“You look like crap, Raelynn.” Breanna’s voice was muffled by what was no doubt a sugar-loaded cereal.
I ignored her and made a beeline through the kitchen to the coffeemaker. It was closer to afternoon than morning, but coffee was what the pounding in my head called for.
I took a long, slow sip, saying a silent prayer thankful my dad always had coffee ready. I squinted my swollen eyes against the bright midday sun that filled the room through the open windows. “How do you stay so thin, when all you ever eat is junk?”
She shrugged and shoveled in another mouthful. Unlike me, she was refreshed and vibrant, her long dark hair shining. Her skin was flawless, she didn’t even need makeup. Never had. Considering she’d been out as late as I had, I wanted to hate her. I made a valiant effort not to despise my sister. It worked, for the most part.
“Ugh.” I flopped into the chair across from her. “Rough night?”
My effort was successful right until I caught the twinkle in her tawny eyes. I glared at her over the rim of my coffee cup.
“So, where were you?” She snickered before digging back into her cereal.
“I should ask you the same thing since your truck was gone when I got home.” I narrowed my eyes.
Her smile was quick and far too bright. “I’m not hungover. So, does it matter?”
“Guess not.” I yawned. “For the record, I’m not hungover either.”
“Sure, you’re not.”
“I didn’t drink a thing…” I took another soothing sip of coffee. The warmth and caffeine seemed to slowly start to bring me back to the land of the living.
She tilted her head to the side, patiently waiting for me to come clean with her. I could ignore her and hope she’d let it go. But, Breanna Casey wasn’t going to let anything go, ever. If you looked up tenacious in the dictionary, you’d find her picture.
I set my cup on the table with a coffee sloshing clunk. “I took Jordan out to watch Hunter make a pass.”
She leaned across the table. “Oh, juicy.” “Something like that.” I kept the juicy tidbits to
myself.
“That explains the muddy jeans you left lying on the bathroom floor, I figured there was a good story to go with that one.”
I’d tossed them off when I’d gotten back. Jordan and I hadn’t spoken again on the way home. In fact, he hadn’t even said goodbye before he’d walked back to his house. His anger shouldn’t have bothered me. It did, though, and that was a big deal for me.
I wasn’t sure what part of it all had kept me from sleeping. I’d carefully built walls to protect myself. In one night, he’d busted right through them. I wanted to kiss him again, no matter what had happened between us before. I wanted to do more than kiss him, despite everything that had happened to me at college.
“I’m waiting.” She wagged her spoon at me.
Tenacious.
“Jordan woke me up, had me drive him out to the canning factory to watch Hunter’s test pass. That’s it.”
“And? Because watching a test pass doesn’t leave you with muddy knees and looking like you cried all night. If I need to go kick someone’s ass, I will.”
I snorted a laugh. “I didn’t cry at all. I just didn’t sleep well. But, thanks.”
Breanna’s eyes narrowed as she calmly let the spoon drop into the bowl. A metal on ceramic clang echoed through the quiet kitchen. The stubborn question in her eyes would not go unanswered. In that, she reminded me of our mother. The jealousy that had been between us as teens, so thick you could have cut it with a knife, was long gone now.
My little sister had grown up, we both had.
Her voice softened. “What happened, Raelynn?” “We kissed…twice.” I couldn’t look at her. “Whoa, a kiss-kiss? I know I teased you about it
but, I thought you were past the Jordan thing? Especially once you started seeing that hot guy, Caleb or whatever.” Something was wrong. The signs were in her voice. The teasing from before was replaced with a tension hovering under the surface. That I’d kissed Jordan bothered her.
“So, did I.” I managed not to flinch at the sound of Caleb’s name and not to call her out on the sudden change in demeanor.
“Wow, yeah, wow…so…”
“That about sums it up.” I spun the dark liquid around in my cup.
“I can see why you weren’t sleeping.”
I needed to change the subject. An impending storm was brewing, tension built between us. I had no desire to deal with Hurricane Breanna, I needed my sister. “Your turn, where did you run off to last night?”
She got up from the table to rinse out her cereal bowl and stow it in the dish washer. “I went to see a boy.”
“Really? At the crack of dawn?”
“He works nights. After work, he went out with his friends, who you were spying on.”
“He’s friends with Hunter?” Never once would I have thought my sister would have dated my ex. So, it had to be one of his friends. “Oh man, Bree, I’m telling you from experience that doesn’t go over well with Aiden.” I could clearly recall the fit my brother had pitched when he’d found out I was messing around with Hunter East.
Breanna cocked a hip on the table. Mom would have swatted her for it. “Hence the breakfast meeting. Not that Aiden would even notice nowadays.”
“True.” I waited a beat. “Which guy?”
A slow mischievous smile spread. “Matt Foster.”
Matt worked for the county and drove a supercharged Honda. He was cute, short hair and tattooed. Had the bad boy look down. Aiden would go nuts. He had a certain amount of disdain for guys who drove ricers. Ricers were modified imports with spoilers on the back that sounded like weed-eaters.
“Doesn’t he come into the shop a lot?”
“Yup, I deliver parts out to his house when he’s sleeping so that he doesn’t have to wake up early and come to the shop. Dad set it up.”
“Wow! Taking after me now, aren’t you? Sneaking around to hang out with guys your brother wouldn’t approve of.”
“Does that mean I get to make out with Slater too?” The sarcasm in her voice matched the smirk on her face.
I dropped my head to the table and banged it a few times for show.
“Total beefcake, I mean it.” She waggled her eyebrows, the storm had passed.
“You are enjoying this entirely too much.” My responding groan vibrated against the table.
“So, what, he’s a bad kisser? You spent nearly your entire senior year trying to get him to kiss you. Even when you had the hottest prom date on the planet, you still wanted Jordan.”
“Oh no.” I straightened in my chair. “Jordan’s a great kisser, but Devin’s my friend.”
After a moment, her face twisted into a grimace, the storm surfacing again in her brown eyes. “He would lose it if he knew.”
“Devin?” My gut clenched in a sickening fashion.
I’d never want to hurt Devin, not in a million years. “Yeah.”