Page 10 of For the Promise (The Raider Brothers #2)

“It’s no fun being on the other side of the gossipmongering.” ~ Blossom

Blossom

K nock! Knock! Knock!

“We know you’re in there!” Dakota shouts through the door.

I hurry to open the front door before she wakes up the entire apartment building.

Considering most of the apartments are vacation rentals used by visitors who think it’s ‘fun’ to test how strong the Smuggler’s Hideaway moonshine is, waking up my neighbors is not a good idea.

There’s a limit to how many times I’m willing to clean vomit from the hallway carpet.

“I never denied being home.”

Paisley’s nose wrinkles. “We expected you to.”

I know exactly why they expected me to, but I’m not afraid of my friends asking questions. Doesn’t mean I’ll answer them. But I’m not a scaredy cat who hides.

I usher them inside my apartment. “What’s up? We didn’t make plans for today. ”

Diverting their attention isn’t hiding, FYI.

Dakota giggles. “You seriously think you can disappear from my party with Jaxon – the man of your dreams – for several hours and not think we’ll show up at your door the next day?”

I hold up a finger. “One, Jaxon is not the man of my dreams.”

“Liar,” Paisley mutters but I ignore her.

I hold up a second finger. “And, two, I did not disappear for hours.”

Dakota rolls her eyes. “You were gone forever.”

Paisley sighs. “Uh oh.”

“Do not exaggerate time by using the word forever incorrectly. We’ve discussed how important timekeeping and time management are.”

Dakota holds up her hand. “I am not having another conversation with you about the importance of time management. I’m still having flashbacks from the previous one.”

Paisley clears her throat. “We’re here to find out what’s going on with you and Jaxon.”

I lift my eyebrow. “I thought you knew. We have an ‘arrangement’.”

Her cheeks darken and she dips her chin. “Sorry. I’ve been preoccupied. I shouldn’t have assumed.”

I let it go. Between the hurricane, relocating the brewing facilities, and her tango with Eli, she has been extremely busy.

Dakota elbows me. “What is going on between the two of you? ”

I’m not getting out of this conversation. Not considering the way I badgered Dakota when she was being wooed by Rhett. Payback’s a bitch. But I can use this to my advantage.

“I’ll tell you if you agree to go on an adventure with me.”

Dakota moans. “The last adventure I agreed to go on with you ended up with you fighting a horse.”

“I did not fight a horse.”

“You yelled at the poor thing and called it names.”

“Poor thing? It was stubborn and refused to move when I gently asked it to.”

“It moved just fine when Warren whistled at it.”

“Warren – aka Mr. I’ll Own Sirens & Saddles once my dad is gone – was creepy.”

“He’s always been creepy,” Paisley says.

I shiver. “Creepy how?”

“We caught him trying to drill a hole into the wall of the girls’ locker room. I hope he’s better with horses than he is with drills because he had no clue what he was doing.”

“Good thing you caught him,” I say. I am never going to Sirens & Saddles again. To avoid Warren, not because me and horseback riding do not go together.

Dakota scowls. “Those poor horses. They have to be around a creep.”

“Should we rescue them?” I ask. I’m up for a rescue mission. Anything to get my mind off my real problems.

“And put them where?” Dakota scans my apartment. “You don’t exactly have room here. ”

Technically, I have the money to build a ranch for the horses. But I don’t want to touch that money any more than I have to. Touching it would confirm they’re gone. Plus, my lawyer says I shouldn’t use the money until the Alan situation is solved.

“Can we stop discussing rescuing horses and get back to the matter at hand?” Paisley asks.

I rub my hands together. “What adventure are we going on?”

Paisley sighs. “You’re as bad as Sophia, Chloe, Nova, and Maya.”

Those are the women she founded Five Fathoms Brewing with. The five are the best of friends and get up to all kinds of trouble. They’re my heroes.

“And you’re innocent?” Dakota asks. “You didn’t get the Raider brothers drunk at Mermaid Mystical Gardens and get kicked out of the amusement park?”

Paisley’s lips purse. “We did not get kicked out.”

“Sure, you didn’t.” Dakota pats her shoulder while mouthing to me, she totally got kicked out.

“If you two don’t pick an adventure, I will.”

“It’s a beautiful day for the boardwalk,” Dakota offers.

“The boardwalk? How is the boardwalk an adventure?”

She giggles. “You’ll figure out a way to make an adventure of it. I have faith in you.”

