12. Chapter 12

Chapter 12

Jesse

Victor and I tried to make sure at least one, if not both of us, were at the club most nights. We thought it was important that we were there to keep our finger on the pulse of the business.

I only worked behind the bar on Daddy Nights, so tonight, I was sitting in the booth Victor and I normally shared, nursing a beer and keeping an eye on things.

So far, there had been no sign of Demarco. Not that I expected him to show up around here any time soon. I did hear from one of our regulars that he'd been out running his mouth about what an ass I was over the course of the last week. Not that I gave a shit what he had to say, as long as he was saying it somewhere else.

My phone rang, and I glanced down at the screen to see Victor's name. I chuckled to myself. Victor was a work-a-holic and a bit of a control freak, so I wasn't really surprised to hear from him.

"Why are you calling me? You're supposed to be on vacation. I'm pretty sure I can handle things for a week," I teased.

"No doubt you can. It isn't you I'm worried about." The serious tone to his voice told me this wasn't him being a control freak. Something was up.

"What's wrong?"

He let out a sigh. "Maybe nothing. I don't know. Andy wants to borrow my car. Which wouldn't be a big deal, but he was being cagey about it."

"Cagey, how?"

"He sent me a text asking about the car, so I called him. I could hear a lot of noise in the background, but he said he was at home. By the time we got off the phone, I still had no idea why he needed my car because he was so freaking evasive. For all I know, he's street racing again and lost the title to his car. I mean, he got in that fight at the club on Friday night, which isn't like him, and now this."

"Don't assume the worst, Victor. He didn't just get into a fight. He rescued his friend. Those are two different things, and odds are, he probably just had an accident and didn't want to worry you. How about if I go by his place and check in on him for you?"

"Would you? It's Tuesday, so I'm guessing the club isn't too busy."

"Shae could handle it even if it was. Plus, she has someone extra behind the bar since Clay's working tonight, so I can leave for a little while."

He let out a relieved breath. "Thanks, man. I know I'm probably overreacting, but just in case, I'll feel better."

"Let me tell Shae I'm going, and I'll head that direction. I'll let you know what's up as soon as I know."

I stopped by the bar and let them know I was stepping out for a little while. The club was only about fifteen minutes from Andy's house, so I didn't anticipate being gone long.

I got in my truck and headed towards his house, but I was sure everything was fine. I knew Victor worried about Andy. A lot of that worry came from a place of guilt because he felt like he'd let Andy down when he left New Jersey after their parents' deaths, so if I could help Victor relax and enjoy his vacation by taking a few minutes to check on Andy, I would do it.

Besides, I wouldn't mind seeing Andy, especially now that I'd told Victor I was interested in him. Not that I planned on showing up and making a move on him or anything. I wanted to take this slow and do it right.

I knew he would be on shift tomorrow, but maybe I could take him out for dinner or something on Sunday night. Maybe we could—

What the fuck . All my thoughts and plans about asking him out came to a halt as I turned onto his street and saw all the flashing lights.

I was still a couple of blocks down the street, and that was as close as I could get to his house. I parked on the curb and hopped out. My heart was pounding as fear coursed through me. The only thing keeping me from losing it was the knowledge that Andy had talked to Victor, so he had to be okay. I sprinted the rest of the way to his house, where I found him out in his front yard with Caleb and his friend Mika. They were watching as the firefighters poked around in the burned-up shell of a car. No wonder he needed to borrow Vic's.

I reached him, and without even thinking, I grabbed him and pulled him into a hug. At first, his body tensed, but then he let out a breath, and his whole body relaxed.

"Jesse." He breathed out.

"What happened, slugger?"

"I don't know. We were inside drinking wine and hanging out, and someone set my car on fire."

"You were home when they did it?"

"Yeah, but we didn't see anything. We wouldn't even have known it was burning if the loud sound outside hadn't got the dogs all riled up."

I gripped his face with my hands and looked him in the eyes. I shook my head before resting my forehead against his. "They could've hurt you."

"But they didn't. I'm okay." Then he looked up at me. "What are you doing here, Jesse?"

"Your brother was worried." I looked over at the car and then back at him. "Rightfully so, apparently."

"You can't tell him, Jesse. This is his first vacation in forever, and there's nothing he can do about it. I shouldn't have asked to borrow his car."

