“Send me any?”
His hand drops to his side. Coffee sloshes to the dirty garage floor. “For fuck’s sake, Peck.”
“But she knows I love them.”
He shoots me a glare. “Anyway, Nana said you brought your girlfriend over last night.”
The wrench I’m holding drops to the floor. It sends a pinging sound through the bay.
“So Nana’s not crazy. Got it,” Walker jokes. “Anything you wanna share?”
“There’s nothing to share. I told Nana that.” I pick up the wrench. “Can’t I just take someone by for dinner?”
“No.”
It’s my turn to glare.
I go back to the fuel filter in front of me. It’s an easy job that I’ve done ten million times in my life. But for some strange, green-eyed reason, it’s taking me a lot longer than necessary today.
This is why you think before you speak. Or act. Or invite some woman you’ve been too interested in from the moment she marched her cute little ass your way and demanded you go buy cookware to your nana’s. If you just jump into shit, you end up in the kitchen in the middle of the night ready to kiss the hell out of her.
Part of me thinks I just should’ve done it. I’m fairly certain she would’ve been receptive. But what if I’m reading her wrong? What if she’s just really thankful that I bailed her out of her situation? Besides, it’s just asking for trouble in the one place I don’t want it: home.
“So … who was it?” Walker asks.
“When did you become such a nosy bastard?”
He slurps his coffee just to annoy me.
“Dylan,” I say with a sigh.
“Okay. Wait. Dylan. Is that a girl? Or …”
“Yes, Dylan is a girl, you fucker.”
He holds his hands up. “Fine. I’d have been cool with it either way.” He takes another quieter drink. “Who is she?”
I work on the filter and don’t look up. Maybe he’ll get the hint. “Navie’s friend.”
“And …?”
“Oh, good lord.” I blow out a breath and stand. Facing Walker, I hold my hands out to the sides. “Can we make this quick? Someone is paying me to do a bunch of shit, and it won’t matter that you’ve wasted my fucking time today, he’ll be a dick at the end of the day if I don’t get enough done.”
Walker grins. “He sounds like an asshole.”
“He is.”
“Better humor him them.”
I shake my head.
“I’m sorry that I’m a little shocked. I mean, you took a girl to Nana’s. That’s some big shit right there, Peck.”
“It’s not,” I insist, ignoring the stupid twist in my stomach. “She’s just a friend of Navie’s who needed a place to stay. So I offered her a room until she finds something—”
“She’s living with you?”
I watch the realization settle over his features. It starts as shock and ends somewhere around confusion mixed with complete and utter entertainment.
Sliding my hat around backward, I look at him. “What’s it to you?”
“Is she hot?”
“Damn it, Walker.”
“She is. She fucking is, isn’t she?” He laughs, his big ass chest shaking as he humors himself with my life.
I don’t dare tell him how hot she is. Or that I couldn’t sleep last night knowing she was in my house. Or that I had to get up extra early this morning to take care of myself in the shower so I didn’t walk around needing to jack off all damn day.
But it’s not just that. Hell, I’ve been with other women over the course of my life, and I’ve not felt this way about any of them. I want to talk to her. Hear her laugh. Listen to her tease me. Answer questions that she poses that make me uncomfortable.
What is that? What kind of voodoo bullshit is that?
“When do we get to meet her?” Walker asks.
I go back to the filter. “Whenever you run into her,” I say, cranking on the equipment a little too hard.
“So she’s not coming to Sunday dinner at Nana’s?”
“She could be gone by Sunday, Walker. She’s not living with me forever. She had a rental on Vine Street that was full of cat hair. Like piss and fur everywhere, man.”
“There’s nothing worse than cat piss,” Walker says.
“Right?And she’s really allergic. Like, very allergic. So, she’s just landing at my place until she can find a place to rent. How hard is that to understand?”
My teeth grind together as I think about the day she’ll leave. I have no idea why, but the idea already sucks balls.
