Page 2 of The Love You Hate
“Not from here, but I live here now. Over on Peak Run Lane.”
Presley licks her lips. “There are houses on Peak Run? I didn’t realize that.” She seems distracted, gaze darting from mine off to the direction of my street. “You just moved here?” Her demeanor changes, and I know she knows I’m a stranger.
“The house is my uncle’s. He isn’t using it right now and said I could stay in it for as long as I need.” I need to be careful about how much I give away. She’s looking at me skeptically. “I’m between jobs and decided to move in and see if the mountains inspire me. The house has a great view.”
“I expect it would, it’s elevated more than everything down here.” Sounds like she wishes she was up on Peak Run Lane. It’s ironic when you know even down here, we’re still up a winding road in the middle of the mountains. They surround us on all sides.
“I’d be willing to give you a tour if you wanted.”
She crosses her arms. “What type of job are you looking for? There’s not much in these parts.”
“Not looking for work here, per se, looking for a change of scenery and maybe some mountain healing.” Am I laying it on too thick? I can’t tell, especially when she hasn’t made a joke in two fucking minutes. “What about you?”
She swallows hard, and I see her demeanor shift as she mentally shifts through her rehearsed speech. “I moved here recently to get some experience in a bakery. My dream is to open up my own sweet treat boutique. Maybe in Aspen, or Vail Village.” Hm, far simpler than I thought she’d go with. She passes.
“It smells delicious,” I admit. “When I walk by, I like to try to guess what’s baking.”
Presley smiles, and I think I’ve got her. With just a simple compliment. “Well, you’ll have a hard time guessing because we’re always baking up a bunch of stuff at once.” She taps the piece of mail against her palm. “It’s a small town, but maybe as newcomers we can stick together. They aren’t overly fond of unfamiliar faces. I stick out like a sore thumb.”She doesn’t, though.
I nod at the bakery behind her. “Seems you’re doing a great job of blending in. I’ll have a harder time. A single man living in a cabin up above town. Yeah, that’s creepy as hell.” Self-deprecating humor always wins over people who have low self-esteem. It’s a trick I learned in training. I discovered quite quickly that Presley doesn’t think much of herself. “They think I’m an ax murderer or something,” I add. I’m feeding her one of the worst possible scenarios so she lands somewhere in the middle in her assessment of me as a person.
The tapping of the piece of mail quickens against her hand. “You’re right. We should definitely be friends.”
The way she says friendssends my hackles up. I clear my throat and meet her gaze. “The thing is, I have a girlfriend. Would it be weird to be friends with me?”
She recoils. “Ew, gross. You aren’t my type at all. I can’t believe you’d insinuate that.”
Uh, she did first, if I read her friends comment right. “Don’t flatter yourself. This is purely a mutually beneficial arrangement so the kind folks of Gold Hawke don’t think we’re crazy. Especially that old bat in the general store.”
Presley quirks a brow. “Maybe you are crazy. I don’t know that.” She palms her chest. “You’re a stranger on the street.”
“Maybe you’re the crazy one,” I reply. Annoyance creeps in and I’m second-guessing my plan. This is annoying as fuck.
Scoffing, she deadpans, “I am not crazy.”
“Fine. Neither of us are crazy. Noted. Friends or what?” I know she’s lonely because I’ve heard her television on every night. She can’t contact old friends or family and it’s as if she vanished completely. Principals are unable to have social media and have to get any trips outside of their new ecosphere approved. This goes on for as long as it’s deemed unsafe. Sometimes with the lower-level Principals it’s a short period of time, others, like Presley, who has a face that’s been splashed all over the internet since the day she was born, it will likely be a lifelong endeavor. I won’t be assigned to her that long, of course. We take shifts and have rotations to keep our senses sharp.
“Won’t your girlfriend care?”
I clear my throat and try not to laugh. I haven’t had a girlfriend or any kind of attachment since before I joined The Charge Men. We’re allowed to have lives outside of our Principals, but it’s hard. I’ll get vacation time every few months when a new guard will come to relieve me, but I don’t really use it. As far as settling down to have a normal life, that won’t happen for me. Not until I’m out. The pay is copious, so it’s hard to walk away from, and men are literally lined up to take my place should I fuck up or quit. This is an honorable life, even if all I do is lie.
Shaking my head, I say, “No. She’s not psycho. I’m allowed to have female friends. She’s a very self-assured woman.”
Presley rolls her eyes. “Whatever you say.” I’m offended she assumes I’m lying. “Sure, we can hang out and formulate a plan on how to get these people to love us.”
“I don’t want anyone to love me,” I counter. “I’d be happy if everyone was… immune to me. One order of fading into the background please.”
Presley sniffs the air and then her eyes go wide. “Oh, shit, I burned the bread! Damn it!”
Yanking on the door, she nearly flies, hair spinning as she screams. “I can’t believe I did it again.” I follow her in. Now that we’ve met there’s no need to hover by the shaky window. I can be in here with her and no one will ask questions. At least not the questions I don’t want them to ask. It’s going to be cold in Colorado soon, and the thought of slinking around in the bitter temperatures and thick mountain snow factored into my decision to befriend the woman.
“I’m sorry, Ryan,” she wails as she sees him fanning a tray of black loaves. “I lost track of time.” Presley turns to scowl at me before rounding the counter to help him fan the smoke.
“That can’t be good for business,” I say, sliding my hands in my pockets. “The bakery smokestack filling the town with the scent of failure.”
Presley’s eyes go wide, and Ryan flashes a small grin. “Oh, you’re a real peach, aren’t you?” She turns to Ryan. “This is Nate. He’s new in town.”
Ryan’s smile widens. “Nice to meet you, man. Where are you living?”
