Page 69 of What We Keep
I narrowed my eyes at him. “Do me a favor, Janet. If you can scrounge up that guy’s number, I’d appreciate it.”
Jude walked out with me a few minutes later, stopping at the back of my truck. “I’d like to point out that I don’t think Elsa would like you handling her business like this.”
“There is no business to handle. I’m just making sure he leaves her the fuck alone,” I said.
Although his comment gave me a twinge of hesitation, I was too pissed off about Brad to listen to that twinge.
Hours later, in the resort kitchen
“What?” she yelped, spinning around. “Haven, why would you do that?” She held her phone in her hand, her eyes scanning the screen.
“Oh, for fuck’s sake,” Jude muttered from my side.
“I’m not talking to him, but Brad left a message that you called him.” Elsa pinned her gaze on me.
“Elsa, you made it clear you weren’t interested in selling whatever it is that you own in Anchorage.”
“I just own a rental property. I got it from my mom. It was my dad’s. I guess it was in a trust with her for years, and now it’s mine. I don’t do anything. There’s a property management company that handles it.” She blinked and shook her head.
“You made it clear to Brad—” Defensiveness rose like a blind wall inside me. “Look, I don’t like that guy.”
“Yeah, well, I don’t either. But what the hell are you doing, Haven? I can handle my own stuff.” She let out something between a growl and a groan and narrowed her eyes at me before flinging the dish towel on the counter. “I need some space.”
“Elsa.” I started to chase her, but fucking Jude and Cole were right there.
“Wouldn’t do that, man. Told you,” Jude said from behind.
Chapter Thirty-Four
Elsa
Maggie and Chloe listened to my little outburst as I finished with, “And I was going to deal with it.”
Maggie let out a soft sigh before pulling me into a quick hug and squeezing my shoulders as she stepped back. “Haven likes to take care of people, and he doesn’t always know when to back off.” She let out another sigh. “But my gut tells me there’s a little bit more to this than that.”
“What do you mean?” I chewed the insides of my cheeks to the point of pain. Just thinking about the more to this brought up all of my embarrassment and foolishness inside.
“I’m not asking you to explain your reaction, but I’m curious.” Maggie eyed me carefully. “All Haven did was what you say you want, which is for him to back off.”
“What’s the other guy’s name again?” Chloe asked.
“Brad,” I ground out.
“That’s a good asshole name,” Chloe replied, and I burst out laughing.
“Haven loves you,” Maggie said, her gaze somber.
My heart was beating so hard, the echo of it reverberated to every cell in my body, and I wanted to cry. “Okay.”
Maggie’s phone rang, and she had to take the call. Everything was hectic and crazy here because they were opening in a week. She hurried away, mouthing, “Don’t forget he loves you.”
I didn’t even realize my tears had started to flow until Chloe stuffed some tissues into my hands. “For what it’s worth, Maggie’s right. It’s plain as day. Haven loves you. You know what you need?”
“What?” I sniffled.
“A girls’ night.”
Aside from my massive, overwhelming fears about abandonment and putting myself out there, what if I made a fool of myself with Haven? Maybe he did love me. But he sure as hell didn’t have time for more than what we already had, which was some really smoking-hot benefits at night. Here I was worrying about how much time he had, as if that was the problem.
