Chapter 5
CHAPTER FIVE
EVERLY
I might’ve lived in Starlight Cove for a couple years, but this was the first time anyone in my family had visited me. Mostly, that was on me. I missed home, so whenever I had a break in my schedule—which, truth be told, was hardly ever since I was the sole vet around—I flew back to Washington.
But my little brother was here for a couple days, and I’d been so excited to show him around since he hadn’t been here in fifteen years. We were off to a bit of a rocky start, though.
First, when he’d arrived at my house, he’d made a face like he was stepping into the sewer.
And, yeah, that probably had more to do with the fact that he was horrifically allergic to dogs and my twenty-five-pound exuberance machine had jumped right up to welcome him to our home than it was a reflection on his surroundings, but still.
Second, I’d had an emergency surgery pop up, so our planned night out in Starlight Cove had been nixed.
Worse, Beck tended to spoil me in the food department—bonus points for your best friend cooking for a living—so the last time I did a full stock-up at the grocery store was…
well, I couldn’t remember. Which meant all I had available was my standard cuisine of cereal.
And finally, I’d hoped for some quick bonding time between my little brother and my bestie during my usual morning stop.
Instead, Ash had spent the entire time we’d been in the diner with his face buried in his phone, no doubt secretly trolling his girlfriend—ex-girlfriend—and tormenting himself over every picture and status update, and Beck had spent it glaring daggers at anything that moved.
So, yeah. It could’ve gone better. But it hadn’t been all bad, especially with the carb cornucopia Beck had spread out today. If I had one of his blueberry scones as my last meal, I’d die a happy woman.
“So, what’d you think of the diner?” I asked as I drove us back to my place. I wished I were running—I always felt a bit out of whack when I messed with my schedule—but my brother would rather, and I quote, shove toothpicks under his nails than run for fun. “Cute, right?”
Ash shrugged, his attention—you guessed it—on his phone. “I’ve eaten better. And the company left a lot to be desired.”
“Hey!” I reached over and smacked him in the stomach. “Rude.”
“I didn’t mean you.” He rolled his eyes. “I meant the asshole in the hat. The guy who let himself into your house last night while you were gone. We should talk about that, by the way.”
I snapped my head in his direction, darting my gaze back to the road to make sure I wasn’t veering off course. “Wait…Beck came by last night? When? For what?”
“While you were at the clinic.”
“Huh.” That must’ve been what his texts had been all about.
But it was weird that he’d dropped by, obviously run into my brother, and then he just…
hadn’t said anything. Though, we hadn’t exactly had a lot of time—or any, really—to chat since I’d gotten in late last night—or rather, very early this morning—and he’d already been at the resort meeting when I’d woken up.
I hadn’t even had a chance to let him know Ash was in town, and since Addison had cracked the whip the entire time we were in the diner, this morning wasn’t the meet-and-greet I’d hoped.
“As for what,” he said, “my guess is his intention was to piss a circle around your house since you were unavailable and have a dick-measuring contest, never mind that I’m your brother.
” He shuddered. “Doesn’t take much to make him feel threatened, does it?
I’m surprised he didn’t get out a tape measure and drop trou. ”
I snorted. It wasn’t hard to imagine Beck coming off like that to a newcomer, and he tended to be extra protective of me around other men.
Apparently that bled over to my family, too.
That was just part of his charm and not something he employed often, considering how few prospects I had… or even wanted.
After breaking things off with Jeremy shortly after moving here, I hadn’t wanted the added pressure and stress of making a new relationship work on top of everything else.
It’d already been enough of an adjustment to make the transition smooth at the clinic—not to mention my moving clear across the country.
I hadn’t needed to add navigating a new relationship onto my plate, too.
I didn’t need to. I was perfectly satisfied with the companionship I had in the form of a growly best friend who loved stuffing me with delicious food and offering cuddles whenever I bullied him into giving them.
I shook my head. “It’s not like that with us.”
“Does he know that?”
I rolled my eyes. “I don’t know for certain, but I think he’s probably aware we’ve never slept together, yes.”
Ash shot me a blank stare—his you are such an idiot look that he’d perfected over his twenty-nine years. “I don’t understand your brain sometimes. How are you so naive?”
I gasped. “I am not naive.”
Okay, so my romantic life was fairly vanilla—and, like, imitation vanilla.
Not even vanilla bean over here. I certainly wasn’t setting records with three lovers in thirty years.
But even if I hadn’t lived out any adventures in real life, my ever-trusty romances broadened my horizons in ways that would’ve horrified my brother.
And had, actually. When I was in college, I’d accidentally sent him a text meant for my roommate—also named Ash—that may or may not have been a link to a particularly steamy book.
And I may or may not have gone into detail about which scenes I loved and why she should read.
After reaming me a new asshole, he’d demanded I either lose his number or change his contact info to his real name, despite the fact that I’d never called him Sebastian a day in my life.
“Fine,” he conceded. “Not naive. Oblivious.”
I huffed as I pulled into my driveway and shut off the car. “That’s not any better.”
“I’m just saying, there was something there.”
“Yeah, friendship. You remember what that’s like, right?”
As soon as the words left my mouth, I cringed, immediately wanting to snatch them back before they reached his ears.
Considering he was currently escaping his recent breakup from the woman who’d started out as his best friend, that was a low blow on my part—even if unintended—and I should’ve known better.
Maybe he was onto something with the whole oblivious thing.
“Sorry. I didn’t mean—”
“Whatever. You have a point,” he said. “And, yes, I remember what friendship is like. I also remember what it’s like to want to fuck my friend. And Beck’s there, Evie.”
“No, he’s not. You’re totally misreading it.
