Chapter 13
Kayla
I drop my apron in the back and grab my phone and wallet.
“Have a good night,” I call out to the kitchen staff as I make my way out the back door.
I check my phone for messages as I walk around to the front of the building.
When I see a voicemail from an unknown number, I stop walking.
My heart rate picks up, and my hands shake.
I force myself to take a calming breath before I look at the translation.
I don’t want to listen to it yet in case it’s my uncle.
I breathe a sigh of relief when I see it’s just a sales’ call.
“What’s wrong?”
Jackson’s words startle me so much, I jump and drop my phone. “Good grief.” He bends and picks up my phone before I can and hands it back to me.
“Sorry to startle you. What’s wrong?”
I try to force my heart rate back to its normal pace. “Nothing. You just gave me a heart attack when you appeared out of nowhere.”
He smirks. “I called your name.”
I frown. “You did?”
He nods, serious once again. “You were too engrossed in your phone to notice. Everything okay?” He asks the question casually, and yet, I catch the undercurrent of something dangerous.
“Yeah, it was just a sales’ call.”
I make the mistake of meeting his eyes. Those electric blues suck me right in again. “But you thought it was somebody else?” he pushes.
I narrow my eyes at him for a moment. “Maybe,” I tell him, not looking away.
He scowls. “And you’re not going to tell me who.”
I laugh. “No. Why would I? I barely know you, Jackson.”
“So, get to know me. Come have a late lunch or early dinner with me.”
“What?” I stare at him.
“Have lunch with me,” he repeats.
“I can’t. I have to go home to relieve Renee.” I realize he has no idea who that is. “My friend that watches Noah while I work the early shift on Tuesdays and Thursdays.”
“Bring him with,” he says easily.
I stare at him in shock. “Bring him...”
“Yeah. I’d like to get to know him too.”
“He’s seven,” I blurt out.
He nods. “Okay.”
I can’t even begin to process this turn of events. “You want my seven-year-old brother to come with us on a,” I catch myself before I say date. I can feel my face heating at my near slip-up. “For lunch,” I correct.
“Yes. Do you want me to drive? We can swing by your place and pick him up.”
“Uh, no. I’ll drive. I don’t want to leave my car here.”
“Okay. I’ll follow you.” I continue to stare at him, trying to wrap my mind around this. “You have to walk to your car to be able to drive home,” he adds when I don’t move.
I scowl up at him. “Yeah. Got that.”
He smirks, and I force myself to walk to my car. I unlock it, and he opens the door for me, surprising me. “Oh. Thanks.” I slide into the front seat.
Right before he closes my door, he leans in. “And Kayla?”
“Yes?” My voice is not nearly as strong as I want it to be.
His eyes meet mine, like he’s making sure I’m paying attention. “It is a date.” He closes the door before I can respond. I watch him walk away before I force my eyes to my steering wheel. The man even walks sexy. I close my eyes and drop my head onto the steering wheel.
“I’m a mess.” I wait until he’s in his truck, and then I pull out of the parking lot.
I don’t know what he did with his friend, but when I look in the rearview mirror, it’s just Jackson in the truck.
It makes me nervous having him behind me, but I force myself to focus on driving and nothing else.
When we get to the parking lot of my apartment, I park; and he pulls into the spot next to mine.
I get out and walk over to the driver’s side.
He rolls down the window. “Are you sure you still want to do this?” I ask, my nerves making a show.
“Yes.” There’s no hesitation in his voice.
“Okay. I’m going to grab Noah.” I pause. “It’s still okay for him to come, right?”
His eyes meet mine. “I want to take both you and Noah to lunch.” He looks at the apartment building behind me. “Unless you’d rather I just order something, and we eat here.”
Some sort of garbled laugh comes out of me.
“No. We’ll go with you. I’ll be right back.
” I hear his door open, and I turn around.
“If you don’t mind, just stay here. I’ll explain to Noah who you are and then come back.
” He watches me, and I get the feeling he’s going to argue.
But he finally nods and stays in his truck.
I stride towards the door and head inside and up the stairs. Using my key, I unlock the door and slip inside. “Hey, Guys.”
Renee looks up from her phone, and my stomach sinks a little when I see Noah glued to his iPad. “How was work?” Renee asks.
“Good. Thanks so much for watching Noah.”
She stands to her feet and yawns. “No worries.” She grabs her stuff and heads to the door. “I’ll see you Thursday morning.”
“Thanks, Renee. You’re the best.”
“See ya. Bye, Noah,” she calls out.
“Noah,” I say sharply when he doesn’t even lift his head.
At my voice, he looks up. “Bye, Renee.”
She leaves a moment later, and I study my brother. “Did you get your school done?”
He scowls at me. “Yes.”
“You sure?” I ask.
His scowl deepens. “Yes.”
I debate asking how long he was on the iPad but ultimately choose not to. It will only start an argument, and I can’t undo what’s been done. “Want to go to lunch?” I ask instead.
He lifts his head. “Really?”
I nod. “One of my friends wants to take us out; he wants you to come too.”
His face falls. “Cole?”
“Uh, no.” And then I just tell him. “It’s actually the guy from the café, the redhead guy.”
He stares at me. “The guys that got kicked out?”
I grimace. “It wasn’t their fault...exactly.
But yes. Actually, Jackson is really nice.
” I think about that and rephrase. “Kind. Jackson is really kind. So, do you want to go?” He shrugs, and I know that’s as close to a yes as I’m going to get from him.
“Okay. Go ahead and get ready then because he’s waiting outside. ”
He puts his sneakers on and grabs a book and his iPad. “Why don’t you leave the tablet here.”
He scowls at me, and I figure it’s going to be a whole ordeal. But he puts it on the table and then walks over to the door. I can’t help myself; I reach out and fluff his hair. “Thanks, Bud.”
