the summer while helping Spider, or maybe it had begun sooner. After Declan met Elizabeth, I’d witnessed firsthand what they had—love and unicorns and rainbow crap.
Part of me longed for that too. My forever girl.
Axel, the two girls, Declan, Elizabeth, and I finished eating pizza as the doorbell rang. I glanced at the clock. Seven on the dot. Of course–Remi was punctual as shit.
Declan arched a brow at me. “She’s here.”
“This is going to be interesting you living with a girl,” Elizabeth murmured. “Want me to get it?”
“I got it.” I wiped my mouth with a napkin and stood, taking my beer with me. Time to deal with reality.
When I opened the door, Remi and Hartford stood there with several boxes at their feet. The sun had already set and it was nearly dark, but I saw they’d come in a Toyota truck filled with furniture. Hartford’s silver Lexus SUV was parked behind it with several boxes inside.
“Hey,” she said, following my eyes. “I borrowed Lulu’s truck.”
“And she would be the only girl I know who drives one,” I said, forcing a smile.
Her lips twitched. “Yeah, she’s a country girl underneath all that craziness.”
I nodded. Okay. See, we could be civil. I sucked in a breath and willed myself to relax. Best way to do that was to not look at her, so I directed my attention to Hartford. “Let me grab Axel and Declan and we’ll help you out.”
“You don’t have to,” she said.
“I want to.”
She paused. Looked at the ground then back at me. “Okay.”
Hartford’s brow wrinkled as his eyes went from me to her.
After calling for Axel and Declan, we went out to the truck with Hartford and carried in her iron bed, nightstand, dresser, and boxes of clothes. Even with going up the stairs, it only took an hour to get things situated where she could start unpacking.
Hartford went down to grab the last box from the truck while Axel and Declan put her bed together. I carted the box labeled Bath and put it on the floor in her loo. I riffled through it. Curious. I pulled out some hair thingies, a round brush, a small bag of make-up, and generic shampoo. Compared to my extensive list of styling products, hers was seriously low maintenance. I opened her deodorant and sniffed, looking for her scent. Nope. Rummaging to the bottom, I pulled out a small bottle of perfume, but it didn’t smell like her either. Dammit. I was jonesing.
The door opened. I flipped around, tossing the bottle back in the box.
“What are you doing?” Remi asked.
“Nothing. Helping.”
“By sniffing my perfume?”
“No, that’s stupid,” I snapped.
“You were going through my things.” She shut the door and leaned against it, and it was the first time I’d looked at her in the light since she’d arrived. Her eyes looked red.
I scowled. “Have you been crying?”
A pause. “No. I’m just tired.”
I didn’t care. I put my shoulder against the wall, letting my gaze move over her and eat her up.
“You never came back to the hotel,” she said quietly.
My jaw clenched, and I felt my face redden.
A wrinkle grew on her forehead, a confused expression on her face. “Wait. Are—are you angry with me?”
“Have you fucked him?”
Her face paled. “Don’t ask me that.”
“You did.” I gritted my teeth, rage simmering.
“Your question makes no sense . . .” She stopped, her lips compressing. “I don’t have to explain anything to you. Not like this. You’re acting weird when you’re the one who never showed up. You got what you wanted and left. It was a total redo of my freshman year, only this time, you were the one walking away . . .” Her voice hitched. “As far as I know, you planned the entire thing. Did you?” Luminous blue eyes searched mine.
“You don’t think much of me, do you?” I shook my head.
“I did.”
I glanced at her left hand. “You’re wearing his ring.”
“He wants to work things out—”
“Can’t you make up your own mind?” I sneered.
“Don’t . . .”
“Don’t what?” I took a step toward her. “Am I supposed to wipe you from my memory now?”
Fuck. I wanted to.
“Why do you care?” she asked, her voice rising. “I’m just like all the rest. Easy come, easy go. Right?”
I glared at her.
She gripped the doorknob, her knuckles white. “I—this is a mistake. You obviously have a problem with me, and we won’t be able to get along—”
“Too bad you already signed the lease agreement.” No way was I letting her