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  Tina humphed and marched farther into the room, opening the cabinet under the sink and then rummaging around, searching for something.

  “What are you looking for?”

  “A wrench. Mack sent me to get it.” She apparently didn’t find it because when she stood, she had nothing in her hands. She crossed her arms and glared at Christa. “He’s going to be a while. My basement is filling with water. He’ll probably be helping me out for hours. You might as well run along. You can see him another day.”

  Christa snapped at the condescending bitch’s words. Fury made her set her water bottle down and stand at her full height. Her face was heated, and her hands were shaking at her sides. She might have been non-confrontational under normal circumstances, but this woman had pushed her too far. “This game you’re playing is out of control and totally useless. You’re wasting your time trying to sabotage my relationship with Mack. He doesn’t see you like you’re hoping, and he never will.”

  Tina gasped and put a hand over her chest. “You’ve known him for what? A month? You don’t know anything. I’ve known him my entire life. I know everything about him. I’m the one who can make him happy. Not you. So get out of here, and stop honing in on my man.”

  Christa’s mouth dropped open. The audacity overwhelmed her. She was so done. “You conniving bitch. How about if you fucking run along instead?” Christa wasn’t done. She was about to say more, but the back door shut at that exact moment, and she jerked her gaze to find Mack standing in the kitchen.

  His brow was furrowed. “Christa? What the hell?”

  Tina spun around and faced him, somehow conjuring up fake tears. She rushed toward him and flattened her hands on his chest. By the time she twisted her neck around to glance at Christa, her face was red and tears ran down her cheeks. “I was just looking for the wrench under the sink like you asked me, and your friend started yelling at me.” Another huge fake sob.

  Christa rolled her eyes, and then her heart fell into her stomach when Mack wrapped an arm around Tina’s shoulders.

  “What is wrong with you? I told you I needed to turn off her water. Why are you so pissed? She was just doing what I asked her to do.”

  Christa gasped and jumped back a few feet. Yes, her face could heat further. For a moment she simply stared at him, and then she jolted out of her shock. “Fuck this.” She stomped across the room and grabbed her bag. After jerking the door to the garage open, she spun around. “Have a great life, Mack. I’m sure Tina will make you super happy when you finally stop seeing her as a girl and realize she’s a woman. Perhaps I’m truly the idiot here, and the real reason you and I have never taken our relationship to the next level is because you’re in love with your neighbor. Have fun.” She stepped out of the house, slammed the door, opened the garage, and ran around the front of her car.

  She was shaking horribly as she struggled to get her keys in the ignition and start the engine. It was a miracle she didn’t hit Mack’s car or his mailbox on the way out. She didn’t take a breath until she was down the street, and after she turned the corner, she pulled over and put the car in park. She needed to get her shit together before she drove home, or she’d end up in an accident.

  Taking several deep breaths, she closed her eyes and thought back on what just happened. Obviously, Mack had stepped into the house at the exact moment Christa finally found the balls to call Tina a conniving bitch to her face. Not one of Christa’s finest moments, but she also wasn’t in the wrong.

  Fuck Mack if he couldn’t see his neighbor for who she was. Sure, they had a lifetime of history, and Mack thought he knew Tina better than anyone, but he was clearly wrong, and he was being played.

  Christa was so done with this situation. Tina could have him. Enough was enough.

  Chapter 22

  “What happened?” Bex asked the next afternoon when she wandered downstairs. “I thought you were staying over at Mack’s last night? Shayla said you stopped by to get a bag.”

  Christa lifted her tired body off the couch and stretched her neck to both sides. She hadn’t slept much. Fury had caused her to toss and turn all morning, and as quiet as Shayla tried to be when she puttered around the kitchen before leaving, she still woke Christa. Even her long middle of the night run followed by a hot shower hadn’t calmed her enough to let her get six hours of sleep. “Tina happened. That’s what. It’s over between us.”

