" It took you long enough to come back,” Lexy tells me bitingly.
The girl is ruining my meal. Ever since the stable girls showed up, she’s been attached like glue to Vin’s side. I recognize it for what it is—infatuation. No way Vin is leading her on. He barely tolerates her, which isn’t to say he isn’t sleeping with her, but he definitely isn’t putting pretty pictures in her head. She’s doing that all on her own.
“That’s what he said,” I grumble around a large bite of bread, gesturing to Vin.
“We were sure you’d left us to die.”
“Sorry to disappoint.”
“Don’t be. We wouldn’t have been sorry to see you go.”
I look up from my plate to eye her carefully. I do it for too long. She twitches under my stare, making me grin.
“‘We,’ huh? You’re a ‘we’ now?”
Vin looks up sharply. “What? No.”
“Vin,” Lexy protests.
“Are you sure?” I ask him.
“Yes,” he tells me angrily. He stares Lexy down. “And, no, we’re not a ‘we.’ We’re nothing.”
“I’m sure he doesn’t mean it, Lex,” I tell her consolingly. “Never give up hope.”
“Kitten,” Vin growls in warning.
Lexy shoots me an icy stare from across the table. It’s cute how hard she tries. “Be sure to watch your back out there, Kitten,” she spits sarcastically. “I’d hate to see you get hurt.”
I put up my finger in her face, getting serious. “Watch yourself. You’re toeing a dangerous line with me right now and I don’t want to have to remind you what happened to the last girl who threatened me. Forget Vin, I’ll put you to bed with Caroline. You get me?”
Lexy pales. She glances once at Vin, then Ryan and Trent. All of them keep their heads down, carefully pretending they have no idea what’s happening. Finally she stands slowly, turns, and leaves without a word.
“Well, that’s handy,” I mumble, picking up my bread.
“Kinda harsh,” Ryan comments.
I hate that I immediately feel a twinge of guilt just from those two words from him. “I did him a favor,” I say defensively. “That girl was one kiss away from collecting his hair. I don’t have time for that kind of crazy.”
“Amen to that,” Vin says heartily, raising his glass to me.
“Calm down, Romeo. You’re the idiot who keeps getting us into these situations.”
“‘Us’?” he asks with a sly grin. “Are we an ‘us’ now?”
“No,” Ryan replies darkly. "

― Tracey Ward