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and Shelby had told me they were going to Dixie’s.
    “Crazy shit like this is why we broke up. And if you keep it up, it’ll be why we’re not friends anymore, too.”
    “I don’t want to be your friend, Mason—you know that!”
    “ We’re done, Dix. We. Are. Not. Getting. Back. Together. Period!”
    “Because of that bitch!” Dixie screeched, pointing at me.
    Mason held his hand out for me. “Come on, I’ll give you a ride,” he said in a softer tone than he’d used with Dixie.
    I got up without a word and wrapped my towel around me, using the end to dab water from my face as I followed Mason to the driveway. Bit and Shelby were right behind us.
    “You’re leaving with her! Really, Mason! Super classy, asshole,” Dixie shouted. “Fine, whatever! Have fun with your California slut!” she called and slung the empty bucket, missing us by a mile.
    “Are you okay?” Bit gasped. Physically , I was fine, but fuming mad.
    “That was pretty messed up,” Shelby added. “ She’s crazier than I thought.”
    “I’ll drive Kat back to your house,” Mason told them. “I know it was a bitch thing for her to do, but y’all know Dixie—” “We’ll stay with her,” Shelby cut in.
    “Are you okay with that?” Bit asked me. I shrugged, expressing that I didn’t care. I was going to be pissed off either way.
    “We’ll see you later then,” Bit said, and she and Shelby went back to Dixie, who was still ranting about me.
    Since she’d attacked me, Mason’s claim that he and Dixie weren’t fighting about me that night at the Broussard’s didn’t hold much water anymore, literally.
    Furious, I asked, “So , are you sticking with your story that you and Dixie weren’t arguing about me the other night?”
    “C’mon, let’s go before she starts round two,” Mason said, ignoring my question, picking up the pace.
    “I’m not a slut,” I spit.
    “I know,” he said, without stopping. “She’s just ventin’. She said it to hurt you.”
    I frowned. “Why are you letting her get away with being such a jackass?” 
    “Why did you tell her you and I slept together?” He cut his eyes at me.
    “I did not tell her that!”
    “But you insinuated it.”
    I decided not to argue with him because it was true. I had insinuated that we’d slept together, and I’d done it for the same reason Dixie had called me a slut.
    “She deserved it!” I barked. “She’s been giving me shit from the start, and I haven’t done anything to her.”
    Mason stopped walking and looked at me; he released a loud breath, and then took my hand in his. I imagined he’d done it to distract me, to shut me up. And it had, for the three-point-five seconds before I spotted his truck in a neighboring driveway. I didn’t even get a chance to feel him holding my hand.
    “You live next door,” I gasped.
    “Not exactly next door,” he said. Technically, there was one house separating theirs.
    “ Could this get any better?” I complained.
    “It’s not a big deal. I see Dixie more at the Broussard’s than anywhere else.”
    “Fantastic,” I mumbled. My mortal enemy’s headquarters was in the place where I slept.
    Mason let go of my hand then climbed inside his truck. He pulled down the visor on the driver’s side and pushed a button to open the garage door.
    The garage was eerily organized. Everything was clean and in its place. There was a motorcycle and two four-wheelers parked on one side and some kind of car hidden beneath a blue tarp on the other.
    “I have to get my keys,” Mason said. “You can come in if you want.” I sure as hell wasn’t waiting outside alone with a wild animal on the loose.
    Mason took a gray sleeveless shirt from the cab of the truck before shutting the door.
    “So, are you going to ignore all of my questions?” I asked.
    “No,” he answered simply, pulling the shirt over his head and then walking inside the garage.  I stood in place, watching him. He turned around and looked at me