Page 102 of Frisco

“Okay. Enough,” I told my friends.

They stopped bickering and flushed, giving me a guilty look.

“Sorry. It’s been a few days, you know?” Aly’s words were to me; her dark look was to Harper.

He raised his chin, pointedly ignoring her. Then he turned to me and softened. “It’s really good to see you. All the drama here—we were worried about you. What happened?”

“I…” I flinched. “I can’t tell you guys except to say there was a guy in the area. Shane was worried about me, and I had to stay where they were for a few days.” I held my hands out, seeing their instant concern. “It’s all good. The bad guy left, and it ended up helping in a way because I saw Claudia.”

“Oh.” Harper’s mouth turned down.

Aly’s face went blank.

“She’s definitely not coming back with us, so there’s that.” I remembered that was the main reason I’d come out here. “Ruby just will have to go without her favorite daughter for a while.”

I’d also come out here to escape Foley. Or the memories of Foley. Or… I wasn’t really sure anymore. I just remembered feeling a mountain of pain sitting on my chest, and over the last few days, that mountain had gone.

I felt lighter. Freer.

Thinking of Foley didn’t send me into a blind rage of suffocating pain.

Weird, right?

Or maybe not.

I looked over at Shane.

Yeah. Maybe not weird at all.

The waitress came to their table with another round of beer for them. She lingered, giving Shane a smile. I noticed. He didn’t because he was watching me.

He responded to something she’d said, not taking his eyes off me.

My body warmed, but I wasn’t surprised. It was the Shane effect. I’d named it.

“Holy fuck.”

I tuned back in. Aly and Harper’s gazes were stuck on me.

“What?”

“Nuh-uh.” Harper shook a finger in the air. “You can’t play that card. We saw that whole exchange. You… You got it bad for him.”

I rolled my eyes and looked at Aly. She was biting her bottom lip. “What?”

“You love him.”

I felt like a frozen fish came out of nowhere and hit me in the face. “What?”

“You do.” She nodded. “You fell in love with him. What are you doing?” She leaned across the table, her arms crossed tightly over her chest, but that head—she was giving me an owl impersonation right now. “Hon, you were shattered when we came out here. I thought distraction. Sexual fling. Hot and intense, but short. Emphasis on the short. You’ve not even talked to us about Foley, and you’ve moved on to a new guy? And that kind of guy? Do you even know anything about him?”

Oh. Whoa.

I leaned all the way back in my chair, because this was not my friend.

“I don’t know, Aly. I mean, I knew him in high school. He’s remained good friends with my brother. I’ve spent the last few days in his world, and I mean, fully in his world. But you’re right. I’m thinking you might know more about my man than I do.” I held a hand out. “By all means, educate me on the person I’ve been with the last few days.”

Her face went blank, making it even harder to read.