I ponder her question before answering, “I have to stay and go through everything that’s in the house. But I don’t know what I’m going to do afterwards.” I honestly have no idea what to do with this place. I don’t think I could live here, but I also don’t know if I can bring myself to get rid of it.
Even if the memories are painful, this is what my grandmother left me. It was her final wish. There’s honestly not much else left. Chloe’s looking at me as I’m thinking, and I can tell by her expression that she’s scrutinizing me.
Her analytical gaze disappears when she asks, “Do you remember the Blakesley boys?”
The Blakesley boys? That’s a very sudden change of topic. I take a minute to think and then it comes to me, “Do you mean Oliver and Caden? The twins?” I do remember them. They were lanky with a bit of acne, kind of cute – typical high schoolers. “What about them?”
“Well, they’re super hot now, and they own a lot of the land in town. More like, they own land all over. They’ve been buying it up over the last couple years, doing some development stuff. Apparently, they have some kind of big, secret plan but won’t tell anyone about it. Very hush, hush.”
Super hot, land-buying twins… Huh. I don’t see how any of this is relevant, but before I can respond, she continues, “And before you say anything, it pertains to you, because your grandmother was the final holdout. They want to buy the land in this area and make it into a complex or something. I don’t really know.” She says it so nonchalantly, I almost ignore it. Chloe sometimes unloads a massive amount of information suddenly, and I have to take time to process it.
“That’s… Do you think I should sell?” Whatever Chloe recommends, I’ll take into consideration. She’s always wanted what’s best for me, even if I didn’t always notice that or appreciate it enough.
She takes a long sip of her drink and mulls over my words. “I know it’s been hard for you. Your dad getting sick and your mom’s accident. And now Grandma Rachel is gone. She was a lovely lady. The house is a reminder of the tough times, and I get that, but there have also been good times, right? I don’t think I can tell you what is best. It’s something you need to figure out, because I haven’t been what you’ve been through.”
Chloe’s right. This has to be my decision. I just hope I can make it. “Either way, I’m biased. I want you to be within walking distance from me for as long as humanly possible. The longer you’re in Coldgrove, the happier I’ll be.” And suddenly the tension dissipates. Chloe’s always been great at making me feel better. “Maybe I can offer a piece of advice, though. You could meet with Oliver and Caden. It wouldn’t be binding. Just see what they want. And you’d get a bit of a show. I’m telling you… they are extremely attractive. Like, I don’t understand how people that good looking can exist or even why they exist.”
I laugh at the last part of her comment, then grow serious again, as I think about the rest of what she’s said. “Yeah, I could do that maybe. We’ll see.”
Chloe smiles and we finish our dinner. I wish she could stay the night, but she has to get back home. She says her fiancé’s waiting and she doesn’t want him to worry.
I practically leap into her arms when I say, “Fiancé? When did you get engaged? How? Where? Details!”
Chloe laughs and gives me another hug, “We’ll talk about it next time. I just wanted to make sure you were, at the very least, functional. We can get into my life later. I’ll even let you meet him at some point.”
I make Chloe promise that we’ll catch up again soon and then she’s gone. Being alone again makes the house that much more foreboding. Her presence helped me forget my troubles for a little bit, but now they’ve reentered my mind.
I go to my makeshift bed on the couch and get ready to sleep. As I drift off, I let the idea of meeting with Oliver and Caden simmer in my brain. If I decide to go through with this, though, I’ll need to figure out where their office is. I should probably have something of a game plan as well. I don’t want to get manhandled into a deal that ends up screwing me over.
I don’t know much about selling real estate. And I don’t even know if I want to. But I’ll think about it in the morning. It’s been a long day— a long week, a long time in general— and the only good part of any of it has been seeing Rachel again. I’m so glad she’s not mad at me for secluding myself. She seems to understand, and that’s the best sort of friend I could ask for. It makes being back here in Coldgrove, even under these circumstances, feel a little bit better.
