Page 52 of An Unfinished Memory

“What if I lose them? What if they think I’m toying with him, and they decide to just…move on?”

“They love you, Sutton. People don’t just move on from people they love.”

They did, though. My parents loved me, but I wasn’t their preferred child. Wilder loved me, but I didn’t offer the sense of service his job did. And I loved Wilder. But I had needed someone who wouldn’t leave me while living under the same roof. I’d had enough of that growing up.

“He must not have been happy about the date,” Vienne said. “Why did you agree to it?”

“To keep from being asked why I wasn’t interested in dating after you all saw me turn down Jennings.” I chewed the inside of my cheek. “And then tonight happened.” Heat flushed my cheeks, fueled both by anger and the memory of his fingers inside me.

Her direct gaze was narrowed on me again. “He was in the theater, and when I was worried that you got food poisoning or were secretly panicking in the bathroom, and I’d pushed you too far too soon to go on a double date, you were talking to him?”

I rolled my lips in. Not only was I a questionable friend, I was a bad date. “Talking. Yes.”

A brow arched. “Oh.” She blinked. “Oh.” Afrustrated noise escaped her. “Theater sex. Gah, I miss good sex. I had some, you know. Good sex in college. Married sex let me down. Then I met Theo and thought he’d get better. And, argh! Maybe I will sleep with Jake.”

“Vienne!” Sympathy and despair pushed through me. I knew the position she was in. An empty bed when you were used to having someone sucked. “We didn’t have sex. He just— Never mind. I’m so sorry. I’m sorry I wasn’t honest with you, and I’m sorry I snuck around behind you.” Literally.

“No, you were in a tough position.” She snorted. “Ahardspot?”

I snickered through my relief. She wasn’t upset. I didn’t deserve her.

“I can’t believe he crashed your date,” she said. “You know what that means, right?”

I closed my eyes. He’d been jealous. Territorial. Intrusive. Too many emotions in a sex arrangement. “Yeah. We need to stop.”

“You need to stop—or work out what this thing is between you.”

“He won’t ever pick me.” Tears pricked the back of my eyes. “I gave him so many chances, and now he’s going to be sheriff. We’re in different places, and that’s where we’re going to stay.”

“I’m sorry.” She put her hand on my arm. The AC in her car was kicking in, and her hand was on the cool side, comforting. Clarifying. “For what it’s worth, I won’t tell anyone. I understand how complicated it would be if his family found out.”

“Thank you.” I gave her a small smile. “You should’ve gone out with Ethan. He seems like a nice guy.”

She grimaced. “Definitely not.I’m looking for a good time, not a long time. I’ve been let down enough by men, and I’m kind of over their opinions.”

“Theo had a lot of them.”

She rolled her eyes. “So many for a guy who couldn’t find a clitoris if I painted a target on it.”

“No wonder he hated darts.”

Laughing, she drove off. The next stop was home, where my ex-husband waited for me.

Wilder

I sat in Sutton’s living room for a full hour before the cat ventured out. The sun had set, and it was nearly dark out. I hadn’t turned on any lights.

Staying a secret and all that for when Vienne dropped Sutton off.

I also wasn’t in the bed with my dick in my hands. Something didn’t feel right. The air between us was off when she left me to go to the bathroom and told me I should leave before I was seen.

What I did was fucking wrong. I shouldn’t have come. I should’ve trusted her. Left it alone. But I hadn’t, and I wasn’t sure if I regretted my actions or not.

My phone rang. Berry was on my lap, and she lifted her head to blink at me. I didn’t want to be on a call when Sutton arrived, but I had no clue when that’d be.

She was on a goddamn date. With a guy who sucked from her straw. Jealousy burned in my blood. I might’ve gotten her off, but he was the one she’d stayed with.

Ray was calling. Goddammit. I had to answer, or he’dstop over at the house. If he saw me gone, he might ask Eliot where I was since I was usually at the ranch if I wasn’t working.

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