Triple Dare (Sterling Shore 7)

Kode cocks an eyebrow as the door shuts behind Jim, and he shifts his wide-eyed gaze toward me.

“Dude,” he says, shaking his head. “I thought I had it bad.”

“What?” I ask, turning to face him.

He laughs as he stands and pats me on the back. “I strongly suggest making that guy’s baby girl really happy, or carrying the secret of your relationship to the grave. Otherwise, you’re so fucked.”

CHAPTER 28

RUBY

One week ago, I put my heart into the hands of a man I swore I’d never trust with it again. And that’s been the last time I’ve seen him, since apparently the entire world is conspiring to keep us apart.

Sighing, I get out of my big, empty bed, and head into the kitchen where Krysta and Bo are already eating breakfast at the bar. Bo has been helping me get Krysta settled in this past week, since Krysta looks like she’s ready to run home every time my bitch mother calls her. At least I managed to get a bed in the office/guestroom for Bo, because I’ve needed her and Corbin to keep Krysta here.

Stockholm’s syndrome is no joke.

“You want to go look at campus after school today?” I ask Krysta, hoping she’s ready to return to classes.

She nods while taking another bite of her cereal. I almost feel like I’m forcing her to be here now. She was so determined and ready to move in, but it’s like she’s torn now.

“If you’re not ready to go to school, I can call them and let them know,” I tell her.

One month and a half left of her senior year, and all hell breaks loose in her life.

“I’ll be fine,” she says flatly.

“I got your new phone yesterday. Make sure you don’t give Cassie the number. Maybe we can celebrate your birthday?” I ask hopefully. “This weekend?”

Eighteen is supposed to be a big deal, but I can tell she still doesn’t want to celebrate.

“I don’t feel like celebrating yet,” she says with a shoulder shrug. She grabs her backpack from the floor, and I watch with a heavy heart as she walks out the front door without a word.

“It’s hard on her, Ruby,” Bo sighs. “Sometimes we think we’re ready to cut strings to the ones who’ve broken us the most, only to realize we don’t know who we are without them. Give her time to figure things out. She’s had years’ worth of guilt trips and mind games played on her. You don’t just walk away with your head on right.”

“I did,” I remind her.

“You were younger, and you had your father there. Not to mention, your case was much, much worse. You knew without a doubt that your mother was a selfish brat who didn’t care about you the way she should have. Krysta doesn’t have that clear line.”

You’d think she’d had experience in that, but her family, for all its faults, isn’t like mine. At all.

I go to make a cup of coffee, because I’m living off it this week.

“Thanks for helping out so much this week.”

“Of course,” she says with a shrug. “Speaking of this week, are you ever going to see Corbin?”

Groaning, and possibly whimpering, I turn to face her just as my coffee gets finished.

“I didn’t want Krysta thinking I was too wrapped up in him to give her what she needed, so I haven’t been letting him come over. His mother has been keeping him busy with a thousand different Stepford introductions, because she’s convinced he’s suddenly ready for a wife. Not to mention he’s been crazy busy this week, due to some pharmaceutical company he’s buying out, and I’ve been his fucking secretary or some shit. I swear I’ve had to talk to thirty people this week, pretending like I know something about his schedule and business.”

Her eyebrows pinch together. “Doesn’t he have someone do that for him?”

Rolling my eyes, I turn around and grab the sugar, putting a little too much in my coffee. “No. He went through five assistants who drove him crazy before he just quit trying. Normally he doesn’t have to work more than a few hours a week, so he handles his own schedule. This is an unusual week, so he’s needed some help, and he didn’t trust anyone else, apparently. Other than his mother, who is his usual go-to. Since she’s pissed him off with the Stepford setups, he hasn’t asked her for help.”

“So you’re taking over the role of his mother?” Bo asks with a taunting grin.

I use a finger to comment on that snarky remark.

She laughs as I lean against the counter and sip my coffee.

“It’s funny how this is supposed to be a secret relationship, yet Krysta and I already know about it.”

“Wanda knows too,” I sigh. “But not Dad. I didn’t tell Wanda, but I can tell she knows.”