Chapter 9
When I walk into the workshop, both Kai and my dad stop what they’re doing and turn to face me, huge grins on their faces. Of course, my brother has told Dad, because the fucker is unable to keep his mouth shut about anything.
“The walk of shame, ladies and gentlemen,” Kai shouts, announcing it to the whole workshop and the two other guys my dad employs.
I flip him off as I greet Dad with a hug and a, “Hey, old man.”
Dad laughs, slapping me on the back as he says, “Hey yourself. Heard a rumor you might have taken my advice yesterday?”
I glance at Kai, who’s grinning like the fool he is, before looking back to my dad. I’m not sure I did take his advice exactly, because Daze and I didn’t do a whole lot of talking about us and what we were doing or where we were going.
But she did end up in my bed, and I guess that counts for something.
“Sort of, yeah,” I admit.
“Sort of?” Dad asks with a laugh. “Because your brother here has been complaining all morning about the lack of sleep he got last night thanks to the noises coming from your bedroom.”
“Yeah? Well, we can call it payback,” I say with an eye roll.
Dad laughs again, giving Kai a pointed look as he says, “Hmm, I’m pretty sure that debt isn’t even close to being paid off.”
Kai’s grin widens as he throws out his arms and says, “What can I say? The ladies love me.”
Dad groans at that before turning back to me. “So, you and Daisy. Things are good?”
I blow out a breath, shrugging as I say, “Things are...complicated, but also good. Great even.”
“So, did you talk to her?”
“Yeah...” I admit, but I can tell from the smirk on Dad’s face that he knows other shit happened that stopped the talking.
“Alright, I don’t need to know the finer details here,” he says, hands up. “Just be careful, Miles. You two still need to talk about everything that happened and where you go from here.”
“I know, Dad,” I tell him. “And we will.”
“Okay,” he says, slapping me on the back. “So how about we get these boards done?”
We’ve been working for an hour or so when Kai’s phone rings. Neither Dad or I pay much attention to it until Kai walks over to me, hand out, and says, “Dude, it’s Lisa. She wants to talk to you.”
“Me?” I ask, taking the phone as Kai nods. “Lisa, hey, it’s Miles.”
“Miles, look, I don’t know what’s going on with you and Daze. I hope it’s what I think it is, but I also think you kinda need to get down here now.”
“Wait, what...why?” I ask. “What’s going—”
“Isaac’s here,” she replies, cutting me off. “And he’s being a total dick.”
“I’m on my way,” I say, ending the call without a goodbye before throwing the phone at Kai. “I’ve gotta head down to the bar. I’ll be back in a bit,” I say, already walking out of the workshop.
“Dude, you need anything?” Kai asks at the same time as Dad shouts, “Be careful.”
I drive over to the bar, which is maybe fifteen minutes from Dad’s workshop, pulling in beside Daisy’s car and heading inside. The second I step foot inside the bar, I see the asshole sitting at the end of the bar, a sneer on his face as he says something to Daisy.
“Hey!” I shout, walking over to him. “What the fuck do you think you’re doing?”
Isaac turns to me, the sneer turning into a grin as I hear Daisy say, “Miles, it’s fine.”
Ignoring her, I focus my attention on the asshole who tried to take my girl, as I say, “You are not welcome here.”
Isaac laughs as he props an elbow on the bar. “Says who? It’s a public bar, and I’m a paying customer. Pretty sure I have every right to be here.”
“No,” I snap, my hands curling into fists at my sides. “Get the fuck out, Isaac. There are plenty of other places to eat.”
Isaac’s grin turns to a smirk as he casts a glance at Daisy and says, “And what if I want to eat right here, because it’s got exactly what I want?”
“I swear to fucking god,” I growl, my hand fisting the front of his T-shirt as I lean in close, my face only inches from his.
“What, Miles?” he taunts, just as Daisy appears beside us, a hand on each of our chests as she pushes us apart.
“Enough,” she snaps, hitting me with a look before she turns to Isaac and does the same. “This is my job, and the last thing I need is you two in here starting a fight.”
“Wasn’t me who started it, Daze,” Isaac says, pushing her hair over her shoulder, his finger trailing along her skin.
Daisy flinches at the touch, stepping back, and my hand grabs the front of his shirt again. “Touch her again, and I will fucking end you,” I say, my words low and hard.
Isaac just laughs as Daisy now turns, and grabbing my arm, leads me away from the bar. “Miles, I’ve got this,” she says. “You need to go.”
“I need to go?” I ask, incredulous. “Why the fuck do I need to go, Daze?”
She huffs out a breath, glancing around at the bar before she takes my hand in hers and leads me back down the same corridor I dragged her through last night. We don’t go into the storeroom, though, stopping just before it.
“Are you regretting last night?” I blurt out, suddenly worried that’s what all of this is about.
Isaac being here. Touching her. Daisy asking me to leave.
“No!” she shouts, resting her hands against my chest as she steps closer. “I have no regrets, Miles, never.”
I exhale a ragged breath, my fingers circling around her wrists. “Then what the fuck is this about?” I ask, my words softer now.
Daisy smiles, pushing up on her toes to brush a kiss against my lips. “First of all, hi,” she whispers, kissing me again.
I smile against her mouth, letting go of her wrists and sliding my arms around her waist, pulling her against me, my hands resting on her ass. “Hi,” I murmur before kissing her again, deeper this time.
Daisy laughs a little, pulling back as she looks up at me, her blue eyes meeting mine. “He’s just here to have lunch.”
“He’s not just here to have lunch, Daze,” I scoff.
