“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 herkneecapout.
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 moreintimately.
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 thesting.
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’stuffet.
“You have got to be kidding me.” That power blow could not have been doled out by this little dandelion. She’s practicallybrittle.
“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 Iaren’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 twoofyou.”
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,veryconfident about those damning words she thrustmyway.
Crap.
Everyone knows a confident twat is the most dangerous ofthemall.
* * *
Knox wasanxious 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 ofmymind.
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 plumbingpastures.
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 sweettreat.
No sooner do I nab the delicious pastry and a tall cup of iced coffee and take a seat than the abomination of desolation plops into the chair oppositeofme.
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,moveon.
“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 mybelly.
“I’msorry.”
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 meonit.
His left lid gives a lazy blink as he sags into his seat. Justin has always had a boy band appealtome.
“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 ourbacks.”
He gives a bored blink. “Like you’redoingnow?”
“We have reason to.” It would be true if we actually found thisfunny.
“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 donewithme.”
My heart sinks. It’s as if that one sentence explains why Knox has been sodistant.
“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 intoyoutoo.”
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 youaskme.
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 beatingheart.”
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 justnotmine.”
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 agoodidea.
