My Cone and Only

by Susannah Nix

“Okay.” I gathered her to my chest, stroking her hair as I covered it with kisses. “Okay, we will. I promise.”

  “Tonight?”

  At my hesitation, she went stiff in my arms, but I held her even tighter. “I need to tell Josh myself before we go public. I owe him that much. He needs to hear it from my mouth, not the Crowder gossip mill.”

  She huffed out a reluctant breath. “Fine. But you’re going to tell him?”

  “Yes.”

  “When?”

  “The next time I see him.”

  Her mouth went hard. “That’s not good enough. You could avoid him for weeks if you wanted to.”

  “I won’t. I’ll call him tomorrow and arrange a meetup.”

  Somewhere quiet enough to talk. Private. It’d probably be best to do it at the farm. Preferably when Mia was around to soften his disposition. I had a suspicion she’d be on my side, and he’d be less likely to blow up at me in front of her.

  “You swear?”

  “On my mother’s soul,” I answered solemnly.

  This seemed to appease her, and she relaxed in my arms. “Okay.”

  I sagged in relief, clutching her to me before tipping her face up. My heart clenched as I stroked my thumb over her cheek. She was so incredible and caring and strong and basically perfect in every way. I didn’t deserve her, but I couldn’t live without her.

  I brushed a soft kiss over her lips. “I love you. I don’t ever want to give you a reason to doubt it.”

  “I love you too.”

  Some of the knots in my chest eased. I could do this for her. I could tell Josh and deal with the fallout. Whatever happened with me and him, at least I’d still have Andie on my side.

  Speaking of which…

  “Does this mean you don’t want to come to the show tonight?” The indecision on her face prompted me to add, “I promise I won’t flirt with anyone this time.”

  “Does it really matter to you if I’m there?”

  “It means the world to me to have you there, but I understand if you don’t want to do it.”

  She looked doubtful. “You really won’t flirt?”

  “I won’t smile at a single woman the whole night.”

  “I’d like to see that,” she scoffed.

  “Just watch. You’ll see.” I meant it. No more playacting. Not if it caused Andie pain.

  “Fine,” she said. “I’ll come tonight. But the next time we go out together, I want it to be as a real couple.”

  “I promise. This’ll be the last time. No more secrecy after tonight.”

  I kept my word to Andie. When I got to the Rusty Spoke that night, I didn’t smile at a single woman.

  It wasn’t easy. The manners that had been drilled into me from birth made smiling as instinctive as breathing. I was a natural-born pleaser. Friendly by default.

  But I managed it. For Andie. Even though my behavior left a lot of people perplexed. I kept getting asked if something was wrong. A few people definitely walked away thinking I was mad at them.

  Whatever. It was worth it. I glanced over at Andie, and she gave me a thumbs-up. She’d been watching me, and so far I hadn’t let her down. She didn’t exactly look happy to be here, but she didn’t look actively unhappy either.

  Ever since she’d arrived, she’d been sitting with Tanner’s ex, Lucy. I hadn’t realized the two of them were so friendly. Out of respect for my brother and his injured feelings, I usually tried to avoid Lucy as much as I could. I wasn’t inclined to be friendly with a woman who’d stomped on Tanner’s heart, but because she was Matt’s sister, I couldn’t really give her the cold shoulder either.

  So I didn’t go talk to Andie. Instead I stuck close to the other guys in the band and tried to keep my head and my mouth turned down.

  “Wyatt!”

  I winced at the sound of Brianna Thorne’s voice, and just barely evaded the kiss she aimed at my cheek as she came in for a hug.

  “Hey, Brianna.” I tugged her wrist off my neck and ducked out of her embrace before she could get too friendly.

  “You’ve been keeping secrets, you naughty thing!”

  My heart stopped in alarm. “What?”

  “I heard about your little show at Zelda’s!” She gave me a playful shove, using it as a pretext to caress my chest. “How could you not tell me about your songwriting debut? I’m so mad at you.”

