Chapter 7
Chapter Seven
SAM
Gramps and Lana were happy for me when they heard I’d found a place to rent. They’d only just brought Junior back home after Dan had cleared him from any other underlying illnesses. I was relieved to hear it was just a normal fever that would go away on its own.
It was only after Gramps went to check on Junior that I pulled Lana into our backyard and told her the rest of the story of how I’d gotten the apartment.
I hadn’t wanted to worry Gramps with the lie, but I also knew I couldn’t keep it a secret forever. It was better to get Lana on my side first before telling him I was now supposedly happily engaged and moving in with my fiancé.
“You what ?” Lana shouted, and I had to cover her mouth before Gramps came to ask what was wrong. We stayed like that for a minute. I looked toward the sliding back door to confirm Gramps hadn’t left Lana’s room before turning back to her with a glare.
“Calm down, will you?”
She glared right back.
“How do you expect me to be calm when you just told me I apparently now have a future brother-in-law,” she hissed.
“I panicked, okay! The landlady said she’d only rent to serious couples, and the next thing I knew, I was blurting out that Ryker and I were engaged,” I said sheepishly.
Lana placed a hand on her forehead, looking like she was completely baffled by the situation.
Well, you and me both, sis.
“Sam, how are you going to pretend to be lovers with someone you barely know?” she finally asked.
“That’s why I’m meeting Ryker tonight to figure it all out! And besides, it’s not like he’s a stranger. We all grew up together, and while we weren’t exactly friends back then, we were friendly,” I said, trying to defend myself.
Lana wasn’t impressed and continued giving me her “what the fuck” expression. Then her expression morphed into something akin to worry and guilt, and I knew where this was heading.
“Maybe we can move stuff around in the room and you can squeeze the futon in there with us? That way, at least you won’t have to sleep on the couch anymore?” She nibbled her bottom lip. “Or maybe we can ask Gramps if he’s willing to share the room with you? I doubt he’d mind?—”
I held up a hand to stop her before she started rambling more nonsense. She was like me in that way.
“Lana, it’s really fine. Gramps deserves a quiet space of his own, especially with a baby around now.” Her face crumpled even more, so I quickly added, “You know I’m not blaming you, nor am I saying that you and Junior are a burden. To anyone.”
I squeezed her hand to really push it into her that I meant that. She only returned a tight smile.
“Both Gramps and I adore Junior, and I guess you as well,” I teased, which had her rolling her eyes, but her smile looked less forced now.
“Gramps is getting old and needs more rest than ever. Besides, if it was you, would you want to share a room with your grandfather? I’d get nightmares from sleeping right next to his soaking dentures,” I joked with an exaggerated shudder, though it wasn’t all an act. Teeth freaked me out.
Lana laughed and shook her head. “So what? You’re going to live with Ryker and go around town pretending to be lovers?”
I wrinkled my nose. “Do you have to use that word? Geez, what century are you from?”
She rolled her eyes again and gave me a gentle push.
“I’m being serious here,” she said sternly.
I held my hands up in defeat. “Fine, fine. And that’s why I’m having dinner with him tonight. We’ll figure out the specifics and go from there.”
She still looked worried, so I clapped her on both arms. “It’ll be fine. Plus, it’s not like I have a rich dating life, so strutting around town with a smokin’ hot dude on my arm isn’t all that bad.”
I had the worst luck with men. Like the absolute worst!
I didn’t know if there was something about me, but I mostly attracted the closeted or bi-curious ones who wanted to experiment on me. And I used on me instead of with me purposefully. I wasn’t opposed to a little fun, but not when I was effectively seen as a tool to these men who were too afraid to show the world their true self.
“Smokin’ hot, huh?” Lana asked with a glint in her eyes. “How hot are we talking?”
“He’s built like a strong, very muscular tree, his face was created to model a Roman sculpture, and he’s a cat dad.”
“Cat dads are the best,” she cooed, and I hummed in agreement.
Neither of us had pets growing up since Gramps already had enough to worry about without adding an animal into the mix, but Lana was just as much an animal person as I was.
“All right, fine. But don’t force yourself, okay? If things don’t work out with this new place, you can always stay here. Maybe we can put the couch in storage and convert the living room into a bedroom or something?”
I hugged Lana and laughed. Not at the idea she’d proposed, but at the powerful knowledge that I’d always have a place waiting for me.
Hours later, after checking on Junior for the nth time and confirming that his fever had subsided and stayed away, I said goodbye to Lana and Gramps.
I still hadn’t told Gramps the whole story, only telling him I was meeting an old friend for dinner tonight. He didn’t question it and told me to drive safely before retreating to his room for bed.
Lana stayed silent during the exchange, but I felt her eyes on me the entire way out the front door. I could already imagine those piercing eyes staring right through Junior when he grew up. He was going to have a hard time keeping anything secret from his mom.
Ryker was currently staying with his best friend at the edge of town. Jones was another one of my classmates. I heard his older brother, Jordan, started a construction company years ago, and Jones and Ryker had joined right out of high school.
Rumor around town was that their team was in charge of our town’s first apartment complex on the west side of town. The project would bring in a lot of money—and much needed housing—to the town, so it was a pretty big deal.
I’d heard complaints—mainly from the older generation—of the negative implications this complex would bring to the town. It was a thin line between keeping our small-town charm and developing with the modern era, but our mayor had ensured he would do everything to maintain our town’s history and the vast nature surrounding it would be preserved even if the town’s population continued to grow.
Just at the edge of town, I saw the mailbox displaying the house number Ryker had texted me. I drove down the long dirt-path driveway before finally seeing a house.
