Caulk Tease

by Green, Megan

  I vowed to never be on the receiving end of that look ever again. I hated disappointing people. Especially my family.

  But as Benton’s eyes bore into me as I sit in much the same position as I had that night, Monroe on the opposite end of the couch, the two of us looking like a couple of kids who got caught doing something they shouldn’t, I can’t help but realize as bad as it had felt to disappoint my mother that night, it was nothing compared to the guilt I feel for betraying my brother.

  Benton sits across from me, his fingers steepled against his chin, his eyes darting from me to Monroe, and back again. It’s been a solid five minutes since he burst through the door and caught the two of us going at it at the base of the stairs. Monroe had jumped off me so fast, I’m surprised she hadn’t pulled something in the process. We’d both started in on an explanation immediately, to which Benton had thrown up a hand to silence us, before turning and striding out of the house, mumbling something about needing a minute.

  And true to his word, sixty seconds later, my brother stalked back into the room, the shock and horror on his face replaced by the look of hurt and betrayal that’s currently staring me down.

  Monroe and I look at one another briefly as Benton finally drops his gaze to the floor. I can see the nerves in her eyes, the fear that she might’ve just ended the only long term friendship she’s ever known.

  Finally, after what feels like an eternity, Benton speaks.

  “How long?”

  His voice is low and thick, and I can hear the ache in his voice. This hurt him even more than I thought.

  I briefly debate lying to him, telling him this is the first time it’s happened and it was a mistake. But as soon as I think the words, I know they’re wrong. Lying to him won’t make him feel better. And it’ll only complicate things further because I have zero intention of ending things with Monroe any time soon.

  “Since the night before she started.”

  I feel Monroe’s shocked gaze as she gapes at me, her mouth open and her brows lifted to the highest heights. Clearly, she wasn’t expecting me to start at the beginning.

  Benton’s eyes shoot up to mine. “What do you mean? How did—”

  I cut him off, clearing up his confusion before he can think too much on it. “We met at the bar the night before she started working for us. I’d stopped by after our meeting, needing a damn drink after that disaster. I saw her sitting at the bar talking to Scarlett, and I figured what the hell. I had no idea when I approached her that things would escalate as quickly as they did. It was just supposed to be the one night…”

  “But then he showed up at the job site that next day and you introduced him as your brother. And I knew I was in deep shit,” Monroe adds.

  Benton purses his lips together as he regards the two of us. “So you’re telling me this has been going on since day one. That the first day you were an ass to her, it was because you’d just fucked her the night before?”

  I wince. I mean, his words are true. I was a dick to Monroe. But hearing it now, after everything that’s changed between us, and hearing him refer to our relationship so callously, only cements what I had already figured out.

  I had been an asshole. But if she lets me, I’m going to spend as long as it takes making it up to her.

  “Yeah, Ben. I certainly wasn’t expecting our new foreman to be the woman I’d met in the bar the night before. And believe me, we tried to keep things professional. But you know how that went. Little arguments at work. Her tagging my car. Everything just sort of built up and built up until…”

  “Kaboom,” Monroe interjects.

  I nod. “We made the decision to not sleep together anymore. That it would end with just that one night. But it got harder and harder—”

  “Ew, bro. I don’t need to hear about your dick,” Benton says, his face scrunched in disgust, his tongue sticking out like he just tasted something foul.

  I roll my eyes. “It became more and more difficult the more time I spent around her. And then when she came to stay here…”

  He holds up a hand. “I get it. I don’t need to hear anymore.”

  He sounds slightly less pissed off now, which gives me hope. Monroe seems to sense it too, her breaths evening out as she realizes this might not be the catastrophe we envisioned.

  “Are you mad, Benton?” Monroe asks after another moment of silence.

  Ben exhales a loud sigh. “Mad? No. Fuck, to be honest, you two make a hell of a lot of sense together. And I knew there was some, ah, chemistry there. You two burn hotter than molten steel. Anybody in the same room as you can see that. So I can’t even really say I’m surprised.”

  Monroe and I stay quiet as Benton thinks on his next words, and I can practically see as the wheels turn inside his head. Nobody knows my brother like I do. And I can see the emotion on his face before he even has to say the words.

  “So no, I’m not mad, Monroe. What I am though? Hurt, I guess. I just don’t understand why the two of you would think you needed to hide this from me.” He stops, turning his gaze solely on me. “Barr, you’re my big brother. The guy I’ve looked up to since the day I learned how to toddle around behind you. And Monroe… you’re my best friend. How could you keep something like this from me?”

  “Benton, I didn’t want—”

  He holds up a hand to silence her again. “I get it. I mean, I don’t, but I do, you know? You were afraid of how I’d react, and neither of you wanted to hurt me. In theory, I get it. But it doesn’t make it hurt any less.”

  “Ben, believe me, we didn’t want you to find out like this,” I say, standing and moving over to the chair beside my brother. I reach over and clap him on the shoulder. “You deserved better.”

  Benton gives me a humorless chuckle before clearing his throat and sitting up straighter. And just like that, I know it’s over. This whole misunderstanding. Benton might be hurt that we lied to him, but if there’s one thing my brother is better at than his job, it’s forgiving those he loves most.

