Chapter 18
Trask was sulky, and he knew it.
After that phone call from Jett with the very succinct message for him to fuck himself, he couldn’t get her out of his mind. For the entire day.
Correction.
He hadn’t been able to get her out of his mind since he’d met her.
And why was that?
She was confounding. She was a brat. And she continued to be a thorn in his side.
Normally, one would pull the sharp barb out, dispose of it, and the wound, shallow or deep, would eventually heal.
The problem was, Trask was reluctant to pluck the splinter.
Because…he liked it there, uh, liked her.
He still didn’t want to actually admit that. And what good would it do him now, anyway?
He’d toiled all day on his window displays.
He’d stayed past quitting time, long after when Sheila and the dogs had gone home.
And even though he’d promised he’d put in some hours at the mill, he’d found himself unable to leave the office, hoping Jett might call.
So he’d made excuses to his dad, who’d easily let him off the hook.
It hadn’t helped. Jett hadn’t called.
She was gone, and he was…lost.
If Trask went back to his parents’ house now, he’d only imagine her there; sitting at the kitchen table laughing with his mother. Or splayed out like an elegant banquet on his bed. Maybe sassing him with a humor that wasn’t often directed at him; except for that which he received from his brothers.
How was he going to shake the dervish out of his head, and move on?
“Knock, knock.”
Spencer and Tabitha walked into the semi-darkened office. Buck was nowhere in sight, but that was par for the course. Every day after class, the man couldn’t wait to get home to his new wife, Bobbie.
Trask envied them all their happiness, doubting if he would ever find it for himself.
Once again, Jett popped into his head.
Dammit. If he didn’t find a way to vanquish her, he was going to lose his ever-loving mind.
“We saw the lights on, and figured since you were still here, our new hire would be, too.” Spence looked around and seeing no one but Trask, he raised a brow. “Where is she?”
Shit. Sheila hadn’t had a chance to tell Spence about Jett’s change of heart.
“She, uh, decided to head home to weigh her options,” Trask managed.
“Oh really.” Tabitha’s amused voice sounded from behind Sheila’s desk. “Then her leaving didn’t have anything to do with this note?”
Trask wanted to pound his head against the wall. Why hadn’t he thought to destroy that damned thing?
“What are you talking about, sweetie?” Spence asked, all curiosity now.
She glanced between the brothers, and…
Trask nodded, reluctantly giving her the go-ahead.
He was screwed, one way or another.
Spence would surely find out, eventually.
Tabbi cleared her throat and read.
“I’ll be in touch with Spencer about my plans moving forward. A few things have come up that might have me reconsidering employment there, but I’ll give it a day or two, then call him when I have a clearer head. On another note, you can tell Trask he can go take care of himself.”
The married pair shared one of those looks.
“What the hell does that mean?” Spencer asked, turning to glare at Trask.
“It’s not a direct translation,” Trask grumbled. “Jett actually told Sheila that I could go fuck myself, but our sensitive manager was too polite to write that down.”
“Oh, my God?” Tabitha turned to him, spluttering laughter. “What did you do to Jett?”
“I might have…pissed her off.”
“Ya think?” Spencer returned incredulously. “I got that from what she said. But how did the woman go from being so excited to join us, to high-tailing it out of here before she could meet us?”
“It’s…complicated.”
“So uncomplicate it, big bro,” Spence demanded.
Trask didn’t, as a rule, feel cowed, but right now he wished he could sink into the floor. Once he spilled his guts, Spencer was going to rip him up one side and down the other.
And Trask deserved it.
“We, uh, kind of had a mutual attraction that ended up not working out.”
“You fucked her?” Spence asked in horrified amazement.
“No. No. It wasn’t quite that… Okay. It was pretty intense, but we didn’t go all the way.”
“What is this, fucking middle school? Didn’t go all the way? What the hell does that mean?”
“Uh, Spence, why don’t you tone it down a little,” Tabitha stepped in and laid a hand on her husband’s chest while sneaking peeks at Trask. “He actually looks like he’s had a rough day.”
Spence took a moment to narrow his eyes and assess Trask before he agreed with his wife.
“You mean he doesn’t look like the take-charge, ball-buster that we’ve come to know and love.”
“Maybe not?” Tabitha posed uncertainly.
Spence took a few seconds to cool down, while Trask weighed what he’d say.
He was thankful for his sister-in-law’s level head and intervention.
If Trask was going to get out of this with his familial relationships intact, he was going to have to be honest. But so far, even after pondering it all day, he wasn’t quite sure what that meant.
“Okay, Trask. Explain,” Spence continued, his attitude softening a bit.
Trask ran a hand over his buzz-cut.
