26. Dove #5
A loud horn honked behind us, causing us all to turn, breaking the mounting tension.
I released a sigh of relief as I spied Zeke’s lifted black truck through the rear window.
Reverie waved excitedly from beside him when she spotted me, her blonde hair pulled up in a messy bun atop her head, bright smile fixed on her face, oblivious to the showdown they’d interrupted.
When Zeke stepped out, Torrence spat another curse Josh’s way before peeling off, tires squealing. Zeke was forced to move out of the way, slamming his door as Torrence gunned it down the road, engine revving unnecessarily.
He turned to Josh with raised eyebrows. “Did we interrupt something?” His deep voice rumbled with amusement.
“Nothing of importance.” Josh scowled, still holding a hint of cold fury, eyes locked on the back of Torrence’s truck as it sped away.
I opened my door and slipped out of the passenger’s seat, only to be bombarded by Reverie. Arms closed around me, and her voice was an excited whisper in my ear. Or at least what Reverie thought was a whisper.
“Please tell me that was a pissing contest between your new man and your old fuck buddy!”
“We never fucked,” I hissed at Rev, glancing over my shoulder to make sure Josh hadn’t overheard. Josh and Zeke were too busy catching up on the other side of the truck to pay any attention to us.
Rev waved her hand as if that hardly matter. “Fine, you’re fooled around with buddy .” She gave a tiny gasp as if realizing something. “Wait, does Josh know?”
“He saw us in the barn, remember?”
“Yeah, but does he know you two have history? ” She waggled her eyebrows suggestively.
“I wouldn’t exactly call it history , Rev.”
She rolled her eyes. “Whatever you want to call it, does Josh know?”
“He does now,” I admitted.
Instead of being sympathetic she looked downright gleeful. “I thought he looked a little murder-y when we pulled up. He’s got it bad , babe.”
“You’re a horrible friend,” I grumbled, but my stomach swooped at her words. I refrained from turning to look back at Josh again.
He wasn’t the only one who had it bad.
She laughed. “I’m a great friend and you know it.” When I didn’t automatically agree she nudged me. “Admit it, or I’ll be forced to fly back to Cali so you miss me and appreciate how awesome of a friend I am again.”
My lips quirked despite myself. “Don’t go booking that plane ticket just yet.”
She made a go on gesture.
I rolled my eyes, sighing exasperatedly, but I was doing it for show more than anything. Really it felt pretty damn good to have my best friend beside me, even if she’d rather tease me about my problems than solve them.
“You’re a great friend, Rev,” I recited.
Then added, “The best.” Because she really was.
She knew I needed to be distracted from what just happened, and it worked.
The tight, anxious lump that had formed in my stomach during Josh and Torrence’s little tête-a-tête was loosening, and the panic at them potentially fighting over me, of all things, was ebbing.
“Thanks.” She preened. “I know.”
“Modest, too,” I deadpanned.
The slam of Zeke’s tailgate reminded me that they were here to help us, not for Reverie and me to chat about my guy problems. “We should probably help them.”
“It isn’t hard to put gas in a tank, Dove,” she said dryly with a shake of her head. “They’ve got it handled. How about instead you tell me everything . You were purposefully vague when we last talked,” she accused. “You’ve been keeping vital details hostage from me!”
“Oh yeah?” I crossed my arms over my chest and leaned against the truck. “Don’t you think you owe me something?”
“What?” She gave me her best innocent look, but Reverie was anything but innocent.
“Don’t ‘what’ me, Reverie Anne Price. You know what. You just causally roll up with Zeke and I’m not supposed to ask questions?”
She glanced across the truck bed to where the guys were putting gas in the tank. “It just kind of… happened.”
It was my turn to give her a go on gesture. For a moment I thought she was going to ignore me until she grabbed my elbow, tugging me towards to the front of the truck, out of earshot from the boys.
In a hush, she explained, “I didn’t know he bounces part-time at Harv’s. I was there and I might have gotten a little…”
“Drunk?” I supplied, knowing Reverie all too well. I’d grown up with her, after all.
“Tipsy,” she swiftly corrected. “You know I hold my alcohol well.”
About as well as a hole-riddled glass, but I didn’t tell her that.
Reverie was the kind of girl that knew her limits and still surpassed them.
We’d gone to bonfires and backyard ragers throughout high school, but back then she’d had Zeke and I to look out for her; to take whatever she had in her hand and tell her she’d had enough.
