Chapter 9
9
COLE
Shoving my hands in my jean’s pockets, I made my way into Hank’s. Now this was a bar I liked. For the most part, it was quiet. It was rowdy every once in a while, but that usually only happened on the weekends when the owner scheduled bands. Considering it was Friday night, I was lucky this wasn’t one of those weekends.
I didn’t have a reason not to meet Jake when he texted. Over the past few years, I hadn’t made much time to go out with my cousins, but lately, I’d been trying to meet up with them more often. We’d gone our separate ways while we were busy getting our businesses running the way we wanted them to run and forgot to have a social life. But over the past year, we’d been making more time, and I was glad to have them back in my life. Growing up with three sisters, I needed my cousins, especially considering two of my sisters weren’t interested in playing in the dirt with me or tinkering with cars. Bailey was interested in those things, but every so often, I just wanted to hang out with the guys—to do guy things and not have to watch what I said. Bailey wouldn’t care what I said around her, but my dad would, and pissing him off wasn’t an option.
I spotted Jake and Ben already at a table and made my way over. They had a pitcher of beer and an empty glass waiting for me.
Jake saw me first and called out, “You actually came.”
Pulling out a stool, I slid onto it and grinned. “I said I was coming.”
“Thought you might cancel.”
I grabbed the pitcher and poured some beer into my glass. “Why?”
“Just know you’re working round the clock.”
I lifted the glass and took a long drink before answering. “I am, which is why I needed a break.”
“When are you hiring?” Ben asked.
“Have some interviews lined up for Monday,” I admitted. “Can’t keep up with this schedule anymore.”
“What’s your plan?” Ben asked.
I knew what he was asking without him specifying. We run our businesses similarly. We like structure, and we like everyone to know their job. I don’t want to stop every five minutes to explain to someone what to do next, and Ben runs his construction business the same.
“Billy’s gonna stay on inspections, routine maintenance, shit like that. We have a bunch of customers who come in for oil changes, tire rotations, and general tune-ups, and he’s good at that. I’m hoping to hire someone with a little more repair experience, especially on foreign vehicles, to give me a hand with the bigger stuff.”
“Makes sense.” Ben lifted his glass to his mouth. “Anyone lined up for Monday have that experience?”
“Yeah, two out of three.”
“Why interview the third, then?”
“Friend of a friend sort of thing,” I replied. “Plus, you never know, right? Hell, McAllister took me on, and I didn’t know a fucking thing.”
Jake laughed. “You remember that old Ford truck your dad bought you?”
I snorted. “How could I forget? I’d run it one night and the next day have to fix something.”
“It was a hell of a make-out truck, though.” Jake whistled and sat back. “That bench seat made shit a lot easier.”
I shook my head. “I knew I shouldn’t have let you borrow my truck.”
“Hey.” He looked insulted. “I cleaned it up before I gave it back.”
“You know, the next day when I was working on it, Bailey was helping and found a red bra under the front seat.”
Ben and Jake laughed. “You never told us that.”
“Jesus.” I smiled, remembering that day. “She came out of the cab of the truck holding the damn thing up just as Mom pulled into the driveway.”
Jake snorted he was laughing so hard. “What the fuck did she do?”
“She grabbed the bra from Bay’s hand, shoved me into the house, and sat me down with my dad.”
“Oh shit.” Ben’s eyes widened. “What did he say?”
“He didn’t care that there was a bra in there. He cared that one of the girls found it. I got lectured about that more than what the hell it looked like I was doing.”
“Did you ever tell him it was me?” Jake asked.
I lifted an eyebrow. “Did your dad ever kick your ass for it?”
He didn’t, and Jake’s smirk told me he appreciated that I hadn’t ratted him out, but my eyes flicked to Ben when he spoke. “Why the hell don’t I remember you borrowing that truck?”
“You had a date that night, remember?”
Ben nodded slowly. “That’s when we were still sharing a truck.”
“Yep,” Jake agreed. “So when Sharon Litle said yes, I had no other choice except to bribe Cole to let me borrow his.”
Ben glanced between us before landing on me. “What did you get for letting him borrow it?”
“Fifty bucks.”
Ben’s eyebrows shot up, and we all laughed. “That was a fuck of a lot to borrow the truck for one night.”
“I had to bring it back with a full tank too.” Jake laughed.
“Why the hell would you pay that?” Ben asked.
Jake folded his arms over his chest. “I knew I was going to be really happy after that date, so I would’ve given him whatever the hell he wanted.”
Laughing, I sat back. This was exactly what I needed. A night when I wasn’t thinking about work or a blonde who I couldn’t seem to get out of my head.
“Speaking of women,” Jake spoke up, “you got anything going on?”
“Not a damn thing.”
Ben smirked. “That’s not exactly true, brother.”
