3
“E rin, you can’t do this.”
Erin looked over her shoulder as she finished packing up her equipment. “Can’t do what? Something that benefits and is better for me?”
“You can’t just up and leave without giving us any notice, a warning. It could take us weeks or months to rent out your chair, and we’ll lose money every day that wedon’t.”
Erin rolled her eyes before returning to the box she had been packing and taping it close. “You gave your own warning. When you passed me over a second time to buy in as a partner when I bring in more business than you do,”Erin replied. “And don’t pretend you didn’t see this coming. Especially after that shit you pulled with my feature, Ford.”
It fell silent between them, and Erin knew he was searching for something to say since he had run out of excuses long ago. She placed the bag she had packed first on top of the box and picked them both up. Erin didn’t need to say anything else because she didn’t owe him anything. She’d been busting her ass for that shop for the last several years. Pulling in more business than anyone else, she was tired of being underappreciated. The decision to leave the shop and the city was the best decision for her.
Erin loaded the bag and box into the backseat of her car, placing them on the floor. She was about to get in when her name was called. She paused and refrained from groaning.
“Hey, I’m glad I caught you.”
“Hey, Stu.”
Unlike him, Erin was not glad that he’d caught her. He’d come into the shop two years ago, and she’d tattooed him. Since then, he’d found a reason to try to come in several times a month. Whether it was with some design, he wanted to run by her, or because he wanted an actual tattoo. She hadn’t minded too much initially because it was money in her pocket, but she was over it once he’d asked her out. She’d let him down gently, telling him she didn’t date current or former clients. He hadn’t asked her again, but his visits to the shop hadn’t lessened.
“I’ve been calling to schedule an appointment,”he stated.
“I’m sorry. I’ve been so busy lately.”
He glanced into her backseat. “Are you going somewhere?”
“Yeah, there’s a tattoo convention this weekend, and I’m going down to participate.”
She was not telling this man she was moving or where to. Seeing him was another reminder of why a change of scenery was good for her.
“Oh, okay. Well, I’ll give you a call on Monday. I have a tattoo in mind and would like us to get started on it.”
Erin nodded. “I’m pretty booked the next week, but I’m sure anyone inside can fit you in.”
“No. I don’t like anyone else’s style. I don’t mind waiting for you.”
You’ll be waiting forever, Erin thought. “Okay. I have to go.”
“I’ll see you next week,”Stu stated. Erin made a noncommittal gesture as she slid into her car and pulled out of the parking lot. The faster she left Florida behind, the better.
She still had things back at her apartment that she needed to pack up and furniture that she needed to take apart. Erin planned on leaving in two days. She was going to leave late at night and drive through as much as she could so that she could sleep before unpacking her things when she arrived in Denver.
While Cruz had offered her the use of his plane, Erin had decided not to accept it. It just didn’t feel right, and she didn’t know what message that would send to him. They hadn’t discussed him touching her at Alijah and Kieran’s wedding, and Erin didn’t need them to. She figured he didn’t want to because he hadn’t brought it up, so she wouldn’t either.
Erin had always believed that if someone wanted to talk about something, they would. She didn’t particularly feel the need to speak about the event because, one, she hadn’t been the person to initiate it, and two, she was grown enough to know that sometimes people did things with no intentions of repeating them or expanding on them.
So, when she spoke to Paetyn yesterday, she told him she wanted to leave during the weekend. It wasn’t technically a lie. She would be leaving late Friday night. She wouldn’t let them make a futile trip, though. She planned to call them when she hit the road to let them know she’d already left and there was no point in them coming to help.
She would rent a U-Haul box to hitch behind her car. A few days ago, she found one that fit and reserved it.
Erin pulled up to her apartment building and got out of the car. She grabbed the bag and the box and took them inside. She didn’t want to leave them in the car over the next couple of days, not wanting her inks to get too hot since the temperature was all over the place recently.
Once inside, Erin started packing up the rest of her clothes. She had already set aside what she would wear for the next few days, along with her toiletry bag and a couple of hair products.
