Chapter Seven #2
“Can you pick me up tonight, Dan?” The female voice rang slightly familiar and a lot nasal. A frisson of tension ran through Jase’s long body next to me, and I frowned.
Phone pressed to her ear, the blonde blocking the sidewalk between us and the Farmer’s Daughter lifted her gaze. Her blue eyes landed on Jase and widened before sliding sideways to me. An ugly avarice flared in her slow smile. “Perfect. I’ll text you when I get home.”
Ending the call, she folded both hands about the phone and pressed the device to her chest, sidling a step closer to us, but not moving out of the way.
“Well, Jase, fancy meeting you here.” Her eyes slid over me again, and she licked her lips, red lipstick perfectly applied but the wrong shade for her skin. “Who’s this?”
He ignored her, dropping his arm from my shoulders to hold my waist with one firm hand, steering me behind him while keeping me close even as he went to walk by her.
“Are you not going to speak?” Her voice held fake surprise and gleeful mockery. She narrowed her eyes further, watching me. “Your mama would be ashamed.”
Jaw tight, he kept his gaze forward. I started to dig a foot in and stop our progress. Who was this chick? That wasn’t the ex – I would recognize her. This one was . . . where did I know that voice from?
He had his arm behind him, holding me in place, a barrier between me and her.
The door to the Pink Valise opened, bells chiming, and another blonde stepped out, shopping bags dangling from one hand while she held her phone aloft with the other, using the selfie angle to check her appearance.
Jase’s steps faltered. My lips pressed together.
That was the ex.
“Elizabeth, look who I ran into,” Ms. Deviated-Septum sing-songed behind me. That’s right – she was the friend, the hanger-on who always sounded so desperate and needy in @LittleTownLuxe’s videos.
Ms. LittleTownLuxe herself froze, her gaze honed in on Jase’s face.
Pleasure lit her eyes in the moment before she followed the line of his body, saw his arm wrapped in that awkward angle around me, clocked his palm on my hip.
Her eyes widened, a hint of shock there, and pain pinched the already taut line of her mouth.
Her red lipstick was perfect for her skintone, but I already knew she was all about appearances.
“Jase.” His name fell from her lips in a hushed murmur, and pain lingered in the syllable.
I hadn’t thought she was capable of real emotions because I’d seen how she treated the people she was supposed to love through that channel of hers, but that hurt was genuine.
Seeing him with me was like a knife sliding between her ribs.
He ignored her, too, steady now, moving us forward, sidestepping one of the bronze statues scattered downtown with the benches.
The Pink Valise’s door opened again with that cheery jingle of bells, and a tall guy stepped out, navy blazer over khaki slacks, sandy hair just this side of perfectly styled.
“Girl, you put a hurting on my wallet.” With a chuckle, he folded a proprietary hand on Elizabeth’s waist. She went rigid, her gaze still fixed on Jase’s face.
After a moment, she lifted her chin, throat moving with a hard swallow, and she turned a brilliant smile on him, resting her hand in the middle of his chest.
“I’m worth every penny.” Her gaze slid sideways to Jase as we passed, gauging his reaction, and her face paled further, red lips standing out like blood, when he didn’t even look her way.
Her girlfriend-slash-minion laughed, too loud and too fake, behind us, and I caught Mr. Old Money’s pained wince.
Pretty sure I recognized him from one of Mama Nancy’s fundraisers but I couldn’t put a name with the face.
Thomasville had a lot of those men, all cut from the same cloth.
I’d never felt comfortable with any of them because even with Mama Nancy’s last name, I wasn’t valuable enough for any of them without that name.
I’m sure plenty of them were decent, but I wasn’t their type and they weren’t mine.
Unsettled by the encounter, I slowed my feet once we had some distance between us. Jase dropped his arm, turning so he could look at me.
Only at me.
He never looked back at her, once.
His jaw could have been hewn from granite, though. I folded my arms, and he followed the movement, mouth tightening so his lips disappeared.
