6. Jake
6
JAKE
“I still can’t fucking believe you’re making me do this.”
Killian rounds on me from where he’s standing in the doorway, smoothing out his shirt.
“Look, Jake, if this is such an imposition for you, then you can just stay home,” he tells me sharply.
I hold my hands up. “Hey, don’t get mad at me, you’re the one who agreed to do this with her…”
“Yeah, so you don’t have to come. I could tell her you’ve got some flu or something. terminal asshole-itis.”
I roll my eyes. “Don’t be such a child.”
“Then stop complaining or just stay here!”
I don’t reply. He knows as well as I do that I’m not going to turn around and cancel something like this out of nowhere—it wouldn’t be fair on Vanessa or Callie, no matter how bad an idea I might happen to think this is. No, if I’ve agreed to something, I’m a man of my word, and I’m going to see through the rest of the night. Even if I don’t have to be nice about it.
“You guys ready?” Mason asks as he emerges down the stairs. “We need to get going now if we’re going to make it by six.”
“Yeah, yeah,” I mutter. “Have you got the scanner…?”
Mason pats his hip. “I’ve got it. We’re not going to miss anything.”
“Then I guess we may as well get going.”
We head out into the cool summer air. I can already smell the heat coming in the next few months, that sense of the grass drying out and the flowers gasping for water under the bright sun. For most people, it’s the best time of year—those long nights and hazy days. But for me, I’m thrown back into the midst of a nightmare, a horror I wish I could forget.
And the same mess that drove me to want to take a scanner with us, even if we’re meant to be just relaxing and having fun.
Not that I’m expecting much of that. From what I’ve seen of Vanessa, she seems pretty damn forward—not afraid to speak her mind or invite herself into our cabin, at least from what Mason said to me. I can’t imagine an evening at her place is going to be a barrel of laughs, even if she can restrain herself from nearly setting the place on fire again…
After a few minutes, we reach the edge of the property, stepping past the gate and heading up to the house. I can’t help but wonder what exactly it is she’s doing up here. After all, she seems to be a single mom, and I haven’t seen her working or anything in the time she’s been here. How can she afford a relatively fancy place like this? Maybe it was gifted to her by the father of her child? I’m not sure. But I’m damn curious, and maybe tonight will give me a chance to put a few of the questions running around my head to rest.
She greets us at the door, wearing this light pink dress that falls just to her ankles, and her feet are bare. Even though I saw her in a towel before this, there’s something oddly intimate about seeing her dressed this way—knowing that she has chosen this especially for tonight.
“Come in, come in!” she calls, waving us inside. “Callie’s just finishing setting the table. She’s been very excited about tonight, I can’t even tell you…”
She giggles as she fills us in on her daughter, leading us through to the dining room. Sure enough, Callie is adjusting a very over-the-top table decoration in the middle of the dining space. A large cluster of twigs cling together, studded by various fresh flowers.
“She made it herself,” Vanessa adds fondly. “I think it’s pretty good.”
“More than pretty good,” Mason replies, crouching down to get a better look at it. “It’s amazing. I love the crocuses in it.”
“The crocuses?” the little girl asks, frowning slightly.
“You see the purple and yellow flowers here?” he replies, pointing them out to her. “They’re crocuses…”
As he talks to her about whatever flower-centric knowledge he has already bored us with, Killian and I make our way to the kitchen.
“Anything I can do to help?” Killian asks, glancing around at the food piled up on what seems to be every counter around us.
“Oh, no, I think I’ve got it,” she replies. “Just need to move this nut roast onto a plate, and…”
As she fusses at the oven, I take in the piles of food around us. She really has gone all out. There are roasted potatoes and parsnips, various sauces that fill smaller bowls, and even a bottle of wine out on the counter, sitting open, ready to be poured.
“You’ve done an amazing job,” Killian remarks, speaking my mind.
“Yeah, and without once setting off the fire alarm,” I interject, unable to hold myself back. She shoots me a look—but smiles.
“Yeah, yeah, I get it,” she replies, rolling her eyes playfully. “Just for that, you have to pour the wine, alright, buddy?”
“I’m on it,” I reply, and I head to take care of my task. With a little help that she finally accepts from us, we take the food through to the dining room, and we fill out the large table as the sun begins to dip low in the sky beyond the windows.
“This looks fantastic,” Mason remarks.
“And all vegetarian,” she says proudly. “Callie and I have been working on it all day, haven’t we?”
Callie nods proudly, reaching to take a bite of one of the roast potatoes at the edge of the large pile. I have to admit, she seems like a sweet girl. The thought of her helping her mom get all this food together and even going as far to make a table decoration is pretty damn charming.
