Chapter 14
14
COLE
Parked along the street, I stared at Jake and Lanie’s house and smiled. I’d seen everything last night, but seeing what everyone put together on short notice made me happy. I loved that our big family did whatever they could to keep us connected. My dad and uncle Jack did that our entire lives, and now it was time for the rest of us to step up and do it.
Getting out of the truck, I slammed the door and walked to the front porch, but then heard the noise from the back of the house. Changing direction, I moved around to the back of the house and was immediately hit with the sheer number of people a Dimarco function included. Ben and Jake came from a family of eight kids. I was one of four, and now we had to include spouses, significant others, and kids to the mix. The laughter that immediately surrounded me helped to brighten my sour mood. Last night, Paige and I went too far. That wasn’t how I wanted something like that to happen with her. I wanted it to happen, but not in my cousin's garage with all our clothes on.
That was what I should have said to her.
But like every other time, I fucked it up and said the wrong thing. Or at least that was what I thought until she smiled and told me to chalk it up to being drunk. I’d never in my life known someone who threw out so many mixed signals, and instead of just figuring out how to communicate with each other, we just kept doing shit to hurt one another.
“Cole!” Scanning the yard, I saw Ben walking toward me with Charlie. Ben smirked when he got to us and gestured toward me. “Look at you all cleaned up.”
I grinned and shook my head, not surprised by his comment. I’d expected the teasing when I put on dress pants and a collared shirt. It wasn’t something I wore often, but I could definitely clean myself up when needed. “Could say the same about you.”
Charlie rolled her eyes and used her thumb to gesture toward Ben. “He’s only wearing that because I told him he had to.” Ben chuckled, and she narrowed her eyes at me. “Who made you wear that?”
Charlie grew up with my sisters and Ben’s sister Grace, so she knew me well. With my grin now a smile, I shrugged. “Bree.”
Throwing her head back, she laughed. “I’m not surprised. Bree wasn’t going to let you two ruin her party by wearing your work boots.”
I scanned the yard. “Where are Jake and Lanie?”
Charlie frowned. “I’m not sure. I saw them a little bit ago.”
I gestured toward the large heaters surrounding the deck and patio. “Heaters are a nice touch.”
“Yeah, we figured since everyone spent a lot of time outside last night, they might tonight. I had these propane heaters at work and thought it couldn’t hurt,” Ben explained.
“It’s crazy how warm it feels out here.”
“The weather is definitely helping this party.” Charlie gestured toward the house. “It would be really cramped if we tried to all fit inside at the same time.”
“I don’t think we could. They talked about using Luke’s house too, but with the weather like it is, maybe they nixed that idea.” I gestured toward Charlie’s very pregnant belly. “How long do we have until we meet the newest Dimarco?”
“Not long. Only a few weeks.” She lifted her hand and laid it on her belly.
“Got any names picked out yet?” I knew they were expecting a boy, but Ben hadn’t talked about a name. Not with me, at least.
“We do,” Charlie replied. “But we’re keeping them to ourselves for now.”
“I’ll tell you later.”
Charlie faced Ben and lifted her eyebrow. “You're the one who wanted to keep it to ourselves.”
“I only said that to piss off my brothers. We can tell Cole.”
Charlie laughed, and I did the same. Ben and Jake lived to piss off their brothers and never missed an opportunity.
I lifted my hands. “Don’t tell me. I’ll wait with everyone else.”
“You just don’t want them to find out you knew first,” Ben teased.
“I don’t need the wrath of your brothers,” I agreed. “I have enough to worry about.”
“I’d bet money a cute blonde is on that list.” Ben grinned and patted me on the shoulder, aware I wasn’t responding to that comment. “Alright, brother, let’s get you a drink.”
“Yeah, that sounds pretty good.”
I followed Ben to the bar and grabbed a bottle of beer before turning to face the crowd. Christ, a lot of people were here, and all of them were family. We would need a hell of a lot more room if we kept trying to do these things while our families were growing.
“Shit, I need to talk to Luke for a minute.” Ben started to move away but looked over his shoulder. “Try to look like you’re having fun.”
I grinned and lifted the bottle to my lips but paused as I watched Paige walk around the side of the house. Fuck, she was beautiful. My groin tightened when she smiled at Lanie, and for a moment, I was jealous. I wanted that smile directed at me, but I probably lost any chance of that after last night.
My back straightened when Landon also came around the corner, stopped beside Paige, and put his arm around her shoulders. She smiled up at him and pressed against his side, telling everyone at the party that they were more than just friends.