He barely tolerates me!” I slid the key into the back door’s dead bolt, only to find I’d forgotten to lock up when we’d left.
Whoops. Definitely would not be mentioning that to Beck—his grumbly face turned downright murderous when I did that.
But between Chuckanut’s incessant barks that would hopefully scare off any robbers and the fact that this was Starlight Cove, I wasn’t too worried about intruders popping in before 8 a.m.
“What was with the cringe?” he asked.
“What? Oh, nothing. Beck just hates when I don’t lock up, and I’m always forgetting.
If it’s not that, it’s leaving my curling iron or stove on, or all my windows open when it’s about to rain, or forgetting to close the gate.
Just me and my obliviousness, apparently.
” I gripped the doorknob and turned my head toward him. “Prepare yourself.”
“For wh—”
He didn’t get the words out before I opened the door, and a blur of black and gray dashed toward us.
Ash froze as I squatted to give my dog all kinds of love.
She was one of the best things to fall into my lap since arriving in this town, and I was so grateful for her company.
It didn’t matter if I was gone for five minutes or five hours, she responded the same way—like my walking through the door was the best minute of her life.
Ash sidestepped Chuckanut, nose crinkling as he did so, and settled himself across the room, as far away as he could get while still in my line of vision.
With his arms folded over his chest, he leaned back against the counter, ankles crossed and eyebrow raised.
“So let me get this straight. Beck knows how you take your coffee and the exact minute you’ll be there in the mornings, has a key to your place, lets himself in at any time for any reason, even when you’re not here, so he can fix whatever you need taken care of, cooks you breakfast, lunch, and dinner, has an attitude with any other male in your life, and gets upset when you’re not being safe. Have I got that about right?”
“Um…” When he laid it all out like that, it did sound a little over the top. “It’s not always breakfast, lunch, and dinner…”
“Hate to tell you this, sis, but you’re in a relationship. You’re just not having sex.”
“What?” I huffed out a laugh and stood, Chuckanut following on my heels. “No. We’re not. We’re in a friendship without the sex. Didn’t you do things like that for Mandy before you guys hooked up?”
He raised his brows and looked at me like I was an idiot. “I don’t understand how you can be so fucking smart and so fucking dumb at the same time.”
I scowled and elbowed him in the gut as I passed. “Don’t be a jerk, or I’ll let Chuckanut sleep next to you tonight.”
“I’m not trying to be a jerk. I’m trying to get you to open your eyes. And to answer your question, yes, I did things like that for Mandy before we hooked up.”
“Great, so you—”
“And then we hooked up,” he interrupted, enunciating each word far too loudly for the small kitchen.
I shook my head. “Well, that’s you. That’s not us.”
“That might not be you, but I’d bet good money it’s him.”
“Hey, I have an idea,” I said with overexaggerated enthusiasm. “How about instead of microanalyzing my life, you figure out your own shit? I don’t even know what you’re doing here.”
“I’m visiting my sister. Thought that was pretty obvious.”
“You’re acting like a troll.”
“Well, excuse the fuck out of me. I just ended my six-year relationship, so I’m sorry I’m not all sunshine and rainbows.”
I blew out a sigh and braced myself against the counter next to him, bumping my shoulder into his. “You don’t have to be all sunshine and rainbows, but I’m just not sure what sleeping on my couch is doing for you.”
“Well, I was supposed to have some desperately needed sister time.”
“Nice try, but considering you’ve spent your ‘desperately needed’ sister time scrolling Mandy’s social media on a burner account just so you can see if she’s as miserable as you, I’m not buying it.”
“She’s not, by the way.”
“You don’t have to be, either, you know. You already paid for that trip to Jamaica you guys were supposed to go on, so my question is, why aren’t you taking advantage of it?”
“It’s an all-inclusive vacation for two.”
“Double the drinks and dessert. I don’t see the problem.”
“It’s going to suck ass. Everyone’s going to look at me with sad eyes.”
“Maybe.” I shrugged. “Or maybe they’ll comp you a room upgrade and a nice massage because you look so pitiful. And you do, you know. You look incredibly pitiful.”
He huffed out a laugh and shook his head. “Speaking of pitiful…does she need something?” Ash pointed to Chuckanut, who sat in front of her bowl, shifting her gaze from her very empty food dish to me and back again.
“Nice try,” I said to her with a laugh, “but I already fed you this morning.”
As soon as the words left my mouth, she bounded off into the living room, probably to go toy hunting since her ploy hadn’t worked.
I twisted to face my brother, hip resting against the counter. “Look, all I’m saying is I’d rather be wallowing in paradise than couching it with my sister while popping the max dose of Benadryl every day just so I could stay vertical.”
“If you wanted to get rid of me, you could’ve just said so.”
“I don’t want to get rid of you.” I gripped his forearm and gave it a shake. “I love you and want you to be happy. And I don’t think that’s going to happen here.”
He ran a hand through his hair and sighed. “Yeah, well, that makes two of us.”
“So, you’ll go?”
“I wasn’t talking about me. I was talking about you.”
“Um…I don’t have a trip to Jamaica on the books.”
“I mean I want you to be happy, and I don’t think you are here.”
At that, I jerked back, furrowing my brow as I stared at him. “What? I am. I love Starlight Cove.”
He lifted a single shoulder and stared at me with those all-knowing eyes that always managed to see through everything.
“So you say. But then I get here, and your closest friend is a Grade A dickbag, your evenings are interrupted by emergency appointments, you’re working so much you barely have time to breathe, let alone eat, your fridge is empty—your home is empty, and I’m not just talking about the food.
” He blew out a long breath and knocked my shoulder with his.
“Me, Mom, and Dad…we’re not here. Your entire support system is in Washington. Why aren’t you?”