Not that Jett could do anything but wait to talk to him. He had asked for Harrison’s number before he passed out in the guest room on Friday night, but all that earned him was a mocking laugh and a door shut in his face.
And just like that, he had been sent to bed like a kid.
Harrison was a jackass.
Arlo’s beater was parked by the garage, but Killinger’s car was still missing from inside. Excellent, that gave Jett a small window of time to lug his bags into the house and pick the second-best room before he could get bitched at and told to sleep in his car.
As soon as he opened his car door, he was hit by an intense heat, bugs and a sweet smell that Jett associated with too much nature. The radio had mentioned three times on the drive from his dad’s house to Harrison’sthat the temperature today would break records. Jett hoped it would hold off on the record-breaking until he found some way to get rid of his headache.
He groaned and got out, nausea climbing when he fought to get his huge travel suitcase from the backseat. By the time he climbed the porch stairs and inside the air-conditioned lake house, Jett was ready to fall into the nearest bed and nap.
He decided to be nice and take the room furthest away from Harrison’s, which surprisingly had the view of the lake and the dock. There would be no complaints from him; he’d rather look at a lake than stare into the creepy darkness of the woods at night.
Jett’s clothes were sticking to him after he unpacked his things into the closet and found the best place to display his treasured rainbow hockey stick. Damn, he couldn’t wait to bring that thing back to Toronto and show Cap. The man would lose his shit for sure.
Now he had the choice of taking a shower, or he could be brave and swim in the readily available lake outside. The shower offered comfort and the possibility of naps, but the lake—
Fuck it, he was going to earn some brownie points and start his workout. Harrison had hinted that they would be staying at his house for their training, which Jett didn’t understand because the lake wasn’t frozen, and there was nowhere to practice. He still couldn’t tell if he was being messed with, so he would wait to pass judgment.
Maybe Harrison wanted his company more than he wanted to train him.
Holy shit, he needed to get this hangover under control before he started speaking his inside thoughts, outside.
Jett took Advil and downed a full bottle of water before changing into his swim shorts and heading for the lake. The grass was hot under his feet, and the sand on the lake edge was even hotter. He wasted no time diving in and propelling himself to the end of the dock to check it out.
The water was cold and plenty deep the further he moved from land. Around the dock was jumpable without the fear of hitting the bottom and risking injury, and there were only small rocks and sand at the bottom, no gross weeds or eels. Someone had poured a lot of money intomaintaining and reconstructing the swimming area to make it more enjoyable.
The rumours that the Killingers had money—true.
Jett started swimming lazy laps from the end of the dock to where the sand ended before a big drop-off in the middle. By his second lap, he was feeling cooler, and by his fifth, his headache was gone.
Damn, he needed to get himself a lake house. Preferably, one where his neighbours could hear him screaming for help if a bear tried to eat him.
Wait, maybe that would depend on the type of bear.
Nope. He needed to stop thinking about sex to stop wanting to have sex, especially if Harrison was going to be bearded and walking around with his biceps out.
His brain was weird today. Was he still drunk?
It was so quiet that the sound of tires rolling down a dirt road could be heard from the lake. Jett dunked his head under the water one last time and swam toward the shore to meet Harrison.
He heard the rumbling engine cut off while walking up the beach, and he nervously paused as Killinger got out of his car.
Harrison’s gaze was locked onto Jett’s vehicle, as if he was confused to see it parked there, but then he turned in Jett’s direction and halted.
Jett spun around, half-expecting to see a creature chasing him up the shore, but nothing was there.
“What the fuck are you doing?” asked Harrison.
Jett looked at the water droplets running down his chest, and then to the lake and the sunshine beyond the treeline.
“I was swimming?”
“Swimming?” Harrison looked as bewildered as he was attractive. Damn, that white tee wasn’t doing anything to hide the cut of the muscles underneath it. Harrison must still be working out. “We don’t swim in that lake.”
“Oh, so you’re like, rich-rich,” said Jett. “You didn’t build the house near the lake so you could use it, you built it there so you couldlookat it.”
It was hard to see under all the beard, but it looked like Harrison’s face was turning red.
