He nodded and couldn’t help the pleased smile that tugged at his lips. Well, why not? He deserved to be proud of his work.
“It’s beautiful,” she said, looking at him.
Niko shrugged modestly and tilted his head, but she continued to stare at him with a strange look on her face. He rolled his shoulders and gestured at her, waving his hand.
“It’s beautiful,” she repeated. Her voice sounded funny, and she cleared her throat. “It’s all really great.”
Micah tugged on her arm, forcing Carys to look away from Niko. Niko took in a subtle but sharp breath, unaware until that moment how intense the mood had gotten, and shook his head to dispel the notion. This woman had some kind of black-magic hold on him.
“Come check this out,” Micah said, eagerly dragging her away.
Niko started to clean up, leaving Micah and Jamie to explain all things lawn care and maintenance to Carys. He put away all the tools, dragged off the leftover bags of dirt and rock, and finally headed inside.
He was in the bathroom washing his hands when he felt someone watching him. He turned his head, and sure enough, Carys was there, leaning in the doorway. Cornering him in the bathroom was becoming her signature move.
What he wanted to do was fist his fingers in her shirt and drag her all the way inside. He wanted to kiss her senseless. He wanted to have her right up against the door, and the look in her eyes seemed to hint she wouldn’t say no.
Niko breathed in deep through his nose and looked pointedly back down at his hands, turning off the water. No, she wouldn’t say no, but it wasn’t exactly what she wanted, either. She wanted what so many of his previous girlfriends had wanted.
Talk to me, Niko.
He hadn’t understood it then, and he understood it even less now. Regardless, he couldn’t give her what she wanted from him, and he wasn’t going to be the asshole who took sex just because he knew he could get it.
Carys sighed, the sound soft, and then cleared her throat. “Hey… So I was thinking we should get back to your guitar lessons.”
Niko blinked. That had been pretty much the last thing he expected her to say unless he counted, “I’m throwing my brother out of the house and moving you in to be my sex slave.”
As though she’d heard his thought, Carys flushed and rubbed the back of her neck. “Okay. I know what that sounds like. It’s like the setup of a teenage rom-com, right? Music is super sexy, and…” If anything, she got even redder. She shook her head. “Anyway, look. The thing is that I think knowing how to play an instrument is a good thing for everyone regardless of why. Shocker, I know, me being who I am, but I think it would be great for you. Plus, your brother could help you, and that might be a nice way to bond. I know you—”
Fighting a smile, Niko stepped forward and put a finger to her lips, but it was the wrong move. She’d been too close before, and now her face was just inches from his. She tilted her head up automatically, and it would’ve taken nothing at all to press his lips to hers. That he was touching her now, feeling the moistness of her mouth and the silk of her skin beneath his finger, made the pull worse. It wasn’t enough by a long shot.
He wanted to trace his fingers down her side and press his palm up under her shirt, wide against her back. He wanted the heat of her mouth on his tongue. He wanted to hoist her up on the counter again, to hear the sound of her pleasure ringing in his ears.
Swallowing hard, Niko took a step back. “Yes,” he signed. “Guitar yes.”
Carys blinked several times, her eyelashes fluttering prettily, before the haze of confusion lifted. “Oh,” she said, sounding startled at her easy victory. “Good. That’s… Do you want to start today?”
Niko smirked. He liked it when she got flustered. Tit for tat and all that. He nodded in answer to her question.
She retreated, and Niko got back to cleaning up. The sink was a mess of dirt. He’d just finished with that when the doorway was crowded by another figure.
“Hey, I’m going to head out,” Jamie said. “Carys said you’re staying. Benny came back from wherever the hell he was, and Micah’s going to stay and play for a bit. You can drop him off at my place.” He hesitated for a beat. “Or you can keep him. Whatever works.”
Rolling his eyes, Niko waved a hand to indicate he understood. He didn’t want to invite anymore help repairing his relationship with his little brother. It was annoying, actually. He thought they’d established it wasn’t his fault that everyone assumed he was being a homophobic asshole when the guy at the bar had gotten too handsy. If the kid was going to insist on being pissy, he wasn’t going to beg him to come back.
