“He was a regular at the diner, either sitting inside when it was cold or out on the bench when the weather was nice,” Mom explains. “He was kind of a town fixture.”
The growl of an engine draws my attention to the front window, and when a beast of a muscle car pulls up in Piper’s driveway, I do my best to act inconspicuous as I watch a guy with just as many muscles as his car emerge from the driver’s seat. Although his arms are covered in muscles, he can’t be much older than me.
Irritation runs through my blood when Piper’s front door opens, and she runs to him. He catches her in his tattooed arms, spinning her around like the fools do in chick flicks after being separated for a long period of time. Her nose is buried in his neck, and his hands are dangerously close to her ass because her legs are wrapped all the way around his waist.
I don’t even acknowledge my sister when she steps up beside me. If I open my mouth, I’d say something hateful, and it’s not Peyton’s fault that my girl is clinging to another man mere hours after having her lips on mine. I might’ve initiated that kiss, but she was a full participant. Until she wasn’t.
We both stare out the window, watching Piper smile when the asshole finally puts her back down on her feet. She must’ve not gotten enough of him because they wrap each other in another hug, swaying back and forth for another long moment.
“Who is that asshole?” I spit.
“Oh,” Peyton says as she’s had some ah-ha moment. “That’s who she was talking about in her journals. That’s Dillon.”
And things go from bad to worse. The sight of all of those stupid hearts in her journal are seared in my brain, and now they’ll live right beside the ones of her tangling herself with him.
“He’s here for the funeral. Mr. Clark was his granddad. Damn, he’s smoking ho—”
“Stop,” I hiss. “That’s enough.”
“He’s a tasty little snack, isn’t he?”
“Peyton,” I warn.
“Yeah, that’s wrong. He’s not a snack. That boy is a five-course meal.”
I turn to leave, and Peyton’s laughter follows me all the way out of the room.
I spend the next half hour seething, walking a hole in the concrete on the back patio, but the tension in my body only seems to double by the minute. It’s at catastrophic levels when I hear the jerk’s car start up, and I’m damn near imploding when I peek through the fence and watch him open the passenger side door. He presses his palm to her lower back, guiding her inside. I don’t miss the wide smile on his face or the devilish glint in his eyes as he rounds the front of his car and climbs into the driver’s side. Then he backs out and takes off with my girl.
I pull out my phone to do some research, but Dillon Clark doesn’t produce results for him. I can’t access Piper’s friend list because her accounts are on lockdown.
Frustrated, I head back inside and up the stairs. Peyton has to have more answers, and maybe she’s done taunting me.
I find my bratty sister sitting in front of her makeup mirror in her room.
“I won’t apologize for teasing you,” she says as soon as I edge open her partially closed door. “Piper deserves someone like that hunk.”
“What do you know about him?” I ask, instead of setting the record straight.
“Same as you.” Her words come out distorted as she contorts her face to apply something to her eyelashes. “Only what was in the journals. He moved away years ago. She had a huge crush on him, and from telling by the way they acted a little bit ago, he feels the same way about her.”
“Are you saying that shit just to get back at me?”
She turns to fully face me rather than looking at me in her mirror.
“You don’t deserve her. You’ve already caused enough damage to Piper. Leave her alone.”
“What did she tell you? I thought you were on my side.”
She huffs, her focus back on the mirror as she applies lipstick.
“That was before I knew how bad things were.”
“What changed?”
“Get out of my room, Dalton, and next time knock before you come in.” Her eyes meet mine in the mirror. “Better yet, don’t even bother to talk to me.”
“What the hell, Peyton? I haven’t done anything to you or her since I came home from the hospital. What gives?”
“She was right.” My sister shrugs like it’s no big deal to tell me to fuck off. “There’s no way she can forgive you. The pain you caused changed who she could’ve been a long time ago.”
“What’s going on?” I prod, refusing to give up. I thought I’d made some leeway with Piper, and I know for a fact that Peyton was coming around. “What happened between playing in the pool yesterday, and now that’s making you so hateful?”