Page 5 of Hearts at War

Gavin was already heading out there, and I felt obligated to follow. Sure, I was curious, but I hadn’t seen the score yet. If Gavin left, I’d be too exposed for women hitting on me.

Eh, fuck it. It wouldn’t kill me to see what the commotion was about. Then I could head home.

It wasn’t ingrained in me to want to know everyone’s business, but in a small town like this, it became a natural force of intrigue.

“I don’t care, Heather.” Jerry stood there, his gangly arms crossed over his chest as he held his chin up. As if that would make him look intimidating and taller. He resembled a weasel, thin, sneaky, and lacking muscles to suggest he was strong at all. But that didn’t stop him from trying to lord over the woman glaring at me.

“This apartment is yours.” Jerry gestured at the door hanging ajar, the hinges and doorknob damaged. “And it’s your responsibility to pay for the damages in there.”

“It’s not mine.” Heather set her hands on her hips, setting a sharp green-eyed glower on him. Long black curls tumbled out of her ponytail, making her look that much more wild and furious. As though she’d yank her hair off her scalp with how mad he made her. “I just got here, dammit. I haven’t been here to be responsible for anything. I didn’t sign any lease—” She pivoted to scowl at Eric James, another coworker at the ranch. “You didn’t sign anything, did you?”

“No.” Eric shook his head then frowned back at the busted door that led up to one of Jerry’s rentals. “No. I didn’t sign anything. I just asked around and Jer said he had this apartment and that you could have it.”

“See?” Jerry sneered at her.

“See?” Heather shouted. “See what? This is your apartment. Not mine.”

“Hold on. Hold on now.” Gavin stepped closer, intervening. Having four daughters, a couple of them almost tweens, he was becoming a hell of a mediator. “Eric, what’s this all about?” As he approached, he glanced at the raven-haired woman. “Heather?”

“Save it for later, Gavin,” she bit out. “Yes, I’m back. Spare me the fake welcome-home spiel.”

“Damn.” I laughed once. Talk about an attitude.

Turning slowly, as if she needed to pace her movement to better prepare for a scathing attack, she locked her pissed glare on me.

“She’s supposed to rent the apartment up there,” Eric told Gavin. “But when I walked over to meet Jer and get the key for her, I saw that the door was busted open.”

“Someone broke in?” Gavin asked.

Even though Burton was a small town, crime happened. It happened any and everywhere, no matter what.

“Yeah. Busted up the place real good, too,” Jerry complained. “It’s gonna cost a fortune to fix back up.” He shot Heather a nasty look. “Gonna cost you, I mean,”

“I am not legally responsible for this place.” She flipped him off. “Try to screw over someone else, weasel boy.”

I huffed another short laugh. He does look like a weasel! Once more, she glared at me.

“Jer, I think this your problem,” Gavin said. “Not Eric’s.” He glanced at Heather. “Or hers.”

“You’re damn right it’s not my problem this place was broken into before I got here,” she said. “My only problem is not having a place to stay now.”

“Nah.” Gavin shrugged. “There’s plenty of places to rent around here.”

Heather cringed. “Yeah. You can count on high turnover in places like this.”

“If you don’t like this place, why are so set on being here?” I asked.

Gavin held up his hand, warding me off from speaking.

I wasn’t sure who the hell this woman was, but I could guess enough from her appearance. Posh. Designer clothes that cost more than my paycheck. Manicured nails and expensive skincare crap that ran women into bankruptcy. Looking like a model, she had to have come from the city.

She fumed, staring at me like she had just as low of an opinion of me. Raking her gaze over me, she curled her pink lips in disdain.

“Hold on now.” Gavin repeated his most frequently spoken phrase of peace. “Heather, if you just need a place to stay for the night, I’m sure there’s an older rental unit at the ranch.”

I furrowed my brow at him, wondering where in the hell he’d lost his common sense.

An uppity woman like her wouldn’t belong at the damn ranch with all the dust and cobwebs.