Chapter 15

At the soft knock, I buried my face in my pillow, hoping he'd think I was asleep. His shocked face was burned into my mind and I would have laughed if I wasn't so mentally fried. I doubted I was the first woman in his life to throw stuff around, but he was probably used to the items coming toward his head.

When he knocked again, I turned the other direction toward the window. Rix had always been nosy so he was probably listening at the door. I didn't want him to hear me crying. Not that it should have mattered. He'd already seen me chuck an umbrella at the wall so crying should be no big deal, but I didn't want to give him the satisfaction of hearing me fall apart.

It would probably make his day.

Eventually he'd get the picture and go away. The door was locked so he wouldn't have much of a choice unless he wanted to talk through the door.

Then I heard the door open. Shocked, I rolled over to see Rix standing awkwardly in the doorway.

"I thought I locked that."

"You did." He held up the entire doorknob.

We stared at each other until the corners of his lips turned up. Soon we were both chuckling. I laughed so hard tears came to my eyes and then before I knew it, I was crying all over again.

Meatball hopped up and pranced over to the side of the bed. I ruffled the wild hair on top of his head before whispering to him softly. Satisfied that I was okay, he lumbered back to his pillow and collapsed.

Being so adorable must be exhausting.

Rix still stood in the doorway looking uncertain. "I'm sorry, Charlie. I'll fix the door."

"It's not the door. I mean, it's not only that. It's everything." Suddenly it felt like the weight of the past month came crashing down right on top of me.

What was I going to do?

"Do you want me to call your mom?" he asked finally.

"She'll just say not to worry and that it'll all work out. She's not even ready to admit that everything is gone. It's like she thinks this is all some big mistake and once it gets straightened out, Christian will come back home and things will be fine."

He didn't say anything, but I could tell by the look on his face that he'd seen the news. People always acted differently once they heard the details.

"It's okay. You can say it. We were stupid to trust him."

He grunted. "That is not what I was going to say. He took advantage. This is on him."

I know he meant it in a good way, but it only made me feel worse. Once again I was poor, sad Charlie who got left behind. The one who had to pick up the pieces and start over, only this time, I wasn't sure I had the strength to do it again. This time I felt like I'd crack if I even tried.

"Everything is falling apart."

He sat on the bed next to me and then reclined until his head rested on the pillow next to mine. It should have been weird, but it felt so natural to lie there with nothing but frustration between us.

"I'm twenty-seven and unemployed. My boyfriend left the day Christian got arrested. It's like I blinked and my whole life was gone."

"Coward," Rix muttered.

"I'm not even sure I blame him. Aaron worked for Delacourt, too. He probably wanted to get another job before everyone found out what happened. Maybe I should have done that."

"You were more concerned with making sure your family was okay. Like a human being."

"But they're not okay. My little sister doesn't even know her dad was arrested, and my mom is acting like we're coming back to Violet Ridge for a short vacation instead of as a last resort."

He didn't say anything, and I appreciated that he didn't try to tell me everything would be all right.

"We could help each other out, you know?" He glanced over at me warily.

Instantly suspicious, I pushed up onto my elbow. "I swear if you pull out your dick right now?—"

"Whoa! That wasn't what I meant at all." He grabbed his chest as he laughed so hard he almost fell off the bed.

Unable to resist the temptation I decided to help him along with a strategic shove. He tumbled over the edge landing on the hardwood with a solid thump.

Rix popped up from the floor wearing his trademark scowl. My eyes were drawn to his lips and I suddenly wanted to lean over and bite him. I should have been pissed at him for having the nerve to kiss me the way he did earlier.

Did he kiss me?

Or did I kiss him?

I wasn't exactly sure because all I remembered was how incredibly hot it was, channeling all my anger into pure, unfiltered desire. But he was the last person I wanted to have that effect on me so it was better that we weren't talking about it. In fact, it was probably best if we had a silent agreement to pretend it hadn't happened.

"Okay, I was trying to be nice and propose an arrangement that would help us both."

With his usual grumpysauce expression, he looked more like the Hendrix I was used to, the pain in the ass, not this sensitive soul that was listening to my problems. He seemed so earnest that I actually felt a little bad.

"Sorry. But don't pretend you wouldn't have done the same."

"Fair enough." He flopped back down. "All I was going to say is that I can handle most of the work you need done. You could save a lot of money if you used a handyman instead of one of those big contractors."

The thought of all the items on that list downstairs made me tired just thinking about them. I glanced over at Hendrix. He had been helping his father fix stuff since we were kids so I knew he wasn't boasting when he said he could handle the work. Plus, he was right here, and it would save me not only money but time if he could start work right away.

"What's the catch?" I narrowed my eyes at him.

"No catch. Just let me stay here rent-free for the summer so I can save money to build my house. You'll pay for the materials, but you'll get my labor at night and on the weekends for free."

