Chapter 18
EIGHTEEN
I did not want to be thinking about Tyler Kane first thing this Monday morning.
Augh, why did my brain not get a new hobby and think of someone else?
I twisted and turned last night because all I could think of was the fact that he did not come over to my mother’s. He came on Sundays, and now that it was his birthday weekend, he didn’t come? Surely that meant he was lying, and he had someone he wanted to spend it with, right?
Feeling frustrated, I jumped up and headed for the kitchen. I needed caffeine to start my day, and working with Ronnie while being sleep-deprived was not a good combination.
Once I had a mug in my hand, I asked myself what the hell I was doing because my coffee was shitty. Not letting myself think too hard, I walked out the door and turned toward Rachel’s house.
“Ohmigod, Rach, they are gorgeous!” I shouted as I ran toward her house upon seeing an obnoxiously beautiful bouquet that was on her doorstep.
“Your mug is empty,” she deadpanned as I inspected the flowers she had not bothered to pick up.
Ignoring her, I bent down and picked up the flowers, noticing the note on them, but I didn’t try to read it. Some things were private. I wondered what it would feel like to receive such a lovely gesture. Ty wasn’t the romantic type. Then I cursed myself for letting my stupid mind go there.
With the flowers in one hand and the mug in the other, I made my way to Rachel’s kitchen and placed them there so I could reach her coffee machine.
“How kind of you to bring your own mug,” Rachel muttered.
I waved her off. “You know me, I don’t like to impose.”
I got so busy making myself a macchiato that it took me a second to realize Rachel hadn’t said a word.
“Did you read the note?”
“No,” she said as she put the flowers in a vase.
“If a man was bringing me flowers, I’d be dying to know what he had to say,” I mumbled.
Rachel raised her brow at me in defiance, and I took a sip of my coffee.
“Even if that man was Ty?”
I spat out my drink. Screw her for saying what I had been thinking about.
“Eww, gross. If Ty dared to send me any flowers, I would march over to the auto shop and shove them so far up his?—”
“I did not need the visual,” Rachel interrupted me.
“And I hope they have thorns. Lots and lots of thorns…but this isn’t about me. This is about you.”
I pointed a finger at her, trying to shift the conversation back to the matter at hand. Tyler and I were never going to happen, so I didn’t want to dwell on scenarios that were never going to come true.
I took another sip of my drink. Today was already draining me, and it wasn’t even nine a.m. yet.
“They’re from my ex-husband,” she told me, and at this rate, my coffee would end up splattered all over the floor rather than in my mouth.
“Astrid!” she chided.
“Don’t Astrid me. You were married and you never told me? What the hell, Rachel? Okay, forget what I said. We are going straight to the cops and telling them you are being harassed. Hell, we’ll go to the cops in all the nearby counties.”
I felt hypocritical scolding her for keeping her life private when I had not shared much of my own either, but Tyler and I had never been a thing, whereas marriage was a life commitment.
I was already trying to think of all the ways I could help her. Working on the paper didn’t give me many strings to pull, but I could have her back and give her strength.
She was hesitant to want to press charges, and it reminded me of how scared I had been on prom night. Doing the right thing was a bitch.
“Rachel…” I said softly. “I know standing up for yourself can be scary, but you can’t let fear stop you from doing the right thing.”
Doing the right thing had cost me the life I had led here and my best friend, but I still couldn’t bring myself to regret it.
With a second coffee in hand, I made my way toward work. Since I was up early, I don’t know why I let myself come into the town square for some bread. I found a parking spot across from the beauty salon. It was early enough that they had yet to open.
I got out of my car and noticed someone walking toward the salon, but I paid no mind to them.
“I see the rumors were true,” was said snidely.
I knew better than to twist my neck to see who was talking to me. I guess it was no surprise when I saw Samantha Foster glaring at me.
My stomach was in knots over seeing her—she always made me feel uneasy.
She was the first girl in my class to have puberty hit her like a train wreck.
One summer, she was plain and prepubescent like me.
The next, she had boobs and curves. All the boys were fawning over her, and it was the first time I feared that someone would come between Ty and me.
She had dark wavy hair, pretty dark blue eyes, and the kind of waist most women envied.
Unfortunately, time had been graceful to her. She looked hot as ever. It was petty of me to think that way, but for the girl who made me feel inferior all through high school, I could make an exception. Let’s not forget she was the ringleader in my social massacre.
“Samantha,” I acknowledged her. “You work here?”
Please don’t own the place. I really wanted to check it out.
Her lip curled.
“Yes,” she let me know flatly.
She was certainly the type to gloat, and that right there told me she wasn’t the owner.
“I would say it was lovely to see you, but we both know it would be a lie,” I said as I turned around and began to walk away.
“Are you happy?” she called out after me. I halted my step but didn’t turn around. She took this as a sign to keep going. “Thanks to you, Ty and I never got married.”
My chest ached at her words.
Married? What the hell was she talking about?
Had they continued to get serious after I had left?
The feeling in my chest was all too familiar.
It was the same pain I felt when Tyler told me he had a girlfriend.
I’ve been mourning all along since that day.
Mourning the fact that I wasn’t his number one girl anymore.
Mourning the fact that all those things he gave to her would never belong to me.
Mourning the fact that I might know his childhood secrets, but she would know the dreams, fears, and aspirations of the man he was becoming.
