Doesn’t Stand a Chance (The Sister Pact #1)

Prologue

PROLOGUE

OLIVIA

R eady or not Houston, here I come.

New York City had my heart and soul wrapped around her dazzling finger, but ambition demanded change, and I was a girl with big dreams.

I didn’t even know if the Lone Star state would let me in without spurs and a cowboy hat, but my dad was retiring, and I was moving to Houston in preparation for taking over our branch down there.

I picked up the box I’d just finished packing and stacked it on top of the others, trying not to get distracted by the bright spring sunlight filtering in through my windows. Outside, the sky was a clear expanse of pale blue stretching endlessly above the towering buildings. Rays of sunlight danced off the glass and steel of the skyscrapers and cast long shadows on the streets below.

The scent of dogwoods and cherry blossoms wafted in on the breeze and I inhaled deeply, committing those scents to memory more intentionally than I ever had. I’d always loved springtime in this city, but by this time next week, I was pretty sure the only scents I’d be enjoying were dirt and doo-doo.

I moved onto the next box in line to be sorted into the move, storage, or donation piles, and I came across an unwelcome and unnecessary reminder of why the timing of the move had been so perfect. This was my Todd box , and it was filled to the brim with all the things that had belonged to or that reminded me of my ex-boyfriend, Todd. New York had its fair share of doo-doo, too. And Todd? He was the literal definition of it.

Maybe leaving New York is a really good thing after all. An even better thing than just a change of pace.

As the eldest daughter of the legendary Nathan Walker, I’d always known that I was first up for learning how to run Walker Marketing when Dad finally realized that he’d worked long enough. Since Houston was our biggest branch, with our largest, richest clients, as well as the place where it had all begun, there had always been a chance that learning how to run the company would mean moving down to Texas.

Part of me had never thought it would really happen, but as soon as Dad had told me that he was considering retirement, we’d started discussing the possibility. Ultimately, we had decided that Abigail, my middle sister, would stay here, in New York, to oversee our operations in the city while I would go jump in the deep end with the big boys down south.

They say everything is bigger in Texas. I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t the least bit curious about what that really meant. Bigger paychecks, fountain drinks, and trucks I could handle. Bigger egos and assholes like Todd? Hard pass.

I glanced at the box and slammed it shut again, moving it aside to deal with later. Maybe I needed a separate pile of things to burn.

I brought my hands to my hips and squeezed, lowering my head and inhaling deeply to banish the memories that had come with opening that box. My front door slammed open, and the next thing I knew, a familiar voice called out.

“We have fuel to get you through the home stretch of packing,” Lacey announced. “It comes in the form of the best coffee in the city. Figured we’d bring you one last cup of the good stuff before we face whatever the heck they drink down there.”

“You’re angels,” I replied loudly, lifting my chin back up and squaring my shoulders. Todd didn’t deserve even another moment of my time, let alone a whole minute to fight the tide of memories his things had brought up. “I’m in the bedroom!”

Jenna and Lacey strode in through the open door behind me.

Jenna sighed and stopped just inside the bedroom, her eyes scanning the suddenly bare space with a tinge of sadness behind them. “God, I’m going to miss you guys. I’m going to miss this room. This apartment. Why are you leaving again?”

I smiled and accepted the cup of coffee Lacey handed to me. “It’s not like we’re falling off the face of the earth. We’re only going to Texas, Jenna. You can visit us anytime you’d like. I’ll have my guest room all made up for you.”

“Thanks, but I’m allergic to fatty barbecue, horses, and dirt tracks. You’re going to have to come visit me here.” My dark-haired friend let out another deep sigh but nodded before she opened her arms and walked over to pull me into a tight hug. I held her as close as I could, wishing we could’ve taken Jenna with us too, but London and Lacey both worked for the company. Jenna did not.

I chuckled quietly as I stroked her back. “I’ve already checked, and there are no dirt tracks between the airport and my new place. I doubt there’ll be any horses around there either and I’ll find you a restaurant that specializes in rabbit food so you can avoid fatty barbecue. You’re coming down there to visit us, babe.”

As she released me, I caught Lacey’s eye and saw her frown before she flicked her finger at the Box of Todd . “Why does that have his name on it? Please tell me you’re not going to waste any of the precious little time we’ve got left together returning his crap.”

“It has his name on it?” I started forward immediately, wondering just how the hell I’d missed that before, but sure enough, as I walked around the bed, I saw my own handwriting scribbled right at the bottom of the left side of the box. I groaned. “I don’t even remember doing that. It was a dark time for me. My brain stopped working properly.”

“When you were dating him or after you found out about the tramp?” Lacey asked, striding to the box and flipping the top open. “Eww. How you even made it five years with that pretty boy player, I’ll never know.”

