She rolls her eyes and pushes herself free from Knox. “Good going, bro. You’ve found another delusional one.” She shakes her head at me. “And let me guess? Next you’ll be proclaiming your love for him. Don’t you get it? This is the rebound effect. You’re both too wounded to notice you’re bleeding out.” She looks into her brother’s eyes with those blue stones that are identical to his. “I’ll be the first to say I told you so when she breaks your heart. Maybe next time you’ll listen to me.” She takes off and makes her way to the ditz’s table, and as if things couldn’t get any worse, Justin strides right by, gives Knox the finger, and joins them.
“Oh my God.” It’s as if all my nightmares are morphing into one. But I’ll admit, a tiny part of me is relieved that they’re still together. If Justin and Jen broke up, she might want Knox back. They had two years under the bridge, and Trixie is right—we’re essentially a flash in the pan at this point.
My heart wrenches as he looks over at me with that sad smile as if he’s just read my pathetic thoughts.
“Come here.” Knox pulls me out to the dance floor and joins his hips to mine.
“Are you in the mood to be doused with Diet Coke?”
He grimaces. “It did do wonders for my hair.”
I belt out a laugh. It seems all I ever do with Knox is laugh these days, and I love it. This would technically be laughing in the face of adversity, and I love that too.
“And since we haven’t eaten yet, I think we should grab all the enchiladas we can. I’m a sucker for all that cheesy goodness.”
“You are a flexible vegan,” he points out, and I melt inside.
“You know what I love best about you?” I dot my lips to his. “You really listen to me when I speak. I can’t believe you remember that.”
Knox pulls back, holding me there in his muscular arms, and it doesn’t feel awkward. It doesn’t at all feel like revenge. It just feels right.
“You know what I love best about you?” His gaze rides over my features, bumping over the landscape of my face so proficiently it might as well be tactile. “The fact you just inadvertently told me you love me.”
My mouth falls open, and just as I’m about to protest the idea, my insides heat to life. “I do love you.” I give a little shrug. “That’s crazy, I know.”
He shakes his head, his expression growing sober by the second. “It’s not crazy because I love you too. I loved you that day at the mixer while I was chasing you down, trying to warn you of everything that was about to topple in your world, and yet deep down, it felt like I was trying to warn myself too.” His eyes squeeze tight. “But I’m so damn glad things turned out beautifully that night.”
“What?” I give his chest a light swat. “They turned to shit, remember? It led us into a hotbed of insanity, and we almost committed a double felony.”
“I meant what I said. It turned out beautiful. If they hadn’t stepped out of our lives, we never would have found our way to each other. And here we are, together.” He bows his head, his eyes still fixed to mine. “I wouldn’t want it any other way. This past month has been beautiful.”
“Beautiful,” I repeat. Knox comes in and presses his lips to mine in a series of easy kisses, beautiful kisses, kisses that say I love you, I do.
“Break up the party,” a female voice chirps to our left, and I fully expect to find Jen the Menace, but it’s a far more volatile menace—Trixie.
“What?” we say in unison, and Knox gives my ribs a quick squeeze as if to acknowledge the fact.
“It looks like your little ex slut has just upped the ante.” Trixie scowls my way as if she’s talking about me.
“Look”—Knox tightens his embrace—“we’re busy, Trix. Let’s do this some other time. I’ll call you in the morning.”
She glances back to the table where the two nitwits sit with their heads stitched together. “I think we should probably talk now”—she glares at me a moment—“alone.”
“Fine.” I gently push his hands down my hips. “I think I’ll head to the restroom. I’ll catch up with you later.” I steal a quick kiss off his lips and Trixie grunts as if I just kicked her kneecap out.
