Page 24 of Here With Me

“Oh my God. You literally fucked him into a coma. Thatta girl.” She bursts out laughing, then slaps my bare leg.

“This is humiliating, Mags. How am I ever gonna speak to Jase again without confessing what I did?”

“First rule, you don’t tell your ex. Second rule, you find yourself a rebound lay and forget it ever happened.”

“And what if Jase brings him to the ranch or somethin’? Or I run into them in town?”

“Well, you’ve gone this far without doin’ so. I’m sure you’ll be fine. Even if his dad is around, he probably won’t remember what ya look like without your legs around his head.”

“Hilarious!” I sit up and push her off the bed, then laugh when her ass bounces off the floor. “That’s whatcha get.”

“I still wanna hear the juicy details. Don’t think you’re gettin’ outta that.” She gets to her feet, and I laugh.

“Don’t worry, you’ll get them as soon as I hear about whatyoudid last night.”

“I-I hung out with Mallory.” She shrugs, but the way she avoids eye contact tells me otherwise.

“Uh-huh.” I cross my arms. “We’ll see about that when I get her side of the story.”

Magnolia lingers around the kitchen as she grabs a couple of K-cups and then adds water to the Keurig. “Go ahead.”

She knows I won’t wake her, so I’ll have to wait until she’s up for the day. Mallory’s no snitch, though. She thinks of Magnolia as a sister too, but I’m good at reading people. I’ll know whether she’s lying for her.

“I’m gonna shower, and then we can meet up with the fam for breakfast.”

I dig out my phone from my bag and scroll through my texts until I see Tripp’s name and type out a message.

“Who are ya talkin’ to already?”

“Gonna see what my brother’s version of events from last night is...” I hit send before she can stop me.

“Why would you assume he knows anythin’?”

“Because you didn’t visit me at the bar like you promised, which means y’all were unsupervised for several hours...”

She shoots me a glare. “I’m not a child. I don’t need to besupervised.”

“No?” I raise my brows because around Tripp, she’s not herself. “Are we still talkin’ to the ex?”

“Ugh, why’d you have to bring him up? Gonna throw up my breakfast before I’ve even had any.”

Chuckling, I grab my shower stuff from my duffel bag and then walk to the bathroom. Before I shut the door all the way, I peek my head out. “You need to work on your poker face. I know you’re lyin’, and I’m gonna get to the bottom of it.”

Before she can move toward me, I shut the door and lock it.

“You’re a twat, Noah.” She bangs her fist on the other side. “Don’t ask Tripp about me, please! He’s gonna think I was talkin’ about him or somethin’.”

“Then ya need to stop pinin’ after men who don’t want you back! It’s for your own good. You need to move on!” I’ve told her this before, but sometimes Magnolia needs a swift kick of tough love.

Tripp has avoided Magnolia for most of his life, yet she can’t kick her schoolgirl crush.

It’s what made her date Travis in the first place. She thought making Tripp jealous would be enough to see what he was missing, but it only put her in a toxic on-and-off relationship. Magnolia has way too much to offer to settle down for anything less than unwavering love. She just needs to see it for herself.

“Fine. I’ll never talk or look at Tripp again if you promise you won’t bring my name up to him!” Her pathetic begging has me opening the door. “I’m a loser. I know.”

I pull her in for a hug. “If it makes ya feel better, we both are.”

She snorts, pushing against me. “You’re supposed to say ‘No, you’re not. You’re totally normal!’”