Chapter 7
I’d lostmy fucking mind. Tally was gaping at me, and so was Hayes. Actually, Hayes was looking at me like I’d just lost my marbles, and he wouldn’t be wrong. I wasn’t even sure why I cared. I could take the money back and move on with my life. Hell, I could do what she suggested and donate it to an animal shelter, or a food bank or something.
I wasn’t prone to lying to myself, though. It had less to do with feeling like I didn’t deserve the prize money—I’d ridden a damn fine fucking race—and more to do with the fact that the girl in front of me, with big, wounded eyes and wild hair, captured something inside my chest. I wanted her to be okay.
Maybe her situation reminded me of my mom, the stress she’d felt having to raise me by herself after my dad died. The breakdown she’d had, which I’d always felt was a little my fault.
“There’s a house beside mine that I was going to buy, restore, then flip for a profit when the time’s right. That’s what I was going to do with the money.” I kept my voice neutral, like I didn’t care what she did. Which I didn’t, not really. “You help me renovate it, and when we sell it, you keep half the profits. I figure that once the baby comes, you’re going to struggle to work at the diner and care for a child, so this might be an option.” I shrugged. “Whatever you want. You could even live in the place while we renovate.”
She narrowed her eyes. “You want me to buy a house with you?”
Hayes scoffed, but she was making it sound weirder than it was. “I want you to work your ass off rebuilding a house that’s basically dilapidated, as a business proposal, yes.”
It wouldn’t hurt that she’d be right next door. I knew Hayes would like that. You only had to look in his eyes to know he was smitten with this tiny little racer. I mean, she was basically his dream girl, so it made sense.
“Can I think about it? Because I don’t know you.”
Well, at least she had some common sense. “Sure. Come out tomorrow and look at the place before you make up your mind. Hayes is living with me next door, if that helps ease your mind or whatever.”
I was already making a list of things I’d do before she moved in. The bathroom and kitchen were in good working order, but the master bedroom would need to be redone before it was habitable. I’d put in a good security system, because she’d still be there alone with a tiny baby, and us being next door wasn’t really close enough.
She eyed me appraisingly once more, then nodded. Hayes let out a tiny, relieved breath that I wasn’t not sure she heard. “I’ll come around and pick you up at about ten? I start work on Friday, but I have tomorrow free.”
It felt like time to go. I strode toward the door of this tiny little hovel and tried not to let it tug too strongly at my heartstrings. This was just the right thing to do. For Hayes. And it was what my dad would’ve done.
With that thought, I opened the front door and walked out into the hallway, waiting quietly as Hayes said something softly to her. Probably apologizing for me. He’d spent a lot of time apologizing for my surliness when we were teens. He stepped out, and the door shut behind him, but neither of us moved until we heard the deadbolt and chain slide into place.
My area was a little shady, but this one was worse.
Both Hayes and I were silent as we made our way back to the haphazardly parked car. When Tally hadn’t turned up an hour after she said she would, Hayes had panicked. I had too, though I’d tried to keep it cool.
She was a pregnant woman, alone. What if she’d slipped in the shower? What if something had gone wrong with the baby? What if she’d passed out and hit her head on the kitchen counter? The possibilities were endless for anyone living alone, but a pregnant woman in her sixth month was just exponentially worse. So I hadn’t told him to calm down, just went to work tracking her down like a fucking stalker.
Hayes slid into the driver’s seat, and I climbed in beside him. He didn’t speak until we pulled out onto the main arterial road back to my place.
He snuck a look in my direction. “That was unexpected.”
I grunted noncommittally. “She keeps the money, turns it into some more, and I don’t have to move next door so we don’t get squatters. Works for me.”
“So, it was purely a selfish offer?” he asked lightly, but I could hear the sarcasm in his tone. “Don’t bullshit a bullshitter, Jesse. You like her.”
I snapped my head around. “Nah, man, I’m not trying to move in on your lane. I can see your big heart eyes every time you look in her direction.”
He kept his eyes on the road, so I had time to judge his profile. He didn’t seem jealous or angry. Instead, he raised an eyebrow in my direction. “You don’t know her well enough yet. We might be choosing lanes, but it’s Tally’s road, and she doesn’t give a fuck what you think you want or deserve. I had my chance, and she chose someone else. I’d rather see her happy, and if that’s with you, even better.”
Jesus fucking Christ. “Man, I offered her a job, not my dick. You’re getting ahead of yourself.”
He hummed as he got off at our exit. “Hmm. We’ll see.”
I believed in the bro code. If he wanted her, I’d keep my hands to myself. I mean, she was beautiful, but he was my best friend, and I loved the shit out of him. I wouldn’t ever jeopardize that.
I arranged with the realtor to meet us at eleven the next day, and it didn’t hurt that I’d put feelers out already about the place next door. Where mine was a split-level, this one was a single-story bungalow, and while rundown, had some potential.
I would have bought it with or without the money I’d given Tally, but I let her think I needed her money to do it. I wasn’t above stacking the odds in my favor. I might be making a mistake, because she was basically a stranger, but my dad had taught me how to read people early on. She had a wide, open face, and her every thought flashed across her features. She’d tried to give the money back, even though keeping it would have made her life insanely easier. Plus, Hayes liked her, which was worth a lot on its own.