I bow to her. “I appreciate your faith in me.”

I herd them toward the door, and soon enough, we’re nearing the boardwalk. It’s less than a five-minute walk from my apartment since I live smackdab in the middle of Smuggler’s Rest, which is pretty much on the ocean.

“What game should we play first?” I ask.

“I didn’t agree to games,” Dakota says.

“What else is there to do?” I motion toward all the gaming halls.

“We could have coffee and you could tell us what’s going on with you and Jaxon.”

Paisley snorts. “She’s not talking unless we play a game. We can’t play balloon dart. Dakota will end up killing someone.”

Dakota glares at her. “I’ve never killed anyone with a dart.”

“But you have caused bloody noses.”

“Now, I want to play balloon dart. Can I pick whose nose you bloody up?” I ask.

Paisley snorts. “I doubt it since she can’t aim.”

“It was an accident,” Dakota insists.

Paisley pats her shoulder. “It’s okay to be accident-prone. Not everyone can have my prowess with darts.”

“Oh, those are fighting words. I bet I can beat you at basketball shootout.” I grin. This is going to be fun.

Paisley rolls her shoulders back. “I accept your bet.”

Dakota pushes her way in between us. “Hold on. You two can play kiddie games as much as you want. After Blossom tells us what’s happening with Jaxon. Because the last thing Blossom told me was that she was giving up on him.”

“I did give up on him. There’s nothing happening between us. ”

Paisley crosses her arms over her chest. “You’re not attending a wedding together this weekend?”

I gasp. “How do you know?”

Dakota’s gaze ping pongs between me and Paisley. “It’s true? You’re attending a wedding with Jaxon?”

I consider lying. It’s not as if they’re going to be at the wedding.

“Before you make up some bullshit, I already spoke to Terri and she confirmed you were invited to the wedding. She handed the invitation to you herself. While you were standing next to Jaxon.”

I glare at Paisley. “Did you seriously hunt down the resort event planner for gossip?”

“I may have accidentally overheard when Terri phoned Eli and asked what his geeky brother’s name was for the place cards for the wedding this weekend.”

“Jaxon’s a nerd, not a geek,” I mutter.

She ignores me. “Nonetheless, you are attending a wedding at Hideaway Haven Resort this weekend with Jaxon?”

I blow out a breath. “Yes, I am.”

“But you were done chasing Jaxon,” Dakota says.

I waggle my eyebrows at her. “Maybe he chased me.”

“It’s true.” Paisley nods. “Jaxon did chase you out of the restaurant.”

Dakota narrows her eyes on me. “There’s more to this story.”

“Fine.” I huff. “The groom is my ex, who cheated on me and Jaxon agreed to help me show him I leveled up. ”

All true. Not the entire truth, but true.

Dakota throws her hands in the air. “Why didn’t you say so in the first place?”

I roll my eyes. “The same way you told us about your dead husband.”

Her shoulders hunch. “Oh, yeah.”

“Now.” I shove her toward the basketball shootout game. “It’s time for me to win my bet with Paisley.”

“You can try,” Paisley sings.

We pay and line up at three hoops games next to each other.

“Ready, set, go,” I shout and grab my first basketball. I don’t pay attention to Dakota or Paisley as I sink ball after ball into the hoop. Dakota isn’t a threat anyway. And what Paisley doesn’t know is, I played on the basketball team in high school. I got this.

“Ow! My nose!” Someone shouts and I glance over my shoulder.

A man is standing with a hand covering his nose while blood pours down his face. Dakota rushes to him with Paisley and me hot on her heels.

“I’m sorry. I don’t know what happened. The basketball slipped out of my hands.” Dakota reaches for him but he steps back.

“There’s a first aid station a block away next to The Salty Siren .” Paisley points toward the red cross sign.

He hurries off. “I’m sorry!” Dakota shouts after him.

“I have to admire your aim,” Paisley tells her.

Dakota’s eyes widen. “What? ”

“Whether you use a dart or a basketball, you go straight for the nose.” Paisley laughs and I join her.

Dakota and Paisley came to my apartment to snoop into my love life. What they don’t realize is, they offered me a reprieve from all the questions swirling around in my mind.

Does Jaxon want me? Or is he just being nice?

Does Alan believe I’m married? Will he drop the lawsuit now?

Spending the weekend with the man I want, who obviously doesn’t want me, is going to be difficult. But if the result is Alan dropping the lawsuit, it’ll be worth all the sexual frustration.