The Trouble With Scarecrows (The Trouble With Men Book 2)

by Dorlana Vann

  “Rocky told me.”

  “Bastard.” Neal heard Mandi’s friends from across the bar cheer for her. But he didn’t look that direction, everything seemed to blend in the moment, the music, their voices, Brenda’s anxiety. “How’d you find Rocky?”

  “I visited your mom.”

  “Shit, Brenda, what the hell? You know I don’t want her in my business.”

  “I know. I’m sorry, but I was desperate to find you. But she seemed regretful and like she missed you. She told me to tell you she was sorry.”

  “Oh come on. I can’t believe you’d stoop to using my mom.”

  “That’s not what I’m doing. I desperately wanted to talk to you. I had to find you. I want to fix what I’ve broken.”

  “There’s no fixing this. You’re getting back with Larry. There’s no way you can make me feel better, and there’s no way I’m going to make you feel better about it. So get the fuck out of here.”

  “I made a mistake.”

  “Really?” he said flatly.

  She touched his arm, and he shrugged it off. He couldn’t let her touch him . . . it was just too much. He sat down and faced the liquor bottles that lined the shelf of the bar.

  “I fell back to old habits without thinking,” she said. “I was so wrong.”

  Neal tried to steady his hands as he reached for his beer.

  “And I told Larry that it was wrong two seconds after you left. Nothing happened. I only betrayed you with my words.”

  “So you figured out he was just using you for another booty call. That you would never be first, always second. And since he’s getting married, you’d even have a real title: mistress.”

  “Okay. And maybe that’s what he wanted. But it doesn’t matter because I didn’t let it get that far. I had a moment of insanity.” Brenda sat down on the barstool abandoned by Mandi.

  Neal eased his glance so he could see her out of the corner of his eye.

  Her eyes were closed for a second, and then she took a deep breath before saying: “Larry is . . . was my family. After my dad died, he was the only constant in my life. I was accepted to plenty of law schools around the country, but I chose the one that would keep me closest to him. You’re right. He’s always been my number one priority, and I’ve always been his last, but I always held out the hope that one day he would see me. That he would realize that he loved me and was sorry he broke off our engagement. And so when I thought that was what was finally happening, I got sucked up into all those memories. But I know Larry is not the love of my life. Neal, you, you’re the love of my life, and I can’t live without you. I don’t want to live without you.”

  Neal redirected his focus from the bottles to Brenda, and for the first time he noticed the tears and acknowledged the panic in her voice. He tried to get his thoughts together, tried to figure out what he was feeling. Anger, sure. But mostly he felt beat up, wounded . . . hurt.

  Brenda said, “What if Alexandria had arrived on your doorstep and said she had changed her mind, that she left what’s his name and wanted you? Wouldn’t you have at least thought about it? Even for a second? Please come back to the house, and you can live there, and you don’t have to do anything but go to school. I’ll pay for everything. I’ll buy your groceries, and maybe one day you’ll invite me for dinner and we can talk it through.”

  Neal cleared his throat and turned away. She had just called him the love of her life. Did that mean she loved him? At the apartment, she hadn’t flinched when he’d practically begged her to not to leave him. He’d poured his heart out to her like he’d never done to any other woman, and she’d still picked Larry. “It doesn’t matter that you regret your decision to choose Larry. What matters is that you did it. You didn’t even give our relationship a second thought. You didn’t give me a second thought. I was so easy to push aside.”

  “I made a mistake. The biggest mistake of my life. Please, Neal, please forgive me and give me another chance. Come home and let me make it up to you.”

  “I can’t just come back to the house and pretend that none of this happened. I can’t come back now and let you take care of me like some chump because you feel bad. That’s not going to work. Just because I’m broke doesn’t mean I don’t have my pride.”

  “I didn’t mean that,” she said. “We’ll do it however you want.”

  “Fuck, Brenda! You can’t toy with my emotions like this. I need some time to think about everything because right now, I can’t stand to look at you.”

  She put her hand over her mouth as big tears rolled down her face. After a second, she nodded.

  He found it interesting how easy it was to ignore her tears; his normal empathy bucket was empty. He had to get away from her so he could think. He was so weary he didn’t know if he could walk out of the place, but he had to. He picked himself up, crossed the dance floor, and left Brenda crying at the bar.

  Chapter 30

  Even though the house had been alive with movement, loud banging, and people, Brenda had never felt so lonely. What Neal had set in motion hadn’t stopped, and other than the workers being given instructions to report to Brenda instead of Neal, the renovations went on as though Larry hadn’t shown up and Brenda hadn’t made the worst decision in her life. But she had and a week had passed by without her hearing a word from Neal. What made it worse was that his cousin Rocky had stopped by to get Neal’s things.