“She doesn’t matter anymore,” he said, his voice quiet. He took a step to the outer edge of the sidewalk, and I followed so people could get by. “But I can’t give her any kind of opening. She’d take it and run a mile.”
Hugging my waist, I studied him. His brows hovered in a slight frown, but his blue gaze remained steady on me. He rested his hands at his belt, legs slightly spread, head tilted in my direction, attention solely focused on me.
But I could feel her gaze on us, even with half a block between. That worth every penny remark had been for Jase, a blatant attempt to spark jealousy. It hadn’t worked, and she knew it.
And the way she’d looked at him? That had been the only real thing about her. Her expression had been that of a woman looking at the man she still loved with another woman. Seeing him hurt her, deeply, and seeing him with me hurt worse.
I could empathize with that pain – looking at what you wanted and couldn’t have was awful and the story of my entire childhood – but I also knew when you had something valuable, you treated it as such.
She’d treated him like he was expendable, and he’d walked away. She’d thrown them away, and there was no girl code that said I couldn’t treat him exactly the way he deserved.
He was a good man and he deserved the best. I meant to be that for him.
I dropped my arms and smiled up at him, so bright his brows lifted in surprise. “So I didn’t get a seasonal cocktail at the Farmer’s Daughter, but the Tea Room is down here and they have hot spiced cider. Let’s go try that.”
Gratitude and relief flashed over his face, and he folded an arm about my waist, dipping his head for a swift kiss. “They have great snickerdoodles, too. Come on, sugar dumpling, and let’s get you hooked up.”
Her gaze bored into my back all the way down the block.
I didn’t have to give him directions to the Bartlett place. I frowned as he hooked left off 19 onto the little-known shortcut through the woods. “You know where you’re going.”
“Yep. Attended a couple of their quail hunts with Daddy and Grandaddy. Worked on some of their machinery” He rested his wrist on the wheel, humming along with Johnny Cash on the radio. “Friend of mine got married here, too.”
The sun had dipped below the pine trees and the pecan orchard surrounding the Bartletts’ home, so dusk hovered when he turned into the driveway.
Cars already lined the front of the house, and the outdoor string lights lit up the backyard.
Nineties country and the scent of hot peanut oil drifted on the air when he came around to open my door.
I hopped down, cataloguing who was here by the vehicles. My hand wrapped in his, I led him around the side of the house to the back where we were engulfed in greetings from Mama Nancy, Marilyn’s parents, her grandfather Coach Bartlett, and Maggie’s parents.
“Hey! I’ve missed you this week.” Maggie threw herself into hugging me. She smiled at Jase, her dimples flashing. “Hi, Jase.”
He grinned. “Hey, Maggie.”
“Oh, this is Noah.” She snagged her new boyfriend’s arm and drew him forward, his face set in what I’d come to learn was his perpetual bored expression. “Noah, this is my friend Tyler and–”
“Yeah, we know each other.” He lifted his beer. “How’s it hanging, Jase?”
“Just fine.” His voice emerged tight and dripped with distaste, although I don’t think Noah was smart enough to catch that. Maggie had turned away to answer her mama, so she missed the interaction.
“Yeah, that’s good.” Noah’s gaze slid from Jase’s face, over my chest, to land on Maggie’s ass. I wrinkled my nose. I’d only met him once or twice, but so far? Not impressed.
“Tyler, make sure you and Jase get something to drink.” Mrs. Bartlett patted my shoulder as she walked by with a platter of her trademark deviled eggs.
“Yes, ma’am.” I smiled at Noah even as I tugged Jase toward the beverage station. “We’ll talk to you later, Noah.”
“Yeah.” He swigged his beer, still eyeing Maggie’s ass . . . in front of her parents. Good Lord.
I grabbed Jase’s biceps as we walked away. “What was that?”
One of his brows winged upward. “What was what?”
“The way you looked at Noah.”
