In the Garden
Chapter thirty-six
Alex
“I love your family,” Jake says simply.
“I’m glad you approve.” I silently preen as I watch him plant his tomatoes. My dad made a run to the store before they left to get tomato cages for him, and he’s installing them now. I would help him, but… then I wouldn’t be able to ogle him.
“I told them they could have a permanent room here, that way they can visit any time they want. And trust me, they’ll probably spend more time here than their actual house,” I say. That makes him smile.
Seeing his obvious affection for my parents makes my heart swell.
I knew they’d get along great, but everything is going better than I expected.
I’m waiting for the other shoe to drop. It seems like every time things start going right, a new issue pops up.
But we haven’t heard from Mr. Covington since Sasha called him to request a meeting, so maybe he decided the hotel wasn’t wort the effort after all.
“What if the scary Russians come back?” I ask, and he shrugs, trying not to show how nervous the thought makes him.
“Sasha’s here, right? He can deal with them.”
“Sasha’s a sweetheart, I don’t want him to get hurt,” I say. He looks at me like I grew an extra head. “What?”
“There are a lot of words I’d use to describe him, and sweet is not one of them,” he says.
“He’s totally sweet, underneath the… you know.”
“Psychopathy?” he muses.
“He just has alternative interests, that’s all.
” I feel compelled to defend Sasha. He’s done nothing but help us out, so yeah, I’ll overlook a little maiming here and there.
Jake returns his attention to the plants, and I watch in silence.
“Take off your shirt, babe. I want to watch your muscles glisten while you work.”
He looks around, making sure no one can see, but it’s just us out here. The guests we have are scattered around the property, taking hikes, camping, and swimming at the lake.
“It’s just me, but I don’t think the guests would mind if you gave them a little show. Brandon and Seth would appreciate it too.”
He laughs and after a brief hesitation, pulls off his shirt.
This is the first time he’s felt comfortable enough to do so out here, and I take a moment to appreciate the beauty of his sculpted body.
Lean muscles, no body hair, all mine. I cat-call him and he shakes his head, trying not to encourage me by smiling.
“I’m gonna put it back on if you don’t behave,” he warns as he folds his shirt and lays it in the grass. “You know, if we get any more permanent residents here, we’ll run out of room for actual paying guests.”
I think about that and do some mental math. There’s me and Jake, Brandon, Sasha, probably Seth, and my mom and dad. Seven people.
“We still have twenty-two rooms to rent out, we’ll be fine.”
“I was thinking about that. Maybe we should reopen room three. There’s no reason to keep it closed off and we barely stay in there anyway.” He’s right, we do like to bounce around.
“Are you sure? We don’t have to. As far as I’m concerned, it can stay closed off forever.”
He stops working and looks at me. “I know, but I feel like keeping it closed gives it power over us. That probably sounds stupid, but I don’t want the memory of what happened in there to be a stain on this hotel forever.
I want to rent it out again. It’ll be a normal room again, just like the rest.”
“Then that’s what we’ll do, babe. I’ll have Frankie clean it, and we’ll get it active on the calendar.” He nods and turns back to his plants, bending over and giving me a show.
“You can’t just do that in front of me, Jake!” I tease.
He glares at me playfully. “Hey, if you’re going to be a brat you can go inside. I need to get this done,” he scolds. I hold my hands up in surrender, a picture of innocence.
I silently watch him work for a bit, losing track of time until Seth drops down next to me with a thud.
“Jesus, Seth, I didn’t hear you walk up,” I say, grabbing my chest dramatically as I look him over.
For once he’s not wearing his silk robe.
He’s got on a long-sleeved black shirt, ripped black jeans and purple converse.
“I could tell,” he says. “Looks like you’re enjoying the view.”
I gasp and cover his eyes with my hand. “You’re not allowed to look! Jake! Put your shirt back on!” He ignores me and continues working. Seth grabs my hand and lowers it.
“I’m not looking bro, I swear,” he laughs.
“Oh yeah? So, has anyone got your pickle tickled?” I tease and watch his face turn bright red.
“No way!” I squeal. “Who? You have to tell me! It’s not me, is it? Because I’m taken, as you know, and I don’t think Jake is interested in polyamory. Though, I haven’t asked…”
“Oh my god. No, it’s not you,” he says, giving me a playful shove. “The Russian guy that’s been around. Sasha, I think? He’s kinda hot.”
My jaw drops. “You like the bad boys, huh? Have you asked him out on a date?”
“No! I’m not interested. He’s cute, that’s all.”
“Liar! You’re blushing!” I poke his cheek.
He swats my hand away. “He barely even knows I exist.”
“He’s probably just shy. You should make the first move. Wait, I don’t actually know if he’s gay… I’ve never thought about it before. Does he seem straight to you?”
“How would I know?”
I shrug. “We’ll have to do a little recon. Next time you see him, “accidentally” drop something and bend over in front of him. If he looks, he might be gay. Or at least bi. We can work with bi.” Seth just rolls his eyes, and we both watch Jake work. Respectfully.