Page 24 of Sugar Coated Secrets

He snorts. “You can have any woman on the planet. You’re Ford fucking Keller, and you’re telling me you still want the poor bullied girl from high school?”

“You know why, and I’ve never stopped wanting her.”

“Is that why you gave her a ride that day on her birthday?”

My stomach plummets. “What?”

He furrows his brow and tilts his head. “You didn’t know? That was why Vicki was talking shit about her parents dying when she was ten. They were killed in a car accident on her tenth birthday. You know how people talk gossip in this town. I thought you were giving her a pity ride home because she was walking in the rain on her birthday. I told you I was sorry for going along with them. You know why the girls hated her.”

It was her birthday?

Trent always went along with it because he was always a hard-ass. The one who would bully the dorks at school. He always got in trouble with his slick mouth. Girls loved him. He was funny, and at times, you’d think he gave a shit, but his empathy is as deep as a puddle.

“Has anyone bothered her since then?”

“You’re going to kick their ass or hire someone to do it?”

I scoff. “Answer the fucking question asshole.”

He rubs his eyes with the pads of his thumbs. “Not that I know of. I’m not into cakes and pastries. I’m more of a beer and burger type of guy.”

“Is she seeing anyone?”

He takes a deep breath and sighs. “How the fuck should I know? It’s not like I talk to her like we are good friends. Do you think she would want to talk to me after high school? If I ordered a cake from her, she would probably poison it, but I did hear a cop likes her.”

That has my attention. “What about him?”

“He’s a dick,” he replies, looking at me straight in the eye. “He gives Chris a hard time for racing on the backroads even though it’s on private land.”

I frown. “Who owns it?”

“Chris. He bought that, too. Pissed the fucking cop off when he did.”

“He gives you shit?”

He snorts. “All the time.”

“Why?”

He shrugs and looks away. “I don’t know, but I heard he loves going to the bakery.” I scowl. He laughs. “I went to the supermarket where old lady Persie still works. Overheard her complaining that the Dickhead cop turned her down after she tried to set him up with her daughter. Said he would be fifty by the time Dulce Webster gives him the time of day.”

“What do you think?”

“Me?”

“Yeah?”

He has been here the whole time since I have been gone. He hears shit, obviously.

“You want to know what I think?” he says when I look at him straight in the eyes. “If Dulce Webster would give me the time of day, I would show you our wedding pictures, and you would meet my kid while the other one was on the way.”

“Touch her?—”

“And you’ll kill me. I understood the day you socked me in the eye for checking out her ass.”

He could have any girl. Any of my friends growing up could, but not her. Trent did me a favor by sleeping with Summer. Summer thought I punched Trent because of her, but all the guys knew the truth. The way I looked at Dulce when she wasn’t looking. It was gut-wrenching every time I had to ignore her. I protected her from what they would do if they knew I wanted her. But something in his eyes doesn’t sit well with me. He’s holding back for whatever reason.

“How’s therapy?”

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