"He would feel worse if he had a car sitting in his garage while you were on foot. But you're right. There's nothing he can do. I won't lie to him, but I'll try to reassure him you're okay."

"Thank you, Jesse."

"Do you have any idea what happened?"

"No." He rolled his lips between his teeth nervously, so I had a feeling there was more.

"No, but—"

"But Mika had an idea."

I looked over at Mika. "And what was that?"

"I wondered if maybe it was Sebastian. He was really pissed at Andy last Friday night."

"Fucking asshole. It really wouldn't surprise me. Did you tell the police about him?"

"I did," Andy said. "They are going to see if any of the neighbors' cameras caught anything."

"You don't have cameras?" I looked around to see if I saw any anywhere.

"No, it's a rental, and it's a pretty safe neighborhood, so I didn't see any reason to get any."

"Well, we need to get that taken care of," Keith said. "You should check with your landlord and make sure it's okay. But like I said earlier, for tonight, you should come home with us."

"I don't—" Andy said at the same time I said, "That won't be necessary—"

Keith looked between the two of us and then settled his gaze on me and raised an eyebrow.

"He'll be coming home with me."

"I will?"

"Yes, you will. If this was Sebastian and he was pissed enough to do that"—I pointed at the burned-up car—"then he might come back."

"I doubt that," he said.

"But you don't know for sure."

"He's right, Andy. You don't know for sure," Keith said. "As a matter of fact, Mika, if you're right and it is him, it might be best if you stay at our place."

"I don't live alone. I have roommates, so I should be okay."

"If you're sure, Mika," Caleb said. "But we'll at least follow you home."

Andy looked at me. "What about Seph?"

I shrugged. "She'll come with us."

"I don't really think it's necessary," Andy insisted, but I noticed the way he shifted his eyes over to the car, and I was pretty sure he was more worried than he was letting on.

I reached over and grabbed his hand, tugging him close to me. "Necessary or not, it would make me feel better."

Andy

Jesse seemed determined that I should go with him. I just wished I knew why. If I closed my eyes, I could still feel him running his thumb across my lower lip in his office the other night, but most likely, he wanted me to come with him so he could feel he'd done his duty as Victor's best friend.

Of course, his reaction when he'd arrived felt like overkill if all he wanted was to check on Victor's little brother. This man infuriated me. I couldn't figure him out. Sometimes, when he looked at me or when he touched me, I thought he saw me as a grown man, but sometimes he treated me like a pesky little brother.

Either way, he and Keith weren't wrong. I didn't really feel comfortable staying here alone tonight. I could go with Keith and Caleb, go with Jesse, or I could stay at Victor's, but I didn't really want to be alone.

"How much longer do you think you'll need to hang out here?" he asked, and that's when it hit me. He was probably at work when Victor called him.

"You were at the club, weren't you. Of course you were, Vic's gone. I'm so sorry. I can just go with Keith and Caleb."

"Andy, I have staff at the club. Everything's fine. They don't need me up there. They can manage on their own. I was more worried about if we had time to go get Victor's car tonight or if I should take you to work in the morning, and we can take care of that on Thursday."

"If you need to go back to work, I can go with them." I motioned to where Keith and Caleb were sitting.

"I don't."

I huffed out a breath. "Fine. If you can take me to work tomorrow, I'll get one of the guys to bring me home the next morning. Then I'll be off for a few days, and I can go car shopping."

"No need to get anyone to bring you home. Tuesday is our slow night, so I can go home early and get some sleep, so I'll be up. I can swing by and get you, and we can go find you another car. Maybe you'll find one right away, and you won't even have to borrow Vic's car at all."

I could've kept arguing with him, but he had an answer for everything, so it didn't look like I was likely to win. Besides, I didn't really want to win anyway.

"Let me check with Carmine to see how much longer it'll be, and then I'll go pack a bag and get Seph's stuff together. We should probably take her bed with us."

"Sounds good. I don't have a doggie door, but I do have a fenced yard, so we should be in good shape."

"I've never been to your house, Jesse. I don't even know where you live."

"I live in an older neighborhood over on the north side."

"Really?"

"Yeah, I actually just bought the house a little over a year ago."