And I saw red.
I was so fucking pissed, and that anger was only at myself. We were in a good place, and then last night, we took it too far and are right back where we started.
“They’re just friends.”
My head snapped to the side, and I saw Bree standing beside me. “Who?”
“Don’t give me that.” She rolled her eyes, which was appropriate. “I know who you’re staring at. It’s who you’re always staring at.”
I gestured toward them with the bottle before taking a long drink. “They’re not just friends.”
“Yes, they are.” She laid her hand on my forearm. “They agreed to be only friends months ago, right after she made out with you.”
“I know. Jake told me a while ago.” I narrowed my eyes. “She told you we made out?”
“I may have pried it out of her,” Bree acknowledged sheepishly.
“Still…” I shook my head, pissed that I was feeling guilty for sharing that information when she said she hadn’t. “She tore into me for telling Ben and Jake.”
“She didn’t want to tell me.” Bree smirked. “I can be convincing. But that part doesn’t matter. What matters is that she and Landon are just friends. That’s all they’ve really ever been.”
“It really doesn’t matter,” I replied, feeling pretty resolute. I hated this song and dance we always seemed to be doing, so maybe last night was a good thing. Maybe it was just a way to work this attraction out of my system so I could move on.
“What the hell happened between you two?” she asked. “Things were better. I saw you talking and laughing together just last night.” I slid my eyes to hers, and hers widened. “You left without saying a word to anyone. Why did you do that?”
I exhaled loudly. “I just needed to go.”
“What did you do, Cole?”
“Just leave it alone, Bree.” When she started to talk, I held up my hand. “I’m asking you to just leave it alone. I don’t need a lecture and don’t want a pep talk. Honestly, I’m ready to get the hell out of here and go home. But I can’t do that yet.”
She smiled sadly. “What can I do?”
“You…” I just started when I heard my name. Bree’s expression told me I wasn’t going to be happy about who was behind me.
Turning, I faced Landon just as he reached past me for two bottles of beer. “Hey, man. How’s it goin’?”
“Good,” I answered.
Bree pointed at the bottles in his hands and laughed. “You catching up since you’re a little late?”
He grinned. “Nah, just grabbing one for Paige, but that’s not a bad idea.”
“You don’t have to work tonight?” I asked.
“Actually, I do.” He gestured behind him. “Just thought I’d stop for a little bit, but I’ll be at Crush the rest of the night. It’s gonna be a shit show there tonight, so it’s all hands on deck, but considering it’s only seven o’clock, I have about an hour until I really need to be there.” He grinned. “I’m trying to talk Paige into coming to Crush with me, but”—he shrugged—“I haven’t had too much luck yet.”
“I’m sure you can change her mind,” I said.
“I’m not so sure,” Bree interjected. “Paige knows what she wants. I bet it’s hard to change her mind.”
Landon nodded, but his stare locked on me. “Think if she has a reason to stay here, she will.” When I didn’t say anything, he held up his bottles. “Gotta get back. Happy New Year.”
“Hmm…” Bree laid her hand on my arm, but I didn’t look at her. I watched Landon walk back across the yard toward Paige while Bree talked. “Seems to me like Landon was trying to tell you something.”
“Maybe,” I agreed.
“Why is it so hard for you to just talk to each other?”
I exhaled and turned my body to face my sister, happy when I saw Harper, Bailey, and Chase heading our way. “I don’t know.”
“You talkin’ about Paige bringing Landon?” Harper asked.
“Paige didn’t bring Landon. Lucy invited him,” Bree corrected her. “Stop instigating shit.”
“Where’s the fun in that?” She laughed and took a drink from her bottle.
Chase gestured around the yard with one hand while his other hand stayed wrapped around Bailey’s. I’d gotten to know Chase pretty well over the holidays, considering he and Bailey finally admitted they were dating and spent all their free time together. I liked him, and more importantly, I liked him for Bailey. “This is a big-ass party.”
“They always are,” I agreed. “How are the house plans?”
Chase grinned and pulled out his phone. He and Bailey had decided to buy a lot from the seventy acres Ben purchased to build homes on. I knew they’d been working on their plans because we talked about it at Christmas, but at that time, they didn’t have much done yet. “We have some pictures of preliminary designs.”
I walked around Bree and Harper who were still arguing, which they usually were, and stood next to Chase while he showed me some drawings on his phone. I only looked up when my dad and mom joined us, happy we were all together.
This was all I needed in my life.
My work and my family.
What I didn’t need was a sexy blonde who fought with me about everything.
No matter how much I wanted that.