Chapter 25
Sucker – Jonas Brothers
Gunner
Ihated leaving Cassidy at school. Lunch had been great, even with the shadow of Jenkins Industries looming over us. It had been good to spend time just chatting and enjoying being together.
When I got back to the ranch Nash and Wilder were walking toward the house. When they saw my truck they both waved a hand.
“Hey,” I said as I jumped out. “What’s got you two looking so pissed?”
“This Nate Jenkins thing,” Nash said with a sigh. “I’m puzzled as to why he’d want to sponsor the kids camp while building that fucking monstrosity.”
“Let’s get inside and talk about it,” I told them. “We need to decide what to do about it.”
Wilder looked at his phone. “I have an hour before Rose gets here to wank Gideon Pontipee off.”
“Wilder,” Nash groaned. “She’s coming to extract our bull’s semen to check if he’s still fertile, not to wank him off.”
Wilder shrugged as I chuckled. “Same thing.” He jogged up the steps of the porch and into the house, leaving Nash and I staring after him.
“You think maybe Mom found him in a dumpster somewhere?” Nash asked.
I nodded. “Yep, most definitely. Covered in bean juice and used condoms would be my guess.”
Laughing we both followed him inside, finding him in the kitchen already pouring out three mugs of coffee.
“Felicia is upstairs with Billy,” Wilder said as we walked in. “She took him up for a bath seeing as he’s covered in paint.”
Felicia ran the lavender farm on our land.
It used to be Mom’s before she gifted it to Felicia and her husband, Shane.
On the days Lily was teaching, Felicia looked after Billy, along with her grandson, Sarah’s little boy, who was just a bit older.
She’d done the same for Bertie as a baby.
Thank God for her. She made life easier for all of us.
Hearing squeals of laughter upstairs, I smiled and sat at the table with Nash while Wild brought the mugs over, placing one in front of each of us.
“Okay, what are we going to do?” I asked, feeling deflated but having an idea of what I wanted to happen. “Do we talk to this company, this Nate Jenkins, or just throw his letter in the trash?”
Nash shrugged. “I don’t know. What do you both think?”
“It would help start the camp,” Wilder offered. “We wouldn’t have to get other sponsors involved or do any crowd funding.”
“We’d probably still need other funding, though.” I picked up my mug and took a drink, considering whether to try it with creamer the way Cassidy took it. “If we want to make it non-profit. And, if we don’t, then we’ll need financial help until it starts to make money.”
“You think it should be non-profit?” Nash asked.
Cassidy and I had talked about this, and it was something we were undecided on. Maybe even at odds about. “Depends what our priorities are as a ranch. As a family. Besides he may tell us to fuck off once we tell him how against the development we are. Or do we go with the trash can option?”
“Not necessarily.” Wilder tapped the table. “We talk to this guy face to face and then maybe we can get him to see sense.”
Nash gave a slow head nod. “Maybe. What do you think, Gun?”
“Is a guy like that going to actually listen?” I didn’t want to appear obstructive, but we needed to be sure we covered every scenario.
“Well,” Nash said, fishing his phone from his pocket and tapping on the screen.
“I did a bit more digging and found out he’s quite the philanthropist.” He put his phone on the table and turned it to face Wilder and I.
“He sponsors a kid’s charity in Florida, a school in an African village and runs an apprenticeship program at his firm for under privileged kids who can’t afford to go to college. ”
“Wow, quite the Saint.” Wilder peered down at the screen. “He’s a good-looking bastard, I’ll give him that.”
“Handsome and generous,” I said. “Not unlike myself.”
“Yeah,” Wilder cocked an eyebrow. “Just like yourself.”
“He is both those things it seems,” Nash added. “But he’s also responsible for a few housing developments in rural areas. Building an industrial unit alongside one of them is a new thing for him. He’s never done that before.”
“The housing wouldn’t be so bad if it was sympathetic in style.” Wilder sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose.
“Actually,” Nash picked up his phone and flicked at the screen again.
“His developments are pretty nice. The houses are high end rustic ranch and craftsmen bungalows. All the landscaping is sympathetic with the area, with appropriate planting and water features like ponds. And,” he said pointing at the sale price on the website, “they’re not cheap. ”
“Maybe we should ask the County if we can get some images of this development. They must have some mockups,” I suggested.
“Yeah,” Nash agreed. “I’ll get on to Cal and see what he can organize. In the meantime, what do we do about Mr. Jenkins’ offer?”
“I think we should meet him.” I banged my palms on the table, my mind made up a couple of hours ago to be honest. “Listen to what he’s got to say, but I don’t think we agree to anything without thinking about it further.”
“Absolutely agree.” Nash nodded. “Wilder?”
“Seems like a plan. Do we need to ask Cassidy?” my youngest brother asked. “It was her idea.”
I cleared my throat. “No need. She agrees with me, we talk to him, see what he has to offer and then discuss it further.”
Both my brothers looked at me, their mouths dropping open in unison. Surprise didn’t seem to cover it, because as far as they knew Cassidy and I didn’t converse unless necessary.
“And how would you know that?” Nash asked. “How would Cassidy know about the letter? Did you call her?”
“Of your own volition?” Wilder’s eyes were wide with astonishment.
I shook my head. “Nope. I took the letter when I went to have lunch with her and showed it to her. We talked about it and agreed we should speak to this Jenkins guy and then think about it. I just wanted us to consider all the options before I said anything.”
“You had lunch with her?” Wilder looked at Nash and then back to me. “Without throwing plates at each other?”
“Yep. I had lunch with Cassidy because we are dating. We went out for dinner last night and had lunch today. I know it’s a bit of a turnaround seeing as we hated each other only a short time ago, but it is what it is. Life is too fucking short.” I looked between them both. “Any other questions?”
