I look to the older woman standing in front of me. “You think I’m wrong?”
“Yes, but you already know you are.”
Connie heads out, leaving me there alone to wonder if I’m being a little hard on Chase. I let out a breath and fall to the couch, but then a knock sounds from the front entrance. I walk through the foyer to the door, and when I open it, another angered, less than impressed woman stands before me, and this one may actually want to kill me.
She wastes no time starting in. “You! I barely know you and spend next to no time with you in my presence, yet you manage to make me utterly miserable. I can honestly admit that I’m this close to hating you, and I don’t hate anyone,” she lets out with a gesture of her forefinger and thumb pinched close together.
“Why are you here, Vicky?” I know that’s not her name, but I can’t help and chuckle at how easily frustrated she gets with me when I say it.
“Well, Daryl, if you must know, I’m here to pick up my friend and take him away from this hell you’re trying to confine him to.”
“And what makes you think that he’s being held here against his will? Maybe he doesn’t want to see you. Did you ever think that?” I ask.
She takes a step closer; our noses would be almost touching if she were just a few inches taller.
“I was at the diner finishing up my shift when he called me almost in tears, Dylan. He thinks I’m going to stop being his friend because of you. He’s upset. You may think this is all fun and games, and you truly may not care for me, but like it or not, I’m your brothers’ friend—one of the only ones he has. I don’t know if you realize this or not, but you’re being an ass, and all at your brother’s expense. He’s a good kid. Stop making him pay for your insecurities.”
I look down at her. “I’m not insecure.”
“Really? Could have fooled me. If you’re not insecure, then why is it that you have such a hate-on for me with absolutely no just cause?”
“Because I know your type.”
She takes a step back to be able to look at me. “My type? Let me guess, a gold digger, as you so graciously put it that morning after the party.”
“Ding, ding, ding. We have a winner! Huh, Chase was right, you are smarter than the others. It would have easily taken them a few minutes to catch onto that, if not gone right over their heads.”
Velyn holds her stare. “Look, I really don’t care to stand here having a battle of the wits with you. I was always taught to fight fair, and you obviously are not equipped for battle.”
A snicker rings from behind me. When I turn, I see Connie standing there. “Oh, I like this one. She’s caliente. Where I come from, that’s a woman that no man stands a chance against. She’s a keeper in my books.”
I shoot Connie a glare, then turn back to Velyn. “Look, Chase is naive, and I know how girls like you work.”
“There you go again comparing me to the women you like to associate with. Dylan, did it ever occur to you that the reason I have no interest in you and choose only to be friends with your brother, is that you’re too one-dimensional?”
I pinch my brow in question. “Are you calling me basic?”
“Ding, ding, ding. And here I thought that would take you far longer than it did,” she mocks.
Another snicker sounds from behind me, and I turn to glare at Connie once again. “You know you’re supposed to be on my side, right?”
“Oh no, mi hijo, us women have to ban together and have one another’s backs.”
I shoot her another scornful look then turn back to Velyn.
“I like her,” Velyn says with a smile.
“Apparently, the feeling’s mutual,” I reply, realizing now that I’m outnumbered in my own home.
“Are you going to keep me out here all day?” she asks.
“Nope, you’re free to be on your merry way any time your little black heart desires,” I reply. Velyn plants her feet firm and leans up against the door jam. “You’re not leaving, are you?”
She offers me a forced smile. “Nope. I’m good here for a while. I ate before I came.”
I let out a growl. “Well, then get comfortable, G.D.”
I try to shut the door on her, but Connie steps in the way landing a slap to my arm. “Dejar de ser grosero.”
“Why?” I question.
“Porque fuiste criado mejor que eso,” Connie replies, the tone in her voice adding that little something extra that means she’s not playing around.
I nod, then turn back to Velyn, who’s just standing there looking inquisitively between myself and Connie. “Let me make one thing clear—I’m not conceding. Connie’s the one making me let you step passed this threshold. It is in no way my decision. If I had my way, I’d leave you out there to rot.”
Velyn steps past me into the house, looking up to me as she walks by. “Well, then it’s a good thing that I didn’t come here to see you, now isn’t it.”
First, turning to Connie to say thank you, Velyn then makes her way up the stairs and down the hall to Chase’s room.
Connie looks up to me with a smirk wide across her face. “Marca mis palabras, te vas a enamorar de esa chica.”
I look down at the tiny woman before me with a satirical look on my face. “Well, now it’s confirmed—you’ve lost your mind. There’s not a chance in hell that I’d fall in love with her.”
Nope, never going to happen.
