“This because of you?” Sophie asked, narrowing her eyes at me.
“Me?” I asked with a raised brow. “You blaming me for fu.cking over the one person in your life who would have given you anything? You ruined a 20-year-long friendship over numb-nuts here who looks like he’s about to throw you at us and run.”
“Not that,” Sophie spat, eyes narrowing more. “I mean defending her honor or whatever this is,” she said, waving her hand in the air. “Since when did any of you give a fuck about Deidra Hartman?”
I stepped forward until I was right in front of them.
“This is because Deidra was in the right place at the right time to ask for help, and you two pi.ssed off my brothers during that process.” I said, my voice low and dangerous. “Deidra earned respect from my brothers, and now we’re here to make sure Psych keeps his word to her.”
“His word…?” She mumbled, finally sounding scared.
“Drop the charges, Sophie,” I said, looking her in the eyes. “Give me your word now… Or Psych here is going to show you exactly how he got his road-name.”
“Fu.ck that!” Sophie yelled, glaring at me as tears filled her eyes. “Tell that bit.ch that once she calms down and talks to me like a normal person, then I’ll drop them. Deidra is going to have to come around eventually. I don’t care if I have to push her into it. I am not dropping those charges.”
A smile slowly spread across my face.
“I was hoping you’d say that.”
Deidra’s P.O.V.
The next day/Saturday –
I was all packed and ready to go to the airport first thing in the morning. I couldn’t get any last-minute flights for Monday, but the place I booked my cabin said I could check in a day early, so arriving there tomorrow shouldn’t be a problem. Pretty sure my Christmas miracle is this cabin being so available to me. They were so nice about all the last-minute changes, and about my frazzled brain. I’ll have to make sure to tip them well.
Today, I decided to go into the shop. I wasn’t hiding, and I didn’t want to look like I was either. I was a bit surprised that the police never showed up at my door though. When Void literally dragged me away from Sophie’s house, she and I were screaming at each other. Theo was holding her back while she went off about how she was going to press charges for destroying her property. I waited all damn day and night for the cops to show up, but they never did.
Guess I got lucky.
“Dra! You’re here today!”
I looked up at the sound of that sweet voice. Waylen came rushing up to the counter where I was. His blonde hair was pulled back in a bun, but he had fly-aways framing his face. His smile was bright and lit up those blue-green eyes that he shares with his irritating father. I smiled and ruffled his hair as he bounced on his feet.
“Did you stop by yesterday?” I asked him.
“Yes, I brought him by.”
I looked up to see Claire Roth, Jinx’s mom. She’s a very kind lady. I see her at least once every couple of weeks. We don’t talk much. I don’t know her well, but I have wondered a time or two how someone as sweet as her could have a son like Jinx.
“Hi Mrs. Roth, how are you?” I asked politely.
“I’m doing well, dear, thank you, and please, call me Claire,” she replied. “We came to bring your cookies. Way demanded you be a spot on our route around town. When you weren’t here yesterday, he asked if we could come back today. He really wanted to give them to you himself.”
I smiled as Waylen set down a round container on the counter.
“Awh, thanks Waylen,” I said, smiling at him. “These are going to be so good. I can’t wait to try them.”
Waylen beamed at me and I looked at Mrs. Roth again.
“Kinda glad someone came in here with him,” I told her. “I’m going on vacation for a couple of weeks, so I won’t be around. I wanted to let someone from the club know, just in case Waylen went missing or got upset.”
“Oh, good, you deserve a vacation right now,” she replied, patting my hand that was still resting on the cookie container.
Oh great, everyone knows now. Word sure does travel fast. Or maybe those three pansies from yesterday opened their big mouths.
“Where you headed to?” Mrs. Roth asked me.
“Oh, a little tourist town in Colorado,” I told her. “My parents used to take me there during the holidays when I was little. They liked having a white Christmas.”
