by Sarah Hegger
We thank you for your interest. Unfortunately…
She didn’t need to read any more. As Will saved money for college, he’d been applying for scholarships and loans wherever he could. The answer kept coming back no. God, could her kid brother not catch a break?
After a quick shower, she changed into her pajamas and joined Kim in front of her movie. “Ten more minutes, Kim, and then bedtime.”
Kim grunted that she’d heard, but this was her favorite part.
With one eye, Blythe watched Bruce the shark and his toothy grin. This was Blythe’s favorite part as well.
Her phone rang, and Blythe checked it.
Eric.
She let it go to voicemail.
It rang again, and she let it go to voicemail.
Once her dinner was finished, she got Kim through teeth brushing and into bed.
When she got back to her phone, she had another three missed calls. As she watched, the screen lit up again. Eric was not going to give up. No chance he hadn’t caught her duck and weave routine earlier tonight. She knew him well enough to know how much that would piss him off.
Calling up Eric’s contact card, she hesitated for a moment. He’d been a part of her life for so long, it seemed crazy that she was even thinking this.
Maybe this would be easier if she could get angry with him, but Eric hadn’t wronged her.
Eric had never lied to her, never promised her anything he couldn’t deliver. He’d never said he loved her or ever showed one sign of having deeper feelings for her. He liked her a lot. They got along really well and were friends, of a sort. But Eric didn’t love her.
Blythe didn’t know when she’d fallen in love with him. It had been a gradual thing, and it wasn’t like they’d seen each other all the time. Those years he’d lived in Denver, he’d only been home once in a while. It had been easy through those years to keep the fiction going about how they were only friends with benefits.
Then he’d started spending more time around Ghost Falls when he and Matt had started growing Evans Construction together. What had been the occasional hookup every few months had grown into a weekly thing. She hadn’t meant to fall in love with him, and in fairness, he would be horrified if he knew. She wanted to spare him that.
Like Will, she needed to make a clean break with her past. There would be no future for her until she did. No children of her own for as long as she kept waiting for one man to change his mind.
Blythe hit Block this Caller and then to make double sure, she deleted his contact card.
* * * *
Eric clenched his phone in his fist, working against the desire to break the damn thing. He was so angry with Blythe right now, he wanted to storm over there and yell at her.
But Kim and Will were there and the whole situation had drifted into a childish farce. Refusing to take his calls was one thing, but running away and hiding in an alley?
Fresh and still sharp, his anger surged through him again. Blythe was behaving like a child. Christ, even Laura had behaved better all those years ago. Actually, that was a lie, but he had expected much better of Blythe.
His phone rang.
Righteous wrath surged through and died as he checked the caller ID. “Cooper?”
“Yeah, hi Eric.” His construction manager on the Highgate development sounded weary and tense. “I hate to bother you this late, but we’ve got a situation developing here.”
“Situation?” He and Matt had pumped a lot of money into Highgate, a luxury home development with incredible views and price tags to match. Interest in the development was high, but the outlay was higher, and it was part of the thinking behind wanting to expand their business. They couldn’t afford any situations with Highgate. “What’s going on?”
“We’ve got a crew up here working overtime, and they’re not happy,” Cooper said. “They want more overtime pay.”
He really didn’t need this. “Didn’t we agree to that rate months ago with the subcontractor?”
“We did.” Cooper sighed. “But they’re not happy, and I don’t think this is going away in a hurry.”
“I’ll be right there.” It was just the sort of distraction he needed. Highgate hadn’t been the smoothest project they’d put together. Supplies had been late getting to the site, which had ultimately resulted in the crew working overtime. Meanwhile, all around them, the construction sharks were throwing up crappy developments at the same price and finishing in half the time. “Is the subcontractor there?”
“Nah.” Cooper grunted his irritation. “Asshole isn’t answering his phone.”
Not an unheard-of problem with this particular subcontractor. Nate would have him into the office in the morning. This shit couldn’t go on.
He hung up from Cooper and jumped in his car. The Jag wasn’t ideal for site visits, but he couldn’t wake Matt up, and risk waking Pippa and Jasmine, to borrow his truck. Anyway, he was in the perfect mood to tussle with contractors.
As Eric parked, men were milling about the construction manager’s trailer. About twenty of them, all wearing the gray overalls of the MIA electrical contractor. They had taken a chance working with this guy after he’d almost made them late on the last project, but with Ghost Falls booming, subs could pick and choose who they worked with.
With the Gunning deal looming, the timing couldn’t be worse.
Cooper walked through the crowd toward him. “Thanks for coming up.”
When the men saw him, their mood grew more alert. “Who’s their spokesman?”
With a grimace, Cooper pointed to a man leaning against the trailer. “Barrows!”
Just fucking great. Another Barrows to turn his night into a shit sandwich.
“Eric.” Barron Barrows sauntered up to him. One of the nastiest of Blythe’s brothers, Barron was a qualified electrician and could occasionally be persuaded to get off his ass and work.
