Chapter 9 #3
It might not have all the bells and whistles of my last one, but it would certainly do the trick. “When did you have the time to get this?”
Flint shrugged. “I’m just that good. You’ll learn that soon enough.”
Rolling my eyes, I glanced at Ethan again. “Are you sure you can’t take me today?”
Chuckling, he pecked a quick kiss on my lips. “Have a good time at work,” he called over his shoulder before disappearing into the quiet and peace of his home study.
As always, my shift seemed to go by in fast forward. To his credit, I barely even noticed Flint’s presence as I scurried about filling people’s intricate drink and food orders. If it weren’t for my female coworkers gushing over him every five minutes, I would have forgotten his presence altogether.
As I climbed exhaustedly into his truck after my shift, I handed Flint several napkins.
“What are these for?” He asked with a confused expression written across his handsome face.
“They’re the phone numbers of all the women I worked with today. They were drooling over you and practically fighting over who was going to ask you out first. In order to keep the peace, I told them to write down their numbers and I’d let you decide who to call back,” I explained with a deep sigh.
Snorting, Flint folded the wad of napkins and stuffed them into his jacket pocket for later. “Thanks. Now if I get bored watching your spoiled ass, I can have a different date each day of the week.”
“Don’t be a pig,” I shot back, kicking off my shoes to let my feet breathe.
“Moi?” He retorted with mock shock. “I’m not the pig here. It’s the horny women at your place of employment who are chasing me like I’m just some delicious piece of meat.”
My brow hiked at his words. “Yeah, I’m sure it’s so distressing to you that a group of young, attractive women is fighting over who gets to see you naked.”
Flint shot an interested look my way. “They were fighting over me? Tell me more.”
Rolling my eyes, I ignored his question and asked one of my own. “Speaking of fighting with people, why do you and Stark argue so much?”
I knew it was rude and not my place to butt in, but that wasn’t going to stop me from doing it.
Besides, Flint was the king of butting in.
He wouldn’t have waited a single second to find out this information if the shoe was on the other foot, so I wasn’t feeling bad nosing into his private business for once.
His face sobering, Flint shrugged noncommittally. “Stark and I don’t always fight when we’re together. Just, like, ninety-five percent of the time.”
Holding back another eyeroll, I said, “What gives? I thought you Cascia House boys were all really tight?”
“We are.”
“Except when you’re at each other’s throats?”
Flint’s body posture became more rigid and his hands gripped the wheel. “We just don’t have much in common, is all.”
I frowned. “You actually have a ton in common. You both are in the same line of work. You both came from the same place. You both had similar childhoods. Seriously, try again: why are the two of you so contentious around one another?”
Remaining silent for a few seconds, Flint finally said, “I’m not sure what Ethan has told you about us, but Stark and I shared a room back in Alaska. I’d been there since I was three, and Stark showed up at fourteen.”
Ethan had only told me the bare bones about Flint’s stay at Cascia House.
My stomach knotted at the thought of a three-year-old losing his whole family with no understanding of where everyone had gone.
Not wanting to cause Flint any further upset though, I merely nodded to let him know I was listening.
“At first, Starky and I were great friends. Inseparable, really,” Flint continued. “Then, in our senior year, we met Heidi, a foreign exchange student from Holland.”
“Hold up. You’re telling me your close friendship ended over a girl?” I accused, disappointment heavily weighing down my tone.
“It didn’t end it, it just got complicated,” Flint hedged sheepishly.
I couldn’t hold back my eyeroll now. “Seriously, Flint! Complicated? What are you? A teenage girl! Spill!”
“It’s stupid. I know that now,” he confessed, “but at the time, it was a very big deal. Stark and I were both young, virile wares. There were a lot of hormones involved back then, and you should have seen Heidi.” He whistled at the very memory of her. “She was exceptionally… developed for her age.”
I could have done without the visual of Flint air juggling watermelons to help me understand what he meant.
“Alright, alright, that’ll be enough of that. Hands ten and two on the wheel before you get us into an accident remembering the painfully endowed Heidi,” I groused.
Grinning, Flint dutifully did as he was told.
“So that’s it? You’re still not talking because of a Swedish exchange student in twelfth grade?”
“She was from Holland,” Flint corrected, “but the rest sounds about right, yes.”
I was floored. “And after all these years, you can’t get over it?”
“Oh, I’m over it,” Flint emphatically stated. “It’s Stark who can’t let that shit go.”
