“I hate to see you and Tristan pushing each other away because I know how you both feel about each other. With my own husband cheating on me, I totally get where you are coming from, Ryn. You don’t want to open yourself up to him hurting you again. But isn’t that what love is all about? Opening our hearts up and taking that leap of faith and not having a damn clue where we are going to land.”
Smiling, I agreed with Sierra. “Yes, but it is scary as hell taking that leap when you’ve already fallen hard once before, Sierra.”
Letting out a gruff laugh, Sierra said, “Girl, don’t I know. Believe me you . . . I know.” Chewing on her bottom lip, I knew she wanted to say more and was conflicted about if she should or not.
Clearing her throat, Sierra said, “Um, I know this is none of my business and Tristan would be really pissed with me even saying anything, but I have to. Ryn, there is a reason Tristan got spooked last year and pushed you away, and it has nothing to do with Liberty.”
Trying to keep my heart from pounding out of my chest, I slowly took a deep breath. Tristan got spooked? Opening my mouth to say something, I heard a familiar voice.
“Hey, Ryn, Sierra, how are you both doing?”
Glancing up, I saw Dodge standing there. Shit! Glancing back to Sierra, I had more questions for her.
Sierra looked toward Dodge and I couldn’t help but notice how her eyes lit up and the smile that spread across her face seemed to light up the area around her.
Oh. My. Gosh. Sierra likes Dodge!
“Oh, hey there, Dodge. Have you always come to this Starbucks?” Sierra asked. Looking back at Dodge, he smiled and nodded his head.
“Yes ma’am.”
Sierra leaned back and raised her eyebrows. “Huh. I can’t believe I’ve never seen you here before.”
“Yeah, same here.”
My mouth dropped open when I saw that look move across Dodge’s face. For one brief moment, he was interested in Sierra. He quickly recovered and said, “It’s good seeing you both. I’ve got a meeting I need to get to, see y’all later.”
I watched Sierra eye fuck the hell out of Dodge as he walked away. Dodge turned and gave a quick wave of his hand before walking out of Starbucks.
Sierra regained her composure, even though I’m almost positive she wiped a bit of drool from her mouth. Looking back at me, she smiled.
“Oh my gosh, you have the hots for Dodge!”
Sierra pulled her head back and gave a nervous laugh. “What?”
Pointing to her, I chuckled. “You practically undressed him as he walked out the door.”
Brushing me off with her hand, she rolled her eyes. “Bitch, please. I’m in the middle of a nasty breakup. The last thing I want is another guy in my life.”
Smiling until my cheeks hurt, I leaned in closer. “You know, Dodge is pretty good at making you forget things.” I winked at her as she rolled her eyes.
Sierra mumbled, “Yeah right. He’s done such a fabulous job with you.”
Leaning back in my chair, I shook my head. “I don’t count. I’m in love with Tristan. You can’t stand your ex.”
Jumping up and nearly knocking her chair over, Sierra pointed at me and jumped up and down while yelling out, “I knew it! I flippin’ knew it! Ha! I’m so damn good at this shit!”
Grabbing her and pulling her back into her seat, I put my finger up to my lips to hush her.
“Good lord, Sierra! Keep it down.” Looking around, I offered my apologies to everyone as they shook their heads in disbelief that anyone would have an outburst in their precious coffee shop.
Giggling like a schoolgirl, Sierra kept repeating. “I knew it! I so knew you were not over him.”
Then her smile dropped. “Shit. That must mean, Homerun isn’t that good with his bat.”
Narrowing my eyes at her I said, “Wait. What? You mean Dodge?”
“Yeah. Huh . . . his body screams good fuck.”
The table next to us started staring again. Jumping up, I grabbed my purse, coffee, and Sierra and began walking toward the door.
Once we got outside, I started walking away from Starbucks. I was never going to be able to show my face in that place again.
“You made it so I can never set foot in there again!” I called back over my shoulder.
Laughing, Sierra came up next to me. “Nonsense, they’ll get so buried in their work and forget anything that happened to them today.”
Smiling, I turned to Sierra. “He’s great in bed by the way.”
