CHAPTER 3
Joanie
Mack huffed at me when I stopped petting him. I realized what I was asking was dumb after Chase had shown up in my house right after Bear and Smith that morning, but I couldn’t not ask. “So, you two know Chase?”
Bear nodded. “Been friends since we were kids.”
I resumed petting Mack but there was a bad taste in my mouth the beer couldn’t help. “So, you’re in town to visit him?”
Smith leaned forward and rested his elbows on his knees. “We visited him a few weeks ago. We liked what we saw so we’re staying for a while. Plus, Chase told us about your diner and we’re intrigued.”
My good mood might as well have had a fork sticking out of it with how done it was. “Oh. You’re intrigued. What exactly did Chase tell you?”
“All good things.” Smith didn’t seem to understand the shit he was stepping in. “He mentioned he’s excited about what the diner could become. The three of us invest in projects together most of the time and he thinks this one would be a good one for us.”
Fury scorched its way down my spine and I finished my beer in one deep drag. “I’m not interested in expanding the diner or finding out what it can become. Did he tell you that?”
Smith leaned back in his chair. “Yep.”
“Yet, you’re here anyway.” I stood up and shook my head. “The diner is fine the way it is. If you three are so interested in expanding things, maybe try the doorways around Chase so he can get his giant ego through. The nerve of him.”
“I’ve never met someone so opposed to success before.” Smith took a long pull from his beer while holding my gaze over the top of the bottle. “Weird.”
“Great. Two more men who think they know everything, including me. I’m not opposed to success. I worked hard on The One and Only for months, long before Chase showed his face here. It is a success. Did either of you know that before I owned the diner, the longest running restaurant in this town stayed in business for a single year? I love the success the diner has seen. I’m just not greedy. I don’t need more. Judging by this house and your vehicles, you two don’t need more, either.”
Bear stood up and walked over to a barrel next to the house. He tossed his bottle inside and stalked back over. In the waning light and the glow from the fire, he looked like some sort of Viking god. “You want to relax and have a seat? I’m not interested in being yelled at in my own yard. The last thing I need is my girls seeing you spitting mad. They’d eat that shit right up.”
I glared at him and crossed my arms over my chest. “I should go.”
He gestured towards my house. “Go on before it gets dark then.”
I shifted to rest my hands on my hips. “I don’t need your help.”
He grabbed another beer and sat down. “Wait until it gets dark and trip over a log then, Princess. I don’t care.”
I stomped my foot in anger. “I’m so sick of you men showing up and trying to make decisions for me. The diner is mine. If Chase wanted to talk about it, he should’ve come to me. You two aren’t involved, yet you’re here to back up his stupid choices. It’s bullshit.”
Smith sighed and tipped his head back to start up at the sky. “Chase was right about your attitude.”
“What about my attitude?”
A third voice joined us from around the side of the house. Chase. “It’s shitty.”
I groaned. “What the hell are you doing here?”
“I’m visiting my best friends.” He didn’t stop until he was standing right in front of me. “You have a problem with that, too?”
“She’s got big problems with all of us, apparently.” Bear grunted. “I’ve never felt so hated, so quickly.”
“What about that time with Chase’s ex? The steak thing?” Smith frowned. “That was faster, I think.”
“Oh, yeah.” Bear looked up at me. “Sorry. You’re no longer at the top of my list.”
I growled under my breath and glared at him. “Screw your list.”
“Can’t you play nice for even one night, woman?” Chase sank into one of the chairs closest to me and smirked. “You know you want to.”
“I’m going home. Send your friends back to wherever they came from and fuck off, Chase.” I spun around and started marching towards my house. “Oh, and apology not accepted! Keep your kids and your dog out of my house.”
“My dog does what he wants, Princess, and it looks like he wants to go home with you. With your current attitude, I almost feel like you should take him up on his offer. I can’t see anyone else getting through all that anger.” Smith chuckled. “After the show earlier, I can see how a man would be tempted, though.”