  “Listen to me, sitting here sulking like a damn girl—no offense, Monroe,” he adds, shooting her a look. She waves him away with a smile.

  “None taken.”

  Benton stands and rubs his hands together. “I don’t know about you two, but I could use a damn drink.”

  * * *

  Monroe’s eyes sparkle as she sits across the table from me, her slender fingers toying with the rim of her wine glass as her lips spread into a wide smile.

  “Can you just imagine the picture he walked in on? His best friend’s bare ass and his brother’s freaking cock right there on full display?”

  Monroe giggles as she lifts the wine glass to her lips. “Oh God. Poor Benton. I feel like we need to make it up to him somehow. Maybe a bottle of whiskey?”

  I scoff. “More like a gallon of bleach for his eyes. There’s no way he’s getting that image out of his mind any time soon.”

  After I’d made the three of us drinks last night, we’d all sat and talked for a while longer. Benton had voiced his fear that this meant the end of Monroe working at BrookStone, but we’d both been quick to shut that train of thought down.

  “I still can’t decide if seeing us together shocked him more, or when you told him you planned to date me,” Monroe says, setting the now empty wine glass down on the table. I signal to the waiter for a refill.

  “Definitely the latter. He damn near choked on his tongue when I dropped that bombshell.”

  Monroe is quiet as the waiter ambles over and refills her glass. She gives him a polite nod as he leaves, her eyes on his back as he moves across the restaurant. A pang of jealousy flares in my gut as she watches him, and I’m just about to call her out on it when she speaks.

  “So we’re really doing this?” she asks, swallowing hard before turning her gaze back to me. I realize she wasn’t watching him because she was checking him out, but instead attempting to settle her nerves.

  I reach across the table and cover her hand with mine. �
�We’re doing this. I meant what I said last night, Monroe. I care about you. A lot.”

  In the course of the last few weeks, Monroe had gone from a woman I couldn’t stop thinking about, to a woman I can’t live without. There is no doubt in my mind that I love her. But I figured I’d save that little tidbit of info until after we’d been dating for a little while.

  Or at least until after our first official date.

  Monroe looks around the restaurant, the sparkle once again returning to her eyes. “It seems so weird, not having to sneak around. Sitting here in a public place with you. It doesn’t seem real.”

  “Better get used to it, woman, because I don’t plan on letting you out of my sight any time soon.”

  She shoots me a trademark Monroe look. “Okay. Rule number one—never call me woman. And rule number two,” she says, pausing for dramatic effect. I lean forward, propping my elbows on the table and resting my chin on them.

  “Well, what’s rule number two?” I ask when she doesn’t continue.

  Monroe smirks. “You’ll just have to wait and see.”

  I let my head roll back on my shoulders, letting loose a loud laugh. Monroe lifts her hand and twines our fingers together.

  “I like this,” she says, looking down at our clasped hands.

  “I like this too.”

  I’m rubbing my thumb back and forth against the back of her hand when I hear my name.

  “Barrett? Barrett Brooks? Is that you?”

  I turn to see Mayor Mitchell standing behind me, his arm around his wife’s waist, but his eyes locked on where my hand is linked with Monroe’s. I watch as his gaze travels from our hands, up her arm, and to her face.

  “Ms. Daniels,” he says in a terse tone.

  “Mayor Mitchell,” she says in response, her eyes falling down to the table before her.

  The mayor clears his throat. “Honey, why don’t you go on ahead to our table. Barrett, a word, please.”

  His wife doesn’t give him a second glance as she heads toward the empty table in the corner. The man gives me a pointed look before turning on his heel and striding out toward the waiting area.

  I look to Monroe. “I, uh, I guess I’ll be right back.”

  Monroe just nods, but her face is tight, all the nerves that she’d had last night now returned tenfold. Monroe had been scared to lose Benton’s friendship, but something about the mayor has frightened her even more.

  I walk out to the front where the mayor has his back to me. I want to ask him what the fuck he wants and why he thinks he can just interrupt my dinner, but the man does sign our paychecks. So instead, I politely clear my throat and announce myself. “Sir?”

  He turns around, his lips set in a hard line. “I’m disappointed in you, Barrett. I thought you had better sense.”

  My brows pull together in confusion. “I’m not sure what you mean.”

  “I hired you to do a job. We had multiple offers on that job and could’ve gone with a number of other companies. But we chose to work with BrookStone because you and Benton have always been good boys.”

  I hate the demeaning tone of his voice and the way he belittles me and my brother by calling us boys. But again, paychecks...so I bite my tongue.

  “I even managed to overlook your little partnership with that Stone boy, but this? This I just can’t let slide.”

  My mind is whirling a million miles an hour, so much new information in those few short sentences. What was his problem with Ash? And what does he mean, he can’t let this slide?

  He must see the confusion on my face because he doesn’t waste any time continuing.

  “Come on, Barrett. You can’t expect me to sit back and be okay with your girlfriend running things out there at City Hall. Your brother was quite convincing when he told me her credentials. But I see now, you were only trying to give your girlfriend a job.”