“Neither will I,” I admitted without even trying to argue. “All I can say is that I guess they’re right when they say that love is blind.”

The truth was that if he hadn’t done what he’d done, I would have married him and had his babies. After spending half a damn decade with him, I had been so sure that was where we would be by now.

Instead, he was shacked up with some twenty-two-year-old he’d met on a business trip. I blew out a deep breath and tried to close the box again, but Lacey was already poking through it.

She withdrew her hand like a snake had bitten her when she realized that the fabric she’d been pulling on was a pair of boxers. The front of them was still pretty pristine while the rest of it was all stretched out.

She squealed and shuddered but narrowed her eyes and bent over to get a closer look. “There we have it. Incontrovertible evidence that he couldn’t even fill those out.”

I rolled my eyes, unwilling to either admit or deny anything at this stage. Jenna, however, seemed to be done with the Todd Show . She strode up between us and stuck her manicured fingers under the bottom of the box, lifting it up with her nose wrinkling in disgust.

“That’s enough. Come on. Follow me.” Without waiting to see if we’d actually listen, she spun around and manhandled the box all the way to the curb. Then she dropped it carelessly on the sidewalk and stuck her hand up into the air to hail a cab. “It’s about freaking time that we rid you of that guy’s stench once and for all.”

A yellow cab pulled up in front of her and she opened the door, motioning for us to go ahead before picking the box back up. All three of us crammed into the backseat with the Remnants of Todd .

“Can you move over?” Jenna pinched her knees together and turned sideways in an attempt to access her seatbelt.

Beside her, Lacey scowled. “Where? Do you see extra room?”

Jenna gave Remnants of Todd a menacing stare. “Somehow he still manages to take up more space than he deserves.”

“Where are we going?” the cabbie asked, shooting a nervous glance over his shoulder at the box in the middle seat. “Is there an animal in that thing? I don’t transport pets. Not after the ferret incident.”

Jenna finally managed to do up her seatbelt. “Don’t worry, sir. Nothing alive in here.”

“Besides maybe those crusty boxers,” Lacey said with a shudder.

“Shut up,” I hissed, my cheeks burning.

Lacey snickered and leaned forward. “The Brooklyn Bridge please, sir.”

I glanced at the man’s face in the rear view. His brow was furrowed. He gave the box a suspicious look before he shrugged, returned his gaze to the road, and pulled out into traffic. At this hour of a Saturday morning, getting to the bridge was no picnic, but our driver got us where we needed to go.

“If you’ll drop us off right there, we’ll take care of the rest of it,” Lacey told him, gesturing to the curb.

I paid him. He gave Remnants of Todd another uneasy look as Jenna dragged the box out of the back seat.

“What are you going to do with that?” he asked.

Jenna balanced the box on her hip and grinned. “Huck it off the bridge into the water.” She tipped it ever so slightly to show him everything. “Look. No bomb and no puppies. We’re not sociopaths. Just three girls dumping a cheater’s shit for a clean break.”

The cab driver frowned. “I think that’s illegal.”

“Well, in that case, you better be on your way.” Jenna handed the box over to me, transferring its weight to my arms. She tossed her hair over her shoulder and marched away from the cab driver, who veered off back into traffic to the chorus of all the horns of people he’d cut off.

Lacey smiled triumphantly when we reached the railing. “Dump all his crap into the water, honey. It’s going to make you feel so much better.”

Engines and horns filled the air around us as I looked down into the mighty river below. The light breeze that had been drifting into my apartment was worse here, and with all the cars passing, gusts of wind made my hair whip around my head, getting stuck in my lipstick and stinging my eyes.

But I fixated on the water and slowly lifted the box, tilting it until one by one, every reminder I’d had of the man I thought I was going to marry started falling out of it. A sense of liberation swept over me and I tilted the box some more, not stopping until absolutely all of it fell free in a rush of memories and unkept promises.

There was the beer mug with our faces printed on it that he’d had made at some festival he’d bought us tickets to at a time when he hadn’t even been bothering to pay for his own toothpaste. The boxers. A cheap porcelain mold of our entwined hands. His ratty gym towel. A Batman mask he’d worn to Halloween one year and a ceramic cat he’d bought me when I’d brought up the subject of having a baby.

As it all tumbled out into the churning water below and disappeared, I felt freer than I had in a long time. I whooped, lifting my head and feeling tears sting my eyes. A smile spread my lips. Unfortunately, the act of lifting my head also meant catching a glimpse of the traffic—and the cop car switching lanes to get to us.

“Oh shit,” I yelled above the din of the engines. “The cabbie was right. We need to go. Now!”

Lacey laughed. “They’ll never take me alive!”