Chapter 2 – Caden
It was Oliver’s idea to drop by Scarlett’s house without warning. I thought it might be better to call or send a note – at least give her some kind of notice. She’s a different girl than the one we knew in high school. Her final year was intense. First, her dad fell ill and she had to take care of him, but he ended up dying. Then, her mother was in a fatal hit and run. They still haven’t caught the driver.
After all of that, Scarlett stopped talking to anyone who wasn’t Chloe Winters. She isolated herself, and then after graduation, she ran off to the city. But before all of that, she was the most popular girl in school. She was lively and talkative and generally a sunny person.
Both Oliver and I were taken by her, but only he had the courage to ever talk to her. Scarlet and I had a few encounters, but nothing that led anywhere… It was hard watching her retreat into herself that final year of high school. I’d love to see her happy again. Even though it’s been years, it’s something that I’d like to see. Maybe even be a part of.
“Are you ready?” Oliver turns to me in the back of the car. Our chauffeur, Nicholas, put the partition up earlier, giving us the privacy we need. Oliver’s question sounds innocent enough, but he’s probing, trying to get information out of me about my state of mind.
“I’m fine, Oliver,” I manage to answer. He’s never quite moved past the dynamic we used to have when we were younger. I tended to get picked on more, and Oliver still thinks I need extra help, even though I can handle my own now. He can be a little insufferable sometimes.
His next statement is almost laughable, “I just remember you had quite the crush on Scarlet. We need to get this sale. It’s the last one and then we can start our master plan for Coldgrove. I don’t want you to let old feelings get in the way.” Oliver likes to act like he doesn’t experience too many emotions— as if he’s some impenetrable brick wall.
Within a second, I snap back, “If I remember correctly, you had a crush on her, too. Maybe we should worry about your feelings…” It takes a second, but Oliver gives me a smile and I know we’re good. Everything we say is all in good fun.
We arrive at the house, and my heart starts to beat faster. I haven’t seen Scarlet since high school, and I’m not sure what to expect. There’s been no word from her since she left, so no one knows what’s been going on with her. Oliver’s staring at the front door, and I know he’s shaken as well. He isn’t the most open with his emotions – neither one of us is – but I can tell when he’s feeling something extra deeply.
Instead of talking about it, we get out of the car and approach the door. With each step, I question our decision to show up out of the blue more and more. There are a whole lot of potential outcomes, each one of them worse than the other.
Oliver rings the doorbell and we wait. It takes some time and I wonder if she’ll even open the door. I heard through the grapevine that she hasn’t been leaving the house very often. Maybe she’s isolating herself and doesn’t want any visitors. That would make sense. Her grandmother just died, and she hasn’t set foot in Coldgrove for a long time. If I was her, I’d be mad at people randomly showing up at my house. I almost tell Oliver we should leave, but I hear footsteps approaching, and a few seconds later, the door opens.
The moment I see her, all my old feelings come flooding back. She’s just as beautiful as I remember. The sun coming in from behind us is illuminating her silky, pearly skin, glistening to blind us. Her hair is longer, but it’
s still just as chestnut dark – thick like syrup that I could get stuck and tangled in – with sweet chocolate eyes to match. Her hair is cascading over her perky bosom, and her body is curvier. I want to run my hands along it, feel her body flush against mine. Even before the death of her parents, it felt like there was something hiding beneath the surface, a part of her hidden for no one to see. Now, her eyes are even darker. She only opens the door slightly, giving us a once over.
“Hello?” Her voice is quiet but clear. I want to say something, but I’m at a loss. I’ve never been good at talking to her.
Thankfully, Oliver pipes in, “Scarlet Russell? I’m Oliver Blakesley, and this is my brother, Caden. We’re here to-”
“You’re the ones who want to buy the house.” Direct to the point. Someone must’ve talked to her about us.
Without letting her blunt response shake his game, Oliver continues, “Yes. We’d like to speak with you if you have a minute.”
“Sorry. Now’s not a good time,” she shakes her head as she starts to close the door.
