Page 71 of All Mine

“Hardly,” Sloane said, disappointment dripping from her tone.

“I’ve known Fox my entire life,” I said, dropping the ice pack in the trash. “He’s not that great.”

“I think that’s the concussion talking,” Eden said.

“I’ve seen him eat crayons,” I said. “Come on, let’s go. I need to get back to the town hall to help. The vote will be over in a couple of hours, and I bet they still have those easels up.” And Camden charming everyone with his good looks and charismatic personality. The last thing I needed was not to be out there providing the counterpoint to his argument.

“We have plenty of people down there with signs. You’re supposed to take it easy,” Sloane said, picking my purse up off the table.

“I’m not slacking off this close to the finish line.”

“Lauren, Stephen assaulted you today. No one thinks you’re slacking off. Now we’re going to Lou’s to relax while we wait for the voting results. Your brain will be in your head long after today, don’t chance injuring it even more,” Eden snapped.

Sloane and I gave each other a side-eyed glance. Since when did Eden become so forceful?

“She’s right,” Sloane said. “This has health consequences that you need to take seriously.”

“Stupid friends who care about me,” I grumbled. Now was not the time to sit in a bar with my friends and do nothing. I needed to make sure everyone who would vote no got out and cast their ballots. There was no time to sit on my laurels, even with a fuzzy, aching head.

They made me stay until the discharge nurse brought my paperwork.

I didn’t want to go to Lou’s, but if they wouldn’t let me campaign for votes, maybe the bruises rising on my face would incite people to vote against the sale. I’m sure word had already spread around town. So I let Sloane and Eden drag me into the bar without a fuss.

“So, are we never going to talk about what Camden did?” Eden asked once we’d received our order- no alcohol for any of us.

“You mean take on my ex-husband as a client and help him in his effort to close my business?”

“Surely you don’t think he knew that?” Sloane scoffed.

“There’s no way he realized who that was,” Eden said, scooping a spoonful of spinach dip onto a plate.

I wasn’t remotely hungry, but the dips here should win awards, and my mouth watered at the cheesiness.

“Eat,” Eden said, pushing the plate of dip to me, and started portioning out another plate.

“I don’t know…”

“About the food?” Sloane asked.

“I mean, Camden. He was the one playing me, and the one who walked away. Was it all just a distraction? How on earth could I ever trust him?”

“He punched out Stephen and broke his nose,” Jonah said, sliding onto the booth seat next to me.

“Judas,” I said in a flat greeting.

“And here I thought you were going to be civil about the whole thing,” he said.

“Yeah, well… I have a concussion, one hell of a headache, and one betrayal too many to deal with.”

“She thinks he knew Stephen was her ex-husband this whole time,” Sloane announced scooping dip onto a chip with a fork.

“No way Camden knew,” Jonah said.

“He played me like a fiddle,” I said.

“Nah,” Jonah dragged a tortilla chip through the spinach dip. “Dude’s got it bad for you.”

“He does not,” I shot back.

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