glass table before I pick it up. It’s a text from my mother.
I glance down at the time, ten forty-five. I can’t remember the last time my mother contacted me past four-thirty. Something must be wrong. Maybe it’s Dad.
Just wanted to give you the heads-up. The cat is out of the bag.
My brain works overtime trying to piece her ambiguous message together.
What’s out of the bag? No sooner do I shoot her the text than it hits me what exactly that fat incarcerated cat is.
“Shit,” I hiss into the phone and start texting once again.
Who knows what? And when did they find out? I hit Send and hold my breath.
She shoots back. Bradley. I don’t know how he found out, but it couldn’t have been hard. I’m surprised he didn’t find out sooner. I suppose it’s really over now.
“Fuck.” Why didn’t you tell him right off the bat?
A lengthy pause ensues before she texts back.
I tried at first, then as time passed, it grew more difficult. I thought he might think I was trying to hide it from him until finally I was doing just that. I guess I’m a terrible person.
I text back without hesitating. You’re not. You’re a great person with a big heart who just so happened to get caught up in some terrible things. Let’s do breakfast in the morning. Does that sound good?
She texts back. It sounds like the best thing I’ve heard all day.
The phone sits cradled in my hand a good long while as I try to make sense of what this means for my mother and selfishly for me. I know exactly how she feels because I just so happened to delay telling Scarlett the truth for the very same reason. And now that we’ve been together, joined at the hips literally for the summer, she’ll wonder why I waited so long, why I was trying so hard to hide it.
A nasty bite of anxiety boils in the pit of my stomach. This will all end well. For my mother and for Bradley. For Scarlett and for me. It has to.
An aggressive knock rattles the door, and I head over. I glance through the peephole to find a mane of red hair that I’m dying to bury my face in. I swoop the door open and pull her in.
“Your mother—”
Scarlett heads right in that direction, but I crash my mouth over hers and try to douse the damage away with a hard, aching kiss that says I’m sorry, I don’t want to lose you, I don’t know what the fuck else to do.
“Rex Toberman!” a female shrieks from the lawn, and I pull back to find—
“Scarlett?” I jump back from the girl in my arms to find Sabrina as the recipient of that apologetic kiss I just doled out. “Crap.” I close my eyes a moment.
“Not only is your mother a gold digger, but you are an asshole!” Scarlett jumps back into her car and speeds away while I stand there stunned like the asshole I’ve just become, watching as the night swallows her whole.
“Well, that was rich.” Sabrina heads inside without waiting for the invite.
“If you’re looking for more of the same, you can leave. I didn’t realize it was you.”
“Oh, I’m well aware of the conundrum that wet and wild tongue of yours just landed you in.” She gives a little wink as she sits and spreads her arms wide over the back of the sofa. “I’m not interested in sloppy seconds.” Her eyes narrow in on mine, her features sharpen hard as flint. “I’m not leaving until you fill me in on everything I need to know about Lynette Toberman. Who is she really? And is she even your mother?”
Bitter…It’s What’s for Dinner
Scarlett
I’ve encountered deception and betrayal before, mostly at the hands of my sister. I was spoon-fed heartbreak and bitterness after my parents’ divorce, but not through any fault of theirs directly. But this? Rex keeping things from me about his mother? And to think I let that boy have his way with my body, repeatedly, in any and every pornographic manner.
“
Tell me again what you think you saw?” Daisy strokes my hair with caution as if I’ve gone feral.
The door bursts open, and Piper and Cassidy pile in.
“I’ll kill him.” Cass swoops onto the bed and wraps her arms around me. “I’ll take one of those fancy hunting knives you’ve got lying around, and I’ll lop his balls off.”
Piper sits across from me and picks up my hand. “You can hang them off your rearview mirror like a pair of shriveled up ornaments. He obviously doesn’t have any use for them.”
“Lock the door,” I grunt to Daisy. “There’s no way in hell I want to see his face.”
“What the hell just happened?” Cassidy barks it out, loud and demanding.
“I don’t know. I went over and saw him with my sister. They were kissing at the door.”
Cassidy clucks her tongue. Her head inches back a notch. “You think they got a thing going?”
