Chapter 12
Chapter Twelve
Rhett
“Dude, you better wife that girl up soon,” Carter says as he sets a beer on the table in front of me.
Brynlee hasn’t left my mind since I met her, but leaving her house last night was one of the most difficult things I’ve ever done in my life. Our date isn’t for another eight hours, and I need something to distract myself to stop me from going to her house now.
“Where’s Darla?” I ask as I see his two daughters running around the yard.
“She had to run to the grocery store.”
“What happened last night?”
He sighs and shakes his head, his dark hair brushing his eyes. “Nothin’ I can fix right now.”
“Talk to me.”
“It’s complicated. She doesn’t think I believe in her. We just don’t have the money to start a salon right now.”
Taking a chance, I decide to push further than I typically do. “This is just me, man, so you can tell me to go to hell. But if you tell me the truth, it doesn’t leave the two of us. Is there a chance she doesn’t think you believe she can pull it off because you actually don’t think she can?”
His hand rubs down his face. “I think she can do anythin’ she puts her mind to, but this is a big risk. If we jump into this, and it fails, we’ll ruin ourselves. There won’t be any comin’ back from it.”
“If I can help, let me know.”
“What would really help is changin’ the subject from my unhappy wife to Brynlee. What happened after we left?”
Shaking my head, I lean back in the chair and groan. “Man, leavin’ her house after we agreed, for some stupid reason, that I shouldn’t go inside was the most painful drive home of my life. Damn me bein’ a nice guy. But I’d rather not rush into anythin’ in case she regrets movin’ too fast.”
“She a good kisser?”
I groan and look at the ceiling. “Amazin’. And she has the softest skin I’ve ever touched. Not to mention how great she smells.”
“Nothin’ happened?”
“Oh, lots of things happened, but not what I know we both wanted. Carter, she’s got me wrapped around her little finger. When she told me she thinks I’m sexy, I damn near bowed at her feet. You know the last time a woman said anythin’ about me was sexy?”
Carter laughs but shakes his head. “No, when?”
“Never!”
“You’re fallin’ in love with her, aren’t you?”
“Shut up.”
His eyes widen, and he bounces in his seat like a damned four-year-old about to be given his birthday cake. “You are! You didn’t talk about Honor this way even after six months of datin’ her. You’ve known Brynlee for barely two weeks, and you’re fallin’ in love. This is fate, man.”
“What the hell are you talkin’ about?” I ask and laugh. He’s obviously lost his damn mind.
“She slides into a ditch, and you happen to be the one drivin’ by to help her.”
“I had a job three miles away that I just finished.”
He glares. “Don’t you see? All the stars aligned for you.
She lives in the house you’ve always wanted to live in.
You’re her knight in shinin’ armor. You’re already fallin’ in love with her, and soon, you’ll marry her, move into the house you love so much, and knock her up with as many babies as she’ll give you. You’re basically livin’ a fairy tale.”
“Until she finds someone better.”
“Who the hell in this town—no, this state—is better than you?”
“Every guy each girl I’ve ever cared about left me for?”
Rolling his eyes, he takes a drink of his beer. As indignant as he wants to seem, he knows as well as I do that I’m the poster kid for disappointment. “You’ve had shit taste in women until now. I mean… Honor? Really?”
“First, you need to make that comment to your brother, too. Second, you know as well as I do that everyone in that bar Friday night wondered how the hell a girl like her was with a guy like me.”
“Who cares?” he shouts. “Seriously, a relationship is between two people, not two people and the entire goddamn town. You’re goin’ to get in the way of yourself like you always do.
You’re creatin’ a self-fulfillin’ prophecy, and you’re goin’ to be sittin’ here after losin’ the best thing that ever happened to you because you can’t get out of your own damn way. ”
The only way he could have shocked me any more than this outburst was if he’d kicked me in the nuts under the table. “It’s not like I try to get dumped.”
“You’re the greatest guy I know. Better than me by a long shot, and you deserve someone who makes you happy.
Brynlee makes you happy, so stop tryin’ to ruin it.
You’re pissin’ me off! You always do this.
When it gets good, you end up sabotagin’ yourself, but I really think this is meant to be.
So, knock this shit off before I kick your ass! ”
The worst part is that I know he’s right. Even though I know that, it doesn’t make it easier. “We’re goin’ out again tonight,” I say, trying to change gears. “I’m taking her to—”
“Carter!” Darla calls and storms into the house, her body shaking. “I almost needed bail money. I still might need it if I decide to go back to the store.”