She took off at a run. Jenna was right behind her and they let out squealing shouts of laughter. I dashed along the sidewalk after them, never having been so grateful for Saturday morning traffic in this part of town. The cops were still stuck behind dozens of vehicles with no place to go.

By the time they were far out of sight, my lungs were burning and my muscles were aching, but we were free. I checked that we were in the clear before I slowed, wiping sweat off my brow.

“We lost them, guys,” I said.

Lacey and Jenna stopped running too, both of them immediately doubling over to rest their hands on their knees. It took a minute before any of us could breathe again, but once we could, we all started laughing.

“That was insane,” Lacey wheezed between peals of laughter. “I can’t believe we just outran the cop. In heels.”

Jenna straightened up and brought a hand to her lower back. “Who knew being a criminal required so much cardio?”

“They might still come looking for us, though,” Lacey said. “We should probably get off the street. Dye our hair. Burn these clothes.”

“How about lunch and cocktails instead?” I was still catching my breath but I couldn’t deny the exhilaration shooting through my veins. “I’m buying.”

Thankfully, I’d grabbed my handbag on the way out of my apartment and I hadn’t dropped it on our mad dash from the law. Less than fifteen minutes later, we were sitting in a restaurant Todd and I had come to all the time. In fact, my ex’s scent was all over my favorite spots across the whole damn city.

Lacey smiled at me over the top of her White Russian. “How did that feel? You ready to let go of the past and start focusing on the future yet?”

I hadn’t done anything that blatantly misdemeanor-worthy since freshman year of high school—if it hadn’t been even longer than that. Corporate adrenaline was more my speed these days, the thrill of landing a big client and producing for them, but dumping that asshole’s shit into the river had been liberating.

“I’m ready for the future, baby!” I whisper-screamed, tossing my head back and doing a little shimmy. “God, I can’t believe we did that.”

“I can.” Lacey was smirking at me when I finally lowered my chin and looked at them again. “We needed to do something drastic to get you ready for what’s waiting for you in Texas, and it sure won’t be some pretty-faced city-boy who’s never had dirt under his fingernails.”

I chuckled but gave my head a firm shake. “Nah-uh. No way. There are a lot of things waiting for me in Texas, but none of them are going to have a dick attached. I’m going to be all work, all the time for a long time before I ever even think about getting involved with someone again.” I paused before I added, “But when I do, you’re damn right he’s going to be super manly. Rugged. He’ll have calluses on his hands and he won’t be scared to grab my hair a little when we’re in bed.”

“That’s a great idea,” Lacey said suddenly, straightening up and immediately grabbing her purse.

I frowned. “What? Having your hair pulled in bed?”

“No.” She rolled her eyes at me, suppressing a tiny smile. “Well, that’s a great idea too. It’s fun. You really should try it, but I was talking about making a list of all the things you want in your new boyfriend. Let’s do it.”

I scoffed. “Why? I’m not getting involved with anyone for a long time. I was dead serious about that. Besides, I’ll grant you that Todd was a pretty boy through and through, but if I make a list of all the things I really want in a man, I can guarantee that I’ll be single forever.”

Jenna brought her glass to her mouth in an attempt to hide the grin on her lips. “It’s a good thing you love your career so much, then.”

I winked at her. “Amen to that, sister.”

“Pity your career can’t grab your hair when you’re in bed,” she teased, chuckling as she glanced at Lacey. “Just make the list, Liv. What harm can possibly come of it?”

I sighed, but when Lacey slid a pen across the table to me, I decided that I’d play. Even if only to remind myself what the standard was if I ever met some other loser.

Nodding as I uncapped the pen, I pulled a restaurant napkin over and carefully started writing my list on the back of it.

- Must be Down To Earth

- Naturally Funny

- Family oriented – but not a Momma’s Boy

- Good with his Hands

- Can Build Things

- Provides Well

After thinking it over for a beat and realizing that those were the most important attributes, I popped the cap back on the pen and took a long sip of my Mojito. “I’ll never find that man, ladies. He doesn’t exist, and that’s the end of it.”

Lacey snatched the napkin closer and both of my friends pored over it for a beat. Lacey glanced up at me. “I wouldn’t be so sure about that. A good ol’ Texas boy might check off some of the items on this list.”

I cringed. “A country boy? No, thank you.”

It was never going to happen, and now that my impossible list was down on paper, I was pretty sure it wasn’t going to matter if some man in Houston managed to tick off a few of those items. No one would ever check them all, and I’d just guaranteed that I was going to be single forever.

And this is why I need to go home and pack my vibrator, I thought . Mr. Perfect didn’t exist, and I was done waiting for a knight in shining armor to prove me wrong. Or should I say cowboy in plaid?

Pass.