Page 175 of One Bad Idea

Her eyebrows furrowed. "Excuse me?"

"On the phone," I clarified. "You said that he'd know what it was about. But he never took your calls."

"So?"

"So, don't you think it was a bit presumptuous to just pop in?"

"Maybe." Her chin lifted. "But isn't that forhimto decide?"

"Yes," I said. "And he did."

"Sorry, what?"

"I'm just saying, if he didn't take your calls, what makes you think he'd want to see you in person?"

Yes, I realized that I was being horribly rude, but I couldn’t shake the image of Jaden as a lost kid screwed over by his family. He didn't deserve that. And now, years later, he didn't deserve to be hassled about a torched car.

Luna edged closer to me and said, "Listen, I don't know who you are—"

"Fine, I'll tell you who," I replied. "I'mthe person who loves him."

She blinked. "What?"

"Yeah, that's right," I said. "And I think it's pretty crappy that your stupid husband cares more about a car than about his own brother."

She was bristling now. "Hey! You don't know anything about it."

"I know enough to realize your husband's a jerk."

"Yeah, well maybe yours is too."

"Hah!" I shot back. "We're not even married."

"Oh, shut up," she muttered. "You know what I meant."

She was right. I did.And in hindsight, bragging that Jaden and I weren't married seemed pretty darn stupid. We'd never even talked about marriage even if hehadsaid those three magical words.

I might've smiled at the sentiment if only I didn't have a bristling blonde glaring daggers at me.

I squared my shoulders. "I'm just saying, maybe you should've called first."

"Why?" she said. "So you could keep claiming that he wasn't in?"

"Well, he's not innow, so what difference does it make?"

Her gaze narrowed. "Did you even give him my messages?"

"What?" I sputtered. "You think I didn't?"

"Well, youdoseem to have an attitude."

"This?" I said. "This is nothing." I straightened to my full height – which granted wasn't terribly high. "I've got a lot more attitude wherethatcame from."

She gave a dismissive wave of her hands. "If you think you can scare me off, forget it. I've got brothers who are twice as scary as you."

"Yeah, well I've got brothers too. And they'd make mincemeat out of yours."

Mincemeat? What the hell was I even saying?