Reaching behind me, I felt for my phone in the back pocket of my shorts, fished it out, dialed Syd’s number, and grinned right in Jamie’s face when I pressed the phone to my ear a good two seconds before he did.

He flipped me off.

I flipped him off back, then spun around so he couldn’t see the tremble in my lip I couldn’t figure out or explain.

I was on the verge of tears.

Why? Because I’d tapped him with my car?

“Your girl’s bitch of a friend is certifiable, man,” Jamie said behind me. “Fuckin’ straitjacket shit. No joke.”

“Hey, Tori,” Syd greeted me in my ear.

“It was an accident,” I said quickly, fighting against nerves and nuisance and this weird, unsettling hurt I couldn’t shake. “Okay? It was an accident, and if he says differently, he’s lying. I would never purposely do something like that.”

“What are you talking about?” Syd asked. Her voice was heavy with confusion.

“She ran me over with her fuckin’ car. Can you believe that shit?” Jamie spat, each word feeling like a knife sticking into my back. “Tori. Yeah, I’m serious, brother. That bitch is crazy.”

I pulled in a breath.

Not because of the crazy. Or the bitch. I was oddly immune to those names at the moment.

No. I pulled in a breath because Jamie called me Tori. He never called me Tori in places I could hear.

Until now.

The hurt I couldn’t explain somehow grew denser and spread through my bones, weighing me down. It was the strangest thing. I didn’t understand anything I was feeling except for the regret. That I understood.

I really didn’t mean for this to happen.

Honest.

So I held on to that emotion and wrapped my heart in it as I glanced over my shoulder, met Jamie’s eyes, and confessed my truth to Syd.

“I sort of hit Jamie with my car.”

But my other truths involving Jamie? Those stayed locked inside.

I was never letting them out.

Chapter Two

JAMIE

I knocked on the front door of the house my best friend shared with his girl. As I waited for someone to let me in, I took a step back on the porch, shoved my hands into my pockets, and turned halfway so I could see the driveway and monitor that shit.

Because if a motherfucking yellow Volvo pulled in behind my bike, I was rolling the fuck out.

It was Sunday night, meaning it was family dinner night at Dash and Syd’s place, something I never passed on considering the good food and good company, but I was willing to start skipping them if Legs and her psycho pussy showed up.

Jesus.

Never imagined I’d be thinking that shit. Nine months of wanting had me fucked in the head for this girl. I’d never pass up an opportunity to get an eye and an ear full of Legs and her smart-ass mouth. Hell, I’d go out of my way to get it.

Now I knew she was crazy. Didn’t matter how hot she was, I’d be passing up opportunities left and right just to steer clear.

Tori Rivera took bitch to a whole new level.

Dash told me she was working tonight when I called a couple hours ago for a heads-up, but I knew schedules could change, which was why I was turned around and keeping an eye out.

It’d be just like her to show up, knowing I wouldn’t want her here but doing it anyway out of spite, shoving her shit in my face like she was always doing and baiting me for a taste, then luring me outside somehow and running my ass over a-fuckin’-gain.

Not happening. Her hot ass wasn’t luring me anywhere.

She’d probably do permanent damage this time if she got a second go at it, crushing my junk since she’d most likely be aiming straight for my dick and balls.

I’d never fuck again.

No doubt Tori would be fucking elated, even though we both knew how hard up she was to ride my shit.

Jesus. That fucking moan …

No matter how many times I’d tried, I couldn’t get that noise out of my head. She’d wanted that kiss just as bad as me. Fighting it but getting it so good her body was failing her.

Getting it good. Yeah fucking right. That kiss was nothing special.

Only I’m a liar trying to convince myself concrete shit isn’t true, like tits aren’t God’s greatest creation.

That kiss … fuck.

Tasting better than I’d imagined. And I’d fucking imagined, plenty of times. More times than I was willing to admit now.

She moaned. She fucking moaned.

Then she bolted, and I couldn’t let her rip it all away from me without chasing after her and getting more. And I knew once I got her against me, she’d be giving in and letting herself feel that shit like I was feeling it. I was wearing her down. That kiss was proof. Legs couldn’t fight it anymore.

It was happening. We were fucking happening. Jesus … fucking finally.

Only we weren’t. Shocking the shit out of me, Legs hit me with a no instead of giving in to this, to us, and it didn’t matter how much her body was wanting it to happen or how fucking hard I was, I heard her. Loud and clear. She was telling me to stop.

Telling … me … to stop.

I backed off. Had to, but fuck. Moaning one second and then giving me that. Hesitating when I asked her straight out if she was feeling this, which meant she was feeling it but didn’t want to admit that to me. What the fuck? I didn’t need that shit. And if Tori Rivera was going to play those fucked-up mind games with me, then maybe she wasn’t worth the nine months I’d put in. And no matter how much I’d thought about it, dreamed about it, and damn near obsessed over it, maybe it was a good thing I hadn’t done more than just kiss her.

I was fucked enough as it was. And that was before she tried to kill me.

Now I wasn’t just through waiting around for her pussy, I was avoiding it altogether. I was over it. Done. Didn’t need that kind of crazy and sure as fuck didn’t want it.

I could forget about Tori. Should be easy enough.

Only … Motherfucker. That kiss didn’t suck. Not even a little.

The door opened behind me, turning my head, and Syd, Dash’s girl, stood in the doorway wearing an apron and a welcoming smile that cranked up in brightness at the sight of me.

She had looks and easy charm she didn’t need to work at—it just flowed. Was a little nutty with some of the honesty pouring from her at times, but like the honesty, she gave that smile to everyone it seemed, not just to people she knew.

Made her a helluva lot nicer than Legs.

I called her Sunshine as a joke, considering how much she was trying to hate on me on account of her friend. The nickname stuck when she stopped hating and started doing anything she could to shine a good light in my direction, hoping Legs would see it.

Syd was a sweet girl. Thought that before I found out she was healing Dash and getting him back to living instead of just merely existing. Now I had mad respect for Syd and a whole lotta love, too.

She earned that.

“What’s up, Sunshine?” I greeted her, stepping closer. When she didn’t back up or step aside, allowing me room to enter, I halted, tilted my head, and questioned, “You gonna let me in?”

Her eyes did a quick assessment of me as her lips pressed together.

Christ. Here we fucking go.

“I feel the need to point out, even though I’m happy you’re okay and understand in times of stress there is cause for exaggeration,” she began, one brow lifting as she met my gaze. “Being one to exaggerate in times of stress myself, I get it. But you don’t look like you got run over by a car, Jamie.”