Chapter 21
TWENTY-ONE
Bristol
The morning of our big Halloween event, I get to the ranch early, but even I can’t beat Anson.
He sees my truck pulling up into the lot and waves at me.
I watch him nodding gravely along to something one of his guys is saying, and Kell is standing nearby shaking his head.
The two of them take off back toward the haunted house, and Anson heads my way.
The look on his face tells me I’m not going to like the news, and as I put my truck in park, I feel queasy with worry.
Hazel comes back from her trip this morning, and I want everything to be perfect for her tonight.
She was trusting me and Anson to put on the first festival without her, and so far, it’s gone well.
We had record numbers, and despite our diversions, or maybe made better by them, Anson and I are a killer team on this project.
I want to make her as proud of us as I am.
So I hate that I can tell before Anson even says a word that things are about to take a turn for the worse.
“That looked ominous,” I say as I climb out of the truck.
“Unfortunately.” Anson nods.
“Tell me before I get back in my truck and flee the scene.” I try to joke to lighten the mood.
“There’s an issue with the haunted house. They tried to get the fireplace working this morning, so you all could have that scary tales-by-the-fire event tonight, but there was an issue with the flue. I guess it needs to be cleaned, and it’s caused a whole hell of a lot of issues,” Anson explains.
“Meaning?” I press as I toss my bag over my shoulder and lean back against the truck.
“They tried to light the fire. The smoke backed up into the house. It took them a few to put it out. They didn’t check the flue to be sure it was clear, and sure enough, there were some dead animals and debris in it.
And it’s not connected properly in the attic either. So there’ll be no tales by the fire.”
Crap. I was counting on that event. But it’s the least of our worries if we’ve destroyed all the hard work on the house in the process.
“But is the house okay?”
“It’s okay. Still standing and in one piece. But it’s a mess. Smoke-filled. Soot everywhere.”
“Oh my god. Can we get the house cleaned up in time?” I feel the panic seep into my body and start to flood my senses.
“We’re working on it. I’ve called in all the backup I can muster from my team.
We gotta get the windows open and the air quality up.
Get a few industrial air purifiers in there and get the flue cleaned out.
Then we’re working on cleaning up the space.
Grace sent over the inn’s housekeeper with a battery of supplies, and she’s got the guys on their hands and knees scrubbing everything.
” Anson smirks. “I don’t think they’ll sign up for next year’s event. ”
“Well, worst-case scenario, we don’t have the haunted house tonight. That’s… terrible but survivable. All the vendor booths are still open? The hayrides running? Horses are happy?” I try to find some positives to cling to in this mess.
“No other reports of trouble,” Anson confirms. “At least not until you got here.” He wraps his arms around my waist and pulls me close. The warmth of his body against mine has a soothing effect I can’t deny anymore.
“Is that so?” I smile, leaning into his touch and kissing him softly.
“After we finish up here tonight, you’re coming to my place. Ford’s staying with a friend for a Halloween party, and we have the house to ourselves.”
“Do we?”
“We do, and the very nice woman who owns the local adult toy store helped me pick out some more costumes and toys this week.” He grins.
“Did she now? Exactly how much help was she?” I feign jealousy, and he kisses me again, deeper this time as he tightens his grip on my hip with one hand and uses the other to hold my chin.
“We shouldn’t be doing this here. You’re the one causing trouble now,” I warn.
“I don’t mind trouble if it involves you,” he murmurs before he pins me against the truck and I wrap my leg around his.
“Well, that explains a lot.” Jasper’s voice pierces our bubble, and I feel my heart drop to my stomach as I turn to see him on the deck of the ranch house.
“Jasper! Hi!” I feel the heat on my cheeks, and the mortification burns down my neck into the pit of my stomach. “What’re you doing here?”
“Anson asked for my help. I was grabbing a couple of air purifiers from the house like he asked.” The searing look of betrayal he gives Anson makes me want to jump to his defense. I should have known he would be part of the rescue crew Anson summoned to help us out of this jam.
