CHAPTER TWELVE #2
Cash narrows his eyes. “You’re decent, and that’s generous.”
“And the way to get better is to attempt challenging climbs. I wasn’t trying to kill myself.”
“No, you were trying to distract yourself from how much you missed your little brother. You were running away from your emotions like you always do.”
“Since when are you an expert on handling emotions?”
“Since Sonya dumped me for being emotionally distant, and I started seeing a therapist. You and I aren’t so different, Deacon. This move has been a lot for you and you can’t admit it. You’re avoiding dealing with it so hard, you created a fake profile for Sebastian.”
I don’t even know where to start with any of that. “If Levi had handled it like I asked him to, it wouldn’t be on my plate at all.”
Cash snorts. “We both know Levi was never going to do it. You were looking for a distraction from missing your friends in Aspen Cove. I know you loved it there.”
“I’ll learn to love it here too. My brothers are here, so I’m here. There’s nothing to be sad about.”
Cash pats my shoulder. “It’s okay to be sad, Deac.”
“Don’t try to psychoanalyze me, man. I’m fine.”
He shakes his head. “Whatever. Let’s get lunch.”
“I can’t believe you didn’t tell me you’re in therapy.”
He just gives me a look over his shoulder as he pushes the door open, and he doesn’t need words for me to get the message.
He thought if he told me, I’d give him shit. And I am fully capable of admitting that makes me sad.
***
I’m taking a break on the back porch when I see the text. I don’t know how I missed it, but it’s been sitting there, unread, for over two hours.
I swipe to read it so fast that I hit the wrong text thread and am staring at a two-day-old text from Cash. Taking a deep breath, I chill out, and open the text from Amelia.
Amelia: Turns out I’m free tonight. Think you could swing by and start working on the cat gym?
I’m at the point in the day, late afternoon, where I’ve finished one project and have yet to start on another. It’s not ideal, since we’re in a hurry to get the work done, but it’s also not the end of the world if I have to come in on a Sunday to finish up.
I’m the last guy on any job, as the finish carpenter, and Sebastian is always riding me to hurry up and get it done.
But nothing is going as it should in this new town yet or on this particular job.
Ryland’s still working on the tiling in the bathroom reno, and Seb’s repairing a hole in the drywall in the home gym.
Cash is taking measurements for the furniture he’s going to suggest for the interior design portion of the job.
And I’m fully willing to put up with any amount of shit from Sebastian to get to see Amelia tonight.
In fact… I look around and see no one in sight. I hop over the porch railing and round the house, keeping low so no one will see me through the windows.
I’m not being a chicken. I just don’t want to have to deal with the drama.
“Where the hell are you going?”
I freeze in place, just in case they aren’t talking to me.
“I told him about Mom,” Cash says. “He’s running away.”
I look up to see Cash leaning over the front porch railing and staring down at me with the smuggest fucking expression on his face.
“Why the hell’d you tell him about Mom?” Sebastian joins Cash at the railing, scowling.
“Mom’s going to be okay, Deac,” Ryland says as he steps up next to Sebastian. “It’s just harder for her to get around.”
“The pain’s pretty bad,” Cash says.
“What the hell?” Sebastian shoves Cash. “You’re making it worse.”
“They’re trying new meds,” Cash says, shoving Seb back, even as he keeps his voice calm and steady like I’m a child on the edge of a cliff. “And they’ll keep trying meds until they find something that works for her. She’s going to be okay.”
I’m beginning to feel guilty that I’m not running away because I’m distraught about our mother. I mean, I am upset. I’ve had a twist in my gut since lunch that I don’t think had anything to do with my ham sandwich. But I also know she’ll be okay, especially once we get her here in town with us.
“I’m not running away because of Mom.” I straighten from my crouch to glare up at my brothers. “I’ve got a side job I want to start on.”
“Like hell you do,” Sebastian says. “Sullivans don’t take side jobs.”
