Chapter 24
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
NASH
I slid onto a barstool at The Willow Tree, pretending like my pride or my ego—or both—weren’t just a bit wounded.
Why the hell had I thought it’d be a good idea to ask Rory out in the first place? I didn’t do local, and I sure as hell didn’t do girlfriends, so where did I get off asking her out on a date like it was no big deal? We were sleeping together, and that was it. It was good for her, it was fucking fantastic for me, and I needed to let that be enough.
“Hey man, what’s up?” Drew flicked a coaster my way. “You here for beer or some grub too? Burgers are two for one tonight.”
“I’ll take a beer.” Or possibly four. “And, yeah, gimme two of the usual burgers.”
“You got it. Let me put this in, and I’ll be right back.” Drew knocked twice on the bar top before sauntering over to the computer system and plugging in my order.
The bar was still full for a weekday, even well past supper time. I loved coming in here. There was nothing better than seeing the culmination of my hard work. Mine and Rory’s. As I glanced around, there was no denying how well we meshed. My builds and her designs went together flawlessly, and I was damn proud of what we’d been able to accomplish.
“Haven’t seen you in here much lately. You been goin’ to Ropers?” Drew placed a beer in front of me and leaned one elbow on the bar top.
Nope. What I’d been doing was spending most of my time off in the company of a woman I couldn’t get out of my mind.
“Nah, just busy with work. Tryin’ to get this partnership off and runnin’. Gain a little traction with it.”
“The stuff with Rory? That’s been the talk of the town. Heard a couple people say you’re booked out a few months? That’s great, man.”
“Yeah, we’re pretty excited about it. Rory and I are just finishin’ up a?—”
“You’re aimin’ pretty high there, Little Nash, aren’t ya?”
I turned to the right to see Grant Hill—a guy who’d been a few years older than me in school—sitting a couple stools over. “Aimin’ high for what?”
Grant shrugged. “Landin’ a Haven girl. We both know that ‘working’ relationship is nothing but a farce.” He snorted and took a long pull of his beer.
“Grant…” Drew said, a warning clear in his tone. “I haven’t had to kick you out all week, but that doesn’t mean I won’t start tonight.”
I was sure as hell glad Drew had said something, because I was too stunned to do anything but stare. I’d figured people were talking—it was Havenbrook, after all—but I hadn’t yet been confronted with it. And I sure as hell hoped Rory hadn’t, especially after her reaction tonight.
Grant held up his mug in a salute to me. “Just wanted to give you props is all. But I gotta tell you… If I was gonna fuck one of ’em, it sure as hell wouldn’t be the ice queen.”
I wasn’t too stunned anymore. I slid off my stool and stepped right into Grant’s space. “You better watch yourself, Hill.”
Grant held up his hands and leaned back, laughter on his lips. Too drunk or too stupid—or both—to realize he was about five seconds away from getting up close and personal with my fist. The guy was a buck twenty soaking wet, which meant I had him beat by a good eighty pounds.
“All right, all right,” Grant said. “No disrespect intended. I didn’t know it was like that between y’all.”
“It’s not like anything, asshole. She’s my business partner and a decent human being, and you’re a piece of trash. How’d you like for me to talk about your sister like that? Get the fuck outta here.”
“You heard the man,” Drew said, pulling Grant’s mug out of his hand and dumping out the remainder of the beer. He jerked his head toward the front door. “Time to leave. And I better not catch your ass drivin’ home again. You know I’ve got Darcy on speed dial.”
“Aw, c’mon, don’t call my sister. I’m goin’, I’m goin’.” The drunk asshole threw some cash on the counter before he ambled off, stumbling into chairs as he went.
I could only shake my head, my hands curling into fists at the overwhelming urge I had to punch something. Or someone.
“I hate that fucking guy,” I said as I slid back onto my stool.
Drew nodded. “He’s pretty much the worst.” He gathered the wad of bills Grant had left behind and held it up between us. “But he tips great, so we let him keep comin’ back.”
