Caulk Tease

by Green, Megan

  I was a fucking idiot. There’s absolutely no denying that.

  But there’s no way in hell I’m losing the one person in my life that truly makes me happy. Not without the goddamn fight of the century.

  An idea suddenly hits me. “Where is she?”

  Ash lifts a brow in response. “Monroe? Last I saw, she was attempting to yank her belongings out of Benton’s death grip so she could get the hell outta Winchester.”

  “Call him!” I shout, desperation sinking into my tone. “Tell him to do whatever it takes to keep her here.”

  I stride over to my desk and grab my jacket.

  “Where the hell are you going?” Ash calls as I shrug into it on my way to the door.

  “I need to pay our friendly mayor a little visit.”

  Chapter Twenty-Five

  Monroe

  This shouldn’t be happening to me right now. If I had just stayed away from Barrett Brooks, it wouldn’t be happening. Love is a strange and dangerous creature. No matter how many times I push it away or attempt to avoid it at all costs, it wraps itself tightly around me and never let’s go until the thought of losing it completely breaks me. And then it does.

  Fickle bitch.

  “Monroe, just think about this for a minute. Barrett doesn’t get to fire you. He’s only one owner and my vote weighs just as much as his does. And there’s no fucking way Ash would side with him on this.”

  Benton pulls his truck off the road into the library parking lot. I finally had him convinced to drive me to the bus stop after he forced me to stay the night at his place last night.

  The last thing that I want to do right now is talk about Barrett, but I have a feeling I won’t have a choice in that matter. I glance out the window at one of the few places in Winchester that holds good memories for me. The building is the same as it has always been. A little two room brick building with spring flowers lining the walkway. Just like this damn town.

  Nothing ever changes.

  I lean my head against the cool glass and relish in it helping calm me down. “Benton, you don’t get it. I can’t stay here and see him all the time. Stop in the grocery store and run into him in the cereal aisle. Drown my sorrows in whatever concoction that Scarlett makes me and remember our night together in the bathroom. Not to mention, I’m homeless now.”

  The reality of my last sentence hasn’t really hit me until right now. I don’t have anywhere else to go. I’m not sure I even know how to start over at this point. I got too comfortable and complacent living with Barrett.

  “First, you’d never find my brother in the cereal aisle, he’s too much of a foodie to stock his pantry with that crap.”

  I want to laugh. If only he knew what secrets Barrett keeps hidden in the dark corners of his pantry, he’d be shocked. He isn’t so perfect and collected like everyone else seems to think he is. And I kind of hate myself for knowing him so well.

  “Second, gross. And third? Who said you were homeless? My place is a shit show, but we’ll make it work. I’m not throwing you out on your ass.”

  This is why we became fast friends when we were young. He might be a charmer and a little arrogant, but he has a heart of gold and would give anything he has for someone who needs it. The woman who falls in love with him will get hit so fast she won’t even know what happened. I envy her a little bit. It would be so easy to love Benton, but there’s never been a spark of chemistry between us. We’re just buds and that’s how it’s always been.

  His brother and me?

  Our chemistry is off the charts and even I know that. All I can think about when I’m not with Barrett is being with Barrett. Ugh, I sound like a freaking high school girl who is crushing hard on the hot guy in school.

  Disgusting.

  Our comfortable silence is broken when Benton asks, “Do you think you’ll ever forgive him?”

  That’s not the question I was expecting to hear at all. I do a double take, is he kidding me right now? “How could I? He takes the word of every single person before he’ll listen to me. What kind of relationship can we build without any trust?”

  I thought we were both fully on Team Monroe and not Barrett. But I guess I can’t fault him for siding with his brother. They do share blood after all.

  “I’m not saying he didn’t fuck up…” He trails off and I know he isn’t saying everything that he’s thinking.

  “But?”

  “Have you been around the two of you? You burn hotter than a stripper in a church about ready to enter confessional with the Pope.”

