Hesitantly, I reached out and took Masyn's hand. It was cold and clammy from clutching the beer bottle. "Masyn..." My heart threatened to pound out of my chest, and I couldn't get enough air. "It's not Peyton that I'm in love with.""I should have known better." She made a feeble attempt to sit upright without letting me finish what I wanted to say. "I knew when Beau called off the wedding everything would get messed up. He's home. Petyon's here. And my best friend is falling in love."Sober Lee didn't understand drunk Masyn. "What are you talking about?""Peyton. She's got both of you at her fingertips, and both of you want her.""I don't want her.""Beau does.""So what if he does?""One of the Holstein girls is going to take him away.""From you?" I asked, unsure of where she was going with this."Duh." That was a response I hadn't heard since middle school."Do you have any idea how hard it was to talk to him when he was with Felicity?"I did, although I wa
I couldn't figure out why we kept coming back to Peyton. "You realize she's leaving on Friday afternoon, right? And going back to New York." Peyton was a non-issue. Beau couldn't date her, and I didn't want her. Masyn began to sway. And when she closed her eyes, all the color washed from her cheeks and was replaced with a hint of green. I didn't have any idea how much alcohol she'd consumed tonight, but it was dangerously close to making an appearance. Before I could get up to find a trash can or carry her to the bathroom, her mouth opened and she leaned forward, covering me in everything she'd drank tonight. And it just kept coming, wave after wave. All I could do was hold her hair out of it. Trying to move her would only make the mess worse and leave a trail down the hall or into the kitchen that one of us would have to clean up. As it stood, most of it was being absorbed by my shirt and jeans, or pooled in my lap. When the retching finally stopped, I took the beer from her han
Masyn slept like the dead through the night, and when her alarm went off, she jumped at the obnoxious noise. We both had to be at work in an hour, and I still had to go home to change. She bolted upright, twisted over me, and slapped the snooze button on the nightstand, and the realization hit her that she'd spent the night with me in her bed."Oh, God. Lee...what did I do?" Her hands went to her head where her fingers massaged her temples. There was no doubt she'd have one hell of a hangover to contend with today. "Did we...?" She looked down at my swim trunks and then back at my face. "You know?""No." I'd never take advantage of any woman who was drunk. "After your confession, you threw up, and I brought you in here. You asked me to stay, but we didn't do anything." I hated being the one to remind her of all she'd admitted last night, knowing how much would change between us."My...confession?" she repeated, unsure she'd heard me correctly. With pursed lips, I nodded. "Yeah
I managed to clock in before the buzzer rang, signaling the start of the shift. I hadn't had time to look for Masyn. My head was far too fucked up to try to interact with her, anyhow. She may want to forget everything that happened last night, but I'd done nothing other than agonize over every word she'd said, trying to make sense of it. None of it aligned with what Beau told me at the diner, and I had a hard time believing Masyn would twist things around to create reasons to talk to him when he was at school. That was the kind of shit every other girl in town would do, not Masyn Porter. I had to remind myself over and over, I specifically asked if she was talking about Beau, and even through her rambling, she'd answered yes without hesitation. As much as my mind wanted to convince my heart that I'd misunderstood, there was no misconstruing her message-not even as tired as I'd been. My head pounded from all the noise in the shop, coupled with a lack of sleep, making it harder to wor
"Lee, I'm really sorry about last night."Inhaling deeply, I counted to ten and then exhaled before speaking. "It's not a big deal, Masyn. You cleared the air. I know where we stand. It's all good." I ground my teeth, trying to soften my tone."It seems like a big deal. You're obviously upset. I just want to talk about it.""For God's sake, Masyn, I nearly cut off my fucking thumb. It isn't about you being in love with your best friend." And not me.I stared out the window waiting for her to come back at me, yell, tell me what an ass I was, yet it didn't come. The minutes ticked by with not even a peep from the driver's side of the vehicle. When I turned, a scowl lining my brow, Masyn stared out the windshield. Tears streamed down her cheeks and cut through the dust that lined them."Fuck. Don't cry, sweetheart. I didn't mean to lash out at you."She sucked her lips between her teeth and nodded. Even when I grabbed her right hand with my left, she didn't utter another word.
Going to the shop had been an utter waste of a day, except that I still got to collect hours on my paycheck. I couldn't do shit without my right hand, and it was still too tender to use it to pick things up. I wasn't worried about tearing the stitches out, it just hurt like hell. Farley put me back in receiving so I could check trucks in and deal with shipments going out. An inbred monkey could do this job. There was nothing worse than boredom and idle time at work. If I had to be here, I wanted something to occupy my mind, and this wasn't cutting it. I'd spent the better part of the day thinking about what Masyn and Beau's wedding would be like. When she'd move to Atlanta. How many kids they'd have. It was torture, and I was inflicting it upon myself-they hadn't even gone on a date, and I already had their life planned. The longer I spent thinking about it, the more outlandish my thoughts became. By the end of the day, I had them married with two-point-five kids and a white picket
"Masyn, it's okay to want to get married and have kids. I want to settle down at some point, too." The light in her eyes dimmed a bit, yet not being able to focus on her expression and drive, I couldn't evaluate it. "Anyway, it dawned on me that Beau's not really a part of our lives anymore. I mean, he is, but not daily. The two of us aren't anywhere near as close to him as we were in high school. And let's be honest, his life isn't going to lead him back to Harden...ever."She had a point. One that I'd rolled over in my mind about a thousand times today, thinking I'd lose them both when Masyn joined him in Atlanta. "And what's the likelihood Peyton will ever come back to Georgia?" She chuckled at the thought.I guess that all depended on how foolish the two of them decided to be. She hadn't really engaged in any of his advances, although he'd been shameless in making them. "Probably not great.""Right! So at the end of the week, it's me and you again...the way it always
When I rejoined the conversation, Lani delivered a tray of wings and fries and another bucket of beers. "What have you two done all day?" I asked, once the waitress left.Peyton and Beau glanced at each other like teenagers caught skipping school. Then Peyton answered, "I went over to the Chastains' house, and Beverly helped me go through the contracts from the wedding to see what was owed and what needed to be taken care of. And the two of us made some phone calls."I nearly choked on my beer. "Beverly?" I'd known the woman my whole life and only once dared to call her Bev-right before I smacked her on the backside. Needless to say, it didn't go over well, and I never tried again."Yeah, what do you call her?" Peyton asked with humor in her voice.Masyn and I answered at the same time, "Mrs. Chastain." "I don't think Ryland even calls her Beverly," I joked. "We used to laugh about Beau's parents calling each other mister and missus while they were having sex, and how formal