Shit. I forgot all about Sebastian’s stupid rule. “It’s just a cat gym. It’s not even a side job. It’s a favor. I’m just helping out a friend.”
They stare at me.
“Don’t lie to me,” Sebastian says. “Don’t I pay you enough?”
“Of course you—”
“You don’t have any friends,” Cash says. “We work like twenty-four hours a day. There’s no time for friends.”
“Talk to us,” Ryland says. “We’re here for you.”
I throw up my hands. “She’s not a friend, okay? She’s a woman. I met her last week. She’s really fucking hot, and I’m building her a gym for her cat as an excuse to spend time with her. I’m not running away from the news about Mom.”
Cash crosses his arms over his chest. “Why didn’t you tell me about this woman?”
Because I don’t want to jinx it.
“It’s too fucking convenient,” Sebastian says. “You find out about Mom, and you invent a woman out of thin air? You’re running.”
He points at me, and I’ve had enough.
My brothers live with me. They don’t get to dictate my every move.
I start toward my truck. I’ve explained myself. I don’t need to tell them anything else.
Just as I’m reaching for the door handle, a solid mass of Cash slams into my back and knocks me on the ground. Gravel digs into my hands as I push myself up and try to roll him off.
“Get off me, asshole,” I say.
“You don’t have to run,” he says as he shoves me down. “You don’t have to make up fake girlfriends.”
“I’m not running,” I say through gritted teeth. I shove upward with all the strength I have, and Cash tumbles off me.
As quickly as I can, I leap to my feet and swing the door to my truck open.
Cash grabs for the door, but I’m faster. I pull it shut before he can stop me.
Shoving the key in the ignition, I start the engine as he pulls on the door, yelling at me to stay and talk it out.
As I’m backing out of the driveway, he jumps into the truck bed. I guess he thinks I’ll stop to talk him into getting out of my truck, but I just back onto the street and take off with him yelling at me and banging on my back window.
Amelia’s house is just over two miles from our house. Cash can walk home.
When I get to Amelia’s, I park on the street and hop out onto the sidewalk.
“What the hell?” Cash asks. “Where are we?”
“We’re at my friend’s house,” I say. “Like I told you.”
He points at me and rolls his shoulders back. “You almost got me, but I can tell when you’re lying. Take me home and let’s—”
I start up the sidewalk to Amelia’s house.
“What are you going to do? Knock on a stranger’s door and convince them to let you in just to trick me?”
Amelia opens the door and steps onto the porch, her smile so welcoming I want to kiss it.
“Thanks for coming over so quickly. I got out of work early today, and I—” Her gaze strays toward the street. “Did you know there’s a confused-looking man in the back of your truck?”
“That’s my brother. If we ignore him, he’ll probably go away.”
Her expression is caught somewhere between a laugh and bewilderment.
“Seriously. He’s just being nosy. It’s best if we—”
“Hey there,” Cash says. While my back was turned, he jumped out of the truck and moseyed toward the porch. “I’m Deacon’s brother, Cash. He said he’s building you a cat gym?”
Amelia’s smile is warm but uncertain. “That’s right. I adopted an outdoor cat who’s not too happy about becoming an indoor cat. Deacon very kindly offered to help me out.”
Cash throws an arm around my shoulders. “That’s Deacon. He’s a real giver.”
I elbow him in the ribs, but he doesn’t even flinch. He just keeps that idiotic smile plastered on his face.
“I’ve been getting that impression.” The way Amelia smiles at me makes me want to shove her against a wall and show her just how much of a giver I can be.
“You know, I’m not too bad with a hammer and a nail. Maybe I can help out with this cat gym.”
I glare at my brother. “But you’ve got to finish the design for the Powell house.”
He hesitates, his eyes glittering with mischief. “You know what, you’re right.” He smiles at Amelia and sticks out his hand, letting go of me. “It was nice to meet you…”
“Amelia,” she says. “Amelia Burns.”
