Darian clicked on the widescreen and turned up the volume.
Gage snorted. “Larkin’s going to be pissed if she finds out about this.”
Darian took a long drink of his scotch as he listened in on their women. “Something’s been going on with them, and I think this is the only way we’ll find out what it is. When I ask Larkin, she says nothing, but I can see flashes of sadness cross her face when she thinks I’m not looking.”
Gage’s brows snapped together. “I’ve noticed something, too, with my little.”
Both men grew quiet when the girls started to talk.
“So, tell me. Have you found out anything else about where we’re going?” Larkin asked Brylee.
Both men sat up abruptly and leaned forward.
“Only that it’s a small town,” Brylee said as she combed the doll’s hair.
“I’ll miss him,” Larkin said and looked down at her hands in her lap.
Brylee set the comb and doll down and scooched close to her friend and put her arm around her shoulders. “I’ll miss my Gage, too, but we knew we were taking a chance falling in love with them.”
“I know it’s already happening with Darian. He’s been so preoccupied the last few weeks, and when I ask why, he blows me off.”
“Maybe it has something to do with their business because Gage is the same way.”
“Does Gage look at beautiful normal women?”
“Yeah,” Brylee said sadly. “Maybe it’s time we try to grow up.”
“We’ve tried,” Larkin reminded Brylee. “We’re always going to be different.”
Gage shared a confused look with Darian. “What the fuck?”
Darian narrowed his eyes at the screen. “I’ve no idea.”
Brylee sighed. “We were never going to be princesses, Larkin. Our own parents threw us away. How can we expect anyone besides each other to care about us?”
“Most of the time, they both seem to care very much,” Larkin murmured as she pulled on a string on the hem of her dress.
“I think we’re playthings for them right now. They’ll eventually get sick of us. Maybe if they had said if they cared, it might help. I tell Gage all the time how much I love him, and he’ll just smile and hug me.”
“I want us to keep our promise to each other. When one of them kicks us out of their life, we both make a move to Montana together.” Larkin held out her pinkie. “Pinkie promise.”
Brylee wrapped her pinkie around her friends and then squeezed Larkin’s shoulder. “It will probably happen to me first.”
Larkin leaned away from her so she could see her face. “Why would you think that?”
Brylee dropped her arm and shrugged. “He never talks about his feelings…”
“Darian doesn’t either.”
“Yeah, but I see the way he looks at you,” Brylee informed her.
“I see the way Gage looks at you.”
Brylee sighed. “We are never going to have a happily-ever-after. We’re little girls in women’s bodies. No one is going to want us forever.”
Larkin wiped a tear from her face. “I know. It’s just hard.”