I walk back over to her and place my hand at the small of her back to lead her up to the bike. “I realized it was you the moment I saw you standing with my mom. You have the most beautiful green eyes I've ever seen, Sloane. I wouldn’t have forgotten those eyes.”
She looks like she’s about to cry. I know she isn’t used to being praised like that, but she’ll have to get used to it. I tug at her hand, then place her brand-new pink helmet on her head. Perfect fit. “Come on, sweetheart.” I lift her effortlessly onto her seat before getting on in front of her.
Grabbing her hands and wrapping them around my waist, I give her the whole safety spiel. “Hold on to me right here. Our helmets are Bluetooth-connected, so we should be able to hear each other. If you need me to slow down or stop, just let me know.”
“Okay,” she manages to get out while she squeezes me harder than I thought possible for her little body.
I tap her leg twice, letting her know that we’re about to take off, and have to restrain myself from trailing my hand higher up her thighs. We ride for the next hour, taking backroads and wrong turns to prolong what seems to be the most joyous night of her life. I almost feel bad about what I’m about to do.
We pull up and park at the diner I’ve tracked her soon-to-be ex to. As I help her down and remove her helmet, I’m rewarded with the biggest smile I’ve ever seen on her face. I meet that smile with one of my own before taking her hand and leading her to the diner. I really do feelslightlybad about what's aboutto happen. I can tell the moment she spots him because she freezes in place.
There he is with that girl I saw following him around. I may or may not have had a hand in making sure he noticed her social media profile, then kept tabs on their DMs. The opportunity basically fell in my lap when I saw that she was asking if he was available tonight after he had already agreed to pick Sloane up. I knew who he would choose.
“Dean? What are you doing here? You asshole! You left me stranded after my practice because you’re on a date?”
Dean looks like he’s just seen a ghost. It takes him all of ten seconds to notice me standing behind her before he starts to flip the script. “Meon a date? Who the fuck is that, S?” He points at me like I’m not one therapy session removed from knocking him out cold in one strike.
“Thatis Ms. Blanche’s son who had thedecencyto make sure I got home safe after myboyfriendleft me stranded.”
I’m watching this narcissist’s gears turn. I know he’s full of it, but looking over at Sloane, I can tell she’s about to buy whatever load of shit he tells her.
“S, I'm so sorry babe. We have a last minute test to study for and I got carried away and completely lost track of time.”
No baby, don’t fall for it.
She does.
I stand back and watch as she leaves with him. I guess the other chick knew what was up because she didn’t make a fuss the whole time Dean referred to her as just a “study buddy”.
It breaks my heart to see how defeated she is. As she goes, she turns back and apologizes for leaving. I’m the one who shouldbe apologizing. Next time, there won’t be a way for him to lie his way out. Next time, she’ll leave with me.
Chapter seven
You havegotto be kidding me. At least ten packages of all shapes and sizes are on the doorstep of my apartment, ranging from my favorite skincare brand to the local bookstore.
“Are you developing a shopping addiction?” Dean asks, giving me a distasteful look. The idea that anyone else would ever send me gifts has clearly never once crossed his mind.
I manage to grab almost all of the packages in one go, and Dean makes himself useful and grabs the couple I can’t quite fit in my arms. “No, babe, I don’t have a shopping addiction. There were good sales, so I stocked up on some essentials and also got a head start on my Christmas shopping.”
“In that case, hopefully at least half of these are for me,” he says, “especially after how poorly you did choosing my gifts last year.”
Rolling my eyes, I don’t even bother giving him a response. Instead, I wave at Allie, who is sitting at the kitchen counter working, and then head toward my room to deposit the first armful of boxes. The “poorly chosen” gifts he’s referring towere custom golf gloves with stitching that was the wrong shade of blue, and a voucher for the two of us to learn to ski during a trip we had planned on taking with his family to Colorado. Unbeknownst to me, he canceled the trip so he could instead golf with some hotshot CEO and “network”.
I’m planning my weekend, hoping to spend lots of time with my e-reader and maybe catch up on schoolwork, when I hear Dean yell from the kitchen, “What the actual fuck is this, S?”
My mouth drops open when I walk back into the main living area and lay eyes on Dean holding what appears to be a hot-pink sex toy. It not only has a portion clearly intended to penetrate but also another shorter arm that looks like it would sit right on top of a clit. Allie has her hand over her mouth, trying not to laugh while Dean gets redder and redder in the face.
He’s obviously not going to handle this like a reasonable adult or give me a chance to get a word in edgewise. “Are you serious? You’ve been declining every one of my advances because you’re getting yourself off like some whore with a sex toy?”
This seems to be enough for Allie to stop thinking the situation has any humor at all. “Are you serious, asshole? Using a sex toy doesn’t make you a whore, and even if it did, it’s really none of your business what Sloane does with or without toys. And stop calling her S. She fucking hates that!”
If I wasn’t already a certified member of the Allie fan club, that alone would be enough to make me want to join.
Dean is clearly not going to let this go, despite the fact that it’s been a verytense couple of days for our relationship after the episode at the diner. “You’re way out of line talking tome like that. This has nothing to do with you, and honestly, why are you even here? A normal person would see that we’re having a discussion and leave us alone.”
His rudeness toward Allie is enough to snap me out of my disbelief that he’sstill holding the dang toyand waving it around for emphasis. He seems to realize this fact at the same time as I do and drops it like a poisonous snake onto the counter.
I sigh heavily. “I think you should go, Dean. I have absolutely nothing to say to you right now, and I told you I wanted a quiet evening at home before you invited yourself over.”
