Page 77 of The Triple Threat

Ellie: Hunter, if I show you my boobs are you back on the team? Whaddaya say Cowboy?

Yep, fucking crazy.

Hunter Delaney no longer existed to me. He was an idiot and a douche, and he’d abandoned me in my hour of need.

Well, it wasn’t quite that bad, but he had dropped all my calls and ignored my text messages since Thanksgiving. Admittedly, they were all about our… okay my, ‘Get Bronte with Carter’ plan and his silence had made it quite clear that I was now on my own—unless of course I could think of a suitable recompense for his involvement. Obviously, I knew what he was getting at—more sex and or including the possibility of ass play.

Whatever, he could have at least answered one text message. I didn’t even get a response from my offer to show him my boobs if he was still willing to help; things were definitely bad between us.

The plan had evidently become my sole responsibility. That was fine, everything we’d done so far, which hadn’t been much if I thought about, had been instigated by me anyway. It was now solely on me to get Bronte’s mind off Jefferson and onto Carter. Which was why I was knocking on the door of her house with a devious, some might even say downright evil, plan.

“Hey, Ellie,” Darcy greeted me with a small smile.

“Hi, Darcy. Is Bronte home?” I thought she was because her bright pink Chevrolet Spark was sitting on the drive, but she was going through a jogging phase so may have been out.

“She’s in her room. Go on through.”

Darcy stood to one side and let me in, but I didn’t get the usual hug and squeeze from her. In fact, she looked sad and was gray beneath her eyes. Maybe what Shaw had said at Thanksgiving about his parents was more serious than we all thought.

“Hey.”

Bronte looked up from the magazine that she was reading and sighed. “Oh hi.”

“Hey, what’s wrong?” I asked, joining her on the bed. “You look as sad as your mom.”

“She and Dad have been arguing again, and last night he actually stayed out all night.”

“So, what Shaw said was true?”

Bronte nodded. “Yeah. I think they’re going to split up. I wasn’t supposed to hear, but I heard Mom say if he didn’t want to be here then he should leave.”

My heart hurt for her. I couldn’t imagine what it would be like to have your parents separate. I couldn’t imagine what it would be like to lose a parent.

And Hunter invaded my head space, yet again.

“What did your dad say?” I asked trying to get my mind back on track.

“He said if that’s how she felt then he would. He didn’t, he stayed home, but last night he didn’t come back after he stormed out over another argument. I have no idea where he went, but he came back while I was out getting some supplies for the salon and they haven’t spoken to each other since.”

I let out a deep sigh, second guessing whether I should put my plan into action. It was kind of mean, and Bronte seemed to be suffering enough.

“One positive,” she said, giving me a beaming smile. “I saw Jefferson when I was in Jennings Bridge getting supplies.”

My shoulders sagged. “You did?”

“Yeah, we had coffee together.” Bronte grabbed my hand and gave it an excited shake. “And he looked super-hot. He was wearing a flannel and jeans and his top two buttons were open and I got a sneaky little glimpse of his tattoos.”

She bounced on the bed all worries about her folks evidently gone.

“Bronte,” I snapped. “You’re supposed to be worried about your mom and dad.”

“I am,” she replied. “Seeing Jefferson just cheered me up is all.”

She pouted but I saw a hint of smile and I knew she was trying to play me which made me even more determined to go ahead with my dastardly plot.

“Shall I get us a coke or something?” I asked, giving her what I hoped was a sympathetic smile.

“I can go.” She made to get up off the bed, but I put a hand on her shoulder.