Page 10 of Stealing Sunshine

They don’t intimidate me.Shedoesn’t intimidate me.

Balling up the paper towel I used to dry my hands, I drop it into the garbage before following her out of the bathroom.

Johnny invited all of his friends to Peakside tonight because of me, even if he won’t admit that yet. After our talk last week on the porch, he’s been burning holes into the living room carpet with his feet while pacing and listing off every possible person I could stay with instead. It’s a sweet gesture, but not needed.

I’m capable of finding somewhere on my own. It just might take me a bit longer.

Peakside is still as empty as when I arrived a half hour ago, but this time when I pass the double-sided bar, I stop and order a beer. I’m a bit frazzled after my run-in with Bryce, and a drink will hopefully help me shake it off.

The black-haired woman with eyes the same shade as glacial water and skin a shade paler than mine has never failed to snagmy attention. She’s gorgeous in thatlook but do not touchkind of way. There are icicles imbedded beneath her skin, just waiting to poke through and impale you, but the danger of that is almost exciting.

I’ve never been an adrenaline junkie, but when I’m intrigued by something—or someone—I can’t help but want to test just how far I can push before the consequences appear. It’s a personality trait I share with my twin.

After paying for the long neck, I make my way over to the table. It’s packed full, both bench seats housing three bodies and a set of two chairs pulled from other tables to rest at the edge of it. There’s one extra chair, and I would have laughed at the fact it’s beside the one Bryce is sitting in if she wasn’t already glaring at Poppy’s brother, Darren.

He’s sitting on the outside of the bench seat beside my brother and Aurora and is grinning smugly at her, almost as if he stole the spot on purpose.

“Enjoy getting a numb ass, Bryce,” he says, the dig bright in his tone.

She licks her lips in a slow, vicious movement before baring her teeth. “Enjoy having a micro, Darren.”

“Nah, I’ve got a?—”

“Don’t finish that sentence!” Poppy shrieks, hands over her ears. “Nobody wants to hear about your dick size, Darren.”

I pull the empty chair further away from Bryce and set my beer on the table before sitting. She doesn’t react, so I let it all go, focusing on everyone else now.

“Daisy!” Johnny exclaims, slapping a hand down on the table. “The guest of honour.”

“I’m the what now?”

Rory smiles sympathetically at me. “I tried talking some sense into him, Daisy, but you know your brother.”

“That I do,” I agree.

Johnny addresses the entire table next. “As you all know, my twin is back in town to stay, and, well, she wants to move out.”

“Move out of your place?” Brody asks.

The country music star leans back on the bench, his arm in its permanent place over his fiancée’s shoulders. Anna leans into his body, her eyes bouncing around the table as we wait for Johnny to continue. The couple is a love story that will be told for a long while in Cherry Peak. A broody cowboy and the new girl in town running from a past with a man who didn’t deserve her.

“Yep,” Johnny answers.

“Have you thought about Rory’s old rental?” Anna asks me.

I shake my head and cross my legs. “I’m not stepping foot in that horror story home.”

“I don’t blame you. I swear to God, I saw a woman in the upstairs window once,” Poppy says with a shudder.

Rory snorts. “No, you didn’t.”

“I still don’t know how you lived there for so long,” Anna says before pointing at Johnny. “And I don’t know how you let her.”

My brother throws his hands up. “Hey, don’t take shots at me. I tried to get her out of there, but you know how my woman is.”

“And how is that?” Rory asks him, an eyebrow cocked.

He smirks before leaning to whisper into her ear, and a beat later, Rory’s cheeks flame a bright red. I smile softly at the way their eyes meet, and despite the no doubt dirty words he’s just spoken to her, I can’t help but feel really, really happy for them.

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