Damon called after me. “Do you want the rest of this?”
I waved over my shoulder and said, “No, you can have it.”
Chapter Fourteen
Phoenix
“We agreed not to tell Penny we were brothers. You should have gotten our permission,” I said calmly to Atlas, needing to speak my mind since we finally got time away from everyone else.
Everest scowled while brushing temporary purple dye into China’s coat.
Stroking China’s leg, I made sure she was aware of me before applying pink glitter paint to her hoof. “You might have scared her off. I saw her letting a guy feed her.”
Atlas towered over me, adding blue hair glitter to China’s mane. “It wasn’t intentional, besides, all I said was that we’re brothers, not her brothers. And what do you mean feeding her?”
“Feeding her… food… but when I approached, she basically ran off.”
Atlas scoffs. “Then it doesn’t seem to be my comment that scared her.”
“Or I saved the day. But now, instead of a lie of omission, you said a friend told us about these jobs.”
“In an ideal world…” Atlas shakes his head at the streak of glitter. “We’ll be friends with her mom.”
Staring at the sparkly hoof and taking a beat to bury shame of my past failed relationship, I said, “I don’t need either of you fucking up my chances this time.”
“I think he’s talking about you, Everest.” Atlas happily shoved the spotlight in Everest’s direction.
“What did I do?” he asked, fully knowing his role in my past failure. “Besides, do either of you think we can actually have something with Penny… when we leave here?”
“I want to try.” Stating my interest almost assured they’d mess with me, but I felt something special with Penny. “Don’t rush me this time.”
Everest got serious. “Rush you? We’ve only known her a few days and we’re?—”
“You know what I mean.”
Everest nodded. “Look… when I said you needed to stop being afraid and propose to your girlfriend, I had no idea she’d flake.”
I stepped away from China to get my shit together. Turns out my ex wasn’t the right one for me, and I was glad it didn’t work out, but if Everest hadn’t rushed me, it might have happened less publicly. “Does it ever occur to either of you to stop steamrolling everything?”
Everest defended, “You’re the one who proposed at the engagement party without having discussed the prenup. Everyone knows you plan it ahead of time.”
“Do they? Does everyone know that? I was fine, sitting back, letting my relationship play out when you made me doubt my plan.”
I made sure China was secure then stepped away from the barn. Atlas and Everest followed.
Atlas said, “Everest didn’t make you do anything you didn’t want to. He just wanted you to quit being so goddamn guarded.”
“Seems I was guarded with good reason.”
“It was about time you found out her true intent.”
“I could have found out in a less humiliating manner.”
Everest wiped his hand over his cheek, leaving a purple streak. “I can’t believe you dated her for five years and hadn’t discussed the mandatory family prenup.”
“I can’t believe she refused it.” Atlas would have seemed like he was laughing at me if I didn’t know he’d seen Everest’s cheek.
“Penny is so much better. I don’t want to mess this up.”
