Every Time I Fall (Orchid Valley 3)

“Wait.”

I stop but don’t turn. “Why?”

“You’re the one?” she asks. “The one Dean started seeing to get me to give him a chance?”

Slowly, I turn around. She’s put on a robe, but it’s thin and just this side of transparent. “What do you mean?”

She shakes her head. “I never meant for anyone to get hurt.”

“Tell me what you mean.” My back teeth clang together. My jaw aches. She was lying in his bed like she belonged there. Like he’d invited her.

“He wanted a real relationship, but I wasn’t ready,” she says. “I told him he had to start dating someone else and if he still wanted me, then I’d consider it. Guys like Dean, you know, he’s never really been the long-term type. He’s never wanted that.”

Except from Amy. He wanted it from her very badly. He even told me. He was jealous of what she had with Kace.

“I never meant for you to get hurt,” she says again. “I had to be sure he didn’t need me to be exciting all the time.”

I wish she’d quit saying that. It implies there’s a reason to be hurt. That this isn’t some big misunderstanding Dean will clear up in a few words.

“You’re a nice girl. I think he really cares for you, but you need to understand the only reason he ever gave you a chance was because he was trying to prove something to me.”

“That . . . that doesn’t even make sense.”

“You wouldn’t understand. You’ve never been the girl guys want the fling with—no offense, but you know what I mean.”

Yes. Yes, I do. “You had your chance with him.” I don’t even know what I’m saying. I sound so pathetic.

“I think you and I have a lot in common,” she says, and I want to smack her. The only thing we have in common is loving Hope, her daughter. She destroyed my brother when she left and then broke Dean’s heart. And now she’s breaking mine. “We both care about Dean a lot. But if you really want him to be happy, don’t make this any harder for him by making a scene.”

I squeeze my eyes shut. “I have to go.”

* * *

Dean

I was so fucking relieved when I saw Abbi’s text that I packed right up and headed home. I half expect to smell something amazing when I walk in the door, but instead I see piles of grocery bags lining the foyer. Trixie is outside, and I hear movement in the bedroom.

Shit. I don’t want Abbi to think I expect her to cook for me. “Wanna just order in tonight?” I call out, dropping my keys on the foyer table.

“That sounds good, but sex first.”

I spin around at the sound of a feminine voice that’s definitely not Abbi’s. Amy saunters toward me in a thin silver robe tied loosely at the waist. Her blond hair is piled on top of her head like she’s channeling casual, but her eye makeup says clubbing. Dread takes my stomach in its fist. “Where’s Abbi?”

“She came and went already. It’s taken care of.” She puts her hands on my shoulders and squeezes, and I’m so fucking bowled over by her audacity that I just stand there and stare. “You could’ve picked someone other than my ex-sister-in-law, by the way.” She laughs, low and sultry. I used to think that laugh was the sexiest thing I’d ever heard, but tonight, in this context, it makes my skin crawl.

“What did you do?” I’m already reaching for my phone, but Amy snatches it from me.

“Don’t complicate this, Dean. I’m here. You win. I’m giving you what you wanted. Strings, commitment, the whole nine yards.”

“What I wanted?” Came and went. I’m gonna be sick. I grab my phone back and unlock the screen, expecting to see that I somehow missed a call from Abbi. There’s nothing. “I don’t know why you’re here, but you’d better explain what you said to Abbi real fast.”

“I thought I’d surprise you. You can imagine how awkward it was for her to find me naked in your bed.” She makes a face of mock horror. “So awkward. I actually felt really sorry for her.”

I squeeze my eyes shut. “Please fucking tell me she knew I had nothing to do with you being here. That you were not invited.”

“Of course I did! I told her you’d given me the space and time I’d requested, and you know everything else.”

The dread gripping my stomach keeps hold of it as it crawls up my throat. “What do you mean, everything else?”

“I told her that I told you I needed you to date someone boring before I’d have a serious relationship with you. That sometimes life with a mom isn’t sexy and I wanted to know you could really handle it.” She shrugs. “And Abbi Matthews? Point made, Dean.”