A tow truck pulled up, and they started loading up the remains of my car, and Carmine walked back over with Fox Hamilton, one of the local arson investigators.

Keith stood and came to join me and Jesse. "Hey, Fox."

"Hey, Keith, Andy. Oh, and Jesse. I didn't expect to see you here."

"Vic asked me to come check on Andy," Jesse explained.

"Where is Vic?" Fox looked around like he expected to see my brother lurking somewhere.

"He's out of town," I said.

"Oh, okay. Well, obviously, there was an accelerant used. I'll know more when we can examine the car more closely. Carmine said you might have an idea who did it."

"I don't know that it was him, but yeah, I had some trouble with a guy at the club the other night, and it wouldn't surprise me if he did this."

"We'll talk to him. But we're pretty much done here for now. Are you staying here tonight?"

"He's going home with me," Jesse said.

"Good. I doubt whoever did this will come back tonight, but if you have somewhere to stay, that's probably for the best. I have your number if I have any more questions."

I thanked him and turned to Jesse. "Okay, let me go pack a bag for a couple days, and we can go."

I went into my bedroom and tossed some clothes in a bag. When I finished packing stuff up, I went back out into the living room to find Jesse on the floor playing with Seph. I paused in the doorway for a second and watched until he looked up and saw me.

"I would've got Seph's things together, but I wasn't sure what she would need." He reached over and scratched her behind her ears, and she thumped her tail on the floor.

"I didn't know you liked dogs so much since you don't have one."

"I like pretty much all animals. When my ex and I split, he took our cat with him, and I was spending so much time at work getting the club up and going, it didn't seem fair to get a pet I would never see."

"I worried about that with the twenty-four-hour shift, but she doesn't seem to mind. Especially since I'm home so much with the three days off in between."

"Makes sense." He nodded his head and patted her side.

"Anyway, I'll get what she needs together, and we can go."

A short time later, we pulled into Jesse's driveway. His house was nothing like I'd expected. I guess I thought he would live in some cabin or something all rugged. But, instead, it was a cute cottage-style house with a rock exterior and a covered front porch complete with a porch swing and two hanging baskets filled with plants.

He parked under the carport in front of a detached garage. "I go in through the back gate, mostly."

"You don't use your front door? It looks so nice."

He chuckled. "It does, doesn't it? But that isn't because of me. See that house right over there?" He motioned towards a cute little butter-yellow wooden house with white trim next door.

"Yeah." It really was a cute house, with the prettiest flower beds out front.

"That's my grandmother's house. She makes sure my front porch always looks nice. Honestly, I'm not even sure what the plants in the baskets are."

"They're begonias, and they look great."

"I don't doubt it. My grandmother has always had a green thumb."

"So you live next door to your grandmother?"

I thought that was the sweetest. My mother's parents were never really part of my life, and my dad's parents had been older and passed away when I was really young, so I barely even remembered them.

"I do. When this house came up for sale, my siblings and I were sitting around saying how great it would be for Gigi if one of us lived here. It wasn't really an option for either of them, Shawn was too young, and Molly had two kids, so she needed more room, but it made sense for me since I wanted to move out of my apartment, anyway." He shrugged like buying a house next door to his grandmother so someone from the family would be here to look out for her was no big deal.

"I'll warn you, though, she'll be all up in your business, and she loves to just pop over, and she doesn't knock. I think she sees my house as an extension of hers."

"That's so sweet."

"You say that now. Just wait till she walks in on you in nothing but a towel."

"She didn't?" I tried to hold back my laughter, but it was hard.

"She totally did." He chuckled at the memory. "You would think she would've learned her lesson then, but nope, she still just comes right on in."

"I'll just have to be sure I keep my pants on then," I said, hopping out of the truck.

"The yard is secure. Should we let Seph check it out?" he asked.

"That's probably a good idea if you're sure she can't get out."

We walked around the house and entered the backyard through a side gate. I let her off her leash, and she took off like a shot, smelling everything as she went. I watched her make the rounds of the fence, and when I was pretty sure she was secure, I said, "I think she's good."

"Okay, well, come on in, and I'll show you around." Jesse held open the door that led up to a screened porch and then on through to his kitchen. It was a decent-sized eat-in kitchen that looked like it had been recently upgraded with all-new appliances.

"Have you had anything to eat tonight?" he asked.