“I know a place out on Longs Chapel Road,” Walker says. “You know MaryAnn that comes in here with the van that has the bad transmission?”
“Yeah.”
“She and Mike just moved. I ran into him the other day at Goodman’s gas station. He got a promotion, and they moved over to Merom. Anyway, that house they lived in out there was a rental.”
He’s being helpful. I know that. But something about that information just pisses me off.
“I’ll tell her,” I bite out.
Walker busies himself sorting a couple of deliveries. I work on the filter and what to do about Dylan.
My chest rises and falls as I think about her. She’s dangerous. I feel the fire every time I’m around her. It’s like I’ve drunk a fifth of whiskey. My insides are squeamish, my body heated, and all I want to do is enjoy myself.
That’s what she feels like. A fifth of whiskey.
While I’m all about imbibing from time to time, one thing is always true: when it wears off, you feel like absolute shit. And that’s what this will feel like too when she moves on.
Actually, I bet watching her leave feels worse than a hangover. I bet it hurts like hell.
“You know,” Walker says, his voice falling over his shoulder, “it’s okay to like her.”
I smack the wrench off the frame of the truck. “What are you talking about?”
My annoyance must be palpable because Walker drops the sheet of paper in his hand. He turns around and raises a brow.
I wipe my hands down my jeans. A trail of grease stretches down the denim, and while that usually drives me crazy because it’ll get all over everything by the end of the day, I barely notice.
“She’s staying with me,” I say. Again. “There’s nothing to get all nuts about.”
His arms cross over his chest. “That right there is you calling me a dumb fuck.”
“What?” I ask, exasperated. “What the hell are you talking about?”
“You saying there’s nothing between you two is calling me a dumb fuck because I’m not fucking blind, Peck. Neither is Nana.”
“Nana just wants us all to get married and have babies so she doesn’t have to worry about us anymore.”
He considers this. “Okay. That’s probably true. But she does have some fifth sense about shit, and she says you and Dylan are together.”
“It’s sixth sense, not fifth sense, and she just likes her because she volunteered to help her rearrange her kitchen,” I say.
It’s a lie. A bald-faced fib that I hope gets Walker to back off.
But it doesn’t. That would be too easy.
Walker’s face remains blank for a long time. Then a slow smile stretches across his cheeks. “I get it.”
“You get what?”
“You feel like you’re cheating on Molly McCarter.”
What the fuck?
“I do not,” I say with a sigh. “This has nothing to do with her.”
“How could it not? You’re the one saying you’re gonna marry her one day.”
“And I would if she’d marry me.”
Walker shakes his head. “I don’t get ya.”
“Good.”
He drops his arms in a frustrated huff. “If I could knock some sense in you, I would.”
Despite his pushiness and the way he needles me, he wants the best for me. He’d never say that. He’d pretend he doesn’t care for the mo
st part. But he does care, and that’s what this is all about.
I sigh. “Look, since we’re pretending to be a bunch of gossiping girls right now, I’ll play along so this can be over.”
“I take offense at you calling me a girl.”
“Don’t care.” I grab a rag off the wall and wipe my hands off. “Dylan is a great girl. I like her. She’s funny, and nice, and yes, she’s hot. And pretty. And she’s not staying with me. I don’t even know if she’s staying in Linton for long.”
“You could ask her.”
I toss the rag in the trash. “You’re right. I could. But it’s none of my business. She wants a relationship about as bad as I do.”
“So she’s scared to like someone who might be a decent person and like her back too? Got it.”
My eyes roll so hard that I’m afraid they might get stuck.
Walker laughs. “I got it. I know what to do.”
“Oh, I can’t wait to hear this.”
“I’m going to find a hitwoman and put a mark on Molly.”
“What does Molly have to do with anything?”
He raises a brow.
