Page 49 of Bull Rush

I shrug. “He was part of my family before I ever fell for him. He was my brother Bo’s best friend for years, and he was always good to me. Even when I was just the annoying younger sister.”

Bea smiles as she studies my face. “When did you fall for him?”

I shake my head. “I don’t know exactly. I can’t really remember a time when I didn’t think he was amazing. I guess at some point when I was in my teens, I realized it was more than just friendship.”

“Did he start things? Tell me he did. I want to believe he was this cute, sweet kid with a secret crush on his friend’s sister. Dying to tell her but too scared to do it at first and then just blurting it out at the worst time.”

I grin at her ability to paint a picture. It’s sweet to see how in love she is—so much so that she’s painting everyone around her with the same rose-colored shade.

“Not quite. My boyfriend at the time canceled plans to goto junior prom with me at the last moment. I already had the dress, the tickets, and the plans with my friends. Everyone else had dates already. So I wasn’t just getting dumped for the dance, but I was going to have to play wallflower too. Miss all the things I was looking forward too. I was crying about it at my locker, trying not to let anyone see. My friends’ boyfriends had all these amazing plans—flowers, limos, corsages—and I was going to be the lone single girl with no one to even dance with. I was thinking about not going, but then it was junior prom. It only happens once in your life, you know? At the time, it seemed so important. You know how teens can be dramatic over those things.”

“Yeah. I was the same way though, so I get it. Ramsey to the rescue, I’m guessing?” She gives me a hopeful look, and I nod.

“So I’m bawling my eyes out at my locker, and Ramsey walks by, the senior football player and all that infamy it comes with, with his entourage of friends and admirers. He sees me wiping my tears away, and he stops and asks me what’s wrong, whose ass he ‘needs to beat.’ I was so grouchy with him because everyone was looking at me, and I was already humiliated, you know?”

“Oof. Yeah. High school wasn’t easy for me either.” I raise a brow because I can’t imagine someone as prim and perfect as she seems didn’t have it easy. I would have picked her for prom queen, if I had to guess.

“Ramsey eventually pried it out of me, and he wrapped his arm around my shoulder and took me with him down the hallway. All the girls were jealous as hell. And my boyfriend saw me and lost it. He started talking shit to Ramsey, and the two of them ended up outside. They both threw a few punches, and Ramsey came back in, his knuckles all bloody, and he told me he was my ex-boyfriend now, and he’d pick me up for prom at five on Saturday.” I laugh when I picture theaudacity of teenage Ramsey. I suppose I should have known then how he’d turn out.

“Oh my god. I would have died for that kind of scene in high school. Straight out of a movie.”

“Right? But I tried to protest because my brother Bo was his best friend. He was the quarterback, and he wasn’t gonna be okay with Ramsey taking me out—even just for show.”

“The plot thickens.” Bea sits up a little straighter and pops a grape in her mouth.

“But Ramsey was like… ‘I don’t care what Bo says. You want to go to prom, I’m taking you.’” I deepen my voice as I pretend to be him.

“Oh god. I love it.” Bea titters as she waits for more.

“So I went home and then just completely panicked. Ramsey was always just this… untouchable older guy, you know? And now I was going to have his undivided attention, and we were gonna have to talk about things. I was going to have to wear something amazing too because he never went to things like prom. He didn’t dance, and he didn’t do school-sponsored events. Too cool for all of that. So I knew everyone was going to be watching him—watching us. Some of those girls rooting for me to fuck it up and embarrass myself. I was terrified. I stressed about my dress, my makeup, my shoes… every little thing had to be reconsidered.”

“So much pressure.” Bea nods. “I can’t imagine if Cooper had gone to my school and asked me to prom. I would have melted into a puddle.”

“Right? I wanted to feign being sick to get out of it, but then Bo came home pissed off about it, ranting about breaking Ramsey’s nose for going near his only sister. I didn’t want Ramsey to have gone through all that trouble for nothing.”

“Did you pull it off?”

“Yes. Thankfully. I called Bristol, my best friend, andshe came over and saved me. I loved makeup and all that, but she was always better at it than me. She had me all fixed up by that Saturday night and managed to look gorgeous herself too. She really is magic, honestly. When Ramsey picked me up, I think he just stared for thirty seconds first.” I laugh as I think about the look on his face. “It was like he didn’t recognize me.”

Bea grins. “I would pay money to have seen that.”

“It was awkward at first, but then the more we talked at dinner and in the car… the more relaxed he was. The more we realized how much we actually had in common. And I realized how hot he was.”

“You didn’t notice that right away?” Bea looks at me skeptically. “With the dark hair and the green eyes and that jawline? The broody sort of attitude he has. That would have killed in my high school.”

“I mean, I knew he was attractive, objectively. But… you know… it was one of those things where he was Bo’s friend, and I had never really looked at him like that. He ran around with my brothers, and that was that.”

“But then you went to prom and he kissed you and happily ever after?”

I laugh, and she looks disappointed.

“No. More like we went to prom…. He danced exactly once to half a slow song because my friends antagonized him. Immediately after, he dropped me off under the watchful eye of my brothers, and then things went back to the way they were, for the most part.”

“But you ended up married?” Bea gives me a confused look as she pours another glass of wine for both of us.

“We ended up at the same college.”

“Ended up at?” Bea looks at me skeptically again, like she doesn’t quite believe that was entirely a coincidence.

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