Chapter 9
CHAPTER NINE
Iverson
It takes me a full week to catch up on sleep. I missed my brothers the morning after I got home from spending most of the night in the bed of my pickup with Sunny. They were gone fishing all weekend.
Since Saturday night, I’ve dragged ass, and they keep pestering me. But I’ve also been meeting Sunny in the tack room after her rides and going to her office for “meetings.” The meeting usually ends with one or both of us coming.
I need to stop, but I can’t.
Now, it’s Friday, and I’m at Bootleg Tavern with the guys.
I’d rather be with Sunny, but she’s looking at houses with her real estate agent.
She shot me a text with a picture of her and her dad.
She was rolling her eyes, and he was looking out her car window and must not have seen her snap a shot.
Somehow, he found out she was going and tagged along.
“Let me see that figure again,” Haven says, licking the foam of his tap beer off his lip.
I pull the email up on my phone and slide it toward him. Durban waits on the other side. Haven whistles and pushes the phone back.
Durban peers at it. “Damn.” He rubs his eyes. “It’s real, isn’t it?”
“It’s a lot,” I agree.
“Until you split it up.” Durban taps the screen off. “Might have to push one of you off a horse.”
“Haven’s too full of shit,” I say. “He’ll bounce.”
“I do bounce well.” He takes another drink. “So. What are we going to do?”
“Sunny said something last weekend?—”
“You talked to her first?” Haven’s eyes are wide.
I shake my head. “Not about specifics.” I tell them what she said.
Durban frowns. “What does that mean?”
“I dunno,” I say. “I guess it’s up to us to figure it out. Are we going to sell? Or can we come up with another plan? Do we want to come up with another plan?”
Haven pulls out his phone and starts tapping on it. “Speaking of figuring shit out—what about you and?—”
“Not talking about that in public.” I glance around. I already said her name, but not many people know her as Sunny. Everyone I work with refers to her as Miss Hawthorne or Jamison.
“Public.” Durban snorts. “You two ain’t exactly private.”
Alarm trickles into my blood. “What do you mean?”
He shrugs. “It’s probably because we know what you’re up to, but you don’t come to dinner like you used to. A routine that stopped as soon as a pretty little accountant started. Then there’re the extra meetings.”
“We’re coming up with a plan to get us that baler.” They both shoot me, yeah, right looks. “Is it that obvious?”
“I don’t know,” Durban says. “Once someone sees it, they won’t be able to unsee it. Then what?”
“I don’t know.” I grind my molars together. I like being with Sunny. I look forward to seeing her. Holding her. Talking with her. “I like her.”
“You’re gone, man,” Haven says. “Gone for her, but if William finds out, you’re gone .”
“We’ll be right there with you.” Durban sucks his lips against his teeth. “You both are putting all our jobs at risk.”
“It’s not her, okay?” I snap and look around. No one pays us attention, but Silas is a gossip. I have to keep my voice down. “I can’t keep my hands off her.”
“Right, and she’s avoiding you to make sure nothing happens.” Durban shakes his head.
“It’s my fault. I’ve gotta cut it off.” Pain flares in my chest, and I rub my sternum.
Haven groans. “He’s got it bad.” He leans over me to speak to Durban. “So what do we do?”
Durban flags Silas for another beer. The bartender nods from the other end of the bar.
I’m the only one drinking whiskey. Foster House. Will it be liquid inspiration?
“Between the three of us,” Durban says, “we’ve got almost ten brain cells. Let’s figure it out. You want to keep seeing Sunny, but William won’t think you have a golden dick and wave his rules for you.”
Haven nods. “He’s got other daughters. He’s going to make an example of Ivy here to hold the standard for when all his little girls come home.”
Haven’s right. I’m not going to get special treatment. I never have. “You guys aren’t making me feel better.”
“We can find other jobs,” Haven offers.
Not in Huckleberry Springs. “I’m going where you guys go.”
“You’re really going to choose us over some grade A —” At my glare, Durban’s grin is rueful. “Gotcha. You like her more than you’re letting on.”
I scowl at my glass. I’ve barely had two sips from it. The stress of talking to my brothers and the fear that they’d want me to hold the course knotted up my gut. “She’s young.”
“She’s young er .” Haven downs the rest of his beer. “Shit. What are we going to do?”
“I don’t know, but I have to decide.” A dark cloud settles over my head. “I can’t risk all of us being out of a job.”
