Chapter 2
CHEWIE
I shifted uncomfortably in my seat, anxious for this evening to be over. When I took the job for Ajax, I had wrongly assumed that most of the assignments would be exciting, like the ones I’d done for him while I lived in Tenillo.
I was wrong.
I had no idea how he found these jobs. If I didn’t know better, I would assume that the ones he had accepted in my corner of the world were the most boring ones he could find.
The one I’d been on recently had me following around a married man to catch him in the act of cheating so his wife could take him to the cleaners. At least, I assumed that was her reason for paying an arm and a leg to have the man followed.
I had never spoken to her directly, only submitted my photos and reports so Ajax could forward them on to her, so I had no idea if that was really the case.
In a way, I liked the anonymity of it, with Ajax being the only point of contact, especially since what I was doing could be considered stalking since I didn’t have a private investigator’s license.
Of course, I could never get one, considering my history.
There was movement on the porch, so I slumped further down in my seat so my silhouette couldn’t be seen from that angle.
I managed to get a few shots of the couple’s goodnight kiss and then waited until he got about a block away before I started tailing him.
He didn’t go straight home as I expected, though.
Instead, he stopped at a different house and used a key to get inside.
I found a spot nearby where I could see the house and the mark’s car and then got comfortable again before I texted the address of this location to Ajax for him to research.
When my text alert sounded, I assumed it was Ajax replying, but it was actually a message from my friend Sugar’s old lady.
I met Juni not long after she and Sugar got together and made a couple of trips to hang out with them before I went back for their wedding.
During those trips, I’d become pretty good friends with Juni, who was fun to hang out with.
She had a quick wit and smart mouth, two things that kept me laughing every time we were together.
When I saw her text asking if I could come visit, I was instantly on alert.
What’s wrong?
Nothing’s wrong, dumbass. I just want to hang out with you.
On a specific day two weeks from now?
Okay, then how about tomorrow instead?
That’s what I thought.
Are you gonna come visit or not?
Damn, you’re pushy. Let me check my social calendar and see if I can fit you in.
You’re about as social as I am, so that’s a yes.
It’s a maybe. I’ll need to check flights because I’m not making that drive again.
I already checked flights and found one that will get you here Wednesday evening.
One of us will pick you up when you land in Kalispell.
Send me the link.
So, you’ll stay through the weekend?
Do I have a choice?
No.
Do you know what a pain in the ass you are?
I’m a precious sweetheart, and don’t you forget it.
See you in a few weeks!
I checked out the link Juni sent me and was pleasantly surprised to find that the cost of the flight wouldn’t be nearly as much as the gas it would have taken to drive the 24-hour round trip, so I booked it and then sent my itinerary to Juni, who responded seconds later with a thumbs up.
This wasn’t the first time she’d sent me a text by any means, but it was the first time that she’d invited me to visit on a specific date.
It was curious, but I decided not to overthink it.
I needed a little time away, and relaxing on the deck at Sugar’s incredible cabin sounded like the perfect escape.
But first, I needed this dumbass I was following to keep fucking up his life so I could document it. Luckily, the guy was an idiot besides being a cheating asshole, so hanging out in my car and listening to audiobooks was going to be my new hobby for a while.
◆◆◆
“How long are you going to be gone?”
“I’ll be back Monday afternoon,” I reminded her. “Are you still set to take care of everything around here?”
“Did you finally name the dog?”
“What?”
“You said everything, so I just assumed . . .”
“That is not my dog, Samara. It’s not your dog either, so quit fucking feeding it.”
“If it’s not your dog, then why do you leave the gate open so he can come inside?”
“That was an accident.”
Samara made a point of slowly turning around to look out the back window at the open gate before she pointed out, “It’s still open.”
“Stop giving me shit.”
“But you’re such an easy target.”
“I’m leaving in the morning, so I don’t have any groceries. Take me to dinner.”
“Aren’t I supposed to be the one mooching off of you?” she asked. “I’m just a poor college student who lives on ramen and PB&Js.”
“I didn’t say you were paying, smartass.”
“You’ll have to drive. My car is acting funny.”
“Funny how?”
“It got up on stage and started cracking jokes.”
I barked out a laugh at her deadpan delivery before I said, “Your parents didn’t beat you nearly enough.”
“My parents never laid a hand on me.”
“Obviously. What’s wrong with your car?”
“If I knew what was wrong with it, I wouldn’t have said it was acting funny. Another light came on when . . .”
