Blacklisted (Loveless, Texas #3) - Jay Crownover Page 0,73
quickly faltered when she saw I had my arm looped around Presley. Darlie was cute and fun. I’d spent some time with her on and off when I first got to town. I realized too late she looked at me like I hung the moon and was going to be her ticket to the good life in this small town. I wasn’t into anything more than a good time and a few stolen hours in the dark, so I’d cut things off. She still smiled whenever she saw me come into the diner, and she made it obvious she was waiting for me to change my mind.
“Hey, Shot. You and the boys haven’t been by to see us in a while. How have you been?” Darlie skimmed her gaze over Presley and cocked her head to the side as she sized up the pretty redhead next to me. “Who’s your new friend? You look really familiar, but I don’t think we’ve met.”
I should’ve known Presley was going to hate being put on the spot like this. I was instantly irritated at Case and Hill for convincing me to put her on display for everyone and their mother. I could feel her squirming uncomfortably along my side.
“She’s close to the Lawtons.” It seemed like Darlie might be the last person in Loveless who hadn’t heard about Conrad Lawton’s infidelity and his illegitimate child.
“Oh. That’s right. I remember hearing that Kody was all up in arms over their old man having a bastard who he left his entire estate to.” It became clear too late Darlie knew exactly who Presley was and was just pretending so she could be catty and mean. “You look like Kody, but she’s much prettier.”
Presley sucked in an audible breath and I felt her stiffen next to me. My instinct was to jump in and defend her, but Presley quickly reminded me she’d grown up being the outcast, the one blacklisted from social circles and not invited to sit with the cool kids.
She copied the waitress’s head tilt and blinked her long lashes with exaggerated innocence. “I’ll be sure to tell Kody you think so, though I doubt she’s going to take it as a compliment. Are you going to show us to a table or should we just seat ourselves?”
It was the perfect response. Everyone in town knew the Lawtons were tight and ready to throw hands if any one of them came under attack. Presley, none too subtly, just reminded Darlie that while she might not share their last name, she was part of the family and not someone Darlie wanted to pick a fight with.
Darlie sniffed in indignation and whirled around to grab a few menus. We followed her to a table by the window where she practically threw the menus down as she bit out, “I’ll send Felicia over to wait on you guys.” She gave me a look and muttered, “You can do so much better,” before she stomped away.
I looked at Presley, an apology on the tip of my tongue, but she was buried behind the laminated menu. I sighed and tapped my knuckles on the table to get her attention. “Sorry about that.”
A snort came from behind the menu. Irritated she was hiding from me, I reached up and pulled the big barrier down, only to be pinned in place by her emerald glare.
I lifted a shoulder and let it fall. “What do you want me to say besides sorry? It’s not like I lived like a monk before we crashed into one another.”
She made a face, her nose scrunching in an adorable way. “Knowing it and having it shoved in my face are two different things. It’s better to just hang out in my apartment if we’re going to have an unpleasant encounter with one of your former flames every time we step out the door.”
I rolled my eyes. “We can go to Austin on our next date and run into your exes, if that’ll make you feel better.”
I was trying to make her laugh, but her gaze got slightly sad and her mouth didn’t shift from the hard, straight line it was set in.
“The difference is my exes wouldn’t care if they saw I’d moved on, and yours obviously do.” She looked up when an older woman with salt-and-pepper hair stopped by the side of the table and asked what we wanted to drink. I ordered a black coffee; she ordered sweet tea.