I blow out a breath. “Would I marry Molly? Yes. If she loved me, I’d marry her right now. But she doesn’t love me,” I say. The words burn my throat as I say them. “She doesn’t love me like that. I’m not sure she’ll ever love someone like that. But at least I’d protect her.”
“She needs protecting from herself is what she needs.”
My jaw clenches again.
I turn away from my cousin and walk outside. The fresh air hits me in the face, the breeze stronger than it was when I got here an hour ago.
I inhale a large breath, and something in the air reminds me of wet paint. Just like that, my mind is taken back to a night many years ago.
Tap! Tap!
I look out the window. A little girl with messy pigtails is on the other side of the glass. Her eyes are filled with tears. Her lip is split. And as soon as I lift the window open, she starts to cry.
“Can I come inside, Peck? Please? I need to hide for a little bit.”
My chest burns as I turn around. Walker is watching me from beside the truck.
“You okay?” he asks.
“Fine.”
“Good. Old Man Jacobsen called. His tractor is sitting out by the highway. Thinks he got some bad gas. Can you go out and help him?”
I nod and start out toward my truck.
“Peck,” Walker calls out.
I grab the door handle and swing it open.
“You’re a good guy.” He grins. “And if you tell a damn soul I said that, I’ll call you a liar.”
I smirk. “I’m a good guy, huh? Is that why it bothers you so much that your girlfriend loves me?”
He throws something in his hand my way. It whizzes by my head and sails across the street.
Chuckling, I climb in the cab as he flips me off. I give him a little wave before throwing a little gravel with my tires before hitting the road.
Thirteen
Dylan
“I’m really excited to get started.” I smile at Joanie Phillips, my new boss at Linton Bank and Trust. “I’ll see you soon.”
Joanie shakes my hand. “We are so excited to have you on board. I think you’re going to be an excellent fit here.”
“Me too.”
I turn to leave the bank when Joanie calls me back.
“Oh, Dylan. There’s one more thing.” She pulls her eyeglasses to the bridge of her nose and peers at a piece of paper in her hand. “When you were hired, you didn’t have your address yet. Do you happen to have that?”
“I do. Well,” I say, “I have a temporary one. The rental I was going to use didn’t pan out, but I’m staying with a friend.”
Peck’s face rushes through my mind, and I have to fight to keep my smile professional and not giddy. I take the pen she offers and scribble down Peck’s address.
“You know,” Joanie says. “I know where there’s a rental. A friend of my daughter’s is moving to Merom, and their house is a rental. Her husband got a promotion.”
“That’s nice.”
“They’re such good people. I’m happy things are turning around for them. Anyway,” she says, bringing herself back on topic. “I can get you the landlord’s information if you’re interested.”
“Oh, um, yeah. Absolutely. That would be great.”
She winks. “Perfect. I’ll see you next week. And if I get that info beforehand, I’ll call.”
“Thanks again.”
I slip outside. My steps should be much lighter after the meeting with Joanie. Not only did it go swimmingly, but she also offered me a dollar an hour more if I would get my notary certification, which I have no problem doing. Even though I struggle with budgeting myself, I’ve always loved working with money. I’ve worked in a bank my entire life. Joanie seems wonderful.
And she knows where there’s a house for me.
I press my lips together and make my way toward Navie’s car. The thought of leaving Peck’s house so soon should be exciting. I’ll be back to good, creating the new life I came here for. Except … it’s not exciting. Or good. Or welcome.
It’s annoying.
Listening to him get ready this morning, smelling his cologne in the house after he left, and seeing his coffee cup in the sink and toast crumbs on the counter should be annoying too, but it’s not. There’s something very satisfying about it. And honestly, I want more of that. It’s not that I can’t live alone because I can, and I’ve always kind of loved it. But this feels … different.
Maybe the house won’t work out. I won’t be that disappointed.
“Hey,” I say as I climb into Navie’s car. “Thanks for waiting.”
“How’d it go?”
