Chapter 6
6
PAIGE
My stomach dropped as I pulled into the parking lot of Bree’s apartment building. She texted me to see if I had time to stop by to talk about the party we were helping Lanie plan, but I had a feeling it had something to do with what happened at the police station between Cole and me last weekend. I hadn’t talked to Bree or Harper all week, and a lot of that had to do with me giving everyone space. I was drunk, we all were, but I sobered up pretty quickly when Cole walked into that police station, and all the shitty comments we’d said to each other over the past few weeks surfaced.
Pushing open my car door, I stepped out, walked to the building, and jogged up the stairs to their apartment. Their building only had three floors, and all apartments opened to something like a breezeway. It was a cool building. I’d actually looked at an apartment here and was on the waiting list, but I never got a call that one opened, so when the townhouse became available, I jumped on it.
I knocked on the door, and it was pulled open almost immediately. “Hey, Bree.”
She moved aside and smiled. “Come on in.”
I stepped directly into the kitchen but could see the living room. It was cozy and seemed to showcase all their styles although it was easy to see the items Harper contributed.
Bree shut the door behind me. “Are you looking at the obnoxious lamp?”
I chuckled. “The one of a naked woman holding a basket of grapes on top of her head?”
Bree groaned. “Be honest. Is that the first thing you noticed?”
“No.” I slid the coat off my shoulders and laid it over the stool. “The first thing I noticed was how cozy it is in here.”
“So the second thing, then?”
I laughed. “Oh, absolutely.”
“That’s it,” she declared. “It’s going in her bedroom. Harper brought it home and tried to convince me people wouldn’t even notice it, but I knew they would.”
“Is it hard for you guys to live together having different styles?”
Bree gestured to the stool at the counter, and I sat while she walked around the island. “Water okay?” When I nodded, she continued talking while filling two glasses with water. “Sometimes. But we grew up together, so we knew that when we made the decision to move here.” She slid a glass of water in front of me. “Honestly, Harper usually pushes everyone’s boundaries.”
I lifted the glass to my lips. “I can see that.”
Bree took a sip, then put her glass down, but I braced when her eyes met mine. She exhaled heavily. “I asked you to come by for a couple of reasons.”
“I know.”
Her eyebrows lifted. “You do?” When I nodded, she continued, “Then I’m just going to come right out and ask you what’s going on between you and my brother.” She held up her hand. “And don’t tell me you just got off on the wrong foot.”
“It’s the truth.” I shrugged. “I don’t know what else to say.”
“I understand getting off on the wrong foot, but you met a while ago. If last weekend is any indication, you two are not working to fix any misunderstandings.”
“We tried.”
“You said you hated him,” she reminded me.
I ran my hand over my forehead. “I didn’t mean that. I don’t hate your brother.”
She leaned her hip against the counter. “Look, Harper’s ready to write you off as a friend, so I’m trying to run interference. She’s incredibly protective of those she loves, which most people don’t really know about her, so when she thinks someone hurt someone she loves, she shuts them out. We can’t let that happen. You’re Lanie’s best friend, and you’re our friend now too, so I just need you to explain to me what’s going on.”
“I...”
I trailed off when the door opened, and we both looked that way.
Harper narrowed her eyes when she came through, but Bree spoke. “I thought you were working.”
“I’m done early.” She looked between me and Bree. “What’s going on?”
“We’re talking,” Bree explained. “We’re going to work on some party details.”
She shifted her attention from Bree to me. “What’s going on between you and Cole?” She laid her purse on the counter. “I mean, I like hanging out with you, but Bree said you said some crappy stuff to him last weekend.”
“I did,” I admitted. “But I didn’t mean it.”
“Then why say it?”
I sighed and answered honestly. “Because your brother and I seem to bring out the worst in each other.”
“Did something happen between you two?”
I dropped my head. I didn’t want to have this conversation with Cole’s sisters, and I didn’t have the words to make them feel better about the situation.
Lifting my head, I saw Harper had moved to stand next to Bree, and they were both watching me closely, but I didn’t see anger, only curiosity. “I don’t think it’s a good idea to talk about Cole with his sisters.”
“Why not?” Harper asked.
“I don’t know. It just doesn’t feel right. Plus, you’re obviously going to see Cole’s side.” I gestured to them. “He’s your brother. There’s no point in sharing our messed-up history.”
“He’s also a man.” Harper smirked. “We know how stupid they can be.”
I smiled. “We’re both stupid.”
Bree reached across the island and laid her hand over mine. “What happened?”
I glanced between them. “Do you promise it stays between us?”
“Yeah.” Harper nodded.
I wasn’t sure I believed Harper, so I shifted my attention to Bree, and she smiled assuredly. “We promise.”
I exhaled heavily and then made the decision to share some of the problems between us. I didn’t want to lose the friendships I was building with Bree and Harper over misunderstandings and insecurities with Cole. Bree was right. Lanie being married to their cousin added another level of complication.
“Now tell us why you hate him,” Harper said.
“I don’t hate him.” I repeated what I told Bree only a few minutes ago. “I just get the impression he thinks very little of me.”
“Why?” Harper’s eyebrows drew together. “Did he say that?”
