Rocking Kin (Lucy & Harris, #3) - Terri Anne Browning Page 0,61

her uninjured hand to emphasize what she was doing. The other hand was still in a soft cast and would be that way for a few more weeks.

Lucy frowned as we continued to walk. I glanced at her out of the corner of my eyes, saw the flow of emotions and the kaleidoscope of thoughts as they passed over her beautiful face. Seriously, the girl didn’t realize just how beautiful she was, and when she was having a conflicting inner moment like she was right then, she was that much more beautiful.

Reaching out, I caught her arm and pulled her around to face me, forcing us both to stop before we could reach the doors that led out into the student parking lot. Where I was sure my step-bitches were impatiently waiting on me.

“What’s up with you today?” I asked the question, but I already knew the answer.

Harris.

Love.

I wasn’t jealous. At least not of them together. Just of what they had. How effortless it seemed. How perfect they were together. How…everything they were together.

Lucy started to touch her lips again and I was about to slap her hand away from her mouth when she dropped it and let out a sigh. “Sorry, I’m just a little…”

Shaking my head, I couldn’t help but laugh, but it held little humor. “In love?” The word tasted flat on my tongue and I grimaced.

Love was a bitter pill to swallow when you refused to let yourself feel it.

When my best friend just shrugged, I wanted to beat it into her head to not let herself get so caught up in one guy. It was a trap. All of it. Love was nothing but a…

Love was beautiful, but I didn’t want to see its beauty right then.

“Just be careful, Lucy,” I told her in a quiet tone, not wanting to spoil her love high, but unable to keep from warning her. “I know how wonderful it feels to be in love like that. It’s like you’re walking on a cloud. Nothing could possibly bring you down. Until he breaks your heart.”

“Kin—”

She started to speak but I cut her off. “Look, I’m not trying to bring you down, babe. I’m just warning you to be careful. Okay? Just take it…slow.”

Knowing brown eyes narrowed in understanding and I wanted to shy away from her, hating how close we were for a moment because she could see how deep my pain was. “You didn’t take things slow with Jace, did you?”

I dropped my eyes, unable to let her see it all. “No.” It came out practically a whisper, but I cleared my throat and forced myself to look up again, but not meeting her eyes. “No, things went at warp speed for us. That’s probably why we didn’t last. I gave it up too soon and he lost interest. Why else would he have found it so easy to leave without a backward glance?”

It was what I’d told myself countless times in the past, but right then I didn’t believe it. Not completely. I knew his music had come first and I respected that.

I’d just wanted to come in a close second. Had that been asking too much?

“Because he’s an idiot who doesn’t realize what a good thing he had,” Lucy said as she wrapped her arms around me so tight I had to hug her back. “Harris isn’t like Jace, though,” she tried to assure me. “He’s one of the good guys.”

As much as I knew that, I knew that even good guys did stupid shit. “Even the good guys have their douchebag moments.”

She didn’t answer and after a moment of silence where I knew I would never be able to convince her that Harris Cutter was anything but her knight in shining armor, I let her pull me toward the exit. “What are you going to do over the next month? You can spend as many nights at my house as you want.”

I didn’t want to think of what I would be doing; instead, I wanted to do what I always did. “I know what I wish I was doing,” I confided in her. “Every Christmas we went to Aspen for at least a week. Carter has a cabin up there and we go out and cut down our own tree. Then we decorate it with all kinds of stupid things.”

I lowered my lashes, trying to hold on to the memories that were assaulting me. Of snowball fights with the twins. My mom making her special