Page 38 of Make You Mine

He laughed in response, and his amusement made my anger flare.

“What is your problem?” I glowered at him, trying to keep my temper in check.

His smirk widened, and he shrugged nonchalantly. “I’m not being serious. It’s all in good fun.”

“Yeah, well, try having fun without being an asshole.”

“This is great,” he snarked. “Piper sure can bring the protective side out of people.”

“Except for you, right?” Lucy stood, glowering at him. “You treated her like shit.”

“You don’t know her like I do.” He insisted. “She’s unforgiving. I deserve what I got, I accept it, but Dana does not.”

Lucy was incensed. “Who the hell do you think you are? Both of you betrayed her.”

I held up a hand to silence them both. “You don’t know Piper at all,” I ground out. “And you sure as fuck don’t know me or you’d be on the opposite side of the park keeping your fucking mouth closed.”

Lucy grinned, with a glint of mischief shining in her eyes. “Ooh, I like you.” She took Larry’s leash from my hand and smacked the side of my arm. “A lot.”

I grunted in response.

“Gotcha, come on, boy. Time to go home,mamais waiting for you.” Richard’s smirk returned as he patted the top of Cody’s head and walked away. Cody hesitated, torn between following him and staying close to Lucy, but eventually, he trotted after Richard, casting a forlorn glance back in our direction.

“That stupid asshole,” Lucy muttered. “He knows how much Piper loves that dog.”

“I do not like him,” I stated.

“You made that obvious.” She drew her head back as she studied my face. “And in case you were wondering, I don’t either.”

I glanced down at her, a smile tilting my mouth up at the corner. “Nope, it’s pretty clear where you stand, too.”

“Good. To hell with him and to hell with making peace. Screw that guy.”

We stood for a moment, watching as Richard and Cody faded into the distance.

I heaved out a sigh, wondering what I could do about the situation, other than chasing him down to beat the shit out of him and take Cody home with me.

“So, you and Piper, huh?” Lucy’s eyebrows raised as she aimed a satisfied smile my way.

Shit.

I might have gone a little too far. We were supposed to create simple fake dating rumors—not what I’d just done.

Damn my temper.

“You don’t have to answer that. I’m just nosy.” She laughed. “But you are invited to the weenie roast. Catch you later, Ren.”

“Yeah, later,” I answered distractedly, wondering how in the hell I would bring this up with Piper. “Wait, weenie roast?”

“Yeah, weenie roast. I’ll tell Piper I invited you.”

She was already walking away, so I decided to forget about the weenie roast—was that a metaphor, or a barbecue? Never mind. I had bigger problems to figure out now, like how to tell Piper what I’d just done.

“Come on, Larry, you have a planter box to snack on,” she muttered as she led him toward Something Sweet.

I turned to head home, then felt the first raindrop hit my forehead. Great. Just what I needed. I broke into a sprint, hoping to get home before the skies opened up completely. My luck, of course, was nonexistent. The rain started to pour, each drop feeling like a cold slap to my face. I hunched my shoulders, grumbling to myself about how this day couldn’t get any worse.

The streets were nearly empty, with only a few poor fools like me outside scrambling for shelter. The rain quickly soaked through my clothes, making me shiver in the growing chill of the evening. I sped up, my shoes splashing through puddles and sending water up my legs.

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