“Where are you headed, then?” Chase asks, his brow creasing as I turn to him to answer.
“Just needed some fresh air. Stuffy in the RV all weekend.” It’s partially true. Hopefully he doesn’t know where Dean is parked. Chase gives me a knowing look. He definitely knows where I’m headed.
I place a hand on my hip and glare. “I keep my mouth shut, you keep your mouth shut.”
He makes a motion of zipping his lips and we both walk in opposite directions. Leslie and Chase are hooking up? Hanging out? Dating? Why wouldn’t she tell me? How did that even start?
A pang of guilt goes off in my chest. To be fair, I haven’t told her anything about Dean, either. So I guess we both will have things to confess to at some point. I haven’t even told Cindy anything, either. I’ve wanted to, but it never seems like the right time. She’s super busy with school and work, and I don’t want to add my own problems on top of her busy schedule.
I get to Dean’s RV, and it’s a small truck-bed style, nothing like most of the big buses that are parked around him. I knock on the door, and I hear some scrambling before a frantic Dean opens it. I’ve never seen panic in his eyes before. Only determination, understanding, and the desire that I saw back in his apartment.
Looking past him, I can see why he called for backup. There is a huge leak in his roof. It’s raining inside as much as it is outside. Why did he call me for help? He could’ve easily called Taylor or Chase, but I’m the one he called instead. My heart squeezes inside my chest. I’m not sure what this feeling even is. I feel…important to him, that I’m the one he wants when he needs help.
He gestures for me to come inside as he changes a bucket that’s directly under the leak, dumping the water into the small kitchen sink. Everything is soaked. There is about an inch of standing water already on the floor.
“I can’t stop the leak,” he says, his voice full of panic. “I’ve used up everything I have, and nothing’s working.”
I look around and fully assess the damage and think back to the extra supplies Dad usually keeps in the compartments of the RV. His eyes frantically search mine as I’m trying to think of a solution. Then it dawns on me that I may have something.
“I have an idea. I’ll be right back.” I run back to my RV and start searching the outside compartments, opening and closing them until I find what I’m looking for. Bingo. Extra sheets of BearBond. These are used to hold torn up race carstogether after an accident, so basically industrial duct tape. If they can hold a race car together, I’m sure they can stop a leaky roof.
I take the sheets back to Dean’s place. This time, I don’t knock and just walk in holding up the sheets. “BearBond. Dad keeps extras in the compartments.”
“Karsen Brady to the rescue,” he muses. He takes a sheet from my hand, our fingers brushing slightly, sending a spark down them. We start working to cover the leak and use all the sheets I brought, finally stopping the leak.
“Now to clean up the rest of this mess,” he says.
“I’ll grab some more towels to help.” I turn to leave, but he stops me.
“Oh no, you’ve done enough already. I can clean this up.” I glance at the pile of already soaked towels and cross my arms over my chest.
“Dean, all of your towels are useless. Start pushing the water out the front door and I’ll get dry towels.”
“Ugh, fine. I guess some extra towels couldn’t hurt,” he concedes.
Another trip back and forth, and I have a stack of dry towels to use. Dean has gotten most of the stagnant water pushed out, and now it’s just a matter of drying as much as we can. The worst part is, the leak occurred over his bed, so there is no way he can even stay here tonight.
“Grab a to-go bag. You can crash on the couch at my place tonight,” I tell him.
“I’m sure I can stay with one of the guys. And what about your dad?”
“He’s out sick with the flu. It’s just me this weekend, so the couch is open.” I think about the last time we were in close quarters. I ended up on his lap, kissing his perfect lips. Goosebumps prickle my skin at the memory.No.No, that’s not what’s happening. I’m just helping a friend.
Who’s also your rival…right.
“I can crash with Sanford or something. I’ll be fine.”
“I don’t think Sanford is the way to go,” I say, thinking back to Chase coming out of Leslie’s place. He looks confused. I guess Chase didn’t tell him, just like Leslie didn’t tell me about what’s going on between them. “I may have seen him coming out of Leslie’s place looking…disheveled. If you know what I mean.”
“What? Chase and Leslie? Nah, you think?”
I nod. “Just don’t say anything. I promised not to say anything.”
I can tell that he’s thinking about his options. Like part of him wants to say no to my offer, but the other part is leaning toward saying yes. I’m offering him this option to be a friend, but selfishly, I want to have a reason to be close to him again. That realization scares the shit out of me, but it isn’t enough to deter me, either.
“Alright, as long as you’re sure.” He holds my gaze for a beat, and that green storm in his eyes is starting to brew. Shit, maybe I should suggest staying at Taylor’s instead, but the devil on my shoulder is making sure that I don’t make that suggestion.
“Yeah, it’ll be fine,” I say. Mostly trying to convince myself, not him. Memories of his touch, taste, scent, flood back once again. The way his chest felt against mine, his hands gripping my hips tight, my fingers in his brown hair. It was the most electrifying kiss I’ve ever had. He doesn’t need to know that, though. His ego is large enough as is. And I don’t think we could fit all three of us in my RV.
