Every Kiss(64)
Wes grabs my swinging arms and steadies me. “I think we’ve been set up.” He jerks his head to Makenna’s room. “Shane asked me a couple of days ago if I wanted to come down here for the weekend to get away, saying he wanted to come down to see Mak while she’s here with her folks but didn’t want to travel by himself. He even said he already had us a room booked. I stupidly agreed but didn’t think anything of it until I pulled in the drive and Makenna’s car was here. I probably would’ve just assumed her parents rode with her, but the stupid shit-eating grin on Shane’s face was a dead giveaway. As soon as we got here, she dragged him into that room, and I immediately heard you singing upstairs. I’m sorry that they’re idiots and don’t realize that I’m the last person you want to see.”
I try to tug my wrists free from his grip, but he doesn’t release me. “Let me go.”
“Callie, I swear I didn’t know, and I should beat Shane’s ass for lying to me.” He opens his hands, allowing my arms to fall free. “Makenna was in on this, too, you know.”
“Obviously. I’m assuming you’re one of my ‘birthday surprises’ she told me about. Hell of a surprise.”
He shoves his hands into his pockets. “Your birthday is today?”
I nod, refusing to look at him. “Yep.”
“Well, I know it’s not worth much coming from me, but happy birthday.”
Before I can come up with anything remotely snarky to say, the door to Makenna’s room creaks open, and Makenna steps out with Shane on her heels. “Well, I guess you found birthday surprise number two.”
“About that . . . you and I need to have a little chat.” I fold my arms over my chest and raise my eyebrows. Shane is glancing between Wes and me, snickering hysterically, and I figure out why when I look over at Wes. We’re both postured exactly the same—same folded arms, same scowl, same raised eyebrows. “This isn’t funny, Shane.”
He catches his breath enough to answer me. “Hey, you two played a joke on us, so it’s only fair. You know what they say about paybacks.”
“Besides,” Makenna begins, cautiously approaching me, “you may not realize it now, but you’ll thank us for it later.”
Wes glares at Shane. “Highly doubtful.”
“Can I talk to you for a second upstairs, Makenna?”
She looks at me with wide eyes and pulls both of her lips between her teeth before answering. “Sure.”
I march upstairs without a word, allowing all of my thoughts to gather in a somewhat organized collection of violent, malicious words. I want to make her cry. I want her to know that she can’t treat people like pawns, pushing them together when all they want to do is . . . is . . . hell, I don’t know what I want to do about him. But she has to know this isn’t okay.
As soon as I shut the door and turn to her, I open my mouth, about to release my wrath upon her, when she holds up a hand to stop me.
“Wait just a second. Before you say anything, I need you to do one thing for me. After you do this, you can say whatever you want to say to me. You can rip me a new asshole if you want. But when my parents told me that we were coming down here alone, I had this idea, and Shane agreed that it would be risky but totally worth it. Forty-eight hours. That’s all I’m asking for. Shane is telling Wes the exact same thing. Let it play out and see what happens. If you still can’t stand the sight of each other after this weekend, then you can both say whatever you want to say to us. I just need you to give it two days, Callie. Please.”
“Why? Why should I wait two days to tell you exactly what I think of your stupid little scheme? It’s all quite fresh on my mind right this minute.”
She flings her hair over her shoulder and crosses her arms defensively. “Because you’re my best friend in the whole world, and I know you well enough to see that you want this. You’re just too stubborn to admit it. I may rarely be right about things, but there’s not any doubt in my mind that I’m right about this.”
“Even if you were right—and I’m not saying you are—how can you be so sure that he’ll agree to this? What’s your plan if one of us doesn’t agree to your little experiment? Or if neither of us agrees?”
She reaches out and rests both of her hands on my shoulders. “But that’s not going to happen. Shane and I wouldn’t have set this up if we weren’t confident you wouldn’t agree to it. We love both of you, and we want to see you happy. You and Wes haven’t been happy since the weekend we all went to the banquet, and the reasons are obvious. We just wanted to give both of you an opportunity to see it for yourself.”