Page 89 of Never Kiss the Bad Boy

She doesn’t seem to care that those ‘distasteful men and trucks’ are the ones standing at her side and sitting in her yard, watching this whole thing play out like it’s Saturday night at the movies. Wayne, Frogger, and Zeus just need popcorn and a Coke to complete their viewing party of the afternoon matinee, ‘Kathy’s a Kuntcake, Part XVII.’

“I’ll figure something out,” I spit out, not to anyone in particular, but because putting that out into the universe seems prudent.

“Dani,” Kyle says, and I glare at him.

It’s not his fault. Logically, I know that. But I’m too mad right now. At Kathy… at the damn pool that’s never going to get used anyway… at myself… and yeah, at Kyle, too. If he hadn’t been such a conscientious pool installer, he wouldn’t have gotten the fence line resurveyed. He would’ve thrown up Kathy’s new fence right where the old one stands, and none of this would’ve mattered.

So I just need a minute to rage and then I’ll figure out what the fuck I’m going to do.

Some people think anger is a waste of time, a useless destructive force that ultimately hurts the one feeling it the most. But I’ve fueled many a life change on anger, stubbornness, and a dangerous amount of caffeine. And I can do it again.

I will do it again.

“This isn’t over,” I vow to Kathy.

Her answering smirk is as devious and sly as her scheming is, and she drags Kyle away by his arm, saying, “Kyle, let’s walk through the flower bed design again.”

He looks back at me over his shoulder, his anger not quite matching mine but damn close to the nuclear-fallout level coursing through my veins. I don’t have time to worry about his apologies and ‘I didn’t mean to cause problems’, though, because I have to figure out what I’m going to do.

CHAPTER 28

KYLE

That night when I send the guys home, I go to Dani’s door, ready for a bitch session where we share our thoughts on how awful Kathy is and pretend-plot some awful ways to get back at her.

I’m leaning toward posting a fake estate sale at her house that starts at six a.m. with a note to please ring the bell repeatedly because the sale holder is hearing-impaired. I’m picturing a line full of the dedicated, hardcore buyers lined up on her precious front yard, ringing her bell over and over, and then yelling at her when she opens the door so that she can ‘hear’ them. And then, they’ll yell even more when they find out the sale is a fake.

Am I gonna do that? No. Not because it’s wrong, but because it involves the shoppers and it’s not their fault Kathy’s a bitch.

Is it fun to imagine? Fuck, yeah.

But Dani’s front door is closed. I knock, but instead of Dani answering the door, I hear the music turn up louder inside.

This is what we’re doing?

I’m surprised at Dani. If she’s mad, especially at me, I would fully expect her to come at me with both barrels firing. Conflict avoidance doesn’t seem like her style. Conflict provocation is more how she rolls.

So I go around to the side door, the one that opens up to the patio in dispute. But it’s closed too. And when I peer in the window, I can’t see Dani.

I bang even harder there. But she doesn’t come to the door.

I text her… Open the door, Daniela.

I get the notification that she’s seen the message, but she leaves me on read. Three little dots don’t appear like she’s considering answering me, and the door doesn’t so much as rattle.

My anger renewed now, and directed more at myself and Dani than Kathy for the moment, I stomp to my truck and climb inside. I slam my palm to the steering wheel, glance at her house one more time, and then drive away, going too fast but not giving a fuck.

“You sure about this?” Wayne asks me for the third time.

I sigh heavily, wishing there were some other way, but there’s not and believe me, I spent all night thinking about it after roaring away from Dani’s house yesterday. “Yeah, take it down. Let’s get this over with.”

Zeus and Frogger walk along the chain link with snips, cutting the wire connectors that hold the sections of fencing to the top rail. But they keep one eye on their work and one eye on Dani’s back door.

We’re all expecting her wrath.

And though she comes outside, her mere presence causing Zeus and Frogger to scurry over and hide behind me and Wayne, she doesn’t say a single word to us. She just sends a narrow-eyed glare at each of us individually, though mine is a special delivery with a bonus snarl. I’m almost disappointed I don’t get a fuck-you finger or two.

She goes back inside, and Frogger shivers like he’s freezing cold, though we’re working in the hot morning sun. “Fuck, that chick is scary as hell.” He laughs as he says it, but I whirl, grabbing his shirt and clutching it in my fist as I hold him nose to nose with me.

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