Page 74 of Between Never and Forever
“You still know how to have fun?”
I punch him in the stomach, and he acts like it hurts, then quick as lightning, crouches down, swings his leg out, and sweeps my feet out from under me. I land hard on my ass with a thud.
“Could have at least tried to catch me.” I groan, lying myself flat on the ground and throwing my arm over my face.
“Could have but didn’t want to suck the fun out of it.”
I grunt and kick at his foot.
“You’re a dick.”
Red chuckles, then sticks out a hand.
“Get up. Your mutt is getting restless. I don’t want her to eat the couch.”
I reach up and let him pull me to my feet, then I make my way to the door.
“She wouldn’t eat the couch,” I say with confidence I don’t feel.
He doesn’t say anything because he knows I’m full of shit.
I pound down the stairs until I’m on the first floor and find Ziggs doing laps around the kitchen island. Definitely only a matter of seconds away from eating the couch.
“Want to walk downtown?” I ask Red and he shakes his head no like I knew he would. “C’mon, Red. We’re in town days early. No one knows I’m here yet. I want to explore a little before I’m inevitably being stalked with every step.”
He pauses a moment before nodding reluctantly. I flash him a grin, then rush to my backpack and pull out my baseball cap. I throw my hair in a loose bun at the nape of my neck and pull the hat low on my head, then slip on my aviator sunglasses.
“You still look like you,” Red says, and I sigh loudly.
“Fun sucker.”
I call Ziggy over, clip her leash onto her collar, and grab my handy little wristlet of dog poop bags. Then, just to be an ass, I toss the wristlet at Red and smile sweetly. He slips it onto his hand without expression, and I roll my eyes.
“C’mon, Ziggy Girl,” I say, giving her some head scratches. “Let’s go for a walk.”
She’s spinning in circles and panting like crazy, which has me smiling, but then Red has to go and ruin it.
“The ring,” he reminds me, and my shoulders bunch with irritation.
“No.”
“Yes, Savannah.” His voice is stern, using thefathertone that I have a love/hate relationship with. “You agreed. Until you make a decision, wear the ring.”
“This is so dumb, Red. This move is low and skeezy, and you know it.”
He nods.
“It’s bullshit. But unless you want to announce that you’re being replaced, you need to do it. And Savannah, I really don’t think you want to be replaced.”
I sigh, then groan and stomp my foot like a child. This whole mess has me wanting to rage and throw an epic tantrum. But Red is right, so reluctantly, I dig back through my backpack until I find the velvet box with the engagement ring. I slip it on my finger without looking at it.
It’s a gorgeous ring. That almost pisses me off more than the proposal. Torren knows me better than most. This three-carat teardrop cut emerald on a simple gold band is the ring I’d pin on a wedding vision board if I were the type to do that. Makes me wonder if I described it to him once when I was high and forgot about it.
Red is already standing at the door with Ziggs, so when I step up to him, I act like I’m going to take the leash. When he reaches out to give it to me, I grab his arm, throw all my weight into him, and pull a perfect foot sweep, spinning out of the way so he lands hard on his ass. I bark out a laugh, then point at him while bouncing my eyebrows.
“You’re getting slower in your old age.”
He pushes himself up to standing.
