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“That’s three times you said yes,” Luke advised, his throat growing thick with emotion. “Remember that.”
It was Warren who pulled me clear of the others. His face was beaming. His arms felt so utterly perfect, wrapped tightly around me.
“You’re staying for real?” he asked, just to make sure. “What about Big Sur?”
“There’s nothing for me down there,” I told him. “California’s beautiful, don’t get me wrong. But it’s lonely, it’s artificial, and it’s just not… home.”
The truth had been staring me in the face the whole time, I just needed a push. Something to get me back. A reason to be up here again, where things could be familiar. Where I could finally see a future again, without being haunted by the past.
Most of all, I wanted their friendship, their companionship, their love. I craved these things without realizing how much I missed them. Specifically how much I missed Warren, and Luke, and Adrian.
And if even half of what they promised was true I would never be lonely again.
“So now that all the cards are on the table,” I said, looking up at them, “spit it out.”
“Spit what out?” Luke asked hesitantly.
“Tell me what the three of you were talking about,” I insisted, setting my hands on my hips. “Because right before I stepped in here it looked like someone’s dog died.”
Thirty-Six
KAYLA
“Well shit then…” I said, after they’d told me the whole story. “Just how long has this been going on?”
Warren looked angrier than Luke, but they both looked equally uncomfortable. The entire situation sucked. Especially now that they’d laid their finances bare, and I knew the place was barely making payroll.
“Off and on since we started really,” Warren admitted. “But I’d say they’ve gotten bolder in the past six months.”
“Yeah,” Luke nodded. “The past six months really started picking up for us. We took on a bunch of new work. Plus we’re getting word of mouth, and—”
“And you’re ‘stealing’ their business in their eyes,” I reiterated. “Got it.”
It pained me to think about them working so hard, and then possibly lose everything to something like this. Actually it made me furious. Like Warren and Adrian, I wanted to rip someone’s head off.
“That office upstairs,” asked Adrian. “Does it have a couch?”
“A comfortable one, yes,” said Warren. He squinted. “Why?’
“Because until this is resolved we should take turns staying here twenty-four seven,” said Adrian. “That way we can keep an eye on things.”
Luke nodded, looking suddenly enlightened by the idea. Warren too.
“Just having a light on up there,” he continued, pointing up the stairs, “might be enough of a deterrent. Especially if they think someone’s home.”
I could see new wheels turning in Warren and Luke’s heads. Just knowing their friend was on their side — and thinking of solutions to their problems — seemed to take some of the tension from their overall body language.
“I’ll take tonight,” said Adrian.
“Bro, you don’t have to—”
“The friends I’ve been staying in town with are cool as hell,” Adrian went on, “but they could use a night without me, if you catch my drift.”
Recognition dawned. Eventually they nodded.
“I’ll stay too,” I chimed in. “I’ve got no place to go right now anyway,” I smirked. “I already checked out of the hotel, so—”
“Bullshit,” said Warren abruptly. “You can always stay with us.”
