14. Ability To Escape
14
ABILITY TO ESCAPE
H e scared her away!
Foster had spent years getting his emotions under control and not losing his shit.
Or if he did lose it, it was around family that knew him well enough to know it wasn’t a big deal. Most times.
But instead, the woman he’d had his eye on when he hadn’t been looking at anyone for years, caused him to lose his control and fiercely kiss her.
She was a gentle person and he yanked her up and crushed his mouth to hers.
Sure, she held on and gave it back just as good as she was getting it.
But then she left shortly after and it’d been nothing but silence since.
Not even crickets.
Crickets would be welcome.
Instead it felt as if the world around him just went dark.
He threw his cup in the sink with more force than necessary and saw it chip.
“Fuck!”
He picked it up and tossed it in the trash.
The last thing he wanted to do was go to West’s Hampton house today for a small family Memorial Day picnic.
But his brother didn’t ask much of him for someone who gave him so much.
And he needed the distraction on top of it.
If it wasn’t overcast with a chance of rain, he would have taken his boat over, which of course would take him twice as long as driving, then to get home when he was ready to leave.
Best to just stick to the plan.
Like he should have done with Charlotte!
After hours of trying to distract himself, he finally grabbed his keys and left. Nothing was going to get his mind off of her and he had to chalk it up to the fact he’d apologize when he saw her next.
If she even wanted to talk to him.
When he was pulling down his driveway, he saw a bright red obnoxious Porsche sitting in Charlotte’s driveway. Her SUV was gone. He knew she was visiting her sister.
He stopped at the end and saw a white-haired man on the front porch with his nose wrinkled and looking in the windows. The guy looked like he belonged on a golf course with his pink polo and white shorts. Shoes on his feet with no socks.
Urgh. Give him sneakers any day.
After he glanced at the license plate and memorized it, he rolled the window down. “Can I help you with something?”
In the past, he’d drive by and not give two shits and mind his own business.
“Nope,” the guy said, dismissing him. “You can go on about your business.”
“She’s not home,” he said.
“You know Charlotte?” the guy asked.
“She’s my neighbor,” he said. Might as well keep it simple. “Her car is gone. She’s not home.”
No way he was going to say she was out of town. Part of him didn’t want to leave now and instead watch out to see if anything happened.
The other part of his brain said this guy might get a paper cut if he picked up the mail.
The guy looked pissed that he might have inconvenienced himself, but Foster didn’t give a shit. All he thought of was the texts she was getting from her much older ex and his radar went up.
“I can’t believe she lives here,” the guy mumbled to himself, ignoring Foster, and climbing off the porch, then going to his car and starting it. Foster waited there until the guy left and then typed the license plate number and make and model of the car into his phone so he didn’t forget it.
He pulled out and made his way to West’s to prepare himself to play nice.
He was the last one to arrive and it didn’t surprise him. Chances are his siblings had come up on Saturday to stay the weekend.
“There he is,” Laken said. “Better late than never. I was starting to think you weren’t going to make it.”
“I said I’d be here,” he said to his sister. “Hey, Penelope.”
His sister was engaged to ex-NFL quarterback and now Fox Sports analyst Jamie Wilde. Penelope was his two-year-old daughter, and he had to admit, she did put a smile on his face when many people didn’t.
He wanted to think he wasn’t much of a kid person having been around so many, but maybe he’d grown some patience in his life.
Nope. He didn’t.
He just knew he had the ability to escape when he needed to.
“Hi, Foster,” Penelope said, running over to him and showing him her new toy. “It’s a computer.”
It was a plastic toy made to look like a computer that was teaching her all sorts of things.
“Wow,” he said. “That one looks like it’d work better than mine!”
Jamie laughed and Penelope ran back to where she was sitting.
Braylon was next to his fiancée, Lily, and Abby was walking out of the kitchen where a beer was poured into a glass and handed right to him.
“Thanks,” he said. “West doesn’t realize how perfect of a wife he has to know I need this.”
“I’ve learned that a beer puts you in a better mood,” Abby said. “And we got this shipped to us yesterday from Elias. It’s one of his newest creations. It all tastes the same to me, but I’m not supposed to say that.”
Elias was the brother he was closest to. The one he talked to the most, and since he didn’t talk to many, that was saying a lot.
That brother owned a brewery in North Carolina.
Foster took a sip and closed his eyes. “This is great. I’ll be sure to let him know.”
“You have the most refined pallet when it comes to beer,” Braylon said. “He’ll appreciate it.”
“That’s because all you fancy city folk need to drink your sparkling water and Dom Perignon.”
“You know what Dom Perignon is?” Nelson asked, walking into the room and putting his phone in his pocket. He was probably taking a call somewhere. Mini West was what they liked to call the youngest son of the family.
“Asshole,” he said.
“Boys,” West said. “It’s supposed to be a relaxing weekend here. So far we’ve had no fights or anything until Foster showed up.”
“I didn’t start it,” he said. “I never do.”
“We know that,” Laken said. “Your buttons tend to get pushed the most. And remember, there are little ears around here.”
He cringed and looked at Jamie. “Sorry about swearing.”
“It’s not as if she hasn’t heard it before. She’s too busy playing,” Jamie said.
“What’s your problem today?” Nelson asked. “It’s a long weekend. You’ve got a beer in your hand and you’re not working. No reason to be moody. It’s not like you just spent thirty minutes on a call like I did.”
“You have to earn your way to the top,” Laken said. “We’ve all done it and could get calls too at any given time.”
