Twisted Up (Taking Chances #1) - Erin Nicholas Page 0,73

have knocked me into next week. Still. Even at my age.” Max was kneeling, pounding new shingles into place on Gigi’s roof.

Jake had to grin at that. Max was six foot three and solid muscle. His mother, Jodi, was barely five feet five. But she was tough. Jodi swore like a sailor; laughed loud and often; and when she yelled, her voice could be heard for a five-block radius. A fact that had been proven numerous times when the boys were growing up.

“I know,” Jake said of his swearing at his mother. “It wasn’t my best moment.” He pulled another stack of shingles over between him and Max.

It was Thursday. Five days after the storm. They’d worked on the farm all day yesterday and were now getting started on repairs to Gigi’s house.

The 110 Army National Guard troops who had arrived on Tuesday had truly been a godsend. The town and the farm were nearly cleared, most windows and roofs had been repaired, and rebuilding was under way all over.

If they could get the school finished up, all the big stuff would be done in time for the Bronsons’ visit. There were residential areas that needed more work, but if they could keep the Bronsons’ tour restricted to the farm, school, and other places that were most pertinent to their decision to move to Chance, there would be more time to spend on the hardest-hit neighborhoods after they left. But that was risky. If the damage in those areas scared the Bronsons off, Chance was screwed in spite of the hard work being put in. That would be almost more deflating than being hit by another tornado.

“Sounds like Avery’s got you pretty worked up,” Dillon commented.

His tone was casual, but Jake knew better.

“Yeah.” What was the point in denying it?

“I wish I could remember what it was like to be really worked up about a woman in a positive way,” Dillon muttered.

Max laughed. “You’re not positively worked up about Kit?”

Dillon threw more shingles to the ground. “Is wanting to strangle her at the same time you want to kiss her positive?”

Jake and Max both pivoted to look at him.

“Still want to kiss her, huh?” Max asked with a grin.

“And strangle her,” Dillon said. “You heard that part, right?”

Max nodded with an even bigger grin. “I heard.”

“That’s . . .” Dillon trailed off, clearly unsure how to finish the thought.

“A pain in the ass,” Jake filled in. He knew exactly how Dillon felt.

“Yes,” Dillon said.

Max nodded. “For sure.”

“I’m distracted, I’m swearing at my mother, I’m restless, I’m—” Jake broke off, swore—much as he had at his mother—and raked a hand through his hair.

“Not getting anywhere,” Max guessed.

Jake frowned at him. “What?”

Max sighed and stretched to his full height. “You thought that what Avery needed was your attention, some flirting, some hot sex. But turns out she needs more, and it’s something you’re not sure you can fix, and that’s going to make you crazy. Because you always need to fix everything.”

Jake frowned at Max. But couldn’t deny the words. “You know that’s pretty much the pot calling the kettle black.”

Max nodded. “Takes one to know one.”

By “one” he meant a hero. Jake, Max, and Dillon all loved being heroes and had spent their lives seeking those opportunities. It came from the cousins’ grandfather, who’d been the fire chief in Chance for fifty years, and their fathers—Jake’s was a cop; Dillon’s was a doctor; and Max’s was a city councilman, volunteer firefighter, EMT, and volunteer . . . anything anyone in Chance needed a volunteer for.

“The hero thing is always harder with people you know,” Max said, prying up more shingles and tossing them to the side. “We’ve talked about this before. It’s why you’re in Kansas City, remember?”

There were two people on the planet who knew all of Jake’s issues. And he was facing them both in the hot sun on top of their aunt Gigi’s roof. Fuck.

“I remember.” Of course he remembered. He was not in Chance on purpose. Chance was small. And it was full of people he knew and cared about.

He had an irresistible drive to fix things and to help people, and he’d sought out bigger and better ways to do that. He’d gone from Chance to the National Guard, then got involved in emergency management for a big city, and was now, potentially, moving on to even grander things on a national level.

He knew it seemed that he was looking for a bigger stage and spotlight,