They’d gone to high school together, so the use of his first name didn’t annoy Eric as it was meant to. It didn’t matter who fired the first shot; it was who fired the last that counted. “Barron.” He nodded and stood his ground, making Barron come to him. “Wanna tell me what this is all about?”
“We need more money.” Barron looked behind him to his crew.
An answering affirmative murmur rose from the men.
Eric glanced at the group. No doubt Barron was the ringleader and quite possibly the instigator. The rest were mostly sheep. “An overtime rate was agreed upon when your boss took this contract. If he wants to renegotiate, he can call me at the office, but I’m not having this shit on my site.”
“Trouble is, the head office don’t always speak for us.” Barron smirked. “We’re the ones on site doing the work.”
“Tell your boss that.” Eric saw where it was heading, and it was nowhere good. “I’m not the one who pays your wages, and neither is Cooper. If you’ve got an issue with what you’re being paid, then take it up with who signs your paycheck.” He looked at all the men in turn. “Until then, get off my site.”
A few of the men glanced at each other and shifted. Not so sure now that somebody was playing hardball back. They had wives and children to support. Men like Barron thought only of themselves.
Barron wasn’t stupid, and he picked up on their wavering. He stepped closer to Eric. “Or what?”
They were about the same size and evenly matched. Barron was making the mistake of thinking that someone who wore a suit wouldn’t go there physically. But Barron had underestimated how much Eric wanted to hit something right then.
“Or I’m going to take your idiot head and shove it up your ass.” Eric grabbed a fistful of overall and twisted.
“Eric,” Cooper said, his tone warning that a physical confrontation was not the way to handle conflict. That was the sure-fire way for shit getting ugly.
Eric watched the idea of taki
ng a swing at him rise in Barron’s mind and dissipate again. Wrenching his overalls free, he stepped back. “You made a mistake here tonight, Evans. This isn’t over.” He motioned the other men to follow him.
Cooper let out a big breath. “Feeling feisty?”
“You have no idea.” Eric kept his gaze on the men climbing into pickups. He’d relax when they were offsite.
“Hey, Evans!” Barron yelled from beside his bike. “I guess my sister couldn’t do what it takes to keep you smiling. Bitch can’t even fuck her way right.”
A veil of rage descended over Eric. He went for Barron.
“No.” Cooper got in front of him. A full head shorter than Eric, he was still built like a bull and stopped Eric’s forward momentum. “Don’t be stupid. You’ve won this round, but you take a swing at him and the whole thing shifts.”
Across the dusty site, Barron smirked and threw his leg over his bike.
Cooper tightened his grip. “Shit! Eric, use your brain. He wants you to go for him. He’s taunting you.”
It was working as well but Eric forced air in and out of his lungs. He forced his desire to hurt Barron down again. “This is his last day on site,” he said to Cooper. “Barron doesn’t set foot on this site ever again. Or any other job I’ve got going in the future.”
Chapter Eight
Blythe stayed alert as she took Kim to kindergarten the next day. She knew better than to believe Brett had given up, but this morning they had a reprieve. She dropped Kim off at the kindergarten and walked back to her car.
A redheaded woman wearing jeans and a linen shirt strode down the rec center’s hallway toward her.
They recognized each other at the same time.
Laura stopped and blinked at her. She found her voice first. “Blythe.”
“Laura.” Blythe nodded. She’d heard that Laura had gone back to her maiden name, Turner, after her divorce. She didn’t know the details, but it had something to do with Laura’s grandmother, Diva Philomene, and gambling.
“You dropping off your sister?” Laura made a stunted motion toward the kindergarten.
This had to be the most awkward conversation in a long time. The air between her and Laura swirled viscous with all the secrets they kept between them. “Yes. You?”
“No, mine are older. At school.” Laura smoothed her flawless shirt. “You look good.”
“You too.” Laura always looked good. She was one of those women who always reminded Blythe of how trashy she dressed. Coming from this particular woman it was hard to swallow. “I need to get to work.”
“Right.” Stepping back as if she had been impeding Blythe’s progress, Laura waved her on.
Blythe got to work without any further awkward encounters or visitations from violent older brothers. She’d been working out of the Body Works gym since she’d first started working toward her certification. It had everything she needed with none of the intimidating flash of some of the newer places in town.
One day she’d be able to have a space of her own, or work with her clients in their homes. But that was a dream for the future, when Will and Kim were settled. Today her eight thirty was due any second.
“Morning, Blythe.” Huge, muscular arms leaning on the counter, Randy looked up from his body building magazine to greet her. He gave her a good-natured leer. “Looking fine this morning.”
“You always say that.” Blythe swiped her key card at the reader.
Randy winked at her. “That’s because you always look fine.”
She had a full morning of clients, and it kept her busy and out of her head.
The last thing Blythe expected to see during her 11:30 appointment was Eric, gaze locked on her, jaw tight, as he strode across Body Works toward her. Which may have been why it took her precious moments to react. Precious moments that enabled him to close the distance.
“Blythe.” His voice could chill meat. He glanced at Joan Bayswater, her 11:30, and gave her a nod and a tight smile. “I apologize for interrupting, but I need Blythe for a moment.”
