See No Evil

Easton drives us to The Grind in his truck, luckily not asking too many questions about my sullen mood on the way, preferring just to sing along to the new Post Malone song playing on the radio. However, when we enter the coffee house, my luck takes one hell of a nosedive. Lincoln and Ke

Any other day, I’d be more than happy to have Ke

The thing about Ke

I sit next to Linc, hoping the small distance will be enough to keep me off her radar. But my ass hasn’t even hit the seat when, from under my lashes, I see Ke

“Oh, no. What’s got you down, honey? You look like a wreck.”

“Nothing, I’m good,” I mumble with a fake smile plastered on my lips.

“No, you’re not. Come on, big guy. You can tell me. What’s the matter?” she coos, patting my hand over the table soothingly like a mother hen.

“I’m good, Ken. Swear on a stack of bibles. So, what’s up with you two?” I ask, hoping to steer the conversation away from me.

I look at Lincoln, silently imploring him to help me out with his girl, who is comfortably sitting across from us. But the fucker just shrugs at me with a stupid-ass grin on his face.

“Sorry, Fi

“I told you I’d get it out of you one way or another.” Easton chuckles while ordering two coffees and a couple of blueberry muffins from the barista.

“You knew she’d be here, didn’t you, you fucker?” I grunt over at East, unimpressed with the ambush.

“You’re only getting that now?” He winks unapologetically.

“Dick.”

“Come on, Fi

I let out a long exhale, cracking my knuckles and wondering who I’d like to punch first for their traitorous ways—Linc for not distracting Ke

I swear that I have assholes for friends. Whatever happened to bro code? Or does that mean something else? Yeah, I think I might be mixing up analogies, but who gives a shit. There must be some form of unwritten rule not to let your friends become one of Ke

“Hey, big guy!” She snaps her fingers in my face, startling me. “No retreating to Neverland like you always do. Tell me what’s got you down, Fi

I’d roll my eyes at her if I didn’t think she’d kick my ass for it. See, Ke

You wouldn’t think so, just by looking at her, though. With her long, golden hair, perfectly clear, blue eyes, and a face of a goddamn angel, most would consider her the epitome of southern belle propriety. She’s every mother’s wet dream and a shotgun-carrying father’s worst nightmare. The thing that makes her one of a kind is that she can play dress-up with all those frivolous debutants just as easily as she can play touch football in the mud with us guys.

Not that she has many girlfriends that I can recall. It must be tough on her. All her best friends are guys, making her a certified tomboy to us while, at the same time, bringing out every green-eyed monster lurking within most of Asheville’s female population. However, I never heard her complain about it. Not once. She loves the fuck out of us too much to be bothered with petty jealousy from the other girls, and in turn, we adore the hell out of her, too, except for Linc, who has a total boner for her.

Ke

“Sucker.” His eyes beam at me while I flip him off for the betrayal.

“Fi

“Fine,” I grunt, but I don’t say anything further as the barista arrives and places our order on the table. The minute her back is turned and we have our privacy back, I point a menacing finger at both my best friends and say, “I want it on the record that you two are fucking dicks for not backing me up. When Ke

“I’m good with that. Are you good with that too, Linc?” Easton asks while shoving a piece of muffin in his mouth, not one bit bothered about my little threat.

“Hmm, let me think about it. Are you okay with Fi

Her cheeks flush crimson, but her sharp tongue sure as hell isn’t embarrassed.

“Continue flirting with me like that, and all your ass is going to get is a spanking.”

“Is that a promise, Ryland?”

“Test me and find out, Hamilton.”

Okay, now I do roll my eyes because come on! These two should just fuck already and get it over with. He likes her, and she likes him. It isn’t rocket science that they should bang. The only drawback I can see to it is that her fiancée might not be too happy about her two-timing him. But where is it written that life is fair? Not in any book I’ve ever read. Ke

Well, except maybe them.

And Tommyboy.

And her brother, Jefferson.

Okay, so her dad would also lose his shit if he ever found out.

On second thought, maybe a lot of people are none the wiser that the two are crazy for each other. Huh. Guess I’m more clued in than most. Who would have guessed?

“Focus, Ken,” Easton coughs into his fist, and I kick the fucker under the table for bringing Ke

“Asshole,” I mutter under my breath, earning his cocky smirk and an added wink for my troubles.

“Right.” Ke

All three sets of eyes look in my direction, and if there were a hole I could crawl into to hide myself from them, I would. But since my life has been one shitshow after another, coming clean with what happened between Stone and me doesn’t seem all that bad. I mean, let’s be real. In the grand scheme of things, Stone doing a hit and run on me last Friday night is pretty goddamn mild compared to the shit I’ve done this past year.