Page 137 of The Wife Situation

I smile. “She’s alone?”

“Your clone and friend went to town for dinner.”

“How?”

She smiles, pulling a wad of cash from her pocket. “I rented them my car.”

“And what do you drive?”

“A Mustang GT.”

I laugh. “That was a mistake.”

“Why?” she asks as I walk toward the back door.

“My brother will drive the fuck out of it.”

Her jaw clenches. “I made him promise he wouldn’t.”

“Trusting him was your first mistake. The second was not charging him more.”

Her mouth transforms into a line. “I might kick his ass.”

“I think you should.” I give her a nod and make my way outside to find Lexi.

29

LEXI

Ilie out on the blanket, looking up at the billions of stars that fill the night sky. I hear footsteps behind me and turn to see a figure stalking toward me, but I know that gait.

“Easton?” I whisper, and he stops at the edge of the blanket, looking down at me. “You survived my brothers.”

“I did,” he says. “However, Chris might have a concussion.”

I shake my head. “What?”

He sits down next to me. The hint of a campfire and alcohol mixes with his cologne. “I told them I didn’t want to fight.Theyinsisted.”

“Are you unscathed?”

“Other than my knuckles. I boxed professionally for over a decade. I explained it wasn’t a fair fight. Violence is never the answer, but if I’m fighting foryou, forus… well, they gave me no other options.”

I fall back laughing. “This istoogood. I’ve been telling them for years that they need to stop threatening people I go out with, that, one day, they’d get their asses kicked. I can’t wait to give my brothers atold ya so.”

Easton lies back and looks up at the stars with me. I grab his hand in mine, and our fingers interlock.

He turns his head toward me. “What are you doing out here, alone?”

The breeze blows slightly. It’s magical under the sea of stars as fireflies dance in the distance. An orchestra of crickets accompanies the fluttering of the butterflies inside my stomach.

I smile, keeping my eyes upward, recalling the summer constellations twinkling in the diamond sky. “My dad always told me that if I was lost, the stars would guide me.” I point up. “Polaris.”

“True north,” he says.

“Like the compass and star field on your arm and shoulder,” I tell him.

“Of course you paid attention.” He smiles, brushing his thumb over mine.

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