Page 58 of For the Record
“Did he?”
“Yes. All the time.” Sawyer squeezed her hand, not letting go as they started toward the Jeep again. “Helping family, I can understand. I would do anything for Bree.”
Coy stopped by the passenger door, “Thanks, but you might regret saying that. Sloane’s in a mood lately.”
“So you’ve said. Is she still concerned over your devotion to me?”
Devotion.Devotion. Coy lingered on the word, playing it round and round in her head. She liked the idea of being devoted to Sawyer. Sure beat all those empty promises she’d made to herself over the years about half-baked plans to ride the solo train for life. She couldn’t imagine being anywhere else right now.
“How about we give her something else to talk about?” Sawyer said, pulling Coy back to the present. She caught the mischievous glint in Sawyer’s eyes seconds before she grabbed Coy by the suspenders and claimed her lips in a hot, boxer-melting kiss. Coy hummed with pleasure, savoring the taste and feel of Sawyer’s tongue against hers, prodding, searching the recesses of her mouth. Coy’s head spun, and her hands flung out to hold on to something, anything. She felt the curve of Sawyer’s hips and clung to her.
Oh, Goddess, she could spend millennia kissing Sawyer.
A loud knock broke up their moment before Sloane called out, “Gonna be late for work, Coy.”
Coy groaned, but Sawyer smiled against her lips, giving her one last peck. She wiped a smudge of lipstick off Coy’s mouth, whispering, “I think it worked, wouldn’t you say?”
Nodding, her head still buzzing from endorphins, Coy laughed. “I think so, yeah.”
A stupid grin was stuck on her face as she helped Sawyer into Tegan, expertly ignoring Sloane’s eye roll as she did so. She ran around to the driver’s side, and as she got in, she sent a quick prayer to any entity who would listen that the rest of the night go smoothly.
Chapter 31
Sawyer
“How long have youbeen bartending, Sloane?” Sawyer asked politely as McCoy navigated Tegan across the city. McCoy smiled, gratitude that Sawyer was trying to make conversation shone clear as day on her face as she reached for her bottle of water. Sawyer wasn’t used to purposely taking the bite out of her voice when speaking. Or striking up conversation with someone she had little choice but to know solely because Sloane was important to McCoy.
“Going on six years. Coy actually got me the job when she started fucking Frankie.”
McCoy choked on her water, bits of it spraying over the steering wheel. “What the fuck, Sloane?” she wheezed out, glaring in the rearview mirror at her sister. Sloane only smirked.
“Frankie is the owner, correct?”
Jealousy was futile—and juvenile—on so many levels, but Sawyer couldn’t deny the abrupt pang in her chest at the thought of McCoy caring for someone enough that they were still close today. When McCoy had brought Frankie up days before, she’d failed to mention they were still in contact.
“Coy didn’t tell you that your date was where her ex lives and works?” Sloane punched Coy’s arm good-naturedly. Either she was genuinely so dense that she didn’t know she was upsetting McCoy, or she was purposely being cruel. Sawyer wanted to slap her.Fuck her for trying to sabotage my first date in years.
“Sloane, stop it.Please.” McCoy darted a panicked look at Sawyer. “I am so sorry. I-I didn’t even think of that. I-I read that romancing someone should involve sharing your favorite place to eat. Somewhere you’re comfortable, you know? But that’s stupid, I guess, considering.”
“I think it’s sweet.” Sloane shrugged, wedging herself between the two front seats so she was facing them better. She was close enough for an elbow to the face should the need arise.
“Sweet?” Sawyer echoed, narrowing her eyes on McCoy’s lesser half. There was something off about Sloane; Sawyer had felt it the moment they’d crossed paths. She’d considered McCoy immature at first glance, but she didn’t hold a candle to her sister in that regard. Sloane was selfish, and her actions screamed of envy. Had she always been that way, or was she jealous that McCoy wasn’t as easily at her beck and call?
“Yeah, I mean, at least Coy is trying. She’s kind of throwing you to the wolves from the get-go with Frankie, though.” Sloane shrugged again and laughed. “Kudos for finally dating again! God, remember the last one you went on? When was that, like two days before prom or something?”
A horrified, almost sick expression turned McCoy’s cheeks ashen. “Sloane,” she gritted out, reaching back to try to swat her sister, but Sloane dodged her.
“What?” she chortled. “You’ve grown up. Surely you don’t plan on leaving Sawyer alone in the booth to hook up with some rando like you did back then?”
Sawyer’s whole body tensed. Her gaze slipped to the woman behind the wheel, taking in the hurt McCoy tried so hard to hide, but there were tells. The steady twitch in her jaw, as if she was grinding her molars into a fine dust. Or how her eyes closed to half mast, like if she opened them too wide, tears would funnel out. Two hands clutched the wheel when she only ever drove with one. One on the wheel and one on the gearshift or entwined with Sawyer’s. Anyone who knew McCoy should have seen how upset she was, but Sloane continued her useless monologue like an actress starved for a role.
“Honestly, that was crazy, even for you.” Sloane patted Sawyer’s arm, unbothered when Sawyer recoiled from the unwelcome touch. “Coy ever tell you about that? She’d gone to meet her girlfriend at the restaurant and ended up chatting with another girl we knew in the parking lot. Fucked her right there in the car and forgot about the one waiting inside.”
A low, anxious fire grew in Sawyer, starting from her toes and expanding, burning her up inside until she thought she’d die if it wasn’t unleashed.
“She wasn’t my girlfriend,” McCoy whispered over the roaring in Sawyer’s ears.
“It must be quite a change for you, Sloane, not having McCoy all to yourself,” Sawyer said, keeping her voice neutral even though she wanted to throw the girl from the moving vehicle. She shifted in her seat so they could speak face-to-face. “Are you lonely? Is that it? Not getting the attention you’re used to from the one who loves you the most?”