Chapter 18 #2
“Says the best modern architect of the twenty-twenties.”
“Bah.” He flicked another cap into the fire pit.
“I don’t want to talk about that shit.” He opened another, setting the plate on the wide arm of the chair.
“I like how secluded this is. The trees are nice and you have a bit of privacy, not to mention it mutes some of the road sounds.” He gave a long belch before grinning like an idiot. “Behind me needs to be scrapped.”
“It just needs a little love.”
Kain threw a look over his shoulder. “A whole lot of love.” But his eyes went from dismissive to speculative.
“Ah, shit. Don’t get that look.”
“If I tore out some walls and put in some truly excellent glass it would be a stunner.” He twirled his finger. “Especially this monstrosity of a front.”
I sighed. “It’s not terrible. Just needs finessing.”
“With a bulldozer.”
“I still have to live in it. Don’t get any ideas. And it’s not mine. I’m only renting right now.”
He only grunted. “Think we need some music.”
“That I can handle.” I stood up and snagged a bottle of cider myself. I went back inside. One thing I’d made sure to unpack was my record player and albums. I flipped around the Marshall speaker Kain had sent me for a birthday present one year.
I’d made sure to put it on a shelf near the window for just such a moment. I spent as much time on the deck as I did in my living room. I flicked through my crate of albums that I knew Kain would enjoy. My taste was eclectic, and I had everything from Harry Styles to Miles Davis in my stash.
But my buddy was all about the dirty guitar laced classic rock. When Led Zeppelin’s obscure remastered cuts blasted into the trees, I heard a whoop from my friend. I returned to the deck after making a pit stop for some wood.
The shade of the pines brought out the bugs even with sunset a ways off. I got the fire pit crackling and we shot the shit about Shane and baby number two on the way.
“Shane and Kendall having kids. Who knew?”
“I did.” Kain dangled his bottle from the tip of his fingers. “I knew it the minute he landed in New York that he’d be all about family.”
“I mean, he was never against it, just seemed focused on work.”
“We all are until we’re not.” He looked out at the darkening woods. “You find out what’s important.”
“What’s going on with you?”
Kain glanced at me, his gaze steady and his eyes lost some of their sparkle. “I just needed to get away.”
“Bullshit.”
“What? I pick up and take off all the time.” He drained his bottle and pushed out of the chair to pick up the debris from our dinner.
Now I really knew something was up.
I followed him into the house. Kain went over to my tiny sink and rinsed the dishes, tucking them into the dishwasher. “Your place needs a lot of updating. We can repurpose some things, but man, it’s all pretty much shit.”
I leaned against the sliding door. “You didn’t come here to redo my house, man.”
“What if I want to?”
I barked out a laugh. “Right.”
“Seriously. I need a project.”
“I can almost guarantee you have five corporate jobs and eleven houses on your slate.”
“My people have that handled. Hell, Malia practically kicked me out of the San Fran office.”
Malia was Kain’s right hand woman. She pretty much ran his operation because Kain couldn’t be trusted to keep a schedule. He got too into a project and it became everything. I wasn’t sure I was ready to have that single minded focus attached to anything that included me.
Kain was overwhelming for a weekend, let alone for a full scale remodel on my place.
“I don’t even own this place.”
He dug his phone out of his pants and typed off a text.
“What are you doing?” I straightened.
“Having Malia buy this place.”
“Dude, no way. I don’t even know if I’m sticking in New York.” Even as I said it, I knew it was a lie. I was already past stuck even if my brain needed to get caught up with my idiot heart.
“Already rolling.” He tucked his phone back into his shorts as he headed into the living room, swapping the vinyl for the sad brass of Coltrane and Davis.
“Shit,” I muttered. It was worse than I thought if he was dragging out the jazz already. “What is going on with you?”
Kain squatted down to pick through one of my crates. “I just needed to get away.”
“That’s not all of it.”
He tapped his heavy silver ring against the old milk crate a few times, flipped another few records then sighed. “The old man died.”
“What? When?”
“Four weeks ago.”
Shock laced my voice. “And you didn’t call me? I would have flown out.”
Kain dropped onto his ass on my floor and sat cross-legged. “Yeah, I know. It was a fucking mess.” He scooped his hair back away from his face. “He just dropped dead on a work site.”
“Jesus.” I sat next to him. I wasn’t quite as flexible, but I leaned on the sturdy shelves and kicked out my legs. “Was he sick?”
“Jackie? Nah, at least not that he told anyone. Too stubborn to actually go to the doc if something was wrong anyway.” He tipped his head back against the rough-cut wood and closed his eyes. “We hadn’t spoken in more than a year, man.”
“Hell.”
“Yeah.” Kain glanced over with a half-smile. “Some things never change, hey?” He shrugged. “After all the will bullshit was done, I couldn’t concentrate at work. Malia told me to take off—get my head straight.”
“Insert bike.”
“My ass feels like it. I’ve been driving for weeks.”
I laughed because he needed me to. And I needed it too.
I’d never met Kain’s father, but I knew they had a lot of issues.
Two big personalities who needed an ocean to be between them to live peacefully.
Kain wanted to prove himself and started up his own company in California and blew up before he hit thirty years old.
“I’m sorry, man.”
“Me too.” He looked around. “I need alcohol for this.”
I glanced out the door to the deck where our booze was. “It’s so far away.”
He tipped his head back for a deep chuckle. “That it is.”
I reached above my head for the small bottle of single malt I’d stashed there.
His eyebrows shot up. “Magic bottle?”
“My old man gave it to me for my last birthday. Seems right.”
“God bless Erik for our lazy asses.”
I cracked the seal. My dad would approve. “No glasses. Like old times.” I handed him the bottle.
“To Jackie.” He took a healthy swig. “Even if the bastard left me his empire.”
“Oh, fuck.”
“Leave it to the old man to have the last word.” Kain took a deep swallow and coughed before handing it back to me.
I lifted the bottle to the sky. “To Jackie.”
After a slug or two from the bottle, things were definitely feeling warm and tingly.
“Hey, we should go look at your laboratory.”
“Tonight?”
Kain giggled. “Yeah. Best time is when we shouldn’t be there.”
“We are in no condition to drive, my friend.”
He dug for his phone. “I’m very rich, brah. If you pay enough, even ride shares come out to nowhere.”
“We aren’t that small town, jackass.”
Kain squinted at his phone. “We’ll see.” He handed me the bottle. “Hold my beer—err, whiskey.”
I rolled my eyes, but took it and shrugged. If my friend was laughing after telling me that shit news, who was I to be a drag? I took a slightly less healthy sip though.
My liver would absolutely be crying tomorrow.