Page 76 of Third Wheel

Amy didn’t know if they meant to make her laugh or not, but they broke the tension in a big way. Noelle had turned out to be a terrible friend, but that wasn’t Amy’s fault. She’d given the other woman a chance, and she’d gotten burned, but it was Noelle’s fault she’d squandered that chance.

Maybe some people would see being kind and unselfish as weak—maybe Jeremy and Noelle did, but she didn’t regret giving both of them a chance. That didn’t mean she was willing to give them another.

She sighed.

“I really don’t want to talk to her.”

“Can I answer it?” Rae asked, pushing past Domi. Her dark eyes were lit up with mischief as she reached up to pull a wayward braid out of her face.

“Um… you know what? Sure.” Amy handed her the phone.

Clearly, Noelle was going to keep calling. The phone was still buzzing. If she got the message that she wasn’t going to get to talk to Amy, maybe she would stop. There was nothing she could say that would change how Amy felt about her.

With an absolutely evil smile, Rae took the phone and swiped to answer. She didn’t bother to say hello. Didn’t bother to say anything at all. She just launched straight into “Hit the Road, Jack” at full volume. Not only that, but within three words of the first line, every single person in the backyard had joined her.

Pressing her hands to her stomach, Amy doubled over from laughing.

Under the singing, she could hear Noelle yelling furiously, and somehow, that just made it even funnier. Maybe it was mean… but she’d needed this almost as much as she’d needed to burn her wedding dress.

There were multiple ways to find catharsis.

Kincaid

Sitting in the front room, Kincaid looked up from the book he was reading as the lock in the door turned over. Amy came quietly shuffling inside, a sheepish expression on her face when she saw him sitting there.

“Hey… I hope you weren’t up waiting for me. I should have texted to let you know I was running later than I thought I would be.”

“I wasn’t.” He totally had been, but he wasn’t going to admit it. He closed the book, keeping his finger on the page he’d been reading. “I just wanted to sit and read for a bit.”

Because if he hadn’t had something to do, he would have either been worrying about Amy being out so late on her own or stewing about why Zach had been so weird at the end of their dinner. He’d been incredibly quiet on the ride home and almost as soon as they’d got home, he’d said he was tired and needed to go to bed.

Since Kincaid hadn’t been tired yet, he’d decided to do his own thing.

“Makes sense.” She came over and sat down on the couch with a sigh. “Did you have a good dinner?”

“Very.” He smiled at her. “Zach’s sister’s boyfriend was a lot of fun.” Amy giggled as he’d intended her to. “How was the dress burning?”

“There were a lot more people than I’d realized.” She grinned wide enough that he eyed her with suspicion. If she’d been drinking, she better not have driven home. “And then Noelle called.”

Kincaid gasped. He couldn’t help it. “Are you serious?”

“Oh, yes. Twice. I declined the first time, then she called back, so I let Rae answer it, and she sang ‘Hit the Road, Jack’ at her. Well, actually, everyone ended up singing it at her. The whole backyard, full of Stronghold subs.”

He could picture that quite easily, actually. The subbies tended to stick together, and while Noelle had nominally been one of them, eloping with another sub’s fiancé was definitely going to break that bond. Not to mention the fact that she’d taken pictures of Amy and Zach in the club. Even if she hadn’t been kicked out, no one would have ever welcomed her back after that.

“Did anyone get a video of it?” Because he wouldn’t put it past them.

“Angel did from one angle, and Lexie got it from another. They already emailed both videos out to all of us.” Amy giggled again, leaning back against the couch and letting her head loll toward him so she could both rest and look at him. “I can show you if you want.”

“Sure.” He gave up on using his finger as a bookmark and put the actual one in so he could join Amy on the couch, sitting beside her and slinging his arm around the back of the couch so he could watch her phone’s screen. Both videos. He grinned the whole time.

Now, that was what sisterhood was all about. He appreciated that karma had finally bitten Noelle in the ass.

“I almost wish we’d gotten to know why she called, but this is better,” he said when the videos were over.

“Oh, I know why. She texted me, too.” Amy swiped over the phone, bringing up the texts to show him.

Noelle: Fine. You want to make me the bad guy; I’m the bad guy. I just wanted to reach out and try to extend an olive branch, even though you were so rude to Jeremy about paying the money THAT YOU OWED. Good luck with the rest of your life.

---