A gentleman. That’s what he’d been. And he’d done the right thing. But doing the right thing had never felt so wrong.
Chapter Fourteen
The last two hours had been the longest of his life.
“Velma, pick up your phone.” Brek hesitated, his hand resting on the door handle outside Jase’s shop. “Please.”
He clicked off his cell. The cowbell clanked against the glass when he slipped inside.
Like always, loud eighties music blared from the overhead speakers. He stepped around a precarious display of ceramic angels and miniature crystal flowerpots.
Jase emerged from the back room lugging a tub of white roses and singing along to Van Halen.
“Hey.” He nodded to Brek and danced like an idiot to the walk-in display refrigerator.
Brek leaned a hip against the white marble-top counter. Doing the right thing had drained any hope of happiness.
Jase emerged from the cooler, brushing his palms on his green apron. “Uh-oh. I know that face. That’s the face of you and Velma after another spat. Do you two do anything but play tongue twister and fight?”
“Do me a favor, would you?” Brek asked, rubbing at the creases in his forehead. “Don’t be a jackass.”
“Spill it.” Jase gestured to the stools surrounding the worktable in the retail space. Brek always thought it was a stupid place for an arranging station, but Jase insisted customers liked to watch him while he put the flowers in vases, so whatever.
Brek checked his phone again. Nothing. He had sent Velma five texts and called her three times. Once from the driveway as the bus pulled away, once from the garage right before he left, and then again when he pulled up to Jase’s. He’d gone straight to their apartment. She wasn’t there.
Doing the right thing had never left him feeling like such a failure. Brek gave Jase the breakdown of Velma’s one-eighty, her willingness to do the dirty with him, and his sudden surge of conscience.
“She was really ready to put out for you?” Jase’s expression remained unconvinced.
Brek glared at him. “Yeah.”
“So, to be clear, you had Velma—willing—bent over your bike, ready for you to take her, and you decidedthat’sthe moment you’ve got scruples?”
That about summed up the situation. “Pretty much.”
Jase leaned forward, elbows on the stainless-steel table. “You do realize you’re the dude who once took me to a beauty pageant where the girls all went down on each other for the talent competition?”
Not one of his finer moments, but yes. Brek had received an invite to the local motorcycle club’s annual beauty pageant. He had dragged Jase along. Neither had expected the evening to take that turn. Neither of them had minded much, either. Which was reason number one thousand and twenty-six why Velma deserved better than being bent over his bike in a dirty garage. And a dirty garage was all he had to offer. A woman like her needed more.
“That was a fan-freaking-tastic night.” Jase put his knuckles out to fist-bump Brek.
Brek made a face at Jase’s outstretched knuckles.
“You wanna know what I think?” Jase rubbed his eyebrow.
Not particularly. “No.”
“Good. I’ll tell you.” Jase leaned in further. “Since you’re here instead of out there tracking down Velma, I think she scares you. Because you know when you get in deep with chicks like her, you don’t come out on the other side.”
He should’ve talked to Dean. “That so?”
“Woman like her? You set up house, buy some doilies, and hand over your balls. Like Dean.” Jase smiled bigger than a chick in a room full of lilies. “He’s happy as a clam with Claire’s wire strippers holding tight to his nuts. You, my friend, are scared that’s the direction you’re headed.”
Brek shook his head. “Aspen pushes out this kid, and I’m out of here. That’s my problem. Not because I’ll want to stay, but because no matter what, I’m leavin’.”
“Ahhhh…so it’s about you not wanting to hurt her? This is an interesting development.” Jase rubbed his hands together. “And the plot thickens.”
“Yeah, I don’t want to hurt her.” Brek’s heart already felt like it was in a combat zone when she was nearby. He couldn’t do the same damage to hers.
