Total pages in book: 84
Estimated words: 79968 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 400(@200wpm)___ 320(@250wpm)___ 267(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 79968 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 400(@200wpm)___ 320(@250wpm)___ 267(@300wpm)
The spring air was finally starting to heat up. I’d been removing stones and pavers from the lawn since seven o’clock in the morning, and I stopped now for a long chug of ice-cold water, breathing deeply.
Twenty minutes later the loud purr of the Bobcat cut out and Charlie hopped out, every bit as sweaty as I was. He wiped his brow with the back of his arm, tugging off his oversized gloves.
“Fuck me,” Charlie said, looking out at the empty space where the little wall had once been. “We did it.”
“And finally one part of this fix-and-flip went to plan,” I said, reaching out to high-five him.
“I think we’re smooth sailing from here on out,” Nathan said, coming out from inside the house where he’d been checking on the insulation team. “They’ve gotten all of the nasty stuff out, and we can finally work on reframing the parts that need it and getting those walls fresh and new.”
“That’s good,” I said. “Because Rush has been texting me almost every day about projects for his house.”
“He’s been texting you?” Nathan asked. “What a betrayal. My own best friend would rather talk to you about his construction needs than me?”
Nathan was laughing about it, but truthfully, I had been a little surprised this week when I started to get messages from Rush. And then I’d really started to like it. The morning after I’d gone back to his house and crashed drunk on his bed, I’d woken up with more of a guilt hangover than an alcohol hangover, but when he’d texted me random, funny things later that day, it had made things feel less strange.
“I think he’s just trying to be nice to me,” I told Nathan now. “I made a damn fool of myself at the bar last week.”
I looked down and checked my phone to see another message had popped up from him while we’d been working.
>>Rush: I’ll swing by the Fixer Brothers office on my break. Will you guys be around?
I tapped out a quick reply.
>>Shawn: We’ll be there in half an hour. Cleaning up here at the job site.
I held the camera up, taking a selfie of me, Nathan, and Charlie in front of the cleared part of the yard.
>>Rush: Ooh. Make sure the guy in the hardhat is there, too. Do you guys only hire good-looking people?
Something turned in my chest. I had no right to be jealous—I was going to have to get used to Rush being Rush, even if some stupid part of me still wanted him for myself.
“Christ,” I muttered under my breath. “Charlie, someone thinks you’re hot.”
Charlie gave me a guilty kind of look.
“Oh, don’t tell me—” I started.
“Listen,” Charlie said, holding up a hand. “I know it sounds bad, but yes. I got back together with Jim.”
“No,” Nathan and I both groaned in unison.
“Charlie, just say it. Never again,” I told him.
“Jim’s been going through some rough stuff with his family,” Charlie said, waving a hand and kicking at a piece of gravel with his boot. “He needs me.”
“Yeah. Until he fucks you over a week from now,” Nathan said.
Nathan and I had watched Charlie go through the wringer with this guy Jim for far too long. Ever since Charlie started contract work with us, we’d never heard the end of it. Jim would beg Charlie for exclusivity, then fuck him over and cheat on him the following week. He’d come home high on cocaine, begging Charlie for forgiveness. And one time, he’d even stolen money from Charlie, gambling it away in some friend’s poker game. Luckily it had only been a few hundred dollars, but when Charlie had stayed with Jim even after all of the betrayals, Nathan and I started to realize that he was so desperate for love that he was staying in a truly toxic relationship.
I pulled in a breath. “I hope it goes well,” I told Charlie, even though I knew he’d be breaking up with his horrible boyfriend yet again sometime soon. “But will you please come to the brewery with us tonight?”
Charlie nodded. “Yeah. Jim’s got to help his ex-husband with some problem with a hot tub anyway.”
Nathan and I exchanged a look that said one thing only: red flag city. Charlie’s entire relationship with that asshole had been one big red flag.
“Yes,” Nathan said. “We are absolutely bringing you to the bar.”
Charlie nodded. “I’m going to head home and shower and I’ll meet you guys there.”
The moment Charlie stepped into his truck, Nathan met my eyes. “We’ve got to hook him up with Rush tonight. The Jim problem has to be stopped.”
My heart rate ticked up, and I had to resist the urge to tell him hell, no. I cocked my head to one side. “I mean, I totally agree, we have to get him to quit going to Jim. But I don’t know if Rush is really the right guy for Charlie.”