Page 56 of The Dallas Dilemma

“And?” he asks.

“And it didn’t come up,” I murmur, guilt making my cheeks heat.

“You didn’t talk to her about it?” he asks, his eyes wide and worried.

“I couldn’t,” I say, my tone a little more defensive than I’d like. I heave out a long breath. “Shedistractedme before I could mention it, and this morning…I don’t know, Linc. I’m not sure if you know this, but Josette––Joey––suffers from anxiety. I couldn’t lay it all out this morning, then leave her to stress and obsess over it all day while I come to work.”

Linc’s face tenses, and I scrub my palm down mine before locking gazes with him and telling him to just say what he wants to say.

“It’s not really my business, and even if it were, I don’t exactly have experience with this kind of situation, so you should take my advice with a grain of salt.” He pauses and takes a deep breath. “I think you should talk to her. The longer this secret swells between you, the more it will fester.”

I ponder his words for a moment, then sigh. “I hear what you’re saying, and normally, I’d agree, but this is technically Josette’s secret. She figured out who I am first, and she didn’t say anything. I’m nervous to bring it up and tell her that I know before she’s ready to talk it through. I want to give her whatever time she needs to work through this on her own and decide how she wants to proceed. With our relationship, I mean.”

“You can’t just let this go on forever. At some point, you’re going to have to come clean if she doesn’t, and the longer you wait, the worse it’ll be,” he says, then claps me on the back before leaving me to my thoughts.

He’s right, of course. Josette very well could decide to pretend like she doesn’t know. Like, forever. I need a plan. And a timeline.

Maybe I could slowly reframe our online relationship until she feels comfortable enough to tell me the truth. If we stop acting like enemies on Cackle, she’ll be more comfortable with me being Bodacious Buckaroo. Right?

When we break for lunch, I open the app and tap out a post. When I’m done, I tuck my phone away and stareat nothing as my mind races. Will JoeyB reply? Even if she doesn’t want to, she might, anyway, so there’s no sudden shift in our online dynamic that might give her away.

I pull my phone out and open the app again. Not because I think she might’ve replied. No, I’ve got notifications for that. I just want to reread what I wrote and make sure I still feel good about it.

There’s a delicate line between egging her into replying and making her decide I’m not the man for her, after all. And I’ll walk that tightrope any day of the week if it works toward ending these secrets between us.

God, I need to make that happen. I already feel like Josette is mine. I sure as hell know I belong to her.

And I need it to stay that way, no matter what.

CHAPTER NINETEEN

Joey

DFW@BodaciousBuckaroo211

Die Hardis a Christmas movie. Pine is the best “Chris.” Rose murdered Jack. Team Jacob all the way.

54 ?1.4k ?870

I see Dallas’post as soon as I go to lunch, and I can’t decide what to do. I want to ignore it because interacting with “Buckaroo” as “JoeyB” when I know the truth just feels wrong. But it’s already weird that I didn’t respond to his last post, and my paranoia is rising up, making me think Dallas will get suspicious of me if I don’t respond to this one.

I know it’s ridiculous. No way would he ever figure out I’m JoeyB on his own. Not unless I get careless.

But at the same time, I don’t want to take any chances, so I slowly type out a response.

JoeyB@JoeVSVolcano

Die Hardis most definitely NOT a Christmas movie. Everyone knows Pratt is the best Chris. And Team Jacob? Yeah. It makes sense that you’d root for a man-baby who manipulates people to get his way and throws temper tantrums when it doesn’t work.

0 ?0 ?0

I feel kind ofshitty being an ass to him now that I know he’s Dallas. But seriously? Team Jacob? You never know anyone as well as you think you do.

That thought almost makes me chuckle. Almost.

My notification icon flashes red, and my eyes widen when I see he’s already responded. Dallas must be on his lunch break, too. Dragging my fingertip down the screen, I refresh the page to see Dallas’ reply.

DFW@BodaciousBuckaroo211

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