My stomach sinks at the fact that Anson knew Jasper was this close and kissed me anyway. This was reckless by anyone’s standards and positively out of character for him.
“Fuck,” Anson mutters under his breath.
“What was that?” Jasper pretends not to hear.
“I’m sorry you saw that,” Anson apologizes.
“I’m not. It makes a whole lot more sense now. Although I am confused because I thought you had a boyfriend?” His eyes narrow on the place where Anson hasn’t taken his hand off my hip.
“I said I was seeing someone.” The semantics don’t feel like very good armor in the face of Jasper’s ire.
“And you didn’t think to mention it was a friend of mine?” Jasper looks hurt by that more than anything, and I feel my stomach tumble again as he turns to Anson. “You know she was kissing me just a few weeks ago.”
“I saw.”
“I told you how I felt. Both of you, actually.”
Another blow to my gut that has me feeling like the worst kind of awful.
“Which is why we kept it quiet. We didn’t want to hurt you.” Anson tries to make it clear nothing about this was malicious.
“Fantastic fucking job on that.” Jasper’s sarcastic smile stabs at my heart. We’re not as close as we used to be, but I would never want to hurt him.
“I’m sorry, Jasper. Please give us a chance to explain.” I try to make amends.
“Here are the purifiers you wanted, Ans. I’m gonna head out. I have another project to check on.” He drops the two units on the deck and hurries down the steps headed for his truck.
“Jasper, please,” I plead with him as he opens the door to jump in his truck. “We weren’t trying to hurt you. We just needed time to process things ourselves without other people involved.”
He whips around, looking at me like I’ve lost my mind.
“Have you seen the size of the town we live in? Everyone’s involved.
Always. There’s no escaping that, so you might as well not lie to your friends.
You make us look like a bunch of assholes that way.
” Jasper shakes his head. “I would have been happy for you two eventually if you’d just fucking told me.
It’s the part where you make me feel like a fucking fool that I hate. ”
“We didn’t intend for that to happen,” Anson argues on our behalf from behind me.
“And yet it fuckin’ did, didn’t it?” Jasper shoots him another icy glare before he starts his truck and shuts the door, peeling out of the spot a minute later.
“Fucking hell,” I mutter under my breath.
“He’ll be fine.” The furrow in Anson’s brow betrays him.
“Eventually. But in the meantime, he’s gonna tell Marlowe. Marlowe’s gonna know I didn’t tell her the truth. She’s gonna hate me for that. Depending on who else he tells, it’s possible Hazel will find out before we can talk to her too.”
“We could head that off at the pass.” Anson holds up his phone.
“I don’t think telling her I’ve been sleeping with her brother via text is going to go over very well.”
“She’ll live.”
“Yeah, but I might not if she finds out I lied to her and Marlowe. Ugh. I feel sick.” I wrap my arms around my middle wishing I’d told everyone the truth a long time ago.
“You didn’t lie. You kept something private. You’re allowed to do that.”
“In our friend group? When it involves their brothers?” I shake my head. “There’s no such thing.” I clutch my stomach, hoping to quell my rising anxiety. I hate the idea of Anson and I only being able to be together alongside the loss of all our friends.
“I’ll talk to Hazel. I can take the heat. I’ll tell them I asked you not to say anything to anyone. That it was my idea. You know they’ll believe that.”
“I don’t want to add more lies to the mix. It’s just gonna be time for me to face the music. Or the inquisition, depending on what mood Hazel is in.” I groan. “What a fucking disaster today is.”
“Not a disaster. Everyone has been loving the event. It’s made more money than any other year.
Hazel’s going to love all the changes you made.
The event’s a success despite all this today.
Don’t let this all get to your head. We’ve got this.
” Anson gives me the pep talk I need right now like he can read my thoughts.
I’ll have to hope that’s going to be enough to fix things where Hazel is concerned, or at least dampen the fiery mood she’s likely going to be in. Hazel forgives easy after her temper passes. Marlowe, on the other hand, is going to take a massive apology. I just hope she can forgive me.
So much for midnight on Halloween. Turns out that when the clock strikes, my work will just be getting started.