“No. God, I don’t know. It just caught me off guard. I freaked out and ran. It’s Duncan all over again.”
Piper gives my hand a violent tug. “Who the hell is Duncan?”
“That’s her ex.” Cassidy knows all my ins and outs, and even though we were separated for a time, she’s still up on the highlights and lowlights that life has brought my way. “He was a moron. Never really loved her.”
“Cass!”
“It’s true, Scarlett. If that boy had an ounce of true affection for you, he never would have done the sister switcheroo.”
Piper stiffens. “What sister switcheroo?”
Cassidy nods as if affirming their worst suspicions. “Sabrina is older and far more wicked. She snatched poor Duncky from right under Scarlett’s nose, and now that idiot is bound and gagged to marry the wench.”
“What a bitch!” Piper is ready to smash a bottle over my sister’s head, and I don’t blame her. I’m right there with her.
“For our entire lives, Sabrina treated our relationship like some ridiculous competition. We’re sisters. We shouldn’t have to compete, especially not for men. It’s as if she never got the memo.”
“Oh, hon.” Cassidy’s voice softens. “It wasn’t all your lives. You and she were thick as thieves up until your parents split.”
A dull laugh strums through me. Cassidy remembers my life with better clarity than I do.
“She’s right.” I clear my throat. “Sabrina and I were best friends up until the battle lines were drawn. She always felt as if I sided with our father, and once my mother remarried and moved away, the rift between us grew. She hated that I was close to our dad. She tried to make him angry with me, and, when that didn’t work, she conceded that I was his favorite. Of course, she thought my brother got preferential treatment, too, just for the simple fact he’s a boy. But me? My dad and I are close, but neither one of us has ever shut Sabrina out. If anything, she’s done it to herself.”
Daisy shakes her blonde tumble of curls. “And now that you’ve moved on to bigger and better men, she wants to take him off your plate, too. Talk about your backstabbing shenanigans. I’m so sorry you have to go through this.” She leans in and offers up a heartfelt, rocking hug. Daisy’s perfume engulfs me, sweet as cotton candy. This entire last year of rooming with her has been like living at the fairgrounds.
“That’s not quite what happened.” Cassidy pulls my hands forward and looks me dead in the eye. “I know you’re hardwired to stubbornly believe what you want, but I’ve got another theory. That little witch of a sis of yours showed up and tricked him into thinking she’s you!”
Daisy is quick to nod into this theory. “It’s almost pitch-black on that street. He probably took one look at that red shag the two of you share and dropped a wet one on her without hesitating.”
This new line of thinking has the weight of Sabrina’s strumpet of a body lifting right off my chest.
“I suppose it’s logical. But why was Sabrina at his place to begin with? And why hasn’t Rex called or pounded down the door yet?”
No sooner do we immerse ourselves in thought over Rex’s indiscretion, along with his stranger decision not to fall at my feet and beg forgiveness, than someone pounds at the door with the right amount of grief.
“Finally!” Piper hops up and swings it open, revealing a rather pale looking Rex Toberman. There he is in all his quarterback glory, the width and girth of his body taking up the doorframe. “You’d better have a damn good excuse, buddy.”
The three of them look ready to draw and quarter the poor guy.
Rex dares lean into the room, his eyes already pleading with mine. “Can we talk?”
“Go ahead.” I meant for it to sound confident and slightly pissed, only it came out weak as a whisper and wounded.
“Alone?” Rex is begging me for the honor, and, as much as I’d like to, I can’t seem to give it. Besides, it’s best we get the misunderstanding cleared up right here with my friends in the room. Not only will it save me the trouble of having to explain everything, it gives me backup in the event Sabrina the Seductress has struck again. Not that I could even begin to wrap my head around that.
“So tell me. Is she a good kisser? Should I phone Duncan and tell him he’s got competition?” I’m not sure why sarcastic bitch mode seems to be my safe haven. Not to mention the fact it seems to be a gear I’m comfortable in around Rex.
His chest thumps with the idea of a laugh. His serious eyes settle over mine with a mixture of disappointment and horror in them.
