Charity Case - The Complete Series - Piper Rayne Page 0,176

right later.”

I huff out a small laugh. He reaches up and cups my cheek. “Baby, one day they will. What we have is complicated and none of them understands. All they see is some has-been baseball player who lost his shit in a bottle of Jack. A guy who left his new bride alone and abandoned. But that Dean is gone and maybe they haven’t realized it yet, but you have. For me, that’s all that matters. But if those people in there matter this much to you, then I’ll make damn sure they know what we already do, that you’re number one in my life.”

I shake my head. “You shouldn’t have to do that. It should be enough that I know, and I tell them so.”

His large palms slide down my bare arms, taking each hand in his. “Your family is important to you. I’ve always known that.”

I step into his strong arms and he holds me tight to his body.

“But the bitchy girl who’s throwing a tantrum because she didn’t get what she wants has got to go.”

I jab him in the stomach, but he never moves an inch.

“You love my bitchy side.”

He chuckles into the night air. “I love every side. But I think everyone in there would prefer to see a different side of you.”

“How fitting I find you both in the alley?”

Dean steps us to the side so we can see who it is, but I’d know that voice anywhere and I prepare myself for round two.

Chapter Twenty-Six

“Thank goodness you have clothes on this time.” Skylar’s arms are crossed, her eyes throwing daggers at me.

I slide out of Dean’s embrace, stepping in front of him as though I’m protecting him.

“Let’s remember one thing before we get this started, I never gave you shit about Beckett. If anything, I pushed you toward another man, so he’d realize he loved you.”

“Okay girls.”

“Stay out of this, Dean,” we both say in unison.

Dean steps out from behind me. “Fine. Go at each other’s throats.”

Skylar and I are practically like sisters. We grew up together, playing tag around holiday dinner tables, secretly telling one another our crushes. Jeez, with the same last name, people thought we were a set of adopted twins all through school. This isn’t the first time we’ve thrown it down, and I know it won’t be the last.

“I’ll be inside.” Dean opens the door, passing Skylar with a shake of his head.

“Were you never going to tell me?” Skylar asks, her gaze narrowed on me.

Anyone passing by would probably think we’re minutes away from pulling each other’s hair out. That’s not us though, we punch and kick. We just haven’t done it since we were sixteen.

“Obviously from your reaction tonight, I chose correctly. I don’t need your doubts.”

Her exaggerated huff echoes in the dark. “You’re the one who calls him your biggest mistake.”

“Maybe I was wrong.” I shrug.

Her shoulders lose the fight and sag.

“Maybe he’s changed. People can change,” I say.

Her hands leave her hips. “I never said they couldn’t, but Chels—”

I raise my hand in the air. The dim yellow light above the door our only way of seeing one another.

“I don’t want your negativity. I love him, okay? I know very well I’m lighting the match on the explosive and my entire life could blow up. But maybe it won’t. I don’t need you and my mother and Zoe and anyone else who wants to weigh in telling me he’s no good.”

She steps closer and there’s a glimmer of a smile on her lips. “You’re so intense right now.”

“I was there for you.”

“I know,” she says softly.

“I never told you how horrible of a guy Beckett was even when he was being the biggest douchebag.”

She stops in front of me, her smile on full display now. A glimmer of hope sparks inside me.

“I don’t need another mother, Sky. You’re supposed to be on my side.”

Her hands touch my shoulders. “Okay.”

I roll my eyes. “Okay? It’s that easy?” I cock a hip out to the side, not fully believing her.

“Let’s remember who got in that awful pink dress for that dinner reception your mother forced you to have after you and Dean ran off and got married. I stood by your side then and I’ll stand by it again, Chels, but this time if he hurts you, you better have money for bail.”

She pulls me into an embrace.

“Is that a deal?” she asks. “If he hurts you, I take a meat cleaver to his nuts.”

“That’s