“I’m guessing by that smug expression on your face that Heidi chose to date you over your best friend.” I’m sure that would hurt anyone’s feelings, if the roles were reversed.
Flint shrugged. “It seems Heidi was more into guys who didn’t have to be drawn and quartered to get them to speak. Though, I can’t say she and I ever did much talking, if you catch my drift.”
I made a choking sound in the back of my throat. “Stop right there! I don’t want to hear any more about you and Heidi getting to know each other… intimately.”
“Boy did we ever!” Flint said with a sparkle in his eye and a grin on his lips. “Did I mention that Heidi was a gymnast back in Holland?”
I was beginning to wish I’d never asked about the quarrel. “You need to apologize to him,” I advised Flint then.
His brow creased at my words. “Me? Why?”
“Because it’s the right thing to do,” I snapped irritably.
“Why is the Heidi situation my fault? I can’t help it that the ladies find me so irresistible.” He pointed to his pocket to remind me about all the napkins with women’s cell numbers stuffed inside.
“You’re not apologizing for women liking you, Flint. You’re apologizing for competing with your friend for someone who meant next to nothing to you,” I firmly stated.
“How do you know Heidi meant nothing to me? I could have loved her,” the stubborn ware half-heartedly argued.
Giving him a hard look, I said, “Please! You were in lust with the girl, not love. You barely even talked to her when you were together. You were too busy sucking face!”
Flint chuckled. “Like you and Ethan are any different. I seem to recall the two of you taking a long detour after lunch the other day. I wonder if you were discussing politics or the plight of the indigenous peoples of Montana?”
“Don’t compare my mate and I to your semester long fling, Flint. Even you know the difference between love and like.”
“Alright, alright,” Flint capitulated. “I get it. But I still don’t see why I have to apologize. He’s just as much to blame as I am.”
I sighed as I leaned against the leather interior of my seat. “If you say so.”
I wasn’t their leader. I couldn’t make the two men apologize and make up. Either they wanted to put this nonsense fight behind them, or they didn’t. It didn’t really affect me either way.
The usually verbose Flint seemed more contemplative as we sped down the dirt, pothole ridden backroads. While he didn’t admit it out loud, I think my words about apologizing to Stark had really gotten to him.
Flicking on the radio, I began to toggle through the stations. Without satellite access this far out in the woods, the pickings were slim. Just as I found a station that was semi-interesting, I noticed Flint took a left turn about two roads sooner than the one Ethan’s cabin was on.
“Um, Flint, what are you doing? You took the wrong turn back to the cabin.” It was an easy enough mistake to make. All these roads looked nearly identical to one another.
When I looked up, I noticed that Flint’s gaze was boomeranging between the rearview mirror and front window.
“I’m taking a shortcut,” he answered distractedly.
“A short cut,” I repeated. “I don’t think so. Ethan told me that most of these roads lead to dead ends because the houses are so far apart and isolated from one another.”
Flint’s green eyes once again sought out the rearview mirror. Looking over my shoulder, I glimpsed a nondescript white SUV following behind us. An uncomfortable feeling in the pit of my stomach began to form as I considered the reason Flint would be so concerned with that.
“Do you know that car behind us?” I asked, hoping to hell he did.
“Nope,” Flint returned, “but they’ve taken the last three turns in the same direction as us and I’m testing to see what will happen If I take a fourth.”
He didn’t have to say anything else. That statement, coupled with how isolated it was out here, made that car suspect as hell.
I glanced back again, trying to look inside the SUV. Unfortunately, their windows were so tinted, I couldn’t see anything but the sun glaring back at me.
My mouth went dry as I licked my lips. “Do you think whoever is driving that car is the person who texted me?”
Flint smiled, but it didn’t reach his eyes. “Unlikely,” he spoke, as he slowed down to a crawl. When the vehicle was right behind us, he unexpectedly cut the wheel and pulled off onto the side of the road where there was a bit of a clearing.
The SUV behind us braked hard, but didn’t stop. Like he’d driven cars for a living, Flint smoothly kicked the truck into reverse, spun it around, then floored it so we were now heading back in the opposite direction.
While the SUV didn’t mimic our move, it inched down the road like it was watching us from afar. Stepping on the gas, Flint drove about twenty miles over the speed limit back to the cabin. It didn’t feel like I could breathe until we pulled down the driveway and the cabin came into view.