Concealed Hearts (Hometown Jasper #4) - Nicky James Page 0,56

set up my laptop on the coffee table and lost myself in work.

Windsor had texted while I was busy scrubbing toilets, so I hadn’t gotten back to him, but by the sound of it, he was busy. Hopefully, he could sneak away soon. The man needed sleep, and I was already planning the multitudes of ways I could help make him tired when he got back.

For all his claims he was too old for sex marathons, he kept up without a hitch.

The early afternoon sun shone through the window and puddled on the hardwood floor in the living room when I heard the churning of gravel under tires out front. I smiled as I checked the time. It was one o’clock.

Grateful for the company, I bounced up, eager to greet Windsor at the door. A vehicle door slammed as I crossed the threshold onto the front porch. My feet stalled, and my breath caught in my throat. Too late, I realized it wasn’t Windsor or his Jeep returning to the cabin.

The beat-up red truck belonged to none other than the homegrown country boy standing in front of her.

Easton Campbell.

And he looked equally stunned.

His forward momentum stopped as he registered me standing on the porch. Our eyes locked, and neither of us said a thing. I’d known Easton all my life. We’d gone to school together, and he was around when all the shit had gone down years ago with Josiah.

“Tomi?” His tone and the creases forming along his brow revealed his confusion.

I didn’t know what to say. My insides turned to liquid, and I wanted to crawl back inside and vanish. This was precisely what I’d been hoping to avoid.

Raw and exposed, my knees knocked. In that moment, I was eighteen years old again, and Samson and Darcy had barreled into the art room closet and caught me with a mouthful of Josiah’s cock. Terror of this level had the ability to freeze a man motionless.

My teeth chattered, but before panic could fully set in, a little kid stuck his head out the passenger window of the truck and broke the mounting tension. “What’s the hold-up, East? Who’s that guy?”

“Hey! Don’t be rude, Percy. You don’t talk like that.”

“I’m not being rude. It was a question. Geez. Everyone’s standing around and staring at each other, and no one is moving. Hi.” Percy waved at me with a wide smile. “I’m Percy Campbell. Who are you?”

“Percy!” Easton’s tone brokered no argument, and Percy grumbled something and stuck his head back inside the truck.

“Sorry ’bout that. That’s my son. He’s outspoken. We’re working on manners.” Easton seemed to choose his next words carefully. “How are you doin’, Tomi?”

I couldn’t find my voice and continued to stare at the kid through the windshield as nausea festered and roiled in my gut. I couldn’t face Easton. Not yet. Preferably not ever.

“I’m… um…” I shook my head, my lungs constricting. Every word I wanted to say lodged in my gorge, forming a barrier.

Easton scanned the landscape and cleared his throat, walking forward a few paces before eyeing me from under his cowboy hat. “Look, I’m terribly sorry I’ve come out here like this. I … ah…” He scrubbed a hand over the back of his neck, and I got the sense he was as uncomfortable as me. “I didn’t know, okay? Shit. Windsor’s gonna kill me. I promised him… I thought—”

The truck door slammed, jolting our attention to the kid. Percy bounced up beside Easton, his innocent gaze fixed on me. “Where’s Windsor’s girlfriend?”

Easton, shaken from his awkward muttering, glanced at his son and frowned. “How do you know about…? Were you eavesdroppin’ on Lach and me again?”

Percy’s face shone of guilt even as he shook his head, eyes wide, hair flopping. “No. Maybe. I can’t help it if you don’t talk quiet at night. That stuff slips under my door, and I hear it. What do you want me to do? I don’t have an off switch on my ears.” He made an exaggerated shrug.

“That’s not your business, Percy.”

“But Chief is my friend. I’m allowed to know.” The kid glanced at me then back at Easton. “East?”

“Yeah.”

“Who’s that guy? He looks like the man who did the big tricks on the loop thing. Remember?” He pointed at me, and it was like the intensity of a spotlight on my head. He knew Shay. He associated me with Shay.

“His name’s Tomi. The guy on the hill was Shay, his brother. Tomi’s an old friend from