I stride past the tables and make my way to the front. Why does Trixie have to be so pissy around me? Am I really that offensive? My heart was ripped out of my chest too, you know. I get the fact she wants to protect him. Heck, I’d want to protect Harley and Henry to the death, but I seriously doubt I’d be rude to whomever they were dating—or in my case, living with, bedding, spending every free moment with. Then it hits me. Trixie is his twin. Knox mentioned they did everything together, and for the last month when he wasn’t at work or practice, he was with me. She misses him. As far as she’s concerned, he’s spiraling out of control, with me—some girl he hardly knows. But he knows me. In this short time, I’d swear that Knox knows me better than anyone else—and for certain more intimately.
No sooner do I get to the restroom than a light tap falls over my shoulder and I turn around. A sharp, crisp slap etches over my face, and I have to take a breath to shield myself from the sting.
I give a few good blinks, fully expecting to find Trixie, and shockingly, it’s Little Miss Muffet who’s been sitting on my ex-boyfriend’s tuffet.
“You have got to be kidding me.” That power blow could not have been doled out by this little dandelion. She’s practically brittle.
“I’m not kidding you.” Her inflatable voice all but up and disappears when she speaks. “What you’re doing with Knox is the most foolish and childish thing. Grow up and move on. Your little game is over, but Knox and I aren’t.”
“Oh, you’re over, honey. I’ve met Will, and he doesn’t miss you. He’s fallen madly in love with all of my lady parts, so you can just boot scoot your way to the back of the bar where the refuse lives and suckle off that rat you’ve been gnawing on for the last six months. The two of you deserve one another. Stupid is as stupid does, and I don’t think I could find words that better describe the two of you.”
Her tiny lips cinch up in a knot just before she pushes out a wail of a laugh—something akin to what I imagine a mouse sounds like sneezing. “At the end of the day, the only stupid one will be you.” She pivots and struts out with her shoulder back, nose tipped to the ceiling. If I didn’t know better, I’d swear she was very, very confident about those damning words she thrust my way.
Crap.
Everyone knows a confident twat is the most dangerous of them all.
Knox was anxious and down once we left the bar, but that didn’t stop him for letting Will play with Sylvia. The weird part was, it’s as if he wasn’t all the way into it. His mind was someplace else entirely. I could feel it. Whatever Trixie had to say, really dampened his spirits. A part of me wanted to inquire, but honestly, I’m terrified as to what I might find out. Janelle and that hex she placed on me in the restroom keeps crashing to the forefront of my mind.
Several hot and sticky days melt by, and it feels like six humid months. Each moment, Knox seems to be turning inwardly to himself, and I feel like I’m walking on eggshells around him. There’s a required mixer tonight at Kappa G, and seeing that we’re invited to bring a guest, I invited Harley and Henry to join me. They’ve been dying to check out The Row ever since I mentioned that I went Greek. Little do they know, I’ve all but abandoned the whole Greek effort. But Harley made me promise I’d invite her to at least one sorority event, so it might as well be tonight—before I officially get kicked out for ditching the McMansion for far more accessible indoor plumbing pastures.
Knox didn’t feel like hitting the trails with me this morning, so I ran three miles by myself before calling it quits. My tired feet lead me all the way to Hallowed Grounds for a much-needed cup of coffee and a congratulatory cranberry scone for putting in the effort. My day is made or ruined by the availability of the aforementioned sweet treat.
No sooner do I nab the delicious pastry and a tall cup of iced coffee and take a seat than the abomin
ation of desolation plops into the chair opposite of me.
Justin Cramer looks as baby-faced and innocent as the day we met, same sad puppy dog eyes, same cowlick taking his hair in a crazy direction, and even after all of the torment he put me through, a tiny part of me still feels abandoned by her boyfriend. I should hate him—loathe him with an eternal fiery passion, and yet all I want to do is fling my coffee into his face and scream at him for so cruelly breaking my heart. I must have felt something for him if it hurt so bad to lose him. I hate that it did. I guess once you’re honest with yourself you can stop denying the facts and move on. We tried. It didn’t work. Game over. If my father taught me anything, that was it in all its brevity—if it doesn’t work, move on.
“Speak now or forever hold your peace,” I grunt. “You have five seconds before I baptize you in the name of roasted espresso.” As if I’d waste my drink on him. He’s so not worthy. I take a quick sip and moan, affirming the fact this goodness isn’t going anywhere but my belly.
