Chapter 114
Chapter One Hundred-Fourteen
Shayne
The fence panels are heavy as hell, and the further we get from the main gates, into the forest area at the front, road-facing side of the property, the harder it gets to drag another pile of the fucking things along to the next section.
Thank Owen for the thick gloves he gave us but I’m still wearing more bruises and cuts under my clothes than I’d like to admit to.
“Are we seriously still only on the first section?” I ask Falcon.
He laughs as we drop the panel into its slots within the trench. Half of yesterday was spent measuring and placing those foundation parts, so I’m glad the posts fit, but this work is completely mind-numbing, as much as it’s also physically taxing.
“You’re doing great,” he tells me, as I hold the edge of the new metal panel.
He has a pocket full of nuts and bolts, and he moves back and forth between the sides to get those tightened with a handheld electrical tool. I guess at least the battery for that thing hasn’t needed to be charged up again since we got out here.
“This is going to take forever!” I complain.
“It’s not,” he says. “We have this one side to get done. Owen and Pete have the back fence, and they have two teams of two on the right and left. We’ll be done in a few hours, max.”
“I doubt it,” I mutter, not seeing how that’s possible.
“Look, I know it’s a pain,” he starts. “But this place is going to be our home, with Robin. The safer it is, the better for all of us.”
“I get that,” I tell him, as we move back to pick up the next panel. “I do. I just … This is some kind of interim plan, right? While Robin gets comfortable with the idea of moving out of here?”
Falcon stops at his side of the panel and looks at me.
It’s been bright all morning, and his hair looks golden blond when the sun hits it.
The dark jumpsuits Owen gave us before we started make us look like convicts, but I don’t want to think about how much more scraped up I would have been if I hadn’t put it on.
“Is that how you’re seeing it?” Falcon asks.
“Well, yeah. I mean, we’ve been talking about getting a house together forever. It always gets pushed back for some reason. I thought now that we’re a complete pack, that would make it the end goal again, I guess.”
I shrug, because I’m worn out and honestly, probably too tired to be starting this conversation right now.
“It is the end goal,” he confirms. “We’ll get a house. A home. Together. I can still see that.”
“But?” I ask, wondering what it is that he’s holding back.
“I think we’re here for a reason, Shayne. That’s all. I don’t what that means yet, but I feel it.”
He doesn’t have anything else to say, and I don’t like his answer.
It’s as vague as when he told me he needed to figure out what to do with his life before we could build something stronger together.
“You know the first thought through Jay’s mind when he found out about Robin was how many kids we’d end up having, right?” I ask, trying to make him see that his answer isn’t good enough.
He nods slowly. “I know. We all want a family. It’ll happen.”
“Here?” I ask, gesturing around me.
He sighs. “Does it matter where we are when it happens?”
“Of course it does! Kids need a home, Falcon. A real home, where all their parents live, all of the time. You really think we could raise kids in this place? We might as well raise them in a glass cage!” I stare at him, waiting for him to say something, anything that would prove he cares.
“I know it’s not ideal,” he says. “But it’s where we’re at right now.”
He might as well have shrugged and said nothing.
“We’re both tired,” he goes on. “It’s not the time to talk about this.”
I bite back the urge to ask when that time will ever be.
He’s not wrong. We’re worn out and there’s a shit-ton of work still to do before we’re done for the day. I just know we’ll be too exhausted to talk again after this fence shit.
So, I tell myself it doesn’t matter.
Not right now. Not in this second.
“Fine.” I get ready to lift the next panel.
He picks it up from the other side.
We move to the next spot and get the panel in place.
Going through our routine, I switch the thinking side of my brain off and go into autopilot.
Falcon tells me whenever we need to do something different, and we get through it one panel at a time. By the time we’re closer to the end of the front side, we find out we’re going a little bit faster than the guys on the side we’re about to meet.
They’re maybe halfway done.
“This is our end, right?” I ask Falcon, knowing we have a few panels left to finish up.
The sky is starting to get dark and we’re finally on the section that links up the garden.
“Huh?” he asks, too busy tightening the final bolt on our fourth last panel.
“When we’re done with our side, we’re done for the day. Right?”
“Uh, yeah …” he murmurs, frowning as he moves toward me. “Why? What’s … Oh.”
He doesn’t look too pleased. The two guys installing the fence are taking almost twice as long as we did. If he lets them go on like that, they’ll be out here all night. Meanwhile, that means there’s a gap in our security.
“Fuck,” he mutters, giving me a guilty look.
“Don’t say it,” I tell him.
I’m so beyond tired. I just want to go back to Robin’s suite and pass out on the bed.
“We barely stopped for ten minutes to eat around lunchtime, and my bruises from moving those damn panels have their own bruises. I’m not working on another side to get this stupid fence finished faster.”
I stretch a little bit and Falcon nods.
“I won’t say it.”
“You won’t?”
He shrugs. “Come on, we’ve got a few panels to finish.”
“Great.” I follow him to the next panel, and we get moving.
It’s easier to keep going now that I know when we’ll be done.
We might even get to see our mates before we go to bed tonight.
That’s the thought that keeps me going.
This job is a pain in the ass, but it’s not forever.
We’re almost done. I can’t wait.