His Best Friend's Sister in the Show Me State - Jessie Gussman Page 0,2

a fish.

But it was a serious moment because Joyce claimed that Preston didn’t know about Liam.

Watching his reaction, she was positive that Joyce was speaking the truth.

Preston was completely shocked.

But Athena had grown up in Andrew’s shadow and had been around Preston from the time he was younger than what Liam was now.

Liam looked like a carbon copy of Preston.

It was obvious Preston saw that immediately.

His eyes shot to Joyce’s and then to Athena’s.

“What...?” His eyes narrowed, almost like he was blaming Athena for this. “What are you telling me?”

Athena’s eyes widened. Why was he blaming her? It was almost like he thought she had brought Joyce here to have a gotcha moment.

“You think you’re gonna embarrass and shock me?” he asked with a sneer.

Athena hardened her jaw. “That’s not why I’m here.”

“Can you make it fast? I have things I wanted to do today.”

Athena lifted a brow. “Obviously. Like taking a shower. It must be time for your monthly one.”

She sighed inside. Why did she have to be so nasty? Why couldn’t she just accept that he wasn’t what she wanted and be nice to him anyway? It was the way she treated everyone else.

She didn’t look at anyone else and see people who weren’t doing what she thought they should, so she was unkind to them.

But even as she was thinking those things to herself, she knew exactly what the problem was.

She cared about Preston.

She knew the potential he had.

He was brilliant. One of those kids that never cracked a book in school and still got straight As. He cut classes, and goofed off, and still aced the tests without a second thought.

And yet, he’d sunk to this.

“Sorry, Princess, that my hygienic habits don’t meet with your approval. I’ll make sure to check with you before I sneeze.”

“That’s not your problem. Although it does involve your mouth.”

Maybe she should just give up being upset with herself, since everything that came out of her mouth directed at him was censorious.

Maybe that’s what he needed. Some tough love.

Or maybe he just needed love.

That was what she wanted to do. She wanted to just not care what state he was in and love him anyway, but she’d seen too many of her girlfriends throw too much of their lives away on men who treated them terribly, used them, cheated on them, and eventually left them, and all the while neglected them. At least two of her college friends married alcoholics.

She kind of thought that was the worst. Because the bottle was their mistress; they didn’t need a wife.

She’d seen how they suffered, and she wasn’t going there. As much as she wanted to love him anyway.

“Honestly, Athena. This is really none of your business.” His eyes shifted down to the boy, and his face changed slightly, although there was still anger there. “You shocked me, which I’m sure was your intention. But if you thought you were going to embarrass me or make me feel bad or guilty, you wasted your time. I can’t take care of what I don’t know about.”

He held Athena’s eyes, his own blue and filled with ice.

They used to be gorgeous and filled with laughter and life and the desire to live each day to the absolute fullest possible.

He was so much the opposite of her straightlaced and serious personality. She loved it.

She loved his brilliance. She loved his fun-loving antics. She loved his heart and soul and how he might be a total daredevil and a prankster to boot, but he had soft spots for children and animals, and at one time, she’d thought he had a soft spot for her.

“I’m sorry you feel that way. That’s not why I’m here at all.”

“I could speak for myself,” Joyce said, putting a hand on Athena’s arm.

Joyce wore short sleeves, despite the February chill, and Athena had no trouble seeing where Preston’s name was tattooed on her arm.

There was a line through it, and “Brian” was tattooed below it. There was a line through Brian as well, with no other name taking its place.

Athena hadn’t thought it was any of her business to ask if Joyce had decided that tattooing her current flame’s name on her arm was not a good idea, or whether she hadn’t had a current flame after Brian.

Not that it mattered.

Liam was what mattered to her the most.

But Joyce was her patient.

“Then do so.” Preston shifted, still holding the door in one hand, and put a hand on the doorframe. “I don’t have