  Bex froze on her way to the kitchen area. “Oh shit. What did that bitch do now?”

  Christa blew out a breath and followed Bex to the kitchen, both of them aiming for the Keurig. “She had some sort of busted pipe and texted Mack to come fix it while we were finishing dinner. Harmless enough I suppose, but when I arrived a while later, she came into the house to look for a wrench for him and laid into me as usual. That woman has amazing skills. No wonder Mack doesn’t have a girlfriend. His neighbor probably chases them all off the property the moment they start dating.”

  “Yikes. So, you told Mack to take a hike?”

  “Nope. He walked in while I was telling Tina to fuck herself. He immediately took her side, and I bailed.”

  Bex gasped. “Seriously?”

  Christa nodded.

  Bex grinned. “But good for you. Please tell me you actually used the word fuck.”

  “I did, and it felt good. I also used the word bitch. I hope the two of them are happy together.”

  “No shit.” Bex put an arm around Christa, making her realize she was shaking. “You don’t need that in your life. I know you really liked him and all, but the man has baggage. You can’t be expected to help him sort it out.”

  “Yeah.” Too bad Christa really liked him. He’d been the best half-boyfriend she’d been with in her life. Even without the sex, he’d given her two amazing orgasms that rocked her foundation. Thank God she hadn’t actually slept with him.

  The more she thought about it, the more she wondered if the reason he hadn’t had sex with her had to do with some subconscious thing he had for Tina. After all, he’d been super quick to wrap his arm around her and comfort the poor, poor girl after the mean bad Christa said horrible things to her.

  No matter how hard Christa tried to process the entire situation, she still came to the same conclusion. There had been no other recourse. Good riddance.

  Bex, the amazing friend that she was, encouraged Christa to spend the afternoon shopping to take her mind off things, and by the time the two of them drove to the airport for the redeye that night, Christa was almost normal.

  Liar.

  Chapter 23

  Mack spent the Sunday moping around his house. After shutting off Tina’s water, which took about two minutes once he found the wrench in the garage instead of under the sink where he’d told her to look, he’d made sure her sump pump was running, and gone home.

  His house was too quiet. He was angry and disappointed and confused. How the hell had sweet, kind, introverted Christa managed to snap like that and take out her frustration on Tina? He never would have guessed that Christa had a mean bone in her body.

  He went over the scene several times in his mind, and every time, Christa was in the wrong. He was surprised to hear her cuss at someone. No way would he have thought she had it in her.

  Was he partly to blame for this? Granted, maybe it was weird that he had such a close relationship with his neighbor, but he’d known Tina her entire life. She was harmless. Kind. Friendly. Helpful. Until Christa had stayed with him, he’d never thought much about Tina walking into his house unannounced. That’s just how they were. It had been that way long before he’d lived there alone. She’d been like a daughter to his parents, too.

  Mack paced his kitchen Sunday night, going over all this again for the umpteenth time. He hadn’t spoken to any of the guys because he hadn’t wanted to hear them say “I told you so.”

  They were wrong. Tina was just Tina. A little sister. No reason to be mean to her and make her cry. Right? He’d flat-out asked her if she was interested i
n him and she’d denied it.

  Mack had expected to spend a while comforting Tina after Christa left, but somehow she’d pulled it together, dried her eyes, and forced a smile. She even shrugged off Christa’s rude behavior and told him not to worry about it.

  He’d been skeptical after the way she’d burst into tears, and he’d kept a close eye on her while he shut off her water and got the sump pump running, but she’d bounced back and returned to her normally cheerful self before he finished. Thank God. Comforting crying women made him nervous. He never knew what to say to them. Not that he was a dick. He would have done it. But he was relieved when she waved a hand through the air and told him to forget about it.

  He hadn’t slept much last night, either. He missed Christa, or at least the woman he’d thought she was. The version of her who lost her shit in his kitchen was a stranger. Nothing like the meek woman who’d flushed in his bathtub and then whimpered beneath him as he fingered her.

