Conceal (The Barker Triplets 3)

It’s tragic. The thought slipped into her mind and she swallowed hard as that damn knot pressed in tighter. Jesus, at this rate she was going to die of asphyxiation before dinner.

Bobbi squared her shoulders, the look on her face thunderous. “What the hell happened to you? When did you become this awful, selfish bitch?”

Betty counted to ten. She concentrated on breathing in and out, schooling her features into a mask of nothing. She would not lose her shit in front of Bobbi because if she cracked, Betty had a feeling no one would ever be able to put her back together again. Bobbi shook her head. “I’m trying to understand but I don’t. When you came home last fall, I thought you would be gone in a few days. It’s kinda what you’ve been doing for the last few years. And when you didn’t leave right away, I was happy. Happy because you didn’t. Billie was home. You were home. It felt like my family was back together again.”

Betty glanced away. She couldn’t take the hard, intense look in her sister’s eyes.

“I figured out pretty quick that you only stuck around because you had nowhere else to go. No money. No friends. But you had us, Betty. You had your family and still….” Bobbi swore and rubbed her arms as if she was cold. “Why can’t you be happy?”

Because I’m broken.

“You don’t really want to know.”

“Yeah,” Bobbi said sharply. “I do. I want to know why you push everyone away. Why you threw away a career that a lot of girls can only dream of. God, you had everything Betty and now…”

“Now I’ve got a fat lip and a bruised jaw. So what’s your point?”

“My point is that you’re falling, Betty. You’re falling and I’m not sure how far down you’re going to go. My point is that you scare me. My point is that I’m sad for you.”

Crack.

She felt it, deep inside.

“Don’t ever be sad for me,” Betty whispered hoarsely. “Just don’t. I don’t need or want your pity.”

Betty felt her bottom lip tremble but she dug in and pushed aside the knot in her chest. She pushed and pushed until she was able to look at her sister and be cool as a cucumber.

“Are you done?” she asked abruptly.

“No,” Bobbi retorted.

“Are you done for today?”

Bobbi shook her head and sighed as she tossed the script back onto the table. “What am I supposed to tell Billie?”

Betty scooped the papers into her hands and grabbed the door handle. She paused for a second. Waited until she knew she’d be able to speak calmly. She pushed the door open.

“Tell them to elope.”

Chapter Twelve

“WHAT THE HELL is up with you?” Tucker’s voice sounded flat in the quiet morning.

Beau leaned back in the boat and glanced out to where the sky met the lake. It was barely 5 a.m. and they’d been out fishing for the better part of an hour. It was just breaking dawn, that sweet spot between night and day, and Beau was exactly where he wanted to be. He knew he was.

He’d been looking forward to kicking back with Tucker up here on Lake Muskoka for weeks.

So why the hell didn’t he feel it? Why wasn’t he awash in a baptism of peace and quiet and tranquility?

Did he even have to ask the question?

It was that damn Betty Jo Barker. He couldn’t stop thinking about her—about the night they’d been together—about what an abs

olute asshole he’d been.

He was a man who’d been around the block a time or two. Hell, he’d had more candy thrown at him than he could ever taste and yet that one night had never left him. It had been a crazy, intense night of hot, raw, sex, and then Bentley had shown up and everything had gone to shit.

The even crazier thing was that it wasn’t the sex that stirred him. It was the look in her eyes when she’d realized that he had meant to prove something to Bentley.