Chapter 9 #2
“There. You look beautiful. Perfect for dessert.” I purposely let the growl through in my tone, letting her know I was thinking about her for dessert.
I’d kept my desire for her under lock and key growing up, but now that we were adults, it was quite fun to tease her with it.
Maybe I’d been wrong all these years acting like I hated her.
Maybe I should have been flirting with her this whole time.
I let her go and opened the door, calling, “Ms. Fletcher’s here for dessert!”
She whimpered behind me, and I didn’t put it past her to run away.
I reached back, clamped my fingers around her wrist and tugged her inside.
Everyone smiled and said hello to Shae like I knew they would.
Mom hopped up to clear a spot at the table for her.
Emmerleigh cut another piece of pie and slid a plate in front of the empty spot.
The baby didn’t wake from the rocker set up next to the table.
“Perfect timing, Shae. We were just trying this new lemon meringue Tully’s mom baked.”
Shae slid into a seat, face flaming. I slid into the seat next to her and acted like it was normal for me to kidnap our next-door neighbor and bring her over for dessert. Kinsley looked across the table at her coach and teacher, offering her a commiserating smile.
“He’s annoying, isn’t he?” Kinsley asked, side-eyeing me.
I braced for a scathing comment from Shae, but it didn’t come. Instead, she picked up her fork and shrugged. “He’s got good intentions. I think.” Then she took a bite of the pie and groaned.
I dropped my fucking fork at the decadent noise coming from her lips. Tully burst out laughing, and Warrick shot me a smug smile that made no sense.
“I’d forgotten how much I liked you, Shae.” This came from Tully. She’d been two grades older than Shae and I, but they’d known each other. “You want to come to our girls’ lunch on Sunday?”
Shae swallowed her bite of pie and wiped her lips with the napkin Mom had given her. Her cheeks were still bright red. “Um, well, I wouldn’t want to impose.”
“No imposition,” Emmerleigh chimed in. “We’d love to have you. Say you’ll come.”
Shae flicked a glance at me, then back at my sisters-in-law. “Okay, yeah. Thanks, that sounds fun.”
I could tell from the way Shae’s hands wrung out the napkin in her lap that she did not find the prospect of joining Em and Tully for lunch fun. However, I knew my sisters-in-law. They were good people, and they’d welcome Shae with open arms. It made me insanely happy to see her making friends.
Not that she had any issue making friends.
After all, I’d seen her with a gaggle of women that first day back in Blueball.
It’s just I overheard Lydia commenting about Shae’s ex-husband being the type to harm a woman the other day and it got my brain spinning.
Had Shae been the victim of domestic abuse?
It seemed ridiculous. The woman was strong as fuck in every way, and certainly gave me no quarter.
It seemed impossible that she’d stick around for a man to do that to her.
I guessed I just wanted to see her well insulated with good people so that no man could ever do that to her again.
“I’m glad you came over, Shae. I don’t see you enough.” Mom looked at Shae like she was one of her kiddos.
“I guess I’ve always been looking out for our next-door neighbor,” I drawled, wanting credit for bring her over.
Shae’s head spun like a possessed woman in a horror flick. “Say what now?”
I shrugged, confused why she looked appalled. “I’ve always looked out for you?”
Shae snorted. “No, you didn’t. You bullied me our whole childhood!”
Mom gasped.
Warrick said, “Whoa. Shots fired.”
“Daaaaad,” Kinsley harped.
“I really like her,” Tully announced in the shocked silence.
I sat dumbfounded.
Mom rounded on me, fire from the pits of hell in her eyes. “You bullied Shae? What would your father say, young man?”
“Oh, shit, he got young-manned,” Colson said out of the side of his mouth.
Mom shot him a look, and he zipped it real quick.
I rubbed the center of my chest, where her words had wounded me. I was being attacked for no reason. I’d have to explain things to Mom later. Right now I needed to address Shae.
“I teased you. Sure. But I did not bully you, Shae. In fact, I looked out for you!”
Shae looked at me incredulously. “Yeah? Prove it.”
I gaped at her. She was being fucking serious right now? I held up a single finger. “Grady Summerlin.”
Shae narrowed her eyes.
“ He bullied you. Him and his idiot friends. I took him aside one day and told him to cut that shi—boozy out.”
“Shiboozy!” Georgia cheered, not able to read the room yet.
“I told him to lay off of you so you’d let your guard down and then I could hit you with an epic prank.”
Shae shook her head slowly. When she spoke, her voice was soft. Cautious. “What prank?”
I brightened. “Exactly. There was no prank. I never intended there to be a prank, but the dork believed me. And you got to experience high school without Grady and his idiots harassing you.”
Shae’s mouth dropped open.
“Well, crap. That’s kind of genius,” Colson said in the silence.
I’d never loved my brother more.
I felt like a goddamn hero.