Page 15 of Cookout Carnage
“And what am I supposed to do with that, Juliet?” I’m freaking the fuck out. It’s like the stars summoned her. Or there’s a strange loop in time that Mobius stripped her ass back here at the perfect moment. I can’t deal with this. Jules is here. Can’t process. I have to retreat. She’s too much.
She’s fucking right in front of me like a vision. This can’t be happening. I step into her space, and her breath catches. I don’t remember this phone call. I touch her cheek, and her eyes close. Then I stomp away, pulling at my hair.
“I called?”
“You called.”
“I love you?”
“Yes. That was the gist of it.”
“And I called? I called you?”
“You can keep asking, but it doesn’t make it less true.”
“And you’re here because I love you?”
“And to stop you from marrying her.” She shrugs.
I shake my head. “And a crazy woman called you too?”
She nods. I rack my brain for any memory of reaching out to her. There’s nothing. A blank void, fuck. Like a blackout. “February 12th.” I groan loudly. Then I turn back to her. “Was the crazy woman’s name Tabi?”
She nods again.
“And then I called you. And you didn’t call me back? After I said I loved you?”
“Oh, I called. A lot. And texted. And you blocked me.” And it all makes sense. She takes her hair and twists it up into a bun on top of her head. My whole body sizzles with wanting her when she handles her hair that way.
“I blocked you?”
“Yup, blocked. We’re not going to get anywhere if you keep repeating information I’ve already said.”
“Shit.”
“You about ready to call off the wedding?” She walks over and sits back down. I glance at her long tanned legs popping out of the most perfect cutoffs in the world. She’s always cut them so that a small sliver of her luscious ass can pop out at any moment. They’re the absolute star in any fantasy I’ve ever had. Even if I was trying not to think of her, my dick always conjures those fucking shorts.
She’s tapping away on her phone, then plays something. It’s my drunk-ass voice emanating from the tiny box of destiny. The airport.
“Hey. Hey. Are you ok?” She pauses the message.
I have zero memory of this damn call. I yell and point at her, “This is why I don’t drink wine.” I kick the stones in front of me, and one of them hits Squeakers. She ruffles and moves to another sunny spot.
“Wine? Wine made you do it? I thought it was some drunk girl named Tabi who mentioned I should pull my head out of my ass before it’s too late. And that she had no designs on you, but that true love was her aim.”
“Jules, I’m sorry. This is all too much.”
“It’s not enough. Call off your wedding.”
“Done,” I exhale as I say it. She should know I didn’t do it because she told me to.
“When?” She leaps up and is in my face. Her scent permeates every part of me, and I’m fighting the instinct to toss her in the back of the truck.
“Last night, and then she tried to blackmail me.”
Jules laughs. “That actually makes sense.”
I raise my eyebrows. We can both remember when the rest of the Prom Court mysteriously came down with stomach flu leaving Tanya to be crowned Prom Queen.