She’d started packing her bedroom the day before. Erin had a large ensemble of clothes and shoes. They didn’t all fit into her closet, so she added shelves to the wall and lined them with her shoes. It was the reason she’d decided to start in the bedroom first. Erin knew it would take her the longest to pack.
She’d already filled her three suitcases and two duffle bags with clothes. She had several large boxes and tended to keep her shoe boxes, so she knew it would make them easier to pack once she got them back inside.
Erin took her shoes off before starting some music on her phone. She’d packed each suitcase and a duffle bag with specific items and would do the same with the boxes.
When she had the first box put together and ready to fill, she labeled it bottoms and started taking all her jeans off the hangers, folding them, and placing them into the box. She knew she’d need more than one box to fit all her bottoms, but Erin hoped that if she rolled everything tightly, she could use the one box.
She’d been packing for about two hours and had been able to pack all of her bottoms and put her shoes back into their original boxes before she packed them. She aimed to pack all her clothes, bedroom items that weren’t furniture, and kitchen items.
Erin had never been a big fan of packing and moving, finding it overly tiring, but she assumed that most people were, her more so from moving around so much during her childhood. She spent the first six years of her life in Barcelona; they moved almost every eighteen months after that until she, her mother, and her sister settled in Florida when she was eleven when her father was stationed there. His assignments after that had only typically been six months to a year, and her mother liked Florida, so they didn’t move with him.
She packed for another hour before deciding to order some food. She hadn’t eaten since that morning, and it was now six in the evening. She knew that meant she’d be hungry again extremely late if she was still up, but she’d order two meals and have the other one for later.
Erin had just picked up her phone when she thought she heard a knock at her door. Pausing the music, she listened for a moment, and when she heard the knock again, she headed towards the front door. She figured it was Mrs. Green asking if she could borrow something again. She was a lovely elderly lady who lived in the apartment across from Erin’s. She didn’t drive, so if she forgot anything during her grocery run once a week, Mrs. Green found herself at Erin’s door.
Pulling the door open, Erin paused for a moment.
“Paetyn, Cruz, hey. What are you two doing here?”
“I told you we’d come out early to help,”Cruz stated.
“You did, yes, but I wasn’t expecting you until Saturday morning,”Erin responded.
“You didn’t want to try to do all of your packing in one day, did you? That’d be pretty stressful,”Paetyn responded.
Erin hadn’t planned on packing everything in one day. She planned on not being at her apartment and simply letting them know.
“I got a jumpstart on some of the smaller things,”Erin replied, moving aside to let them both in. They were there now, and she was sure she couldn’t convince them to leave or that she was fine on her own. Besides, they’d made the trip, and doing so was nice of them. “I was just about to order some food. Do the two of you want anything and from anywhere in particular?”
“Whatever you want to order is fine,”Cruz told her.
Erin thought about it for a moment. “Is pizza okay?”she questioned.
“Sounds good,” Paetyn responded.
“Okay, make yourselves at home. I’ll order, and then we can tackle the kitchen if you want.”
“It’s whatever you want to do,”Paetyn said with a smile.
Erin returned his smile before dialing the number to her favorite pizza place.
“W hat are you doing?”
Cruz looked up from his laptop at Paetyn’s question. They’d taken off twenty minutes ago, and since the pilot had given the okay, Cruz had been typing away on his laptop.
“I’m setting up Erin’s security profile, putting all the add-ons within it, and activating it. That way, we only need her print when she moves in.”
“Makes sense,”Paetyn responded, flipping the page in the book he was reading.
Cruz went back to setting up Erin’s profile and giving her every security add-on she needed. He wanted to ensure her safety.
When Paetyn spoke with Erin the day before, she told them she had plans to leave over the weekend. Cruz didn’t have any meetings or work that he couldn’t do from his laptop, and Paetyn had executive chefs who could handle things while he was gone. So, they’d decided to fly in and see if they couldn’t get her moved by Friday. That way, she could have the weekend to relax.
Once Cruz finished setting up Erin’s profile, he billed himself. Though he’d just be paying himself, he liked to have a record of everything.