He walked toward the front of the house to see where Carys had gotten to and found her in the living room in the middle of yet another vicious-looking fight with her brother. Peering in the other direction, Niko saw Micah was at the kitchen table, watching the siblings but doing something else on his phone.
Carys caught sight of Niko, and her eyes settled on him for a beat before she looked back to her brother. She was signing so quickly that Niko wouldn’t have had a prayer of recognizing the signs even if he’d known any of them. That and the way she stood—ramrod straight and glaring—gave the impression she was talking over whatever Bennett was saying. She gave an exasperated grunt and walked away from him, shaking her head.
“Did you order the pizza, Micah?” she called as she stopped beside Niko.
Her clipped tone must’ve set off every one of Micah’s Mom/Del alarms because he straightened up. “Uh, yeah. Yes. Forty minutes to an hour.”
“Good,” Carys said with a curt nod, grabbing Niko’s hand and tugging. “Come on,” she said, already walking toward the hallway.
A loud scoff stopped her cold in her tracks, and she turned to face her brother. He signed something long followed by the same sign three times for emphasis. Carys flipped him the bird, tightened her grip on Niko’s hand, and hauled him down the hallway.
Once they were in the music room, Carys slammed the door. She let go of Niko’s hand and began to pace. “Ugh. He drives me so crazy sometimes. They’ve been bugging me to do this job for a month and a half, and I put it off because he was a flight risk at first. His fucking asshole ex kicked him out, got rough with him, and then wanted him back.”
She stopped pacing and stood with her hands on her hips. “The second I leave him alone for a few days, he’s getting back in touch with his useless best friend, Ruby.” She scoffed. The way she said the name, it was clear Carys wouldn’t spit on this Ruby chick if she was on fire. “She knew. She knew the prick was playing mind games with Benny, and she didn’t do anything. She didn’t say anything. In fact, she tried to get Benny to go back to him. She chose the dickwad over Benny, and now she wants to hang out again. It’s all bullshit.”
It was no shock to Niko that Bennett, a dick, had a bunch of dicks as friends. He was almost glad he couldn’t speak then because he wasn’t sure he would’ve been able to stop himself from telling Carys exactly that.
He took a step closer to her, tapping her arm to get her attention, raised his eyes in question, and made the same sign Benny had; he put his left hand on top of his right, fingers together, thumbs out, and flapped them twice.
Carys’s lip twitched. “Hypocrite. He called me a hypocrite.” Some of the tension drained from her face as she ran the tip of a single finger down his arm. Her eyes flicked to his. “He thinks I shouldn’t lecture him about who he hangs out with when I’m spending free time with you.”
Niko ducked his head, a grin tugging at the corner of his mouth. He looked at her, letting his smile turn devious. He waggled his eyebrows and signed “bad” and fingerspelled “influence.”
She huffed. “Influence,” she said, making the sign. “‘Bad influence’ is a bit clunky. ‘Bad’ gets the point across well enough. Or ‘wicked.’” She made the sign, taking a step closer to him as she did. Her eyes caught his, her smirk the definition of the word. “Since these are terms that can have many meanings,
what’s most important is your expression.” She furrowed her brows and signed again. “Wicked.”
The word dripped with sex, and Niko felt his cock twitch. “Wicked you,” he signed. He tapped his chest and signed, “Angel.”
She snorted, leaning back on the heels of her feet. “You’re no angel, Nikolai.” She grimaced and looked away. “Although, you might be right about me.”
Without explaining that, she moved to the side and headed for the row of guitars. He grabbed her arm gently, and when he was sure she wasn’t going to walk away, he signed, “What?”
She sighed and made another sign. She held up the pointer finger of her left hand and formed a circle with the pointer and thumb of her right, then knocked the circle against her extended finger. “Bully,” she said, her voice tight now.