“Not in so many words, but he did think I got my job because I was sleeping with Dave.” I held up my hand when Harper’s expression changed, and it was obvious she was pissed. “Apparently, Dave has made a habit of sleeping with employees.”
“Oh.” Harper’s shoulders relaxed some. “He still shouldn’t have assumed that.”
I shrugged. “I’m just a little sensitive about that stuff, I guess.”
Bree tilted her head. “Why?”
“Because I’m constantly surrounded by people who are doing really well for themselves, and I’m still floating around between jobs trying to figure shit out.”
“So?” Harper shrugged. “I am too.”
“Yeah, but you’re younger than me,” I pointed out. “You should still be exploring. I’m just stuck. I don’t know what I want to do any more now than I did when I was twenty-three.”
Bree studied me before she spoke again. “Okay, that makes sense, but why do I get the feeling something else happened?”
I looked at the ceiling. “I don’t think I should share this.”
Harper leaned down, elbows on the island, and I couldn’t miss the sparkle in her eye. “Well, now you have to.”
Bree laughed. “She’s right, you do.”
I sighed but recognized I wasn’t getting out of here without giving them something, so I caved. I gestured toward Harper. “Remember the night we went to Crush, and you had me call Cole to pick you up?”
“Which time?”
“The night he carried you to his truck, and you fell asleep,” I reminded her.
Bree snorted out a laugh. “That’s every time.”
Harper glared at Bree, but she was smiling while she did it. “Yeah, I remember.”
“After he put you in his truck, he came back to talk to me.”
“And...” Harper’s eyebrows rose.
Again, I hesitated, and my eyes flicked between them. This was going to be awkward for all of us, so I said it as quickly as I could. “And we said some stuff, and then we made out.”
Harper slapped her hand against the counter. “I knew it. People don’t have this much animosity unless they’re having sex.”
“We’re not having sex,” I argued. “We made out one time.”
“What happened?” Bree asked.
“What do you mean?”
Bree tilted her head. “Something happened that you two went from making out to the words I hate you.”
“It’s complicated,” I admitted.
“Give it a shot,” Bree encouraged.
I thought about how much to share and where to start. “Well, I was seeing Landon...”
Harper once again slapped her hand against the counter. “That’s why you and Landon broke up. I knew that was strange.”
“What Landon and I had was casual. We both saw other people. We just hung out when we had time, but...”
Bree finished my thought. “But Cole didn’t see it that way.”
“No. He was upset when he found out. I tried to explain, but then he said some things that made me feel pretty bad about myself, and we hadn’t spoken since.”
Bree’s expression was sympathetic. “Until he came to pick us up in jail.” I nodded, and she continued, “Why did he say you wouldn’t want to ride in his shitty truck?”
I shrugged. “I have no idea. I never said I didn’t like his truck. The only thing that makes a little sense is when we were arguing about Landon, I told him Landon liked to have a pretty girl on his arm and I liked his flashy car.”
Harper frowned. “Cole’s had some bad experiences with women who were bitchy about what he does for a living, what he drives, and the fact that his hands are permanently dirty.”
“I didn’t know that,” I admitted.
“What did he say to you that made you feel bad?”
“He said he didn’t like seconds.”
“Ouch.” Bree’s eyes widened.
“He said what!” Harper stood straight.
I held up my hand. “I’m not defending him because it was a shitty thing to say, but it wasn’t my finest hour. To be honest, I’m embarrassed by what I did.”
“I’m not defending Cole either when I say this, but that’s not like him.” Bree rolled her lips. “Something had to be going on with him that made him angry.”
“Yeah.” I sat back in my seat. “Maybe.”
“Well,” Harper announced, “at least now we know why you two act like you do.”
My eyebrows drew together. “Why?”
“Because you’re attracted to each other,” she said simply.
I smiled sadly. “Your brother is not attracted to me.”
“But you are to him?” Bree surmised with a smile.
I rolled my eyes. “It doesn’t really matter whether I am or not. We can’t come back from some of this stuff.”
Harper waved her hand in the air. “Pfft, sure you can. We just need to lock you in a room together until you figure this out.”
I laughed with Bree and shook my head. “That would never work.”
Harper winked. “Never say never.”
“I think the best thing for me is to just avoid Cole for a while. Let shit die down, and then maybe we can coexist without all this drama.”
“That’s not gonna be easy with this family,” Bree pointed out.
“Well, luckily, I’m not in the family, so I only have to worry about when he comes into the parts store.”
Bree smiled sympathetically. “I hate to break it to you, but you are in the family. You’re our friend”—she gestured back and forth between her and Harper—“and Lanie’s best friend. You’ll see a lot of each other.”
“We’ll figure it out,” I promised, but I honestly didn’t see how. I just didn’t want to talk about Cole anymore. Lucky for me, Bree seemed to catch on to that and moved on.
“Okay, enough of that. Let’s talk party.”
“Is Lanie coming?” I asked.
“No, I told her we’d meet up, figure out some stuff, then go to her place.”
“That’s a good idea.” I smiled. “She really hates planning parties, so the fewer decisions she has to make, the better.”
Bree laughed. “I got that impression.”
I settled in and started planning a party with Bree and Harper. By the end, I decided I needed to figure out a way to get along with Cole so I didn’t lose the friendship I was building with his sisters. I needed these friendships, and I was willing to do whatever it took to keep them.