Page 118 of Thorn Kiss
I wasn’t sure I could take that.
She pushed away from me, her expression pinched with annoyance. “Yeah. Pizza all around. I’ll pay you back later, Whynot.”
Fuck me.“Don’t even worry about it,” I said lightly. “We should invite Madi over.”
June hesitated, but Evie immediately nodded. “Oh yeah. I want to meet her. I can’t believe you guys haven’t brought her by the bakery yet.”
“I’ve been cheating and taking her coffee from the other place,” I sighed.
If looks could kill, I’d be six feet under.
Evie scoffed. “Are youkiddingme?”
“Well, you don’t have an espresso machine.”
“You’re right. I make the best drip coffee in West Texas.”
I made a face, earning a laugh from Avery and June. “It’s not the same. You know that.”
“Yeah, yeah.” She was giving me a hard time, but we all knew—Evie included—that she hated making coffee and only carried drip coffee because the old people complained. She was too busy making all of her goods to stop and whip up a cappuccino. “All right, all right. Please invite Madi. I need to meet the woman who’s stolen your hearts.”
June immediately tensed. “Not if you’re going to give us any hell about it.”
“You know I won’t.”
“It’ll be fun to have her here,” I said. “Considering our texts.”
I was treading in dangerous water, but I also didn’t like being dismissed.
“I just hate asking for help,” June said lightly.
“Well, that’s really too bad.”
That earned me a glare.
“Are you embarrassed because the three of you want to kiss each other?” Laura teased from the beanbag.
All the adults’ heads in the room whipped between June and her niece. My jaw slackened as June’s cheeks reddened.
“Shush,” she hissed at Laura, who giggled like she knew all of our deepest darkest secrets.
Avery and Evie exchanged glances, and I didn’t even try to decipher that. The two of them had a secret language with their eyes that I’d never be able to speak.
Instead, I found myself staring at June.
Why was she ignoring me? Why was she acting like . . .
Like how she had been the last few months.
Something knotted in my chest. It hurt.
“I’ll text her,” I huffed.
CHAPTER THIRTY
Dallas
Was this what Avery had felt like last year when we’d all been scrutinizing her, Mateo, and Levi?
