Chapter 16
“You know what?” I shove my phone into my pocket and gaze over at Lily, who’s sitting up in the little pink dog bed I brought out to the job site for her to relax in. “I think we’re done here for the day. Why don’t we go ahead and head home?”
She tilts her head at my words, and I get to work, packing up the few tools I have out. I’ve always been good at cleaning up as I go, so there’s not too much to do.
I had help out here earlier, but Brady and Remington went home about an hour ago, and after the call with Summer just now, I think I’m ready to go, as well.
“You’re probably hungry,” I murmur to the dog as I make sure that everything is locked and tucked away, out of the weather, not that anyone would steal anything out here, but it’s better to be safe than sorry. I lift Lily and her bed into my arms and set them both in the cab of the truck.
I’m happy with today’s progress. Two walls are up, and with the promise of more help over the next few days, we should get the first floor framed in rather quickly. It’s damn satisfying.
I feel bad that Summer’s parents surprising her with a trip to town isn’t a welcome one. If I lived far away from my family, and they rolled into town to surprise me, I’d be excited as hell. But one of the things I quickly learned about my girl is that we come from two very different backgrounds. Part of me wants to meet up with them at the restaurant to meet her folks and find out what the deal is there. But I could tell by her tone on the phone that this isn’t a conversation that she’s excited about, so I’ll let her handle it without me.
Of course, at some point, I’ll have to have a man-to-man conversation with her father, but there’s no rush for that.
“It’s not too busy in Bitterroot Valley for a Friday evening,” I say to Lily as we drive into town. The heart of tourist season is definitely over, and there are fewer and fewer tourists in the area every weekend. It’s a welcome change from the hustle and bustle of the heart of summer. I’m ready for the couple of months of relative quiet that we’ll get before ski season kicks in around the holidays.
As I stop at a red light, I glance over to Ciao and notice that Summer and her parents are sitting out on the patio. I’d recognize her golden hair and the self-assured set of her shoulders anywhere.
But then it dawns on me that she’s not only with her parents. She’s sitting next to Evan Spencer.
I frown and lean forward and watch as that slimy son of a bitch wraps his arm around her fucking shoulders.
Someone honks behind me, and I realize that the light has turned green, so I drive ahead, scowling.
“What the fuck is going on?” My stomach fills with lead, and blood roars through my ears as anger sets in.
Why didn’t she mention that Evan was going to dinner, as well? What kind of game is she playing?
“Maybe I didn’t see that right.” I take a right and drive around the block, intending to get another look at this cozy dinner. There can’t be something going on between Summer and Evan. The thought is absolutely ludicrous. Besides, when would she have time? She’s either at work, or she’s with me.
Except when I’m working nights or swing shifts.
“Calm the fuck down,” I mutter to myself. “There’s a reasonable explanation, and you know it.”
And if there isn’t, I’ll kill the slimy bastard.
As I turn the corner by Ciao and look at the patio, only Summer’s parents and Evan remain at the table, deep in conversation. Summer’s gone.
“Did she go to the bathroom?”
And then I see her. No, she didn’t go to the ladies’ room. She’s striding—no, marching—down the street toward the flower shop, and I pull up to the curb and roll down the window.
“Summer?”
She doesn’t acknowledge me, and she’s muttering to herself. She looks pissed as hell.
“Summer!”
She jumps and looks my way, then walks to the door and sighs, pushing her hand through her hair. Lily jumps up to kiss Summer through the open window.
“Hey, sorry. I was going to get my car and then go to my place to get some things.” She scratches Lily’s head absently.
“Hop in.”
“My car?—”
“Will be there in the morning. Get in the truck, Summer.” Her eyes narrow at the sharp tone of my voice, but she opens the door, scoops Lily onto her lap, and fastens her seat belt. “We’ll go to your house first.”
“I’m so mad I probably shouldn’t drive anyway,” she says and pushes her hands through her hair again. “I will tell you everything that happened, but right now, I need to seethe.”
