Chapter 24
As I drive up the road toward my cousin’s house, I’m not surprised to see Daren lingering by his mailbox. This confrontation was bound to happen eventually. I’m only surprised he’s waited this long. As I get closer, his surly, determined expression comes into view.
Sighing, I pause my podcast and say goodbye to finishing my route early today.
“Get out,” Daren growls when I roll to a stop at the end of his driveway.
Instead of following his command like some well-trained dog, I slide a handful of envelopes into his box, and then I wait with an impassive face.
Staring him down.
Daren’s cheeks and forehead and neck flush red, but then he eventually spits out a, “Please.”
After turning off the engine, I unbuckle and step out into the pleasantly cool day. Fall will officially start soon, and I can’t wait for the drop in temperatures. I’m not a hot weather fan, always overly warm, even in scant clothing.
“Daren,” I greet him with a nod of my head as I lean back on my hood and cross my arms over my chest.
My cousin glares at me, and most other people might find the display intimidating. He’s tall and well built. But not as tall or as broad as me.
A memory of Robin taking him down with only a garden hose has me wanting to snort, but I tighten my lips in a firm line.
“What the hell?!” he shouts. “You’re seriously dating my girlfriend?”
“Robin isn’t your girlfriend.”
Not mine either, technically. But the town and Daren don’t need to know that.
He snarls at me, then starts pacing, dirt getting kicked up by his fancy loafers. He must’ve taken a break from work to come have it out with me. Daren handles the finances of Farm Mountain Marriages, and he’s the one most often at the office space in town, crunching numbers and doing whatever else he does with that accounting degree he earned in Chicago while wooing Robin.
My part-time work for the company tends to revolve around manual labor.
“You’re right. She’s more.” Daren sends me a betrayed glare.
And my initial urge is to duck my head in shame.
But he’s the one in the wrong here. Not me.
I keep my chin up.
“I don’t get it,” he mutters to himself, still pacing. “You don’t do this shit. You don’t go around stealing women from other guys.”
I don’t bother to point out, once again, that Daren has zero claim to Robin. She’s a free agent, and that’s all his doing.
“Plus, Robin took forever to agree to go on a date with me. She wouldn’t immediately jump into bed with some random guy.”
Random guy? Is that how he thinks of me?
My cousin is making it extremely easy to not be on his side in this situation.
Daren pauses, and I can see that his brain, built to figure out equations, is solving this one.
Suddenly, he whirls to face me, a gleam in his eye. “There’s something else going on.”
The man, despite his lack of sense when it comes to treating his woman right, is still intelligent. He studies me. Hard.
I watch him work through the possibilities in his head. Admittedly, it’s not too difficult to come to the right one.
“She’s trying to make me jealous.”
Somehow, I manage not to flinch. “She’s not.” And that’s not even a lie.
I don’t think simple jealousy is Robin’s goal.
Pain is. She wants Daren to hurt the way she did when she walked into their house and saw him in the arms of another woman.
The shitty thing is, I can’t tell if this plan is working how she wants.
Sure, he’s pissed. But he’s acting like something was taken from him. Not like his heart hurts.
Daren lets out a bark of laughter. The guy looks triumphant, like Robin left him a puzzle to solve and now that he’s got the answer, everything will be fine.
He offers me a commiserating smile. “Y’all aren’t really dating, are you? It’s a ruse.”
He chuckles again, and I still don’t answer. But my cousin seems fine with conversing with himself.
“She’s a tricky one. I’ll give you that.”
Is this a game to him? Does he care at all about the heart he tore apart and a future full of hope he smashed to pieces?
She deserves better than you, I want to say.
But now, I’m worried about my own motivations. After that kiss yesterday, feeling the way I do now, am I impartial?
No one is good enough for Robin in my eyes.
Not Daren.
Not me either.
Still, I can’t stand the idea of losing her to a man—even if he is like a brother to me—who takes hurting her so casually. Maybe she’ll never be mine, but I don’t want her to be his either.
My cousin smooths a hand through his styled hair, looking every inch the put-together businessman.
“Just”—he sighs—“don’t do anything with her. Nothing real. Promise me.” Daren says this without meeting my eyes.
He’s half-turned back toward his house, a plotting gleam in his gaze. As if my agreement is a forgone conclusion.
“No.”
The word falls heavy between us, almost letting out a thunk, like a brick dropping to the ground.
Guess I’m a selfish asshole, too, because I know that if Robin shows even the slightest interest in having something real with me, I’ll grab that chance.
When she kissed me . . . my world changed.
Soulmate.
“You made the whole thing up,” he snaps. “And now, I know.” Daren storms up to me, jabbing my chest with his finger. “There’s no point in keeping up pretenses.”
I don’t want to get into a brawl in the middle of my workday. But if he keeps poking me, we’re going to have a problem.
“I never said it was fake.” For me, it’s more than real.
“You—damn it, Arthur!” He stalks away before whirling to glare at me. “Just leave my woman alone.”
“She’s not your woman.”
“She’s the love of my goddamn life!” He thumps a fist against his chest, right over his heart.
Maybe that’s true. Maybe this is tearing him up inside as much as Robin is hoping it would. Maybe Daren will never love someone the way he loves Robin.
But people aren’t objects you can call dibs on.
I hold his eyes with mine, making sure he hears every word and understands I mean them.
“Then, you should have loved her better.”