  It was probably just as well that he saw her true colors before having sex with her. He’d still been undecided about how he intended to handle that next step that would have taken place if she hadn’t blown up at Tina. On the drive home last night, he’d gone back and forth in his mind between taking the vanilla route or showing his cards.

  He’d made no decision at all before the shit hit the fan. It was just as well. Now, he didn’t have to worry about how to balance his kink with a vanilla woman.

  Why did he feel like shit then?

  She was gone. She wouldn’t be back. He wouldn’t be calling her. The only leftover mess would be if the two of them had to face each other in the future at some event. Like if Libby and Hatch got married or something.

  Mack groaned. Fuck. That would be awkward.

  Plus, he still had to tell his friends what happened. He knew they were going to be skeptical, and he wasn’t in the mood. Why the hell was everyone so mistrustful of a young girl who lived next door. Geez. Christa was almost too young for Mack’s taste, and she was twenty-seven. Tina was five years younger than that. He shuddered. Way too fucking young. He would never look at her romantically. He’d feel like a pervert. How did no one else see that?

  Mack went to bed early, tossed around for the second night in a row, and then dragged his sorry ass into work before anyone else Monday morning. He was at his desk, buried in a coding job for a large client when Hatch arrived.

  Mack cringed when his friend stuck his head in the room, wondering if he already knew what had happened, and not interested in the ensuing speech he figured he’d get from all three of his friends.

  The idea that they were going to give him shit made the hairs on the back of his neck stand on end. Something about this situation was fucked-up.

  “Hey,” Hatch said, leaning into Mack’s office. “I heard you broke up with Christa. Or…uh…she broke up with you?”

  Mack sighed and leaned back in his chair. Yep. This was happening. Just as he’d suspected. “That’s all you know?”

  Hatch lifted a brow and stepped all the way into the office. He dropped into a chair across from Mack’s desk and stared at him. “Nope. I know the entire story. Women talk. I didn’t call you because I figured if you wanted anyone’s input, you would have called me. Or Sweets or Tank.”

  Mack swallowed. “So, you gonna lay into me now, or are you waiting for backup?”

  Hatch shrugged. “I don’t have to lay into you at all. You do you. I’m just surprised. I thought you really liked Christa.”

  “I did like her, until she laid into my neighbor like a crazy woman. I’m not down for that. It was unnecessary and uncalled for. It’s over.”

  Hatch held up both hands in surrender as he stood and backed toward the door. “Okay, but I think you need to think hard about the other side of the story, man. I wasn’t there, but I’m worried about your perception when it comes to Tina.”

  Mack rolled his eyes. “Later, man.” He dipped his head and pretended to go back to work just to get Hatch to leave his office. He didn’t need any extra shit from anyone. Why were they all on Christa’s side anyway? They’d known Mack for years. It made no sense. Apparently, she wasn’t nearly as sweet and innocent as he’d thought if she’d managed to get her claws into his friend over the weekend.

  The more Mack thought about it, the more pissed he was. He couldn’t concentrate on anything. When Sweets and Tank showed up, he could hear them all talking in Hatch’s office, and couldn’t take it any longer.

  He packed up his computer bag and stepped into the hallway. “I’m going to work from home today. Have fun.” He walked right out the door without looking back. No one said a word.

  Chapter 24

  Christa was still upset when she and Bex got home from their shift early Monday morning. Her mind wouldn’t stop going over the events of Saturday night.

  She hated it when she doubted herself, but every time she did, Bex would remind her of the play-by-play with Tina from every encounter.

  She considered trying to explain things to Mack, mostly because she missed him, but then she would clam up and talk herself out of it. Who wanted to be with a man who would side with an obsessed admirer?

  Damn, she missed him though. She didn’t say that out loud to her friends because she felt ridiculous. But the truth was, Mack was the first man who’d made her body hum so thoroughly, and she worried about finding a man who could be as in tune with her body as he was.

