Diana tried to brush it off a little too quickly. “Nothing. Why?” She had the nerve to look down and pull up her shirt in the same way I had. She even frowned as she touched the bruises I’d bet my first born she knew damn well about.

“Where did those come from?”

She didn’t look up as she answered. “I remember hitting my hip.”

“You hit your hip?” She was lying. She was damn well lying out of her ass.

“On the counter.”

“On the counter?” I asked slowly. This felt like a terrible dream.

My best friend—my best friend of my entire life—lied again. “Yeah,” she insisted.

“Di—” I wasn’t going to lose it. I wasn’t going to lose it front of her.

“Let me finish putting this on your hair,” she cut me off.

“Diana—”

“Tip your head down one more time, Vanny.”

“Di.” I grabbed the hand she had extended toward me. Her brown eyes shot to mine, her expression startled. “Did Jeremy do that?”

“No!”

A knot formed in my throat, growing bigger and bigger by the second. “Diana Fernanda Casillas.” Yeah, I went with her whole name. My hand shook. “Did Jeremy do that?”

This fucking liar supreme met my gaze evenly, and if it weren’t for her palm hitting her pant leg again, I would have believed she was telling me the truth, that this person I loved, who I would do anything for, and who I felt would do anything for me, wouldn’t lie to me.

I wasn’t even about to focus on the fact that I’d kept things to myself in the past. That I hadn’t told her I’d married Aiden. That she didn’t know about my student debts. None of that configured into my thoughts in that instant.

“No, Van. He loves me. I hit my hip.”

That knot in my throat swelled and I could feel my eyes well up as her gaze met mine unflinchingly. That was the problem. Diana was just like me. Once she was in too deep, she wasn’t about to dig herself out of the hole she was in. She wasn’t about to back down and tell me the truth.

“I’m fine, Van. I swear.”

She swore. The tingling in my nose got worse. “Di,” I kind of croaked out.

The smile that took over her mouth hurt me. “I hit my hip, stupid. I promise.”

I didn’t think Diana would ever know how bad she was hurting me. I’d like to think the lies I’d told her had been to protect her, so she wouldn’t worry about me being in disastrous debt, and I hadn’t told her Aiden and I eloped because she had a big mouth and she’d tell everyone. I knew she’d grudgingly understand that after she was done being mad for not being the first person I told. She didn’t know how to keep a secret; we all knew it.

But this…

I didn’t have it in me to keep my mouth shut even though I knew there was no way in hell she was going to backtrack and admit the truth. Tightening my hold on her, I tried to ignore the severe beating of my heart and made sure her eyes met mine. “Di—”

She was lying. She was being a massive liar as she said, “It’s just a bruise, Van.”

But it wasn’t.

It wasn’t.


It was the conservative sedan parked in the driveway when I got home that told me we had a visitor. Leslie.

Oh Leslie.

The one person in the world who I actually liked, but every once in a while, specifically this weekend and every June 15th, made me just a teensy bit jealous. Leslie was the only person in the world who I could honestly say Aiden cared about, and I guess I was just a greedy, selfish asshole. I couldn’t even get a ‘happy birthday’ on my special day, while Aiden didn’t just remember Leslie’s birthday, but he cared enough to get me to send him a present.

Was I seriously complaining about Aiden caring about someone who wasn’t me?

I was in a bad mood—a worse mood than I’d been in when I’d first gotten back to Dallas five hours ago. Hell, I’d been in a bad mood since I left for El Paso. All I wanted to do was get home, stew in my anger, and maybe watch a movie to get my mind off all the things that were bothering me. My mom, Susie, her husband Ricky, Diana, her boyfriend, and Aiden. I wanted to be alone.

Parking on the street, I grabbed my suitcase from the backseat, ignoring the pain radiating from my wrist, and trudged up the driveway, then the path.

I counted to ten over and over again as I unlocked the door and slipped inside as quietly as possible.

“Vanessa?”

I was halfway up the stairs with my suitcase gripped in hand when Aiden’s voice reached me from the foot of them. Slowly lowering my bag to the step I was on, I ground down on my molars and glanced over my shoulder at the man who had stood me up, standing there in between the living room and the foyer in his sweat pants and a tank so loose I could see the ripped sides of some of the sexiest muscles in the universe.

Did I love sexy lateral muscles? Of course. I had ovaries.

But I also had a brain, a heart, and some pride, and huge, brawny arms on someone who left me hanging weren’t going to make me forget a single thing.