“No,” he flatlines. “And”—he grinds his palm against his eye a moment—“I kissed her. She didn’t kiss me.” He staggers forward with a look that pleads for forgiveness. “I thought she was you.”
The room breaks out into cheers, and Rex straightens as if caught off guard. It’s not every day you have a peanut gallery around while pouring your heart out trying to explain a major goof.
“I called it!” Cassidy and Piper high-five. “So go ahead.” She offers up a spontaneous applause. “Kiss and make up so we can call it a night.”
Daisy pushes me forward a notch. “And then we’ll leave you alone so the two of you can really kiss and make up.” My three best friends sway as a group at the thought of it.
“Actually.” He slaps his hand over the back of his neck. “There is something you need to know.” The whites of his eyes turn into railroad tracks of crimson. “There’s something I should have told you a long time ago.”
My three best friends gasp as a group in the background.
“Dear God, here we go,” I hiss under my breath as I brace myself for whatever comes next. “Sabrina sponsored nightmare number two is already underway.”
“No.” Rex steps in and takes up my hands, and I let him. I like the way he feels, warm and strong. Just the heat of his touch is enough to make my heart thunder like a shotgun blast. “It has to do with my mother.” He shakes his head as if struggling to get the words out, as if sorry he ever has to say them. “There’s something you should know—your sister and father just found out themselves.”
“What is it? Is she sick?” My voice pitches, I spit it out so fast. For the first time in the history of ever, I’m suddenly very concerned about Lynette Toberman’s welfare. “We can go to her. I’ll leave with you right now.”
“No.” His brows furrow. Rex glides his hands over my bare arms, and I shiver as he washes me in his warmth. “She did something, a long time ago. She went to prison for it, Scarlett.” His eyes bear into mine, and suddenly, his gaze burns like acid. “My father lost his fortune. He’s trying to rebuild his life. My mother left him.”
“Oh my God.” I back away from his touch. “She’s a con artist, isn’t she? Don’t answer that. I think we both know where your loyalty lies.”
“Not true. They lie with you.”
“Some people will say anything to get what they want—your mother included. Get out.”
Rex steps in with his chest expanding with his next breath, his watery eyes pleading for mercy. “There’s more.”
??
?Oh, I’ve heard enough. You had months to fill me in on this little tidbit of information!” My voice riots throughout the tiny chamber. “An entire year in which you and your mother chose to pull the wool over my father’s eyes, and he just found out tonight? Shit, Rex! You’re like a bunch of scam artists. Get the hell out, and don’t come back!” I make a dash for the bathroom and lock myself inside.
The rumble of his voice vibrates through the walls then the sound of the door closing with a pronounced click. I slide down to the floor and crumple into tears.
I thought Rex and I had it all.
The only thing we truly had was one big ball of lies.
My father doesn’t feel much like speaking to Lynette just yet either. He’s declared a moratorium on the relationship, affording them both a time-out. His words not mine. We steal away for a few days and head up to the Happy Squirrel along with Sabrina and Lawson. It’s a time-out all of our own. My father and Lawson barbeque while Sabrina and I immerse ourselves in one Netflix marathon after the other. None of us talk much about the incident, at least not after the initial verbal vomit where each of us spilled what little we knew. I suspect my father knows a touch more, but isn’t into throwing Lynette fully under the bus just yet. This entire nightmare has to be a blow to his ego.
Rex has texted and called at least fifty times. He’s diligent—I’ll give him that. He wants to talk. He misses me. He needs to hear my voice. All things are true on my end in reverse, but in reality, I don’t have the stomach to dig deeper into the Toberman web of deception. And to think he was going to help me reinstate our parents as a couple once again. What a joke. I had probably fallen into his trap all along. I bet he and his mother were laughing at me the whole time—at my entire family. All it took was a little digging from Sabrina to bring to light all the darkness the Tobermans tried so hard to disguise. Worse yet, they weren’t disguised so well. A simple Internet search or two could have diverted this entire nightmare about a year ago. Lesson learned. Google the shit out of anyone you even think you know—especially if turning in your V-card is involved—or your father’s impending future and fragile heart.