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“I am concentrating,” Austin says.
“Dylan was working, and he... he warned his friend off me.”
“Which friend?”
“Well, it's this guy he works with. His name's Sam.”
“Sam Caledona?”
“I don't know his last name, I just know that when I asked Sam out, he said it was for the best that he didn't go out with me because you guys have this “don't date my sister rule”, and he didn't want to piss you off.”
“You asked this guy out and you don't know his last name?”
I sigh. “Was Dylan right? I mean, would you have been upset with Sam if he'd gone out on a date with me?”
“I don't know, but if Dylan thought so, then probably. Dylan's judgement is sound.”
I frown. “I told Dylan you wouldn't have a problem with me dating a guy I like.”
“Normally, I wouldn't. But then usually you know the guy's name before you ask him out. Dylan knows I have certain...requirements of the guys you date.”
“Excuse me?”
“Don't get upset, Claire Bear. I just do my best to stop the love 'em and leave 'em kind from trying to get into your pants.”
“So, let me get this straight. You and Dylan have been conspiring to put a halt to any part of my dating life that you don't like?”
“I wouldn't say ‘conspiring’. I never told Dylan to warn Sam off.”
“But you've discussed your ‘requirements' with Dylan?”
“Well, after I introduced the two of you, I had to talk to him about why he would never be an acceptable choice of partner.”
“Excuse me?”
“He likes his personal freedom too much for you, Claire Bear. His ideal life has no room for the predictability and stability you crave.”
“Fine, but I don't understand why you needed to discuss it with Dylan when he's never been interested in me.”
“He was interested. I just shut him down before he could do something stupid.”
“What?”
Austin isn't making sense. I remember how easily Dylan shot me down in flames when I put my heart on the line and made it clear that I liked him. That moment is burned into my brain as the single most humiliating moment of my life. He laughed andteased me about my feelings. Every time I've thought about it since, I've died a little inside. He was all I could think about from the moment my brother introduced us. I went to sleep thinking about him, woke up after dreaming about him, and lived every moment back then waiting for the next time I'd see him. And he laughed off my feelings as if they were nothing.
“Dylan wanted to take you out on a date and asked me for my permission. I told him if he wanted to take you out, he had to promise to stick around and marry you. That's why he understands my expectations so well.”
“I'm sorry, I just need you to run that by me again. He really wanted to take me on a date?”
“Yes,” he says impatiently. “He had the hots for you back then, but he knew I would have given him a swift arse-kicking if he'd laid a finger on you. Not to mention he would have destroyed our friendship.”
I have no idea what to say. All this time, I've thought Dylan rejected me because he thought I was just a little girl and nothing like the women he was used to dating – which is exactly what he insinuated when I mentioned prom to him. And now I find out that hewasinterested. He was just a giant coward.
Just like Sam was last night.
My brother is not that scary, damn it! He would never injure someone I was dating if I really liked the guy. And I really liked Dylan back then. It broke my heart when he turned me down.
“You still there?” Austin asks.
