If We Dare - J.H. Croix Page 0,8

out into the yard, immediately heading over to the small tree house a few feet off the ground. Lucas had built that for her last month, and she loved it.

Lucas watched as she disappeared into the tiny space before his gaze slid back to me. “Okay, what’s really going on? I couldn’t believe it when Walker mentioned he was taking you to the wedding.”

I threw my hands up. “Nothing is going on. Like nothing. You weren’t there, but Walker stepped in and broke up a bit of a scuffle at the bar the other night. This asshole was getting out of hand with a girl there for her twenty-first birthday. You know me—”

I paused when Lucas muttered, “Oh, I know you.”

“What do you mean?”

“Just that you never back down from a confrontation. Sometimes I worry about you because of that.”

With a roll of my eyes, I continued, “Anyway, I tried to get him to back off and the guy was drunk enough that he grabbed me. Walker intervened and straightened things out. When he said he needed a date for the wedding, and I found out it was because his ex screwed around on him with his best friend’s brother, well, I’m all on board.” I left out the bit about Walker helping me out of the dumpster and finding my bracelet. Lucas didn’t need to know every freaking detail.

Lucas chuckled softly. “And what exactly are you going to do?”

“Make her fucking regret it,” I said flatly.

“No need to take what happened with Melissa personally, Jade.” Lucas was referring to his late wife who died from an aneurysm. We found out after she died that she’d cheated on him with a friend for over a year. “In case you missed it, I’ve more than moved on. Valentina’s the best thing that ever happened to me.”

“I know you have,” I said with a sigh. “Valentina is amazing and I adore her. But, I owe Walker a favor. If he needs a date to that wedding, I’ll do it. It’s totally platonic, so don’t read anything into it.”

Lucas studied me, his gaze speculative. I crossed my legs, my thumb reflexively reaching to my opposite wrist to trace over the silver bracelet I wore there, the very bracelet Walker had rescued for me.

“I thought you didn’t date,” he said with a subtle lift of his chin and the hint of a dare in his tone.

I lifted my own chin in return, meeting his gaze head-on. “I don’t. Like I told you, this isn’t a real date. It’s not like that.”

He angled his head to the side, staying quiet just long enough that I shifted my shoulders and uncrossed my legs only to cross the other leg over the top again.

“You know, you had an opinion on my lack of a love life before I met Valentina,” Lucas commented, his tone casual.

“So what if I did?” I managed in reply, clinging to the steely defiance that got me through most situations when I felt uncomfortable. Unfortunately for me, my brother wasn’t intimidated and knew me better than just about anyone else.

“I’m just sayin’,” he drawled, “you gave me a lecture on how I should give someone a chance. Think you said something about keeping my options open, or some other nonsense like that.”

“And? Look where it got you. You found Valentina. She’s amazing and we all adore her.”

Lucas smiled slowly. “I did. And I just might be the luckiest man in the world. My love life isn’t the topic of conversation right now. Yours is. Or lack thereof, I should say.”

I took a breath, willing the churning in my gut to stop. “I’m perfectly fine without any love life. Society places expectations on women, and I’m happy without anyone. I don’t need any pressure, much less from you,” I snapped.

Lucas’s gaze sobered quickly. “Hey, I didn’t mean to hit a sore spot. You know I’ve got your back.”

Few people knew much about one spectacularly shitty event in my life. Lucas was on the shortlist. He did have my back. I loved him all the more for it.

The silver bracelet on my wrist was warming up with my thumb sliding over it mindlessly. My foot bounced, discharging all that restless energy hanging around inside me.

“Walker is a good guy,” Lucas said, out of nowhere as far as I was concerned.

“I know. He’s been around town long enough. All of you in the crew sure like him, so I trust him. You don’t need to go