“Baby, I thought you were gettin’ groceries,” Carter says.
Whipping around, she glares at him like he’s grown a second head. “Yeah, I was there. And I about beat a few of the bitches we have in this stupid town.”
The way her head bobs reminds me of high school when she’d get amped up before knocking heads around. Darla fighting actually scares me because it’s like watching the nature channel. Vicious and feral.
“What happened?” he asks, his voice almost soothing.
“Poor Brynlee.”
If she didn’t have my attention already, she has it all now. I sit up straight and jut my chin out. “What do you mean by that?”
“I saw her at the store, and I was goin’ to talk to her. She about jumped out of her skin when I walked up to her, and then I heard the bitches in the next aisle over talkin’ shit about her. The things they said were out of pure jealousy, but she hightailed it out of there with tears in her eyes.”
“They said it to her?” Carter gasps. “I didn’t think anyone in this town had guts like that. Besides you.”
Shaking her head, Darla clenches her fists at her side as she bounces from foot to foot.
It’s making me nauseous watching her like this, but I can’t tear my eyes away.
“Oh, no, they don’t have the balls to do that like I do.
She overheard it, and she left her cart and bolted.
What I overheard before she took off had me throwin’ a fit.
I can only imagine what they said before that, and Todd threatened to call the sheriff if I didn’t leave.
Hence, the hands in fists rather than holdin’ bags. ”
“What’d they say?”
“What I heard was about her bein’ stupid and a whore. I don’t doubt she heard them attackin’ her appearance. This is exactly why I’m friends with so few women around here. Twats, all of them.”
Standing, I just nod at Carter and run to my pickup. I barely remember the drive to Brynlee’s house because I can’t shake the image of her crying and alone. It makes my entire chest ache, and I race up her front porch.
I’m unsure if I even turned off my pickup as I pound on her front door, refusing to stop until she answers. And when she does, I pull her into my arms.
“H-how’d you know?” Brynlee stammers as I run my hand over her hair.
Brynlee clutches the bear I won her last night to her chest as I hold her tightly, and I almost smile. “I was at Carter’s house when Darla stormed in.”
Picking her up, I cradle her as I carry her into the living room, kicking the front door shut, and sit on the couch with her on my lap. She clings to the bear as the tears continue, and it breaks my heart.
“Those women d-don’t even kn-know me. And they’re m-making up all these l-lies about me. I don’t know what I d-did to th-them.”
“You didn’t do anythin’,” I say, rubbing her back. “They’re just jealous.”
“That’s not jealousy,” she says and hiccups. “I’ve d-dealt with jeal-jealousy. That was just cr-cruelty for the sake of b-being cruel.”
The pain in her voice makes me wish I’d found out from Darla who it was she caught talking badly about Brynlee. “If it makes you feel better, Darla said she may still need bail money.”
“What?”
“She may have lost it on the women after you left. The owner threatened to call the sheriff if she didn’t leave,” I say with a laugh. “Everyone knows her reputation, and they should be scared.”
Pulling back, she wipes her eyes and looks into mine. “She got in trouble? He didn’t c-call the sheriff, did he?”
I would do anything in the world to keep her from crying ever again. It’s like a punch to the gut to see her this way. “It wouldn’t have mattered if he had,” I say, cupping her face and giving her a smile.
“Why not?”
“Because the sheriff is Edwin Dillon. My oldest brother.”
This makes her laugh, and I relax. “Of course he is. God, I must look like such a mess.”
“You look beautiful.”
Sniffling, she runs her hands through her hair self-consciously, and I take her hands to hold them. “You came over because Darla told you what happened?”
“I came over because she said she saw tears in your eyes, and the thought of you cryin’ was more than I could stand.”
“I was hoping she didn’t see me. I learned a long time ago to never let anyone see me cry, but clearly that failed today. You really are a nice guy, Rhett Dillon.”
The words are my kryptonite. The words we should just be friends usually follow that statement, but when her mouth crashes against mine, all worry that she doesn’t see me as someone she wants to take to bed anymore disappears.
In fact, the only thoughts in my mind make my jeans rather uncomfortable.
My need becomes obvious as I hold her against my chest, and she shifts to straddle my lap. Her arms wrap around my neck, and she runs her fingers through my hair before massaging my scalp. Everything she does is so damn erotic, and I moan when she tugs gently.
“Do you feel better?” I ask as I kiss her jaw and down to her neck.
Brynlee pulls back and covers her mouth with her hand, all kissing stopped. “I need to tell you something else.”