My heart jumped. Was he jealous? Did he know I slept with his son? That was a way to start a conversation. ‘Oh hey, Rhett. I have a crush on you. But at the same time, I had a fling with your son for a bit until he met the man of his dreams.’
“What are you thinking about when it comes to my son?” Rhett asked, his voice taking on a rough tone.
Under normal circumstances I would have laughed, but the fact that this was the first time I was actually alone with him, I thought I should behave. For now.
“I’m just thinking how I’m jealous of Brady.”
“What do you mean?”
“Well, he’s happy now with Cam. They’re going to get married and spend their lives together. Maybe adopt a baby or a dog or a plant or something and I just…”
“What?” Rhett pressed.
“I don’t know. I guess I want that for myself. Noah has someone even though he won’t admit it that he’s in love with Nicky, and Presley can get anyone he wants.” Nikolai or Nicky for short, was Presley’s brother. He and Noah had an on again, off again relationship that had been going on for quite some time. They were both stubborn and didn’t want to settle down from what I heard. They really just needed to get their heads out of their asses and man up.
“Isn’t Noah sleeping with Presley’s brother? And isn’t that toxic at best?”
I chuckled. “Yeah, that’s putting it mildly.”
Nikolai was a good guy. But the fact that he only called on Noah when he wanted a piece, it didn’t sit well with the rest of us. He was using Noah. But our friend was too in love with the guy to notice. Or if he did notice, he clearly didn’t care.
“Noah is a big boy. And I’m sure that if he didn’t want to do what he’s doing with Nikolai anymore, he would say something,” I muttered, crossing my arms under my chest. “As for Brady,I’m happy for him. He’s always struggled with being himself. But Cam brought that out of him and they’re good together.”
“True. You’ll find someone as well, Shane.”
But as those words left his mouth, his voice became even more rough. His hands gripped the steering wheel, his knuckles turning white. My stomach did a little flip. He couldn’t be jealous. I was his son’s age. Maybe we just needed a night together just to get it out of our system. But there was no way I could hint at such a thing. With Brady it was easy because I knew him. But with Rhett, even though I had known him for years, I didn’t actually know him. He felt like a stranger at times.
“So what kind of project are we collaborating on?” Rhett asked, changing the subject.
“Well, Cam said that you’re struggling, not exactly in those words, but it’s what he implied.”
“Yeah.” Rhett sighed. “Business isn’t doing as well as I would like it to.”
“Coffee Beans & Love isn’t rolling in money but we’re doing better than we used to. I can take a look at your books and see where I can help you. If you’d like me to, of course.” It was what I had gone to school for. I loved numbers and I loved figuring out how to save money and make money.
“I don’t know. It seems a little weird to have my son’s friend looking at my money issues.”
“Don’t look at me as your son’s friend then. Look at me asyourfriend or even your accountant.” I waggled my eyebrows. The joke was lame, if you could even call it a joke.
Rhett laughed. “Okay, I can do that.”
“So, friend, are you going to let me help you or not?”
“Let’s see how tonight goes and then we can go from there.”
I stared at him. He was looking back out at the road. His jaw clenched, that muscle by his ear, twitching. I wasn’t sure what he meant by that. But I would take it as a win anyway.
“Brady told me that your building needs a lot of work.” I figured that it was a safe conversation to have. Sure, I wanted to talk about us, or what could possibly happen tonight, but I also didn’t want to get my hopes up.
“Yeah, it does but I’m slowly working on getting it fixed up to code. I could sell it and find something that doesn’t need so much work, but I like the old feeling to it. The ambiance is warm and inviting and it’s what my customers look forward to when they come. I want to offer that sense of warmth as a way for customers to unwind after a long day of work or for those who just want to get out.”
Before I knew what we were doing, we were pulling into Rhett’s driveway.
“I haven’t been to this house in years,” I pointed out, staring out at Brady’s childhood home.
“Nothing’s changed either. It does need some work but it’s home.” Rhett killed the engine of his truck before turning his full attention toward me. “I probably should have hired you right from the very beginning. I know you’re good with numbers and you went to school for accounting but never actually became one.”
“Well to be fair, I am running a business with three of my best friends. My time is a little limited.”
