Chapter Seven
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Coral
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Just when I think I can't wait a second longer, a truck pulls up at the front of the cabin.
It's ice cream. I mean, it's Jeefy.
In an effort not to be totally psychotic, I make myself wait at the front door as Jeefy climbs out of the truck, with a bright blue cooler in his hand. I can almost taste the frozen cream sliding down my throat and cooling my hormones.
Also, Jeefy is younger than me. Probably nineteen. He's tall and lanky and walks with an exaggerated swagger. His hair is slicked back and possibly still wet. Did he have a shower just to make the delivery? Poor thing. I have zero shame.
I try to remain calm. Jeefy is neatening his hair using the truck window. Can he just hurry up already?
He starts toward me. Finally. He's so close I can smell the pistachio.
"Hi," he says, clearly flustered. "You're even more beautiful than I remembered," he says, red-faced, then stretches out his hand because my hand is outstretched, except I'm reaching for the cooler in his other hand. Fuck.
"Jeefy, hi," I say, backtracking. "Hand over the goods," I growl silently.
"I can't believe it. You're so gorgeous. Are you a model?"
"Oh, you're flattering me. Thank you so much for doing this for me," I say, reaching for the cooler again.
"I couldn't believe you said you would kiss me for some ice cream. I don't think I've ever been picked up that way before by a pretty girl. You could have just asked to kiss me, you know."
"Oh... oh..." I laugh. The kiss. Right. It's the least I can do for his troubles. I lean forward to plant one on his lips. And before I know it, Jeefy is pulled away from me, and I almost tilt over.
How did they arrive so silently? Where the hell did they come from? Is there even a logging site? What if they're just pretending to go to work and sit in their cars all day?
Okay, I need to get off this crazy tangent. I just need my frozen stuff.
"What's going on, Jeefy?" Samuel says, still holding the guy by his collar, his poor Adam's apple bobbing up and down in fear, excitement, and pride. Oh no.
"Ah, Mr. Turner," Jeefy says with awe in his voice. "I was just bringing some ice cream to Coral here. She's sweet on me. Didn't know how to ask me out, so she made me bring her ice cream," he says, beaming, as if they should be proud of him for bagging me. Ugh.
"Is that what she did? She lured you here under the pretense of needing ice cream?" Masen asks with a smile on his face.
"Yes, sir, Mr. Britt," Jeefy confirms.
"Did she promise you anything?" Cedar asks.
Jeefy blushes. "Two kisses, sir, Mr. Foster."
"Did she now?" Cedar says, turning to face me.
"Okay, look. I needed it, badly, or I was going to go mad," I say, and then I see Jeefy's face fall. Oh my god, I feel like crap.
"Jeefy, I'm so sorry. I didn't mean to lead you on. I'm going to get my period." There, I said it out loud in front of three men and a boy. "And my car was out of gas and I couldn't drive one of theirs because they're all stick shifts and I was desperate. I'm so sorry."
"I see," Jeefy says, and he's crestfallen. He then hands me the cooler. A wash of relief falls over me, then an idea—and why the hell not. "You know what, Jeefy, I would love to have dinner with you sometime."
Maybe Jeefy is actually my true love. Yes. Fall for the guy who brings you ice cream. That's it.
"The fuck you will," Cedar mutters under his breath, and before I know it, I'm being shoved inside, but it's okay, I have my frozen goods.
"Jeefy, call me," I insist. He might be my soulmate, and these ogres are standing in my way.
"She's ours, Jeefy," I hear Cedar say before I catch him giving Jeefy a very thick stack of hundred-dollar bills for his trouble.
Excuse me? Not theirs, I think heatedly. Theirs to bully?
"Buy that mountain bike you were after," Masen says.
"What?" Jeefy says in surprise, looking at the wad in his hands. "Thank you, Mr. Foster, Mr. Britt, and Mr. Turner. Thank you so much. Oh my God. Thank you." He doesn't give me a backward glance before he hops into his truck.
Jeefy...
But I have ice cream. I waste no time in emptying the cooler, and soon the kitchen table is laden with tubs of the cold treats. I get a scoop and then I'm topping the sugar cones with the ice cream.
By the time I’m sitting at the table, they strode in and catch me with my tongue swirling around the heavenly goodness for my first lick. Bliss. Utter bliss.
"You want some?" I ask, after a succession of rapid licks.
They decline. More for me. But now they're crowding the kitchen, and their eyes remain fixed on me. I can't stop licking the frozen treats.
"That was some shady business you did there, pretty girl," Samuel drawls, straddling a chair opposite me, his powerful, tattooed arms resting on the chair's backrest.
"I was desperate," I say, feeling the euphoric effects of the dessert already.
"Luring a poor unsuspecting soul to the wonders of your beauty, then letting him sink into the depths of a broken heart."
"Well, I may have started out with nefarious reasons, but you know what, Jeefy seems nice. And once I'm done with this enslavement, I will let him take me out to dinner. He could be my soul mate, and you three are not going to stand in my way."
"Is that so?" Masen says, with a wicked smile on his face.
"It is."
"All right. Finish your ice cream. We'll talk afterward," Masen says. Fine by me. I fill myself up on the frozen sweetness until I'm on cloud nine, and then after wiping my mouth with a napkin, I remember what they said about me.
"Another thing, I'm not yours. I am not "ours." You had your chance eons ago, and you blew it."
"But you are," Cedar says, and... what is he doing? What on earth is he doing, skinning and sculpting a piece of ginger? Is that a hobby of his? Weird.