And quite honestly, I’m fairly certain that I never, ever will.
10 Tansy
Cassidy and I had talked about drinks. But instead, we opt for coffee. We sit outside the Cherry Tree Coffee Company—the same spot where I tried to kill time after my night sleeping in the truck. Luckily, it’s safe to say circumstances are slightly different this time.
For one, I have a job now. And a place to sleep. I have an income. Oh, and I’m also having the best sex that any woman—ever, in the history of time—has ever had.
It’s been a week since the night Jeff jumped out of the bushes outside Pritchard’s looking dangerous. A week since Colt stepped in like a knight in shining armor—or maybe more like a super-hot viking—and sent him running for the hills. Which, side note, maybe have been the hottest thing any guy has ever done for me. It was like a primal response—like being protected from another predator by my mate or something. Like National Geographic foreplay.
It’s been a week since I jumped head-first into bed with Colt Patton. And the last week has been absolutely insane. We’ve barely left his bed. Except to move to mine; for no other reason but because we ran out of clean sheets for his.
Or to move to the floor. Or the kitchen table. Or the stables, and twice in the hay loft of the barn, because why not. And then several, several other places all over Colt’s house and property. Needless to say, when I sit down—a little sorely—with Cassidy at the coffee shop, I’m riding on cloud nine.
“Okay, jeez, you’re getting laid,” Cassidy rolls her eyes, smirking at me. “We get it already.”
I blush. “Huh? I didn’t say anything!” I stammer.
“Girl, you didn’t have to,” she grins. My blush deepens, and I bite my lip.
“Have you even left a bed in the last week?”
I roll my eyes. “Yes, Cass. We’ve left the bed.”
“I mean to do something besides bang someplace other than the bed.”
My lips curl, and she hoots in laughter.
“Well, hey, good for you.”
“She said jadedly.”
Cassidy laughs. “I am not jaded.”
“She said, dripping in sexual frustration.”
“You done yet?”
“She hissed, with the frigid, bitter tone of a woman not touched in far too—”
“Okay, do you want an iced coffee dumped over your head? Because that how you get an iced coffee dumped over your head.”
I laugh and lean over to hug her. “I’m just joking.”
She sniffs indignantly, but sarcastically. “I have prospects, thank you very much.”
I grin. “The friend you were visiting?”
Cassidy laughs. “Arianna?” She wrinkles her face. “Dude, I might be hard up, but I’m not switching teams out of desperation. Jeez.”
We’re both giggling when suddenly a shadow falls across the table. I glance up, and the joy fades from my face when I see her.
“Oh, please, don’t let me stop the fun.” Deirdre smiles at me with all the warmth of a frozen tundra.
I clear my throat, and I try to swallow back the murderous jealous that swells in me when I see her. I hate that she’s had her hands on Colt. I hate that she was so fucking terrible to him, even if in the very long run, it meant him and I crashing into each other. And I hate that she’s still in his life, trying to fuck with it.
“Hi, Deirdre,” I say thinly.
“Oh my God, is that…” Cassidy sniffs loudly. “Is that sulfur? Brimstone?”
Deirdre sneers at her. “Ahh, the name-calling. So I take it that means you’re fucking him, too?”
“No,” Cassidy smiles sweetly at her. “But he is my boss, and one of the nicest people I know. And you’re, well…” she shrugs. “You’re literally Satan.”
Deirdre rolls her eyes and then levels them at me.
“What do you want, Deirdre?”
“You, gone.”
I wrinkle my brow. “Excuse me?”
“I want you gone, you little tramp.”
“Right, okay. Well, Deirdre, this has been a blast, but—”
“I know it’s bullshit, bitch,” she snaps. She drops her expensive handbag onto the extra chair pulled up to the table. She rests her hands, like claws, on the back of it. She leans into me, leering at me. “Your and Colt’s ‘engagement’?” She air-quotes and sneers. “I mean what are you, twenty-two?”
“Twenty-six, and what difference does it make?”
“None. But you’re young, and impressionable, and—”
I laugh. “You think he’s using me?”
She smiles. “I wish you were that stupid, but I’m guessing you’re not. No, hon, I’m saying you should go with that. Because the alternative is, you’re lying with aims for that lie to influence legal outcomes. And guess what else they call that?”
I frown. “Uh—”
“Fraud, you little cunt,” she snaps triumphantly. “And when I prove it—and I will fucking prove it, trust me. I’ll drag you through so much legal hell that I might as well actually be the devil.” She glares at me. “How’s that sound?”
I swallow. My lips purse, and I try to ignore the thudding of my heart in my chest.
“Or you walk away now, and stay the fuck out of my way.”
“Oh, God, ouch!” Cassidy gasps. Deirdre and I both turn to her.
“You okay?” I mutter quietly.
“No, yeah, it’s just….” She winces dramatically and hugs herself in pain. “I guess I’m just not evil, and being this close to the literal personification of it is—”
“Oh get fucked, you little shit,” Deirdre snaps. Cassidy grins, and I barely hide mine as Colt’s ex whirls back to me. “Think about what I said. You don’t need to get dragged into this. But don’t you dare think I won’t if you get in my way.”
“Oh, sweetheart, there you.”
Lorne, her lap-dog of a boyfriend, or whatever he is, trots up behind her. When he sees who she’s talking to, he groans.
“Honey, the lawyers implicitly said not to talk to her.”
I stiffen. Lawyers?
“Fine, fine!” she snaps at Lorne when he tries to pull her away. She turns and glares at me. “Think about what I said.”
“Honey—”
“I’m coming, Lorne!” she snaps angrily. The both of them stomp
