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“I guess I’ll have to do that,” he says defensively. I have the urge to protect Tegan because I don’t like that look on his face. It’s the look that he plans to bully to get what he wants. He’s tried that a few times on me but has since learned that I don’t respond the way he wants when he tries. I’ll have to see to it that he doesn’t bully Tegan, if anything, to make sure she’s warned that he wants it.
And who knows, Tegan will probably hand it over without a problem.
“How about I get it from Tegan and give it to you?”
His jaw flexes as he thinks it over, and then he pushes up his glasses. “Sure. It’ll save me a trip.”
He lingers for a moment, his gaze searching the space behind me without really seeing. I clear my throat to draw back his attention. “Anything else you need?”
Snapping his eyes back to mine, he gives a quick shake of his head and begins to back away. “I should get going anyway. Tea with my stepbrother is boring as hell, but it does soothe the throat.”
And it’s free, I don’t mention. Instead, I nod to him, grab the door handle of my truck, and pop it open. He waves me off as I hop, shaking my head as I do. For a man with a lot of money, he sure does have a lot of issues.
Chapter 16
Tegan Adams
Tori’s officeisn’t as small as I thought it’d be. For the most part, she’s unpacked her office supplies and stuffed them away on proper shelves and in desk drawers. A few small boxes that were delivered yesterday are left, but they sit off in the corner, waiting to be put away.
Aside from the desk and shelves, she has a fluffy sitting chair that sits before a small round coffee table. Both look like they were found at a garage sale, but I couldn’t care less. They’re cute, and I would have picked them up myself. But that’s where I sit, my sandwich on the table and Neil’s binder next to it. Tori is behind her desk, munching away on a carrot while she fires up her laptop to do a little work during lunch.
Thankfully, since we arrived back at the shop from the hardware store, she let the topic of me and Cole’s status lay to rest. At least, for now. I can tell she has a lot of opinions on the matter, but so far, she’s refrainedfrom voicing them. Until this moment, I didn’t know she was capable of such restraint.
I still can’t believe she called him my boyfriend. The shock has yet to wear off on the blurted accusation. At no time have I told her about my feelings for Cole, on what we share or lack thereof. All she knows is that we’ve had sex a few times. Maybe she read between the lines. Maybe I implied that there was more. Either way, if she brings it up again, I’ll have to set her straight.
“Did you see that new house for sale?” Tori asks as she squints at the screen of her laptop. “It’s in Fairview. I just listed it yesterday.”
Carefully, so that the loose lettuce doesn’t spill out and onto the floor, I unwrap my sandwich. “No,” I answer.
She swivels her laptop around, and I watch as the pictures flip by across the screen. It’s a cute, one-story, white house with a couple of bedrooms, a master with a small but luxurious bathroom, an extra bathroom, and a nice kitchen complete with brand-new stainless appliances. Everything has been updated to perfection and is exactly the kind of house I’ve always wanted. “It’s beautiful,” I breathe as my heart sinks, knowing that this house will never be in the cards for me.
“It could be yours,” she sing-songs.
I roll my eyes even though I feel a little defeated on the subject. “There’s no way I could afford it.”
Her lips form a thin line and she turns the laptop back to herself. “Right. It’ll probably be on the market for a little while anyway. It’s too fancy for a town like this, therefore, too costly. But there’s another house next to it. A little smaller, not as nice.”
“And?”
She shrugs a little. “I could buy it and start my ownrental business. Derek Wordon might be on to something there.”
“Mhmm,” I hum, turning back to my sandwich and lifting it to my lips.
Chewing on a bite, I unzip the binder and flip it open. I leaf through the contracts and read the restraining order one more time. I don’t glean any more information than what I read before, but I just wanted to make sure that I saw what I saw.
The paper after that is the property’s size, which happens to be ten acres, and after that, the vet records of what I can only assume is for the horses in the pasture. I have yet to go out and pet them. They never come to the fence anyway unless their owner shows up with carrots and apples. They’re pretty though, watching them roam the property at complete ease, unaware that their space is haunted. Or maybe they are aware and just don’t care. Maybe it’s the norm for them.
“What are you looking at?” Tori asks.
I glance up and watch her pop a slice of green pepper into her mouth while she looks at me expectantly. “A binder of Neil’s.”
Her eyebrows raise as she chews thoughtfully. “Any good gossip?”
I grin a little at her. “Depends on what you think is gossip.”
She touches the tip of a celery chunk to her chin. “Alright, spill the beans. What’s in the binder?”
Grabbing the vet records, I hold them up and wave them around a bit. “Just legal stuff.”
