Page 26 of Golden Rule

That stern look Sterling leveled atmenot too long ago is now aimed at Dane, but he doesn’t say a word.

“Are you… sure you don’t still feel something for Lex?”

Shaking his head, Ricky lets out a quiet laugh. “I’m notnearlydrunk enough for this shit.”

Sterling crosses both arms over his chest, but he doesn’t speak right away.

“Think about it,” Dane says. “You’re living back home for the first time in years, and you two already have Jaxon together. It’s atleastcrossed your mind.”

“Un-fucking-believable. I can’t believe I’m getting this shit from you,too. It’s bad enough I have to hear it from Tiffany.”

Frustrated, Sterling gets to his feet, but I’m still processing. With the drinks starting to hit his system, I don’t even think he realizes what he’s just done, exposing a crack in the otherwise perfect façade of his relationship.

Apparently, Tiffany’s not convinced Lexi’s old news either.

Dane puts his hands up in surrender, but when he speaks again, his words don’t quite line up with someone who’s decided to call a truce. “Not sure when we stopped being able to talk shit out like men, but it’s cool. Just forget I asked.”

“Don’t pull that shit,” Sterling snaps. “Fine, you want to stick your nose where it doesn’t fucking belong? Let’s lay it all out there then. Lexi and I fell apart because life—more specifically, our asshole fathers—had already fucked us both up so much that we self-destructed. We got sick of being each other’s verbal punching bags, got sick of all the toxic bullshit, and eventually got smart enough to fucking bail! On the relationship. On each other. Because it was the only way foreitherof us to keep our fucking sanity intact!”

He falls silent, but keeps pacing, staring at the floor as his jaw flexes with rage. Only, I can’t tell whether he’s just angry the subject came up, or if it’s something else.

“Know what? Fuck you,” he says, glaring at Dane. “And as far as I’m fucking concerned, neither of you have to be at the wedding next year. Thanks for letting me know where we stand.”

Sterling storms toward the exit, and Dane stands to follow him out to the parking lot. My stare lingers on the door a few seconds, wondering whether they’ll need me to mediate, but then I decide against it. When I spin on my stool, facing the bar again, Ricky stares as I sip my water.

“Do we need to get out there?”

“Nope, they’ll work it out. We know better than to swing on each other, so the worst they’ll do is say some shit they’ll have to apologize for in the morning.”

Ricky chuffs a laugh, then rests both elbows on the bar. “I’ll take your word for it.”

I imagine myself knocking back a cold beer, feeling it settle the tension as it slides down my throat, floods my bloodstream.

“Damn. Not quite how I saw things going today,” Ricky says, cutting into my thoughts. “Meeting up was supposed to make thingsbetter,but I guess things don’t always go as planned.”

Like him, I’m sensing a trend, how things always seem to go from bad to worse here in Cypress Pointe.

They say what goes up must come down, and I get that. Things can’t always be on the upswing. But at this point, it feels like all we’ve done since getting here is have our lives hurled straight toward the ground at full speed.

I suppose there’s an upside, though.

The only place to go from here… is up.

Hopefully.

Chapter Eight

Blue

No sooner than the waiter leaves our table with his tip in hand, Joss breaks our only rule for the evening.

“Ok, I know we agreed not to mention Ira’s name during dinner, but I swear all I can envision is him spontaneously combusting during the next press conference. Just… sitting there, burning, screaming.”

She zones out on her fantasy, and I smirk too, thinking that would be perfect karma for that asshole.

Jules stops mid-sip to lower her glass and ask a question. “You really think he’ll be invited to the next one?”

“Of course, he will,” Joss scoffs. “Yeah, Coach Wells gave him a warning, but it takes a lot for a reporter to get banned from these sorts of things. And unfortunately, being a dick isn’t grounds for dismissal.”

---