“No problem,” Foster said and drank more of his beer. “I’m just hungry.”
He stood up and moved to the table where the snacks were laid out and filled a plate. He was here for the food more than the social aspect of it.
But two hours later, he must not have been convincing enough to talk with his siblings about work and other family members that they’d seen just a month ago at West’s wedding because when he went to get another beer, West followed him in.
“What’s going on?” West said. “You’ve got something on your mind. Maybe not a problem, but something you’re working through.”
There wasn’t hiding much from his older brother. “When I was coming here, there was a guy on my neighbor’s porch looking through the window. She’s not home. I know she is out of town. I stopped to ask if I could help him and he all but ignored me. It didn’t feel right.”
West didn’t ask him how he knew his neighbor was out of town or even if it was a woman. He wouldn’t pry like that. “Did you get the plate?”
“I did,” he said.
“Call Henry. He’ll run it for you,” West said.
Henry was West’s head of security.
“It’s a holiday weekend,” he argued.
“I didn’t say do it now,” West said, smirking. “But if you’re thinking it, you’re worried.”
“What’s Foster worried about?” Laken asked, moving in.
Shit. She was the one who would pry.
“Nothing,” West said.
“I don’t believe it. I know my brother. Something is going on and he isn’t saying. Everything okay?”
There was no getting out of this. If he didn’t give a little information, they’d pester him the rest of the time he was here and dinner hadn’t been served yet.
He moved back to the patio where everyone was sitting. Penelope was in the heated pool with Jamie. Everyone else was still sitting on comfortable furniture that most couldn’t even afford in their house let alone outside.
“When I was coming here, there was a strange guy on my neighbor’s porch looking in the window. I got his plate number and stopped to ask if I could help him.”
“You asked someone you didn’t know if you could help them?” Nelson asked with his jaw open.
Jesus, he wasn’t that much of a dick, was he?
“It’s the right thing to do. I know Charlotte isn’t home this weekend.”
Too late he slipped when he’d never done that before.
“Before we get to the guy,” Laken said. “I want to know more about Charlotte and how you know her name, let alone the fact she isn’t home and it’s a woman that is your new neighbor.”
He turned to look at Braylon, hoping for some backup. “Sorry, you’re on your own,” Braylon said. “We’ve all had to go through this with Laken.”
“The same way you guys did it to me,” Laken said. “It’s part of being in this large family.”
Which he knew and could trust them.
“I’ve helped her a few times,” he said. “She lives alone and almost broke her neck carrying a ladder across her yard on Easter Sunday. Then her lawnmower all but exploded if I didn’t run up to stop her. Thankfully it stopped running before it could. I heard it knocking at my place. It had no oil in it.”
“So you’re helping some single older woman who can’t take care of her place?” West asked.
He could let them assume that but chose not to.
“She’s not older. Probably my age or younger. I can’t tell those things,” he said.
“But she’s single?” Braylon asked.
“Yes,” he said.
“And now things have gotten interesting,” Braylon said, sitting back. “Fill us in.”
“So I can be your source of entertainment?” he asked. “No, thank you.”
“Give us something,” Laken said. “We aren’t going to pick on you. We just want to help. If you’re concerned about this guy on her property, there is more going on.”
“There isn’t much to say. She’s lived there a month. I’ve helped her a few times. I let her sit on my beach when I’m not home. She walks down with her dog for a break when she’s working.”
“Does she know who you are?” West asked.
“No,” he said. “I never gave her my last name. I don’t even have hers.”
“She could find out your name easily enough just looking at the property records,” Braylon said.
“She could,” he said. “But I don’t think she would.” At least he hoped not.
“Tell us more about her,” Laken said.
He shrugged. “I just told you what I know.”
“What’s she like?” Abby asked. “That is what Laken wants to know.”
“I don’t know. She’s friendly. Nice. Funny at times. Strong. Or trying to be.”
“Oh,” Laken said. “And that is it. That’s the draw. She’s trying to do it on her own and you’re helping or teaching her? You’re all about that.”
Foster wanted to growl but didn’t. It was the truth.
He hated women who wanted him to do everything. He was raised by a woman who did it all and taught all her kids to do the same.
To stand on their own two feet and expect nothing in return.
The fact that Charlotte was trying to do that now when she hadn’t in her life just showed that people could change no matter their age.
“Whatever,” he said. “Doesn’t matter. I’m helping a neighbor. Neither one of us is looking for anything else.”
“Liar,” Nelson coughed into his hand.
“Don’t be a dick,” he said, shoving his brother’s shoulder.
“Foster,” Braylon said. “Hands off because if fists start to get thrown, then Jamie is going to tackle you.”
He started to laugh. It was a joke in the family.
Yeah, he’d thrown punches in his life. At his brothers too and his mother had been the one to kick his butt.
Since everyone knew he had a short fuse, they also gave him more rope when needed.
It’d been years though and most times he just lost his cool and left a room rather than get physical.
“He’s used to being tackled, not doing it,” he said.
“I heard that,” Jamie said. “I can still block enough for your brothers to take you down.”
He smiled and took a sip of his beer.
“There has to be more going on,” West said. “Because now you’re smiling and relaxed over this conversation and normally you’re ready to bolt.”
“Dinner hasn’t come out,” he said, relaxing into the chair. “I can’t leave yet.”
He watched his siblings look at each other, but there were no more comments made about Charlotte.
In the past, he’d be happy about that.
Today, he wasn’t sure if he wanted to do this alone since he seemed to be failing so badly.