Chapter 6
Chapter Six
EASTON
Inside my head, that went a lot smoother than it actually ended up being. But through my eagerness to see her again, I hadn’t been able to see how flawed the plan really was. It was a miracle she hadn’t called the police, or slammed the door in my face.
Nevertheless, I had her phone number, and she had mine. It was a gateway I could use to keep in touch with her, get to know her better, and maybe ease my curiosity enough to move on and back to whoever I was before I saw her.
Since I had already embarrassed myself once for the day, I had decided to wait for another day to text or call her. But by the time I got home, she had already sent me our first text message and I couldn’t help the cocky smirk that formed on my face as I got out of my truck. It seemed as though even in the awkwardness of my visit, she couldn’t resist whatever it was that happened when our eyes locked.
In an attempt to not seem too desperate, I made sure I was inside the house before I opened the text. She would neither know that I waited an extra seventeen seconds, nor would she know that I took another twelve seconds to grab a beer from the fridge. But I knew, and I needed to feel like I had a little control.
Once I settled onto my couch, I pulled my phone back out and unlocked it, ready to see how much she wanted to see me again.
Jesse
Who’s your brother?
My brother? What did he have to do with this?
Oh yeah .
Easton
The one that owns your house?
Jesse
Do you have more than one?
Easton
How do you not know who owns your house?
Jesse
Are you going to keep asking questions, or are you going to answer mine?
The smile on my face widened, and I may or may not have giggled. Fuck that, it was a chuckle. A manly, rough, and deep chuckle. Easton Brooks didn’t giggle.
Easton
I have a million questions I want to ask.
What’s your story? Why did you end up in Harmony Haven? Do you have a boyfriend? Are you married? Do you like to come standing up, or do you need to be relaxed? I wasn’t dumb enough to ask her those questions in our first conversation. And Jesse wasn’t crazy enough to respond with interest.
Jesse
This rental was set up through an agency in town, so I have no idea who owns this house. But wouldn’t the agency be the one concerned with anything that needed to be repaired?
Easton
West will want to make sure he’s not considered a slumlord.
Jesse
So your brother is Westley Brooks?
I’ve heard that name before.
Easton
I’m sure you have, so I’m sure you understand why he asked me to check-in.
Jesse
Actually, I’m more confused than ever.
Psh. She and I both were confused, because I had no idea why I was spinning such a web. All I wanted was an excuse to get closer to her, know more about her. Why didn’t I just ask to take her out? I could even start with coffee, I was a gentleman after all.
She was different, though. It wouldn’t be as simple as it normally was for me. For the most part, I could just show up somewhere and have whatever girl I chose. But Jesse wasn’t that type of girl. I knew it from the moment I saw her, almost naked, and protective of her son.
Even if she had had clothes on, I would have found that look in her eyes attractive. There was something about how she had looked at me, and how she had let her guard down when she realized I was there to help. She had morphed into humiliation, but somehow had seemed so powerful and poised when we spoke in her living room. She was a damn deity.
Easton
How about you let me know when the little guy is awake, and I’ll come back and finish those stairs.
Jesse
He woke up a few minutes ago, so I took a hammer to the nails you had been whacking away at, and it’s already done.
Of course it was.
Easton
OK then. How about the fence? I have very recently become a master at fixing fences.
I saw the bubble indicating she was texting back, but no messages came through. After 10 minutes, I set my phone down, thinking I had finally driven her crazy enough to ignore my desperation. Of course, that didn’t mean I was done trying. It just meant I had to think of something else.
After watching TV and flaking out on my couch for a few minutes, my phone finally buzzed with another text message, and I practically pounced on it to see if it was her.
Jesse
I had to make a call first to make sure you were who you said you were. And since you are, I’m going to take you up on that offer because Max needs a safe place to play outside.
Something about her doing her research first made me nod with approval.
Easton
I’ll be there tomorrow morning and when Max takes his nap, I’ll be sure to take a break. See you then.
If she had to work, or there was somewhere she had to be, she could just tell me no, but when she sent me a thumbs up, I knew that was all I was going to get from her as a confirmation. And that was all I needed.
The smile I had been sporting returned to my face as I took a final swig of the beer. There were a million things I needed to do around my own house, and since I had the rest of the evening to get it done, I stood up and readied myself for caulking the extra bathroom.
“Ugh!” My door flew open, and Miles walked in, heading straight to my fridge for a beer. “Fuck this day.”
“What happened?”
“Nothing,” he shrugged. “Literally nothing. I took this job to serve and protect, but there’s no one to serve and protect.”
Miles had already changed from his uniform and looked as though he could do wonders with a caulking gun, so I nodded for him to keep talking while I readied him for work. “Isn’t that a good thing?”
“Yeah, I guess,” he sighed, mindlessly taking the caulk from my hand and following me to the bathroom. “I just got bored. There are only so many times I can tell the Murphy twins to stop throwing their beer steins before I lose my shit. Today was my limit.”
“Why hasn’t Jeff pressed charges? At this rate, those boys probably owe him a small fortune in steins.” Jeff was the owner of Fiddler’s, and everyone knew he didn’t care enough about the place to protect it.
“Jeff doesn’t give a fuck. No one gives a fuck. They show up at three in the afternoon, and by four, I’m called there to take their drunk asses home. The sergeant doesn’t even want me bringing them in to sleep it off. I’m basically a glorified taxi driver with a gun I never use.”
“I know what you’re thinking,” I warned while pointing to the bathtub and suggesting he take aim with his caulking gun. “Don’t even think about leaving me for the big city.”
He got to work, so frustrated that I still wasn’t sure if he realized what he was doing. Miles was in one of his moods, which seemed to be happening more frequently. Just like I had, Miles chose to do something to serve his town and give back to the area and the people who had helped raise us. It meant we didn’t get paid much, but we were also never in any imminent danger. It should have been a fair trade, but at times, it felt like a waste.
“I’m not going to leave,” Miles growled. “I don’t have a helicopter to get to Sunday dinners.”
The small jab at our older brother’s life of luxury made me laugh, which made Miles laugh as well. He sat back on his heels and shook his head before raising his caulking gun up and staring at me.
“What am I doing?”
“Look,” I shrugged. “You just came in here complaining because you didn’t get to use your gun enough, so I gave you a gun. Keep going. You’re not done.”
He laughed at my logic and got back to work, making the menial project go by even faster. His presence helped me keep my mind off Jesse, and resist the urge to call West again to ask more questions. But the second he left for the night, I immediately returned to thoughts of those bright eyes and how, with just one look, I had become a different person.