Like a metal spring, my arm juts out to hold the door from closing, which causes Scarlet to jolt in surprise. Oliver inches closer to her,
“This won’t take long. If you’ll just-”
“I have many other things to take care of, and I am not in a place to think about selling my grandmother’s house right now.” Her rose pink links stay in a flat line, but I wish they’d curve into a smile.
Oliver lets out a small, exasperated sigh, “Miss Scarlet. We understand that this must be a tough time-”
“No, you don’t. I’m sorry. Please leave,” and with that, she slams the door, and we hear the accent of the lock turning.
Oliver hangs his head and sighs again, “What now?”
I shrug, “I told you that we should have given her more notice.”
“No need to rub it in.” Oliver runs his hand through his hair then starts walking back to the car. “Whatever. We’ll have to come back another time I guess.”
He walks passed me, shoulders sulking, hands in his pockets. I look toward him as he moves further away then glance at Scarlet’s door. I’m not entirely sure what comes over me – adrenaline, pride or desperation – but within seconds I’m knocking on Scarlet’s door again. Surprisingly, the door opens again.
“I thought I told you to leave,” her voice wavers as she bites her lip.
“Right,” I say as I turn back towards Oliver, who has stopped heading to the car and is looking at us. I turn back to Scarlet, “Please just hear us out. We can’t imagine what you’re going through, but we just need a few minutes of your time.”
She crosses her arms, which pushes her breasts more into my view. I can’t help but glance down, but my eyes jump back up to meet hers in order to save myself from embarrassment.
I clear my throat, “If you want… we can talk over dinner or-”
“Dinner? I don’t think so,” she scoffs into a smile, such a beautiful smile that ignites firecrackers in my lower stomach.
“It doesn’t have to be a formal dinner. We could go somewhere around here, say, Mike’s? They have this… steamy, beautiful, delicious combo called ‘Scarlet Red’…”
Scarlet falls silent, mouth hanging open, unsure of how to respond. She looks away as if trying to ponder on her next move. Meanwhile, I glance back at Oliver and his eyes are lit up with hope. I turn back, and She opens the door wider and moves aside to let us in. She’s managed to leave Oliver speechless to which I’m impressed. She motions for us to step inside when we make no movements, and we step inside. She closes the door behind us. I expect her to lead us further into the house, but she stays by the door, leaning against it. I expect her to say something, but once again she does the unexpected.
“Yes. We are interested in buying your house.” Oliver’s cadence is a little off, but he’ll regain it soon. “Would you be interested in selling it?”
She would have to be, because Scarlet has nothing but the house. And judging from the way she’s acted the past few years, she seems to hate it. She seems to hate this entire town. Why else would she have never even visited her grandmother? She doesn’t say anything, but her chest moves up and down quicker than normal. Being this close to her has put all my nerves on edge. I realize I’m caught in a ball of silence. Maybe I should… say something…
But Scarlet beats me to the punch, “I appreciate the offer, but I don’t know if I can give up my grandmother’s house.”
Oliver doesn’t let his disappointment show. Instead, he smiles, “I completely understand, but we’d love for you to hear the plans we have. Will you at least think about it? Maybe we can convince you.” Scarlet nods and some of the tension leaves Oliver’s shoulders. “Great. Why don’t you visit our office tomorrow? We can go over some of our intentions. We’ll even pick you up. Well, Caden will pick you up.”
Scarlet lets out a sigh and nods. Oliver says a goodbye, and she opens the door to let him out. I stand there and look at her, still enthralled. Once Oliver exits, she looks at me, but I can’t tell what she’s thinking.
“Is there something else?” her voice comes out shaky.
Yes. I want to wrap my arms around your body. I want to feel you against me. It’s like I’m in high school again, unable to talk to the pretty girl. This pretty girl in particular. I walk over and tell her, “If you need anything, don’t hesitate to call one of us. We want everything to go smoothly for you.” I hand her our business card, the one with our personal numbers on it. Our fingers touch briefly as she takes it from me, and, as if struck by an electrifying shock, she withdraws her hand quickly. I don’t know if that’s good or bad.