No, I wasn’t second-guessing my offer.
Hayes pulled up in his car, but I saw that it was Tally in the driver’s seat. Hayes loved that car; it was his baby, and he wouldn’t even let me drive it. So if I needed further proof of his smittenness, it was there, with Tally behind the steering wheel. She was grinning widely, talking animatedly as she gave the engine a little rev, making it purr.
Yeah, it was pure joy on her face, and his too. Definitely the right decision.
As she climbed out of the car, I raised a single brow at a flushed Hayes. “Damn hooligans. There goes the neighborhood,” I deadpanned, and Tally threw back her head and laughed.
“This baby drives like a dream! I want to marry this car.”
“You’ll have to wait until Hayes files for divorce, and I have it on good authority that he’s still in love with the old bird.” I waved them toward the door. “Come on over to my place while we wait for the realtor, and I’ll show you my baby. Two wheels are far superior to four,” I teased them both, laughing at the outrage on their faces.
“Never!”
“Fuck off.”
I laughed harder, and it felt good. “You say that, but you haven’t seen Jeanette.” Leading them into the garage, I walked past my racing bike and toward my one true love—my 1988 Softail Springer Harley. Grabbing the keys from just inside the doors, I walked over and started her up, the sound as relaxing as a cat purring. “Climb on and tell me that isn’t an exhilarating feeling.”
She grinned at me and didn’t even hesitate to throw her leg over the machine. Giving it a little throttle, she laughed. Yeah, baby. Feel that horsepower rumbling between those sweet thighs.
“She’s nice, Jesse,” she said huskily. “I can see why you love her so much.” Her smirk had me mesmerized. “But I still prefer four wheels on the ground than two, you crazy person.” She winked at me and slid from the bike, but I was too busy wondering what it would be like to fuck her over it.
I pushed that thought right out of my head. Hayes had seen her first. Worse than that, I was about to make her a business partner, even if it was in name only. You didn’t fuck your business partners. If that wasn’t enough, she was about to be someone’s damn mother, and I wasn’t daddy material.
Well, not that kind of daddy anyway.
“You have a sidecar? That’s kind of funny,” she said with a chuckle, and I did my best to look imperious.
“What, a twenty-something guy can’t have a sidecar for his bike?” I didn’t use the sidecar on the Harley, but it was good to have, especially when Norton rode along. “Where else would this guy go?”
I opened the door that led into the house. Norton ambled down the stairs from the living room, but he was a patient boy, waiting for my command to greet the newcomer in the room. A long-haired German Shepherd—well, mostly—he was smart. Though his tail wagged furiously, he eyed Tally suspiciously. I probably should’ve warned her, given I didn’t know how she felt about dogs.
“He’s gentle. He won’t hurt you.”
Norton took that as permission, as he stepped tentatively into the garage and toward Tally. Despite her surprise, she didn’t look scared as she reached out, fingers curled into a soft fist, letting Norton sniff her fingers. When he licked them like she was made of cotton candy, she giggled.
“Oh my god, who is the handsomest boy? Aren’t you just the sweetest, floofy boy!” With those words, Norton went full lovebug.
I’d picked him up on the side of the road as a puppy on my way down the West Coast, just past Tijuana. He’d been discarded with his siblings on the side of the road like trash. They’d been way too small and way too sick to ever survive out there by themselves, and I’d never hated humanity as much as I did the moment I found them.
I’d driven them to the closest vet, who’d checked them all over and declared his siblings were healthy enough, just infested with parasites. However, Norton had a significant heart murmur, and the vet had informed me it would be most humane to put him to sleep, since it was unlikely he’d ever be adopted with a possibly life-threatening defect.
That hadn’t sat well with me, so I’d waved his siblings goodbye, but Norton became mine. He’d seen the best puppy cardiologists—which apparently was a thing—but thankfully, by the time he was a bounding six-month-old puppy, the murmur had almost gone. By the time he was a year old, you wouldn’t have even known.
Now he was almost four, and aside from Hayes, was my best friend. He went to jump up on Tally’s legs, and I whistled sharply. “Stop. Gentle, Norton.” He sat back down on his haunches and nudged at her hands insistently for pats, which she gave him liberally.
“Your dog is as much of a manwhore as you are,” Hayes whispered to me, and he wasn’t wrong. Norton was a flirt, but he loved everyone: men, women, mailmen, other animals. Even the ducks at the park we went to. Occasionally, he was wary of people, and I always paid more attention to those people. And he was personally offended by one Boston Terrier we saw sometimes at the dog park. But otherwise, he was the best-natured dog anyone could ask for.
A car pulled into the driveway next door, and Norton curled around Tally’s legs to stand in front of her, between the intruder and his new friend. Did I mention he was also protective? Not usually over a stranger this quickly, but always of me, and Hayes when he was here. I wondered if Norton could tell she was pregnant?
“Heel, Norton,” I commanded, and he gave a pitiful whine, throwing a look up at Tally, but coming back to my side. “Stay.”
Ushering Tally out, we met Chet in front of his car. “Mr. Banks, so glad to hear from you again.” I bet he was. No one else was going to offload this place from him. “Let’s do a last walkthrough, shall we?”
Optimistic of him. Still, I put my hand on the small of Tally’s back and followed the realtor, Hayes close behind.