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“Really.” Binx taps at her phone, shooting off message after message. “Daria doesn’t sober up and calm down. She sobers up and has more energy to bring her evil schemes to fruition. If we don’t nip this in the bud, your yard could be on fire by morning. Or your car. Or your car and your yard and your face.” Her phone dings and she lets out a relieved breath. “Okay great, Wes is already home. He says he’ll have hot tea waiting for us.”
“Oh,” I squeak out, regretting every choice I’ve made tonight. “Okay.”
“Better than okay. It’s great.” Binx tucks her phone back into her purse before shifting to face me. “But before we drink tea, I need you to spill some, woman. What happened with my brother and why aren’t you two living happily ever after? As far as I can tell, you two would be perfect together.”
And because I’m an honest woman, who got herself into this mess with her own big mouth, I’m forced to tell Binx the truth. Most of it, anyway. I leave out the part about our mad night of tent passion overlapping with his relationship with Darcy by a full eight weeks.
As guilty as I feel about that, it doesn’t feel like my secret to tell.
But by the time we get to Wesley’s, where the man himself is waiting for us in the driveway in his tux with the shirt open at the top, she has almost all the dirt.
She shakes her head sadly at her brother as she passes him by, muttering, “Let’s go clean up your mess, bro. Seriously, man, couldn’t you have dated someone without a dangerously unhinged relative?”
Wes’s gaze darts my way, his eyes wide.
I don’t know what to say, so, I say nothing. I just cuddle Freya close and follow Binx into Wes’s extremely tidy home, pretty sure this is turning into one of the worst nights of my life.
Chapter 9
WESLEY
“Then Daria threw a glass at us on our way out and is probably plotting Tessa’s death as we speak.” Binx finishes her wrap-up of the night’s events and sits back on my couch, her feet curled beneath her, and her mug clutched to her chest. “And maybe my death, too. That woman has it out for me for some reason.” She sips her tea thoughtfully. “Maybe she’s secretly in love with me and pissed that I’m not batting for her team?”
My brows shoot up. “Really? Daria’s gay? I didn’t know that.”
Binx rolls her eyes. “I don’t know, Wes. I was just talking. But it is weird that she’s always trying to insult me by calling me gay. Like, who cares? Whether I’m gay or I’m straight, she’s a bitch, and I hate her, and we will never be friends or kissing friends or anything else.” She sits back, propping her feet up on the coffee table. “And this feud is stupid anyway. Your relationship was between you and Darcy, and it’s ancient history at this point. She needs to move the hell on.”
“Her sister’s hurting,” Tessa says softly, speaking up for the first time since she indicated that she’d like mint tea instead of passion fruit. She runs a gentle hand over Freya’s back, prompting the sleepy ferret to snuggle deeper into her lap. “And Daria’s clearly very protective of her sister. I’m guessing she won’t be moving on until she knows Darcy’s moved on.”
I clear my throat, feeling properly ashamed of myself. It’s awkward as hell, hearing my ex’s name on Tessa’s lips, but not nearly as awkward as my little sister knowing I spent a steamy night with the woman in my overstuffed armchair.
“I’m so sorry,” I say, apologizing for what feels like the hundredth time since they arrived. “This is my fault and I promise, I’ll do whatever it takes to make it right.”
“I know you will,” Binx says. “That’s why we’re here. But you’d better call Darcy soon. You know Daria. It’s only a matter of time before she escalates this in ridiculous and potentially dangerous ways. Just tell her that you and Tessa hooked up after you two broke up, beg her to talk her sister back from the edge before she does something even stupider than usual, and all will be well.”
My gaze shifts sharply to Tessa.
Tessa sighs and shakes her head, answering my unspoken question.
Binx glances between us, her brows pinching closer together. “You two did hook up after Wes and Darcy broke up, right?” She looks back and forth again, reading the guilt on our faces loud and clear. “Oh, shit. Guys! This is bad.”
“I know, I’m ashamed of myself,” Tessa whispers.
“You have nothing to be ashamed of,” I cut in. “You didn’t know I was in a relationship. This is my fault. Completely. I’ll explain that to Darcy. She hates me right now, but she’s a good person. She won’t blame you for something I did.”
Binx puffs her cheeks before exhaling a long, dubious breath.
I arch a brow her way. “You don’t think so? You know Darcy. She’s not the vengeful type.”
“Well, no, not usually,” Binx says. “But you’ve never confessed that you cheated on her before, either. She has every right to be pissed.” She glances toward Tessa. “And maybe she’ll realize that Tessa is blameless. Or, maybe she’ll join forces with her sister to make ‘the other woman’s’ life a living hell. There’s really no way of knowing. These situations make sane people crazy, let alone people who are already a little unhinged. It’s a key feature of the whole cheating thing.”
Tessa sinks lower in her chair with a groan, cuddling Freya to her stomach. “I never should have tried dating again. If I’d just stayed at home and out of the forest, this never would have happened. Wes never would have had to save me from that creep, we never would have shared a tent, and mistakes never would have been made.”
“Stop it,” Binx says before I can step in. “You’re a casualty of war, woman, not a terrorist. The only thing you possibly did wrong is tell Daria things she didn’t need to hear, but I can’t blame you. If someone had called me a fat, wrinkly old woman—multiple times, to my face—I’d probably be in jail right now. Who does that? I mean, where does she get the fucking ovaries to tear another woman down for no reason?”
“She said what?” I ask, heat rushing through my chest.
“She was just picking on me to get at Binx,” Tessa says. “She assumed we were together and was mocking Binx for dating an older woman.”
