“I’m handling it. Couples fight all the time.”
“No one puts their hands on you or leaves marks on you,” he snaps angrily at me.
“I asked for it!”
Fallon mutters under his breath. “You need to figure your shit out, Aurora. Trust me when I tell you, derailing your life because of making bad choices will do nothing but hurt you and everyone you love. You know I care about Knox, but you’re my sister.Youcome first. I will choose you and fight for you and protect you. Always.”
I can’t be mad about that. “I know, and I love you for it. Please don’t be mad at Knox. He looks up to you and thinks you hung the moon. He and I had a bad night last night. We’ll work it out.”
“I know I’m not around much, but I’m here, Aurora, if you need to talk, regardless of which continent my feet are on. I’m always here for you.”
“I know that too. But you can be a little scary sometimes,” I tell him, holding my forefinger and thumb up to show him how much.
Fallon pops a stick of gum into his mouth. “Alright. Message received. Little sis wants to handle her own shit. This is me backing off.”
I close the scant distance separating us and smile up at him. “Thank you. Now, where are we going to dinner?”
Chapter 38
Austin, Shelby, and I are walking down the street from the restaurant where we left Fallon and Trevor. The bar Shelby wants to go to is only a couple of blocks away and the night is nice, so we decide to go by foot. Austin folds my arm around his in a gentleman hold and I lean my head against his shoulder as the three of us stroll down the sidewalk.
Knox disappeared again and didn’t come out with us. I wonder if he’s going to skip out on the talk we’re supposed to have later tonight too. Renee is out of town visiting family in Colorado. Prescott never replied to any of my texts. Probably out with a date tonight himself. Between Dustin and Prescott, I don’t know if there are many more single women left in the county that either of them hasn’t dated or screwed yet. Austin is the only one of us who has had a long-term relationship since we graduated high school. For four months, he dated a woman named Juliette but he broke it off with her last year citing “it’s me, not you.” It’s sad to think that four months is the measuring-stick standard for our group’s adult dating history.
Austin asks me, “When are you going to end things with Knox? It was obvious to everyone that he was absent tonight, and you avoided all topic of conversation about him.”
Shelby gapes at me. “You’re ending things with Knox, and you haven’t said a word about it to me?”
I pinch the skin on Austin’s arm. “Thanks a lot,” I reprove him under my breath. “Shelbs, it just came up today when I was talking with Austin.”
“Was this before or after you spoke with me?”
She’s got me there.
“Before,” I squeak, knowing she’s going to ream me a new one.
Instead, she scoffs in derision. “Well, tell me now.”
“We haven’t broken up, but I think it may be time for us to take a step back and reevaluate. I keep flip-flopping about it, though. Knox has been so good to me. And patient. That man has a shit-ton of patience when it comes to me, and I kind of fucked things up last night with my shitty coping skills, which seem to be nonexistent when it comes to JD.”
Shelby trips on her four-inch heels and Austin and I grab for her at the same time.
“Screw these things,” she says and takes her shoes off to walk barefoot the rest of the way. “You know a man was the one to design these heeled monstrosities. No woman worth a lick of salt would think hard, uncomfortable torture devices on sticks were a good idea.”
We come to a crosswalk at the corner and wait for the pedestrian light to tell us it’s okay to cross the street. The bar is just up ahead. For a weeknight, the place is pretty busy. Highland revamped its main street a couple of years ago to bring in more business. I’ve had a ping-ponging thought about leasing one of the buildings and opening a youth community music and arts center. I’ve been meaning to speak with Austin about it before I take my idea to Fallon.
“Is that?” Shelby asks, causing me to follow where she’s looking.
Austin pulls me closer to his side and I feel him tighten his hold on my arm.
Coming out of the bar is Knox. But he’s not alone. A tall redhead is clinging to him like a sand burr, giggling up a storm as he wraps his arm around her waist, grinning down at her.
I watch the two of them in a mixture of fascination and mortification as they stumble their way to an Uber waiting at the side of the street, not realizing they have an audience of three. I watch as he helps her into the car, then as they drive away.
“I’m officially casting my vote for you to dump his sorry ass,” Austin proclaims.
Shelby steps in front of me and grabs my face, trying to pivot it her way but my eyes are still glued to the back of the Uber as it turns left and disappears down Meadowlark Drive.
“Rory, look at me.”