“When I first saw Jett, I was…attracted. Not to her personality, which makes me sound damned shallow, but to her physical presence.” He thought back to that moment when the sun had shone down on her at the airport, and even though he didn’t often wax poetic, he felt an ode coming on.
“She’s tall, and slender, but with really well-defined muscles.
Her hair is this halo of blonde curls; a glorious crown that has a life of its own.
Her eyes… They’re stunning; heterochromic.
One is green like emeralds, and the other is azure blue like the clearest of skies.
Her legs go on forever, and her breasts… ”
Trask looked at Tabitha, coughed, and decided not to finish that statement. He already sounded like a prick, touting Jett’s bodily attributes without giving her personality any additional kudos, but he didn’t think that would save him.
“So you were attracted to her,” Tabbi allowed, crossing her arms under her own perky chest with a tightness to her lips that he rarely saw. “But not in a healthy kind of way.”
Trask thought it was extremely healthy, how he’d felt, but he kept that to himself while trying to explain and talk Tabbi down from her ire.
“She… She’s not the type of woman I generally go for,” he admitted. “She’s kind of a mess. She’s ditzy, unorganized, undisciplined. Like if she stuck around, we’d be pulling lint off her all the time, as well as putting out fires behind her that she wasn’t aware she’d set.”
“Yet you were still attracted and still kicked things up a notch,” Spencer put in.
“It was a mistake,” Trask grumped. “She challenged me, and—”
“And you couldn’t stand it, because you always have to be in charge,” Spencer finished for him.
“Dude. Can’t you give it a rest? We, your brothers, aren’t twelve anymore, so we don’t need a keeper.
And you’re no longer in the military, so you’re not really anyone’s superior. You have to learn to lighten up.”
Trask felt himself deflate. “Yeah. I walked right into that one. And you’re correct. The problems started when she basically told me she was going to kiss me, and I told her no, that I’d be the one doing the kissing. Things escalated from there.”
“That doesn’t sound like it was a bad thing,” Tabitha speculated. “Was it?”
“No. It was good,” Trask confessed. “Very, very good. So much so that we did it a few more times.”
“So where’s the problem?” Spence asked, his patience clearly growing thin. “You guys were into each other… Then what?”
“I took her home to Mom and Dad’s. We got her dogs settled.”
“Tinker and Langly, if I remember correctly,” Spencer put in. “I met them the few times I went to see Randal. Good boys.”
“That’s them,” Trask said before continuing. “We had a nice meal. Jett and Mom got along really well.”
“Of course they did. Because Mom’s not an asshole,” Spencer grumbled.
“Just hear me out, okay?” Trask snapped.
“Fine.” Spencer’s jaw tightened, but he managed not to say anything else.
How much did Trask really want to tell this censuring audience? He couldn’t exactly give details of his most private encounter with Jett. Maybe they wouldn’t push if he gave them a vague outline of events.
“After supper, we went upstairs. I showed her the room she’d be using, I pointed out mine, and I told her to use the shared bathroom, first.”
Why had things escalated so quickly from there?
Oh. Right.
“She did her thing, then when she was finished, I went in and did mine, only to find her sitting on my bed when I came out. And she was only wearing this…this…thin t-shirt.”
With her amazing nipples poking through.
“Mmm. A woman who knows what she wants.” Tabitha clearly approved, but Spencer knew where Trask’s head must have gone.
“Which we both appreciate, Tabbi, but if you think Trask did, then you haven’t been paying strict attention to my brother for the last couple of months,” he chastened.
“Remember how he likes to be in total control? I’ll guarantee that Jett being in his room rubbed every nerve in Trask’s body the wrong way.
Or… Maybe not every nerve. I’m guessing some were still working perfectly well. ” The asshole smirked.
Oh, hell no. Spencer had not just glanced at his junk?
“Shut it, baby brother,” Trask growled, then somehow managed to get himself back on track. “You aren’t wrong, though. And that’s where I screwed up. I kind of went for it when I clearly shouldn’t have, and part way through our…encounter, I got spooked. So I stopped.”
“You stopped,” Tabitha repeated, shaking her head.
“Yeah,” Trask answered, trying to gauge her reaction.
“Which was a dick thing to do,” Tabitha speculated, “but I’m thinking it made her doubt herself.”
“I guess,” Trask admitted. “I was pretty confused by it all, myself.”
“Then what?” Spence asked again.
“Then I told her to go back to her room, get some sleep; that we’d meet up in the morning and take care of business here at the office.”
Trask’s gut burned. “But there was no meeting. When I got up, it didn’t take long to realize she’d taken off. Literally. And now… Now I don’t know what to do.”
It pained Trask to admit it, but he was at a loss.
“Well, I know what you should do,” Tabitha spoke up.
“What?” Any help she could give would be welcomed.
“Get off your ass and go the hell after her,” Tabbi decreed.
Fuck.
Anything but that.