Canon (Klein Brothers 2)

“It’s…” he groaned. “God, this is so cliché, but it’s complicated. I should have been there for my best friend. If I had, it never would have happened, and she wouldn’t have the scars.”

“Sounds like she has them inside and outside.” At his nod, I raised my eyebrows. “Ever thought that maybe she feels partly to blame, too? Didn’t she also lose her best friend in the accident?”

I was sure that’s what I’d heard about it. It’d been a tragedy, the definition of one actually, but neither of them was to blame for it.

“More than likely. I just want to see Ryanne smile again.” He looked to the side, and I could swear I saw a pink tinge on his cheeks. “She had the best smile.”

I was just about to take a sip of my coffee when a large hand appeared over my shoulder, and the mug was taken away from me. “Thanks, I’m running on empty today.”

Glaring at Canon, I growled, “I will geld you with the bluntest thing I can find. It might take some work to get it to go through the skin, but I’m determined, so I’ll make sure it happens. If you’d like to keep your nuts, go and make me a coffee, and don’t you dare take even a sip of it.”

As my man went about doing just that, I made a plan with Reid to get his girl back to her former self. Actually, no, it was far more straightforward than that—all we wanted was for her to smile a genuine smile.

Knowing I’d need Rockie, I texted him and asked him to meet me at the salon. Reid was due over at where Ryanne was staying later today, so we were going to do it then. No time like the present, and all that jazz.

By the time I left for work, I had a multitude of emotions going through me. I was excited about my secret project, happy because things were going well with Canon, worried about Reid, and kind of bummed because my car would end up costing me more than it was worth to fix all of the problems with it according to Jarrod.

Ren had told me as much when he’d first looked at it, but I’d been so sure that just patching the most significant problem would do. More fool me.

I may have accepted I needed to buy a new one, but acceptance came in stages. I was at the first one.

Jarrod had confirmed my car wasn’t drivable, so Canon was giving me a ride into work today, and I was going to have to suck it up and go car shopping.

As he dropped me off in front of the salon, Canon kissed me, taking his time, and making it a proper kiss that’d leave me floating.

When he finally lifted his head, he gave me a peck on the nose. “I’ll come and pick you up after work, and we’ll go and look at cars, okay?”

“I hate this,” I whined. “I don’t mind spending money on products and shit like that, but when it comes to huge purchases, I’m cheap.”

“You need a new car, baby. This isn’t a case of being cheap or not, it’s something you need for work.”

I hated it when he made sense.

Sighing, I gave him a quick kiss and opened the door. “Okay. I’ll see you after work.”

“I love you,” he called out the window as I stepped up onto the sidewalk, not giving one shit about who heard him saying it.

Because I was a new woman, one who finally felt secure and content in a relationship, I shouted it back at him, meaning it with my whole heart.

“Do you know what I love about living here?” Cyn asked as I trimmed the ends of her hair.

“Uh, Taco Bell?”

Her face dropped, looking more serious than I’d ever seen it. “No, and we don’t joke about that stuff. It took me days to get over it last time.”

“Well, if you ever need to drop five pounds, you know what to eat,” Evie pointed out as she walked past us.

“Fair point,” she mumbled, then held her phone up. “I love the fact my phone is in American English, so I don’t have to add the extra letters to words. My daily usage of the letter U has dropped hugely, and it just makes it easier.”

Huh, that was bizarre but interesting information. “I’ve never thought about it like that.”

“And don’t even get me started on the letter Z. Whenever people spell a word out with one in it, they say it as it sounds instead of saying, ‘zed.’”

Sitting down in the spare seat next to us, Evie leaned back and thought about it. “I wonder why there’s such a big difference.”

Rubbing her hands together, Cyn said, “I looked it up online, and apparently, British English was originally like American English. They changed it and added in letters for some reason instead of keeping spellings more phonetic like we do here. I don’t know why it changed, but it did. Weird, huh?”