Chase snorted. “A fucking crazy man.”
I turned back around. “Go to hell.”
“No, thanks. If Mack wants to go with you, that’s his business, but we’re happy here.” Bear lifted his beer at me. “Bye, Princess.”
“How are there more assholes just like you?” I spit out at Chase and then started marching home again.
“You’re the one acting like an asshole, woman.” Chase was walking after me, his hands shoved into his pockets. “That’s how you treat people new to town?”
I huffed. “They’re your henchmen. I don’t need to be nice to Chase Daniels’ lackeys.”
“That’s how far your hatred for me goes, huh?”
Mack cut in front of me and I stumbled to the side, nearly going down but Chase caught my elbow and steadied me. I grunted at him and pulled my elbow free. “It’s how far my hatred of your plans for my business goes.”
“Our business.”
I scowled. “What?”
“Our business. As in the business that we own together.” He stepped over the logs which lined the edge of my property. “Are you still denying that little fact?”
I seethed. “I’m denying this whole reality. I took money from an anonymous investor who promised to remain a silent partner five years ago, Chase. I had no clue it was you or that you’d show up with a million opinions and an ego big enough to sink the Titanic.”
“Well, deny it all you want, sweetheart, but it’s happening. You may as well be nicer to me and my friends.” He swore when he saw me open my door without having to unlock it. “Did you seriously not lock your door? This is why you ended up with a bathroom full of people this morning.”
I stomped inside and didn’t think twice about him following me. “Are you blaming me for what happened? Those girls broke into my house! What the hell is wrong with you?”
“Don’t change the subject. You need to lock your door. Anyone could walk in here and murder you in your sleep.” He saw my wide-eyed expression and rolled his eyes. “I’ve heard you listening to all those true crime podcasts in the office instead of working. You should know how dangerous it is to leave your door unlocked.”
“You can’t just say stuff like that. It makes it sound like you’re going to come in here and murder me in my sleep. Creep.”
“If I was going to murder you, it would’ve been within the first week of working with you, sweetheart. You’ve been nothing but a headache, but somehow I’ve managed to contain that urge.” He trailed along behind me as I walked into my kitchen. “Can we agree that you need to lock your door?”
“No!” I grabbed a bottle of water and took a long drink. Before I could put it down on the counter, Chase took it from me and drank half of it in one go. “Hey! That’s not yours! Just like my diner isn’t yours. Not really. You have no problem just spreading yourself out and claiming things, do you?”
He scoffed. “I haven’t claimed half the shit I want to, woman!”
I snatched the water back and finished it. “There. Now there’s none left for you to steal.”
“You’re a child.”
“And you’re an old man!” I bumped him with my shoulder as I marched out of the kitchen and into my bedroom. I was so angry that I wasn’t thinking, which was a constant state of being for me when Chase was around.
“I’m an old man? Are you kidding? I’m forty-one.” He growled the words out.
“Thanks for letting me know. I care so much.” I spun around to face him and poked him in the chest. “You just think you can do whatever you want. You took over my diner and now you’re in my house, telling me how I should treat my doors! And you brought in two more jerks who are just like you! Where do you get off?”
Chase grabbed my hand when I tried to poke him again and used it to yank me into his chest. The moment my body connected with his hard one, I felt the air around us shift and become charged. He gripped my ponytail with his other hand and pulled my head back so I was looking up at him. “Do you ever shut up?”
My mouth moved without my brain firing correctly. “Why don’t you make me shut up?”
Both of our chests rose and fell like we’d been running and Chase’s hands tightened around my wrist and hair, until my lips parted from the sting. He leaned in ever so slightly. “You’re the most stubborn woman I’ve ever known.”
I licked my lips and watched his eyes track the motion. “And you’re the cockiest man I’ve ever known.”
His blue eyes flashed. “It’s hard with you around all day, woman.”