“Cash Sullivan. Of Sullivan Brothers Construction. You ever need anything, you give us a call.”
I sigh as Cash turns and walks away. “Want me to give you a ride home?”
“Nah. Ryland’s on his way to pick me up.” He turns and gives me a penetrating look. “You’re lucky I have a job that can’t wait.”
I turn to Amelia, who looks no less confused than before.
“We should get inside before he changes his mind,” I say.
She doesn’t hesitate. She turns and lets me into the house, shutting and locking the door behind us. My heart picks up speed at the obvious sign that she wants Cash’s company just as much as I do. Which is not at all.
“Why did he ride over here in the back of your truck?”
“He’s nosy,” I say. “And he didn’t believe I was coming over here.”
“Where did he think you were going?”
“No idea,” I say, because I don’t want to get into it with her.
She doesn’t need to know about my brother’s psychoanalysis of me.
And not because I think he’s right, but because I don’t want her to think he is.
“But I drove over here so fast, just to get him off my back, that I didn’t pick up the supplies I need.
I’m going to have to run back out and get them. ”
Her smile doesn’t slip even a hair. “No problem.”
“Want to come with me?” I don’t even have a good justification. I just want to spend more time with her.
“Sure,” she says immediately. “Put me to work.”
Not why I want her to come, but she’s free to think whatever she wants.
“You don’t smell like skunk anymore,” I say, once we’re in my truck and on the road to my house. It doesn’t come out as smoothly as it sounded in my head, because in the small confines of my truck the sweet honeysuckle scent of her is overwhelming my senses.
The laugh that bursts out of her is so surprising that I startle and glance over at her.
“It’s the way you said it,” she says. “Like you’re shocked I don’t smell like skunk anymore. Like you thought I might smell that way forever.”
“It’s the only way I’ve known you,” I say.
She laughs harder.
“Besides, wasn’t the smell supposed to last for two weeks?”
“I’ve been working overtime to get the smell off, and I guess it worked. That, or you’ve fully acclimated to it.”
I chuckle. “What I should have said is that you smell really good. I meant it as a compliment, but it didn’t come out right.”
“It made me laugh, so it came out perfectly,” she says. “Besides, I prefer blunt. I hate the way people pick and choose their words in an effort to be polite. I’ve never been good at it.”
“So what you’re saying is that you prefer rude people?”
Her smile is absolutely gorgeous. “Exactly my point,” she says. “You try to give me a compliment and it goes poorly. I try to make you feel better, and you misinterpret what I mean. People are an absolute mystery to me and politeness only makes it worse.”
“Am I a mystery to you? I’m pretty damn straightforward.”
She snorts. “Says the guy who’s building me a cat gym for no other reason than pure goodwill?”
“I told you. I want to spend time with you.”
She brushes my arm with her fingertips. “You don’t have to build me anything to do that. You could have just asked me out.”
Somehow, I doubt it would have been that easy, but I pull into my driveway and put an end to the conversation. “The wood’s in the garage. I cut what I needed last night, so I just need to load it up. It shouldn’t take long.”
The look she gives me is so full of heat, I have to rewind what I just said to make sure I didn’t say anything sexy. Nope. Nothing at all.
“You cut the wood last night, even though you didn’t think we’d need it for a few days?”
“Sure,” I say, completely out of my depth. Usually, women make sense to me, and I know exactly how to play the game, but I’m not understanding Amelia’s reaction at all. “I had the time last night, and I wanted to be sure I wouldn’t need to run out and buy more.”
She leaps across the center console and presses her lips to mine. I am so shocked it takes me a moment to respond.
That’s long enough for her to pull away.
“I’m sorry,” she says. “I—”
I grab her by the nape of her neck and pull her back to me. “Don’t ever apologize for kissing me.”
I don’t need to understand why she wants to kiss me. I don’t really care why, as long as she’s kissing me.