I nibbled on my bottom lip. Now that I knew just how much it would cost to renovate everything, the money I'd get from a summer roommate seemed like a drop in the bucket. I'd save a lot more letting Rix stay here for free and work on the house at night.

Honestly, I wasn't sure why he wanted to do this. I was getting way more out of the deal than he was. Most of the Victorians in this part of town were built in the early twentieth century and had the small rooms characteristic of the time period. Not to mention that he would have to share a bathroom with iffy plumbing.

"The guest room was fine when I thought it would only be a couple of weeks but why would you want to stay in that tiny room all summer? Especially when you have other options. I know your parents would let you move back in."

"I'm not moving in with my parents. If I don't want to see Van's butt cheek, I definitely don't want to see my father's." Hendrix threw his head back and laughed.

The sight was almost enough to make me forget what I'd asked him. It wasn't often that he lost his grumpysauce expression. It was probably for the best because he had a smile that could make smart women do stupid things.

"How are they? I meant to go see them yesterday. They were like a second home during the summers."

The thought of the Evers made me smile.

They were the cool family growing up. They had this funky van that Mrs. Evers painted herself and Mr. Evers always told stories about his days playing with his rock band. They encouraged their kids to express their creativity, and no matter what trouble they got into, they just loved them.

I secretly wished to be one of their kids. I actually spent the night with Tana once and then didn't call Gran the next morning to come pick me up, hoping they wouldn't notice.

They took me back home eventually, but only after a chocolate chip pancake breakfast.

"My parents are doing just fine. Still as gross as ever. The last time I crashed with them, I saw things I can never unsee." He gave me a look and then mimed poking his finger down his throat.

It made me laugh again, but honestly, I couldn't imagine having parents who liked each other enough to be caught making out. I couldn't even remember the last time my parents had eaten a meal together, even before the divorce.

Our eyes met and it was as if we both realized we were having fun at the same time. Hendrix stood up and brushed off his pants. I rolled my eyes. Like lying next to me had contaminated him?

"I'll go get some more supplies from the shop to fix the door. I need to go pick up the rest of my stuff anyway."

Just before he reached the door, I called his name. He stopped and looked over his shoulder.

"Why are you really doing this? Moving out of your brother's place and into my tiny spare bedroom doesn't make sense."

Suddenly he wouldn't meet my eyes. "My brother just got his girlfriend back and I'm sure they want some time alone. They need it. Someone deserves a chance at a love like my parents."

He opened his mouth like he was going to say something else then shook his head.

"Why did you fix the wall downstairs?" I whispered.

His eyes flew up to meet mine. "Because you needed it."

Without another word he turned and left. I listened as his heavy tread crossed the living room downstairs. Then a few seconds later, the front door closed.

Meatball growled again but he didn't bother to get up, so I figured I'd take his input with a grain of salt.

* * *

Rix got back about an hour later. He nodded as he passed by with a big cardboard box balanced on his shoulder. At least he didn't have that much stuff. Not much would fit in that room for sure.

I busied myself in the kitchen making a sandwich, ignoring the sounds of his footsteps clomping upstairs. The sound of him banging around wasn't distracting at all, and I for sure wasn't thinking about the fact that he was upstairs getting ready for bed. Undressing.

Naked.

The banging stopped. Then a door opened. A few seconds later, another door closed.

After gathering everything I needed for my quick dinner, I put some potato chips in a bag, cut up an apple and poured myself a drink. There was no way to carry it all at once, so I tucked the chips in the crook of my elbow while holding the apple and a napkin. I carried them into my room and set them carefully on the nightstand.

My hands stilled when there was a loud bump on the other side of the wall. What was Rix doing over there? Then an image popped unbidden into my mind of the kinds of things men did under the covers at night.

This was going to be a very long summer indeed.

Living together was going to be even more difficult than I'd imagined. I could only hope this initial weirdness would pass quickly because I couldn't hide in my room every night just to avoid him. He'd been so different earlier. He'd actually listened and cared about what I was going through without giving me the usual empty platitudes people offered when they didn't know what else to say.

Maybe things would be different between us now. Our conversation earlier felt like a breakthrough. We were no longer the silly children who'd fought over nonsense. We were adults now. For the first time, I wondered if the two of us might actually become friends.

It was already so hot in the room, so I sent up a small prayer that Gran's ancient air conditioning unit didn't give out on me. I stripped off the T-shirt and jeans I was wearing and replaced them with a thin camisole and sleep shorts. After throwing my hair up in a messy bun, I ventured back downstairs to get the rest of my food. I'd left my sandwich on a napkin in the middle of the counter next to my glass of water.

The water glass was full.

The napkin was empty.

I put my hands on my hips and looked over my shoulder, half expecting to see Rix standing there laughing. Then I calmly took out the lunch meat and bread and started fixing another sandwich.