“Seethe away,” I reply simply and drive into the neighborhood and park in Summer’s driveway. Lily takes a second to squat in the front yard to relieve herself, and then the three of us go inside after Summer unlocks the door and disarms the alarm.
“Get what you need to get.” I move to walk back to the kitchen for some water, but Summer rounds on me.
“Why am I getting attitude from you?”
I stop and, standing across from her, fold my arms over my chest, watching as she frowns at me. “I just rolled by Ciao on my way home and saw you on the patio with your parents and Evan, and the motherfucker had his hand on you—again. I’m doing my best to stay relatively calm and hear you out when you’re ready to talk about it, Summer. This isn’t attitude; this is barely restrained patience.”
“I didn’t do anything wrong.” She points her thumb at her chest, and I nod.
“Okay.”
“But you don’t believe me.”
“I didn’t say that. I don’t have any reason not to believe you, but I know what I saw, and I have questions.”
She closes her eyes and turns her back to me, pulling her hand down her face. “I’m sorry. I’m so mad, and you’re a handy target right now. You didn’t deserve that.”
“Apology accepted. So, wanna tell me what’s going on so I don’t go out, find Evan, and dispose of the goddamn body?”
She turns back to me and grins. “You’d do that for me?”
“No, sugar, I’d do that for me. What happened tonight?”
Lily kicks at her food container, indicating that she’s hungry, so Summer scoops some food into the dog’s bowl and then takes my hand and leads me into the living room where she sits on the couch.
“I don’t want to sit,” I tell her, and then she stands and paces to the window.
“Me neither, actually. I told you that they came to my shop. My parents. Well, Evan was with them. Evan is the reason they came to town in the first place. He said it was a surprise for me.”
Her laugh holds no humor as she turns my way and shakes her head.
“They wanted me to leave work right then to join them for lunch, but I said no. I didn’t want to go to dinner tonight either, but I decided to so I could shut them all down and remind them that I’m a freaking adult, and I’m not moving back to Helena, and I’m absolutely, unequivocally not marrying Evan, for fuck’s sake.”
“Whoa.” I hold up a hand, and she stops talking. “He proposed to you?”
“No.” She shakes her head and waves me off. “No, at dinner, my parents told me that I would sell the business and move back home—what a joke—and that once I married Evan, I wouldn’t want to make flower arrangements anymore anyway.”
My eyes narrow. My blood runs hot. The thought of Summer moving away is unimaginable, but marrying another man? Marrying fucking EvanSpencer? Not if I have anything to say about it.
“And then, I made it very clear that I have no intentions of doing any of that. Bitterroot Valley is home. And Evan is absolutely nothing to me. I’m in a happy, loving relationship. Why don’t they respect that? Why can’t they just let me live my own life?”
I cross to her and pull her against me, frame her face, and close my lips over hers, kissing her until neither of us can breathe, and I have to back away to take in air. She frowns as she stares up into my eyes and grips onto my biceps.
“Jesus, Chase, you have to know that I would never—Evan is—God, I would never betray you like that.”
“You didn’t tell me he would be there.” I tip my forehead to hers and feel myself settle for the first time since I saw her sitting at that table. “It gave me a bad moment when I saw you.”
“I was so focused on getting there, on telling them all off and standing up for myself, I guess it didn’t occur to me to mention him, and I’m sorry for that. Earlier, at the shop, he didn’t hurt my feelings. My mom did. She made my shop seem small and…icky. And I didn’t really think of him. I never think of him, Chase.”
“He had his hand on you.”
“And I shrugged him off. You don’t have to worry about him or anyone else, ever, because in case you’ve missed it, I’m so fucking in love with you, all I see is little puffy red hearts above my head all the time.”
“Okay, then.” I plant a kiss on her forehead and then realize that Lily is hitting the back door. “I’ll go let her out, and you grab your things.”
“I can do that,” she replies, but her eyes don’t leave mine. “Chase, are we okay?”
“Yeah.” I wrap my arms around her and hug her close, breathe her in, relieved that the storm has passed. “Yeah, we’re good, sugar.”