“I’m sorry.”
A laugh snorts through so fast, I almost launch my coffee through my nose. “You’re what? Clearly the heat has gotten to me because why would you be apologizing to someone who means nothing to you?” I openly glare, daring him to defy me on it.
His left lid gives a lazy blink as he sags into his seat. Justin has always had a boy band appeal to me.
“You know”—I press in across the table—“I knew once you came to Whitney Briggs, the girls would be all over you. But I had no clue you’d reciprocate right back. The killer is, you were basically monogamous to her. I bet the two of you laughed at me—both Knox and me behind our backs.”
He gives a bored blink. “Like you’re doing now?”
“We have reason to.” It would be true if we actually found this funny.
“I’m not here to argue with you, Harp.” I flinch a little because I’ve always hated it when he shortened my name that way. “I just wanted to let you know she’s done with me.”
My heart sinks. It’s as if that one sentence explains why Knox has been so distant.
“She’s furious. She can’t stand the fact that asshole is into you.” His cheek hikes up on one side as if it amused him. “And you know what? I’m furious that asshole is into you too.”
A moment thumps by, and I’m stunned by the revelation. It turns out our little scheme worked, and it worked a little too good if you ask me.
A wild panic fills me. “You should fight for her. Don’t just sit here. Hit the flowers and candy hard. Go get her. Trust me, the two of you belong together.” Dear God, is this really my life? I’m coaxing my cheating ex back into the arms of what amounts to the other woman? I take a deep breath. Why yes, I am. “Go after her with a vengeance, Justin.” My heart ratchets its way up my throat as if it’s about to fist pump for him to succeed in the effort itself. “What she and Knox had was papier-mâché, but what the two of you have—well, that’s a very real beating heart.”
Justin looks out at the wall with a faraway look in his eyes. “That’s funny you say that. There is a beating heart involved. It’s just not mine.”
He takes off, sans the coffee bath I’ve threatened him with, and now that I’ve lost my appetite, I’m wondering if sparing him was a good idea.
What just happened? Justin not only gave me an apology, but I didn’t wrap my hands around his neck and squeeze the living breath out of him. Furthermore, I gave him relationship advice.
Knox and his cold demeanor bounce through my mind. Janelle can’t have him back. She’s toxic. She’s poison.
I hope to God that Justin takes my advice for once.
The mixer at Kappa Gamma Gamma of course includes our matchups at Beta Kappa Phi. And since some of our favorite boys belong to that alcohol-soaked frat house, none of us mind the mandatory get-togethers. Tonight’s theme is A Midsummer Night’s Dream, which is ethereal and wholly romantic with the exception of the peppering of frat boys who have chosen to don the mask of a donkey’s head.
Ava, Lucky, and I are festooned with floral wreaths as our crowns emulating our favorite Snapchat filter.
“So, where’s your main squeeze?” Lucky bumps her hip into mine so hard she nearly sends me sailing across the room.
“Finishing up practice.” I can’t imagine how exhausted he must be. Knox made love to me last night for hours on end, sweetly and deliberately. I would swear on my life that boy never went to sleep because each time I opened my eyes he was right there watching me with somber eyes. It was haunting and heartbreaking and makes me wonder if maybe there’s something wrong with one of his family members and he was sworn to secrecy. Whatever he’s holding close to the vest, it’s sucked the life out of him, and it kills me to see him so disturbingly melancholy.
Ava cranes her neck toward the door. “How about your sister and brother? I’m dying to meet them. Is your sister joining us at Briggs this fall?”
“Next fall. And believe me, that will be soon enough. Harley is a spitfire. She says what she wants and does what she wants. And as empowering as that might sound, it’s ridiculously stupid half the time. There’s a reason we have checks and balances in us. Too much truth can be the equivalent of throwing acid in somebody’s face.” My heart gives a quick thud because it just occurred to me that maybe Knox isn’t giving me his truths because he thinks it might hurt me. Knox is a prince. He would never in a million years even think to rip my heart out.