For a moment, Mrs. Roth looked at me with pity. Then her brow furrowed. And a second later, a huge smile spread across her face. I just blinked at her, wondering what that was all about.
“Oh, that sounds lovely, dear,” she said. “I hope you have a wonderful time. Sad that you’ll be alone for Christmas, but maybe this trip will do you some good.”
“Here’s to hoping,” I replied with a forced laugh.
“Hey, we’re going on vacation too,” Waylen told me.
“Oh really? For Christmas?” I asked and he nodded. “Where at?”
“Actually, he and I better get going,” Mrs. Roth said awkwardly as she covered Waylen’s mouth with her hand. She gave me a forced smile as she literally dragged the poor boy towards the door with her hand still over his mouth. “We’ll see you around, Deidra. Have a wonderful trip! Bye!”
Then she was out the door.
“Uh… bye,” I muttered to myself since they were already gone.
“Well, that was weird,” Deb said, making me yelp as I jumped a foot in the air.
“Jesus, you scared the cr.ap out of me,” I told her.
“I don’t smell any sh.it,” she replied innocently, making me give her a flat look. “What are you doing here anyway? Told you not to come in today.”
“I know, but I finished packing and I wanted to make sure everything was good before I actually left,” I said.
“You work too much,” she muttered.
“So you say,” I replied flatly.
“I’m just looking out-“
“Deidra May Hartman!!” Someone screamed my full name, making me jump and spin around.
Sophie came charging into Garden Sip with a frown on her face. I was shocked. Not because she was here, but because of how she looked. Sophie hates looking bad in public. I’ve literally seen her stay home for two weeks because she got a pimple. As an adult. And right now she looks… rough. Her dress is simple and elegant, and her hair is down and styled perfectly. However, she looks like she hasn’t slept in weeks, she’s pale, and she looks… hollowed out. Angry but… scared?
Not sure what the hell is wrong with her, but it’s no longer my place to care. I refuse to. Sophie made her bed. And the fact that she has the audacity to be angry with me for any reason just pi.sses me off. So, I squared my shoulders as she marched towards the counter, her heels clacking against the floor. Despite the hollowness in her face, the rest of her looked like she had just stepped out of a magazine, and it really made me want to throw a pie in her face. Too bad we don’t sell pies.
“What the hell are you doing here?” I asked, crossing my arms. “You were told to stay away.”
“I’m here because this needs to stop,” she stated angrily, slamming her fist on my counter. “You and me are friends. You need to get over my relationship with Theo.” Other heads are turning now to watch the show. “You can’t stay mad at me forever. We have too much history.”
“Why is it that I’m supposed to care about our friendship, and loyalty, and our history, when you don’t?” I spat back at her. “You literally stole my fiance! You’ve been screwing him behind my back for a year and a half. You let me plan your fu.cking wedding thinking it was my own. You were planning dates with him at my apartment when you knew I wouldn’t be home because the two of you thought it was funny. What you did to me was intentional and cruel, and if you think that there is ever a snowball’s chance in hell of us ever being friends again, you’re seriously delulu. Get over yourself, Sophie. Our friendship is over. Period. And you have no one to blame but your damn self.”
People around us began whispering about her.
“You’re really going to throw over 20 years of friendship away?” she asked, her face red from anger and embarrassment.
“Oh, I’m not the one that threw this friendship away, Sophie, you are, and you don’t get to blame me for it,” I said. “You could have talked to me. Could have said something to me at some fu.cking point, but you didn’t. You treated me like a joke. And honestly, I can’t stop thinking about how many times you’ve done that in the past and I just didn’t realize it. If this is your idea of friendship… if you can easily do something like this to me… I don’t want it. I don’t want anything to do with you.”
Sophie’s face fell for a moment. It was right then that I realized that she truly thought I would get over this. That she could just manipulate me into being okay with all of this. And then her face suddenly changed. She glared at me again, eyes full of anger.
“That why you involved the Salvation Knights MC?” she asked, loud enough for the whole cafe to hear.
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