Chapter 17
Chapter Seventeen
JOSH
I’d stormed out of the back of the clinic and drove the work truck home.
Two hours of stewing later, and here I was pressing the accelerator hard on the narrow highway to the Sawyer farm.
I took the tight turn into Drew’s driveway so fast that I skidded out on the gravel and almost hit the pitiful light post in front of Drew’s trailer.
I was pissed. Partly because I couldn’t remember what the hell I’d yelled at Erika before she left, although I was pretty sure I told her to fuck off. And the other part of me was angry she might’ve turned to Drew to burn off the match she lit between us in the office.
Pounding on his door got me no answer. Drew’s truck was in the driveway, which meant he was home. I banged on the metal door again. “I know you’re in there.”
She better not be here. I’d lose my mind. I probably already had.
Drew answered wearing a tattered white t-shirt and blue boxer shorts with little red hearts. “What the hell’s wrong with you?” He leaned through the door to glance around as if I wasn’t alone. “Did you park on my grass?”
“What grass?” I eyed my car and the decorative weeds around his trailer. I shoved past him as the rickety metal door slammed shut. The smell of freshly cooked ramen punched me in the face—an aroma that instantly transported me to broke, exhausted vet-school nights.
“Is she here?”
“Who?” He scratched his chest through the T-shirt and casually propped the shotgun he’d been holding against the wall.
“You know who.”
“Erika?” Drew called out toward the back of the trailer, “Stay quiet, sweetheart, he’s found us.”
I charged down the hall and flung open his bedroom door. It smelled like old laundry and regret. No Erika.
Deflated but still steaming, I stomped back out.
“You really think she’d ditch Vinny alone at the house,” Drew said, smirking, “and come out here for some post-funeral fun?”
Right. I forgot about Vinny. And her being his only parental figure now. “You were all up on her at the reception.”
“Right up until you cockblocked me with an argument in your office. You stormed out one door, and she left out the other.” He pulled two beers out of his refrigerator and threw one at me.
I caught it. “I hate Blue Ribbon.”
“Be a good guest. Drink it.” He sat in a chair at the wooden kitchen table and waved his can at the wooden chair across from him.
“Sit.” He picked up his cell phone to place a call.
“Josh just attacked me in my home.” There was a pause.
“He didn’t hit me yet.” Another pause. “I wasn’t even wearing clothes. ” He huffed and stared at the phone.
“Who was that?” I sat in the chair he’d directed me toward.
“Are you worried I called her?” Drew took a deep swig of the beer.
I sipped my beer, which tasted like watered down piss. “Did you?”
My phone rang. Dante’s icon flashed on the screen. I answered. “Yeah?”
Dante asked, “Do I need to drive out there with the lights flashing or are you going to refrain from violence until I get there?”
“I’ll only hurt him a little if he pisses me off. He’s got his gun out. So, it’s more likely he’ll shoot me first.” I hung up.
“She’s not yours,” Drew said.
“She sure as hell won’t ever be yours. If she slept with you now, it wouldn’t be because she liked you.”
“She’d be liking something about me.” Drew grinned lewdly.
I used a fingernail to pick at dried food on the tabletop. “If you want to get laid, you should napalm the bedroom. It stinks. At least put the porn away and get a Glade plug-in or something.”
He slammed his beer can on the table. “I wasn’t planning on entertaining today.”
“Good. She hates Glade, by the way.”
“I thought you didn’t want her in my bedroom. Besides, you don’t know what she likes or dislikes anymore. Maybe she fills her place with Glade plug-ins.”
I pointed toward the back of his trailer. “There’s no way she’d step one foot in there. It smells like ass.”
“Why are you busting my balls about my house? Hell, why the fuck are you here?”
“I didn’t want her to make another mistake.
” Which, in hindsight, was rich, considering I’d just stormed into a man’s trailer like a lunatic.
I should’ve checked the Chomping farm first to see if her car was there.
I hadn’t really expected her to be here.
I just couldn’t stand the idea of Drew thinking he had a shot.
He grinned. “So, she already made one today? What happened in the office?”
I pretended interest in the back of the beer can. He’d know something happened if I looked at him. Oh, holy hell, did something happen. “We argued about everything.” I swirled the beer and watched a few bubbles fizz out of the can. “How can you drink this swill?”
“Not all of us make big doctor bucks and can afford premium brew.”
Dante opened the metal screen door and walked inside without knocking.
He got a beer out of the fridge and sat at the table, shifting to accommodate the gun in his holster.
He looked from Drew to me and back to Drew.
Dramatically, he put his cuffs on the table between us.
“Do I need to be the deputy or are we drinking beer?”
“Arguable on this being beer.” I held up my can.
Dante cast his eyes heavenward. “There’s nothing wrong with Blue Ribbon.”
“That’s what I said,” Drew muttered.
Dante cracked his can and took a long swig. “So, Josh, what brings you out here?”
“Aren’t you on duty?” I cast a judgmental glare at the can he sipped.
He raised his beer in a toast. “I am. I’m toning down a domestic dispute.”
“He’s got his balls in a twist because Erika prefers me,” Drew said.
“I asked Josh, not you,” Dante cut in, slipping into his officer voice, the one that made grown men behave. “How about you don’t poke the bear right now, Drew?”
“We all know whose side you’re on.” Drew tapped his fingers on the table.
Dante leaned across the table. “I’m not taking sides. I’m preventing one of you from shooting the other.”
“If we pulled guns, it might finally give you a chance to shoot someone,” Drew mumbled.
“No one’s shooting anyone.” Dante blinked slowly as if patience was draining from his soul.
“Because if we do, guess who gets buried alive in paperwork? Me. And guess who cleans up the mess? Also me. And Drew, if you shoot him, you can kiss your precious vet hookup goodbye. Erika will shut down the large-animal side so fast your fingers won’t finish snapping.
Hell, she might nuke the whole practice.
Without Josh, she has zero reason to come back. ”
“What does that mean?” I asked.
“Yeah, what the hell does that mean?” Drew echoed.
Dante lifted his beer as if making a toast. “Let’s drink. We’re not going to let a woman get between us. It’s not worth it. You both need to let her go. And if she comes back?” He took a slow sip. “She’ll let y’all know which one of you was the reason.”