Crossing her arms over her chest, she took several steps across the room. This time, Niko let her go. “When my brother was in elementary school, he came home crying. School was always so horrible for him. Of course, some kids had teased him.” She picked up the guitar and began to tune it. “So I gave them hell all year long, but they were just little kids.”
Niko pointed to her. She’d just been a little kid, too.
“Not that little,” Carys said. “I was so angry. I’m still angry. Keeping my little brother safe was the one thing I was supposed to do.”
Niko touched her arm, and she looked up at him, all playfulness gone. “It’s just that his ex is a lot bigger than a couple of second graders.”
After a moment of silence, Niko tapped the guitar. Carys smiled, though the expression wasn’t anywhere near light. “Sorry,” she said. “Kid stresses me out sometimes.”
He strummed an air guitar with an aggressive look on his face. Carys laughed and readjusted her grip on her guitar. She plucked out an acoustic version of some Korn song that was satisfyingly angry, and Niko applauded, egging her on.
Smiling more genuinely now, Carys handed him the guitar. She picked up one for herself and waved him out the door. “Come on. Let’s find somewhere with a little space to practice.”
“What are you failing to play?”
Niko looked up and narrowed his eyes at his brother. He had an urge to shove the guitar—he’d bought his own so he wouldn’t have to keep borrowing Carys’s—away from him, but he was so close to figuring out the fingering for the song he was working on. Playing by ear was harder than Carys made it look. He ignored his brother and continued to pluck and strum at the strings.
Micah disappeared for a minute, came back with his own guitar, and sat on the opposite side of the couch. Despite his decision to pretend his bratty little brother wasn’t there, when the silence dragged on too long, he looked up. Micah flashed a mischievous grin and plucked out a familiar tune.
Niko smirked, but Micah just played the nine notes again, the opening of “Dueling Banjos.” He looked back with a challenging expression, and Niko’s lip twitched. Carys took him through “follow me” exercises all the time. This one was just a little more unorthodox. Hesitantly, he plucked what he thought were the right notes. They weren’t.
“Close. Hit it again,” Micah said, playing the notes.
Niko huffed but tried again, with more success this time. They spent a good half an hour getting the first part of the song down. Then, Micah burst into the fast-moving part, leaving Niko behind in the dust.
He looked so smug when he finally brought the song to a close. Niko rolled his eyes and head for emphasis.
“The word you’re looking for is ‘show-off,’” Micah said. He surprised Niko by signing.
At Niko’s arched eyebrow, Micah laughed. “Benny’s been teaching me a few things. He’s flashed that one at me a few times now.”
Niko gave him an unimpressed look, and Micah narrowed his eyes. “This is his favorite sign for you.” Micah made the sign Niko knew to be “asshole.”
“Asshole him,” Niko signed. “Suck it him.”
It shouldn’t have surprised him his brother could understand the dirty signs. Micah snickered. “I wouldn’t say no, you know what I mean?”
Niko balked. When he got over his shock, he mimed gagging. Micah just snickered and walked away.
With the front of the house in good shape, the men turned their attention to the back. Micah had sweet-talked Carys into letting him do for the backyard what he’d done for the front. Jamie and Niko decided they needed to rebuild the dilapidated shed back there to accommodate the mess of gardening tools Micah wanted.
“Kid rooked Benny into agreeing he’d keep up with the lawn,” Jamie told Niko.
They could’ve helped Carys purchase a new shed. The prefabs were expensive but well made. Instead, Niko pushed to build the shed by hand. He’d liked building the arbor, liked creating something instead of just fixing it, and it would be cheaper. Carys was considering a few updates to the electric and plumbing systems that would set her back a pretty penny.
Two weeks passed in yard cleanup and guitar lessons. Niko found he didn’t mind working with Micah. The kid was too busy muttering under his breath about soil quality and how much sun hit a particular spot to be obnoxious. They worked well enough even without Jamie there to mediate. After all, it didn’t take much interaction to uproot old overgrown plants.
Eventually, Niko left the details to Micah while he turned his attention to the old shed. The first order of business was to sort the mess of tools and equipment in there.