L.A. had no limits. No one to watch her back.
It had the glitz and glam of celebrity parties that didn’t end until the night sky vanished and the sun was peeking over the Hollywood sign.
I’d received enough calls from Reverie lamenting her decision to party the night before, vowing to never drink again, to know something similar had likely happened.
Haven wasn’t L.A., though. Not even close, and for as much as Reverie was born and raised a country girl, she was a city girl at heart.
I could only imagine how Rev had acted walking back into Harv’s, where drafts were fifty cents and the most exotic drink you could find was a Malibu Bay Breeze.
“Anyway,” Rev continued, “Zeke took care of me. He helped me sober up and drove me home.”
My eyebrows rose questioningly. “And that led to you showing up with him on his requested day off?”
A faint blush rose on her cheeks. “Well, no.”
I suppressed a smile. Reverie could play therapist about my problems all day, doling out advice like a guru, but she was horrible when it came to her own troubles.
Getting stuff out of her was like pulling teeth.
It was why I hadn’t known she was having issues in LA to begin with.
At one time it had hurt my feelings, thinking she didn’t trust me as much as I did her, but I realized it was because Reverie didn’t think herself worthy of anyone bothering themselves over.
Rev locked up everything and took care of it herself, long before anyone could even realize there was something wrong to begin with.
In a way, I could relate. I hadn’t always had Josh, and there had been a time when my mother and I were two lonely, grieving ships passing in the night, unable to talk to each other or express our feelings.
Meeting Josh helped me open up, and meeting Reverie made me realize that we all needed someone to lean on.
Since the moment our friendship started, she’d always been my biggest cheerleader, the first one to shake her pom pom’s and cheer me on. She had always been in my corner, and I had always been in hers. If I could help her in anyway with this, I would.
“He came in for a haircut and…” she trailed off, blush spreading. Interesting. So, Rev was keeping some important details to herself, too. She cleared her throat. “We agreed it wouldn’t be anything serious.”
“Rev,” I began hesitantly, then lowered my voice, making sure Zeke wouldn’t hear, “you ran across the country when you found out he?—”
“I know,” she interrupted. “ I know . But…” She shrugged, as if it was less of a deal than it actually was. “We talked.”
“He knows you’re not planning on staying in Haven, right?”
“He knows I’m leaving whenever I figure out what the hell I want to do,” she muttered, “yes.”
I chewed at my bottom lip, thinking. This spelled out heartbreak, I just couldn’t figure out for who yet.
Reverie? Zeke? Both of them? It was a bad idea wrapped up in lust and nostalgia.
They’d been each other’s firsts, and we all saw how Zeke was after Reverie left.
She hadn’t, but I had. There was no way he was fully over her and willing to do no strings without feelings getting involved.
But I couldn’t say one damn thing. My bad idea came in the form of being in a relationship with my absent stepbrother. I guess we both were good at making bad decisions.
“God.” I gave a self-deprecating shake of my head. “We’re quite the pair, aren’t we?”
A grin spread across her face, and somehow, she knew exactly what I meant. “That’s why we’re besties,” she agreed cheerfully. Of course Rev would think that a good quality for us to share. “I knew you’d take your walk on the wild side someday.”
“It’s wild alright.” The words were out of my mouth before I could think better of them, and I wished I could reel them back in.
Usually, I wouldn’t mind spilling all the juicy details to her, but I was trying not to go in depth on what Josh and I had been up to out of respect for him.
It wasn’t like he was some guy we were gossiping over.
Reverie had known him for years . It felt weird blabbing about our sex life, even if it was to my best friend.
“I knew you were holding out,” she accused a little too loudly. “I want details—no, I demand details!”
“Reverie!” I couldn’t help the laugh that escaped me as I chided her, afraid he’d overhear her hounding me.
“He’s too busy talking shop with Zeke.” She gave a dismissive hand wave in their direction. “They haven’t seen each other since he got back. Now tell me has he...” She leaned against the truck to get closer, whispering the rest in my ear.
The beat of the sun in combination with her filthy words had my body temperature rising, and I just knew my face looked as red as a tomato right now.
“Dove?”
I jumped so hard my elbow smacked against the door’s side mirror as Josh rounded our side of the truck.
“What?” I squeaked, rubbing the sore spot. Reverie snickered.
He looked at us funny. First at me, embarrassed and twitchy, then at Rev, calm, cool and collected, smirking from her lounged position against the truck.