“Another light?”
“Yeah. I don’t know what it means, though, other than to tell someone about it.”
I pinched the bridge of my nose and sighed, wondering how such an intelligent young woman could be so fucking dumb sometimes.
“Samara,” I said calmly. “Other than the light . . . lights . . . on the dash, what is your car doing that makes you say it’s acting funny?”
She put her hands up and demonstrated as she said, “When I start going too fast, it does this weird shaking thing, and when I let go of the steering wheel, it drifts off in a different direction.”
I exhaled slowly as I pulled out my wallet and slid my debit card out. I handed it to her as I ordered, “Give me your keys and then call in some pizza for delivery. I have a feeling we’re gonna be here for a while.”
◆◆◆
“So, I get out there and turn the damn thing on . . . I damn near lost my mind. I’m not sure if she was trying to get bingo or what, but it was like a Christmas light show on her dash!
Her check engine light was practically screaming, the oil pressure light was on, the automatic braking system light was blinking, and the sensors on all four tires were bitching because they were too low.
” Sugar was trying not to laugh at my exasperation but cracked up when I said, “To add insult to injury, the fucking gas tank was empty!”
“And the shimmy?”
“Her tire was flatter than a three-day-old beer.”
“Shit! And she drove it to your house?”
“Yes!” I said in a near shout. “What the fuck?”
“I don’t know what to tell ya, man. Obviously, the girl needs a keeper.”
“She needs a swift kick in the ass! No wonder Vincent asked me to watch out for her. If I hadn’t been around, she’d be kicking rocks on the side of the road.”
“Hey, Claire!” Sugar yelled. His daughter answered through an open window to the room above the deck, and Sugar asked, “What do you do if one of the dash lights comes on in the truck?”
“Does it have those?”
Sugar sighed before he said, “Yes, dear, it has lights on the dash that come on when there’s a problem.”
“I’ve never seen one. Hold on. I’m coming downstairs.”
“I swear, if she doesn’t answer this question correctly, I’m going to put her truck up on blocks and leave it there until she’s fifty.”
Claire walked out onto the deck wearing a pair of pajama pants covered in unicorns, a hoodie that was at least three sizes too big, and black stuff all over her face.
It was difficult to take the normally gorgeous young woman seriously when she asked, “Are you sure there are lights on the dashboard? My truck is older than you.”
Sugar calmly stared at his daughter as he said, “That truck is a classic.”
“Whatever! So, if a light comes on, I guess I’d pull over somewhere and either call you to ask about it or look it up on my phone to see if it’s a ‘right now’ problem or a ‘this can wait’ problem.
Either way, as long as I’m taking care of the truck the way I’m supposed to, I don’t know why they would come on anyway. ”
“Claire Bear, I’m so proud of you right now that words can’t even begin to describe it.”
“Cool. Does that mean I can go this weekend?”
“Absolutely not.”
Claire sighed before she said, “Hi, Chewie.”
“Hi, darlin’. What’s that stuff on your face?”
“It’s a cleansing charcoal mask.”
“Why?”
“Why what?”
“How does it work?”
She rolled her eyes and said, “It pulls the toxins out of my pores to give me clearer skin.”
“Why are there toxins in your pores?” Sugar asked.
“We’re going to do a hair mask next,” she said without answering her father.
“I’m not even going to ask,” Sugar muttered. “Have fun with all that.”
Claire bounded into the house, and I laughed at the look on Sugar’s face before I asked, “What does she want to do this weekend?”
“She wants to go to a concert with her boyfriend.”
“They’ve been dating a while, right?”
“It’s three hours away, and she wants me to believe that nothing will happen if they stay overnight in a hotel room alone together.”
“Oh.”
“‘Oh!’ was not my first reaction.”
“I can’t imagine why.”
◆◆◆
“If you’re finished with breakfast, you need to go brush your teeth, get dressed, and make your bed,” Juni told Sweetie, the almost five-year-old wild child who kept everyone on their toes.
Sweetie put her plate next to the sink and then bounded up the stairs with so much energy that I wondered why no one had figured out how to bottle it up and sell it.
If scientists could find a way to do that, we wouldn’t need to rely on solar or wind power .
. . just children who ate pancakes swimming in syrup.
I looked at Juni, who was finishing her own plate, and asked, “Is she going to remember all of that?”
“Absolutely not. But it gives me a few minutes of peace so I can finish my own breakfast and chug my lukewarm coffee before I take care of all that with her.”
