I lean one elbow on the table, meeting her grin with my own maniacal one. “Don’t be shy. Go ahead and say it, honey.” I place my other elbow on the table. “And while you’re at it, tell me what all you told Tess about our date that night.”
“It wasn’t a date,” she sneers.
Smirking, I say, “But you gossiped with your friend like it was.” It’s more wishful thinking than anything else. I want it to be true.
“Only to tell her how much of a jerk you were,” she hisses.
Tess raises a finger. “Actually?—”
Brie cuts her off with a death glare, and Tess leans back in her chair, wide eyes ping-ponging between us.
When I chuckle, her death glare transfers to me.
I plant my hands on the table and stand up. “Whatexactlyis your problem with me, Brie? Please, share with the class. Because I can never tell.”
Her eyes widen, shocked I’m calling her out. “God forbid someone not like the Prince of Blue Ridge! But that’s all there is to it, it’s as simple as me not liking you. You have no respect for anyone else, no regard for anyone’s feelings. You think you can just do whatever you want,takewhatever you want.”
I made a sound likepfft. If that were at all true, Brie and I would have a very different relationship.
“What am I supposed to have taken?” I ask indulgently.
She lurches to her feet, indignant I even have to ask. “Oh, I don’t know. How aboutHarvest?”
My eyes cut to Tess—I completely forgot she brought her up earlier. But I’m still not following. “Harvest?”
“Dev told me,” she snarls.
At this point, I’m pretty sure I’ve connected the dots. She’s not jealous of some imaginary woman. She’s protective of Dev. But if she’s accusing me of something, I need her to spell it out, every inconceivable detail. “Dev told you what?”
She rolls her eyes. Not just her eyes. Her entire torso rolls in one exasperated halo. “Harvest dumped him. Foryou.”
“And why would she do that?”
A flicker of uncertainty crosses her face, but she leans closer and doubles down. “Because youtook her.”
I can’t help the snort of laughter that escapes. “You’re talking about a human person.”
“Fine, it takes two, and she made her choice,” she says primly, “but don’t deny your part.”
“My part inwhat?”
She flaps her hands in the air. “In breaking Dev’s heart!”
Dev wasn’t exactly smitten that night. “I doubt it.”
Coming around the table, she points her finger at my chest. “So you admit it!”
I turn my body toward her. “Admit I broke Dev’s heart?”
“That you’re with Harvest!”
I step closer. “I don’t admit that.”
Her arms cross, pushing up her pretty tits. “Why not?”
My hands shove into my pockets. “Because it isn’t true.”
She bares her teeth, making that same angry face I love so much. “So it’s all a game? You proved you could take her from Dev, then dumped her?”