“Thank you.” She looks down and I leave. The door quickly closes behind me, and I feel somewhat defeated. It’s not so much about not procuring the house, but… I don’t know what I expected to happen. Maybe for Scarlet to jump into my arms and proclaim her undying love for me? But she barely knows who I am. It all went by so quickly. I join Oliver in the car and drop my head into my hands. I’m such a fool. A damn fool.
Oliver tries to ease my nerves, “It’s okay, Caden. It’ll just take a little more time to convince her. We can do it. We’ll rebuild this town.” I look at him and he’s on his phone doing whatever. He manages to always appear calm and collected, but he’s got some anxieties. I know the amount of time it’s taken us to get the house is starting to weigh on him. We had no luck with Rachel Red, and now we may get nowhere with Scarlet. Plus, our dad is starting to get impatient with us. Especially with Rachel’s death, he thinks we should get the sale easily. Hopefully, when she comes to our office tomorrow, we can convince her to legitimately give our offer some thought and potentially accept it. The plans we have for Coldgrove will reinvigorate this town.
I have Nicholas drop me off at the gym to work off some of my pent-up energy. Oliver goes to the office, probably to figure out a game plan to get Scarlet to sell us her house. His whole prerogative is being prepared for every eventuality. I’m not sure if that’ll work so well with Scarlet, but I won’t tell him that now. I enter the building and start an intense workout. Thoughts of Scarlet infest my brain. I push myself hard, but it doesn’t help. I wonder if Oliver is having an equally hard time. After about an hour, I give up at purging my mind of Scarlet. I clean myself up and head home.
Chapter 3 – Scarlet
Why did I agree to meet with Oliver and Caden? I usually don’t want to deal with people as it is. I guess it took some guts – more like nerve – to show up in person to get what you’re after. They seriously took charge of the whole situation and stayed to fight for me, oh, I mean the house, even after I slammed the door in their faces. And something in the way Caden said “Scarlet Red” caught me off guard. It was as if his words were dripping with hunger… I can’t decide if it’s food hunger or… hunger for me. Wait, stop! That’s ridiculous!
Though… I have this irking feeling that any dealings with them will lead to a lot more than real estate. If what I
feel is right, then there’s the question of if I even want things to move beyond real estate. But then I’d need to choose a brother. Currently, I don’t have enough of a read on either Caden or Oliver to make a decision, but boy, did they look good in those fitted grey suits. Even though they’re twins, they have some differences. They both have icy blue eyes that pierce me through the heart and send shivers down my spine at the same time. Both of them have dirty blonde locks, although Oliver’s hair is wavier, and I wouldn’t mind getting my fingers entangled in it. They both are tan with decent builds, although Caden looks like he works out more from the way his suit hugged him tighter in certain places, so he might be able to keep me pinned down-
Wow, I’m getting way ahead of myself! I just saw them for the first time in years and already I’m creating romantic scenarios. All these thoughts are completely unnecessary.
I call Chloe to meet me at Mike’s Diner. She’ll recenter me. I rush to my car and get in. It’s partially because I can’t wait to see Chloe, but now a Scarlet Red combo sounds really good to eat. Seeing Oliver and Caden has scrambled me. Chloe’s description was very accurate; they were better looking than I expected. Who knew those twiggy boys would grow up to be so sexy? Maybe my signature order might help bring me back to my default… or at least temporarily distract me. Temporary distractions are better than nothing.
• • •
I get there before Chloe but don’t immediately exit my car. This is the first time I’ve been out since the funeral. I’d somehow managed to remain cooped up for days and now I don’t know if I’m ready to see anyone. Meeting the twins today was a great example of that. I wait until I see Chloe’s car pull into the parking lot so I can walk in with her. Luckily, she’s still driving her bright yellow Volkswagen bug, and when it arrives, I scramble to her car. Chloe exits and she finds me standing on the curb in front of her.
Two Bad Groomsmen_An MFM Menage Romance Page 40
