Page 60 of Catching Mr. Right

“Okay.” I exhale. This is happening and there’s not a damn thing I can do to stop it, which means it’ll go easier if I just give in to the fact that she isn’t meant to be mine. “We should go into town and make sure we’re seen by your Sam. Wouldn’t want to deprive him of front row seats.”

“Tonight then?” She cocks an eyebrow and waits for my answer.

“Absolutely.” I step away from her. And then tomorrow I’ll take Soldier and move on. The same as I always have. Like I planned to before I started wondering what it would be like to stand still with Mandy Pearce. “Mayhem?”

“Yes. I’m going to go home and primp. I want to be at my best.” She swipes her hands down her skirt as she walks away, and it hits me. It knocks my breath clean out of my lungs. I’m never going to be able to touch her again. This might well have been the last time. I’m not going to get to savor her taste or the way her skin blushes all over when she cries out my name. I don’t get to kiss her anymore, or listen to her voice, or tell her what to do in the kitchen. Or feel ten feet tall when she looks at me like maybe I’m better than perfect Sam.

How can I possibly feel more for Mandy Pearce as she walks away from me than I did for Juliette when she died? How can the second time my world stops be so much worse than the first?

***

Mayhem is pure chaos. I guess they got the name right when they chose it. Out on the vinyl dance floor Mandy and Summer and this other girl named Ashleigh who’s apparently Summer’s other best friend wiggle to the music while I play pool with Gabe and Dylan. Any other night and I’d maybe say the two guys are enjoyable company, but everything is sour tonight. Even the beer I’ve been nursing for almost thirty minutes now.

Mandy looks so damn beautiful. She practically glows and she’s wearing this ridiculous silver mini dress that is just killing me inside. The back drapes open almost to her ass and it’s clingy in all the right places and her pink lace bra peeks through in a way that leaves me uncomfortable as well as ready to rip the limbs from anyone who looks at her. Which basically means I’ve been death glaring Sam fucking Sweets all night.

And he’s been glowering back at me. It’s funny, when you think about it. He’s the one who told Mandy she wasn’t good enough for him. He’s the asshole who made her feel rejected. And still he’s the one she’s choosing to be with. But right now, he’s jealous of me the way I am of him. He’s wondering whether she could ever feel about him the way she supposedly does about me. He hasn’t got a fucking clue that I’m nothing to her.

My cell rings and I put down my beer before I answer. “What’s going on?”

“There was a woman here looking for you.” It’s hard to hear Claire with all the noise. “She said her name’s Moira, and that she’s here for the horse. She was quite adamant that I hand him over.”

My heart jack-knifes before I recall that Soldier isn’t at the ranch. I took precautions. I moved him as soon as I chose to stay. I march around the crowd in the middle of the room, slip through a door that leads into a tight corridor behind the main area, where it’s quieter. “Tell her he’s not on the ranch and that she should discuss our business with me.”

“I tried to tell her that he’s not stabled here, and that she should come back and talk to you in the morning,” Claire tells me.

“Good.” I exhale. I took a risk staying here after she showed up. I couldn’t say no to Mandy. Or maybe I couldn’t say no to the way she makes me feel, but I should have known better. Sticking around wasn’t smart. It won’t take Moira long to find Soldier when there’s only a handful of stables close by. “I’ll deal with it. She won’t bother you and Razer again. I promise.”

“I’m more worried about you. She left threatening to call the police on you, Cas. Are you in some kind of trouble?”

Yeah. Mandy Pearce is some kind of trouble. I knew it from the start. Doesn’t help me now, though, when I’m tied up in knots over her. Watching her with Sam is killing me. Knowing I’ll lose her by the end of tonight is twisting me up inside. Knowing I could lose Soldier because I couldn’t live without the way Mandy Pearce makes me feel is terrifying. And what if Moira actually meant it when she threatened to involve the cops this time? “Nope. Nothing I can’t handle.”

“Are you going to be leaving soon?” Claire asks.

“I think I might be.” I lean against the wall and scrub at the top of my head. There’s no point in staying any longer anyway. “Mandy’s good in the kitchen, though, and she’ll be able to wrangle you some help for the last week of camp, I’m sure.”

“We’ll survive. It’s only a few more days,” Claire says. “Will we see you before you go?”

“I don’t know.”

“If there’s anything we can do…you’ve got Razer’s number.”

“Yes. Absolutely.” I try not to let the thickness in my throat, and the slow, tight way my lungs squeeze come through in my answer. “I’ll be in touch.”

“Cas?” Mandy says as I hang up and slide my phone into my pocket. “Are you okay?”

“Sure,” I respond, still facing the wall, concentrating on breathing in and out. I’m perfectly fine. Why wouldn’t I be? It’s not like three months with this beautiful, maddening girl didn’t spin my world like a top. Whichever way I turn I lose something important to me tonight. The past, the present, the future. It’s all on the table.

Juliette’s laughter fills my head. The memory of her hands finds my skin. She’s whispering dirty words in my ear with her atrocious French accent. It was so bad, so, so bad. Remembering it now makes me snort.

“How is it we’ve lived in Paris for three years and your accent is still as twangy as it was the day I met you?”

“It’s not,” she says, grinning up at me. “Memories are funny, don’t you think? Right now, this memory didn’t happen quite like this. You were so angry, Casper. You had plans. Big plans for the two of us.”

“Because I loved you. I wanted everything with you.”

“You were blind.” She shakes her head. “You still are.”

“Cas?” Mandy touches my shoulder and I jump. My thoughts fall away like crackling leaves.

---