“Oh, great. Um, she offered me a little raise already. Can’t beat that.”
“Look at you go,” Navie says. She pulls the car out onto the street. “So we got your groceries. We met the lady at the bank. Do you need to do anything else before I take you home?”
She pilots the car around a pothole and then takes a right-hand turn. Her hair is freshly cut with new pink streaks from root to tip.
“You didn’t have to come with me,” I tell her. “I could’ve done this alone.”
“I know. But I haven’t seen much of you since you left me for Peck.” She grins. “But I can’t say I blame you for that.”
“I didn’t leave you for him. I didn’t have a place to put my stuff, and you don’t want to walk around me on your couch forever.”
She shrugs as if she wouldn’t mind. Truth be told, she probably wouldn’t. But that doesn’t mean it would’ve been the right choice.
“So … how are things going with you and Mr. Ward?” she asks.
The lines etched into his skin last night reappear as if they were waiting on an invitation. I squirm in my seat.
“Fine. Things are fine,” I say.
She snickers. “I bet they are.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
“It means I’ve seen the man before. Shirtless, even. I know him, Dyl. What I don’t know,” she says, turning onto the long road that leads to Peck’s house, “is how you refrain from jumping his bones.”
I laugh at her crude language. “It’s not that hard to control myself.”
“You’re a better woman than me.”
“Then why didn’t you hook up with him?” I ask.
She considers this. “Well, I would’ve. Trust me. But somehow our relationship became very brother and sister, and it just never had the opportunity to become sexual in nature.” She looks at me smugly out of the corner of her eye. “But if you venture into that arena, I want every single delicious detail.”
My stomach flip flops at the idea. It’s hard enough to think about Peck. I haven’t had to see him face to face after our late-night kitchen meeting last night.
All day long, I’ve thought about him. And how serious he was. And how I though
t, and maybe even hoped, he was going to kiss me. Following that thought is the worry that things will be different between us today.
I hope not.
That would be a shame.
Navie pulls the car up Peck’s driveway and turns it off beside Peck’s truck. She pops the trunk as I climb out. We meet behind the car and load up the grocery bags and carry them inside.
“Thanks for coming with me today,” I tell her.
She nods, taking in the kitchen.
“What?” I ask.
“Just seeing how he lives.” She turns in a circle. “I’m weirdly impressed. It’s so clean.”
I giggle as I sort through the purchases from the grocery store. “He is clean. And pretty damn organized, to be honest. I mean, this place could use a woman’s touch, for sure, but it’s not even close to some of the bachelor pads I’ve seen in my life.”
Navie grins. “Maybe you could put a little touch on this place.”
“Why? I’ll be leaving soon.”
The door opens, and Peck walks in. He gives Navie a little wave and then sets his sights on me. His head bows as he searches my eyes.
There’s a minuscule amount of awkwardness hanging in the air between us. If there’s anything in life that I don’t want, it’s for things to be weird with Peck.
“Don’t,” I say.
“Don’t what?”
“Don’t ask me what I’m making for dinner.” I hold up two packets of hamburger. “I’ll cook with you, but not for you. At least not every night,” I say, correcting myself.
He laughs. “I can deal with that.”
Navie giggles and heads for the door. “You two are adorable together.” She stops at the doorway. “You should come to Crave tonight, Dylan.”
I glance at Peck. He’s watching me carefully.
“Okay,” I say slowly. “Um, what time?”
Navie’s grin gets wider. “Whenever. The fun usually gets started around nine thirty or so. Wouldn’t you say, Peck?”
“Yup. That’s usually when I get there,” he says with a rogue grin. “Talked to Machlan today?”
“Why?” Navie asks.
“Just getting a feeling as to his temperament today. Wondering what I can get away with.”
Navie laughs, turning her attention to me. She jams a thumb in Peck’s direction. “And he calls me a troublemaker.”
Crazy: Gibson Boys Book #4 Page 10