After that, he decided to look over some work. His company was about to sign a large contract, and he wanted to ensure that the plan they’d put in place for installation would meet the timeframe.
Glancing up from his laptop about an hour later, he found Paetyn was now scrolling through his phone. Cruz checked the time to see how long they would be in the air. They still had about an hour and a half.
“Paet,”Cruz called, gaining the other man’s attention.
“Yeah?”Paetyn responded, glancing up from his phone momentarily.
“You found a company to transport Erin’s car, right?”
“I did. They’ll pick it up tomorrow; that way, it’ll be there when she arrives, as long as she’s okay with that. If she needs to go somewhere, she can use the rental car we get when we land, or we can rent one for her.”
“And we should be able to get all her things moved and put into the apartment by Friday evening.”
“Yes, all of Chayse’s things were moved to Nik’s or storage under Taila’s supervision before she left a couple of days ago. So, we’ll have no problem helping her get all the large furniture and other common things together.”
Cruz nodded and focused his attention back on his work. He knew everything had been planned out, but he always double-checked and sometimes triple-checked to confirm things were in place.
Cruz worked for the rest of the flight. When they landed, he went inside to rent two cars—one for himself and Paetyn and the other for his pilots. There were no flights scheduled for the next few days, so they wouldn’t have to fly back. Cruz figured they could spend the next couple of days relaxing in Florida.
When they had the vehicles and his and Paetyn’s luggage was in the trunk, Cruz slid into the passenger seat. Paetyn had gotten Erin’s address the previous day. Cruz looked out the window as they made their way there. He’d been to different parts of Florida several times, but this was his first time in Gainesville.
“When we get there, be sure to keep your hands to yourself,” Paetyn said, and Cruz raised an eyebrow at him.
“Make sure you take your own advice,”Cruz retorted.
“I’m not the one that decided to play with her at the wedding.”
He shrugged. “No, but you could have.”
He watched Paetyn glance over at him. “Just behave.”
“Fine, I will, at least until she’s been in the city a few weeks. So, whatever you’re going to do…”Cruz trailed off, leaving it open.
He knew that allowing Paetyn to dictate the speed at which they pursued someone had never failed them. However, Cruz found himself being overly impatient for the first time. He attributed it to the fact that it had been over eight months. Typically, at six months, they were at a place where the woman they were pursuing had agreed to be in a relationship with them.
Cruz knew he couldn’t be too impatient, considering that Paetyn had waited almost a year and a half. Part of that time consisted of the other man waiting for Cruz to see what he had. Admittedly, it took him a minute, but it felt like they couldn’t move fast enough once he had.
When they pulled up to the apartment complex, Cruz followed Paetyn to Erin’s door. Paetyn knocked, waiting a moment before knocking again, and several seconds later, the door opened.
Erin stood on the other side of the door in high-waisted black shorts and a white T-shirt that showed off her midriff. The outfit wasn’t provocative, but Cruz found it overly attractive.
“Paetyn, Cruz, hey. What are you two doing here?”Erin questioned.
“I told you we’d come out early to help,”Cruz stated because she sounded surprised to see them.
“You did, yes, but I wasn’t expecting you until Saturday morning,”Erin responded.
“You didn’t want to try to do all of your packing in one day, did you? That’d be pretty stressful,”Paetyn responded.
“I got a jumpstart on some of the smaller things,”Erin replied, moving aside to let them both in. Cruz followed Paetyn inside, closing the door behind them. “I was just about to order some food. Do the two of you want anything and from anywhere in particular?”she asked, turning to them.
Yes, there was something in particular he wanted to eat, and it was on the tip of his tongue to say it, but he didn’t miss the look Paetyn quickly threw at him. Cruz refrained from going with his first answer and bit his tongue briefly to keep from smirking.
“Whatever you want to order is fine,”he told her.
“Is pizza okay?”
“Sounds good,” Paetyn responded.
“Okay, make yourselves at home. I’ll order, and then we can tackle the kitchen if you want.”