Ben knew a little about the situation between Paige and me because I shared with him after the way I acted in his office, but I’d purposely kept Jake out of it because of Lanie.
Jake sat forward. “This has to be about Paige. What the hell’s going on between you two?”
I stared at Ben and raised an eyebrow, but he held up his hands. “I didn’t tell him.”
“No one had to tell me anything,” Jake replied. “I’ve been around you two. It’s pretty fucking obvious.”
Sighing, I looked between them. I shouldn’t share what happened with Paige, but it bothered me. “Some shit went down a while ago, that’s all. Now it's even worse between us than it was.”
“What happened?”
I ran my hands over my face before I met their eyes. The teasing was gone, and all I saw was concern, which I appreciated. “I did something stupid.”
Ben gestured for me to continue. “Gonna need more.”
“She was out with Harper a couple of weekends ago and called me. Said Harper wanted me to pick her up. I went. They were waiting outside. I talked to Paige for a minute and then carried Harper to my truck.”
Jake smirked. “How many times have you carried Harper out of a bar?”
“Too many.”
“What about Paige?” Ben asked.
“She said she had a ride, but I didn’t want her standing outside alone. I got Harper settled and went back to talk to Paige.”
“That when shit went south?”
I rubbed my hand along the back of my neck, my groin tightening at just the memory of what happened next. “She got close, we both said some shit, and by the end, I had her up against the fucking wall.”
Ben and Jake’s eyes widened, but it was Ben who spoke. “Feel like that’s not the end of the story.”
“I had no idea she was seeing someone,” I admitted, “until he walked out of the bar.”
Ben’s eyebrows drew together. “Who?”
“Landon,” I said with a clenched jaw. That still pissed me off, and I was smart enough to recognize it as jealousy.
Ben dropped his head. “Son of a bitch. I forgot he works security for Elite. Crush is his assignment.”
“Did he catch you two?” Jake asked.
“No.” I shook my head. “We’d already stopped. But it pissed me off because she was ready to come home with me, and she has a fucking boyfriend. He got called back inside, and I confronted her.”
“What did she say?”
“She said they're casual, and both see other people, but that shit pissed me off.”
“What’d you do?”
I dropped my head, embarrassed at what I was about to admit, but when I looked at my cousins, I saw understanding. “Told her I don’t like seconds.”
I could tell by the change in their expressions that it was as bad as I thought. There was no excuse for what I said.
Jake spoke up first. “I get why you were pissed, but brother...”
“I know, I know. You don’t need to say it. I told you I fucked up. I shouldn’t have said it.”
“Did you mean it?”
“No. She just gets under my skin in a way no one else has, and I don’t know how to handle it. We just end up fighting. I say stupid shit. She ignores me and treats me like something she’d like to scrape off her hundred-dollar heels. That’s our relationship.”
Jake shook his head, his eyebrows raised. “Man, she’s just not like that when I’m around her.”
“I must bring out the worst in her.” I snorted. “She definitely brings out the worst in me.”
“That’s not it.” Ben smirked and grabbed his glass. “You want her. You should’ve taken her home and worked that shit out of your system.”
Jake nodded. “He’s not wrong, man. If they’re casual, see this through. Obviously, she was willing.”
“That’s shitty advice,” I grumbled.
They both laughed, but then Jake’s expression grew serious. “You need to apologize. Lanie will worry if she finds out you hurt Paige, which will affect my relationship. That’ll piss me off, and I’ll have to beat your ass.”
I snorted. “You can try.”
Jake looked annoyed. “Just apologize.”
“That’s easier said than done. We can’t seem to be in the same room without arguing. She's so fucking stubborn...” I trailed off when they both laughed again. “What?”
“So are you,” Ben pointed out. “Look, I saw your face when she stopped by the office. You two need to figure this out because it’s affecting both of you. Try reasoning with her. You do it with customers all the time.”
“This is different.”
“Why?”
“Because I don’t picture them up against the wall with their leg wrapped around me. I can’t talk to her without remembering that night. I can’t even think about her without remembering that. It’s burned into my fucking mind.”
"Man, you got it bad.” He shook his head. “I heard she was with the girls last weekend when you picked them up from jail.”
“She was,” I acknowledged.
“How’d it go?” Jake asked.
“Well, she told me she hated me but let me take her home, so who the fuck knows.”
“Jesus.” Jake ran his hand through his hair. “You two are worse than I thought.”
“I hardly know her.” I took a drink from my glass. “How the hell did it turn into this?”
“I barely knew Lanie, but she was so far under my skin that I started watching for her to come home just for a reason to run over and talk to her.”
I grunted. “That’s pathetic.”
He lifted his glass. “Got her, didn’t I?”
He did get her, and they were happy together. I didn't even know if I wanted something that serious. All I knew was I couldn’t stop thinking about her, and that had to mean something.