We all tuck in to the food, and to my surprise, the conversation comes easily. Mason mentioned to me that she seemed pretty keen on finding out what we did out here, but the chat seems more focused on less personal things for the time being. We talk movies, books, where we went to school, and how excited Callie is to start school in the coming year. I can already tell she’s bright, and no doubt she’ll thrive in the classroom environment.
“No, but you have to admit, the second one was better,” Mason argues with Vanessa playfully as they debate the merits of some sci-fi movie trilogy I’ve never seen.
“I’m saying that if I hadn’t been paid to review it, I would never have bothered with it,” she shoots back, laughing, as she reaches for her glass of wine. In that moment, I find myself gazing at her. She’s utterly relaxed, able to just detach and have fun and laugh. It’s something that I so often find myself struggling to do, and I have to admit that there’s a part of me that’s jealous of her ability to just lean into it and let loose.
Killian holds his hands up. “I have to intervene,” he protests. “I’m on her side, Mason. I’m not going to let that slide.”
“Oh, so the fact that we’re brothers means nothing all of a sudden?” Mason jokes back, making me chuckle.
Killian shakes his head. “Not if you’re going to be throwing around such ridiculous movie opinions.”
“Oh, yeah, take her side,” Mason replies, waving his hand. “Typical…”
The evening draws on, and I keep my ears pricked for anything coming up on the scanner. The last thing I want is for something to happen just because we’re relaxed and having a good time. I don’t want to get distracted from the real reason we’re out here. Sure, getting to know the new arrivals is one thing, but there’s more important shit for us to be focused on out here…
But, a glass of wine in, I start to relax, noticing every now and then that I’m not even focused on the scanner. There’s something about being here, surrounded by good food and good conversation, that has brightened my mood in a way little else has these past few years. I know I shouldn’t be letting myself get drawn into it, but it’s difficult, when it just feels so damn comfortable.
Every now and then, I catch her shooting a look at me out of the corner of her eye. It’s as though she knows that I’m the one who’s going to be the hardest to impress, after what she pulled last week, and she’s checking that I’m still part of this and still having a good time. And there’s something about the way her eyes linger on me that makes it hard to think straight, in the best way possible.
Eventually, though, my head starts drooping. I’m tired, and I know I need to be up early for first patrol tomorrow.
“We should get going,” I announce when a lull in the conversation hits.
“Yeah, probably,” Mason agrees, rising to his feet. “This was great, Vanessa. Thanks for inviting us.”
“And thanks to Callie for the decoration,” I say. Callie flashes me a delighted grin, clearly pleased that I’ve paid attention to her contributions here.
“And that too,” Mason laughs.
Killian stays seated. “I’m going to hang around and help Vanessa clear up,” he replies, in a tone that could be mistaken for casual if you really don’t know my brother at all. He locks eyes with the two of us, and I know he’s silently telling us to get out of here so he can get this woman to himself. I’m almost tempted to call him out on it, but honestly, it’s way too funny to try and shut down.
And besides, I can’t say that I would miss the chance to be alone with her, if it was offered to me.
Mason and I head for the door, and Vanessa follows us. She’s still barefoot, and my eye trails to the flash of leg I can see beneath her dress. It could just be the wine talking, but I’m curious to know if she’s bare anywhere else too.
“It was so great to see you both tonight,” she tells us, leaning in to give Mason a hug and a quick kiss on the cheek. He loops his arm around her waist for a moment, pressing her close to him, before he pulls back.
“And I hope the second impression I made was a whole lot better than my first!”
She moves in to hug me next, and for a moment, the scent of her drifts around my senses, filling me with a want I can’t control. I pull her in close to me before I can stop myself, both arms around her, inhaling the scent of her, letting myself get completely and utterly lost to it.
And then I remember where the hell I am, and what the fuck I’m doing—who the fuck this is, no less. Has it really been so long since I’ve been close to a woman that it has this kind of effect on me? Damn, I need to get it together…
“It has been,” Mason assures her, and I realize that I’m still standing there, silent, unsure of what to say.
“Uh, yeah, it was,” I blurt out quickly. I feel like if I don’t say something, then it’s going to be blazingly obvious what’s going through my mind right now, and the last thing I need is for her to find out.
“Good,” she replies, and she lifts a hand and waves. “I’ll see you guys soon, huh? And I won’t keep Killian for too long…”
As she heads back inside, Mason lets out a slight snort. “Yeah, I don’t know if she’s going to be getting rid of Killian that quickly.”
“Agreed.”
The two of us hit the path, falling into silence. Though he doesn’t say anything, I can tell where Mason’s head is at. Because it’s the same place mine is at too—thinking about Killian and Vanessa, back at the house. And wishing that we could have been the ones to stay with her instead.
We make it back to the house without saying a word, though everything that has gone through my mind since she hugged me makes up for every sentence unspoken.
I head inside and go straight to my room. I want to be alone tonight. If I can’t be with her, at least.