23. Chapter 23

It was my birthday. For some reason turning twenty-five made me feel sick to my stomach. Maybe it was because the last letter I received from Max was just after his twenty-fifth birthday, and that had been nine months ago.

"Come on, Posie, drink up!" Evan's girlfriend was getting on my last nerve. She'd been pushing me to date every man she came across. The crazy woman set up blind date after blind date for me, even when I continued to turn them down or simply not show up. I wasn't ready for that, and she refused to take ‘No' for an answer.

"I've had enough," I told her.

"No, you can never have enough of your birthday!" Jennifer's gleeful voice grated on my last freaking nerve. I stood, about to leave when she grabbed my arm forcefully and dug her nails in.

"You can't go yet." Her instance made me glance around the bar. I could smell a setup a mile away now that she'd attempted this trick far too many times. Evan said he'd have a talk with her, and make her chill out, but Evan didn't understand what I did. I'd lost the Carter brother that held my heart. I worked very closely, nearly every day, with Evan. She was worried that I'd transfer my affections to him and that he'd jump at the chance.

She worried for nothing, but I was absolutely fed up with her antics. She should have been worried about pissing me off. I reached down and wrenched her wrist back and threw her hands off me.

"Whoa! Calm down, Posie, she was just trying to do you a solid."

I pulled the sleeve of my shirt up and showed my best friend the indents from her fingertips and the red marks from her fingers. "No, she wasn't. She's being pushy and doing something I asked her not to do ever again. I'm not fucking ready to date anyone right now and I'm getting sick to fucking death of your pushy-ass girlfriend trying to force these meet cutes on me. And I'm really not going to tolerate someone putting their hands on me and marking my skin. I had enough of that when my mother was alive."

"What the fuck, Jen?"

"I'm sorry, I didn't realize," she tried to say.

"Oh, you did. You realized. You know exactly what you're doing. Remember? I've been the one on the receiving end of the conversations you've had with me that you don't want Evan to know about. I'm fucking sick of it. I don't like him that way. I'm not a threat to your relationship. The only threat there is the crazy, possessive way you've been acting. Evan is a brother to me. I didn't feel that way about Max or Michael because they weren't around. Devon and Evan became my brothers years ago and it would be gross to even think of having an inappropriate relationship with either of them. So, stop your bullshit or I will get a damn restraining order against you. I mean it. I don't even want to see your face anytime soon. Thanks for ruining my birthday, but I'm done now."

"Ev, get your bitch in check because this is not okay," I turned to see Michael – who had spoken – and Devon standing there. Devon's wife scowled down at Jen too.

"No, it's not," Lisa reaffirmed before swatting her husband. "Don't call women bitches, even if they're behaving like one."

"Are you going to let them speak to me that way?" Jen had the nerve to ask Evan. He stared at her as if it was the first time he was seeing the woman for who she truly was. I hated that I was at the heart of the issue, but then again, if it wasn't me she might have pulled this crazy shit on someone else. Better that I was the target because I already had experience with how to handle people like her. Thanks, Mom.

"Look at her arm," he demanded. "You just did that to my best friend – a woman I consider to be my sister – my business partner. She's the person responsible for paying half my bills. Without her art, my stories wouldn't sell. Apparently, this isn't even the first time you've made her uncomfortable." Evan's eyes moved to meet mine.

"I'm sorry. You've said something before about her pushing you to date and trying to trick you, but I thought it was a joke. I didn't think it was bothering you this much or I would have put a stop to it."

He seemed to think for a minute and then frustration flared in his eyes. "Actually, I'm angry that you didn't make it a point to tell me exactly what has been going on and for how long."

"I didn't want to be a problem between the two of you, but she has made it impossible. I tried, Evan. I really tried to ignore it and brush it all off, but this can't go on. She's driving me insane."

"I know. I'm sorry." He stood and held his hand out for Jen.

"What?" She asked.

"We're leaving," he told her and waited impatiently for his girl to take his hand.

"I'm sorry, Ev."

"I'm not the one you should be apologizing to."

Jen turned to me then, and I could see it in her eyes. The fear of losing him, the anger that I'd called her out on her own bullshit, and even the regret that she pulled any of it to begin with.