“It’s whatever you want to do,”Paetyn replied.
Cruz watched as she walked into the kitchen before he went over to the loveseat and sat down while Paetyn sat on the couch, both at the end closest to one another.
“Were you honestly going to tell her you wanted to eat her?”Paetyn asked him in a low voice.
“Are you trying to tell me you don’t want to?”Cruz challenged with a smirk. Paetyn raised an eyebrow at him but didn’t respond. “Besides, I don’t think she’d object.”
“That isn’t the point,”Paetyn responded.
“So you’ve said before. You have to admit that even your patience is wearing thin.”
Paetyn sighed, leaning back, propping his right ankle on his leg. “I’m a bit over waiting, yes. But it’s necessary that she knows what she’s getting into and can make the choice before she’s overwhelmed with testosterone.”
Cruz found himself chuckling because he knew that Paetyn wasn’t kidding. It wasn’t something that tended to happen on purpose. It simply did when they first started dating someone and often continued throughout the relationship.
Cruz turned his attention to Erin as she returned to the living room. She stretched, and her shirt rose a bit. He licked his lower lip. He honestly couldn’t wait to overwhelm her.
P aetyn wrapped the dishes Erin was pulling from her cabinets in bubble wrap. They’d finished eating about an hour ago and sat around and talked briefly before starting in the kitchen. Paetyn told her that he and Cruz could handle it, but Erin insisted it would go faster if the three tackled it together. He was sure that it was more so that she needed to be in control of the situation. However, he wouldn’t call her on it.
They were working in an assembly line of sorts. Erin would hand him the dish, which he’d wrap before giving it to Cruz to pack into the box they were currently filling.
Erin had turned on music, and the songs filtered through the kitchen. Paetyn would see her swaying slightly to the song’s rhythm as she’d hand him dishes. It didn’t matter how fast the song was. It was as if she was catching some unheard melody as she moved slowly. Paetyn wasn’t the only one watching her. He’d caught Cruz giving Erin the same look he was.
It didn’t take them long to finish packing everything except a tumbler from which Erin liked to drink. All the boxes were labeled, and he and Cruz moved them over by the door.
“Will you come into the bedroom with me?”Erin asked, and Paetyn didn’t have to look at Cruz to know what he was thinking. “There are some boxes in there that are a bit heavy,” she added.
“Of course,”Paetyn responded before following her down the hall.
Once inside the bedroom, he saw the boxes she was talking about: two labeled bottoms, three labeled shoes, and one labeled tops. He and Cruz grabbed two of the boxes with shoes since he was sure those were the ones she was referring to as being heavy, along with the bottoms.
When they’d moved the boxes to the living room with the ones from the kitchen, Paetyn glanced at the watch on his wrist and saw it was close to nine.
“Are you leaving?”Erin asked, and Paetyn turned to look at her, finding her leaning against the entryway to the hall.
“Are you trying to get rid of us?”Cruz countered, and Erin laughed lightly before smiling at him.
“No, I was going to put you to work if you weren’t tired of helping yet.”
“Idon’t think we’d ever get tired of helping you,”Paetyn responded, and Erin swung those dark brown eyes to him.
“Well, while I have you here, I was going to see if I could put you to work a tiny bit more,”she stated, holding her thumb and index finger close together.
“Just tell us what you need,”Cruz responded.
“I wanted to see if you’d take my bed apart and the shelves off the wall while I finish packing my closet and dressers.”
“If we take your bed apart, what will you sleep on?”Cruz inquired.
“My couch is pretty comfortable, and if we can get everything done in the next couple of days, I won’t have to sleep on it long,”she responded, turning and going down the hall.
Paetyn followed her back into her bedroom. She held up a toolbox, and Paetyn took it from her. He watched as she walked to the closet and gathered the rest of the clothes.
“I’ll take the bed,”Cruz stated, taking the toolbox from Paetyn and opening it.
“Shelves it is,”Paetyn responded.
He went to the wall, where several floating shelves were. Paetyn wasn’t sure what she had on them, but she had enough to fill the bottom half of the wall from one end to another.
