The Enemy (It Happened in Charleston 2)

r favorite hobby.”

I laugh. “I don’t doubt it.”

“Besides, June has a ‘one date’ rule, and I don’t see you agreeing to that.”

Well, this just got interesting.

I frown. “One date rule? What are you talking about?”

“She won’t go out with anyone more than once. One date and then it’s sayonara.”

“No way.”

“I’m dead serious. Stacy and I thought it wouldn’t last long when she first announced she’d never date the same man twice again, but that was five years ago, and she’s still going strong. I think she’s dated half the city by now. Dating her has become the latest tourist attraction.”

Yeah, I don’t like that at all. I’m scowling like a man who’s just been dared to have his legs waxed. A new layer of obstacles is dropping onto an already rocky landscape.

Logan reads my expression and quickly adds, “Oh, but she’s not loose or anything if that’s what you’re thinking. It’s not like that. June seems to keep everything on lockdown.”

“Why?”

Logan picks up a handful of peanuts and tosses them in his mouth. “To keep herself from getting hurt again.” He pauses his chewing and meets my gaze. Now he’s a chipmunk—frozen with wide eyes and cheeks stuffed with nuts. “Oh crap. I shouldn’t have said any of that.”

Hmm. Now that’s something. And exactly what I’ve suspected. For a while now, I’ve been suspicious that there is some sort of “no talking about June” policy in place, but I could never be completely certain. Logan just confirmed it, though.

Lucky for me, he’s the easiest walnut to crack.

“Shouldn’t have said what?” I run my finger across the condensation on my beer glass. I’m relaxed. Nonchalant. No big deal.

Logan swallows his massive bite. “Nothing. Forget it.”

I swing my casual gaze to Logan's face and let it rest there. My smirk is easy-breezy as I lay my arm down on the bar, getting comfortable.

Logan's shoulders sink. “Come on. Don’t do that.”

“Do what?”

“Make me tell you this secret.”

I shrug. “No one’s making you tell them anything. I’m just enjoying a beer with a friend...a friend who looks like he’s got a lot on his chest.”

Poor Logan. He’s pressing his lips together because he’s an unopened Coke bottle, and I’m shaking him up. Most men have to wrestle with their friends for an hour before they can get the truth out of them. I just stare at Logan, and he crumbles like a cookie, because he hates keeping things from me. I’m surprised he’s been able to harbor this secret all these years.

But tonight, I’ll get it out of him.

We enter a staring contest for two minutes. By the two minute and ten second mark, a bead of sweat drips down Logan's forehead, and I know he’s moments away from spilling every secret he’s ever had.

“She was engaged five years ago!” Logan blurts and then immediately slumps over like he’s just dropped a fifty-pound weight.

I, on the other hand, have been punched in the gut. Engaged. I had no idea. I mean, it makes sense. She’s thirty, incredible, and gorgeous.

But for some reason, I’m still surprised. “Engaged? What happened?” I ask, but Logan looks torn again. “Oh, come on. We both know you’re going to tell me, anyway. Just spill it.”

“Fine. But if Stacy asks, you were holding me in a headlock, and I had no choice.”

I roll my eyes and nod my agreement, but Logan holds out his elbow. He looks as serious about sealing this promise with our secret oath as he did when we were six and first established it. I look around, making sure no one is watching, and then tap my elbow against his. There. It’s done. He now has the right to give me a swirly if I break our agreement.

“None of us really know,” he begins. “One day, Ben was June’s world, and the next, she was sending out a group text the week of the ceremony that said Wedding is off. It didn’t work out. She claimed she felt suffocated in the relationship and that she’d lost touch with herself. But Stacy thinks it was just a cover for something that June didn’t want to talk about. She’s always been a pretty private person, so it makes sense.”