  As I sidled farther out of Brianna’s reach, I darted a look at Andie and saw her frowning. I gave her an apologetic shrug, hoping it would allay some of her displeasure.

  “Everyone’s been raving about your music for the last two weeks,” Brianna said. “I’m just dying to hear it. Maybe I could talk you into giving me a private concert some time.”

  I winced as she batted her eyelashes at me. “We’re actually gonna play a couple of the new songs tonight, so you’ll get to hear them with everyone else.”

  “Ooh! Exciting! I can’t wait!”

  While she doggedly chattered at me, unbothered by the disinterested signals I was attempting to give off, my gaze wandered over the faces around the patio, evaluating the size and mood of tonight’s audience. The Rusty Spoke seemed a little more busy than usual, and I wondered if it was because of the buzz about our new music.

  A familiar face in the crowd caught my attention, and my stomach twisted.

  Josh was here. He was in line at the bar with Mia, and he lifted his hand in a wave when he caught me looking his way.

  I hadn’t expected him to be here tonight. He didn’t often make it to our shows, and he hadn’t said anything to me about coming.

  Tyler caught my eye and motioned toward the stage, letting me know it was time to get the you-know-what on the road. I nodded and downed the last of my beer. Brianna wished me luck, and I managed to dodge a second hug by ducking behind Corey to toss my bottle into the recycling bin.

  Once we took the stage, I relaxed a little. With a guitar in my hands and a good ten feet of distance between me and the audience, I didn’t have to worry about fending off any amorous advances. I avoided making eye contact with any women in the audience and mostly sang to the back fence or concentrated on my guitar. Every once in a while I’d let my gaze drift past Andie, but with Josh here I didn’t dare look at her too much.

  We played covers for the first half hour until the crowd was good and warmed up. When I finally introduced the first new song, they answered with enthusiastic cheers and hollers. We’d been rehearsing it all week, and I was pretty proud of how it had turned out. But I wasn’t prepared for the response it got.

  When you were up onstage, you could tell when an audience was along for the ride and when you were barely holding their attention. You could see it in their faces and body language. But you could also feel it in the air like an electric charge.

  As soon as we launched into “Bait and Switch,” I could tell the crowd was into it. The atmosphere was crackling with energy. People were on their feet, nodding to the music. By the time we got to the repeat of the chorus, they were singing along and dancing.

  To a song I’d written.

  It blew me away. I’d never felt anything like this high.

  When it was over, I stood there grinning like a fool as the roar of applause washed over me. I threw a look back at Matt and the other guys, and saw the same stunned smiles on their faces. The same elation. The same growing hope for what our future might hold.

  The rest of the set passed in a euphoric blur. We played another one of my songs, one that was a little slower, but still a crowd-pleaser.

  Throwing caution to the wind, I let my gaze settle on Andie while I sang it, because it was one of the ones I’d written about her. I wanted her to know I was thinking about her, and that I appreciated having her here.

  The smile in her eyes banished most of my anxiety about our earlier conversation.

  After the show, once we’d packed up our gear, I ventured back onto the patio. As I made my way through the crowd, accepting high fives and congratulations, my eyes
searched for Andie.

  I finally saw her standing off in a quiet corner of the patio by herself. Watching me. Like she’d been waiting for me.

  I wove my way over to her. “Hey you.”

  “Hey there, Mr. Rock Star.” She grinned at me, and I swept her up in a hug and spun her around. “That was awesome,” she said when I finally put her down. “I’m glad I was here to see it.”

  “I’m glad too.” I couldn’t stop smiling. “I guess maybe they liked the songs.”

  “Maybe? Are you kidding? They loved them.”

  “It’s kind of bananas.”

  “No it’s not.” She reached up and ruffled my hair. “It’s exactly what I expected. How do you feel?”

  “Dazed.”

  She handed me her beer. “Drink this.” I tipped my head back and chugged what was left. “My brother’s here.”

  My mood deflated a little at the reminder. “I saw.”

  “It’s the perfect chance to tell him.” She actually looked excited at the prospect.