  If I had a drink right now, I would have sprayed that shit all over Benton’s face. But maybe that was his point. My belly aches as I bend over laughing like I haven’t done in a long time. How does he come up with this shit? “I’m sorry, what did you just say?”

  He smirks at me and says, “The two of you together is like lava, babe. Too hot to touch and it gives everyone around you a woody when you’re fighting it.”

  “You’re talking about your brother. You know that, right?”

  “I’m attempting to look past that. What I’m trying to say is the two of you make sense. And I hate for the both of you to throw a good thing away over something stupid.”

  I hate how right he is right now. Relationships have never been something I’ve worried too much about in the past. But I also didn’t know Barrett, and everything has changed since then. Being with him makes me feel like a better version of myself. I released a lot of my stress, anxiety, and just started having more fun. Life finally became something I wanted to enjoy rather than just living and watching it pass me by.

  Tires screech into the parking lot and we both look up as Barrett whips his car into the lane next to us. What is he even doing here right now? I immediately hop out of the truck and judging by the extra door slam behind me, Benton does the same thing.

  “Whatever you have to say better be good, because I don’t want to get shit for this.”

  I look over my shoulder at Benton and he’s looking at his brother. They planned this? The whole meetup was planned? I feel like such an idiot. My hands shake as I take a step away from Benton’s truck. Toward what, I don’t know. I just know I need to get out of here and fast.

  Barrett runs around the front of his car, but stops ten feet away from me and says, “Monroe, please talk to me.”

  Shaking my head, I tell him, “Barrett, go home. We’ve already said what we need to say. Just leave before you make things any worse than they already are.”

  “Monroe—”

  “No.” I whip around and face Benton. “This is between him and me. I’m mad at you for setting this up behind my back, and if you want to continue being my friend, you’ll stay out of it.”

  Benton puts his hands up in surrender and takes a step back toward his truck, but he doesn’t enter it.

  I try to keep the defeat from my voice, but it cracks when I turn back to Barrett and tell him, “I can’t keep doing this with you. It’s too hard.”

  He drops down to his knees on the concrete and holds his hands together as if he’s praying. Is Barrett Brooks really going to beg for my forgiveness? I guess there’s a first time for everything. I wait expectantly for whatever grand speech he has prepared, but what I don’t expect is what he actually says.

  “I love you, Monroe,” he chokes out.

  If that was his form of a grand romantic gesture, it didn’t work. If anything, all it did was piss me off more. He can’t say that to me when I’m pissed off and hating him. All it does is taint those words even more than they already are.

  Backing away from him, my back hits the front of Benton’s truck and I scream, “No! No, you don’t get to come here and say that to me. Not now. Not ever.”

  He jumps up from his place on the ground and runs toward me lacing his hands with mine. “I was an idiot and fucked up. I know that now and I took care of things.”

  That gives me pause. I let him continue holding my hands and I mull over his words as cars on the roa
d continue speeding by. All of those people are going about their day completely unaware of the shitstorm going on just feet away from them.

  I finally look up into his eyes and ask, “What do you mean you took care of things?”

  He fidgets from one foot to the other and his avoidance of the question only worries me more. I feel like wringing his neck to get an answer out of him.

  “It took me longer to get here than it should have. I knew immediately last night that I fucked up, but I figured you were gone for good. This morning when Ash came into work and I found out you were still here, I knew I still had time to make things right.”

  I don’t get it. That still doesn’t mean anything. It’s not like he suddenly woke up and knew the truth. He’s not making any sense at all. “So, what changed? Why do you suddenly believe me? Or is everything the same and you’re just hoping that I’ll forgive you and we can go back to everything being normal again?”

  Barrett shrugs. “My best friend pointed out that my head was up my ass and enlightened me how much of an idiot that I’ve been.”

  “And? How does that change anything?”

