Waverly’s chin quivered as she dropped her eyes to her wine glass and took a giant swig. Katie glaredat me and shook her head. I had no idea what I’d missed, but I was currently in too much fuckin’ pain to care.
“I’m going to turn in,” Waverly said, and took her wine glass to the kitchen. “Thanks so much for dinner.”
Without so much as a backward glance, she skittered away and Katie rose to her feet, making her way to me where she flicked me on the forehead.
“Ow, what the hell was that for?” I demanded, rubbing my palm over the place her fingernail had gouged.
“You’re the dumbest fucking dummy on the goddammed planet.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
“That girl’s in love with you, and you, dumbass, are in love with her and you come in here acting all oily bo-hunk bullshit, asshole, man-bitch, and make her cry. Again?” She sneered. “If I didn’t love you so much, I’d kick you in the nuts.” She glanced down. “Wait. Where the hell is your cast?”
“Uh, I got it off early,” I lied. “Did you say Waverly was crying?”
“Did you cut your cast off yourself?” Katie hissed. “Oh my god, you really are the dumbest of all the asses, aren’t you? We,” she said, motioning to everyone in the room, “have been working our asses off playing nursemaid to you and you’re going to set you progress off six months for what?”
“You know for what,” I said. “If the Spiders are coming for us, I need to be ready.”
“But you’renotready!” she snapped. “Cuttingyour cast off early sure as hell isn’t going to make you ready!”
“We’ll never know, will we? ‘Cuz I can ride again now, which means I can be there if the club needs me.”
“Um, never mind, I hope Waverly never gets back with your dumb ass. You’re a pigheaded man child who only sees things his way. Waverly deserves someone who can think long term and put her needs before his own.”
“And you’re saying I can’t?”
“Buddy, you’re proving you can’t,” she said, pointing to my un-casted leg. “Anyway, I’m done. Come talk to me after you’ve had the doctor put a new cast on your leg and while you’re there, ask if there’s a procedure they can do to remove your head out of your ass.”
Katie turned with a huff and walked away.
I squeezed my eyes shut. I wanted to argue, but I knew she was right. My pride was getting the better of me.
Again.
If I wasn’t careful, I was gonna end up putting Waverly in more danger than she already was.
Waverly
IESCAPED DOWNSTAIRS and hid like the coward I was. The look of pure hatred on Gio’s face was hard, but the pain I saw in his eyes was more than I could take.
I could tell his leg was bothering him, but there was nothing I could do about it. He needed to get a cast back on it or he could do far more damage than what had already been done.
A quiet knock sounded on my door.
“Come in,” I called, and Katie peeked her head in.
“Are you okay?”
“I’m fine,” I said.
“Did you notice the idiot took off his cast?” she asked.
I nodded, flopping onto the bed and pulling a pillow to my chest.
She moved further into the room and sat on the edge of the mattress. “You’re not the only one who self-sabotages, you know.”
“I guess we reallyaretwo pig-headed peas in a pod.”
