“Is it, though?”
“Yes, Kinsley. Yes, that’s it. That’s the end. If that’s really what she wants, then I respect her decision.”
“You’re a fool to accept it without question.”
“Your mind has been addled by your books.”
“Better a mind addled by books than one addled by stupidity. Like yours.”
I shot her a look. “I’m not going to burst in like some knight in shining armor. I’ve done nothing wrong. She wants to date, and that’s fine. What we have—had,” I corrected myself. “—wasn’t serious.”
“You know what your problem is?”
“I don’t, but I’m sure you’re about to tell me.”
“Both of your problems, actually.”
“Go on. Enlighten me.”
“You don’t talk to each other.”
I met her eyes. “Talking wasn’t really what we had in mind when we jumped in bed together.”
“But it’s not just that, is it? Maybe it was six months ago, but it’s not now. You’re just too freaking scared to tell her how you really feel.”
I said nothing.
“Literally all of this—” She waved her arms around. “—Can be solved if you just talk to each other. You’re both wallowing in indecision and spiteful little comments because neither of you possess a pair of balls.”
“I have a pair of balls.”
“Colton!” She shoved me so hard I almost fell over. “You know what I mean!”
“Historically, we don’t talk. It doesn’t end well for us.” I sat up straight. “I know you—”
“No, I don’t mean well. I think you’re both being pathetic and childish and you need to pull out whatever tree-trunk sized sticks you’ve got stuck up your asses!”
I hesitated, inclining my head in her direction. “What has she said to you?”
“Nothing.”
“Liar.”
“Nothing!”
“Liar!”
She huffed. “I’m not telling you what we talked about. It’s not my place to pass on things that were said to me in confidence, and I promised Tori I wouldn’t repeat what she said to me.”
“I’m your brother.”
“She’s my friend. I don’t care. I gave her my word, and I won’t break that even for you.” She busied herself packing things up. “But trust me when I say this, Colton James Lane, you’re an absolute idiot if you don’t sort your life out and talk to her.”
“So if I hit the bottom of this mountain and drive to her place, she’ll talk to me.”
“Probably not.”
“This conversation is pointless.”
She stilled and hit me with a look that was far too reminiscent of our mother for me to be comfortable with it. “If you think this is a pointless conversation, you’re an idiot. If you can’t read between the lines of what I’m telling you, then you are hopelessly stupid, and I absolutely cannot help you any further.”
“Kinsley.”
“No. That’s my final word on the matter.” Sympathy softened her gaze. “Just… Promise me you’ll talk to her.”
I took a deep breath, my nostrils flaring. “I promise.”
“Thank you. Now help me pack this away so I can carry on listening to my book on the way down. It’s about to get really good.”
CHAPTER ELEVEN – TORI
rule eleven: one must always remember to block the assholes.
on the internet. not in real life. that could be uncomfortable.
I was going to do this.
I was going to message this cute guy on the internet and hope it worked out all right.
That’s right.
I, Tori Sussex, introvert extraordinaire, was going to make the first move.
Damn straight I was.
I could do this.
I would do this.
I had to do this.
I was doing it. I was messaging this stranger.
I was being ever so talkative with the good old, classic line of, “Hi, how are you?”
Attagirl, Tori.
That’s the one. That’s how you get the attention of a stranger.
I quickly shut the dating site tab down after sending it and went back to the website I was building. I needed a hobby that didn’t involve contemplating texting Colton or randomly scrolling through awful profiles on the dating site.
I couldn’t even focus on reading.
The date with Max had been awful.
Truly, truly dreadful. One of those that was right up there as potentially one of the worst dates I’d ever been on.
I’d barely been able to get a word in. I liked to know about my date as much as the next person, but Max liked to talk about himself. A lot. It was a complete one-eighty from the conversations we’d had online, and that had really sucked.
He was cute.
London’s date had been much the same, which made sense since they were twins. A fact neither of us had known until we showed up.
Now, I had to make a conscious effort to move on from the last six months of my life.
It was probably going to take another six, but still.
It was worth a shot.
A few shots.
In theory.
If it worked.
I doubted it would. If it did, it would be severely delayed by the fact that me and Colton was now all but public knowledge and I had the feeling our friends were going to get involved.