Jones lived in a cabin-style house surrounded by trees. I heard he and his brother had purchased some land on this side of town and built their homes with their own hands.
Gramps had tried teaching me woodworking when I was a teen and after almost sawing my finger off trying to build a chair leg, I’d accepted the fact that I was just not handy like that. So, the idea that Jones was living in a beautiful little cabin he’d built himself was just unfathomable to me.
I stared in awe for so long that Ryker had poked his head out of the house before I could even text him. He’d changed since I’d last seen him and was now wearing a dark blue button-up and jeans that fit him like they were tailor-made for him. I hadn’t been exaggerating when I told my sister he was smokin’ hot ’cause I could already feel the temperature inside the car rise a couple degrees just from staring at him.
He cautiously made his way over, his eyes focused on me, but his brow was furrowed as if he was unsure. His wariness had me feeling nervous, too.
I tugged the corner of my rumpled shirt, now regretting that I hadn’t changed into something nicer. This wasn’t supposed to be a date, but now I was feeling more antsy than if this was actually a date.
“Hey,” Ryker said when he got into my car.
His deep voice rumbled, filling my small vehicle, as did Ryker’s woody scent. I wondered if the fragrance had soaked into his bones from living out in the middle of nature or if he’d sprayed something. Either way, I wanted to lean closer to him and bathe in the smell of him.
I stopped myself before I actually did lean over the center console, and then finally remembering that it was good manners to return a greeting, I piped out a soft “Hello.”
My only car passengers were usually Lana and Gramps, so the seat was pushed pretty far forward. Ryker’s knees were practically in his stomach in the cramped space.
“Here, the seat adjuster is in the front,” I said, leaning forward to show him. I didn’t even think about it before reaching between his legs and pulling the lever that moved the seat backward.
When I straightened myself, red was already climbing up Ryker’s neck.
“Sorry,” I muttered and firmly used both hands to grasp the steering wheel, lest they wander again.
Ryker rumbled something that soundedvaguely like, “It’s fine,” but he spoke so deeply and quietly that I couldn’t really make it out.
We both sat in silence for a minute, neither of us looking at each other. This was not a good start to our futurecohabitation.
I figured the best way to overcome the awkwardness was to pretend it hadn’t happened at all, so I turned to him with a smile and said, “I know a burger joint about twenty minutes outside of town. Does that sound good to you?”
Ryker nodded, so I reversed the car and started driving. We made small talk through the drive, mostly talking about Jones’ cabin. Pride filled each of Ryker’s words when he told me he’d helped built the place. He was very enthusiastic as he chatted about all the technical stuff that went into building a structure like that. It all went over my head, but I liked hearing him talk.
The evencadence of his voice was soothing, and his speech sped up when he got excited talking about the one giant support beam used through the center of the cabin or how proud he sounded as he retold the difficulties they had getting the electrical working all the way out here.
He was completely different from the quiet boy from my memories. Ryker lit up as he spoke about a topic he was clearly passionate about. It was cuter than it should be and made the drive to our destination end all too soon.
The burger joint was one of those fancier places where a hostess sat us. Service was quick and within ten minutes of ordering, we were already being served our food.
Ryker was quick to start his dinner. He took a giant bite and made an appreciative sound. He opened his mouth for another bite but paused when he noticed I was looking.
I smiled, having been caught, then said, “It’s good, right?”
I took a bite of my own burger, hopefully indicating that I was done with the creepy staring and he could go back to enjoying his food.
He nodded. “I can’t believe I haven’t heard about this place before.”
“My sister and I found it by chance when I was in high school. I was running an errand in the city and she insisted on tagging along. Halfway home, she kept complaining about starving to death, and this was the first place I saw. I guess I should be thanking her little gluttonous ways or we never would have discovered this place,” I said with a laugh.
Ryker made a sound that I took to mean he agreed with me.
We finished our burgers in companionable silence, and I was surprised to realize how awkward it wasn’t . Even without speaking, I could see how much Ryker enjoyed the food. He showed it with his body language, the way the corner of his lips would curl up just a fraction after every bite, and how his blinks slowed as he chewed. I wondered if he was even aware of his actions.
We washed down the last of our burgers with sodas and then started munching on our fries.
“So, we should probably talk about how we want to do this,” I said.
Ryker sat up straight, making his already giant form appear even bigger. Despite being half his size, I didn’t feel the least bit intimidated. There was something about him that gave off a calm aura that had me relaxing.
He nodded and stuffed a fry into his mouth as he listened.
“We should probably set up some rules if we’re going to do this and actually pull it off. We obviously have to act like a couple around town, so that means no seeing other people, or at least nobody in town. Is that okay with you?”
Ryker nodded again, his brows scrunched up. “It’s fine with me. I’m taking a break from the dating scene, anyway.”
I wanted to ask him why that was. I was sure women would be all over a guy like Ryker. He had the whole sexy, rugged, blue-collar man thing going for him, and unless he’d undergone an entire personality change over the years, I knew he wasn’t a bad person.
Never mind the fact that he was a cat dad, and a protective one too, from the authoritative tone he’d used when he said his cat went everywhere he went.
I bet he’s just as protective toward his partner…
I shook my head and forced myself away from that line of thought. This man was too freaking attractive for his own good and for my self-control. I could already see myself developing a crush on him, and that was notconducive toward a healthy co-living situation.
He might be hot, and a big softie from what I’d seen, but he was theoretically straight, and everyone knew how having a crush on a straight dude went. It was messy enough without having to add living together to the mix.
I would not have a crush on my new roommate.
I would not!