Page 18 of Double Trouble

She waves me off. “We’re up here, aren’t we?”

“Not playing the games.”

“True.”

“And how bad would Candace kill me if I dragged her future sister-in-law from her party?”

She sticks a finger out. “She’s not the one I worry about, actually.”

“Yeah… Pete is more demanding when it comes to the social stuff.”

“Yeah.” She blows a raspberry and looks over her shoulder. “We should go back. I think he’d hate me more right now if I bailed.”

“You guys fighting?”

“Not out loud.” She shakes her head, and we start a much slower journey to the party. “He knows something’s up with me. According to Demi, he thinks I’m jealous.”

My brows pinch. “Of what?”

“Hell if I know. Candace? Him getting married before me or something? Like I would care about that.”

No, Mad wouldn’t care about that. Kinda wish she would care a little about finding a special someone, but the obliviousness to her appeal is so damn adorable, too.

“You haven’t told him what’s bothering you?”

“I’m not even sure what is bothering me. Not really.”

An unexpected laugh falls from my mouth, and she gives me a look.

“What?” she says. “You think it’s obvious?”

To anyone who knows her, maybe. I could be assuming a lot, but Mad is a caring person. She loves entirely and cares deeply. It’s the main draw I have toward her. I see the way she is with Pete, and I’ve been jealous of it more than once. My brother and I aren’t that close and probably never will be. But they got each other’s backs always. And when Candace entered Pete’s world, I think Mad knew in some small way that her role in his life would slowly start to shrink.

“Pete’s your brother,” I say as we hit the bottom step out of the arcade. “And now he’s gearing up to start his own family.”

Her lips press together, and I hold my breath, hoping I didn’t poke a nerve. “Yeah,” she says after a second. “That’s exactly it.” She juts her gaze to me. “How in the hell do you do that?”

“What?”

“You’re so fluent in mind-reading.”

Ha. Not sure about that. But I do pay a lot of attention to her, and I don’t want to scare her, but it falls out anyway. “Only when it comes to you, Brink.”

“You’re being a real brat today,” I scold June, the troublemaker of the mares. She bucks her head, her lips stretching out toward me as I try to groom her. She nibbles at my shirt, goosing me in the butt.

“June!” I squeal, pushing her head. “I’m going to have to get the crossties. You really want me to put you in that?”

She pops her head up and down, and I sigh. The crossties aren’t my favorite, and Mona Lisa and Pearl were good girls, so I didn’t have to reach up there and hook them in. But June is being a pill.

I’m a bit of a shorty, so I stretch up on my tiptoes after grabbing the rope to clip it to her, but June whips her head up out of my reach.

“You butt, come here,” I say through a strained voice. I jump, but she won’t let me put her in.

A shuffle from behind me has me turning my neck, and Luke steps up, an amused glint resting in his eyes.

Having trouble?he signs.

“Help?” I say, my hands busy and unable to sign it to him, even though I do know that word. His shoulders move in silent laughter, then he gets the naughty horse into the crossties with no problem.

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