Most of the tools, Niko was shocked to discover, were his—his family’s, anyway—which made a vague sort of sense. They’d moved from this house and headed for apartment life. Who needed gardening tools in an apartment? He was more surprised he remembered.
It wasn’t as though the tools were emblazoned with his last name or something.
It was just that this set of tools was distinct. They all had orange handles, which Niko remembered very well. He and Del had often been put to work in their mother’s garden, weeding with the handheld trowel and mini pick.
“Hey.”
Niko looked over his shoulder to where Carys stood, leaning in the shed. He gave a little wave and cast around for somewhere to sit. He located another bucket like the one he was sitting on and overturned it for her.
“Phew,” she said, picking up the little shovel from the set he’d been examining. “These haven’t seen the light of day in a while.”
Niko nodded and hesitated. After a moment though, he patted the tool in her hand and then patted his chest.
“These were yours?” Carys asked.
“Family,” Niko signed. “C-h-o-r-e-s.”
“Chores,” Carys said, showing him the sign and grinning. “I forget sometimes that you grew up here.” She turned the shovel over in her hands. “You know, I’ve never thought of this place as a home. It’s just a place to be. I can help out my gran and be close enough when Benny needs me.” She looked back at him. “Did you help your mom in the garden a lot?”
Niko shrugged, looking down, and picked up another of the tools under the guise of examining the extent of the rust damage.
Her words had brought on memories he didn’t know he had. His father had assigned the heavy-duty yardwork as weekend chores, especially if Niko had been a pain in the ass that week. He would mow the lawn, rake leaves, and prune hedges. But when Niko was very young, before his mother had to work so long and hard to provide for the family when Vincente couldn’t, she’d let him help tend the garden. He remembered his little-boy pride when he collected herbs and vegetables from their backyard garden in a little basket. He loved when his mother cooked with things he’d harvested from the yard.
“I’ve never had a garden before,” Carys mused. “I mean, I guess the houses I’ve lived in had gardens. I’ve never noticed before.” Her lips quirked downward. “We didn’t move around a ton, but it was enough. Every time, it was never about me figuring out my own space. When I was growing up, new homes were about helping my brother transition. It was always so much harder for him.
“It was a lot. It was always harder for him to make friends, but there was also learning the new house. They can feel it, you know. The way a house moves? The creak old houses make when they settle at night? Or the furnace coming on? All those noises make vibrations. The streets are different wherever you go. The vibration of the cars on the road is different. We lived near a college once.” She laughed. “He could feel the music they pumped at top volume as they drove past, so I had to help him figure it out.”
Niko nodded as patiently as he could. He was getting tired of hearing how much of Carys’s life had been, and remained, dedicated to her brother. Sure, any older sibling had some kind of responsibility toward their younger brother, but not everything. Carys and Bennett’s father should’ve been the one explaining the shadows of the night. Either way, the kid was an adult now. He should’ve been able to self-soothe at this point.
Carys looked at him and smiled. “Anyway, I’m beginning to actually care. I watered the front yard yesterday.” She ducked her head and looked up at him. “I sat in my arbor for a bit and just watched the neighborhood.”
Just like that, Niko was aware of how close she was sitting to him. Had he put the bucket that close to him? She seemed to realize at the same time that it would take nothing at all to lean in, and—
Carys made a lurching movement, getting to her feet unsteadily. “Hey, I want to show you something. Stay here.”
Before he could blink, she’d dashed from the shed. He ran a hand over his face and would’ve laughed if he could’ve. He had way too much heat with this woman to be trapped in a small room with her.
Just as he was going to set back to work, he heard her footsteps approaching again. Sure enough, as promised, she reappeared in the shed carrying…
A bow? A bow like what she used to play the violin or the cello.
Niko wrinkled his nose, wondering what the hell she was up to, and watched as she made her way around the small shed, stepping carefully over the wreckage. She reached out and pulled a long handsaw from the debris.
Spaces Between Notes Page 15