  “Turns out I’m the only schmuck in this town who thought the mayor was a good guy. It didn’t take me long to round up a group of people and take them to his office for a confrontation. When you run unopposed for office, you’re basically guaranteed the win. After his term is up, I don’t think Mr. Mitchell will be running for re-election. That man is dirtier than a needle in a crack house.

  “It took me less than an hour to gather shit on him and he won’t be blackmailing anyone. I wouldn’t be surprised if he resigns and moves the family out of town. Way out of town. I might have suggested that would be in his best interest.”

  That’s not really an image that I want to think about, so I push that out of my mind as quickly as possible. I want to say I told you so, so bad, but I refrain. Barrett really seemed to look up to the man and I think he’s dealing with more confusion about how to deal with that than anything else. Instead I tell him, “We can’t keep doing this. If we’re going to be together, you have to trust me.”

  “You’re not leaving?” he asks while his eyes light up like a kid on Christmas morning.

  “Can I trust you not to go off the rails again and come talk to me before jumping to conclusions?”

  He tilts his head to the side for a moment and with the biggest smirk on his face he asks, “Are there other skeletons in your closet I should be aware of?”

  “Barrett!”

  He’s skating on thin ice right now and he’s cracking jokes? Who the hell is this man and what did he do with Barrett Brooks? He’s sounding more and more like Benton the more time we spend together.

  “Sorry, yes of course. I can’t say things will be perfect, but I’m not going to be a complete dickhole if anything else happens in the future.”

  I bite my lips together holding back the laugh I want to release. A dickhole? That’s not a word I would have ever thought I’d hear coming from Barrett Brooks’ mouth, but I guess there’s a first time for everything. “That’s all I ask.”

  Barrett wraps his arms around me and pulls me tightly to him. My body hums with the closeness and no matter how pissed off I was, I feel like I’m home again. He dances his fingers up and down my spine and I can’t help but smile.

  “Monroe, will you come home with me?”

  Home.

  Even though I loved my uncle very much and I’m incredibly grateful to him for taking me in, I’ve never felt like I had a home. Besides, when I lived with him, his house was just a place to sleep and we spent minimal time there. Most of our time together was spent on a job site.

  “You want me to live with you? Like full on, we’re in a relationship, and living together?”

  “I don’t want to live with anyone else ever again.”

  “And that’s my cue to leave,” I hear Benton mumble in the background before his truck door slams shut and he peels out of the parking lot.

  Barrett Brooks might drive me crazy. He might be the most stubborn man on this planet. But he’s mine, all mine.

  I stretch up on my tiptoes and press my mouth to his in a soft and slow kiss. I massage my lips against his and take my time. He sticks his tongue out and glides it along my bottom lip trying to gain entrance. Before we can deepen the kiss, I pull back with a smile. “I love you, Barrett Brooks. Take me home and let’s start our forever.”

  “Forever and ever, Monroe. I love you too.”

  Epilogue

  Benton

  Two Months Later

  “Everybody say cheese,” the photographer from the newspaper shouts, setting off a chorus of poorly timed voices. She snaps a few pictures with her bright as fuck flash, leaving us all blinking and rubbing our eyes as we turn to face one another.

  Ash, Barrett, and Monroe all stand beside me, the ceremonial ribbon cutting scissors in Barrett’s hands. We’d posed for the camera holding them, though the real ribbon cutting will be done by the town’s new mayor.

  Not even a week after Barrett had shown up at his office, Mayor Mitchell had packed up all his shit and gotten his family the hell out of Winchester. I pity the poor town that has to deal with that asshole next, but at least he’s no longer our problem.

  “I can’t believe we actually did it,” Ash says as he turns around to face the new entrance to the building. “I have to admit, I didn’t have much faith there for a while. But we fucking pulled it off.”

  Monroe clears her throat. “Ahem. We? Pretty sure Benton and I are the ones to thank here, Ashley. All you did was sit there and look pretty,” she adds with a wink.

