Page 8 of Love Finds Home

“What do you want?” I answer. Anyone calling me tonight at this time should know I’m not in the mood to talk to more people.

“Fuck you, asshole,” Joker replies.

Out of all the guys, he understands me more than most. His own demons keep him up for days on end, his eyes haunted, like mine. Like Elle’s looked in her seconds of stillness. And there I go thinking about Elle again.

“What do you want?” I repeat.

“I want you to tell me exactly what the problem you have with Tiny’s sister is.”

“Don’t know what you’re talking about,” I lie.

“Fuck off with that shit. You know exactly what I’m talking about.”

“I just don’t want to be stuck playing caretaker to a little girl who thinks she’s grown.”

“She might be short, but she’s not a little girl.”

“Why are you defending her so much? What do you want?”

“I don’t want anything but peace, man. We already have to deal with fuckingKeith. Don’t make me play referee for you, too.”

“Fuck off with that. We all know why you don’t like Keith, and it has nothing to do with the fact he’s a fucking asshole.”

“You don’t know shit,” he growls. “But you could use the funds her rent would bring in, and you know it. Maybe finally get that shithole you call a house fixed with that income?”

I look around my living room. I bought the three-bedroom fixer-upper when I moved here, fully intending to get lost in the renovations. But that never happened. And I hate to admit it, but he’s right. Getting some rent from that studio would help me get started on this place or hire the job out.

“Think Tiny would trade me? I’ll keep an eye on his sister and he can fix up my house.”

“You know we’d all be there to help you with the house if you’d just ask. But don’t dig yourself a hole you can’t back out of, you feel me?”

“Yeah, I feel ya. I’ll try not to be so much of an asshole and I’ll think about renting her the space. That good enough?”

“For now.”

We end the call as I finish my beer. Leaving the bottle on the living room table, I turn off the lights on my way to the bedroom.Like the rest of the house, it needs some work. Everything is bland in here, devoid of color. The wallpaper that was hung at least a hundred years ago has faded and probably started peeling twenty years back. The floors need some serious work, and all the wiring and pipes in the house need to be updated. I’ll get around to it. Eventually.

I take off my clothes, looking at the scars on the left side of my body. Closing my eyes, I take a few deep breaths, acknowledging that my life could be much worse than it is. I could still be married to that two-timing bitch. I could still be listening to the lies of my brother. I wouldn’t be surrounded by friends that are more like my actual brothers than the one I’m related to. And I never would have met a pint-sized pixie of a woman with the loudest laugh and the most haunting eyes I’ve ever seen.

Chapter 3

Elle

Little known fact aboutme. I can’t stand chaos. Don’t get me wrong, it’s in abundance when I’m lost in a painting or a sculpture, but it’s of my own making. My brothers used to give me shit about how Tiny, with his messy room, went into the military, but it should have been me. I’d have been a Drill Sargent with how anal I was over my things and life. Lists, color coordinated closet. Everything has a place and everything is in its place at all times. The last few weeks have been nothing but chaos for me. I think it’s why I like this little town so much. It’s quiet. The chaos of the city—the number of people yelling, the sirens, the car horns. None of them exist here.

My brother moved out super-fast when he and Lottie returned from Diamond Cove last week. He wasn’t waiting any longer than he absolutely had to, so when I returned home tonight, I could unpack my things and make the apartment mine. He even left his big, oversized king size bed. It wouldn’t fit in Lottie’sbedroom. I’m hanging up clothes when there’s a knock on the door.

Opening it, I’m only a little surprised to see Ginny on the other side.

“I’m bored,” she pouts, her lips trying not to pull up in a smile. “But I brought pizza and beer?”

“Get your ass in here.” I smile at her.

It wasn’t until I’d been here for a couple of weeks that I realized Ginny lived in the building across the street. While mine has been refurbished into cute one bedroom and studio apartments in an old Victorian house, Ginny lives in a row of townhomes that reminds me of the old brownstones in New York.

She steps through the door and looks around. The only decorations Tiny had were a few older paintings that I gave him as presents when I first started. It warms my heart a little that he took them with him to Lottie’s. The first thing I did was hang a few new paintings I brought with me. I’ll have to send for a few more.

“Oh, wow,” she breathes out, walking toward one of my favorites, “this is beautiful, Elle. One of yours?”

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