This Fearless Girl (St. Clary's University #2) - E. M. Moore Page 0,35
wait. You don’t know the whole story,” Lucas calls out.
Come to think of it, he’s exactly right. I should’ve been told the whole story before this though.
“Stop trying to fight his battles, Lucas,” I snap.
A hand reaches for me. Thinking it’s Lucas, I turn to tell him I appreciate the effort, but it doesn’t help. Instead, I’m confronted by Stone’s blue-gray eyes. Behind him, Rissa has one hand on the door jamb, tears streaming down her face.
“Dakota,” Stone says. “Don’t run away from me.”
“I can’t be your...side piece.” I motion toward Rissa. “Do you know how icky that feels?”
His gaze turns hard. “You aren’t a side anything. You’re it. You always have been, and if you’d let me talk for more than a few seconds, I’ll show you. I’ll prove it to you.”
I scan his face for the lie, but all I recognize is earnest, true feelings. “Kiss me,” I demand. “Right now.”
I can’t even take a breath in preparation before he’s on me. His lips seal to mine, his tongue plunging at the seam of my mouth, destroying the last threads of sanity I’d been holding onto. He swoops inside, every glide a claim on me. Every attack a promise.
He reaches his hand up into my hair, giving it a quick tug toward him, and I mold my body to his. It’s like the moment by the safe. He owns me. I know it. He knows it. Now we’ll just have to see what he does with that knowledge.
He pulls away, my entire body pricking in goose flesh. “Now, give me one second, okay?” he asks. “I have to go deal with this nuisance.”
Wyatt and Lucas snicker as Stone heads back toward the pool house. “I was wondering how long it was going to take him to make a real move,” Wyatt says.
“Yeah,” Lucas replies, his smile tinged in apprehension. Worry lines his forehead, and I realize what that must have looked like to him. “I see that look on your face. It’s fine. I meant it when I said we own you. All of us.”
I peek toward Wyatt as a hungry gaze takes over his features. If that’s true, I wonder in what way the cowboy wants me. As another plaything? As someone who can help him get to sleep? As something more?
Lucas presses a finger to my lips. “We decided a long time ago that our feelings for you weren’t going to get in the way of our friendship.”
I brush him away. “How long ago is a long time ago?”
“Since you were in pigtails.”
They saw me when no one else did. When I was just a dirty rug rat attached to my father’s hand, they stared straight into my eyes and saw everything there.
Every hope.
Every shattered dream.
The rational part of me wants to deny it, but I can’t. My eyes are open now. I’m seeing for myself, without the lens of someone else’s opinions.
“Here’s the happy couple,” a jovial voice announces.
Wyatt, Lucas, and I turn to find the party has moved into the pool house. The woman who cried out for Lance when I told Rissa off is smiling wide with happy tears. “I can’t believe this is happening.”
My stomach bottoms out. They gather around Rissa and Stone, the former crying. Through the open door, I watch as Stone steps away, gazing with distrust at his father. Lance saunters up to his son, patting his son’s shoulder with his good hand and squeezing until Stone looks uncomfortable.
“What the fuck is this?” I whisper.
“Nothing good,” Lucas tells me, striding toward the door while Wyatt grabs my hand.
“Oh, Rissa honey,” the woman singsongs.
“What, Mom?” Rissa looks confused as ever though I suppose that’s her natural face.
Lance lets Stone go and reaches into his pocket, pulls out a ring, and offers it to his son. “This was your great grandmother’s, and I’ve seen Rissa, here, ogling it. I want you and Rissa to have it.”
Stone looks incredulously over at his father. “Dad, I can’t—”
“It’s okay,” Lance says, his face still straining to keep his calm composure. “I know my grandmother would’ve approved of your choice in bride.”
“Is this really fucking happening?” I growl, watching the whole scene like it’s a horror movie. Stone keeps looking at his father like he’s completely lost the plot.
Lucas tries to say something, but Lance yells at him to step aside and not ruin the moment.
This can’t be. This doesn’t happen in real life.
“Dad, I can’t,” Stone stresses again. “We’ve talked about this.”