Ava laughs and puts Lucky in a playful chokehold and points down over her. “Says what she wants and does what she wants. Guilty and guilty.”
Lucky breaks free by way of torture tickling poor Ava. “And trust me, I’m not dumping acid on anyone who doesn’t deserve it.” She gives a sly wink. “Just say the word and I’ll dump away—with my words, of course. There are a few people I’ve been dying to tell off for some time now.” She nods past me. “Case in point.”
I turn to find Janelle laughing it up with a group of my sisters. “Traitors.”
“You got to give it to her”—Lucky scoffs in the blonde witch’s direction—“she has big balls.”
“Take that back. I don’t want anything that remotely sounds like a compliment being lobbed her way—especially not from one of my best friends.”
“Aww!” Ava leaps over me with a clumsy embrace. “Besties forever!”
“Room for two more in this hug-fest?”
I spin around to find two faces that look markedly out of place in this thicket of short-skirted coeds, but who are more welcome to my tired eyes than a thousand sunrises.
“It’s a real Shelton reunion!” I scream as I pull them both in at the same time.
Henry looks dapper with his button-down shirt and a cute red bowtie, and Harley, well, she looks dangerously attractive, and in no way, shape, or form is she to be left unsupervised this evening. Harley’s eyes round out as she takes in the sights.
“I cannot wait to get here. Just one more year and, Whitney boys, here I come!”
“It’s Whitney Briggs.” I offer her a playful smack over the arm. “And if you say that again, I’ll put a good word in for you at the all-girls university across town.”
“You wish!” She snorts at the thought, and it’s only then I note she already has a red Solo attached to her hand. Yeah, it’s requisite for the sisters, for any coed in general, but Harley doesn’t need whatever drink she’s about to imbibe—not to mention the fact she’s underage in every capacity. I take the drink from her and knock it back. Beer fresh from the tap. Knew it.
“Ava and Lucky, this is Henry, my real big brother, and this is Harley, my wild child of a little sister. Sanity works on a sliding scale in my family, so consider yourself warned.”
“Duly noted.” Ava politely shakes their hands, as does Lucky.
Lucky leans in toward Henry. “Did you go to Briggs?”
“Once upon a time.” He gives a quick wink. “It’s a longstanding family tradition, and if I didn’t attend, I risked being the black s
heep.”
We share a laugh at the seeming absurdity my brother uttered, but Henry, Harley, and I know it’s true as that bright blue sky.
“Our father would disown us.” I wrap an arm around Henry and pull him in. Despite our age difference, I’ve always felt so close to Henry—as if we were twins. Knox comes to mind, and my gaze drifts to the door. I cannot wait to show him off again to my siblings. Plus, this will be a great chance for him and Henry to get to know one another better.
Harley laughs and looks that much more beautiful. All my life I’ve been venerated for something as superficial as the genetics I’ve been gifted, but in my opinion, Harley takes it to another level in the looks department. Not to mention, under all that impulsive bravado, that girl has a heart of gold. Instead of spending the summer in New York with Dad, getting lost while shopping Manhattan, she’s decided to spend every waking hour with Henry. I’d do the same, but I’m in internship mode at the moment. Besides, I think it’s great he’s here to visit his old stomping grounds.
He leers at the girls in the vicinity. “So this is Kappa Gamma.” A group of sorority sisters struts by, and Henry gets a rather filthy smile on his face.
“Down, boy. You can look at the menu, but you can’t take a single bite. Those happen to be my sisters—thus yours by proxy.”
Our small circle breaks out into laughter.
Lucky bumps her shoulder to his. “You just pick one out. I’ll make sure she heads your way. I totally understand the fact that big brothers are entitled to a snack now and again too.”
Harley nudges me. “So, where is he? The captain of your universe that you talk nonstop of?”
“That’s not true.” I bite down on a smile while looking at Ava and Lucky. “I don’t talk. I text.”