Chapter Three
Bella
“I don’t know,” I shrug and study my sister, whose hair somehow sparkles like those ‘Twilight’ vampires. Maybe she actually is a vampire. She did spend a summer in Washington, and it would explain a lot of her weird behavior. Mostly the part where she sucks the life out of people.
“What do you mean you don’t know? If you were in his house, why didn’t you take pictures?”
I roll my eyes to the side and dip my spoon into the pint of chocolate chip cookie dough.
It’s exactly what I need to help suppress every feeling I’ve had since leaving Clint’s.
Heck, I might need two pints given the fact that I was just curled up against his bare chest as he carried me in from the shore.
The man looks like a marble statue come to life and feels even more solid. As I remember that hard body holding me tight against his skin, my pussy twitches uncontrollably.
He smells like the most masculine man I’ve ever smelled.
I don’t make a habit of smelling random men, but Clint’s sent is hard not to notice.
It’s woody and warm with leather or something else behind it.
I don’t know, but whatever it is, I want it made into a candle that I can burn nightly while I’m getting off or needing comfort.
“I told you, he’s not going to rent the place. He’s selling it.”
“To someone who wants to rent it, so it’s the same thing. Plus,” she sighs and twists her index finger into her shimmering hair, “he’s probably full of it.” She shakes her head as she says, “I don’t think you understand. I need to see what he did to the place.”
“You need to let this go. He’s a nice guy, trying to make a little change off a place you sold him fair and square. The end.”
“Fair and square?” she scoffs. “Nothing was fair about that deal. I took what I had to because I needed the whole thing to be over with. He took advantage of me.”
I don’t know the details of whatever deal they made, but I know my sister.
She loves flipping the script depending on her mood.
Now that she’s got her cabin, and the money from the sale is gone, it makes sense that she’s feeling screwed over.
It’s giving… consequences aren’t fun, which is a common theme in her life.
June did the same thing when she broke up with her last boyfriend, Jet.
They didn’t own property together, but they did buy a car.
When they sold it and split the profits, she felt she could’ve gotten more money if she had written the listing.
Of course, she didn’t tell anyone this until after the money had been split and Jet was long gone.
She rolls her eyes and tugs at her fake eyelashes as she says, “You have to go back out there. I have to have those pictures.”
“No!” I shake my head and dig my spoon deeper into the pint. “It’s over. You want to know more, go back out there yourself.”
“So… I guess you’ve forgotten about everything I’ve done for you?” she chides, her voice rising and falling in a sing-song pattern of noises intended to guilt me.
I roll my eyes. “And I guess you’ve forgotten that I’ve literally done everything in the world to thank you.
I take your dry cleaning into town every week.
I gave you like two thousand dollars to buy a new washer and dryer.
I watched Mr. Meow while you were out of town for a month when you knew I’m allergic to cats.
And… I even went out there today to spy on Clint for you. What else can I do to thank you?”
I don’t usually get feisty with my sister, but I’m really over her holding everything over my head right now.
Plus, I have things I need to do this summer.
Relax, for one. I can’t relax if I’m sitting around in soaked panties imagining all the sexy things her big, inked, ultra-masculine ex could do to me.
She stands from my bed and stares at herself in the full-length mirror behind my door as she readjusts her big, silver belt. “You could go back out there again.” She twists back toward me and winks before sliding out of my bedroom door. “I know you’ll do the right thing.”
The right thing?
Sometimes, I think my sister is a cartoon villain. I mean, how else can I make sense of the perfect hair, face, and body, yet horrid personality?
She’s a textbook evil witch!
The second the thought crosses my mind, I feel terrible. What’s wrong with me? June didn’t have to help me get that job at the school, so what if she wants some form of repayment? I’m sure a lot of people want to be repaid for their kindness.
The second she’s gone, I dial my friend Pepper.
She’s getting married in a couple of weeks, and I know she could use the extra support right now.
Plus, I’ve been trying to keep busy since I left Clint’s place.
The less opportunity I have to think about the massive bulge in his boxers and what it would look like hard, the better.
“Hey, babe. What’s up?” Pepper answers on the first ring. “Are you ready to help me run away from my terrible, crazy, insane life?”