“Who’re y’all talkin’ about?” Nola asked as she stepped behind the bar, carrying a plate full of food. “Grant?”
“Yep,” Drew said. “Was runnin’ his mouth tonight about Nash and Rory.”
Nola’s brows lifted, and she shot Drew a look out of the corner of her eye before meeting my gaze. “He talks outta his ass more than his mouth, that’s for sure. But…you know he’s not the only one talkin’, right?”
“About Rory?” I asked, my muscles bunched again.
“About you and Rory. And what kind of ‘working’ relationship y’all have.”
I blew out a long breath and scrubbed a hand over my face. “Yeah, I sort of figured that was comin’ since this is Havenbrook. You can’t shit in the woods without someone talkin’ about it.”
Drew snorted. “Pretty much. Just ignore ’em, man. Y’all know what’s goin’ on between you, and that’s all that matters.”
Yep, I knew exactly what was going on between us, and that was the problem. The truth wasn’t something either of us could afford to let get out. If that happened, I would be grouped right back in with my father after working my whole life to set myself apart and struggling to gain the trust of the families my old man had screwed over. Literally.
“These huge-ass burgers with the works should help to get your mind off that jackass.” Nola set my plate down in front of me. After she slapped some silverware on the bar top, she eyed me up and down. “Where do you put all that anyway? You’re nearly as bad as this one.” She hooked her thumb toward Drew. “All muscle and no meat on those bones.”
Drew crossed his arms over his chest and rolled his eyes. “If I said something like that to you, you’d have my balls in a sling.”
She shrugged, not bothering to deny it as she strolled back toward the kitchen. “Yeah, well, I’m prettier than you, so I can get away with more.”
I laughed under my breath and shook my head. No way was I getting in the middle of those two. They’d been like that back in school too, but their bond had only seemed to grow the older they’d gotten. I couldn’t count how many times I’d heard people speculating about them being a couple, but I recognized the same kind of easy affection between them that I had with Nat. And she was as close to a sister as I had.
“Remind me why I thought it was a good idea to start a business with her?” Drew rested his elbows on the bar top and leaned toward me.
I raised an eyebrow. “Wishin’ you hadn’t? Better hope she didn’t hear that.”
He held up his hands and laughed. “I didn’t mean it, I swear,” he said loud enough to be heard over the din of the bar.
Drew waved to someone over my shoulder, and I turned around to look. Will, Mac, and Rory stood by the front door, all three of them laughing. For the life of me, I couldn’t drag my gaze away from Rory, despite now knowing we had a spotlight on us.
She’d changed since Miss Sally’s house and now wore a sundress with some kind of strappy heels on her feet, her hair pulled back in a twist. Pristine Rory once again, but I held an odd satisfaction that I knew the real her beneath all that shine. I knew she preferred T-shirts and stretchy pants to just about anything else. That leaving her hair up for too long gave her headaches because it was so thick. That she could swear like a sailor, but she only did it when she was talking to herself or cussing me out—and never in front of her girls.
“Look, man, I’m not sure what’s goin’ on there, and this is probably none of my damn business?—”
I twisted around at Drew’s words. “Nothing and you’re right.”
“—but I’d be a shitty friend if I didn’t remind you to think with the head on your shoulders and not the one in your pants.”
“What the hell’s that supposed to mean?” My hackles were up, preparing once again for a fight.
Drew raised an eyebrow, no doubt at my tone, but he didn’t call me on it. “People are already talkin’. You’ve got a brand-new partnership to think about, and last I heard—from you, by the way—a business you needed to buy and quick. Even if I were somehow attracted to Nola and didn’t think of her as that annoying as fuck sister I love but never wanted, I still wouldn’t act on it. I couldn’t . Too much at stake. You see what I’m sayin’?”
Yeah, I saw. And I didn’t have to be told again because I’d been repeating the same damn thing to myself over and over from the get-go.
But when I glanced back over my shoulder and found Rory staring at me, my muscles tightened. Her lips curved up into the smallest smile, just for me, and I was a goner.
There was no amount of warnings in the world that would keep me away, damn the consequences.