Page 68 of The Pucking Proposal

She hasn’t only deluded herself into thinking there’s anus, but she has my career planned out, with her apparently at my side as I get signed by the nearest team to Maple Creek.

“Mollie! No,” I snap. “There’s no us. There never was.”

This is taking too long. I have to get out of here and get to Joy so I can fix this. I step around Mollie, taking care not to touch her, but she grabs my bicep. “Dalton!”

“Don’t touch me!” I bark loudly, not caring who hears, as I shake her off and stride out the door.

“Open the fucking door, Joy!” I yell as I bang on her door.

I half expect her to ignore me or do the stupid “leave a message, beep” thing. Instead, the door flings open so fast and hard that it bounces off the wall behind it and rebounds to hit her in the shoulder.

“Fuuuck you, Dalton Daysss!” Joy snarls, her lip curled and her eyes red.

She’s drunk. I know she didn’t drive home that way, so she’s been drinking since she got here. It’s not how I want to have this conversation, but I’m not gonna let this ride. We’re talking it out now. Drunk Joy or not.

I push into her apartment, closing the door behind me, only to see ...

“Are you cleaning?” I stutter, looking around. There’s nothing on the floor except vacuum lines on the rug, her coffee table is gleaming, the couch pillows are fluffed and karate chopped, the sink is empty, and I can hear both the dishwasher and washing machine running.

“Rage cleaning and alcohol seemed like a good way to deal with my fucking problems.What’zhit chu you?” she sneers.

“June told me what happened.”

Joy whips her head around, her brown waves flipping behind her as she dismisses me in favor of folding the couch blanket. “Whatever. I knew better.”

“What do you mean ‘you knew better’? Because you should fucking mean that you knew better than to believe Mollie’s lies,” I roar, and she pins me with a glare. She haphazardly lays the blanket on the back of the couch, not saying a word. “But you don’t, do you?” I bite out.

“Yeah, sure. Mollie’s lies,” she repeats, rolling her eyes. “Of course,she’slying.” She throws her voice low, mimicking a man’s pitiful pleading, “No, Joy. I swear I’m not screwing her. It’s you, only you.”

I don’t sound anything like that. Have never sounded anything like that. But she knows someone who has.

The guy who cheated on her a long time ago. The athlete boyfriend. Right now, I could choke a motherfucker, and I’ve never met him.

She’s not mad at me. Or notonlymad at me. She’s mad at him, and at herself for daring to think that I would be different than him. But I shouldn’t have to pay for mistakes he made when I’ve done nothing but be honest, respect her, and love her.

“You know I have a past, but I haven’t fucked Mollie since long before we started anything. Hell, I haven’t so much as looked at anyone else since October,” I declare evenly, trying not to yell again. “I’ve only looked atyou. But Mollie obviously found out about us, and she knew you were listening in that bathroom, so she told June a whole bunch of lies to run you off. It worked.” I huff out a humorless laugh that something so stupidly simplistic could ruin everything.

Joy doesn’t move, her eyes still full of mistrust and skepticism. “Why would she lie, Dalton?”

“Why does anyone do anything? I don’t fucking know, and I don’t fucking care about Mollie. I care that after everything we’ve been through together, you didn’t even consider, for the tiniest of seconds, trustingme.”

She looks as though I slapped her, the shock of my statement hitting harder than a hand ever could. It’s all the answer I need.

“At the slightest nudge, you trusted a complete stranger’s lies over me. You didn’t hunt me down and ask, or kick my ass.” My chest is tight and aching, and I lay my hand there, trying to stop the hurt as I say, “You just believed the absolute worst about me with no hesitation.”

Her chin drops, but it’s too late for shame because though Mollie might’ve been scheming, her lies have revealed an even bigger betrayal than cheating.

“It doesn’t matter that Mollie made that shit up.” I run my fingers through my hair, gripping the strands punishingly tight. “It doesn’t matter, does it? What matters is thatyoulied tome.”

“I lied?” she echoes, pointing at her own chest in exasperation. “What do you think I lied about?”

“You were never gonna give us a real chance, were you?” I answer quietly. “I’ve been all in with you for months, reminding myself at everyturn to go slow because it’d take time to overcome my reputation. You made me believe that if I was patient enough, proved myself worthy of the great Joy Barlowe, that we might have a real shot. But it was never going to be enough.Iwas never gonna be enough.”

I can’t believe it’s taken me this long to see the truth. But I see it now, clear as day. I’ve been such an idiot.

“Because it was never about that, was it? I haven’t been fighting my past, I’ve been fighting yours. And you were never truly gonna let me in, were you?”

She freezes, but the ice in her eyes is a mere representation of the frigid landscape of her heart. I’ve made my way past her brick walls, barbed wire, insults, and more, but underneath it all, there are only more shields she hides behind, keeping everyone at bay. Including me.

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