Page 71 of My Not So Wicked Stepbrother (My Not So Wicked 1)

I knew Bridget and I would be lifelong friends when she ordered a brownie sundae and told them to go heavy on the hot fudge. We were soul sisters. I ordered a Dr. Pepper float, heavy on the DP and ice cream. At first it was going great with pleasantries of how are you? and how was your business trip? Easy answers. Okay, so I lied when I told her I was fantastic. I did my best to keep her talking about her job as a court reporter. You didn’t meet one of those every day, I guess unless you were a lawyer or judge, but as I was neither, I found it fascinating. She’d been the assigned court reporter for some pretty scary cases.

After my tenth question, she finally reached her hand across the table and rested it on mine. “Do you want to tell me why Sawyer called his dad demanding to meet with him?”

I stared down at my half-eaten float and shrugged. “I don’t know. I guess he wants to talk.”

A small laugh escaped her. “We figured that much out. The question is why he’s blaming his dad for taking you away from him.”

My head popped up. “I don’t know what you mean,” my voice cracked.

She patted my hand. “What’s going on, honey?”

“Have Sa . . . I mean, have father and son met yet?”

She narrowed her eyes. “Oh, this is bad. You won’t even say his name.”

“I know it’s juvenile. I’m just trying to forget about him.”

“How’s that going for you?”

I gave her a crooked smile. “Not so well.”

“I’ve been there. Those King men, they get under your skin and take your heart hostage.”

I nodded. That’s exactly how I felt.

“Did you guys break up?”

“Why does everyone keep saying that? We were never a couple.”

“Uh-huh.” She grinned. “You two weren’t fooling anyone except maybe yourselves.”

I took a big bite of my ice cream soaked in Dr. Pepper. Food at its finest. Bridget waited for me to revel and then swallow.

“Have they talked?” I asked.

She shook her head. “Not yet. I think Warren is a little afraid. He wanted to get some background information first.”

“So, you’re his spy.”

“I’m his partner and your friend.”

“I could use a few more of those after last weekend.” The tears I had been so good about not shedding filled my eyes. I regurgitated the entire ugly affair, but made sure she knew I didn’t divulge the conversation we’d had before I went to Alabama. “I didn’t tell Sawyer,”—there I said his name—“what you told me. I only recommended he talk to his dad and get the full picture. And I’m sorry if you and Warren hate me now for thinking Ashton is a cheating thief.” I leaned back in my seat and let out a deep breath.

Bridget dropped her hot fudge covered spoon in her mostly eaten dessert bowl. “You had quite the weekend, didn’t you? I’m so sorry about your family and Sawyer. Don’t worry about Warren and me; we aren’t going anywhere.” She sighed. “Unfortunately, what you’ve said about Ashton isn’t all that surprising.”

My brows jumped to my hairline. “It’s not?”

She hemmed and hawed a bit. “Warren has been worried that Ashton wasn’t exactly truthful about why he got divorced and had to leave Vegas in such a hurry. He asked to borrow a pretty good sum of money when he got here.”

“Did Warren give it to him?”

Bridget shook her head. “He gave him a few hundred dollars and a place to stay until he started working for your dad.”

“Does Warren know what kind of trouble he was in?”

“Not exactly, but Warren overheard a few conversations that made him think he owed a lot of money to a lot of people.”

“Is Warren in contact with Ashton’s ex-wife?”

“We never met her. They weren’t married that long. It was one of those quickie Vegas weddings. We offered to come visit them or to have them visit us, but Ashton always had some excuse as to why that wouldn’t work.”

This was fantastic freaking news. Ashton had portrayed his marriage and divorce much differently to me. He’d acted so heartbroken. He’d even cried and said they’d known each other forever, so it came as a shock to him when she left him with nothing.

I was at a complete loss for words. There was nothing I could do. My family had made their choice, and it wasn’t me. “I don’t even know what to say.”

Neither of us had to say anything because, lo and behold, a blonde goddess entered unexpectedly. That pretty much summed up my life anymore, a series of unexpected events. At first, she didn’t see me, which I was grateful for and hoping to keep it that way. I watched Shelby walk with purpose in her heels and tiny wrap dress across the tiled floor to the counter. Both teenage boys manning the ice cream scoops began fighting over who would serve her.

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