Paetyn began by removing the shelves from the holsters before grabbing one of the screwdrivers from the toolbox and taking the holsters down. He glanced at Erin every now and then to find her sorting the clothes she’d taken out of the closet into a couple of separate boxes—one entitled tops, the other entitled dresses.
Once Paetyn finished, he looked over to see if Cruz needed help with the bed but found that it was almost done. The mattress and box spring moved against the wall closest to the bedroom door.
“Where do you want me to pack these, Erin?”Paetyn questioned, gesturing to the shelves and holsters.
“Oh, I have another box we can put together,”Erin responded, going to stand. She tripped as she got up, falling into Paetyn’s chest, her hands going to his pecs. He placed his hands on her waist to steady her, umber skin warm under his palms.
He looked down at her, green eyes staring into hers. “Are you okay, Angel?”he questioned.
“Yeah, I’m okay, thank you.”
She didn’t pull away immediately, and Paetyn didn’t let her go since she hadn’t. His fingers ghosted along the back of her waist, and he watched her tongue come out to lick her lower lip.
“Which box did you want him to use?”Cruz asked, and Erin pushed herself away from Paetyn.
“Box, right.”
Paetyn released her waist and turned his attention to Cruz. The other man smirked at him with a raised eyebrow, and Paetyn refrained from rolling his eyes.
Erin handed him the box and some tape, and Paetyn put it together before packing the shelves. He was able to get them into the box, but he would need a smaller one for the holsters.
He didn’t see any more boxes, so he decided to help Cruz move the bed pieces into the living room. It would be easier if everything was there when they got ready to load the truck.
After they’d moved the last piece of the bed into the living room, Paetyn led them back into the bedroom. She’d finished packing everything in the closet and was now working on the top two drawers of one of her dressers.
“Do you need us to do anything else?”Paetyn questioned.
Erin turned to look at them. “No, I think that’s it for the night. The only things that need to be taken apart or moved out are the living room, the dining room table, and the televisions, but I can move the one in here.”
Paetyn nodded as he leaned back against the wall and watched her pack some tank tops into the box she’d labeled tops.
“About your car,”he started. “If you’re okay with it, a company is coming to pick it up tomorrow, so it’ll be in Denver by the time you arrive.”
“And if you need to go somewhere after that, you can take the rental we have,”Cruz added.
“That’s fine. I don’t have plans to go anywhere until we leave,” Erin responded, pulling a pair of pink lace panties from the drawer, folding them, and placing them aside.
Paetyn assumed it was because they weren’t supposed to be in there. Since opening it, she’d pulled nothing but tank tops and camis from that drawer.
“Those are nice,”Cruz said, and Paetyn looked at him.
Erin paused for only a moment. “Yes, they are. I had an identical pair that was purple and liked them, but they got ripped.”
“Pity,” Cruz responded.
Paetyn watched Erin turn to look at Cruz, leaning against the dresser.“And if that wasn’t bad enough, the person who ripped them kept them.”
“Did they?” Cruz inquired.
“Mhm. If I were one to hold grudges, I’d be upset about it. Maybe even demand they buy me another pair.”Erin turned back to what she was doing. “But Idon’t.”
Paetyn found himself smirking and shaking his head. It was the first time the incident between her and Cruz had been brought up, and she’d also done it in front of him, which Paetyn would take as some sign.
Walking up behind her, Paetyn left a small amount of space between them, gently placing his hand on her waist. “We’re going to go, but we’ll be here tomorrow to take you to lunch.”
Erin looked over her shoulder at him. “You don’t have to do that.”
“I know.”Was all Paetyn said before stepping back and heading towards the door.
“Come lock the door back,”Cruz stated behind him.
Once they were at the front door, they said their goodbyes and went to the rental car.
“I’ve decided I’m not going to wait weeks,”Cruz informed him. “You heard her in there. She isn’t running from our encounter.”
“No, she isn’t,”Paetyn responded. “Let me handle it. I know just what to do.”He pulled out of the parking spot and headed towards the hotel they’d be staying at.