7. JT
Chapter seven
JT
“Thanks for the directions, Mary. I’m in front of the house now. Do you know who this other car might be?” I ask the helpful concierge, Mary, from Wild Bluffs Country Club. It’s nine thirty at night, and this poor woman had to guide my dumb ass to a place I’ve been multiple times before. Which, for the record, is why I wasn’t using my phone for directions. Unfortunately, when I realized I was lost—I’m blaming it on the lack of moonlight tonight—my phone didn’t have enough service to pull up directions. Turns out that one little bar may not work for the internet, but it will still make phone calls.
“I’m not certain, Mr. Johnson. The Harper sisters have dropped by a few times to help out with the dog, but I really can’t say. It most certainly shouldn’t be any staff. We are one of the safest places in the world. There has never been any criminal activity out here since we opened almost twenty years ago. That said, I would be happy to call the bartender on duty and see if he can have someone come out to make sure you’re safe.” My attention is drawn to the car as a small figure darts from it to the house.
“Oh, no. No need to burden anyone, Mary. You’ve already done enough. I’m sure it’s one of Bryn’s sisters.”
I thank Mary again before hanging up and grabbing my small suitcase and duffle bag out of the backseat. I make my way to the front door, stopping to grab the key under the gray rock to the left of the front door. Just where Jameson told me it would be.
I unlock the door and push my way into the house. A woman’s scream greets me the second I walk inside, a figure rushing at me before tripping on a lone dog toy in the middle of the entryway. I, like the hero I am, drop my bags and throw my arms out, moving at supersonic speed to catch her shoulders just before she slams into the ground.
“Holy shit,” I say, my heart pounding from the adrenaline. I pull the woman up to stand, and I’m so distracted by her tan legs sticking out of her athletic shorts that I don’t realize whose shoulders my hands are on.
“What the fuck are you doing here, JT?”
I force my eyes to find her face, and all my worst fears are brought to life—it’s Lila Walker. “What am I doing here?” I ask. “What are you doing here, Pipsqueak?” Her eyes narrow at the nickname, and I get a zing of enjoyment from the easy hit. She hates it when I make fun of her height, so I do it whenever possible.
“I asked you first,” she says, moving a step away from me. My eyes are drawn back to her legs, and I mentally slap myself and refocus on her face. She seems uninterested in talking, and every cell in my body begs me to break the silence, to smooth this over, but I resist that urge. Not with Lila. Never with Lila. So, instead, I spread my legs and fold my arms across my chest. I complete the I-can-stay-here-all-day look with a slight smirk, the one I know annoys her to no end.
She glares back at me a moment longer before breaking. “Ugh! You are such a child. I’m here watching Bryn’s dog while she and Jameson travel the next six weeks.” She mirrors my stance as my mind runs with this new information. Lila is staying at Jameson’s house for the next six weeks? Why wouldn’t Jameson have told me? You tell someone if they’re going to have a roommate while staying at your house. That’s just common courtesy. And Jameson knows Lila and I can’t stand each other. He wouldn’t let us stay here together. We might burn his house down.
“Well?” Lila asks after a long pause.
“Well, what?”
“Why are you here?” She asks the question really slowly, like I’m not able to keep up with her intellectually. Though, at this exact moment, maybe I’m not. I feel like I’m struggling to catch up.
I’m not sure what I’m going to do about this whole situation, but I know I can’t let Lila see how frazzled I am. “I’m staying here too,” I say, shrugging and turning to pick up my bags from where I dropped them by the door in my hustle to save Lila. Though, if I had known it was Lila at the time, I would’ve let her fight it out with gravity herself. Okay, I would’ve still tried to help, but I would’ve had a snarky comment ready to go once she was safely upright.
“Tonight?” Lila asks, and I turn back to face her.
“Yeah, tonight. And for the next few weeks.”
“No.”
“Didn’t Jameo tell you?”
“Of course he didn’t. You aren’t staying here. You’re just trying to annoy me.”
I raise my right eyebrow. “Why else would I be here?”
She doesn’t answer, clearly unable to come up with a logical reason why I would be in a house, alone, with her in the middle of nowhere. Honestly, I’m having a hard time remembering why I’m here too. However, one thing is certain: if Lila is staying here, there is no chance I will be. I’ll find a place to stay in town or, hell, in another state. Wild Bluffs doesn’t have magic golf properties. I’ll just find Conrad Ferguson or one of his brothers somewhere else. New York, maybe. The biggest city in the country is more my style anyway.
“But not to worry,” I say. “I’m here now, so I can take care of the dog.” I look around, realizing I haven’t seen or heard a dog since getting here. “Where is Jack, anyway?” I met Bryn’s dog last time I came to visit, and while he didn’t give off wagging-tail, be-my-best-friend-forever vibes, he seemed like the type of dog to come say hello when someone walks through the door.
“Why do you remember his name?” Lila asks, as if my question wasn’t important enough to answer.
“I made a joke about how Bryn’s taste in men was remarkably similar to that of her taste in alcohol…named after whiskeys.”
Lila snorts a laugh but then quickly catches herself.
“Also, he’s important to Bryn, who is important to Jameo, who is my best friend, so of course I would remember his name.” I cross my arms again, wondering if we’re going to stand in the dead space between the front door and the kitchen all night. “But you didn’t answer my question. Where is he?”
“The Harpers’.”
“The parents or Kelsey’s? What are the parents’ names again? I know they rhyme…”
Lila stares at me, her mouth in a straight line, like she is trying to figure out my angle. Unfortunately for her, I don’t have one. I just like to make sure I know the people who are important to my people. Plus, I’m sure I’ll see Bryn’s sisters around town, and after spending some time with them when we were all in Phoenix with Bryn and Jameo, I feel like I should make sure to say hi and ask about the things they mentioned last time I saw them.
