Chapter 13 Gaslighting the Bad Girl
Dakota
I wake the next morning to the feel of something strange moving on top of my head. My eyes crack open to sunlight streaming
into the palapa, and it takes a second for me to understand what exactly is going on.
It’s Calder’s hand toying with my hair. I roll over to discover he’s lying on top of my pillow barrier, ass up and completely
invading my space.
“Calder, you’re on my side,” I hiss, shoving his arm away from me. “And were you just... petting me?”
“What?” His voice cracks as his eyes blink away the sleep, flinching when they open to the bright sunlight bathing our entire
bed. He frowns and shakes his head violently as he shifts back to his side.
“Were you just touching me?” I ask again, my hand smoothing my hair as I sit up to assess the situation more properly.
“Of course I wasn’t touching you,” he adds in a deeper, more masculine tone as he adjusts the covers over his body. “I just...
forgot I wasn’t at home.”
“What do you touch at home?” I hold my hand up, my face twisting with disgust. “Never mind. I don’t want to know.”
“It’s just my cat,” he exclaims with a snarl. “It’s nothing weird.”
“Unless that’s a euphemism for something.”
“I have a cat, Dakota. It’s a literal feline.
I have a heart under all this chiseled, godlike muscle, and I was obviously sleeping so hard, I forgot where I was and thought you were Milkshake.
” He shoves his sleep-tousled hair back off his forehead and murmurs to himself, “Though, I can’t believe I didn’t open my eyes to confirm that first because Fuzz burned me once before when I thought I was snuggling her face, only to realize I was nuzzling her asshole.
” He shakes his head, his nose wrinkled.
“That memory still haunts me, if I’m being honest.”
“Stop being so honest.” I shake my head, unable to process everything I’m seeing right now. “This is too weird.”
“It’s only weird if you make it weird. At least I wasn’t petting your tit.”
“I could understand that more, coming from you. The fact that you’re a ten with a cat, Calder, is just... unnerving.”
“Well, pardon me for paying you a compliment. You’ve definitely never had a kind word to say about me.”
“That isn’t my fault. Your reputation kind of proceeds you.”
“And what reputation is that?”
“You’re a screwup!” I squeal indignantly. “You don’t take anything seriously, and the notches on your bedpost prove that.
You and your brothers had to move out to Jamestown because you slept your way through the population of Boulder already. I’m
not going to let your silver-tongued compliments and talks of being a cat daddy fool me into thinking you’re a decent guy.”
“Jesus Christ, I’ve been awake for sixty seconds, and you’re already starting.” He gets up out of bed and stomps over to the
closet, grabbing the suit he hung there earlier. “I can’t wait for this fucking nightmare of a trip to be over.”
“The feeling is mutual!” I call out as he slams the bathroom door.
Guilt niggles at me as I hear the shower kick on. That escalated quickly, and it was all my fault. I didn’t intend to pick
a fight with him right away, but honestly, I was up for hours last night fretting over what he said to me. I don’t know what
Calder is after exactly, but whatever it is, I don’t trust it. It’s better for both of us to just continue hating each other
until we get off this beach and back to the real world.
Calder
I’d forgotten what a head case Dakota Schaefer was.
You’re a screwup! You don’t take anything seriously, and the notches on your bedpost prove that. You and your brothers had
to move out to Jamestown because you slept your way through the population of Boulder already.
While she’s not altogether wrong, I didn’t deserve to wake up to her black-cat claws—way too much before coffee. I certainly
won’t be trying to erase her ex-husband’s words again anytime soon.
The mood swings, the temper tantrums, her capacity to change her mind on a dime... all of this is giving me flashbacks
of the girl I worked with years ago when I was renovating her house.
It was supposed to be an easy project, one that didn’t require my brothers. Occasionally the three of us picked up solo side
gigs for a little extra income when work for our dad’s business was slow. So when Cozy said her best friend needed a contractor
to help update her old Victorian, I thought why not? I needed the cash, Dakota ain’t bad to look at. Win-win.
More like lose-lose.
It was a miserable experience from start to finish. She was constantly blowing up my phone with things she had changed her
mind on, and she wanted me to explain every part of the job to her, like I could somehow teach her how to build a damn home.
I nearly quit on the spot when I was laying tile one day and she wanted to handpick every piece before I placed it. She even
had me return all the ones that didn’t make the cut in exchange for new boxes. One day I overheard her on the phone with someone
saying she couldn’t leave me there to work alone because if she did, nothing would be done right.
She was wild.
