I glare at her.
A sharp bark of laughter bursts out of her. “You’re not as special as you seem to think, honey. You’re just their latest toy. Do you know that you’re not even the first woman they’ve passed around like a pocket pussy in a frat house?”
A hot sting starts deep in my chest, but not from doubt. From anger. Deep, righteous, mama-bear anger. “That’s not what this is.”
“Oh, no?” Her eyebrows lift mockingly. “They do this, darling. It’s their thing. Their disgusting, kinky little game, but Boone isn’t really like them. He’s the kind of man who needs a real family, a real wife. Someone who knows how to keep his attention.”
Something in me snaps then. It’s small, but sharp and protective. My hand slides over my stomach without thinking. I’m only about eight weeks along and I’m not showing yet, but the babies are so, so real, and Boone promised to be there for us.
Tessa’s eyes flick downward and widen the instant she realizes where my palm is, and the world seems to freeze around her. When she slowly lifts her gaze back to mine, horror blooms behind her mascaraed lashes.
“No,” she whispers, then again, louder: “No.”
I don’t say anything.
“You—” She jabs her finger at my stomach. “Youwhore.”
I flinch, not because of the word but because of the venom behind it.
“There is no way,” she spits. “No way Boone or any of them would do that with you. They wouldn’t even think about starting a family with a gold-digging slut with nothing better to do than suck one cock after another.”
The fury in my veins turns molten, but somehow, I manage to keep my voice completely steady. “That’s not your business.”
But even as I say it, I watch realization and panic flash across her face. She understands. I didn’t back down so much as an inch, but my pulse was hammering.
My breath comes too fast, too shallow, and even though the winter air stings my cheeks, heat keeps crawling up my neck. “I’m going to tell you one last time to get the fuck off my property or I’m calling the police.”
Tessa takes a step toward me, her eyes flashing with something sharp and triumphant. “Go back to New York, little whore,” she says, her voice dripping poison. “Crawl back to whatever hole you came from. You don’t belong here and trust me when I tell you that they’re going to figure that out soon.”
My stomach drops.New York.I never told her where I was from. I hadn’t heard Dillon tell her, either.
Before I can react, she turns sharply on her heel, storming down the drive like she’d just delivered some decree. Her boots crunch through the snow in tight, angry strides until she reaches a sleek black SUV parked at the bottom, so shiny it looks like it has never seen a dirt road in its life.
She climbs in, slams the door, and speeds off, tires spitting snow. I let out the breath I’ve been holding only after she disappears around the bend, but my hands are still shaking.
A sick twist of dread coils in my gut.How the hell did she know I was from New York?
The cold finally seeps into my bones, so I go back inside, shutting the heavy front door behind me and locking it. Making a beeline for the living room, I stand in front of the fire, holding my hands out to the warmth as I try to steady my breathing.
My heartbeat eventually slows from its frantic pace, but that unsettled feeling stays lodged under my ribs. When I finally hear the rumble of the truck pulling up outside, relief hits me so hard, my knees almost give out.
The moment they walk through the door, I know keeping anything from them isn’t an option. I don’t even make them ask. I tell them everything.
“Tessa came by again,” I start. “She was taking pictures of the house, so I went outside to confront her and it got ugly.”
Every word Tessa had said spills out of me, every insecurity she’d disguised as a threat.
“She knows I’m from New York,” I say quietly. “I never told her that, and I’m pretty sure none of you did, either.”
The stunned silence that follows tells me I’m right.
The calm before the storm is finally over. Somewhere in the back of my mind, a voice whispers,well, time to buckle up, buttercup.
27
BOONE
Itext Tessa and tell her to meet me at the Grizzly Creek Café. No explanation. No pleasantries. Just a time and a place. She shows up twenty minutes late.