  I blinked at her. “What, tonight?”

  “Yes tonight. He’s in a good mood, you’re in a good mood. What better time than now? It’ll be fine.”

  I gentled my tone, trying to pacify her. “Sweetheart, no. Not here. Not like this.”

  “You said you’d tell him the next time you see him.” She sounded annoyed by my reluctance.

  “I told you I was going to call him tomorrow so I could arrange to meet him on my own terms. Someplace private and quiet where we can talk it out.”

  “He’s right over there. All you have to do is walk up to him and say the words. I’ll go with you and we can do it together. It’ll be easier with the two of us presenting a united front.”

  There was a lot of sense in what she was saying. But I wasn’t prepared to do it right this second. I’d reconciled myself to calling Josh tomorrow. I needed every minute between now and then to marshal my courage for the task.

  Besides, I’d just had one of the best nights of my life, and I didn’t want it to end in a fight with my best friend.

  I shook my head. “It’s not a conversation I want to have in a public place.”

  “Why not?” she shot back, bristling with anger. “How’s that going to make a difference?”

  “I don’t want to cause a scene.” I laid my hand on her arm, trying to calm her down. “Like we’re fixing to do right now if you don’t lower your voice.”

  She jerked out of my grasp. “Since when have you ever in your life cared about causing a scene? It sounds to me like you’re just making excuses. Like you have no intention of doing what you promised.”

  “That’s not true,” I replied tightly. “I told you I’d do it and I will. But you’ve gotta let me pick my moment.”

  “There’s never going to be a good time to do it. So you might as well nut up and get it over with.”

  “Sweetheart, listen—”

  Her eyes blazed with fury. “Call me sweetheart one more time and I swear to god—”

  “Is everything all right?” Josh appeared beside us, wearing a dark frown. He laid a hand on my shoulder, but it wasn’t a friendly hand. It was a deeply concerned hand. An I just saw something I don’t like, care to explain yourself? hand. His eyes narrowed as they traveled back and forth between me and Andie. “What’s going on?”

  This wasn’t the way I wanted him to find out about us. He was already on edge, his big brother senses tingling after seeing us arguing. He’d probably seen her twist out of my grasp. It was pretty obvious from the way Andie was glaring at me that I’d done something to piss her off. Not exactly the best way to make my case as good boyfriend material.

  My eyes pleaded with Andie, begging her not to reveal the truth. To cover my ass this one last time.

  Her expression offered no sympathy whatsoever. “Well, Wyatt?” she said, her voice dangerously calm as her dark eyes seared into me. “Do you want to tell Josh what’s going on?”

  Both her tone and the look on her face told me in no uncertain terms what she expected me to do. Now or never, her eyes threatened. What’s it going to be?

  I swallowed.

  The reckoning I’d been dreading for the entirety of my adult life was at hand. This was my put up or shut up moment. Time to shit or get off the pot.

  So I did.

  Or rather, I didn’t.

  I didn’t tell Josh the truth.

  I chickened out.

  “It’s nothing,” I heard myself say.

  I hadn’t made any kind of decision to say it. The words just came out of my mouth, like someone else had temporarily taken the wheel. My mental faculties had switched to autopilot mode, and I’d lost control of my own decision-making apparatus.

  The disappointment on Andie’s face filled me with shame.

  She’d asked me to do this one thing for her. Told me how much she needed it. And I’d fucking chickened out. Because I was a coward. A gutless, low-down, good-for-nothing worm.

  “Andie?” Josh’s eyebrows lifted, waiting for his sister’s confirmation or denial.

  “You heard him.” Andie’s voice was devoid of all emotion, but she couldn’t hide the hurt in her eyes. “Apparently it’s nothing.” She watched me to make sure the import of her final remark landed before she turned and walked off. As she disappeared inside the bar, I saw Mia hurry after her.

  “What the hell was that about?”

  I dragged my attention back to Josh, my mind racing for an explanation that would satisfy him. “I’ve been having some girl trouble and she was trying to give me advice I didn’t want to take.”