  She had talked to Rocky for a while, trying to get information out of him about Neal, casually, and a couple of interesting things had come about while he’d been there.

  During their talk, Brenda had decided not to sell the house. She had been on the fence before his visit—unsure if it was haunted by too many bad memories and moments. She realized, as she talked to Rocky and thought about the apartment across the hall from hers, she no longer considered it Larry’s old apartment. She thought of it as Neal’s.

  And, after consulting with a colleague, she figured out that the renovations would pay for themselves better in the long run if she rented out the four apartments instead of selling the house outright. So she would be a landlord, even if Neal didn’t want her or the apartment any longer.

  Her apartment was complete now, and even though she wouldn’t be living there, she was pleased. It looked modern, yet had kept the 1920’s charm. She had given strict orders that even if a wall or door had to be removed because of wiring or mold, it was to be replaced exactly as it had been before, same molding, rescue the glass doorknobs, no matter the cost. She loved the bathroom. She’d decided not to take the bathtub to her other apartment but to leave it here where it belonged, snug in the corner. She’d replaced the old rusty curtain rod with a new circular one with a new crisp white shower curtain. The wall behind the shower had been repaired along with the pipes that ran to the sink, which she had replaced along with the toilet and a few of the small blue floor tiles before it was all scrubbed and regrouted.

  If her apartment renovations were any indication of how quickly Neal’s crew worked, then the entire place would be finished in no time. As a matter of fact, later today she had some people coming over to empty the attic. She didn’t have plans for the space yet but was thinking about turning it into a secret hideaway for herself if she needed it.

  She was glad Rocky had come over yesterday. They’d talked, and she found out that he needed a place to stay. Since she’d decided to keep the multiplex, she needed someone to oversee the place. Today was her last day of vacation. She had to go home tomorrow and go back to work. Back to the real world.

  She turned on the water, ready to take her last shower in this house. She stepped into the tub and let the hot water run on her face, thinking about how ironic it was that she’d needed this time off to heal, but all she’d done was create more damage to heal from.

  Brenda knew she would never settle again.
She would never let her heart be locked away from possible future relationships because she was waiting on another. She would take this lesson from Neal, if nothing else. And she would never settle for being in control. She would survive this. She was stronger because of Neal, and softer.

  The shower curtain was yanked open . . .

  Panic hit every cell in her body. All her Tai Chi Chuan training kicked in. One-two, uppercut to the nose, elbow to the back of the head, knee to the groin.

  “Oh shit! Neal!”

  Neal was naked on her bathroom rug, holding his goods, moaning.

  Brenda stepped out of the tub. “What the hell are you doing?”

  “Surprising you.”

  “What’s wrong with you? There are strange men working all over the house. Don’t you know not to sneak up on a woman in the shower?”

  “I do now.”

  “Here.” She held out her hand, and he took it, steadying himself and standing up.

  They stood naked in the steamy bathroom. Brenda shook her head and laughed. “That was pretty funny.”

  Neal’s face was squished up as he rubbed the back of his head. “I’m glad I could entertain you.”

  “Are you okay?” she asked.

  “Yeah. I’m good,” he said with amusement in his voice.

  Brenda turned the shower off and grabbed a towel and wrapped it around herself. “We have really got to stop meeting like this. We’re going to kill each other.”

  He gazed at her, his expression serious. “I wanted to talk to you.”

  “Oh! So that’s why you’re standing there naked?”

  A grin escaped the side of his mouth, and he shrugged an eyebrow. “I wanted your full attention.”

  She nodded. “You have it. Why don’t we go into the bedroom?”

  A wider grin.

  “Where we can talk.”

  “Fine. But I’ve missed you.”

  “Good.” It was so good. She had been using every ounce of self-control not to jump into his arms. But she couldn’t afford a misunderstanding. She walked past him in her towel and out the door. “And put on your pants, please.”

  “Too much of a distraction, huh?”

  She sat on the edge of the bed and waited for him to get dressed. But he didn’t put on his pants, only his black briefs, which he looked incredible in. He didn’t walk to the bed, thank goodness, but stopped and sat in the chair she had newly added to the room. His legs were apart, his arms relaxed on the armrests, and he was gorgeous. What she had tried to ignore before, she appreciated now.

  “You wanted to talk?” she said. “You have my attention.”

  “I’m sorry.”

  “Me too,” she said. “I’m sorry!”

  He nodded.

  “Is that all?” It was more than enough for her.

  He shook his head. “I was so hurt that I didn’t really listen to what you said at the bar. But after I had a chance to think about everything, mull over everything you said, something nagged at my anger. A lot of what you said about Alexandria . . . well, you were right. I’d be a liar if I told you that if she would’ve been standing at that door instead of Larry, I know exactly how I would have reacted. I think that is what you did, you just reacted to years of his hold on you. But what counts is that you were able to fight it this time. You told that son of a bitch to hit the road. And you came back to me.”

