Page 27 of I Choose You
I glanced back in surprise. Reid hadn’t even looked up from what he was working on, but his jaw was tense.
“Okay. No problem. I guess I’ll call an Uber, then.”
This time, Reid did look up. His gaze was hard, a simmering of anger barely hidden beneath the surface. “You’re not going back there.”
“Um, I kind of have to,” I chuckled. “All my things are there. I basically live there.”
“Don’t worry about your stuff. I’ll get them. Just give me the key to your room.” He was back to working on his drawings, making notes in pencil in the margins.
“And go where?” I was blatantly laughing now. It wasn’t like I could move in here. Reid had slept on the couch last night in order to give me his bed. It was very chivalrous, but there was no way that could be the arrangement for an extended period. And as much as I really didn’t want to go back to the motel now, even more than ever, I wasn’t going to sign up for sleeping on his couch either.
Reid just ignored me and continued to make some notes on his paper. He picked up his phone and called someone, the phone ringing loudly on speaker.
“What’s up, brother? How’d things go yesterday? You never returned my messages.” I recognized the voice on the phone—pretty sure it was one of Reid’s brothers.
“It was a shitshow, and if you see Rusty Burgess in town, I hope you break his fucking face. But that’s not why I’m calling.”
“Noted. And what do you need?”
It was so odd how easy it was for them to ask something of someone. Growing up, I had seen plenty of people askingfor things, but it was always “you scratch my back, and I’ll scratch yours,” never a simple “what can I do for you?” Seeing them interact yesterday was like a culture shock. They were a family, but more than that, they were friends.
I started walking down the hall toward Reid’s bedroom, where the master bath was. Reid was having a private conversation with his brother, and I didn’t want to intrude.
“Are you officially living with Maeve now?” I heard Reid ask.
“Not officially, I guess, but unofficially, yes. Why?”
“I need your house.” My head swiveled to the side, and I backed up so I could hear them better.
“Yeah, man. Anytime you need a place to crash, you can stay there, but what’s up with your place?”
“It isn’t for me.” My heart was beating faster.
“Reid,” I whisper-hissed. My hand waved back and forth in a slashing motion across my neck. It didn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out where this conversation was going. Again, Reid ignored me.
“It’s for Claire. She needs a place to stay, and it isn’t going to be that abomination.”
“I’ll head over there and clean some stuff out now. I can drop the keys off in a few hours on my way into the garage.”
I called his name again, louder this time. He was an expert at pretending he couldn’t hear me.
They finished the rest of the conversation quickly and ended the call. Reid picked up his pencil and turned to a new drawing in his pack of blueprints.
“Take a shower, Claire. It’s all set.”
“I can’t live in Wyatt’s house, Reid. I can’t afford that. I couldn’t even afford to find a better place than the Cove’sEnd, and you think I can rent a fully furnished home?”
“Who said anything about rent?”
I sucked in a breath. Was he serious?
“Reid,” I said calmly and slowly. “Please call your brother back and ask him how much it is to rent it from him.”
“Claire,” he mocked my tone back at me, standing from the couch and making his way over to me. We stood toe-to-toe in the hallway, his chest almost touching mine. I lifted my chin higher so that I could look him in the eye. My pulse was racing, and I wasn’t sure if it was because I was angry that he would be so presumptuous as to change my living arrangement without my input or because he was standing so close and smelled so good. “I don’t care if it costs five hundred dollars a month, five thousand dollars, or nothing at all. You are not stepping a foot on their soil again. I will cover every cost.” His hand held my chin, his fingers wrapping around my skull. Either the room was spinning, or I was because when his eyes darted to my lips, I was dizzy. “I will sleep on this fucking couch every night if I have to in order to keep you away from there. But why should I have to break my back when you could have a perfectly good bed of your own, in your own place.” He stepped back, his hand falling away from me. Air left my lungs in a rush. “Go take a shower. We have a few hours to rest.”
I padded down the hall, doing as he told me. I didn’t feel dizzy anymore, but I was feeling something else, a tingling in my center.
9