  Since Barrett and Monroe had officially come out in the open as a couple, Monroe had taken to swinging by the office every chance she got in order to visit Barrett. As such, she and Ash had developed an odd sort of friendship. Putting the two of them in the same room made for hours and hours of entertainment, their zany one-liners and constant ribbing of each other enough to make anyone piss themselves laughing.

  If it were any other woman, I’d be warning my brother that he better watch out with how close the two had gotten.

  But with one look, I know for a fact that’s something he’ll never have to worry about. Monroe turns to face Barrett, her hand coming up to smooth his hair off his forehead, a look of so much love and contentment in her eyes that it’s impossible to ignore. When those two look at each other, it’s like nobody else in the world even exists.

  It’d be nauseating as fuck if they weren’t so damn cute.

  My mom and dad approach us then, Mom’s arm circling Monroe’s shoulders, causing her to tear her attention away from my brother and turn to hug her. Mom’s eyes close as she pulls Monroe tight against her, and I can’t help the smile that tugs at the corner of my lips.

  Mom had always said she thought of Monroe as a daughter. When she’d found out her eldest son was dating her, she’d been over the moon excited.

  And I knew that even though they weren’t quite there yet, Barrett had every intention of making my sassy best friend his wife. Just as soon as he knew for sure she wouldn’t kick him in the balls for even suggesting it.

  His words, not mine.

  Once Mom has finished thoroughly hugging Monroe, she pulls back, coming over to me and taking my chin between her thumb and forefinger.

  “I’m so proud of my boys,” she says, waving Barrett over to us. She pulls him into her side when he reaches us, and then pulls the three of us in for a group hug. “So proud of you all.”

  “Thanks Mom,” I mutter into the top of her hair. “We’re pretty proud of us too. It was sort of touch and go there for a little while.”

  She pulls back and waves her hand. “I never had any doubt you could pull it off. But if you think for one second that your father and I would’ve ever let you lose your business, well... I know I raised you boys to be smarter than that.”

  Barrett and I look at each other. “You knew the business was in trouble?”
<
br />   My father joins us. “Bryce has a certain way of getting things out of your partner over there. We knew something was up. So we sicced her on poor old Ash.”

  Barrett’s eyes flash to Ash, who holds his hands up innocently. “Dude, I had no idea. I don’t even remember telling her we were in trouble. She had to have read between the lines or something.”

  Barrett gives him a suspicious look. “Alright, Ash. If you say so. But how ‘bout next time, you just stay away from our baby sis, got it?”

  “Oh, that reminds me,” Mom says, pulling all of our attention back to her. “Bryce told me about her internship here this summer. I’m so happy to hear you’re going to let your little sister join the business.”

  This brings mine and Ash’s eyes to Barrett. “I thought that hadn’t been officially decided yet,” I say to him, Ash’s surprise over the entire thing clear. We hadn’t even had a chance to bring it up with him with all the last minute work we’d had to put in on this place. And while I loved the idea of my little sister coming to work with us, I didn’t love the idea of just springing something like this on our business partner.

  Barrett runs a hand through his hair. “So did I,” he says, shaking his head at Bryce’s bullheadedness.

  “Oh, don’t tell me you’ve changed your mind, Barrett,” Mom says, her face falling. “It would be so nice having the whole family here for the summer.”

  Barrett eyes Ash. “Is that gonna be a problem, man? I know we haven’t exactly run it by you yet—”

  Ash holds up a hand. “It’s cool. Just a bit of a shock at first. But you all know I love Bryce like my own sister.”

  I keep my mouth sealed shut. He doesn’t need to know about the time I walked in on the two of them in the kitchen at Barrett’s, their bodies pressed entirely too close for anything even remotely considered sisterly. Luckily, I’d hauled my ass out of there before either of them had seen me— and before I had seen far more of anything I never, ever wanted to see when it came to my baby sister.