“Sure! Can I come with? I have a vision of us together somewhere warm and sunny. No responsibilities, no one weighing us down, just endless nights of margaritas and dancing with strangers.”
“Yeah,” I can hear her smile through the phone, “you really know me. Can we go now?”
“Sure! Right after I go get the pictures of Clint’s lake house for my sister,” I moan. “I couldn’t imagine leaving town and not fulfilling her every whim first.”
“Oh God,” Pepper groans. “You’re insane for letting that bitch tell you what to do. Sorry, not sorry. You could’ve gotten that job on your own. She knows that too.”
I drag in a deep breath and let it out slowly. She’s the second person today to tell me that, but I’m not sure I believe it yet. I mean, I did get good grades in school, but everyone knows that teaching in small districts like this is all about who you know, especially fresh out of college.
I drag my hand back through my hair, the rain falling heavily against my bedroom window. “How’s the wedding planning going?”
“Oh, ya know. My groom told me to fuck off three times yesterday, so… things are good.”
“What?”
“Yeah. I was stressed about my mom being in the hospital, and this work thing that was weighing on my mind, and I’ll admit, I was hysterical. The full crying, screaming, total breakdown mode.” She sighs. “I don’t know what I’m doing with my life anymore.”
My stomach tightens as she talks because I know there’s more to this than pre-wedding jitters, but the wedding is in less than two weeks. I honestly don’t know what to say.
“Maybe you should take a break. A real one. We could really go someplace warm, and just… relax for a couple of days.”
“I’d love that, but I know everyone would freak out. Besides, you need an accomplice for your break-in.”
“My break-in?”
“We both know you’re going to do your sister’s dirty work, so I’ll come with. We can wear all black and sneak in after dark.”
“It was embarrassing enough that Clint had to fish me out of the water today while I babbled on about getting attacked. I’m not going back tonight, all ninja-style. With my luck, I’d break my leg trying to jump onto the deck.”
Pepper laughs. “Please! I need a distraction. Let it marinate for a minute. We can buy matching black footsie pajamas and cat masks.”
“And get ourselves killed,” I laugh. “Everyone has guns up here, and apparently, they’re not afraid of terrifying, mythical creatures.”
“What?”
“Nothing,” I laugh. “If I go, I’m going alone. Easy in, easy out. If you want to do something wild, we should hit up Vegas together. Gambling, loads of distractions, and—”
“You’re deflecting.”
“What? No, you’re deflecting! You don’t want to go through with this wedding, do you?”
“Nope!” She offers the answer before I can regret my bluntness. “Not even a little.”
“So, what are you doing then?”
I hear the shrug in her voice as rain continues to pound outside. “I don’t know. Maybe he’s stressed too.”
Part of me wants to remind her that Nathan was pulling this stuff far before she accepted the engagement, but it’s not my place.
Not two weeks before the wedding. Plus, every story has a thousand sides.
I don’t know the inner workings of their relationship well enough to have an opinion on it, though I’d like to pretend I do.
“Stressed is one thing, but your mom isn’t doing great. You’ve been traveling in and out of town to take care of her. It’s okay to need extra support, and he should give it to you willingly.”
“Yeah,” she whispers low under her breath before a short period of silence. “It’s fine. It’s all going to be fine. Besides, I feel obligated to go through with the wedding now. I mean, everyone paid so much to all these vendors, and we have guests coming from out of town. It’s… a lot.”
“You’re not required to do anything, especially when it comes to marriage. I mean, I’m sure your friends and family would rather you bail now than be miserable for half your life, eventually divorcing because you only got married out of obligation.”
“No,” she laughs, “that’s the furthest from the truth.
I think just about everyone I know would think I’m throwing my life away.
This whole situation is most people’s dream, and they wouldn’t let me hear the end of it if I didn’t show up.
Anyway,” she exhales loudly, “it’s all good.
Nathan and I get like this, then things get better again.
No big deal. I just have to learn to rely on other people for emotional stuff. That’s all.”
“You should be able to rely on Nathan for emotional stuff, Pepper. That’s the whole point of a relationship.
Why would you make his dinner and do his dirty laundry if he can’t even give you support during one of the roughest times of your life?
Come to think of it, why do his chores at all?
He should be sharing in the responsibilities. ”