Page 104 of One Little Mistake
“And now he’s—” Lanie breaks off, not wanting to upset me further.
“Now he’s dead, and I have no way of knowing if he stored them properly or if he destroyed them. The unknown is the hardest to live with, but I’m working through it in therapy.”
“You know? Sarah helped me a couple of years ago, too.”
Rolling to my side, I stare at my beautiful cousin. “I had a hunch. GG doesn’t usually make a habit of keeping shrinks on standby.”
We laugh, and Julia enters the room.
“Well, looky here.” She smirks, but climbs into bed between us. Lanie and I are both over six feet tall. Julia is just a touch over five feet—we’ve always been her bookends. “I’ve missed this.”
“Me too,” I admit.
“Awe, me three. Iluvyou girls so much.”
“Luvs,” Julia and I say in unison.
“Soooo.” Julia drags the word out in a way that tells me trouble is brewing. “How are we going to make him pay?”
“Who?” Lanie asks.
“East. How are we going to make him grovel?”
Gah! I love these girls, but Julia is freaking nuts.
“I’ll bust his balls, for reals. Trevor and I have been taking self-defense classes together. I can take down a full-grown man in under three seconds.”
“Jesus, Jules. No. No physical violence. I’m sure Easton’s in his own personal hell right now. He doesn’t need us adding to it.”
“Are you going to call him back?” Lanie asks, holding up my phone.
Taking it from her hands, I see six missed calls and twenty-four text messages.
“No,” I finally reply. “I meant what I said. We need some time apart. We both have things to work through before we can try being a couple.”
“Well, let me tell you from experience. Those Westbrook boys don’t give up easily. So if he wants something badly enough, you’d better believe he’ll make it happen.”
I groan, knowing she’s right. “I just can’t afford to mess this up. He has to deal with the pain of everything he learned last night, and I might always be a work in progress. We can’t start a relationship with two broken pieces.”
“Okay,” Julia sings. “Don’t say I didn’t warn you. Now get up. We’ve got shit to do for Summerfest today. Colton has already been blowing up my phone, asking for help to set up his booths. That guy has more energy than a light socket.”
Laughing, I watch as Lanie crawls out of bed with Harper, and Julia makes her way to the door.
“Be ready in thirty minutes. The LUV Club’s on a mission.”
“The LUV Club?” Lanie and I both ask.
“Yup. GG’s in a matchmaking frenzy. Summerfest might as well be known as Loverfest if she’s right.”
“Good Lord. Who’s she matching now?”
“She hasn’t said, but it’s either Halton or Colty, and they’re both shitting bricks while we wait for it to play out,” Julia whispers conspiratorially. “Thirty minutes,” she yells over her shoulder.
“Lex?”
I turn to my cousin.
“Just make sure you’re keeping East at arm’s length for the right reasons, okay? Everyone makes mistakes, but he’s a good man, and we can all see how much he loves you.”
