Josie pressed her lips together and didn’t respond. I tensed, preparing myself for her to agree. She did need friends. Luke and Deacon were great, but the more the merrier or some shit. Though, couldn’t she find another chick? I was moving before I realized what I was doing. Stepping back from the vines and onto the walkway, there was a moment when I could’ve done the right thing, but nope. Apparently I could only half-ass one right thing. I was stalking right toward them.

“I haven’t seen you with the . . . with Seth.” The words were quietly spoken, but oh, I heard them. “It’s weird. Usually, I don’t see you without him and—”

“And I’m right here.”

Josie squeaked as her head swung toward me. Her eyes, those endless eyes, widened in surprise. “Seth?”

I stopped in front of them, eyeballing the little punk bitch on the bench. “You say my name, Josie, like you aren’t sure who I am, but considering how you normally scream my name, I’m a bit surprised.”

“What?” she gasped, and I could tell she was locking up. “What did you just say?”

“I think you heard me,” I replied, my attention focused solely on the tool. “This is the second time I’ve found you like this. Third time’s not going to be a charm.”

Josie’s chest—that remarkable, lovely chest—rose sharply. “This is not really happening,” she said. “This is not seriously happening right now.”

“Whoa.” Colin raised his hands. “I don’t know what you think is going on here, but it’s not.”

“It’s not?” I laughed, the sound biting and harsh as I told myself to stop and walk away.

“Colin, you don’t need to respond to any of that,” Josie said, cheeks pink. “Seth can be delusional—”

“Look, delusional or not, I don’t have a death wish,” Colin said, shaking his head. “I’m not trying to get with what’s yours.”

“Yours?” Josie repeated slowly. “His?”

“Good to hear,” I said smugly.

Colin lowered his hands to his knees. “I think she’s a pretty cool girl, and I like talking to her.” He looked over at her. “I like talking with you and this has been great—”

“Oh my God.” Josie squeezed her eyes shut. “This really cannot be happening.”

“I mean, I want to hang out with you and—”

“You should’ve stopped talking while you were ahead,” I advised, stepping toward him. The toes of my boots brushed his. “Because, you see, I don’t like—”

“Colin doesn’t care what you like.” Josie shot to her feet, dumping the sweater to the ground. “And I don’t even know what you’re doing here. Did you follow me in here?”

Well . . .

I turned to her. Our eyes locked, and damn, it was like a punch right through my chest wall.