Chapter 12 Riley
CHAPTER TWELVE
Riley
“You ready to go?” Theo asks.
I glance down at the island where I have all my things gathered. It’s not like I have much with me, given how I arrived here a few days ago.
So much has changed, yet everything is the same.
Realizing I’m still wearing one of Theo’s hoodies, I start to peel it off. I had to change out of Cole’s sweatshirt when we finished shoveling because I was so sweaty.
Theo gently grasps my wrist. “Keep it.”
“I can’t take this from you.”
A sad smile tilts up the corner of his mouth. “It gives me a reason to see you again.”
I mirror his smile. A rush of guilt hits me straight in the chest because of the distance I created between us over the last decade.
“You don’t need an excuse, Theo. I’m sorry for making you feel like you need one.” I push the hoodie back down. “I don’t want to leave like that. I don’t want this to be the last time I see you and Finn.”
“Then it won’t be,” he says, like it’s the most cut-and-dried thing in the world when it’s anything but.
Reconnecting with the two of them has reawakened a part of my heart I didn’t know still existed. They’re both my friends, but I can’t deny that something more has started to flicker to life, too.
“Okay,” I say, giving him the best smile I can manage.
He holds out his hand. “Finn’s in the truck.”
With my purse in one hand and Theo’s hand in the other, I walk with him to where Finn’s waiting in the old truck with the plow still attached to the front.
“We’re taking that?” I ask Theo as we walk across the icy gravel that crunches under our feet.
“We’ll need it to plow your car out, or it’s going to be stuck there for a while,” he says, opening the passenger door.
“Hop on up. Bertha won’t bite,” Finn says.
“Bertha?” I ask.
Finn pats his hand affectionately on the dashboard. “Yup, she’s the best girl.”
I shake my head, laughing to myself as I scoot across the bench seat until my thigh is pressed against Finn’s. There isn’t a second row of seats, so we’re all crammed in together.
Finn pats my leg with the same care he just showed to his beloved truck. “All set?”
A twinge of something skates through me, almost like I’m missing something. But that’s not quite it.
“Yeah, let’s go,” I say.
Finn starts backing away from the house. My eyes zero in on the figure leaning against the railing on the front porch. Cole.
Before we get too far away, I mouth, “Thank you.” I have no idea why I do it, but there’s no way he saw or understood what I meant.
His eyes are locked directly on mine, though, and he gives a curt nod. Our gazes stay locked until Finn turns the truck around, heading down the small dirt road that leads to the highway.
Peeking in the rearview mirror, I see Bertha is still driving behind me. I told them many times they didn’t need to follow me into town.
The highway has been plowed, and I know where I’m going. They were both insistent. Finally, I just gave in, letting them tail me the entire way.
The small house I’ve rented for the next month comes into view. Well, some of it, anyway. The giant snowbanks lining the street block a lot of it.
I ease my rental car into a spot between two snow piles.
Shit. The walkway to the house is covered in several feet of fluffy white powder. I look around like a shovel might magically appear out of thin air.
How am I supposed to get into the house?
“Good thing I brought this,” Finn says, shaking a shovel in front of him. It must have been in the back of the truck.
My shoulders sag with relief. “I guess so.” I hold my hand out toward the shovel.
He gently swats my hand away. “Get out of here. I’m not going to stand here and watch you shovel all that.”
My hackles start to rise, wanting to tell him that I absolutely could do it on my own. Theo’s arm wraps around my shoulders.
“Just let the big brute do the shoveling. We all know you’re perfectly capable of doing it. Let’s keep his pride intact and let him use those muscles for good for once.”
“For once?” I ask.
“I don’t know what he uses them for,” Theo says, his eyes widening. “It can’t all be good.”
“I’m a perfect fucking angel,” Finn says, slinging the first shovelful of snow up onto the pile. He peeks at me over his shoulder. His eyes sparkle with mirth. “Just stand there and enjoy the show, love.”
“Does that line work on all the ladies?” Finn never had a lack of female attention years ago. I can’t imagine that has changed.
If it’s even possible, I think he’s gotten even more charismatic, and that’s saying something because even at twenty-four, he could charm the pants off the most unsuspecting person.
Now at thirty-two, he could charm them off, well… me.
“Perhaps… but I only want it to work on one right now,” he says with a wink.
Fuck me sideways.
Leaning against Theo, I do just as Finn said. I watch the show. I secretly want to rip Finn’s coat off, watch his muscles strain as he moves the snow around.
