“Yeah,” Tim said as he puffed out his chest. “Not since you dumped Angie and broke her heart.”
“Tim!” She tried to step in front of Tim and Steve but they weren’t budging.
“Now you’re sniffing around her again?” Steve asked. “I don’t like the sound of that.”
“You have no say in the matter,” Angie pointed out.
“I disagree,” Steve said. “I don’t stand by quietly when someone hurts my friend.”
“I’m fine, you guys,” Angie repeated. She jumped but couldn’t see over their shoulders. “No harm done.”
“Are you kidding?” Patrick looked back at her. “Cole played with your head. You don’t date. You haven’t looked at another guy since.”
“Okay! That’s enough.” She jogged around her friends and held up her hands for them to stop. “I can take over now.”
“We got your back,” Tim told her. “If he’s causing trouble, just let us know.”
“Thank you.” Angie pulled Cole’s sleeve, silently encouraging him to walk away with her. “Ignore them,” she said quietly. “They get a little aggressive but it’s all show.”
“Don’t believe that for a second.” He looked over his shoulder and smiled at Tim’s posturing. “Those guys would take a punch for you.”
“And they know I would take one for them.” Angie grimaced when she realized how unfeminine that sounded. If she wanted to remind Cole that she was a woman, then that was not the way to go.
Cole stopped when they were off the basketball court. “Is it true? That you don’t date?”
Patrick and his big mouth! Angie felt the heat of embarrassment in her face. “He has a tendency to exaggerate when he’s trying to make a point.”
Cole looked in her eyes and then abruptly looked away. “I didn’t mean to hurt you,” he said solemnly.
“Yeah, I know.” Angie began to fidget. She didn’t want to discuss how he broke her heart or how she’d never be the same. She believed she had found someone who adored her for who she was. She wasn’t sure why that wasn’t true.
“I had some personal stuff to get through,” Cole continued to explain. “I was hurting and the last thing I wanted to do was cause you pain. That’s why I broke up with you but it turns out I hurt you, anyway.”
“Personal stuff?” Angie asked, crossing her arms. “Too personal that you couldn’t share with your girlfriend? I knew you were holding back.”
Cole sighed and raked his hand through his hair. “I thought it was best to let you go than to drag you into it.”
Angie stepped around him so her friends couldn’t see her anger. “You know, you may think that sounds all noble, but it’s not. It’s an insult. Do you think I’m fragile? That I couldn’t have understood or helped you?”
“It wasn’t something I could share.”
“And something you still don’t feel like sharing. I get it.” He clearly didn’t want to tell her even though it had come between them. Was still between them. Cole was always private but this was too much. “Why are you here?” she asked abruptly. “I’m in the middle of something.”
Cole hesitated. “I need a favor,” he mumbled.
Angie clenched her jaw and slowly shook her head. She wanted to refuse. Or tell him she would do him the favor only when he confided about his personal problem. Although if she tried that, there was no guarantee that he would tell her the truth.
Maybe her friends were right to form a wall between her and Cole. All he had to do was show up and she got sucked back into his world. She was reluctant to tell him to leave yet she knew that was the smarter move.
But the sooner she helped him, the quicker he would get out of her life. She could stop thinking about him and be able to concentrate on the things that were important to her. “You are going to owe me so big after this wedding. What’s the favor?”
Cole squeezed his eyes shut as if he knew he was pushing his luck with her. “I need the invitation list for the bachelorette party.”
That wasn’t the request she was expecting. “I don’t think I can help you with that. I’ve never seen it and I didn’t know many people at the party. Cheryl was in charge of all that.”
“Do you think you can get it from her?” Cole asked. “I want to see if anyone else from Heidi’s past was at the party. There may have been other sorority sisters who had a grudge against her.”