  It made her even angrier when she started fretting that he might have ruined her for other men. That she would forever compare the way he touched her to everyone she dated in the future.

  Great.

  She’d managed to put her problems aside long enough to work her shift, but it was hard. Now she was exhausted and prayed sleep would suck her under.

  Shayla was working the day shift—a long flight that wouldn’t get her back until late—so Christa barricaded herself in Shayla’s room, closed the blackout curtains, and dropped into bed. Luckily, sleep sucked her under quickly. It was the deepest sleep she’d had since moving out of her condo.

  Mack considered going into work on Tuesday but opted not to. He was still bristling from his confrontation with Hatch, so he left a message he would be working from home again. He could get more done from home anyway without having to worry about his friends judging him.

  He was in the middle of a big project for a large client, so he’d need to be on-site starting tomorrow anyway. That would buy him the rest of the week. Hopefully, by next week, the situation with Christa would be old news and his friends would drop it.

  At noon, Mack shuffled into the kitchen to heat up some leftovers. He found some meatloaf and mashed potatoes Tina had made and left for him last night while he’d been out jogging. After filling a plate and sticking it in the microwave, he noticed a satchel sitting on the counter near the back door.

  He recognized it as one of Tina’s. One she sometimes carried around with her school books in it. He worried she might be looking for it and not realize she’d left it at his house.

  When he reached for it, it tipped onto its side, and one of her notebooks fell out and tumbled to the floor. “Shit,” he muttered as he bent down to pick it up.

  The pages had flopped open, and he carefully lifted it, hoping he didn’t rip anything. The back of the front cover caught his attention because it was covered with hearts. And then he stopped breathing.

  Not just hearts. Sketches like someone would do in middle school. Mack hearts Tina. Tina hearts Mack. His hands shook as he took in the fact that these doodles were all over the backside of the front cover of the notebook.

  Shit.

  Fuck.

  Please, God.

  He stuffed the notebook in her satchel, left his lunch in the microwave, and headed out the back door. He needed to talk to Tina. Now.

  When he arrived at her front door, he knocked and then stepped back to wait.

  After a few moments, one of her roommates answered. A brunette. He didn’t know
these women very well, but he recognized her from coming and going. She smiled. “Hey.”

  “Is Tina here?”

  She frowned. “No. I thought she was with you.”

  Another roommate came into view and leaned on the doorframe. This one was blond. Her brow was also furrowed. “She said she was spending the day with you because you weren’t feeling well. You don’t look sick.”

  Mack’s hackles went up. His mouth fell open, but it took him a while to find words. “I’m not sick, and I haven’t seen Tina today.”

  “Huh. Interesting.” The blond hip-butted the brunette. “Told you. You owe me twenty bucks.”

  The brunette stepped closer. “Is it true that you and Tina have been secretly dating for over a year and the only reason you haven’t formally put a ring on her finger is because you wanted to talk to her parents in person first?”

  Mack stumbled back a few steps. Shocked didn’t even begin to describe his reaction.

  “Ha,” the blond declared. “I knew she was lying. Look at him. He doesn’t have the first clue what you’re talking about.”

  The brunette narrowed her gaze. “He hasn’t confirmed or denied anything yet. Maybe he just didn’t want us to know.”

  Mack shook his head and handed the brunette Tina’s satchel. “I’m not dating your roommate, and I never have been.” He turned and walked back to his house.

  Furious didn’t begin to describe how he felt. What the hell was wrong with Tina? Besides the fact that she’d obviously created an entire fake life with him, snowing him under completely, she’d ruined a promising relationship with a woman Mack was falling in love with.

  No, he thought as he stepped back into his house. That was on him. He’d ruined things with Christa. Not Tina. He couldn’t really blame Tina for his unwillingness to listen to a single person who warned him about her. He would have to think about how to deal with her later. For now, he needed to focus on apologizing to Christa and then his friends.