#Heart (Hashtag #6) by Cambria Hebert

earth that would ever make me listen to what she had to say. I was done.
    Beyond done.
    I’d thought I’d washed my hands of her before. The nothing I felt when I thought of her had been finite.
    But I guess deep down, I’d needed to rage at her, if only a little.
    I had, and now I just felt drained.
    “Let’s go,” I said to Rimmel. We turned and walked away together, leaving Missy standing there alone.
    I never looked back to see if she followed us. I knew she wouldn’t. She wouldn’t dare.
    “You were a real badass back there,” I said to Rimmel, trying to lighten the mood.
    “Me?” she said innocently.
    I laughed. “If looks could kill…”
    “If looks could kill, that one would have been gone a long time ago,” Rimmel said bitterly.
    I glanced at her out of the corner of my eye as we walked up the sidewalk toward my car. “I didn’t realize you despised her so much.”
    Rimmel stopped and stared at me slack jawed. “You thought I wouldn’t?”
    “Of course I knew you were mad and hurt by her. But I guess I never realized she would bring out the lioness in you.”
    Rimmel started walking again and hooked her arm through mine. “She hurt all of us. You most of all. I guess Romeo and B have rubbed off on me a bit, because in my book, someone who hurts my family— my sister— like Missy has, I have no mercy for her.”
    I leaned my head against hers and smiled. “Don’t tell them I said this, but I think a little bit of B and Romeo rubbing off on us might be a good thing.”
    “Oh, I won’t tell them. We’d never hear the end of it.”
    Our laughter filled the air as we steeped up to my car. Rimmel pulled her arm from beneath mine. I searched my bag for the car keys and pulled them out. When I straightened, a wave of dizziness swept over me and I wobbled on my feet.
    “Ivy?” Rimmel’s voice was full of concern, and she stepped closer.
    “I’m fine,” I assured her. “I missed lunch, and seeing Missy made me sick.”
    “How about I drive home?”
    “Yeah, okay,” I said and surrendered the keys.
    I sank into the passenger side, grateful for the seat. Once Rimmel was in and had the car on, I turned to her. “Hey, how come you didn’t drive to campus today?”
    Rimmel snorted. “Are you kidding? Me drive that ‘death trap’ in the snow?” She made air quotes as she referred to her car. “Romeo would blow a gasket. You know how he is about my car.”
    I laughed. “Yeah. I know.”
    Rimmel sighed and pulled out onto the street. “Besides, I like when he drives me around. In no time, he’ll be back with the Knights and we won’t see each other much.”
    “Time sure has been flying lately,” I murmured and glanced out the windshield at the snowflakes rushing toward the car as we drove.
    “I know it seems like just yesterday we got engaged, but it’s already been two months.”
    Two months?
    Had it really been that long? With the car accident, therapy, school, my job at the boutique, and everything else going on, keeping track of the calendar was just not something I’d been doing.
    “I assume you’re going to want to get married before Romeo leaves for training camp?” I asked, calling up the calendar app on my phone.
    “Definitely.”
    “No date yet?”
    She sighed. “No, we just keep saying soon as possible.”
    “Well, girl, you gotta pick a date so we can make it happen.” I flipped around the calendar to look at weekend dates while keeping the weather in mind.
    “Okay, I’ll talk to him tonight and we’ll pick one.”
    I made a non-committal sound and nodded. I wasn’t really paying attention to what she said. I was too busy staring down at the calendar.

Chapter Twelve

    Braeden
    The heated exchange between Rome and I that was brewing got lost somewhere between football and beer.
    I didn’t bring it up because I didn’t really want to talk about it.
    I was hoping he’d forgotten, but I knew better. Rome didn’t forget shit he thought was important. My