When I swallowed, my saliva felt heavier. I reached inside my bag to take out my wallet so that I could just grab my bread and go when I touched something scratchy. Pulling the object out, I remembered I had the pink tourmaline in my bag since Friday.
As I walked into Delicia’s , I pulled out my phone and did a bit of research into the stone. I almost let it drop to the ground when I saw the words aphrodisiac on my screen.
I did not need an aphrodisiac. Was that little cluster of rocks responsible for my moment of weakness, allowing Tyler to stay a few minutes in my room?
“Morning, Lupe,” I called out without bothering to look up, instead I kept looking at my phone and headed for my favorite bread shelf.
Both the stone and my phone went flying as I lost my balance.
“Fuck,” I cursed.
A strong arm wrapped around me, and an all-too-familiar masculine scent engulfed my senses. I closed my eyes tightly as if that would make everything disappear.
“Not how I expected you to fall into my arms,” Ty muttered.
“W-w-what?” I stuttered as my eyes sprang open.
Damn.
I should have kept them closed.
Tyler was giving me a wolfish smile that showed his white teeth. I was a sucker for a Colgate smile. Being this close to him reminded me that I envied his naturally long lashes. His green eyes seemed to sparkle with amusement.
“Morning, beautiful.”
“Astrid,” I corrected him.
His grin got bigger. Did he not get the memo that I didn’t want to be his friend anymore?
He wasn’t letting go of me. A normal person would have done so already.
“Do you mind?” I asked him as I tried to push away from him because my skin was starting to feel tingly and butterflies that had no reason to take flight were fluttering.
“Yes, I do mind,” the arrogant bastard replied.
Augh.
Since I didn’t want to keep making eye contact with him, I looked him over, but I quickly discovered that was a huge mistake.
He was wearing a simple white tee that said Kanes’ Auto on the right breast pocket, and on his head he had a black backward cap.
Noooo .
Backward caps were like catnip for me.
I was going to throw away that damn aphrodisiac stone the first chance I got.
“I heard shouting, is everything okay?” Lupe’s voice got closer the more she spoke.
I craned my neck and saw her coming from the back. There was a huge smile on her face as soon as she saw us.
“Ay, que lindos,” she beamed.
“No, no lindos ,” I told her, not knowing what she meant, but judging by her tone it couldn’t be anything good.
Tyler chuckled.
He straightened us out, but I was still being held to his side.
“You’re just in time, Astrid. I made a new batch of conchas . They are soft and delicious.”
My mouth watered.
“I want a chocolate one to go, please,” I let her know so she could go to the back and wrap it up for me. Meanwhile I needed to detangle myself from Ty-enemy.
“What are you doing here?” I asked as I managed to get free from his hold. At least that’s what I told myself because I didn’t want to admit that if he wanted to, I would still be in his arms.
“Was craving something sweet this morning,” he said.
I looked at him and noticed he had nothing in his hands.
I motioned for the glass shelves so he could pick something out. I quickly scanned the floor for my phone and the stupid crystal of doom. They were right behind Tyler. Upon noticing where my gaze was, he let go of me and bent down to get them.
As he was handing me the phone, his eyes landed on the screen.
Oh fuck.
The words Pink Tourmaline: the aphrodisiac stone would be haunting me forever now.
“Give me that!” I shouted, trying to jump for my phone.
He immediately put it out of my reach.
“T—” I stopped myself because I didn’t have a single T-word come to mind, and I didn’t want to repeat words.
He laughed, and it did funny things to my insides.
“I’m tempted to keep your phone. Might make you say my name faster.”
“Oh, don’t worry, I have a slew of names I could call you,” I stated.
“I’m all ears, beautiful.”
“Astrid,” I amended.
“I’m waiting.” He smirked at me.
“I’m going to be late for work. Give me my phone, or else I will sue you for harassment.”
He snorted but ultimately started to hand me my phone.
“It’s a long list, but I’ll be here until the end of it.”
His response confused me.
As soon as I got my phone, I looked down at the screen, and I didn’t think anything could be worse than the aphrodisiac stone. I could feel myself blush as I saw the tab that was now open was the dictionary one with all the words that started with Ty.
Someone kill me!
Before I could have a witty comeback, Lupe came back out. I ignored his gloating look, grabbed the stupid rock, and threw it in my purse.
“Thank you, Lupe,” I told her as I handed her my card.
“Anything for you, mijo ?” she asked Ty.
“Nah, I got what I was looking for.
Surely he didn’t mean me—right?
Not letting myself think too much on it, I walked out without looking back. My heart started to beat faster once I heard steps behind me.
“Why are you following me, Kane brother number three?”
He scoffed.
“Haven’t had time to look at your little dictionary? I got a few words I could let you borrow.”
“That’s okay. I think I can manage on my own,” I said as I raised my fist.
“Backstabber, coward, traitor, asshole, and no longer my friend.”
By the time I finished, all my fingers were up.
“For fuck’s sake, Astrid,” he spat out, clearly annoyed with me. His hand wrapped around my arm, and he turned me around right in front of the witchy shop.
“Let. Me. Go,” I spat.
“We are fixing this…fixing us.”
My throat constricted at his words.
“There is no us.”
My words sounded sad to my own ears.
Before he could reply, I turned to look at the movement I saw by the window. The owner looked at Tyler and then at me and waved to us as she put on the display for the day.
“ No ,” I gasped.
“What?” Ty said, sounding concerned.
Not bothering to explain, I just took off running toward my car.
The card was upside down, but even I knew nothing good could come from the Lovers card.