The Girl's Got Secrets (Forbidden Men 7)

When I floundered, trying to come up with an answer that might appease him, he said, “Does she already have a boyfriend?”

“No.” Crap! Yes! I should’ve said yes, and that would’ve stopped him in his tracks. Damn it, why was I so stupid?

“Then....?”

“You don’t want to go out with her,” I blurted, not sure what else to say.

He laughed. “Yes, I do. I just told you I did.”

“No...” I shook my head adamantly, even though he couldn’t see me. “You don’t.”

“Why?”

“Because...” Yeah, Remy, why? “Because you don?

?t even know her.”

Again, he chuckled, but this time, it sounded more strained. “Which is the reason I want to meet her. So we can get to know each other, see how things flow.”

But I continued to shake my head. “No.”

Finally, irritation flooded his voice. “Just what the hell do you think I’d do to her? I realize she’s family to you, which makes you protective, but I thought you and I were good enough friends that you knew I’d never—”

“That’s not it,” I broke in before he could really work himself into a tizzy. “That’s not it at all.”

“Then what is it?” He seemed so affronted.

I shrugged, feeling shitty. “Maybe it’s the other way around,” I said before I could stop myself. “Maybe it’s you I’m worried about getting hurt. Not her.” Because honestly, this was all because I didn’t want to hurt him.

A couple seconds of silence followed. Finally, he settled with a perplexed, “What?”

“Please just...trust me,” I told him softly. “I can’t...I can’t tell you the particulars, but I know you don’t want to get tangled up with her.”

He sighed. “Okay. Fine.”

But I knew it wasn’t fine. He’d really wanted to meet girl-me. And when he tersely told me he had to go a few minutes later, I crumbled into a chair and hugged myself, wondering how the hell I was going to fix this.

I think I fucked up.

I never should’ve asked Remy to set me up with his cousin. I wasn’t sure if it was because he didn’t trust me to treat his kin right or because he liked me himself. He’d insisted it was neither, but I knew it had to be something.

Like a woman telling you she was fine; he wasn’t fine.

The whole thing seemed oddly like I was dealing with a chick. With other dudes, I never worried about hurting their feelings, or even what they were feeling. Never so much drama. You either knocked another dude on his ass for pissing you off or told him the fuck off. Five minutes later, you were friends again.

Not so with Remy Curran. I wasn’t sure if it was the gay thing or what, but it’d been three days and there was this distance between us.

I wasn’t helping things, either. I was still miffed because he’d so adamantly shut me down and not only refused to help me with a girl I wanted to meet more than...probably any other girl I’d ever seen before—probably even Incubus shirt girl—but he’d then gone and cock-blocked me, telling me he didn’t want me near her at all, so now I couldn’t even try to get to her on my own. Felt like a pretty shit move to me, frankly. He knew better than anyone that my intentions were actually honorable. I wouldn’t fuck her and drop her. I legitimately wanted to get to know her.

The jackass.

And if it was because he wanted me for himself, he needed to cut that out too. I mean, I liked the guy. He’d probably become my best friend in the few weeks we’d known each other, but I wasn’t going to trade sides, not even for him. I couldn’t help it that I preferred women. Damn it. The whole fucking thing irritated me to no end. Kind of made me want to drop him and his drama completely.

Except I missed hanging out with him. He was entertaining and competitive, had similar tastes as me so we always had plenty to talk about, and I knew I could rely on him for probably just about anything. He was the perfect friend, except for the part where he wanted my dick. But I could look past that.

There’d been so many times in the last few days I’d picked up the phone to call him up so we could hang out, only to stop myself. Because he was avoiding me too. He’d left straight after practice on Thursday without bullshitting with me like usual. And we always hung out together after our Friday night gig at Forbidden. But he’d gone home as soon the show was over, pleading a headache.

Total chick move.