Maybe This Time(6)

I clear my throat and tear my gaze away from him. “I’ll be fine, but thanks, Dash,” I say, waving to them before walking out of the house.

I glance around the neighbourhood quickly, before getting into my car. Pulling out my phone, I look for the nearest supermarket, which turns out to be only about five minutes away. I frown when I see the neighbour peeping over the fence, blatantly staring. He quickly ducks when he sees me looking. I shake my head and drive off, deciding to detour and get familiar with the area.





Reid


“You sure it’s safe for her to go out alone?” I ask Xander, not so sure about it myself.

“She’ll be fine, it’s just down the road and no one knows who she is.”

“Yet,” I say, knowing it’s what everyone else in the room is thinking.

“No one will mess with her,” Dash says confidently. Too confidently, and that’s his weakness. I try to keep one step ahead, while Dash relies on his reputation way too much. It’s true, I’m probably being paranoid. But we do have enemies, and it’s always better to be safe than sorry.

“That a gamble you willing to take?” I ask the room. Xander curses, and instantly goes into his room, coming out minutes later fully dressed.

“I can go keep an eye,” I offer. The minute the words come out of my mouth I regret them. It’s not my job to babysit her. Nor should I want to. Fuck.

“I got it, she’s my sis, my responsibility,” he says, but he’s wrong. She’s all of ours, because Jack made her be. Xander leaves in a hurry, now worried about Summer. I’m sure she’s fine, there’s just a few things she doesn’t know about this town.

About her father.

About us.

I think someone needs to update her, and quick. But hell, what do I know? This is their decision to keep her in the dark, and it’s not really my business. I suppose if she was mine, I’d want to keep her safe and away from all of this, too.

Then why do I feel slightly guilty?

“Where’s Ry?” Dash asks, looking up from his phone, pulling me from my thoughts.

“At the gym, I’m heading there now before work.” Ryan and I own our own bar, Knox Tavern. It’s just a small pub, but it’s ours and we do okay for ourselves. I’d like to think my mother would be proud of us if she were around.

“Alright. I’m gonna stick around and wait for Summer.” He's trying to appear casual, but I see the way his eyes flicker to mine before he looks back down at his phone.

“You know she’s off limits, right?” I can’t stop myself from asking.

“Do you?” he replies.

“Not my type,” I answer without hesitation. Dash mulls my comment over, before nodding in agreement.

“You’re right about that. Summer’s a good girl,” he says, a wistful smile on his face. It pisses me off. Fuck! She’s only been here one night and she’s fucking with my head already. With my control.

So what if she’s hot? I’ve had a lot of hot. Sweet, not so much, but only because I generally go for women who know what they're getting into with me. They have no misconceptions of love, romance or forever. They use me, and I use them. We both have a good time, no harm, no foul.

Summer seems like the romance kind. The kind of woman who would try to change a man like me.

I’m not changing for a pretty face.

No matter how stunningly beautiful that face is.

Summer Kane isn’t for me.





Summer


“What’s up with your neighbour?” I ask curiously, as we carry the last set of bags from the car. I might have gone a little overboard with the groceries, but I figure I'll end up cooking for all the guys anyway. They seem to be a permanent fixture in the house.

“What do you mean?” Xander asks. I found him in the car park of the supermarket I was at, and he said he wanted to make sure I found it okay. My brother is turning out to be a really sweet guy. How wrong my mother was.

“I dunno. Nothing,” I tell him, looking over the fence. Xander shrugs. The only person still in the house is Dash, who is texting on his phone, a movie running in the background.

“I’m gonna head to the gym. You gonna see Jack today?” Xander asks, his tone nonchalant, but his eyes plead with mine.

“What’s the big deal?” I ask, wondering why everyone’s being so pushy.

“Come on, he hasn’t seen you in two years. He wants to see you, Summer.”

“And a few more days won’t kill him,” I say, before leaving the living area.

My father is a tough subject for me to discuss. I don’t know him at all. Sure I'd seen him over the years, once a year to be accurate. My mother let him visit every year on my birthday and then I wouldn’t see him again until the next. Even when he did visit, the look on my mother’s face made me wish he'd just leave. She'd get angry and moody, but mainly bitter. My mother hated my father, but she loved him, too. I know that, because so much hate had to stem from somewhere. When he cheated on her, he turned her love to hate.