"I was never a threat to your relationship until you made me one by behaving the way you did." I shook my head at her. "Even now, I'd never demand he break things off with you. I hope you can work it out because outside of whatever problem you have with me, you make my brother happy, and I don't want him to lose that."

Jen started crying as Evan led her away.

"You're too nice," Lisa told me as she took Jen's seat and pushed her drink away.

"Who is too nice?" A familiar voice asked. Chills ran up my spine before I turned to see the man I'd been pining for since I was a teenager. He was there. In the flesh, for the first time since I was 16 years old.

"Hey," he said to me. The grin on his face was something else. "Hope you don't mind that we're crashing your party. Jen called and said that she set up a party for you and that your…"

I don't know what he was about to say because a tap on my shoulder had me turning to see a man standing there who looked somewhat familiar, but I couldn't place him.

"Sorry, Jen was supposed to be here to introduce us. I'm Mark," When I appeared as clueless as I obviously was he added, "Wellington. We were supposed to have a date tonight."

It was then that I lost my damn mind and started laughing at the whole messed up birthday. Thank you, Jen. What a bitch. In my head, I took back everything I said about not wanting Evan to dump her ass. She deserved every bad thing that was coming to her.

"What's so funny?" A woman asked. I turned to see that a tall brunette was clutching onto Max as if he might run away at any moment. She wore a shiny diamond ring on an all too important finger. The taste of bile was sharp on my tongue, as I fought the urge to puke up everything I'd managed to get down at dinner, including the couple of cocktails I drank before Jen started to get pushy.

The tips of Max's ears turned red. "Jen said your boyfriend was going to be here with you when she invited me."

"Us, when she invited us," the woman at his side corrected.

"I don't have a boyfriend. I don't know that guy." My gaze slid pointedly toward the woman. "Don't know you either. I'm not sure why Jen invited a bunch of strangers to my birthday, why she lied to everyone, or why she hurt me earlier to keep me from leaving. I don't know anything anymore except that I'm going home because this is the worst birthday I've ever had, and if you knew half the things I never told anyone about my mom, you'd know that's a tall order. Y'all have a good night without me."

I turned to leave, but Max reached out and caught hold of my arm. "What do you mean she hurt you?"

"Look at her wrist, man," Devon told him. "If Evan doesn't drop that bitch after this shit, then I'm going to kick his ass. We've been telling him for months to rein her ass in because Posie was sick of her shit."

"Aw, isn't that sweet. All the Carter boys and their brotherly concern for you," the brunette taunted me. I knew who she was. It was a shock to see her so cozy with Max, but then again, I supposed it wasn't. They'd had months of being together with a new baby to solidify their relationship.

"Someone want to explain to me what is going on?" Max asked again. Obviously, he was left in the dark about Evan's girlfriend and her antics.

I pulled my arm free and walked away. It wasn't until I got out of the bar that I remembered Evan and Jen had been my ride there.

"Fuck!" I hissed under my breath.

A deep chuckle made me look back. I rolled my eyes at the man who was meant to me the blind date I didn't even know about.

"Listen, I'm sorry that you weren't aware why I was invited tonight. Trust me, Jen and my sister will get an earful from me because I'm not cool with a surprise setup either. I was told you agreed to this when I asked if either of them knew if you were single."

I sighed. "I realize it's not your fault, but you are number twenty-four in a long line of surprise setups over the past year. I reached my breaking point."

"You're better than me. I think my breaking point would have been about five or so."

That made me laugh. "Yeah? Why five?"

"Well, any more than that and I'd have probably said my peace a few too many times already. Any less than that and it might be pawned off as coincidence or attempted do-gooding. Five is the limit before I lose my patience, though."

"I'll keep that in mind. Sounds more logical than breaking at twenty-four."

"I'm guessing Jen and Evan were your ride?"

"You got it in one."

"Do you need a ride home?" He threw his hands up in the air and grinned at me. "I swear, no funny business, just a ride. Seems like you could use one person in your life who doesn't have an agenda tonight."

"You picked up on that, huh?"

"Not sure what was going on with Max back there, but it was obvious the chick he brought did not have good intentions toward you either. After what Jen did, I'm guessing you're done for the night."

I could see Max just inside the door, and Devon and Michael blocking his path to get to me. "Please, get me out of here," I begged.