Dirty Thoughts - Megan Erickson Page 0,89
he did, it was on his brother’s face, so like his own. “What do you think I should do?”
“If you want to keep living like you’ve been, then I guess you do nothing. And you keep to yourself, until you look in the mirror one day and see Jack.”
Cal’s stomach rolled.
“Or,” Brent said, “you get outside that iron circle you’ve made for yourself, and you apologize to Jenna for being a dick.”
Cal hugged him, just reached up and wrapped his brother in his arms. He couldn’t remember the last time he’d done that. “Thanks, man. Appreciate the advice.”
Brent squeezed the back of Cal’s neck. “Learned from the best.”
Chapter Twenty-Seven
JENNA OPENED UP all the windows in her house and let the August breeze blow through. That’s exactly what she needed. Some airing out. She wished she could do the same thing for her heart.
She shook her head as she stuck the vacuum back in the closet. Nope, not going there. She wiped her hands and looked around. It was a Saturday, and she probably could have spent all day working, but she needed a break.
Instead of letting her quit MacMillan Industries, her father had fired Dylan and begged her to stay. He’d finally admitted the damage his son was doing to the company, and his actions at the country club had been the last straw.
It had been a tough decision, because leaving this town might have been what was best for her, but she’d enjoyed reconnecting with Delilah. She’d come to know the employees of MacMillan Industries and cared about them. So she’d said yes.
And she vowed to remain single for a long time to come.
She wore a loose tank top and a pair of shorts and pulled her hair back into a ponytail. She planned to barricade herself in her home all weekend. If she needed food, she’d call out.
She walked into the kitchen to begin assembling dinner when there was a knock at her door.
She frowned and kept still. Maybe whoever it was would go away if she waited it out. She had patience.
But the knock came again. And again.
And then the doorbell started ringing.
With a groan of frustration, Jenna padded to the front door in her bare feet and threw it open.
Asher and Brent stood on the front porch. The teenager held a bouquet of flowers in his casted arm. She hadn’t seen him since the day he got home from the hospital. And that’d been a week ago. “Asher.”
He smiled and held out the flowers. “Hi, Jenna.”
“How are you feeling?”
“I’m good.”
Her gaze shifted to Brent and then back to Asher. “And what are you guys doing here?”
Brent nodded to the flowers. “You’re supposed to take those, and then you’re supposed to get into my truck.”
Jenna glanced at the huge black monster in her driveway. “Excuse me?”
Brent grinned, but it seemed a little forced. “Will you please come with us?”
Jenna blinked, because she knew who was behind this, and she wanted no part of that. “I’m sorry, but I think it’s best if I stay here. Away from all Paytons.”
Asher took a step forward. “Please? It’s really important, Jenna.”
Shit. He’d sent the kid. If that wasn’t the most effective weapon to get her to do his bidding, then she didn’t know what was. He must have trained the kid too, because she’d never seen Asher go to quite this length with those puppy-dog eyes.
Brent was biting his lip, for once not making a joke. Asher’s body was vibrating.
And so that’s why she sighed, grabbed her purse and a thin sweatshirt, slipped on her Converse sneakers, and walked out to the truck.
The boys climbed inside, Asher in the middle. And no one talked. Not a word. Jenna didn’t know what to say. The whole cab of the truck was loaded with words, and if she vocalized one, it might have suffocated them all.
She figured out where they were going about halfway there, but she didn’t let herself believe it until Brent pulled into the parking lot and shifted the truck into park. “He said to take Carson Trail.”
That was the one they’d always used in high school. She stared at her hands fisted on her lap. “I don’t know if I can do this.”
Silence. Only the humming and vibration of the truck. Until Asher said, “I think you can.”
So she hopped out of the truck, waved at Brent and Asher, and made her way down the easiest trail, not the one she’d traveled with Cal weeks ago. That had