“Bradshaw?” He shrugged, casting a quick glance over his shoulder to where Noah and Maggie were talking. She clung to his arm, laughing up at him while he looked bored as always. “Not one of my favorite people.”
Discomfort shivered down my spine. “Why not?”
“His parents spoiled him, and he’s lazy.” He passed me a spiced ginger ale, my favorite, and fished out a beer, shaking icy water off his wrist. “She could do better.”
Well, of course. My friend was amazing, and anyone would be blessed to land her. Running my thumb around the rough edge of the bottle cap, I studied Maggie. That unease whispered over me again. She appeared happy enough in the curve of Noah’s arm while they talked with Mama Nancy and her parents.
Jase followed my line of sight and twisted the top off his beer. “Maybe she’ll be good for him.”
Maybe.
A black SUV rumbled into the drive, slotting in next to Jase’s truck. Michael Bartlett emerged from the driver’s seat and soon Willa Jae tumbled from the back seat, running to her grandparents.
We reached the group, just as Michael finished hugging our mamas and shaking hands with the men.
“Tyler.” He drew me into a hard hug, holding on a moment longer than necessary, just like always. He stepped back and smiled, gaze dipping over me. “You look good, girl.”
I felt Jase’s displeasure rolling off him. Ignoring it and Michael’s grin, I wrapped my arm through Jase’s. “Michael, this is Jase Hatcher–”
“We’ve met a couple of times.” Michael extended his hand. “You fixed one of our sweepers last month.”
“I did.” Jase’s hand closed around Michael’s in his customary firm shake. He anchored his other arm around my waist like planting a flag to signal he’d claimed me. Like I was Alaska or something.
Michael knew it, too, a smirk playing about his lips. I’d thought about hooking up with him once or twice when I was younger and he was freshly divorced – but his ex was psycho and I didn’t need the hassle.
As the night unfolded, it became obvious Jase fit in here in a way Noah didn’t. He pitched in without being asked, whistling as he carried trash bags to the cans at the side of the house, while Maggie had to nudge Noah toward helping Michael clean and store the fryer.
She sidled up to me, snaking her arm around my waist to pinch me. “Okay, you two are adorable together. He did not like Mikey hugging you.”
“I wouldn’t be all that okay with another woman hugging him like that.” I made a face. I’d make sure it didn’t happen with Michael again, either. I just hadn’t thought far enough ahead earlier. I watched Jase stop by Mr. Bartlett to help fold tables. “I should have stepped away.”
“So what did Mama Nancy think?”
“She liked him.” I smiled, remembering, then turned to look at Maggie. “What about Noah and your parents?”
She grimaced. “Daddy isn’t impressed.”
I wasn’t either, but I didn’t know him. And Maggie seemed into him. Maybe she saw something I didn’t. But Jase’s opinion about Noah lingered, nudging unease along under my skin. I trusted him and valued what he thought so–
He glanced my way, like he could sense me thinking good things about him. A slow grin curved his lips, and he winked, arms flexing as he folded in the table legs.
Warmth flashed through me, physical desire because I knew when we made it back to Chandler County, I’d see those same muscles flexing as he held himself up above me, thrusting inside me, and something deeper, more visceral, an emotion I didn’t know how to name yet.
“Oh.” Maggie nudged me, and I turned my head, dragging my attention from his handsome face and that smile, to find her goggling at me, eyes wide. She squeezed me in a tight, one-armed hug of absolute joy. “Oh, so it’s like that with y’all.”
“Mags, what are you talking about?” My heart fluttered in my chest, stealing my ability to breathe, and I could feel his gaze, but much differently than I’d felt Elizabeth Hall’s gaze earlier.
“That man is more than into you, sweetheart.” She laughed, her sweet, bright chortle that normally grounded me. “That right there is a man falling in love.”
I jerked my head sideways, staring at her, and she laughed once more, holding me close. My throat closed up, refusing to push a denial to my lips.
“And know what makes it better?” With a wide smile, she popped my ass. “You’re falling for him, too.”