“Jen and Ken. And yeah, Jack is with them.”
“Okay, well, I can figure out where their house is in the morning. I’m sure there are no less than twenty people in town who would be willing to tell me where the Harpers live. So no need for you to stay here.”
Lila glances at the door like she might just make a mad dash out of it right now. “I, um…” She coughs before starting again. “I actually don’t have…”
My hand unconsciously moves forward at the sound of her anxiety. Do not comfort her! I warn myself as I pull my hand back to my side in a fist. Remember what happened last time you tried to help her? She cursed you with her demon magic, convincing you that you were in ecstasy, ruining you for all mortal women, and then flying away on her broomstick. Demons do not apply to the normal rules of polite society. Okay, I’ve got to stop reading paranormal romances. Those are clearly too much for me right now.
So I do what I’ve done with Lila for the past eight years. I don’t pull my punches—metaphorically, of course. “What? Nowhere else to go? Aren’t you supposed to be living here now? Or are you just mooching off your brother until you can find a local to sweep you off your feet and into his house?” Honestly, I’m not even sure where that last part came from, but I’m on a roll now, so I might as well go with it. “I really thought you were smarter than that.”
Her hands are on her hips, her little chin tipped up defiantly. “Oh, JT. I’m so much more intelligent than you that you can’t even comprehend the difference. And no. I have a house in town. But I sure as shit won’t be leaving here just because you showed up and decided to act like you own the place. I was here first. And I’ll be staying.”
OH. She wants to throw down now? Mmmkay. Well, two can play that game. “Well, I’m not leaving either,” I say, making my way into the living room and flopping down on the couch, manspreading in a way my mother has criticized me for numerous times in the past. “I think I like it here.”
She stalks out to stand in front of me, her hips swaying as if she really is made from smoke and wisps of brimstone. “What’s wrong, JT? Are you out here trying to find a local girl for yourself like Jameo did? Maybe another one of the Harper sisters so you can move out here, buy the house next door, and live a perfect little life with your bestie?”
“And if I am?” I ask, knowing it will piss her off more.
She stares at me, and I can see the moment she calls my bluff. “Then let me help. I’ll even put a good word for you…with Kelsey.” And damn if I don’t feel a shiver go down my spine. Kelsey is beautiful, smart, and really fucking scary if I’m being honest. She has never once been anything but fun and kind to me, but I have no doubt that if I tried to date her, she would eat me alive. Apparently, Lila feels the same way about my chances with Kelsey.
“Anyway, JT. You’re a professional golfer. Go get a room in the hotel. Rent another one of the houses. Do anything but be in my space. See you never.”
She offers a little wave of her fingers over her shoulder that she smoothly transitions into just the middle finger. Riiight. I guess she’s staying in that room. This house is set up for a foursome of golfers to stay in for a week or so, with each room having its own bathroom. They are located on the four corners of the house, with the kitchen, dining area, and living space in the center. I peek into the two rooms on the other side of the house from Lila, but one is clearly Jameson’s, and the other appears to have a bunch of Bryn’s stuff stored in it. I grab my bags and throw them into the closet of the final room. The one that shares a wall with Lila, though luckily the bathrooms act as a barrier between the two rooms themselves.
Not wanting Lila to overhear the phone call I’m about to make, I slip out the back door onto the patio and drop into one of the Adirondack chairs surrounding a stone firepit.
“Jameson,” I say when he answers my call right before it goes to voicemail.
“What’s up, JT? I’m kinda busy over here.” As he is with Bryn and it’s even later where they are, I can only imagine what kind of busy he is, but I don’t care. He knowingly sent me into my own personal hell without even the slightest heads-up.
“Um, did you know Lila is staying at your house?” I ask, trying to stay upbeat about the whole thing. Jameson is a moody guy sometimes, and I’ve always been the golden retriever to his black cat. You can’t have two black cats in a friendship.
“Yeah. She’s watching Bryn’s dog while her place in town gets repaired.”
I wait for more, but apparently, that’s all he’s going to say about it.
“You weren’t going to tell me that your sister, the girl I fight with more than anyone in the world, was going to be my roommate for two months?”
He laughs and says something low to Bryn, who also laughs.
“I was going to tell you, but Bryn thought you would both find reasons to be somewhere else if you knew the other was going to be there. And we thought this would be a good time for you guys to figure your shit out. What—” He pauses as Bryn says something behind him. “Sorry, Bryn feels it’s important to clarify—for a reason she won’t explain to me—that she says you all need to ‘get it out of your systems.’”
“Okay, well, that sounds miserable. I’m not going to stay here so I can fight with your sister for six weeks straight. That feels like my living Hell.”
“Aren’t you going to be gone for tournaments anyway?”
“No.” I tug at the back of my neck. “I’m sitting the next month out. I tweaked something and don’t want it to get worse.” I hate lying to my best friend, but he doesn’t need to be worried about me. Psychological issues with your game can be contagious, and I don’t need to bring him down when he just made it back to the top. I’m still not pleased that my agent Jon talked me into sitting out these next couple of tournaments.
“Oh, shoot, man. Well, let me know if there is anything I can help with, okay?”
“Okay,” I say.
“And, JT?”
“Yeah?”
“Please just stay there with Lila. I know you guys don’t get along anymore, but at one point you spent almost as much time with her as you did with me.”
“She was a kid then,” I say quickly.
“I know, but she’s moving to a new place, starting a new job, and while she would kill me for saying it, I know she’s anxious about it all. Please just stay there and try to be there for her?”
Well, shit. How am I supposed to leave now? Especially without telling him about us hooking up the last two times we were together in the same place, let alone the same room. No, Jameson can never find out about that. He might be cool with it at the time, but the first sign of things going south, and I’d lose the only real friend I’ve ever had.