Things might have gone worse if he’d been there, I tried to remind myself as I tugged at the sleeve of the hoodie I’d put on before leaving Diana’s, drawing it further down my arm. But the other half of my brain wanted to believe that maybe the weekend would have gone differently if Aiden had been there.

Then again, maybe I just wanted to blame someone other than myself for not listening to my instincts when they told me to do something, and then I did otherwise.

“Yes?” I asked, sensing my cheeks go tight.

The big guy was examining me, something about the way he was pursing his lips said he was hesitating. “Leslie’s here.”

The words were barely out of his mouth when a white head of hair peeked out from the living room. Nearly as tall as Aiden and way more fit than any man who should have been considered elderly could be, Leslie Prescott flashed those perfect white veneers at me. “Hello, Vanessa.”

A sharp pain thudded right between my eyebrows unexpectedly. I set my suitcase down in place and smiled at the man I’d met in the past. We’d spent months together in Colorado on two separate occasions, and he’d visited Aiden the rest of the times. I liked him; I really did like him, but I was in a shitty mood, and it wasn’t fair to take it out on him.

“Hi, Leslie,” I pretty much muttered as I jogged down the steps and held out my hand.

He shook it, flashing me an open, easy smile. “Congratulations,” he said, shaking my hand. “I heard the big news.” Leslie’s other hand came forth to clasp mine between both of his, his smile growing bigger by the second. If he thought it was strange that I didn’t give Aiden a hug or a kiss when I got home, it wasn’t evident on his features. “I’m a bit hurt I wasn’t invited, but I understand.”

“Oh, thanks.” I gave him a tired smile, pointedly ignoring the big body standing in my peripheral vision, watching on.

“I couldn’t be happier for you two. I was disappointed you were out of town this weekend, but I’m sure we’ll have more time to see each other in the future. ”

I forced myself to keep my smile on my face. Aiden and I had nearly five years left together, I was positive I’d see Leslie again at some point. “I’m sure we will.”

Leslie beamed. “We finished watching some footage, so I’ll get out of your hair to give you both some alone time tonight, eh?”

The tender, amused look that came over Aiden’s face more than slightly irritated me. “Eh.” Aye.

Then the fact that his Canadian had snuck up on him—when it only came up in the times he was really comfortable—made my little-girl immaturity that much worse.

“I’ll let you two to it. I have some work I need to catch up on.” I focused on Leslie as I talked.

The older man nodded. “Sure, sure. I understand. If you’ll excuse me, I need to make a pit stop before I go.” He smiled again, easing the tension in me just slightly.

He hadn’t done anything wrong, and I was being an asshole. “You’ll be by tomorrow?”

“Eh. My flight leaves the day after. I have to get back home.”

“I’ll see you tomorrow then. Drive safe.”

Leslie agreed and then made his way toward the half bath around the corner. That was my cue to get the heck out of there. Grabbing my bag with my good hand, I managed to make it halfway up the staircase before I heard, “You all right?”

I didn’t bother stopping. I kept going up. “I’m fine.”

“Vanessa.” His voice was low, careful. “Look at me.”

One hundred and eighty percent ready to be in my room, I stopped and turned around, raising my eyebrows at the figure standing at the bottom of the staircase with one palm on the handrail.

He had that dark gaze narrowed on me. “When you say you’re fine, I know you’re not.”

“Hmm,” was the only thing I could manage to get out without saying something really bitchy. I tried to tell myself it wasn’t a big deal he hadn’t gone with me; I’d told myself that at least a dozen times over the weekend. I also told myself I understood that he’d stayed to see someone he cared about, but it didn’t help, and it didn’t work.

My damn pride couldn’t handle being stood up and let down by not just him but by everyone this weekend.

“That’s what I thought,” Aiden stated as he tipped his chin up at me almost defiantly.

I squeezed my fingers around the handrail, envisioning it was his neck I was wringing. “Yeah, I guess so,” I admitted with a sniff. “I don’t want to talk about it. I’m going to bed.”

I barely managed to turn around when Aiden’s raspy low voice spoke up. “I don’t care if you don’t want to talk about it. I want to talk about it,” he said in that authoritative, demanding voice that scratched at my nerves. It wasn’t a loud voice by any measure, but it didn’t need to be.

Rolling my eyes, I shook my head as he continued his bullshit explanation, “Leslie called, said he was in San Antonio and asked if he could drop by for a few days. Coach wanted to go through some more footage before I left, and I lost track of time.” And he kept going. “I figured you of all people would understand. I don’t get what the big deal is.”