Lily hits the back door again, and I grin.
“I’ll take her out.”
“Thank you.”
Lily rushes out the back door ahead of me to sniff around the yard and do her business. It occurs to me that she hasn’t been here in several weeks, so she has to take her time, checking out every nook and cranny. But that’s okay because it gives me a chance to take a deep breath and settle my nerves.
I’m not typically a jealous man, but seeing Evan next to Summer in that restaurant tonight is something I don’t want to relive any time soon.
Finally, once Lily has finished, we return to the back door and walk inside, and I hear voices.
Lily growls, and she never growls.
“Easy, baby,” I murmur to her and instinctively push her behind me as I hurry out to the living room and find Evan standing on the porch, his face red with anger. Summer’s blocking the doorway so he can’t come inside, and I stay out of his sight but in Summer’s peripheral vision so she knows I’m here.
“You have got to be kidding me,” he demands, and Summer holds a hand up to me on the other side of the door where Evan can’t see as if to say, I’ve got this.
So, with my hands fisted at my sides, I wait and watch. But if that fucker makes one wrong move, I’ll have him on the ground.
“You’re giving up a spectacular life for what, exactly? For a goddamn flower shop? For fucking Chase Wild? You’re nuts, Summer. Do you even realize the opportunities that your parents can offer you? That I can offer? You don’t have to work; you don’t have to struggle. Jesus, you should be shopping and primping and volunteering. Having fun. I can send you shopping in all the best shops in the world. You won’t have to slum it in Polly’s place anymore.”
“Number one, she’s my best friend, and I love her shop, and number two, that sounds so incredibly boring and ridiculous.” Her voice is calm, and she’s not visibly reacting to him at all.
Good girl.
“Evan, I don’t know what I can do that I haven’t already done to make you understand that I’m not the woman meant for you. I’m not the girl you think you want.”
“You’re wrong.”
Fucking asshole.
“No, I’m not.” She gentles her voice, trying to make him see reason. “That life you described isn’t for me. I’m sorry if that shatters some kind of dream or illusion of yours, but it’s the truth. Like I told you and my parents at the restaurant, I love my life here.”
“You don’t know what you’re talking about.” I hear him turn to pace away from her. He’s starting to lose control. I can sense it. “You’re just confused.”
“I’m not confused.”
“YES, YOU ARE!” Hepushes through the door now as Summer scurries backward, his hand raised to hit her, and instinct immediately kicks in, and I stand between the two of them, push my hand on the other man’s chest, and glower at him.
“You fucking touch her, and it’ll be the last thing you do.”
Evan’s eyes are wide as he stares up at me.
“This doesn’t concern you, asshole.”
“Agree to disagree.” I drop my hand and back away just a bit to take Summer’s hand in mine. “She said what she has to say. Now you can get fucked.”
“Or what? You’ll arrest me?” He sneers, and I slowly shake my head.
“No. I’ll kick your ass. I can hurt you in ways that don’t leave a mark. No one will believe that I’m the one who did it.” He doesn’t sneer now, and he swallows hard as he wipes his hand over his mouth, straightens his shirt, and squares his shoulders. His gaze turns to Summer.
“This isn’t over.”
“That’s exactly what this is,” she replies, her voice leaving no room for argument. “It’s over, Evan. If it makes you feel better, you can keep my parents. I think you’re all well-suited for each other.”
Evan snarls as he turns and rushes out of the house, slamming the door behind him, and Summer steps into my arms and holds on tight.
“He was going to hit me.”
“He was going to try,” I reply and kiss the top of her head. “I have a feeling you would have fought back and beat the shit out of him.”
“Oh, I would have fought back,” she confirms. “Come on, let’s get out of here, okay?”
“Fine by me.”
With Summer tucked safely awayat work, and Lily at Paula’s for the rest of the weekend, I get into my truck and head over to the station. I have the next three days off, but I want to check in with my boss and fill him in on what went down at Summer’s last night.