“While you do that, will you tell me why it was so important for me to come visit?”
“Maybe I just missed your smiling face.”
I ignored her and said, “And what’s up with this specific time frame?”
“You’ve been working with Ajax too much, my friend. I think you’re becoming paranoid.”
“Yet you still haven’t answered my question.”
“Okay, here’s the scoop. Around lunchtime tomorrow, a friend of mine will . . .”
“You had me come all the way out here so you could hook me up? Are you mental?” I interrupted.
“Pause the ass chewing and fake outrage for a second, and let me ask you a question.” When I frowned at her, she asked, “Have you ever kissed a woman in a bookstore?” I thought back to that day a few years ago when I experienced the hottest kiss of my life, and the answer must have shown on my face.
Juni gasped when she said, “Oh my God! You do remember her!”
“You know I don’t hang out in bookstores often. On the rare occasion that I do, I don't usually make out with strangers, so yeah, I remember.”
“My friend is coming for the writers’ retreat this weekend.”
“And I assume your friend is the hot bookstore lady?”
“Ding! Ding! Ding! Give the man a prize.”
“First of all, how did you know about our interlude in the bookstore?”
“She told me.”
“But we never exchanged names.”
“I know! I was on a video call with her just a few minutes before I invited you to come . . .”
“Commanded.”
“Whatever. It got you here, didn’t it?” Juni rolled her eyes before she said, “Anyway, there’s a picture of you in her office.”
I considered it for a second before sarcasm took over and I said, “That’s not creepy at all.”
“It was a picture one of her readers took that day, and she printed it out.”
“Still a bit creepy.”
“You’re her muse, Chewie.” I burst out laughing, and Juni grinned as she said, “I can’t see it, but that’s neither here nor there.”
“How am I her muse?”
“Before your hot moment in the bookstore, she wrote small-town romances. You know . . . stories that were sweet with a lot more hearts and flowers than action.”
“And now?”
“The books I’ve been narrating for her lately are all about bikers. Gruff, tough, hot bad boys.”
“And that all started after she met me?”
“It sure did.”
“We didn’t even exchange names or numbers, Juni!”
“Why the hell not?” Juni asked in exasperation.
“It was just a few months after I moved to Eugene to help Samara deal with what was happening to Vincent.”
“And?”
“The timing wasn’t right.”
“But you considered it?”
“Well, yeah.” I grinned before I said, “That kiss was nearly hot enough to fuse us together.”
“She’ll be here tomorrow, so you may get the chance to do it again.”
“Wow. Love has changed you.”
“Shut up. I pin the blame squarely on romance novels and all the fun ways Sugar finds to keep me smiling.” I groaned, and she said, “You should read some of her books.”
“Why?”
“I don't know much about her dating history, but I can tell you that she’s not exactly throwing her goods out for the masses, if you know what I mean.”
“And?”
“Let’s just say she’s got quite an imagination.”
“That sounds fun.”
“You have to make me a promise, though.”
“Maybe. What do you want?”
“Don’t hurt her, okay?”
“Juni, she’s a grown woman who can make her own decisions, but I have to tell you now that even if something does happen while we’re both here, it’s not gonna go any further.”
“Why not?”
“I live in Eugene, and I’m not moving. That’s Samara’s home, and she’s settled in and doing great in college. I promised Vincent I would take care of her, so I’m not going to just up and move for some woman.”
“What if you didn’t have to move?”
“Well, I’m not gonna spend a hot weekend with her and then ask her to uproot everything.”
“She wouldn’t have to uproot anything.”
“That’s right, because I’m not gonna ask her to.”
“You won’t need to ask, Chewie. She lives in Eugene.”
“She does?”
“Why else would she have been in a local bookstore?”
“There were people there to get her book signed, so I thought she was just some famous author on tour or something.”
“Nope. She’s a local. Lived there all her life.”
“Damn. I had no idea.”
“I know Eugene isn’t exactly a small town, but the odds are you might have run into her at some point. I think it makes it even more romantic that I’m your connection and put it together.”
“If that makes you feel all giddy inside, then we’ll roll with that.”
“Nothing about you makes me giddy inside, but the way her face lit up when she was telling me about the stunner in the bookstore made it clear that you made her feel a few things, and giddy isn’t exactly how I’d describe them.”
I grinned before I said, “I do what I can.”
“Well, I’m telling you there’s an opportunity to do more. Don’t fuck it up.”