She tips her head to the side. “I know, but as long as I act like that’s all it is, then that’s all it will be,” she says. “I’m trying not to let him get to me.”
“He fucking touched you,” I say.
She gives me a small smile. “But he doesn’t get to be with me,” she whispers. “You are who I want, Miles. Only you.”
“Fuck, Daze,” I growl, closing the distance between us again as I kiss her hard and deep, my arms tightening as I pull her so she’s flush against me. “I can’t fucking lose you again,” I murmur, my forehead on hers. “Not again, not ever.”
Daisy puts a hand on my cheek. “You won’t, Miles, I promise,” she says. “Do you...do you trust me?”
“Daze,” I murmur, knowing that we both broke the trust we had in each other, doing shit that I’m pretty sure neither of us thought we’d ever do.
But I know bringing that up right now isn’t going to do either of us any good. And while Daisy and I might have a lot to talk about, deep down, I do know I can trust her.
“I know I broke that trust,” she now whispers, her eyes filling with tears.
“So did I,” I say, brushing my thumb across her cheek. “But I do trust you, Daze. I always have.”
She nods, and I kiss her again, wishing we could just move past all of this. But I know it’s going to take time and lots of honesty and probably some fights too before we can. But I’m here for it. I’m not going anywhere because I meant what I said before.
I cannot lose her again.
“Okay, so I should let you get back to work, right?” I ask, giving her a grin.
Daisy laughs, glancing down the corridor to the bar. “If I still have a job.”
Laughing, I drop my arm around her shoulders as we walk back to the bar. “If you don’t, let me know. I’ll call in a favor with my brother.”
“Ewww,” Daisy says, slapping my chest.
We walk out to find Lisa behind the bar and Isaac now nowhere to be seen. Daisy moves behind the long wooden counter as I take a seat, smiling as Lisa walks over.
“I sent him to sit outside,” she says, jerking her thumb at the deck. “Can’t just kick him out,” she adds with a shrug.
“I get it, and look, sorry. I didn’t mean to cause any trouble,” I say.
Lisa laughs, shaking her head at me. “You Olsen boys have always been trouble.”
“Hey,” I say, grinning. “Do not lump me in with that fool I call my brother.”
“You know it’s true, Miles,” she says, giving me a wink. “Now, you ordering or you gonna let my staff get back to work?”
I grin as I say, “I’m ordering, but I’ll take it to go. That alright?”
Lisa smirks as she turns to Daisy and says, “Well, in that case, I’ll leave you in the capable hands of your server.”
She walks off, and I can’t resist leaning over the bar and saying, “Happy to be in your capable hands anytime.”
Daze smirks, swatting a dish towel in my direction as she slides a menu in front of me. “Let me know what you want.”
After I take lunch back to the workshop, stopping to eat with Kai and my dad and do another hour or so of work, I head over to The Pipe Dream to cover the lessons I told Nate I’d do.
When I walk into the shop, Nate, Owen and Flynn are all standing by the rack of custom Olsen boards, chatting and laughing.
“Hey,” I say, walking up to join them. The three of them turn and face me, huge grins on their faces that immediately tell me everything. “Fuck me, my idiot brother told you, didn’t he?”
Flynn lets out a loud laugh, crossing his arms over his chest. “Dude, he messaged us all in the group chat. You didn’t see it?”
I slow blink, pulling my phone from my back pocket only to see a million notifications on my screen that started sometime early this morning and ended literally five seconds ago. I don’t really pay much attention to my phone at the best of times, and right now, I’m sort of wishing I hadn’t looked.
Because when I open up the group chat the guys all have going, I can see my asshole brother has been giving them all a blow-by-blow account of my night, my morning and apparently that Daisy and I are not just talking but actively fucking too.
“Jesus christ,” I mutter as Flynn lets out another laugh.
“Yeah, not gonna lie, a little bit TMI on those early messages,” he says. “But hey, it’s all good. You guys are back on, right?”
Shaking my head, I slide my phone back into my pocket, turning my attention back to my friends. “We’re...talking.”
Owen laughs as he steps over and squeezes my shoulder. “Yeah, that’s what Kai said,” he says, grinning. “Kinda seems like it might be more than that, though, right?”
Shrugging, I blow out a breath. “I don’t know,” I admit. “She knows I want to be with her, and she’s finally ended things with that asshole, so...”
“So, that’s good, right?” Owen asks.
I shrug again because if anyone is going to understand this, it’s Owen. He’s been my friend since we started high school, and he also witnessed the whole me and Daisy getting together and then the whole me and Daisy falling apart.
Fuck, it was Owen who called to tell me about Isaac when Daze was no longer returning my calls.
“It’s complicated,” I admit.
He squeezes my shoulder again, giving me a sympathetic look. “Doesn’t have to be, Miles,” he says. “Just make sure you talk to her.”
Talk to her.
It’s what everyone tells me to do.
It’s what I know I need to do, but it doesn’t make it any easier.
Daisy and I might have a lot of history and a lot of good memories, but we also have a lot of bad ones too. We broke each other, and we did it in a way that almost destroyed us. Why would either of us want to bring any of that up again?
But I know there are some things we need to talk about, including our future and where we go from here.
“I will,” I say with a nod.
Owen smiles, squeezing my shoulder once more before letting go.
Flynn leans over and gives me a fist bump as he says, “Reckon we should have a few drinks tonight. Celebrate you getting your girl back.”
Laughing, I nod, loving the idea of all of us being together again. Only this time, I get to have Daisy. Get to hold her, touch her and kiss her whenever I want to.
“Sounds like a plan.”