Page 3 of The Anti-Bachelorette (The Anti-Bachelorette 1)

Chapter 2

Ihave been sitting in my office for the last 30 minutes just thinking about my encounter with Alaric. I haven’t seen him for at least seven years. I didn’t know him well. I’d only see him if he happened to come visit at our house.

My dad usually went to see him or they’d meet halfway and vacation somewhere in between. Alaric didn’t like coming into town because of his family still being here. It would always put him in a bad mood too, so pretty much all of my encounters with him have been pretty hostile, especially when I turned sixteen and started to give him even more crap. He didn’t hold back once I was old enough to know better than to press his buttons. Eventually, my dad just decided it was easier to just meet him at his place or somewhere else in order to avoid conflict.

I still can’t believe I didn’t recognize him. I mean it has been years, and it’s not like I had seen him that often before anyway. Just a day or two at a time every few years. Still though. With the way we would fight, I would have thought I would have remembered him. He seems different now though. More mature. Where his bad attitude before just seemed like some punk kid, now his asshole personality comes across as dangerous and definitely more sexy. Ugh no. I am not attracted to Alaric. Definitely not.

Luckily, Tyler walks in just now to interrupt my thoughts. He comes in and sits down in the chair across from my desk. He smiles at me. “You look good. Refreshed.”

I smile back at him. “Thanks. And yes I am for sure. It was nice to get away for a little bit just to reset.”

We continue chit chatting for a while about what I did and about his own upcoming vacation. He hints at us going somewhere together sometime. I am not sure why, but I bring the conversation back to Alaric. “So what do you think of the new foreman?”

Tyler raises his eyebrows at me. “Alaric? He’s alright. A bit of a hardass, but he knows his shit. We’ve been getting projects done a lot faster now that we have someone full time dedicated to us instead of your dad always heading in between jobs.”

He leans back in his chair and puts his arm behind his head. I can’t help but check him out as his shirt stretches over his chest and his arm flexes behind his head. “You know the guy? I hear he’s pretty famous around here. At least that’s what Kenny says.” He asks.

I laugh. “I wouldn’t go that far. I didn’t even recognize him.”

Tyler leans forward and smiles at me. “Good. I don’t need some hotshot coming in here and stealing all your attention away from me.”

I laugh again. “I somehow doubt you’d let that happen.”

I feel like Tyler is about to ask me out again. I know I am going to say yes. I will just talk to my dad at lunch today.

He leans forward more and reaches across my desk. He opens his mouth to say something. “So Emory, once you’re all settled back in maybe this weekend we could-.” Before he can finish, the door opens and in walks Alaric.

“Hey, you got the work order for the plumber all set? We need to get started right away.”

I glare over at Alaric and motion over to Tyler. “Kind of in the middle of something here.”

He looks over at Tyler and then back at me like he doesn’t care what we are doing. He continues to stand there waiting for me, so I just roll my eyes and reach over to the tray on my desk and hand him the work order paperwork. He grabs it and starts reading it over.

I look back over to Tyler. “So Tyler, my dad is having a barbeque on the 3rd next month. You should come. I can show you the project we were talking about that me and my dad have been working on.”

My dad and I have been working on the back patio all summer. The large patio deck has all the bells and whistles. A firepit with built in seating. A place for the grill with a prep station and wine fridge connected. A waterfall fountain that leads into the swimming pool. It is the perfect little space. It is my favorite part of the whole house.

I have been living in the guest house on my dad’s property. My dad told me I had to in order to save money for a downpayment for my own house, but I mainly said yes because my dad is all alone, and I like being close by for him in case he needs anything.

Tyler smiles at me. “Yeah I’d love that.”

I glance over to Alaric, and he is looking at me like I am still pathetic for “flirting” with the guys. I just glare back over at him. “Do you need anything else?” I grit out.

He doesn’t answer and just walks back out of the office. I turn back to Tyler, and he raises his eyebrows at me. “Already not getting along?”

I laugh. “Let’s just say I’ll be asking my dad to assign me to job sites he is working at instead of Alaric.”

Tyler smiles back at me. “No way! Your old man was all gloating about how you are going to keep an eye on Alaric so he can trust him to run the site without him.”

I blow out a breath and look down and whisper. “Great.”

Tyler just laughs. “Don’t worry. I’m sure you’ll have him wrapped around your little finger just like the rest of us guys in no time.”

I smile back at Tyler. “Well, I could definitely use you on my side.”

Tyler grabs my hand and smiles back. “You know I got your back. For sure.”

I let go of his hand and glance at the clock and see it’s almost noon. I look back at Tyler. “Hey I gotta get going. I am meeting my dad for lunch. Did we cover everything you wanted to go over today?”

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