I could see out of the corner of my eye Sierra turn and look at me. “I figured he had to be if you’ve been hooking up with him so long. Then there was the unfortunate incident when I had to listen to how good he was.”
My mind went back to Tristan looking at the kitchen island. “Hey Sierra, can I ask you something?”
“Sure. Can’t say I’ll know the answer, but have at it.”
“Did you tell Tristan about overhearing me and Dodge . . . um . . . you know . . . that day in the kitchen?”
I stopped walking after she remained a little too quiet. “You did tell him!”
Stopping she turned to me and held up her hands. “No! I did not tell him.”
Giving her the same look my mother used to give me when she knew I was lying, I glared at her. “Sierra. You had to have told him. He knew.”
Confusion swept over Sierra’s face. “Wait. He talked to you about it?”
Turning my head to the side, I said, “No. When he brought me home he looked over into the kitchen and I could see it all over his face. He knew.” Slowly shaking my head I whispered, “You broke the girlfriend code.”
Dropping her mouth open, she snarled her upper lip. “Whoa. Whoa. Whoa. I would never break the girlfriend code. Well, I mean there may be situations where it calls for a time and place to break it, like if someone was about to get hurt or hurt themselves. Or if your friend had on an awful looking dress and you had to let her go out in it because . . .”
Placing my hands on my hips, I dragged in a frustrated breath. “Sierra!”
Sierra instantly stopped talking as she gave me a blank stare. “Right. What were we talking about again?”
Rolling my eyes as I tossed my hands up in the air. “Ohmygod! You telling Tristan that Dodge fucked me on the kitchen counter.”
Pointing her finger at me, she said, “Hey! I didn’t tell him. He saw y’all.”
I sucked in a breath of air as Sierra slammed her hands over her mouth. Her eyes widened in horror before she dropped her hands and spoke barely above
a whisper, “I’ve got to get to work. Later.”
It took me all of five seconds to get my wits about me, and I was taking off after Sierra. “Oh no you don’t. No, no, no! Sierra, you have to tell me the truth. Tristan saw us?”
Stopping, she dropped her head back and let out a loud moan. “Don’t make me do this, Ryn. Tristan is like my best friend now and if I say anything, I’m not being a good friend.”
“Well, what am I?”
Tilting her head and giving me a ‘really’ look she said, “A friend who has been sending my ass to voicemail for the last few weeks.”
Closing my eyes for a brief second before opening them again, I grabbed her hands. “Fine, I’m sorry. I suck at the whole friend thing. I’ll totally make it up to you by taking you to some overpriced fancy spa for the weekend.”
Moaning, Sierra closed her eyes. “Oh that sounds like heaven.”
“The whole package, massages, mani/pedis, facials, you name it and it’s my treat.”
Giving me a smile that screamed she had won this battle, she looked around. “Fine. But you have to swear you won’t tell Tristan I told you.”
Nodding my head frantically, I whispered, “I swear.”
Holding up her pinky, Sierra asked, “Pinky swear? Stick a needle in your eye kind of swearing?”
“What are we, in middle school?”
Jetting her pinky out at me and raising an eyebrow she whispered, “Swear?”
Ugh. If I didn’t really like Sierra so much I’d reach back and punch her right now. I just wanted to know how Tristan saw Dodge and I together.
Twisting my pinky around Sierra’s, I said, “I swear.”
Looking satisfied, she opened her mouth and spilled. “Daddy and I were coming to paint for the day and we walked up to a guy who was standing on top of one of our ladders. I could already hear you and Dodge in your love fest, so I knew he was peeping in on y’all.”
My face burned with embarrassment. “You need to better sound proof your damn house.”
Laughing, Sierra started walking as she kept talking. I followed right next to her, waiting for her to go on with her story. “Anywho, Tristan stepped back off the ladder and it was as if he was attempting to get air in. I thought he was turned on from watching y’all and I was so pissed off until I saw the look on his face. I could tell he wasn’t just a Peeping Tom. He looked devastated.” Sierra stopped talking and looked at me. “His eyes were filled with regret. Kind of like when someone hurts you so badly and in that moment when they realize the mistake they’ve made, they regret it. That’s how Tristan looked.”