“No problem.” Joan blinked up at him, her cheeks going rosy. “I’ll just finish my lunges.”
Eric’s smile warmed, ratcheting Joan’s cheeks up to hot pink. “I appreciate this. I won’t keep her for long.”
Blythe found her voice and her desire to take control of the situation. “Eric—”
“No.” He gripped her hand and strode across the gym toward her office, towing her along with him. “You don’t want to speak to me, fine. Suits me perfectly, because right now you’re going to listen.”
A fellow trainer, Kurt, glanced up, took in the situation and stepped toward her. “You okay, Blythe?”
“Yes.” She pulled Eric to a halt. “Could you keep an eye on Joan for me.”
“Sure.” Kurt nodded but eyed Eric as if he’d rather be keeping an eye on him. When she had first started working here, she and Kurt had gone out a couple of times. It had ended, like most of her relationships, because of the man propelling her across the gym.
This was another reason she had to make a clean break. There never would be anyone else in her life for as long as she clung to the hope of Eric.
Eric tossed open her office door and nudged her inside.
The door snicked shut behind them, locking her in with a majorly pissed off Eric. God, he looked so beautiful that her starving gaze couldn’t resist drinking every gorgeous inch of him in.
“Explain.” Eric crossed his arms over his chest. His eyes had gone onyx with temper. “Explain why it’s been over a week and you don’t respond to a text, or a call. The last time you deigned to answer a call, you near enough hung up on me, and don’t even get me started on your escape act yesterday.”
Blythe’s mouth dried around a truth she would rather not speak, and she licked her lips. “I can’t talk about this now. I have a client.”
“This won’t take long,” Eric said. “The sooner you give me an answer, the sooner you can get back to your client.”
“I told you that morning. I don’t want to do this anymore.”
Eric shoved his fingers through his perfectly groomed dark hair. “What the hell, Blythe? You’ve said that so many times I can barely count them.”
“I know that.” His derision stung but she’d earned that much. Her own inability to break things off years ago had led to this point. “But I meant it this time. I do mean it.”
“Blythe.” Her name hissed from him on a low breath, and he closed his eyes. “I really don’t get it. What makes this time different?” He took a step closer. “We’re good together, sweet thing.”
“It’s not that.” Sex had never been a problem, and she backed as far as her tiny office would allow. If he touched her now, she didn’t trust her resolve.
Sensuality softened the hard planes of his face, warmed his eyes to molten. “You can’t have forgotten how things are between us.”
Not for a second had she forgotten. Even now her body was responding to him. “I haven’t. I know. That part was never the problem.” He didn’t get it because she didn’t want to spell it out for him. She played for more time. “I need more for myself, Eric. I need someone who wants to stick. Someone who wants me around all the time, not only when it suits them.”
“Sweet thing.” His voice went smooth and velvet. “It’s not like that.”
She knew that tone. It was the one that could talk her back into his bed time and time and time again. She hardened herself and put the desk between them. Just in case the spirit overpowered the flesh. “It’s exactly like that.” It took a piece of her to admit this much. “And it worked for me…until it didn’t anymore.”
He gazed at her for a long moment, as if judging his next angle of attack.
Blythe motioned to the door behind him. “I need to get back to Joan.”
“And that’s it for
you. You’re done, so I need to be a good boy and get the hell out of your life. After how many years, Blythe?”
Eighteen of them. Blythe had counted each one. “It doesn’t make any difference.” Eighteen of her best years waiting for something she knew would never be hers. “I need to move on with my life.”
Shoving his hands in his pockets, he continued staring at her. “What am I missing?”
Through her office window, she saw Joan had finished her lunges. Kurt had taken over training her, and Joan looked happy enough about it.
Eric’s determined expression made it clear she wasn’t leaving until he got an explanation that made sense to him.
“Okay, I owe you the truth.” Blood drained south, leaving her light headed. She could hardly believe she was going to out herself after all this time. “I’m not returning your calls or texts, and I don’t want to see you because I need a clean break.”
“But—”
She stopped him with an upheld hand. If she didn’t get this out now, she’d lose courage. “I have to walk away from you, Eric, and keep walking…” This was getting harder. “Because I love you.”
Eric flinched as if she’d sucker punched him. And there it was, right there. The reason she couldn’t allow her heart to harbor the minutest morsel of hope.
“I love you.” Her voice got stronger. “I’m not sure when it started or if maybe I always have. But I love you with that forever kind of love, and I want you to love me back.”
His gaze boring into her, Eric opened his mouth and shut it again. He stood frozen to the spot, and it hurt more than she could bear. No matter what people said, knowing a thing and seeing it confirmed were not the same. Seeing hurt way more.
She’d always known that if Eric knew she loved him, it would be the end of them. The real end of them. So perhaps she had been clinging to some tiny hope that he would look at her, have this huge epiphany about what he was missing out on, and suddenly give her everything she wanted.
It must be some kind of miracle that growing up as she had, she still believed in fairy tales.
“I want it all, Eric.” She filled the silence as he stood there. “I want the house, the children, the happily ever after. Can you give me that?”