And I know she thinks the accident that happened was intentional. She probably invented some sort of villain story where I sabotaged the project because I’m careless and didn’t check something properly. And I’ll let her keep thinking that, because it doesn’t make any difference anyways.
We are oil and water. Fire and ice. Hot or not, I need to remember one thing the next time I want to be nice to her.
Don’t.
“Calder... the photographer said to smile.” Luke elbows me and I force a grin that I don’t feel as I pose with my brothers
beneath some palm trees with the ocean front at our backs.
“Jesus, man, you’re in a mood,” Luke says as the photographer resets his camera, barking orders at his assistant.
I quickly take off the cream jacket. “It’s hot as hell in this coat.”
“It’s a linen jacket.” Max frowns over at me.
“I’m sweating my balls off.”
Wyatt eyes me with a threatening look. “Do I need to throw you in the ocean before the wedding to get you to cool the fuck
down? You’ve been a pain in the ass all afternoon.”
“Yeah, what is your problem?” Luke adds, taking Wyatt’s side. “These suits breathe really nicely.”
“Maybe you guys aren’t hot because you’re staying in a nice, air-conditioned house, while I’m stuck in a wide-open palapa
with the spawn of Satan trying to boil me alive!”
“Dakota isn’t that bad,” Max scoffs and shakes his head at me.
I huff out a laugh. “Then, you share a room with her.”
A slow smile spreads across Luke’s face. “You’re just pissy because she won’t fuck you.”
“Oh, like Addison is fucking you?”
His eyes turn to slits. “We’re just friends.”
“And who’s decision was that?”
Luke steps up so we’re standing toe-to-toe. “Are you looking for a fight today?”
“All right, knock it off,” Wyatt thunders stepping between us and pressing his hands to both of our chests. “You were the
morons who demanded plus-ones.”
“Dakota is not my plus-one,” I snap, my shoulders tight as I point back to the house where the ladies are all getting ready. “Someone sabotaged
my plus-one plans, and now I’m stuck with her.”
“If you had some semblance of control, you wouldn’t have asked to bring someone anyways,” Max says with a harrumph, adjusting
the cuff link on his sleeve.
“Stop acting all holier-than-thou, Max. You and Wyatt are no picnics to be around these days.”
“What is that supposed to mean?”
“I mean you’re both shoving your happy love bubbles in all our faces, and it’s a fucking lot, okay? It’s enough to make a
guy puke.”
“My fiancée and daughter make you want to puke?” Wyatt steps up close and bumps chests with me.
“They’re fine, it’s you that makes me want to yack.”
“I’m going to fucking kill you,” Wyatt lunges for my neck as Luke and Max dive into the mix, trying to break up our brawl.
“Boys!” a loud voice shrieks from the distance, and we all freeze in place, knowing that tone all too well.
We turn and see our mother standing there in her powder-blue Mother of the Groom dress. Her short blond hair is curled, her
makeup is done, and her flat sandals thwack loudly on the cobblestone sidewalk as she marches toward us.
“Wyatt, let go of your brother’s throat,” she snaps, swatting him on the arm.
I inhale a deep breath as I relax my shoulders and crack my neck.
She turns her pinched lips to me. “Calder, what did you do?”
“Me? You think I’m the problem?”
“You’re usually the problem.” She closes her eyes and sighs heavily. “What did you say?”
My teeth crack as I clench my jaw, refusing to answer the question that she obviously already knows the answer to.
“You know what? It doesn’t matter what you said or what any of you said.” She flails her arms at all of us. “This is your brother’s wedding day, and you’re all down here acting like a bunch of animals!” she hisses. “Your father would be ashamed of you.”
Fuck.
She could say anything but that.
“Mom, I’m sorry.”
“I don’t want to hear it, Calder,” she says, holding her hand up to stop me from speaking. “All I want to hear is you turning
to your brother and telling him you love him.”
I roll my eyes and shake my head. “Seriously?”
“Yes, seriously,” she sighs, crossing her arms over her chest. “Go on.”
My lips thin as I turn to Wyatt and stare at his brooding face all grumpy and stern, like a dad. Like our dad.
He’s a dad. My throat tightens as I let that thought settle over me. My big brother is a dad. And about to become a husband. Of course
I love him. Of course I’m fucking happy for him. I’m being a dick because of reasons that have nothing to do with him. Mom
is right: this is his wedding day, and he doesn’t need my shit. He’s a good brother. A good man. Just like Dad.
My eyes soften as I inhale a deep breath. “I love you, man.”
He huffs and looks away, clearly not believing me.
I step closer to him and grab his shoulder. “I mean it. I love you, Papa Bear.”