Chemicals and hairspray burned my nose, singeing my nose hairs and making me need to sneeze. I breathed through my mouth and scanned the room.
Pink walls that looked like Pepto Bismol and small white tiles around the mirrors. Country music played in the background, low enough it didn’t compete with the gossip flowing thicker than molasses in Canada in January.
Two more women sat in deep, cushioned salon chairs in the back, foil over their hair and reading paperback novels.
Bethany stood behind an older woman’s chair, brushing in highlights and smiling. She lifted her head and caught sight of me in the mirror. Her expression shifted from amused to downright delighted.
A young woman I vaguely recognized as the daughter of one of the stylists looked up from behind the register. “Can I help you?”
“I need a word with Bethany.” Through the grace of god, my voice stayed even, pleasant. “When she has a minute.”
“Oh. Uh. Sure.” The kid shrugged.
Bethany set her brush on the edge of the counter and patted the older woman’s shoulder. “Give me just a minute, Linda.” She removed her gloves while walking around the salon chair and dropped them in a trash can. Her hips swayed in an exaggerated motion, her smile turning catty.
How had I ever looked at this woman and seen anything desirable?
“Finn. This is a surprise.” She smiled up at me, one hand lifting toward my chest.
I spun away and pushed the door open. “Can we talk outside?”
Her smile widened, and she grabbed a jacket from the hooks near the door before leading the way out and around to the narrow alley between the salon and the hardware store.
A few steps into the meager shadows, she stopped and turned to face me. The wind teased her hair, and she tucked a strand behind her ear, looking pleased with herself.
She’d been expecting this. Maybe not what I was about to say, but she’d known I’d eventually track her down.
My stomach twisted. Too late to back down or turn around.
“I know what you’ve been doing to Bree.” I kept my temper. Barely. My throat strained to let out the anger surging with every breath. Anyone walking past might think this was one of our former chats that ended in a kiss, but I’d rather die than touch this woman ever again. I hadn’t forgotten Ronan’s warning. People would be watching us. “I know about the snide comments and the Lucky Charms.” I left it there. Let her try and figure out if I meant the box or the car.
Bethany’s face transformed to a wide-eyed innocence. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
She was good at the innocent thing, when she tried. Always had been. With her doe eyes and soft voice and the slight trembling in her lower lip that made men feel like they’d kicked a puppy. It had worked on me once, years ago. I’d been a lot younger then, young and inexperienced with her brand of manipulation.
“That’s not going to work on me.” All I had to do was bring up a mental image of Bree’s car and think about her sobbing into Declan’s chest. It hadn’t stopped burning itself into my retinas since I left Ronan’s last night, following him and Declan to the pub to help sneak the car out of the back lot.
Bethany sniffed and pressed her hands over her face.
“Don’t bother with the bullshit. Save the innocent act for someone who hasn’t seen the real you.” I crossed my arms and moved further away from her, making sure the distance told anyone looking that I had no desire to touch her.
The wounded look in her eyes intensified, but behind it, deep enough that few people ever noticed, a coldness burned. “I haven’t done anything. I welcomed her to town with a gift.”
“You brought her a box of Lucky Charms, a box of cereal meant to make her feel like an outsider.” I pulled further away. “You’re going to stop. Right now. No more bullshit. No more catty antics. You are going to back the hell off and leave Bree alone.”
Bethany’s mouth tightened at the corners, and she crossed her arms tight over her chest.
Don’t give her ammunition. Don’t let her try to be the victim.
I reminded myself over and over to stand my ground and protect Bree without letting Bethany gain any higher ground.
“What we had was a long time ago, and it was a mistake.” As unkind as the words were, they were true, and she deserved the truth even if she didn’t deserve kindness. “I should’ve been clearer about that when it ended. That’s on me.” I forced myself to take responsibility, even though I’d told her all this before. “You don’t get to take any of that out on other people.”
“Other people.” She smirked. “You never seemed to care before. Until Bree showed up.”
“I mean anyone.” I held her gaze but maintained our distance. If I took a step, she’d misconstrue it as attraction. What I really wanted was to throttle her. She deserved it and so much more.
One eyebrow lifted into a perfectly sculpted arc. “You expect me to believe that there’s nothing going on with you and Bree, but you’re defending her…against me?”
