Page 24 of Hot for the Jerk

“I might have another shower,” he said, dumping the rest of his stuff onto the bed as well.“Unless you want to have one first?”

I shook my head.“Go ahead.I need to call and check in on Marco and my cousins.”

Nodding, he grabbed the same towel he used the night before from where it hung on a hook behind the door, and stepped into the bathroom, shutting the door.I sat on the bed for a very long time, staring at the closed bathroom door.Almost like I might spontaneously develop x-ray vision and be able to Superman myself a sneak peek at Jagger without any pants on.

Get it together, Aaronson!

I ground the heels of my palms into my eyes and growled before flopping back on the bed and pulling my phone out of my pajama pants pocket.I dialed Gabrielle, since Marco was staying with her.

“He’s still alive,” my cousin said after the second ring.“Still alive and kicking his cousins’ butts at Monopoly.”

Grinning, I exhaled the longest sigh of the day so far.Even though I knew my child was totally safe with my cousins on the property, I still didn’t like not being there with him myself though.

Just because we ran away from our former life didn’t mean we were totally safe from it.We all knew it.Aunt Dolores said as much in her will when she bequeathed the vineyard to us.That despite how safe the property was, we would never be free ofthatlife.She was adamant that we needed to set up escape plans and teach them to the children.So we did.We had all kinds of safety measures in place in case one day someone from our past came knocking, wanting something none of us were interested in parting with—like our children, our freedom, or our souls.

“What’s the weather like over there?”I asked, doing my best to ignore the dull thump of a headache behind my right eye.

“Probably the same as where you are.Wind, rain, and flickering lights.We’ve got generators so we’re fine.”

Even if the vineyard didn’t have generators, my cousin would make sure nobody went cold or hungry.Gabrielle was the ultimate survivor.She updated our earthquake survival kit yearly and made sure we all had one in our vehicles as well.If there was a natural disaster or a zombie apocalypse, Gabrielle Campbell was who we all wanted to become queen of the survivors.Whether it be a tsunami a hangnail, or anything in between, she was ready.

“How are you faring with the youngest, hottest McEvoy?”she asked, a definite chuckle in her tone.Then she brought her voice down.“Do you need instructions on how to hide a body?Because I know several ways.What you’re going to want to do is find the biggest area rug—”

“He’s still alive.And, no.Also, how do you know this—never mind.I don’t want to know.”I shook my head and smiled at my cousin revealing yet another one of her many talents.I wasn’t aware of her being a fan of true crime podcasts.Maybe my ignorance was better.Less likely to be held in contempt or charged with obstruction or whatever.“He’s actually being pretty tolerable.We’ve declared a truce of sorts.Not sure if it’ll carry over to San Camanez, but for now, it’s in place.We just got back from the grocery store.We’d both run out of socks, and since this place only serves breakfast, we needed to go grab some food.”

“Look at you saying ‘we’ like it’s no big deal.”

I scoffed and rolled my eyes, which actually felt nice against the part of my brain that had the headache.I did a more exaggerated eye roll this time, but closed my lids before I did it.

“Where is he now?”she asked.

“In the shower.I’ll hop in after to warm up.The B&B is nice, it’s just a little drafty.And this honeymoon suite is insanely small.”

“Wait, you’re in the honeymoon suite?Seriously?”

“Why the fuck would I joke about that?I mean, itisa joke, but it’s not funny.The space is the size of Marco’s bedroom, and the owner said it was a queen bed when it absolutely is not.Jagger’s feet stuck out over the bottom.”

Great, now I was thinking about his feet again.Motherfucker.

“Mm-hmm …”

“Is my kid busy kicking your kid’s ass at a board game, or can I talk to him?”

“He and Damon just headed over to Austin’s to go play Nintendo.Do you want me to call him back?”

“No, don’t bug him.I’ll try again, closer to bedtime.Hopefully, I catch him then.”Emotion snagged in the back of my throat like a rolled-up hedgehog, and I struggled to swallow.“Just tell him I miss him.”

“He knows you do, but I’ll do it anyway.”

The lights flickered at the same time a big, howling gust swept across the window, rattling the old panes.“Did the lights flicker there too?”I asked.

“No, did they where you are?”

“Yeah.Shit.I better charge my phone.”

“Keep us posted.The wind is supposed to die down by tomorrow.I’ve been chatting with the harbormaster, and he seems to think he’ll be able to let the water taxis shuttle people home tomorrow.Not sure what time though.”

With the backs of my eyes burning, I could only nod.Little good that did me though, since Gabrielle couldn’t see me.

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