Page 12 of Drunk Dialing My Enemy

“You’re shopping?” she raises a brow.

“No,” I say, eyeing the black teddy that Katie is still holding against her curves. “But I wanted to look around and see if there’s anything I can fix.”

“Why would you do that?”

“Because for once, you’re going to allow me to,” I say. “You’ve wanted me to stay away from here since I bought the place. Not anymore. This old building needs a lot of work.”

And I’m not letting my woman work in some rundown old shack.

“Are you going to rebuild my bridge?” she jokes.

“Yes.”

This takes her by surprise.

“Darren, I was kidding. What do I need a bridge for?”

“Clearly it meant something to you. You’d walk across it all the time. Even ate your lunch on it a few times when the weather was nice.”

“You’ve been stalking me.”

She doesn’t sound displeased about this. And I don’t attempt to deny it.

“It was sentimental,” Katie says, gazing out of the storefront windows at the pile of old wood. “I had a couple of birthday parties here when I was a kid. And then in high school, me and my friends would sneak out in the middle of the night and meet on it.”

“That was a hangout spot?” I ask. “I had no idea.”

“No boys allowed,” she explains. “Even cute ones.”

“So you thought I was cute.”

“Everyone thought you were cute,” she rolls her eyes. “And they were constantly asking Dot and me about you.What does he do at his house? Do you ever see him shirtless? What kind of shampoo does he use? Does he talk to any girls on the phone?”

“So you were spilling my secrets.”

“I didn't tell them a damn thing,” Katie says proudly. “I respected your privacy. Also, as far as I was concerned, you were mine. I wasn’t about to help them charm you by giving them inside information. In fact, sometimes I intentionally misled them.”

“What do you mean?”

“You remember going on some dates with Summer Settler?”

“I think so.”

“I told her that you absolutely loved show tunes. That’s why she bought you the Annie soundtrack for your birthday.”

“You put her up to that? I always wondered what that was about. That was so…weird.”

Katie smiles sheepishly as I shake my head, bewildered to absorb this information. Not only was Katie in love with me, she was so possessive over me that she intentionally sabotaged my dates.

Should that be a turn on?

Because it kind of is.

“Sorry,” Katie says. “I would never do something like that now. I was a teenager in love and all of these popular mean girls who would normally never be caught dead hanging out with me were suddenly trying to be my best friend. I realized it was just so they could get close to you.”

“That sucks.”

“It wasn’t just me. Dot, too. Oh, Dot loved to mess with them so much. You don’t even want to know the kinds of rumors your sister would start about you.”

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