“Where are we going to eat?” he asks on the way down the stairs.
“I don’t know.”
“Do you think it will be pizza?”
I laugh. “You would have pizza or burgers for every meal if you could.”
“We never get pizza,” he accuses, and I can’t help the guilt. I push it deep and continue down the stairs. When we get to the front door, I open the door for Noah. “He’s in that black truck.”
Noah’s eyes light with interest, but all he says is. “Cool.”
Jackson climbs out of the truck before we get to him. I can’t help but notice that he watches us intently, but he also scans the parking lot continually. We stop in front of him, and his eyes meet mine a moment before dropping to Noah. “Noah, this is Jackson. Jackson, Noah.”
To my surprise, Jackson puts his hand out. It takes a moment, but Noah puts his hand in his. I can’t help but marvel at the size difference between the two of them. “Noah,” Jackson says in that deep voice of his. Then he opens the back door of his truck.
“Uh, I was going to drive,” I say.
Jackson turns to me. “That’s fine if you want to; otherwise, I can drive and save the gas of taking two cars.” Noah looks at me, waiting.
I finally nod. “Okay.” I can’t really argue with that logic.
Noah climbs into the backseat, and Jackson shuts the door behind him. I walk around to the other side of the truck, and Jackson opens the door for me as well. Using the handle, I pull myself up into the massive truck.
“I can get it,” I tell Jackson, but he ignores me and shuts my door for me.
He walks around the front of the truck, glancing around the parking lot as he goes and then climbs into the driver’s seat.
Right away, I realize this was a bad idea.
The truck seems entirely too small, and Jackson is entirely too big.
I feel his presence everywhere. I suck in a deep breath, and it sort of stalls in my chest. I’m not sure what cologne Jackson wears, but if I had to describe it, I would say something woodsy.
Sucking in a lungful of it was not my best move.
He starts driving, and I look out the window, trying to find my equilibrium.
“What are you hungry for?” Jackson’s deep voice fills the silence.
I wait for Noah to say something, but he stays quiet. I glance over my shoulder and then back at Jackson. “How do you feel about pizza?” I ask.
“Pizza it is. Do you have a favorite place to get pizza?”
“We never get pizza,” Noah pipes up from the backseat, and I resist the urge to turn around and give him a look.
“We have a few times,” I remind him.
“We never go out for pizza,” he amends.
“Where should we go, Noah?” Jackson asks.
“Luizzo’s has a pizza buffet.”
I turn around. “How do you know?”
He shrugs. “I looked it up.”
I stare at him a moment longer and then turn back around and look at Jackson. His eyes meet mine. “Luizzo’s it is. I know where it’s at.”
It’s mostly quiet as we make our way into town. Jackson parks, and I notice the car next to us. “Is that—” I start.
“Ransom’s joining us, if that’s okay.”
“Oh, of course.” A thought hits me, and I suddenly wonder if I’m reading this all wrong. Jackson climbs out and walks around to my side and opens the door for me.
“Hey, Jackson, are you and Ransom,” I pause, unsure how to ask what I’m trying to ask without offending him.
He frowns a moment and then his eyes go wide.
He suddenly looks horrified. “No. Ransom and I are friends. I am very much into women. A woman,” he corrects, holding my eyes intently.
I don’t know how to respond to that, so I don’t.
He puts out his hand, and after a moment’s hesitation, I slip mine into his.
He guides me down. As soon as I’m on the asphalt, I pull my hand from his.
He lets it go instantly. Noah appears beside us, and Ransom joins our group of three.
“Hey,” he says, joining us.
“Hey, Ransom, this is Noah, my brother.”
“Hey, Noah, my brother,” he says without skipping a beat. He puts out his hand and Noah shakes it. Then he looks at the restaurant. “I’m starved; let’s go eat.”
Noah ends up next to me, and we walk together towards the front door with Ransom and Jackson following. The door opens before we get to it, and a familiar face greets me. “Well, hello, Kayla.”
A genuine smile crosses my face. “Henry. How are you?”
His eyes go wide. “I’m not eating here; you don’t see me.”
I laugh. “It’s okay; I’m eating here too. I promise I won’t tell Mama May if you don’t.” His face relaxes, and I smile at the wrinkles lining his dear face. “Where’s your beautiful wife?”
“Right here,” Agnus says, right on key. “Hi, Kayla. I hope you find some pizza to eat. Henry ate more than his fair share,” she says with a shake of her head, but I don’t miss the way her lips tug up slightly in the corners.
“I left plenty,” Henry says in a gruff voice.
“Hi, Noah,” Agnus says with a kind smile.
“Hi,” Noah says back.
Her eyes land on the men behind me, and I feel Jackson move closer.
How I know it’s him without looking is beyond me, but I know it’s him at my back.
Agnus looks at me and then at the men, and I realize I’m not going to get out of here without introducing her.
“Agnus, this is Jackson and Ransom, friends of mine.”
“Friends, huh?” Henry asks, his voice still gruff.
“Friends?” Agnus repeats, shaking her head. “That’s a shame and a waste of masculinity.”
I choke when I try to swallow. “I’m right here,” Henry says with a scowl.
“Yes, you are, Dear,” Agnus says, patting his arm.
Henry steps outside, and Agnus follows but stops in front of me.
“You should consider dating at least one of them,” she whispers loudly, way too loudly.
“I bet they’re good in bed.” Mortification sweeps through every part of my body and only increases when I hear what I think is Ransom choking on a laugh behind us.
Agnus pats my arm. “Good luck,” she says with a light in her eyes.
She finally leaves, and I don’t dare turn around. I’m sure my face is beat red. “I like her,” Ransom says out loud.