Page 42 of Star Crossed
“That’s not exactly hard.” Jules laughed. “A rabid bear’s more friendly than you.”
“You are a bully tonight,” Clay observed drily. “What’s got you pissed off at the world?”
Maybe it was lying in bed with her brother at ten thirty at night watching Bruce Lee instead of doing something more exciting. She was so frustrated she could hardly see straight. Almost a month of phone sex with Romeo was starting to wear on her. It was fun, but she wanted more—a lot more.
“You really think Romeo’s coming to Garnet next month after the tour’s over?” Jules couldn’t help but ask, voicing her frustrations out loud.
“Definitely,” Clay said without doubt. “We’ve been talking ’bout it on this tour. He’s got that fight with Lipton coming up in May, and Lipton’s a big, mean, good ol’ boy if ever there was one. Those former pro wrestlers aren’t a joke. Romeo’s faster than Lipton, lots faster, but he’s still got to up his ground game if he’s gonna get the flashy win he wants after our fight.”
“If Lipton’s a big, mean good ol’ boy, what the heck are you?”
Clay laughed. “What better way to get ready for the fight than to train with the biggest, meanest good ol’ boy of the lot?”
“Saving Melody was Wellings’s civic duty,” Wyatt interjected. “Clay doesn’t owe him anything for it, and he sure doesn’t have to bring a criminal into our town just to prove a point.”
Jules would’ve kicked Wyatt if he wasn’t still holding on to her legs. “He served his time. I don’t think it’s fair to keep holding something that happened well over ten years ago against him.”
“It’s really not,” Clay agreed.
“And look at Chuito,” she went on to prove her point, because she was in lawyer mode. “You bitched and moaned ’bout Clay bringing him here, and now that boy’s your pride and joy. I swear you would’ve mounted his championship belt on the Cuthouse Cellar’s wall if you could.”
“Chuito doesn’t have a record,” Wyatt reminded her.
“Only ’cause he didn’t get caught.”
“I don’t wanna talk ’bout it.” Wyatt gestured to the television. “How am I supposed to watch this movie with you yapping?”
Jules sighed. “Lemme go, Clay. He’s being a pain in the ass.”
“Talk to you later,” Clay said, not sounding too disappointed about hanging up. “We’re gonna go watch television anyhow.”
Jules laughed. “Is that what we’re calling it now?”
“Night, Jules.” Clay didn’t bother to deny her assumption that he and Melody were going to dosomething, but it surely wasn’t watch television.
After Jules hung up, she kicked one of her legs despite Wyatt’s tight hold and managed to nudge his shoulder. “Look what you did. You made me hang up with Clay and be rude besides.”
“I did that man a favor,” Wyatt said dismissively. “The last thing he wants to be doing is sitting there talking to you when he’s got his girl alone in one of those fancy hotel rooms.”
“Probably.” Jules had to reluctantly agree. “I kinda miss Clay living here.”
Wyatt was quiet for a long moment before he admitted, “I kinda miss him too.”
“You ever think of redoing this house?” Jules asked before she broached a sensitive subject. “And moving into Daddy’s room?”
“You move into Dad’s room if you think someone’s got to clear the cobwebs out of there.”
“There’s no cobwebs,” Jules whispered in a soft voice, because she always cleaned their father’s old bedroom and left it exactly the same. “But I’m so sick of this house. It’s depressing.”
“Not me. I like it. Even if it seems emptier with Clay gone. This house is our history.”
“Our history’s depressing. I want something new, classy, and fresh. Not outdated and cursed.”
“Yeah, I’m not surprised by that,” Wyatt said with a laugh. “You got champagne taste ’cause Daddy spoiled you rotten. This whole town knows you spend a small fortune on designer clothes. You like the flash and glitter; you always have.”
“I wish I knew how to decorate. I’d fix this place up.”
“Thank God you don’t.”
