Page 10 of Ghosted By Texas

“I’ll handle situations as they arise, but I won’t tolerate that kind of interference with my potential happiness, Becs. If you have any problems with her, I expect that you’ll be honest and communicate those things with me.”

“Easy enough, but fair warning, Austin, if it comes down to it, and you refuse to believe me over her without communicating with me through the process, we’re done.”

He swallowed noticeably and I watched as his Adam’s apple bobbed up and then back down. Maybe I was weird, but there was something about watching that action and did strange things to me. My eyes drifted to the pulse that thrummed not far from there. His heartrate ticked up with the prospect of losing me or dealing with his bestie. I didn’t know which, but damn if it didn’t sink that doubt about risking a relationship with him even deeper in my gut. The man would be dangerous to my heart and still, I jumped in with my eyes wide open.

“Where are you headed tonight?” I turned to see Clea eyeing me skeptically.

“Austin is taking me to dinner.”

My best friend’s sigh did nothing to alleviate the broody butterflies swarming around in my belly. The dirty blonde locks she had swept up into a high ponytail swished as she shook her head in disappointment.

“What? Just spit it out, Clea.”

“I’m worried about you, Becs. You’re my best friend, so that’s my job. The first few dates you went on seemed to go well and you talked about this guy like he was the only one you’d ever seen.” She chuckled. “And maybe that’s true to a point. I don’t think you’ve allowed yourself to see anyone else in a real way. Then you came home from that last date all depressed because he ditched you for a friend and you’ve been acting weird ever since.”

“I’m just nervous. I’ve never liked a guy before. Well, you know, I’ve liked plenty of boys in my past, but never in a way where I saw them as a potential part of my future, too. It’s freaking me out a bit, that’s all. I swear.”

In truth, I wasn’t exactly lying to my friend. The prospect of having a long-term boyfriend, or possibly more one day, had well and truly freaked me out. It wasn’t in a bad way though. It was more like I could feel hope returning for once. The icky part, and what I wasn’t proud of, was keeping the whole Jordan situation from Clea. I knew she wouldn’t understand. My friend was a bulldog when it came to protecting others. She would bite down on the offending person and not let go until they got well and truly gone from the situation.

“I’m here for you, whenever you need me.” The dubious stare she leveled on me was enough to drill her point home. She knew I was holding back but was willing to give me time. “I won’t even be mad that there’s something you’re not telling me because we all need to keep our own confidences sometimes. If and when that changes, I will always be here.”

“That is why you’re my very best friend in the whole wide-world.”

My pronouncement made her smile, which was all I could ask for before the doorbell rang and I took off running. I don’t know why, but I wasn’t ready for Clea and Austin to meet just yet.

“Did you ever hear that anticipation makes things better?” She called out from behind me.

“If you knew Mr. Texas, you wouldn’t keep him waiting either.” I waggled my brows at her and then turned to open the door. Because my best friend was such an amazing person, she didn’t even attempt to peek. That’s where she was a better person than I was. I would have totally looked. Actually, I probably would have raced her to the door to force a meeting because my curiosity always got the best of me. I think that’s why Clea and I worked as well as we did. We were one another’s counterbalance.

“Hey gorgeous, are you ready to go, or need a minute?” Austin asked.

I snagged my purse off the desk near the door and slipped out quickly. There was no missing the curious glance Austin threw over my shoulder. “I’m ready.”

“Hmm,” he hummed out his response as I locked the door behind me. “Not ready to introduce me to Clarence yet, I see,” he teased to my complete amusement.

“Well, he’s still a little touchy about the subject of me dating some other man and all.”

“If you hadn’t already told me about Clea on our first date, that door would be off its hinges.” I turned to see he was completely serious.

“Remember that feeling and don’t ever give me reason to experience the same,” I warned. “I won’t be ripping doors off hinges. It will just be the end of us.”

“Promise, I won’t.”

“Good, now I do believe you owe me a fabulous second-chance first date.” I winked at him as I turned to walk toward the parking lot.

“A blind date? You want me to go on a blind date for Valentine’s Day! What is wrong with you?”

“Nothing! It’s not like you’ll look desperate or anything. He doesn’t have a date either.” I tossed a pair of high heels at my best friend, that she would never wear in a million years, but it worked as a distraction so she would stop sighing. She’d done it so much over the past twenty minutes that I was concerned it would turn into her hyperventilating.

“There is no way I’m wearing heels.”

“You have to,” I teased. “They go with the dress!” Poor Clea, she had no clue that I’d already thought about every tactic she would use to get out of the blind date, and I had a plan for every single one of her excuses. Mostly, it involved keeping her distracted until it was time for us to head out.

“Do you remember the last time I wore heels?”

“I can’t remember you ever wearing heels, now that I think about it.” Lies. All lies. How could I forget? That had been a disaster of epic proportions and Clea’s date would probably never forget it either. I was fairly certain the poor boy ended up with scars from that incident.

“Prom,” I pretended to finally remember as I snatched the high heels back from my bestie. It was all a part of my grand time-wasting plan. There was no way I’d allow her to kill herself, me, or anyone else on the night I was finally going to introduce her to my perfect Mr. Texas. Yes, his name continued to grow in my mind. It would be hell to get that on our marriage certificate one day. Perfect Mr. Texas Austin -whatever-his-middle-name-was – Mercer. I’m sure it would have more of a ring to it once I found out his middle name. Weird that I didn’t already know it after two and a half months of dating.

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