Miss Fortune

Chapter Twenty

Alex didn't know why seeing Lisa—and she knew who that woman was before Thorin named her, because she recognized her from the newspaper clippings she and Thorin had been looking at just the other day—bothered her so much.

But as she sat behind the wheel of her Jeep, her eyes stung just the same and a bright, poison green jealousy surged through her entire body, which was stupid, really. He had a life before she came into it, just as she had a life before he came into hers. She knew that, and it was really stupid and juvenile to be this bothered by it.

Except that while she didn't know what exactly happened between Thorin and Lisa, just seeing how she kissed him, and how uncomfortable he looked when she did, it didn't take a genius to figure out something had happened. It also didn't take a genius to figure out what something was.

She didn't want to think about something. It was a waste of time and made her feel like a total twit for being upset over something to which she had no right to be upset. But since when were emotions at all rational?

She paid so little attention to her drive home that as she pulled into the driveway, she was almost surprised to find herself there. With a sigh, she climbed out and went back inside. A dull headache took root behind her eyes, so she hurried past the kitchen before Gram could snag her, and up to her room, where she stretched out on her bed once more.

"Don't be too upset, Al."

She must have been getting used to Frerin's comings and goings, because she didn't even start this time. Her face buried in her pillow, she muttered, "What?"

"About Thorin and Lisa."

Now she lifted her head and turned to where he sat in his usual chair. "You know about them? Or it? Or whatever?"

He shook his head, his expression grim. "Yeah. He came clean to me a few days ago."

"He slept with her, didn't he?"

Frerin looked how she felt as he nodded. "Night before my funeral, yeah."

"I knew it." She buried her face back in her pillow. "But, how did you know I know?"

"How did I know you know what?"

She lifted her head to glare at him. "Frerin."

"Sorry. Yeah, I'm all over the place, Al. I'm here. I'm in his apartment. The station. I keep an eye on him. When you can't, I do. And I saw her there, at the station. And I thought it would hurt to see her, but you know something? It didn't. I mean, I didn't really stick around, but it didn't really bother me to see her now."

"You don't sound too surprised at that."

"I don't think I am, really. She thought I screwed around her," he said softly. "But, if you want the truth, I always got the feeling she was more interested in Thorin than me. I didn't want to think so at the time. I sure as hell didn't want to admit it to myself. But deep down? Well, you know how it goes."

"What?" She rolled onto her side toward him. "Why would you think that?"

The air grew colder as he rose and came over to crouch beside her. "Same reason you thought he was interested in Teddy. Or Syd. Or Charlie. You could ask Dís. Girls were always panting over him, ever since we were kids. I was dumbass Frerin the class clown and they were all trying to get into my cool older brother's pants by going through me. She seemed to perk up at family things if he was there, laugh at his jokes no matter how stupid they were—stuff like that. Nothing I thought much of at the time, but looking back now? Sure seems like it to me."

"That's silly, you're just as good looking as he is, you're just as charming, and you seem just as nice. I think a woman would be lucky to have you."

"Well, be that as it may, they did and she did. Trust me on that. I wouldn't say it if it weren't true because it's not really good for my ego, you know? But, Thorin was my badass older brother and what girl wants the immature version when she can have the mature one? Especially when he has his own car and I'm pedaling everywhere on my BMX? And when we got older, the cop and the fireman—sometimes I won, sometimes I didn't."