Page 31 of Fight

“Beats me,” Jake answered as he took a sip of his coffee. “I guess they’re stronger than we give them credit for.”

“Hmm.” Ian neither agreed or disagreed with Jake. Ian was a moody son of a bitch, especially after a night out. He looked rough this morning with a pale face, and dark circles under his eyes.

“I’m surprised to see you up this early. I heard you come home late last night. How’d things go after I bounced?”

Ian groaned and put his fingers to his right temple. “Ugh, Morgan got shitfaced and I had to drag her home finally. She threw a drink at Cole Sutton. It was ugly.”

Jake sighed in disappointment. “What are we going to do with that wild girl?”

“She needs professional help. She can’t keep getting herself into situations like that. She’s been so good for so long, but she seemed…triggered last night. I need to try to get through to her mom again, but that woman’s got issues of her own.”

Jake nodded. He’d only met Morgan’s mother, Adele, a handful of times and she was a character. An eerily vacant person, the only time she seemed to show any emotion was when she felt like someone had slighted or injured her somehow. She was so wrapped up in her own needs and wants that other people seemed to barely register. Morgan and her ten-year-old sister, Arabella, only seemed to matter to her when she wanted something out of them.

Jake could only imagine how hard it was for Morgan to grow up with someone like that. It was no wonder Morgan acted the way she did sometimes; at least negative attention was someone noticing you.

Ian continued scowling out the window before he seemed to decide something, issuing Jake a harsh look. “What’s going on between you two anyway?” He moved his coffee cup in the direction of Lena. “After last summer, I thought you guys would be at each other’s throats, but you’re giving each other googly eyes and disappearing at bars together now?”

Jake shrugged, not moving his eyes from Lena out the window.

“I don’t know. We’re still figuring it out.” This thing with Lena was so delicate and volatile. He didn't want to make proclamations to Ian and mess the whole thing up when it had barely started.

Ian sighed before continuing, reverting his eyes back out the window. “I just don’t want this to end badly. Morgan’s my cousin and I don't want Annie to get caught up in the middle of it, either.”

Jake’s hackles rose. He didn’t need advice on how to handle a potential relationship from Ian, of all people. “Yeah, let’s talk about that. What’s going on betweenyou two?”

Ian started and looked over at Jake again. “Who?”

“You and Annie? Really, who else?

Ian’s face twisted in exaggerated confusion. “Nothing? We’re friends and she’s Morgan's roommate.”

“Please, Ian. If you want to talk about googly eyes—at least from your end—look no further."

Ian fixed a hard glare at Jake with a tick in his jaw. Ian was funny. He was so straight laced, but there was always something wild and crazy ticking beneath the surface. It usually came out when he skied and cycled, but it was interesting for Jake to see it bubbling to the surface now with talk of Annie. “Things would never work between us. We’re too different.”

“Well, that’s bullshit.”

“No, it’s reality. My dad’s letting me ‘sow my oats’ as he put it, by living here and working at the resort. But in a couple years, he’s going to call me back and I’ll be at his beck and call again. I’ll be Prince Conrad running off to the Bay and LA to attend charity balls, make deals, and do his bidding.Do you think Annie could handle a life like that? She’s too free. I don’t want her anywhere near those people.” Ian looked like he wanted to throw his coffee against the wall. Jake knew he wouldn’t dare though.Making messes wasn’t Ian’s style.

“I think she’s stronger than you give her credit for. If she and Lena can get that dresser out of their house, Annie can surely handle all of your family’s waspy Bay area friends.”

Ian rolled his eyes and continued to stare out the window. “No, man. They’d eat someone like her alive. She's too good for all that.”

Jake didn’t know what to say to that. He’d made it relatively easy on himself by cutting off all ties with his family’s plans and expectations. This may have been the coward’s way out, but Ian was a better man than him.

He reached out and put his hand on Ian’s shoulder. “You’re a complicated man, Ian Conrad.”

“Thanks?” Ian said with a questioning laugh.“You’renota complicated man, Jake Lewis.”

Jake chuckled at this appreciatively, “I’m going to choose to take that as a compliment.”

Looking back out the window, he saw that Lena had turned off the sander and was now standing back with her hands on her hips, surveying her work.

“Excuse me, that’s my cue.” Setting his empty coffee cup on the table and laughing at Ian's answering scowl, Jake slipped out the front door.

Chapter 10

Lenatookacouplesteps back from the dresser to check out her handiwork. It was a beautiful piece of mid-century modern furniture; tall with four long drawers. The thin planks on the front of each of the drawers had been laid at a slant in opposite directions from the drawer below it to create a herringbone effect. She'd had to be very careful to keep the sanding even to protect the details of the wood, specifically on the drawer fronts.

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