Page 45 of Opposites (Never) Attract
My bedroom was big enough for a king size bed, a mounted flatscreen on the wall and a comfortable chair where I liked to read. Best of all, it had a door that kept Dad and his know it all questions out.
I sat down in my reading chair and ate the franks and beans, in what was actually a decent gravy. My dad had a few flavor tricks up his sleeve when it came to cooking.
Tricks he had to learn since my mom had taken off. Cooking, teacher meetings, nightmare chasing, signing me up for junior rodeo.
He’d never wanted me to feel like I’d missed out on something. But a boy doesn’t grow up without a mother and not miss out.
On freshly baked chocolate chip cookies and someone cheering me on at my first barrel racing event. On having someone tell me my shirt doesn’t go with my shoes, or shitlike that. Having someone always take my side in any argument against a friend or classmate or teacher.
Mrs. McGraw had her flaws, but she always stood by her boys. Some would say she spoiled them – Seth and Mac, in particular, but she’d been there. She’d stuck it out.
Had she known about Sunshine?
I did the mental math. Carter was six years older than Sunshine. Ethan a few less than that. She and Seth were the same age. Young family. Young mother managing a household and an asshole husband. Just a few years in, and he’d already stepped out on her.
Monica Calloway had broken down at the second will reading when her secret was revealed. She’d felt the guilt of their affair. Had Leroy?
Either way, it wasn’t my business. In fact, now that I’d completed my mission, none of this was my business anymore.
I thought of the panties tucked in my back pocket.
I hadn’t lied to Sunshine. I wasn’t the type of guy to take advantage of a woman’s vulnerability.
Truth was, I didn’t need an advantage to get laid. Despite my dad’s concern about my lack of pussy, when I wanted it, I crooked a finger and it was there.
Didn’t have to chase it. Didn’t need an angle to work it.
A smile, some flirting. Being nice and attentive. It wasn’t that hard if a guy wasn’t an asshole.
So the smart call would be to give her back her panties, kiss her on the cheek, and stay the hell away from her for as long as she was in Last Hope.
Yeah, that would definitely be the smart call.
NINE
KAITLYN/SUNSHINE
Later that night,I was standing in the foyer of the Lodge with no idea where to go, so I just walked until I found what I assumed was the main living area.
It was a huge space with soaring beam ceilings over plush leather couches and chairs where I imagined the family gathered to open presents on Christmas morning. Where they might sit in front of the fire and talk at night. On the mantle over the fireplace were a series of pictures I couldn’t look at.
My half-brothers. My birth father/sperm donor. His wife.
I mean… I couldn’t even hold it in my head, so I looked away and just catalogued how much nicer this house was than the one I grew up in. The couches didn’t sag and they weren’t covered in dog fur and my sisters’ socks. The chairs matched and went with the dark drapes. Everything was tidy.
It was an appealing contrast from the chaos I grew up in. Not bad chaos, just too many people in too small a space.
The McGraw house was very quiet. And still. Almost…eerie?
“Hello?” I said.
Ethan, Carter and Mac had left me a while ago, and I’d been in front of my laptop ever since, doing a shit ton of research. But now my eyes were burning with screen fatigue and my brain was in overdrive.
We needed a high return with a fast turnaround and the best answer I could come up with was one no one would like.
Crypto.
I’d researched every other option I could think of, and none of them had the potentially fast reward that crypto did.
