They were with their father and his friends, but I barely paid them mind. They didn’t matter in comparison to the twins.Ugh.I did not want to deal with this right now.
I must have made a small sound, because Dermot’s arm tightened around my shoulder, causing my skin to break out into shivers. I knew she was going to walk over here, but I focused my attention back on Dermot, hoping she wouldn’t. I could already hear her brother trying to talk to Yates, the latter’s voice filled with annoyance. If Max was looking for friends, Yates was not the one who would be ‘nice enough’ to talk to him.
“Dahlia!” Abby’s high-pitched voice caused anxiety to well up in my throat. “What a pleasant surprise.”
God, I wanted to tell her to screw off. I wanted to tell her to leave me alone. To stop sending those messages. I had no proof it was her, though—it was just a feeling… one that I trusted one hundred and ten percent.
“Abby, good to see you.” I shifted slightly, my back pressed against Dermot’s chest, deciding that I didn’t care how it looked. I hadn’t met his gaze, even while turning towards him, but I could feel he was tense, and I was a bit concerned to meet his eyes, worried about what I’d see.
Abby leaned against the cart, her eyes running over him curiously with a seductive edge I hated, before looking back down at me with a patronizing air. A possessive burning feeling, paired with a hollow sense of dread, swelled in my chest as I tried to temper it down. I had no freakin’ right to be upset at how she was looking at him.
Abby’s lips pressed into a sly smile. “Is this your boyfriend? How exciting.”
Oh, man, I was tempted to say yes.
Before I could respond, though, Dermot’s calm and almost clinical answer solved my problem. “Yes.”
My eyes widened slightly as I snapped my head around, finding his lips pressed into an amused smile as he watched me with interest before moving his gaze back up to Abby. Any warmth disappeared, and I looked back to her shocked expression before she collected herself.Dermot was sort of a troublemaker.
“Oh!” She flashed a smile before a cunning light filled her gaze while she looked past us to where I knew my other guys were. “I hadn’t realized you were dating anyone. I mean, after all, you essentially live with the other guys. But I’m sure you know all about that… what’s your name again?”
This was the type of stunt she pulled.
Hypothetically, if I had been actually dating Dermot and he didn’t know the guys well, this would have probably caused tension between us. This was just a small hint of her toxicity. Besides my almost positive instinct that she was the person harassing me, she had a natural talent at planting seeds of doubt and causing conflict with others. The woman was… she was horrible. That was the nicest descriptor I could think of, and I didn’t think she even deserved that, if we were being honest.
“Kingston is my cousin,” Dermot drew out, his voice edged in hidden laughter as he refused to give her his name. “I’m well aware of where everyone lives.”
Oh my god, he was literally making fun of her. If I hadn’t liked this man before, I very much did now.
“Yourcousin?” Abby parroted. Dermot nodded slowly, as if he deemed her too dense to fully comprehend what he was saying. She wasn’t. She was a venomous snake that needed to be killed. Was that awful of me? I was starting to not feel bad about my thoughts.
“Abby!” Max’s voice rang out, sounding pissed as he moved back towards their golf cart. “Come over here.”
“I see,” Abby said, her eyes flashing with something dark. “Well, it looks like I’ll see both of you tonight.” Unfortunately, since her father was now a member of the club.
As she went to walk away, she turned back and flashed me a knowing smile. “Just wait until all the girls find out that the Wildberry Lane boys are officially free.”
Because she would tell everyone.
Dermot mumbled something as Abby left, a sickening feeling growing in my stomach. It was no surprise that people talked about our group and gossiped about the nature of our relationship, but I was starting to realize that those rumors may have been better than them knowing the truth. Dermot’s fingers relaxed on my shoulder as I turned around to face him, feeling a heavy weight on my shoulders.
“Who the bloody hell was that?” he demanded softly.
“Abby Brooks.” I shook my head and sighed. “Not exactly on the friendliest terms with her, if you couldn’t tell.”
“She seems like a cunt,” he grunted. A surprised laugh broke from my lips, my fingers pressing to my mouth to hide it because I had no good reason for why I found that so funny. He offered me a confused look.
“You can’t say the C-word here,” I teased, unable to hide my smile.
A horrified look came over his face. “Why the fuck not? Lass, that’s one of my favorite swear words, don’t take that away from me.”
“People don’t say that as much in America,” I teased as he shrugged, his face filing with legit delight. See? The man loved causing trouble! It was an addictive quality to be around.
“Your boyfriend does.” He chuckled and slid out of the cart, walking towards King and leaving me speechless. The man was such a nut job.
I had to admit, his actions made me feel… better. Safer?
I wasn’t positive that was the right word for it, but even acting as a pretend boyfriend, Dermot had served as an anchor and shield from Abby’s taunting. It made me wonder how much better I would feel if I just told my guys my suspicion on who had been and still was behind the bullying. Although that would include explaining that it was still going on in the first place.