Chapter 12
Chapter Twelve
Vaughn
She looks like shit.
That’s my thought as I cross back to the coffee shop to get our drinks and then pick up Gus from exercise class. By the time he’s walking through the parking lot, I’ve had enough time to stew, and I’m full-on pissed. Mad at myself. At the curmudgeon sitting next to me.
“What the hell is wrong with you?” he asks as he climbs into the truck.
“We’re assholes,” I growl as I pull onto the main road.
“Hey now, speak for yourself.”
“Normally, I would. But this time you’re stuck in the category with me.
” I breathe fire for a minute. When I can speak without cursing, I lay it out.
“Saw Kate again. She’s still sleeping on a friend’s couch because the two of us can’t get our shit sorted.
And now it’s affecting a good woman. She’s exhausted, and we’re fucking ridiculous. ”
“What makes you think she’s a good woman? She could be freeloading, waiting to take us for everything we’ve got.”
I bang a fist on the steering wheel. “Dammit, Gus. Stop. That’s some bullshit, and you know it. You’re being contrary now for the hell of it. And she’s suffering because of it.” So much for controlling my temper.
A low harrumph comes from the passenger seat. “And just where is she supposed to sleep?”
“The same place she slept before.” Gus is going to drive me straight insane. “You know what? You can take the damn couch and let her come back to your room, for all I care.”
I lasted a week in the barn, but the nights were too cold, so I was forced to bully my way into the house and have been subject to his bad attitude ever since.
Gotta admit, neither of us would’ve been easy to live with, and that truth sends a jolt of shame so deep it wedges its way under my attitude and spins it on its head.
I bite back a growl of frustration and let the truth fly.
“Gus, you damn well know there’s another bedroom upstairs.
She can move back, and it won’t be any skin off your back at all. ”
For the life of me, I can’t figure out why I am so concerned over this woman. Maybe it’s just that I’ve done enough bad in the world and I’ve got the chance to do something good for once.
“Fine,” he grouses and jabs at his phone.
“Katie. Yeah, it’s Gus. Are you over your mad yet? Because Vaughn can’t cook for shit. I’ve been eating a steady diet of pizza and cookies since you left.”
“Dammit, Gus. Quit lying,” I nearly yell. I also nearly drive off the road.
Hearing his side of the conversation feels akin to stabbing myself with a butter knife. A series of yeahs and uh-huhs, and then he hangs up without a word.
I wait. And wait some more. “Well?”
His phone rings in his hand, and he declines the call, but not before I see her name pop up on-screen.
God dammit.
I fish mine from my pocket and dial her number. She picks up before the first tone goes through.
“Vaughn, is Gus okay?” There’s noise in the background, followed by her muffled voice, like she’s covered the phone. “Hang on, let me get to the office.”
Hearing her voice does something to me. Calls to the inner caveman who wants to thump his chest and claim her. Soothes the restless warrior within. And it doesn’t need to, because she’s not meant for me. But I can’t help myself.
“He’s fine, he’s just being an ass.”
Gus grumbles beside me as Kate’s husky voice washes over me. “He hung up on me. I was concerned.”
“Yeah, I know. I’m in the car with him. Look, Kate. I think you need to come back.”
A bark of laughter is her response. “Why? So I can cook and clean like a good little housekeeper? No thanks.”
Suddenly, Gus’s one-sided conversation slaps me across the face. We’re both assholes. He’s being manipulative, and I’ve been nonexistent. Just a person here to cause chaos and destruction in her life. I don’t like what that says about me.
“No, Kate.” I soften my voice and take a brick from the wall I’ve built around myself.
She doesn’t need the hard-ass side of me.
She’s got enough hard in her life as it is.
“Come back so that you don’t have to go through a rigorous training program being exhausted.
If nothing else, come back so you have a place of your own to lay your head. ”
Silence thickens the air. I can feel Gus’s gaze on me, almost as much as I sense Kate’s stunned speechlessness. Hell, I’ve shocked myself.
“Careful, Vaughn. That sounds an awful lot like something a nice guy would say.”
“Yeah, well. Don’t get used to it.” I clear my throat. “What do you say?”
A weighted, tense moment passes. Gus’s fingers rap on his knee while she considers.
The stilted silence remains until gravel crunches under the tires as we pull up to the farm. The answer to this question feels huge for some reason, and it’s not. Not really. It’s a simple kindness that Gus and I both owe to Kate.
“I don’t know,” she says, finally breaking the silence. “This place is so packed, I can’t even think straight right now. How about I ride out after the bakery closes, and we can talk it out like adults.”
It’s not what I was hoping for, but it’s enough to send a flicker of excitement through my bones. I shift to park and then turn to fully take Gus in. He’s watching the phone like it holds the answers to all of life’s problems.
Looking back over the last two weeks, I recognize now that what I was thinking was surliness could’ve been him grieving in his own Gus kind of way. He and Kate had established a bond of sorts in the time they’d been together.
“Sounds like a plan. See you then.”
We ring off, and a huge exhale fills the cab. Mine? Gus’s?
“Well, all right then,” Gus says quietly and slides from the truck. He pauses at the foot of the new steps. What’s running through his mind?
Probably how to piss her off the most.
Then he looks out over the land with an expression of such intense longing. Between that and the way he acted over Kate’s call, maybe I’ve read him wrong this whole time. Gran always claimed he was all bark, even though I felt his bite. But maybe, just maybe, things have changed over the years.