Somehow, he still looks hot as sin, even with all his winter gear on.
As soon as I key in the code that was emailed to me and open the door, I know something is wrong. The smell of mildew hits my nose.
I slowly make my way through the cottage-style house. Stepping into the small kitchen, I freeze when I see the floor covered in a large puddle of water.
“Oh, shit,” Theo says from behind me. He steps through the water, opening the cabinet below the sink. He grimaces as he glances inside. “The pipes must have frozen when the power went out. Now that everything is thawing, it’s flooding through the cracked pipes.
I crouch beside him, and sure as shit, I can see where the pipe is broken. The water is steadily trickling out.
“I’ll go find the valve and turn off the water,” Finn says before he disappears around the corner.
Theo and I rifle through the drawers, finding kitchen towels to soak up as much water as we can. It won’t take care of everything, but at least it’s something.
“Water is off,” Finn says, his head popping back in the doorway. “The bathroom is flooding, too.” He grabs towels from the hall closet, tossing them on the bathroom floor.
Shit.
I pull out my phone and make a quick call to the real estate office I rented the house from. They tell me they’ll get someone out as soon as they can to fix it, but it probably won’t be for a while because of how bad the storm was.
What am I going to do?
I can’t stay here. That’s obvious. I wouldn’t have running water for who knows how long. Plus, the flood damage will need to be taken care of.
Finding lodging in Aspen Springs is challenging as it is. With this short of notice, it’s going to be damn near impossible.
“You’re going to stay with us,” Theo says, sensing my internal freakout. I don’t know how he can tell I’m about to lose it, but he has always been able to read me exceptionally well.
He doesn’t phrase it as a question. It’s just stated as a fact, a forgone conclusion.
I turn around to face him… both of them. “I can’t do that.”
“Why not?” Finn asks, crossing his arms over his chest. He still has his red coat on, so he looks like a red Hulk.
I tick off the reasons on my fingers. “One, I’ve already crashed with you guys when I shouldn’t have. Two, your brother hates me. Three, I hate your brother.”
An unpleasant feeling ghosts through me when I say I hate Cole. It isn’t that my feelings toward him have changed. I’m just more confused about all of it than I’ve ever been.
“Four…” I pause, trying to come up with another reason. “I just can’t.”
Finn mimics me, ticking off his rebuttals on his own fingers. “One, yes, you should have stayed with us. What else were you supposed to do? Two, I really don’t think it’s hate. I’m pretty sure it’s a hell of a lot more complicated than that. Three, ditto to number two.”
I scowl at him, and he smirks back before continuing. “And four… come the fuck on. Yes, you can.”
“And you are. Let’s go,” Theo says, grabbing my hand.
He pulls me out to my car, grumbling about that house being too dangerous for me. I don’t really know how dangerous it is, per se, but I’m not going to argue with him about it.
“Do I need to put you in the truck with us, or are you going to behave?”
A part of me wants to tell him no, to get a rise out of him, but an even bigger part of me wants to do just as he said.
“I’m not going to run away,” I tell him.
“Good girl,” he says, and I practically melt against the side of my car. I swear my legs turn into cooked noodles. Fuck… Do I have a praise kink?
From the way his eyes spark to life at my reaction to his words, I’m guessing he’s just as into it.
“We need to stop at my parents’ house and check on them before we go home,” he tells me. Our bodies aren’t touching, but I almost wish they were. “You can head back to the house, or you can come with us. I’m sure they’d love to see you.”
This is probably the easiest decision I’ve made all year. There’s no way in hell I’m heading back to their house alone.
I will not be the one telling Cole I’m going to be staying with them until things at the rental are fixed. Hell no.
So, visiting their parents it is. Good thing I love them.
I slide my car into park in Vivian and Mark’s driveway, but I can’t get myself to climb out. My hands grip the steering wheel tighter.
I’m so stupid. Why did I agree to come here? I’m sure they hate me after I left the way I did. There’s no way they’d know why things imploded.
Cole is very close to his parents, so I got to know them over those few months we were together. They made it easy.
There was never the awkward meeting the boyfriend’s parents’ stage. They just welcomed me in with open arms, like I’d always been there.
Now, I’m supposed to face them again after so many years.
I need to get out of here. I need to get out of this whole damn town. Screw this episode of the podcast. I’ll figure something else out. I always do.
Something taps against the window. Theo’s face is right there on the other side of the glass, motioning for me to roll down the window.