Page 9 of Hate To Love You
Of course his mind would wander back to him.
Liam … Peanut …
Teague wonders if it’s wrong to enjoy how annoyed Liam looked by the revival of that nickname. His scowl was downright adorable. Should he call him Peanut tomorrow just to see that cute expression again? It’s absolutely worth the repercussions, Teague decides with an amused smirk.
The quiet, careful, slightly mysterious, guarded, and studious Liam has always been an enigma to Teague. He’s been curious about the guy for quite some time. Liam probably assumes Teague doesn’t notice the first thing about him, since they technically weren’t part of each other’s social circles back in school. But of all of Teague’s qualities, there’s one that he never makes known: how observant he is. He keeps his eyes open. He notices everything yet plays dumb so others don’t know how much he sees.
And he’d seen a lot of Liam back in the day.
Now that they’re working together this summer, he hopes to see a lot more.
The patio door slides open, revealing his father’s creased face. “That smelly apron you left on the counter isn’t gonna fold and hang itself, son.”
Teague and Rus both lift their heads. “I’ll take care of it.”
“Make sure you take care of that mess in the garage, too. It’s an eyesore every time I come home from work. Third time I’ve told you to do something about it.”
“Oh, you mean my weights? I’m just trying to keep in shape.” Teague chuckles and pats his belly. “I don’t want to turn into a lazy bum this summer, know what I mean?”
His dad studies him for a moment. “Yet you get the laziest job in town. Doesn’t prove much, son.”
Teague finds himself averting his eyes and petting Rus. It’s his go-to when his dad starts getting a certain way, perhaps to help calm himself and prevent an argument. “No one was hiring …” he starts to explain.
“That’s why you needed to be on top of it sooner,” his dad cuts him off, “instead of just leaving everything to chance like you always do. How many times must you learn this lesson before it sticks? You’re not in high school anymore. It’s the real world. And if you sit back and expect things to come your way, you’re gonna end up becoming exactly that: a lazy bum with a smelly lapdog.”
Teague says nothing, petting the same spot on Rus’s head over and over.
After another moment passes, his dad issues a sigh. Then, in a tone much softer, he adds, “There are leftovers from the other night in the freezer if you get hungry. Don’t forget to eat, son.”
Always, after his dad goes on a rant, he comes to, and Teague gets the little gift of his father’s love. It isn’t much, but it’s enough to make Teague smile—even if the smile doesn’t quite touch his eyes. “Thanks.”
His father nods, appears to want to say something else, then just clears his throat and heads back in, the patio door shutting.
Teague brings his face close to Rus’s, earning him another lick right across his nose and causing him to genuinely smile despite his mood.
An hour later when he’s organizing his weights in the garage, he finds himself reminded of the heavy boxes he carried alongside Liam at the store as they stocked the shelves. Before putting away the last of the weights, he decides to load up the barbell, lie back on the bench, and do a few sets of chess presses. With each rep, he stares at the cracked ceiling of the garage, brainstorming what he can do tomorrow to make Liam like him more.
And if it backfires and makes Liam more annoyed, isn’t that also kind of a win?
Love and hate, Teague has learned, are two sides of a tricky coin. And sometimes when it’s flipped, there’s no telling which side is which, even after it lands and you’re staring it in the face. “I’m gonna get you to love me,” Teague grunts between a rep, “or hate me … one way or another.”
5
Hard-On For Science
I’m gonna make you downright fall in love with me.
Liam shakes his head, annoyed that the words keep circling his ears despite his efforts to drown them out with music, with the TV blasting, or with his own frustrated humming.
I’m gonna make you downright fall in love with me.
Only someone like Teague Jensen could make such sweetly spoken words sound like a threat.
It was enough that Teague got hired, interfering with Liam’s relaxing summer job. Now the guy has infiltrated his time off. It’s all he can think about tonight, long after the sun has set. Teague’s annoying voice. His cute, maple brown eyes. That funny thing his mouth does every time he grins like an idiot.
And as if it couldn’t get worse, Teague had the nerve to revive the nickname that drove Liam near to insanity his teenage years.
Peanut.
