Page 66 of When We Were Reckless
Was she high? “Um, no. Declan and I were never close.”
“Oh honey, yes, you were. Remember when we dropped him off at culinary school? You cried all the way home.”
“That’s an exaggeration. Crying from New York to Texas would have made me an Olympic gold medalist in crying.”
She’d just laughed and said it would be nice to have him around for the summer. I wholeheartedly disagreed.
Before Declan had moved back home, he’d been sharing an apartment with his friend Joe. Apparently, Joe’s new girlfriend kept turning up in Declan’s bed. She’d even walked in on him when he was in the shower of his en suite bathroom.
“I don’t need that kind of shit in my life,” he’d told me.
And I didn’t need him sticking his nose in my business. “Did you talk to Joe about it?”
Declan had laughed and patted me on the head like I was a puppy dog. “You don’t get it, Bean.”
So here he was, invading my space. When I had suggested he move in with Mason and Holden, who had tons of space, he shot me down. “I spend enough time with them. I don’t need to live with them. Besides, they don’t have a pool.”
“Well, just… you know… stay out of my business.” Wrong thing to say.
“Well, damn,” he’d said, suddenly taking an interest in me. “What’s baby sister been getting up to?”
“Nothing. I just like having my own space, that’s all.”
He’d given me an evil grin like he was onto me and knew exactly what I’d been getting up to. “You don’t stand a chance with Jesse. You do know that, right? You’re just the rebound girl. The one he’s going to use to get him over whatever shit went down with his ex.”
I guess he had seen more than I thought when he caught Jesse and me by the pool. “Jesse and I are just friends.”
“Yeah, okay. Whatever you say. I’m just trying to look out for you.” He’d shrugged and held out his hands. “Just telling it like it is. No point in sugarcoating it.”
That conversation had taken place yesterday morning over breakfast while he was making espresso with the fancy Italian machine he bought Mom for Christmas. She never used it. Mom preferred filtered coffee to espressos and cappuccinos, but she never told him that because she hadn’t wanted to hurt his feelings.
Which was ironic, really. Declan never cared about sparing anyone’s feelings, least of all mine. And I hated that he’d said that about Jesse. I hated that he’d put the seed of doubt in my mind. I’d been dwelling on it ever since the words had come out of his mouth.
Was I the rebound girl?
The stupid girl who would help Jesse get over all the crap Alessia had put him through.
When he was done playing with me, he’d dump me and move on. He’d be perfectly fine, whereas I’d be devastated.
But maybe it wouldn’t go like that. We were friends, right?
He confided in me two nights ago on the way home from dinner, and he hadn’t spoken about it with anyone but me.
So that had to mean something. It had to mean I was special to him.
But what if Declan was right?
From my bedroom window, I watched the party, bodies moving to the beat of the house music, my tattooed brother shirtless and barefoot with his arm slung around a brunette while he did shots with his friends, their laughter echoing over the music.
Maybe it was time to join the party. Far better to take action than to spend my summer sitting on the sidelines, waiting and hoping for something that would never happen.
Chapter Twenty-Three
Quinn
“You good?”Thor asked.
I didn’t even know what was so funny, but I couldn’t stop laughing.
