Chapter 14
Iknew he was coming. That’s the whole point of this outing.
But an odd little part of me is disappointed he showed. Now, I have to deal with this, playing out my revenge instead of laughing and dancing with Arthur.
For a moment, it felt good to forget my ex.
Daren weaves through the other dancers, glare locked on me.
And Arthur.
We’re in this together, and that fact lets me breathe amid my pain machine churning up a mess in my guts. The gears are grinding in a painful way, pinching all my insides at the sight of him. But I won’t falter.
Daren deserves this and worse.
“What are you doing?” He hisses the question, and I realize belatedly that my ex is talking to Arthur.
Are you kidding me?
This is my revenge. Arthur is simply the evil minion to my mastermind.
Iwill be the one to whom outrage is addressed.
I step in front of Arthur and give Daren a smile that would be innocent if I wasn’t showing so many teeth. “What do you mean? I told you my smart, kind, handsome date was bringing me to Genie’s tonight.”
“Arthur?” Daren chokes on his cousin’s name, disbelief leaving him slack-jawed.
A few nearby dancers are having trouble keeping on the beat as their stares flick to us and away.
That’s right, prime-time gossip here. Robin Dunn might have lost one Kraut, but she’s found herself another.
A taller one. With a much more impressive beard.
“Yes. Arthur.” I want no room left for misunderstanding.
“You’re on a date with my cousin?” Daren’s face turns a deep red, like one of the trucks at the Green Valley Fire Department.
“Well, when you broke up with me, what did you expect me to do?” I make sure to speak clearly so eavesdroppers can get all the info they need. “Mope and pine? Sorry, that’s not my style.” I step back and slide my hand into Arthur’s, strengthened by the way his fingers grip mine in return. “Since you ended things, I’m a free agent.”
“I didn’t end things!” he barks.
Now, I feign confusion. “Uh, you made it pretty clear you wanted to see other people.” Don’t think about how he sent that message. Hold on to the beauty of this vengeance. “And with you off to greener pastures, I realized how amazing Arthur is. So, I asked him out. Not sure why your panties are in a twist.”
Daren seethes so viscerally that I bet Arthur could cook banana pancakes on his forehead.
“You,” Daren hisses, turning the full weight of his glare on Arthur, “agreed to this?”
I try not to stiffen or make it obvious that I’m holding my breath and tilting my head to make sure I hear my date’s response.
This is the moment—the true test—of Arthur’s word. He could pull away from me, apologize for deceiving his cousin, and give up the whole ruse.
Arthur could humiliate me in front of the half of Genie’s that’s pretending not to watch this back-and-forth. Word would spread through the entire town in less than a day. They might even make me the headline in the Sunday paper.
Yankee Airplane Mechanic Gets Rejected by Two Kraut Hotties.
Does her personality suck? Is her vagina toxic? Keep reading to find out!
“I know,” Arthur starts, his deep voice carrying easily over the band, “that this is awkward. But since you ended things, I didn’t think it would be an issue.”
I swallow a relieved gasp, mixed with a proud yelp. Arthur is playing this perfectly! His monotone voice is only pissing Daren off more, and …
I. Love. It.
I’m going to teach you to be the best kisser in the whole world, Arthur Kraut, I silently vow to him.
“I didn’t end things. And it is a fucking issue.” Daren crosses his arms and glares at our joined hands, as if he expects Arthur to immediately release me and step away now that he’s been chastised.
He doesn’t.
I gleefully recall how, during all the Kraut family interactions, no matter the shit his cousins dole out, Arthur always remains an unshakable force. Even when a few of them get into one of their inevitable wrestling matches, Arthur somehow brawls without seeming fazed. When I showed up in the middle of the night and revealed his cousin’s infidelity, that was the most off-kilter I’d ever seen him.
And now, the man comes back with the most perfect response in the universe.
He looks Daren straight in the eye and says, “Oh.”
I barely restrain myself from kissing the hell out of his beautiful, bearded face. But now is not the time, and if Daren witnesses Arthur’s horrible kissing, he’ll have ammunition in this fight I don’t want to give him.
“Oh?” my ex snarls. “That’s all you have to say? Oh? How about, I’m sorry for stealing your girl?”
His girl? What in all the misogynistic fuckery?
Arthur sighs and I turn my head in time to catch his response. “Robin is a woman. Not a girl. And you can’t steal a person.”
“You know what I mean,” Daren snaps.
“Daren, buddy,” I say, pretending I never loved this man, which is surprisingly easy when faced with this tantrum version of him, “you were the one who wanted to see other people. So, that’s what I’m doing. And you can do the same.”
Hell, Trinity might be in the crowd somewhere. And, no, I will not examine how that makes my pain machine hot and cranky.
“This is bullshit,” he spits. “A fucking joke.”
I shrug. “Think what you want.” Then, I pull Arthur’s arm up and turn his wrist so I can peer at his watch. “Look at that. Almost nine-thirty. I want to grab another drink before we head out.” I also want to stop whipping my head back and forth to track this conversation. “See you around, Daren.” I toss him a wave, then tug Arthur off the dance floor and to the bar, where I try to maintain my casual air as I order a whiskey neat.
Not running away. I’m staking my claim on this man. This bar. This town.
Daren is not allowed to take anything else from me.
Arthur’s warm, heavy hand rests against my lower back, and he bends down to speak into my right ear. “You okay?”
“I’m good,” I say too fast and with too much cheer.
From the frown I spot out of the corner of my eye, Arthur picks up on the perky mask I’m using for defense. But he doesn’t press. The man just orders himself a water and sips the liquid while I try to swallow my drink at a normal pace and chatter to him about my latest project at the shop.
All the while, I can feel Daren’s stare on us. I think he might be sitting in a booth off to the side, but I refuse to let my eyes seek him out.
My goal: make this look like a date.
Don’t go awkward. Don’t run. Keep my cool, then leave with Arthur so he can get home in time to be in bed by ten, like he usually would be.
That’s the least I can do for the guy when he was just the perfect evil-vengeance minion for me.
Our fake relationship is off to a great start.