“Hey,” she calls out. “I’ll be there in a sec.”
“Actually, could you come now? I kind of need your help with something.”
“Oh,” she says, looking back at Rocko with an apologetic smile. “I’ll see you later,” she tells him before leaning into him and pressing a kiss to his cheek as he scowls back at me like a real asshole.
Rocko takes Tully’s waist and helps her down from the hood of his car as though she is precious before she hurries over to me. “Hey,” she grins, dashing towards my front door as Rocko turns and walks back inside his home. “What’s going on? What do you need help with?”
I lead Tully inside and wait until the door is firmly closed behind me before turning on her. “Are you insane?” I demand. “Rocko Fucking Stevenson? Do you have any idea who the hell he is or do you just like flirting with danger?”
Tully glances around as though I’ve lost my freaking mind. “What are you talking about? There’s nothing wrong with Rocko. He just has a bad reputation, just like the rest of us. He’s really a nice guy.”
“Did you fall and hit your head? Or is this another ploy to get at Rivers because this isn’t going to make him jealous, this is going to infuriate him. Not to mention your brother. Are you trying to cause problems between us?”
Tully rolls her eyes and walks past me to sit beside Aria who’s turning up the volume on the TV, trying to drown out our conversation. “Don’t you think you’re being a little dramatic?” she says as I snatch the television remote from Aria and put the volume back to a normal level which doesn’t threaten to burst my eardrums.
“Dramatic?” I shriek. “You’ve got to be kidding.”
“I’m not. Serious. Rocky is actually really nice. He’s fun and flirty and despite what you might think of him, I actually kind of like him. He’s the only guy who’s managed to get my mind off Rivers even if it’s only for a second.”
I groan and let my head fall to the back of the couch. “No,” I almost cry. “Don’t tell me that.”
“Sorry,” she grunts, “but it’s true.”
“So, it’s not just a ploy to piss off Rivers?”
“No,” she laughs. “That’s just an added bonus.”
I let out a heavy breath. “You really like him?”
“Well,” she says, deep in thought. “I think so. I mean, if he asks me out, I’m not going to say no.”
“Damn it,” I groan. “Any guy would be stupid not to ask you out.”
“Yeah,” she laughs. “I like to think so too.”
“This isn’t the first time you’ve spent time with him, is it?”
Guilt flashes through her green eyes as she glances up from the pizza selections before her. “No,” she admits. “I came over here on Friday night not realizing you’d gone to Noah’s race and he was out front working on his car and we got talking. He gave me his number and we’ve been texting ever since.”
Hurt flares through me. “That was five days ago,” I tell her. “Why the hell haven’t you said anything?”
Tully scoffs as she takes a huge bite of pizza and then tries to talk around it. “So I could avoid this interrogation,” she tells me. “You’re just like Noah and Rivers. Act first, ask questions later.”
“I did do that, didn’t I?”
She swallows the pizza. “Uh huh.”
“Sorry,” I cringe.
“Don’t be sorry for being who you are. I’ve known that about you since day one and I decided to love you anyway.”
“Yeah, well, that’s your fault then,” I grumble before looking up at her. “You know, no matter who you date or who’s trying to get in your pants, you and Rivers will always belong together. No one else will ever measure up to what you two have.”
Tully sighs deeply as a sadness seeps into her. “Don’t remind me,” she murmurs. “But it’s not like I can magically force him to be with him. He doesn’t want me, no matter what I do. I told him, right to his face that I’m crazy in love with him and it’s still not enough. I’ll never be enough for him, so I have no choice but to try and move on.”
“Don’t put this on you,” I tell her, absolutely furious with her. “You are more than enough. He’s just as in love with you as you are with him and you know it. He just has some twisted issues that he needs to sort out, and one day, we’re going to figure out what they are and help him through it, but until then, you need to be patient. He’ll come back to you when he’s ready.”
“But it might be too late by then.”
“That’s just the risk he has to take. I don’t expect you to just forget about him and move on, but just don’t completely close yourself off to him either. He’ll eventually come around and I’d hate to think that when that does happen, that you’re not willing to let yourself find your happiness.”