  I hold up my hands, waving them in front of me. “Oh, no sir. Monroe’s abilities stand completely on their own. This thing that’s going on between us, well...that started after she’d already been hired.”

  He lifts an eyebrow in response. “You think that makes things better, Barrett? This is a family community. We value tradition and propriety above all else. I can’t let word get out that we’ve hired a man who sleeps with his employees.”

  “Sir, it’s not like that.”

  He waves me off. “I don’t care. It’s what it looks like. If the people in this town found out that we knew this was going on and didn’t do anything...God, who knows what the two of you have done in that building. While on the city’s dime.”

  “Sir, I assure you…” I start, the panic clear in my tone. This is all happening so fast. And he’s not giving me a chance to explain.

  He just shakes his head in response. “I don’t want to hear it, Barrett. You either fire the girl from the job, or you end things with her now. If you refuse to do either, I’m afraid we’re going to have to let you go.”

  With that, he turns and walks back into the dining area, leaving me gaping after him.

  What the fuck are we going to do?

  Chapter Twenty-Three

  Monroe

  When you have a mom like the one I did, then you become very familiar with the justice system. I will always love her with all my heart, but when she was still alive, she loved drugs more than she loved me.

  Addiction is real and it can cloud your judgment when all you’re looking for is your next fix. And nothing or no one can fill that void like the euphoria your drug of choice brings. I wouldn’t know anything about that because I’ve always stayed far away from that stuff.

  It wasn’t until after I moved back and had started working on the City Hall project that I found out just who the mayor is. Mayor Mitchell wasn’t always the mayor. When we first moved to town, he was a highly respected defense attorney. An all-around family man. His wife was the president of the PTA, his daughter was a cheerleader and volunteered on the weekends, his son was an athlete and involved in student government, and they were always at church on Sundays. Basically, the complete opposite of my family.

  We were never the kind of family who could afford a lawyer and Abraham Mitchell wasn’t representing my mother out of the kindness of his heart. Every time he got her off on a charge, she was getting him off.

  How do I know this?

  I got sick one day at school and Benton drove me home at lunchtime. I expected the house to be empty since my mom was supposed to be at The Park cleaning rooms. What she was not supposed to be doing was down on her knees sucking off her lawyer in our living room.

  I lost a lot of respect for her that day. I knew she was a mess, but I didn’t realize how bad things were until that day. When I confronted her about it, she acted like it was no big deal and let me in on the little secret that it wasn’t the first time and wouldn’t be the last.

  When I saw his kids in school, I had to look the other way. It wasn’t my place to say anything, I had way too many problems of my own to add that kind of drama to the mix, but I felt horrible. That was a hard time for me at school. I closed myself off a lot, but Benton wouldn’t let me become a recluse. I think he could tell something was wrong, but he never pushed me on the subject and I never told him.

  That doesn’t change the fact that Mr. Mitchell paid me a visit shortly after I saw him with my mother. It was when I was walking home from school one day. Benton usually drove me home, but he had required workouts after school to prepare for football season since he didn’t have a physical education class during school. I can remember that day like it just happened.

  “Monroe, what are you doing walking out here all by yourself?”

  I freeze from taking another step. I’ve been avoiding all of the Mitchells at all costs since last week. It hasn’t been too hard. We don’t exactly run in the same circles together, but I can’t exactly ignore Mr. Mitchell right now.

  I turn slowly and take small hesitant steps toward his car. “Hello Mr. Mitchell, I’m just w
alking home from school.”

  “Why don’t you get in? I can give you a ride home.”

  My immediate instinct is to tell him no. I’ve never had a reason to not like this man, but after seeing him with my mom, he gives me the absolute creeps.

  I must hesitate too long for his liking before he says, “Get in the car, Monroe, we need to have a little chat.”

  A shiver travels down my spine, but I don’t want to cause any issues. As it is, a few people have already walked by and looked over at us. They all know who my mom is and probably assume this has something to do with her legal trouble. They wouldn’t be wrong, but this probably isn’t quite what they expected.

  Red flags fly up all over the place, but I ignore them. The minute I get into the passenger seat and put my seatbelt on, he’s peeling away from the curb and speeding down the road. My hands grip my knees so tightly my knuckles turn white. I don’t think my life is in danger right now, but I am seriously on edge.

  The trees that line the street fly by in my periphery and my stomach turns with slight nausea.

  “So, about the other day…” He trails off as he looks over at me before moving his focus back to the road.

  “You don’t have anything to worry about Mr. Mitchell. What I saw isn’t any of my business.”

  He pulls the car off the road and brings it to a full stop in front of the dilapidated trailer I live in with my mother. I could never imagine a man so highly admired like Mr. Mitchell even touching our driveway let alone coming inside our home.

  “I don’t think I have to tell you that things could become very difficult for both you and your mother if it got out about what you saw.”

  I swallow even though my mouth has dried up completely. I nod my head and turn my attention to the monster sitting next to me. “I have no idea what you’re talking about. I didn’t see anything.”