  The falsehood fell off my tongue as smoothly as expensive whiskey, because I was better at lying on my feet than telling the truth. I always had been. It was my modus operandi. The way I’d always gotten out of uncomfortable situations and avoided difficult conversations. And it was a big part of the reason Josh didn’t think I was good enough for Andie.

  He was right. I was a dog.

  He gave me a dubious look. “Why didn’t she say that, then?”

  “You know Andie.” I shrugged as if that was all the explanation required.

  Josh studied me with unnerving sharpness. “The thing is,” he said slowly, “it looked like something more than that to me. She looked pretty upset. It seemed like you two were having a fight.”

  “I told you, she’s pissed about the way I treated one of her friends.” It was a plausible enough lie, since it had happened before. A couple of times, actually.

  Josh didn’t seem to be buying it though.

  He moved a half step closer, leaning toward me to speak in a low voice. “You know, Mia thinks you’ve been carrying a torch for Andie, and I told her she was way off base. But now I have to ask: Is there something going on with you and my sister, Wyatt?”

  There was no mistaking the implied threat in his tone. If I confirmed his suspicions, I’d be offered no forgiveness or understanding. Any hopes I might have had for a harmonious accord between us were long gone now.

  Maybe once some time had passed, and he’d had a chance to cool off, maybe then we’d be able to try again. Andie and I could sit him down and talk to him together. Present that united front she’d been talking about.

  After I’d smoothed things over with her, of course. Which would take some doing. We’d argued plenty in the past, but it had always been minor shit. Petty quarrels and friendly bickering. I’d never seen her this upset before. Not with me, anyway.

  It made my heart hurt to think about the look on her face. To know she was probably inside with Mia right now cursing my name. I needed to make things right with her.

  But first I needed to get Josh off my back. I could only deal with one problem at a time.

  So I looked my best friend in the eyes, and I straight up lied to him.

  “There’s nothing going on between me and Andie. Not the way you’re implying.” I let some of my frustration leak into my voice. I even glared at him a little, jutting my chin out as if
I resented the question.

  He regarded me for a long moment. Then he gave me a nod, seemingly satisfied with my answer.

  “Now if you’re done interrogating me, I’m in need of a drink.” I turned and headed for the bar.

  My mind was reeling as I pushed my way through the patio, still trying to process everything that had happened in the last few minutes. How badly my good night had gone to shit.

  I was so distracted, I didn’t see Brianna until she was right in front of me.

  “Oh my god, Wyatt!”

  I stopped short as she stepped into my path. I’d only narrowly avoided bowling her over, and we were so close her breasts were nearly grazing my chest. I jerked back, but she grabbed both my arms, halting my retreat.

  “Those new songs were incredible! I had no idea you were so talented. And so romantic too. You big softie! That second song was totally swoony. Tell the truth now, was it about me?”

  My mouth opened to deny it, but before I could get the words out she grabbed my face with both hands and crushed her mouth against mine.

  Shock froze me in place long enough for her to get her tongue inside my mouth. My gorge rose at the unwanted intrusion, and I grabbed her by the shoulders and removed her from my face.

  “It wasn’t about you, Brianna.” I struggled to keep my voice steady and my revulsion in check. I didn’t want to hurt her feelings. It wasn’t as if I hadn’t led her on in the past, giving her every reason to think I’d welcome her advances. “I’m sorry, but I’m not interested tonight.”

  I turned away so I wouldn’t have to witness her disappointment.

  And then I saw Andie.

  Standing just outside the door of the Spoke.

  Watching everything.

  27

  Andie

  Mia had followed me to the bathroom when I walked away from Wyatt and my brother. I was so mad I wanted to scream and smash things. But I wasn’t going to cry. Not in front of Mia. And especially not in this grimy bathroom with some drunk girl talking on her phone in one of the stalls. I just needed a minute to cool off and gather my dignity.

  Then I’d walk out of here with my head held high, get into my car, and drive myself home. After that, there’d be plenty of time for crying.