They both shook their heads, surprising me. I’d expected Wilder at least to ask some sort of stupid bullshit question but he stayed silently shocked.
“Great, now who’s going to contact him to arrange the meeting?”
Sitting in my office later that night, I scrolled through everything that I could find about Jenkins Industries.
The only light was that of my screen and the dying embers of the wood burner.
Everyone had finished up about an hour ago, all the horses were in their stables and Charlie had gone up to her apartment, probably packing the last of her things.
She was leaving in a couple of days, and I still didn’t have a replacement for her, although I had made a mental note to speak to Tally, the girl with the horse, when she came to check on him tomorrow.
As for Charlie, I could have made her stay on, see out the month her contract said.
However, because she’d delayed in telling me about the job she only had two weeks before she needed to start.
Being the nice, kind boss that I was, I'd given her an early leaving date so she could have time to settle into her new apartment and spend some time with her family.
Pushing my problems with an assistant to one side, I continued reading the screen.
It appeared that Nate Jenkins was a self-made millionaire and was still only thirty-four.
Seemingly, he’d made his first million by the age of twenty-seven when he bought an old run down warehouse, three years before, and turned it into apartments.
They were sold for millions because of where they were.
Every single picture there was of him he was dressed in a suit; I hadn’t found one with him in anything casual.
Even those of him doing his grocery shopping he was wearing one.
With all the charity work he did and sponsorship he seemed like an okay sort of guy, but then anyone could throw money around and come across as decent. I guess we’d soon find out seeing as we had a meeting with him in a week’s time.
Sitting back in my chair, I stretched out my arms and groaned as each of my muscles ached. The deep ache you got after a long day at work. I was ready for my bed, but I needed a long soak first. A shower just wouldn’t cut it.
I had turned off my computer when my phone rang. It was almost nine, so I wasn’t sure who’d be calling but when I turned it over and saw it was Cassidy, the ache in my muscles immediately disappeared.
I stared at her name on the screen for a beat longer than I should’ve.
Not long ago, I wouldn’t have answered. Would’ve let it ring out just to prove a point I didn’t even believe in anymore.
But now? Now it was different. Cassidy wasn’t just someone I worked with.
Or argued with. Or tried not to think about every damn night.
She was becoming the person I wanted to tell when things went wrong.
The voice I wanted to hear when the day finally stopped spinning.
She was steady in a way that caught me off guard, not quiet, not soft, but unshakable.
And somewhere along the line, I’d stopped resisting it. Maybe I never really had.
“Hey, sweetheart, you okay?” My smile made my cheeks ache as I got myself comfortable in my chair.
“I’m good. What about you?” I knew from her voice that she was smiling, too, and was surprised how much damn joy that gave me.
“Better now.” I liked how my stomach flipped.
“That’s good.” It was said on a breathy exhale and instantly I wondered whether she was on her bed. Whether she was naked or wearing those cute silky PJ shorts I’d seen her wearing in our kitchen.
“Where are you?” I asked.
“Home, on the sofa under a blanket.”
I sat up straight, concerned. “Do you not have heating, sweetheart?”
“I do, but I like to be cozy. And that’s new, I like it.”
I frowned. “What is?”
“Sweetheart,” she replied softly. “I like it very much.”
“Good.” Swallowing, I rubbed my chest. Mom used to have cute names for each of us.
Nash was honey, Wilder baby and I was sweetheart.
‘You’ll always be my number one sweetheart’ she’d say as she ran a hand down my hair.
“Sweetheart it is. So, what can I do for you? Or did you just want to hear my voice?”
“As lovely as your voice is, I was wondering what the guys and Lily said about Jenkins Industry.”
“We’re all on the same page. Everyone agrees we meet and then discuss his offer further. We’ve set one up for next week. Friday afternoon at four. Think you can make it?”
“Me?” She sounded shocked.
“Yes, you. It’s your camp, too. It was your idea and you’re going to be a big part of it.” My heart stalled. “You are, aren’t you?”
“I-I guess. I suppose I thought maybe I’d help to set it up but hadn’t thought much after that.”
Her hesitation made me feel disappointed in myself. Had I not made it clear to her that she should be involved?
“Cassidy, if this becomes as big as we want it to be we’re going to need as much help as possible.
I know you love teaching but maybe one day you could teach here.
” Blood rushed to my head, and I realized I’d probably jumped the gun.
Who knew what would happen with the camp.
Who knew what would happen between us. Maybe we’d last, maybe we wouldn't, it was far too soon to know. Far too soon to be suggesting she come and work on the ranch with us. We’d only just started dating for pity’s sake.
“Listen, I’m moving too far ahead, I know, but the main thing is you’re a part of this, so yeah, we’d like you to come to the meeting.
” In the spirit of honesty, I continued.
“I like you Cassidy, more than I ever thought possible. Quicker than I thought possible, so I know this could turn to shit quite easily but in the meantime let’s just go with it, work together on this and see what happens. Okay, sweetheart?”
There was no sound except for soft breathing on the other end of the line and I wondered if I’d scared her off.
“Cassidy?”
“I’m here. Thank you, Gunner,” she whispered, softly. “For wanting to involve me, for believing in this and…” she paused and cleared her throat. “For believing in me and I’m glad that we made friends.”
I got a weird sensation in my chest, wondering when hate turned to like and like turned to…fuck I wasn’t going there, not after a handful of kisses, a date and a lunch in a classroom that smelled of ten year old boys.
“I’m glad, too, sweetheart. Now, tell me what are you doing tomorrow night? I need to see you, it's been too long.”
Her laugh tinkled down the line, stealing my breath and putting a huge smile on my face. “I saw you at lunch, Gunner.”
“Like I said,” my voice a deep, needy, growl. “It’s been too long.”