Page 278 of The Trouble With Bad Boys

“You can,” I assured her while my mind was racing with the admissions she’d just made. “Did you go to jail?”

“Yeah. I spent a few years in the slammer, but I’ve been out for almost a year.”

“What have you been doing since that time?”

This was more talking than we probably did since she arrived, and with Carley being so forthcoming, I wanted to ask her as many questions as possible without letting this come off as an interrogation. Like what tonight had felt like with Easton.

“Mostly just trying to survive. I’ve worked some dead end jobs trying to score enough cash to come here to Denver. You’d really turned your life around after getting to Colorado, and I was hoping I could do the same. A clean slate and all.”

“It was hard, but it’s definitely worth it to be on the right side of the law.”

“I know. I wasn’t sure how you would feel about me showing up on your doorstep, but I’m glad I came. We not only get a chance to reconnect, but I think you are just what I need to turn my life around.”

“Ten years ago, I wouldn’t have believed it was possible, but if I can change, then you can, too. I have faith in you, Carley.”

“I love you, Shelbs.”

“I love you, too.”

My cousin stood up, and I did the same. She then enveloped me in a tight embrace which made me wince considering the wounds the robe concealed. I exhaled the moment she pulled away from me.

“I’m so thankful for you and everything you’ve done for me. I’ll make you proud. Hell, I might end up making the both of us proud of me,” Carley told me.

“I’m sure you will. It’s nice to have you here. Sometimes it gets lonely being in the city all by myself.”

“You need yourself a man, Shelbs.”

That was an understatement. I had one, or maybe part of one. Hell, who knew anymore. I’d been getting so close to Easton, and I’d trusted him so much. Never had I allowed myself to feel anything more than anticipation or arousal for a man, and tonight only reminded me that it’d been for the best. The late night calls... mid day text messages... and overall attentiveness he’d shown me over the time we’d been together had made me overvalue what I truly was to him. I was nothing more than a sex toy he could take on and off of a shelf whenever the urge struck him.

“What’s wrong, Shelbs? You look like you’re about to cry. Was it something I said?”

I turned back to my cousin. “No. As wonderful as my life in Denver might seem, it truly lacks in the romance department.”

“Surely you’ve had to have caught the eye of someone since arriving here. You look like me so I might be biased, but we’re hot as hell.”

I laughed at the last part. “Don’t get me wrong, I’ve had boyfriends and all. It just never seems to amount to anything because we always end up having different views about basically everything. It’s hard to be accepted for who you are.”

“Don’t I know it,” she lamented. “You need to get laid, though. I did last night and it made today much better for me.”

“You did what? Who?” I asked completely in shock.

“Some guy downstairs, but it’s nothing serious.”

My head was spinning with that revelation. Here I’d been trying to sneak around with Easton, and she’d been doing the same with someone else. “You didn’t have to hide it from me.”

“I wasn’t which was why I told you about him. Now, we just need to get you some action,” she told me. I sat back down at that, and she obviously recognized my expression and did the same. “Uh oh. There’s something you’re not telling me, Shelbs. Spill!”

“Tonight, I wasn’t going to see an employee. I was meeting up with a man.”

“Shelby Lynne Prescott! You could’ve just told me as much. Who is he? When am I going to meet him? Where did you meet? Is he hot? Good in bed? Does he have a job?”

“Whoa,” I said as I waved my hands in front of me. “You ask more questions than...”

I stopped before mentioning Easton. “Than who?”

“It doesn’t matter,” I said. “I don’t think I’m going to see this guy again so none of those answers matter.”

“Did you two have a fight?”

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