Triple Dare (Sterling Shore 7)

Slowly, I lower my hands back down to my sides and step away.

“Really?” he mouths.

Ruby is going to get suspicious if all is suddenly silent after what he just said.

“So that’s what you had to say? That’s not exactly newsworthy,” I say, feeling like the world’s biggest dumbass when I say it too loud and obvious.

He rolls his eyes, mocking my overacting as well.

Before he can retort, someone else is filling my open doorway, and I groan as Kode walks in. What the hell is this? Open house?

“What are you doing here?” I groan.

“Sorry. I have a major fucking problem, though.”

“Let’s take this outside,” Maverick suggests, motioning toward my back patio.

I shut—and lock—my front door, as Maverick leads the charge toward the back. I cast one longing look toward my bedroom door and silently curse both of my cousins.

As soon as we’re outside, Kode turns around and runs a hand through his hair. It looks like he hasn’t slept all night.

“Wren proposed to Allie last night after everyone left. It ruined everything.”

What?

“What’s the problem with that? You suddenly into Allie or something?” Maverick drawls.

Kode cuts his eyes toward him. “Fuck no. This is the problem.”

He tosses a box at Maverick, and I know what that box is. Maverick opens it anyway to display the square diamond on a white-gold band. Maverick grabs his heart, acting like he’s on wobbly legs as he stammers around. Then he launches himself at Kode.

Kode reflexively catches him so that Maverick lands bridle style in his arms.

“Yes!” Maverick shouts. “How did you know?!” he goes on, sounding like a dramatic diva in an off-Broadway set. “Yes! Yes! Ye—”

Kode curses before dropping Maverick on his ass, and Maverick chuckles while standing back up and handing Kode the ring back.

“I’m not understanding the problem,” I tell him. “Did Allie refuse Wren or something and now you’re freaking out?”

Normally I’d be laughing at Maverick, but I just want them both gone.

“She said yes. She cried. They hugged and kissed. Hell, he didn’t even put any big romantic gesture into it. He just said he couldn’t wait any longer to ask her, so he dropped to one knee and gave this sickly sweet speech about how perfect his life was because of her.”

Kode mocks a gagging noise, and I raise my eyebrows. “Yeah. Sounds like, oh I don’t know, every marriage proposal ever. Any reason why it pisses you off other than the fact you can’t be sweet? Girls usually prefer a sweet proposal, you know.”

He flips me off, and he drops to a chair. “No. That’s not it. I can do the sweet shit—”

“Terrible way to word it,” Maverick points out, earning a death-glare.

“When we got in the car,” Kode goes on, “I brought up how great it was that they were getting married, fishing for a reaction from Tria. I’ve had that ring for a damn month.”

“I take it she didn’t have a good reaction?” I ask. He’s just rambling at this point. I don’t know if I’ve ever seen him so flustered.

“Her words? She said she was happy for them, but she was glad I wasn’t the type to want marriage. Apparently she’s the only fucking girl in the world who doesn’t want to get married.”

Maverick bursts out laughing, but I actually feel a little sorry for Kode. Ruby thinks marriage is a joke, so I can relate.

Getting way ahead of myself.

“You two haven’t talked about this before?” I ask.

“In the abstract? Yes. But not for real. Now I don’t know what to do. If I propose, she might fucking leave me. But if I don’t have a ring on her finger soon, I might go crazy. This is not cool. Not cool at all.”

“She’s not going to leave you,” Maverick says dismissively. “But you don’t have to have a ring on her finger for everyone to know she’s yours. No guy with a functioning brain cell would fuck with her.”

Kode grips his head, and he leans back before staring at the sky. Yeah, I really do feel bad for him.

“It’s her dad’s fucking fault,” he adds. “He spent years making Eleanor look like the joke of Sterling Shore by dipping his dick into any woman who would spread her legs for him. And Eleanor turned her head and pretended not to know. Tria doesn’t want to be her mother.”

“Did she say that?” I ask.

“Doesn’t have to. I know Tria better than I know myself.”

Before anything else can be said, my doorbell starts ringing. Fuck my morning.

I jog back inside, glancing at my bedroom door again, then I open the front door to Dale and Dane.

“Kode said he had an emergency,” Dane says, holding his phone up. “Apparently he didn’t want Rain in on it.”

“Backyard,” I tell him, motioning toward the patio doors.

As soon as we join Maverick and Kode, I have to hear the entire story again.