“You’re welcome.”
I take a little nap while Cash drives, and I don’t wake up until he slams on the brakes in front of a cute cottage-style home on the edge of the mountains.
“What the hell, man?” I ask, wiping drool from my chin and trying to keep my head from falling off my neck. “You trying to give me whiplash?”
“Does that look like one of Amelia’s friends?”
I focus on the man stepping out onto the front porch, his chin tipped up like he’s ready to fight, his arms by his sides, hands fisted. I swallow hard. “That’s her ex-husband.”
And behind him walks out our cousin-in-law, Amelia’s brother Asher.
“Right,” Cash says, rubbing his hands together. “This should be fun.”
"We should leave.” I so don’t want to get punched today. Or to feel worse than I already do. “Obviously, neither of them wants a cat gym.”
Cash gets out of the car as if he didn’t hear me. “Closure, bro.”
I roll my eyes, which only makes my head hurt worse. I could just stay in his car, but then he’ll probably say something idiotic to Amelia’s brother and her ex that will only make things worse.
I ease myself out, trying to find the strength to look tough.
“You look like shit,” Bryson says as I mosey up the stairs at the pace of a slug.
“How do you know? You’ve never met me before.”
Bryson raises his brows and looks at Cash, who’s grinning like he’s just won tickets to Monster Jam in Vegas. “He totally looks like shit. He’s so hungover I had to pull over for him to puke halfway here.”
“No, you didn’t…” Oh, wait, maybe I didn’t just dream that.
Bryson scowls. “You’re a partier? A heavy drinker? Melly doesn’t need that in her life.”
The way he uses that nickname for her is like nails on a chalkboard.
Asher stands behind him like a bodyguard. He’s wearing a tank top that shows off every one of his oversized muscles, and the way he’s got his arms crossed over his chest just accentuates his ridiculous biceps.
“He doesn’t normally drink much at all,” Cash says. “It’s the emotional stuff that gets to him. He wants to avoid it. Last night, he avoided feeling sad about Amelia by going out and getting drunk.”
“Cash,” I say through gritted teeth. “Shut up.” I’ve had enough of this. I glare at Bryson and Asher. “What the hell do you want? To punch me? Yell at me for lying to your ex-wife?”
“I told him he should tell her the truth as soon as he found out,” Cash says. “As soon as Levi put four and four together and figured out the woman Deacon was messaging on that dating app was the same woman he was dating, I told him to tell her, but he didn’t listen.”
“She didn’t want to hear it,” I say, rubbing my temples. “She wanted casual from both of us.” I squint. Why didn’t that sound right? “From online Deacon and IRL Deacon. If I’d told her, she would have dumped us both. I thought I could convince her I was worth getting serious for.”
Bryson studies me. “Amelia thinks you knew who she was all along. She thinks that meeting at the hardware store was arranged. By you. She thinks you’re a stalker and a liar.”
“And I don’t want a stalker and a liar dating my sister,” Asher says, voice gruff.
I just stare at them, my mind blown. “Wow. That’s what she really thinks of me?”
“I told you, man,” Cash says. “She isn’t the right one for you. If she spent that much time with you and she still thinks you could do something like that—”
“Yeah. I get it.” I turn around and start down the steps toward the car. There’s nothing left to say. I feel like I’m going to vomit again and, for the first time, I think maybe Cash has been right all along. Amelia was never the right woman for me.
“Where are you going?” Bryson asks.
“Home,” I say without looking back at him. “I’m done with this.”
“Then you definitely don’t deserve her,” Asher says.