“That gives ol’ Bill a lot of power over the three of us.” Haven keeps his fingers wrapped around the handle of his empty mug, a thousand-yard stare on his face. “Can’t say that sits right with me.”
I agree, but I’m also not a dad. I don’t have three girls to look out for and a thriving business that keeps a small town alive.
A knot forms in my chest. I might never be a dad. “She’s his daughter.”
Silas drops off Haven’s beer. We all nod, pretending like we weren’t talking about the juiciest gossip in Huckleberry Springs for who knew how long.
Silas gestures to my glass. “Got a new bottle of that.”
“I’m going to drink enough to finish off the bottle you’ve got.” After this discussion, I have the urge to get shit-faced, but I’m old enough to know that’s exactly when I shouldn’t.
Silas waves a hand. “Nah, not that. It’s the stuff I heard you talking to that city guy about.” He turns and grabs a bottle with a familiar yellow label, only this one is lined with red. “Cinnamon. How’d you think they do that?”
“They infuse it with Ceylon,” I rattle off, and everyone stares at me. I shrug. “What? It’s what Foster said.”
“Ceylon?” Haven asks, his interest perked. “What’s that?”
“Not chemical flavoring is all I know,” I answer.
Haven takes the bottle from Silas and studies it. “It’s a darker brown. Almost cloudy.” He hands it back. “I’ll try a glass. Neat.”
Silas is like our own personal performer as we watch him open the top and pour a finger into a tumbler.
Haven takes a sip and appreciation enters his eyes. “Gotta hand it to Foster. He knows what he’s doing. I don’t think I can ever drink the other stuff again.” He passes the glass to me and Durban.
I taste-test it, letting the flavors roll over my tongue. The cinnamon is strong but pleasing, balancing well with the vanilla and oak notes. “Like candy,” I say.
Durban nods. “Damn good stuff. Good choice, Silas.”
Pleased, Silas limps away.
“Even if it makes Foster even richer,” Durban adds when he’s gone, then focuses on me. “Back to you, if you two get busted, what’s she going to do? Let you get fired while she keeps her cozy office job?”
I don’t know. “She chafes under his control.”
“So do we. Yet we’re good little boys,” Durban says almost bitterly. “Seems like we’re all stuck.”
“Yeah. We are.” I need the rest of that bottle Silas had taken with him if I’m going to go down this road. Maybe I should get shit-faced.
I let the last few weeks play through my head. My brothers are frustrated, but truth be told, we were getting restless before Sunny breezed into my life.
I study the squat glass of amber liquid in front of me. Then I look at the glass we’ve all taken a drink from and gushed over. Alcohol’s never the answer, but whiskey just might be. It turned Myles Foster’s life around.
“Hey, Iverson.” The purr comes from my left. Kaley’s on the other side of Haven. My occasional hookup. “Been a while. How’ve you been?”
“Busy,” I answer neutrally.
“Don’t look busy tonight.” She rests her hand on her chin and stares straight at me like she doesn’t see my brothers.
I only shrug. I’ve been doing enough of what I shouldn’t be doing.
She tips her head, and her long blonde hair slips off her shoulder. “Why don’t you come over later?”
The attorney and her must not have worked out. Both Haven and Durban tuck their chins down like they want no part of my answer.
Time to get the rumor mill going. “I’m hanging with my brothers tonight. Talk to you later?”
Her lips curve. “Yeah, we will,” she says as she walks off.
That’s not how I meant it.
“Are you going over there?” Haven whispers.
“You can have a real date,” Durban says, but he doesn’t sound happy about it.
“Kaley and I don’t date.”
“What a coincidence. Neither do you and Sunny.” Durban’s jab hits dead center of my chest.
“Jesus, Durban.” I do a lot more with Sunny than I’ve ever done with Kaley or with any other woman.
“No, I’m not going with Kaley.” I scrub my face.
When do I admit I’m lost for Sunny? When do I admit that I want more with her, but I have to be brave enough to drag my brothers along with whatever I decide?
“I don’t like seeing you with your balls in a vise.” Durban’s expression is serious. “It’s fine if it’s balanced, but I don’t know her. I’m worried for you.”
Haven grunts. “Especially when our balls are in that vice with you.”
I’ve always looked out for them. I’m the one who leads. It’s always been that way, and they trust me. I hate feeling like I have to choose between my brothers and the woman I’m crazy about. They’re not asking me to, but it’s my job to make sure they don’t have to.