"I have. We had food at my house before…" The last thing I wanted to do was talk about the fire. "Well, just before."

"Okay. Well, my kitchen is your kitchen. Just help yourself to anything you find in there if you get hungry."

"Thanks, but I have to be on shift early tomorrow morning, and after all the excitement tonight, I just want to sleep."

"That makes sense." We continued on into a large open living room that had furniture that looked like it was as old as the house. Not that it didn't look nice, just not the style I expected from him. Kind of like the house. I expected big leather couches and oversized recliners. Maybe a poker table in the corner.

"My extra room is full of gym equipment, so I don't have a spare bedroom, but you can have my bed tonight. I'll sleep on the couch."

"No way am I taking your bed," I insisted.

"You have to work tomorrow, which means you need a good night's sleep, so yes, you will take my bed. I wasn't asking."

"Did anyone ever tell you you're bossy?" I put my hands on my hips and glared at him.

"What do you think."

"Fine." I rolled my eyes. "Then we'll share the bed."

"I don't think that's a good idea, Andy. You've had a rough night."

"I have, and I want to go to bed so I can get some sleep before my shift tomorrow, and I don't want to be worrying about you sleeping on your couch. So here's the deal." I started counting off on my fingers, thumb first. "Either I sleep on the couch"—I glanced over at the couch that didn't look comfortable in the least and cringed—"you take me over to Victor's, and I'll sleep there, or we share. Your pick."

"Well, I'm not leaving you at Victor's by yourself, and that couch is horrible to sleep on. I've been meaning to replace it for a couple of years but just haven't gotten around to doing it, so you aren't sleeping there."

"Great, sounds like we're sharing."

I followed him from the living room, down a short hallway. "There's a half bath right through those doors, and my workout room is right there." He pointed off to the right. We turned to the left and walked into a large bedroom. "And here's the bedroom."

Now this room looked like Jesse. It had a king-sized bed with a dark wooded headboard and a dresser to match. The bed was made, even though he didn't know he had company coming, because of course it was, and it was covered in a deep blue bedspread.

I looked around for a place to put my bag but didn't see one, so I just placed it by the wall.

"The bathroom is right through that door. You can have the first turn in there, and I'll go let Seph in." He paused and got a thoughtful look. "I mean, I assume she sleeps in the house."

"She does."

"In the bed with you?"

I bit my bottom lip. "Sorry, but yeah."

"It's fine. I think the bed's big enough for all three of us."

"We can shut the door if you don't want her up here. It won't kill her to sleep on the couch."

"I said it's fine, slugger. She can sleep in here. I'm sure she's a bit anxious tonight after all the excitement and now being in a strange place. She'll feel better if she's with you."

And be still my heart. The man was worried about my dog. "Thanks, Jesse. I appreciate you thinking about her."

"No problem. Now, you get ready for bed."

A few minutes later, I was in one of the most comfortable beds on the planet. With Seph curled up next to me. Unfortunately, sleep wouldn't come. I kept thinking about looking out that window and seeing my car engulfed in flames.

Who on earth would do such a thing? I considered Sebastian for a minute, but I wasn't sure. I knew he was angry, but I thought there was quite a leap between being an asshole and setting someone's car on fire. Mika was right, though, he had been really pissed.

Jesse rolled over on his side to face me. "I can hear you thinking from here. What's wrong? Is the bed not comfortable for you?"

"The bed is awesome, it isn't that. I keep thinking about my car." I reached down beside me and patted Seph, hoping that would make me feel better. "Like, was it random, or did they target me intentionally? And what if they'd done something worse, like set my house on fire, or"—I gulped and then voiced my worst fear out loud—"or did something to Seph. She's really friendly. She would take food from anyone. They could've poisoned her. I've heard of people doing that to get back at people."

I could feel the panic I'd kept at bay all evening rising in my chest.

"It would have been horrible if that had happened. But it didn't. You're here with me at my house, and you're safe here. Seph is safe here."

"I know. Thank you for insisting we come with you."

"Of course, now come over here and let me hold you so you can get some sleep. If you want to."

If I wanted to? Silly man . There was nothing right this minute that I wanted more. I scooched over next to him, and he wrapped his arms around me, tucking me under his chin. "I got you, slugger. Now go to sleep."