An hour later, with the knowledge that Evan was seen driving out of town this morning, following Summer’s parents toward Helena, I get back into the truck.
Despite Evan being gone right now, Summer will have extra patrols driving past her house and her business for the time being. Technically, Evan didn’t break any laws last night, but we all agree that it’s a good idea to keep an eye on things for a while.
I’m ready to take some of my pent-up aggression out on my hammer, but first, I need to swing by Ryan’s place to check in and see how things are going with Jake. Jake’s two idiot friends, the ones he was with when they were caught shoplifting at Polly’s place, were arrested again last night for minors in possession of alcohol.
Little idiots.
Ryan told me via text that he and the kid were down at the stables, so I drive straight there. Ryan’s property is fucking gorgeous. He bought some acreage that had the stables and a house on it a few years ago. The old house was torn down, and he built himself a fucking mansion in its place.
Of course, my big brother can afford it.
The amazing thing is, although the house is big—way too big for just one person, in my opinion—and extra fancy with all the high-tech gadgets and doodads a man could want, it also fits into the landscape nicely. There’s a lot of glass for looking out at the mountains, several outdoor living spaces that made me shake my head because, for at least six months out of the year, they’re useless, and a pool.
My brother, one of the smartest men I know, put in a goddamn pool in Montana.
It takes all kinds, I guess.
Of course, Johnny and Holly, Rem’s kids, had a lot of fun in that pool this past summer, so I guess it’s worth it.
I pull up to a stop and grin when Ryan waves at me from where he and Jake stand with a couple of horses. This past spring, my brother rescued several horses from a neglectful situation, and they’re still healing.
“Hey,” I say as I walk to where the other two men are. I stand on the other side of the fence and grin when a pretty mare the color of chocolate walks over to me and nudges my shoulder, looking for some petting. “Hello, gorgeous. She’s so damn friendly, Ry.”
“She’s a sweetheart,” Ryan agrees with a nod. “I call her Ladybug. She seems to like it.”
I pet the mare’s nose and glance over at Jake, who’s bridling a white mare.
“How’s it going, Jake?”
“Fine.”
Ryan rolls his eyes. “He’s a kid of few words.”
“I am doing fine,” Jake says with a shrug. “I get to hang out with these girls all day. I have nothing to complain about.”
“That’s more like it.” I grin and kiss the horse’s cheek.
“Hey,” Jake croons to the horse as he fastens the bridle. “That’s a good girl. You’re okay, sweetheart.”
“Has a way with horses,” Ryan says, and I see Jake smile, but he doesn’t look this way. “And he’s bunking here this weekend.”
“You don’t have a bunkhouse.”
“No. Ryan set me up inside,” Jake says, volunteering the information. “Janice and Wally took the kids to the hot springs this weekend.”
“Why didn’t they take you?” I ask him.
“Because I’m not their kid, no matter what the state says. They’re just in it for the check every month anyway.” He shakes his head and turns to get the blanket that goes on the horse’s back under the saddle and then the saddle itself. “It’s fine by me. I’m definitely not their kid, and I don’t want to hang out with them any more than I have to.”
I narrow my eyes at the boy. “Is everything okay in that house, Jake?”
“Fine.” With the horse saddled, he hops up into the seat and looks down at Ryan. “I’ll be back in a few.”
Ryan nods, and as Jake rides away, we share a look.
“Something isn’t right there,” Ryan says. “He swears that they’re not mean to him or anything, but they do shit like this all the damn time. Go do fun things with their real family and leave Jake behind. Sure, he’s old enough to be home alone, but?—”
“I don’t like it either.” I sigh, watching Jake ride the horse gently in the field, speaking softly to her. “I’ll make some calls and see what I can find out.”
I glance back at my brother, and I can see the wheels turning in his head as he watches Jake.
“What are you thinking?” I ask him.
“I have a hunch, that’s all. And if I’m right, I’m already fucking pissed.”
I nod, understanding perfectly.
“I’ll keep you posted.”