  She felt the tears well up in her eyes, and she didn’t fight them. They were the happiest tears she’d ever had, and she wanted them.

  “Another thing, at the bar, I could have sworn I remember you calling me the love of your life. Did you mean it?”

  Heart racing, she closed her eyes for a second before saying, “You are. I do. I love you, Neal Parker.”

  A broad smile covered his face. “I love you too.”

  She couldn’t stay across the room from him any longer. She stood up, and he was right there before she’d taken a step. He held her, kissed her, and the tears of joy kept falling. And they fell gently the entire time he made love to her.

  Afterward, she didn’t mind that he still held her in his strong arms. There was something about this moment, like this was the moment she’d been waiting for all of her life. She felt at peace and so very happy.

  Neal kissed the top of her head and snuggled even closer. “Were you here when Rocky come by to get my things?”

  “Yes, and you can have your apartment back. It’s all repaired and cleaned and ready for you to move back in.”

  “Sorry about that,” he mumbled. “But that’s okay. I’m not moving back in.”

  “No?”

  “I’ve decided that if I’m going to have a relationship with a strong, successful woman, I need to find my own way. Well, sort of. I actually . . .” He growled in his throat. “Thanks to you, I went and talked to my mom. I’m sorry I got upset with you about her.”

  “It’s okay.”

  “Things are better, better than they’ve been in years because of you. They’re still not perfect, but she really wants to make it up to me, so I’m going to let her. Just until I get out of school.”

  “Well, I think it takes a real man to ask his mommy for help.”

  “Hey,” he said and tickled her.

  She giggled. “I’m kidding. Stop! Okay, I guess I’ll tell Rocky that we still have a deal.”

  Neal stopped tickling her. “What do you mean?”

  “I’m moving out tomorrow, but I’m not selling. Rocky will oversee the renovations, as well as be the manager slash maintenance man in exchange for rent. He says he’s trying to start a business and really needed his money for start-up.”

  He pulled his arm out from under her and they shifted until they laid side-by-side, facing one another. “What the fuck?” he said. “You’re kidding me? After all this, you’re not selling and you’re going to let him stay rent-free? Just like that?”

  A huge smile broke across her face as she noticed his furious, red, beautiful face. “It should make you happy.”

  “It should?”

  “You changed me. You made me realize how selfish I am. You make me want to be generous and a better person. I did it for you. Don’t you see? I want you to be proud of me. But don’t worry, I told him that if you came back and wanted the apartment and/or position, then the deal was off. So I can call him right now.”

  He plopped back down beside her. “No, it’s fine. That was a very nice, unselfish thing to do.”

  “Okay, fine! It was a little self-indulgent. I thought maybe if he lived here, you might visit and he might let me know, and I might happen to come by and see how everything with the house was going.”

  He stayed quiet for a second and then busted out laughing.

  “Are you laughing at me?”

  “At you? Never! Now come here, my selfish, sexy woman.”

  She gladly rolled over on top of him. She stared down at his face, into his gorgeous blue eyes. “Do you want to take that shower now?”

  “Uh . . . yeah! Race you.” He lifted her off of him and jumped out of bed, running to the bathroom.

  “Cheater!” she shouted just as she heard the crash. Uh-oh. “Neal?”

  “I’m okay!”

  Also from Soul Mate Publishing and Dorlana Vann:

  THE TROUBLE WITH SNOWMEN

  Snowmen drift into your life like they were sent from above. The relationship is great, rolls right along, and builds. Everything seems perfect … until a little heat is introduced. Then they melt, leaving only their hat, their scarf, something to remind their victims of what they’d lost.

  Urban cowgirl Haley Monroe is told that the fabulously hot guy who just dumped her was a snowman. Her friend Maximilian convinces her that the only way she’ll ever stop being pla
yed by snowmen is to become one. It takes a lot of drinks to work up the nerve, but Haley gets her sexy on and goes on the prowl.

  Famous horror author Larry White drops everything to attend a midnight séance at Maximilian’s apartment where he meets Haley. By the way she’s dressed—and just propositioned him—he assumes she’s a hooker. Larry can’t pass up the chance to get inside her head, especially since prostitution is the character’s occupation in his next book.

  After spending the weekend together, unexpected sparks surprise both Haley and Larry. The trouble is Haley is dead-set on snowmanning the unkempt “starving artist” she met at the séance, and Larry doesn’t think he could have a real relationship with a woman with a past, so they go their separate ways.

  The real fun begins when they meet again and find out neither one of them were who they thought they were. Can they reignite the flame? Or will they have a snowman’s chance in hell?

  Available now on Amazon: http://tinyurl.com/zrb5gau