Stripped Love (Guys Next Door #1) - Baylin Crow Page 0,10

should watch where you're going." My caution came too late and he ran into a waist-high trash can. The top box he carried full of CJ's basketball trophies and medals crashed to the floor.

"No!" CJ yelled and they both quickly set their boxes down and scrambled around to gather up his stuff. Dropping my bags, I collected a few medals that had rolled toward me.

"Hey stop," CJ told people as he darted around, grabbing the last of it. As he began repacking the box, he glared at Caleb. "You asshole."

If Caleb's awards hadn't already been loaded, there was no question his things would have accidently met the same fate.

"Sorry, damn, it was an accident." Caleb glared back.

I picked my bags up as everyone who'd paused to watch moved on. "Break it up, guys."

With a sigh, CJ jerked the box away from Caleb, deciding to switch with him, and we resumed our path outside to our designated spot. The morning air was heavy with humidity and the heat was quickly rising. We were almost out of time allotted for us to load up, so we hurried to put our things in the trailer that was hooked to CJ's Jeep, making sure my stuff stayed nearest to the gate.

"We'll follow you to your uncle's." CJ jingled his keys and jumped into the driver's seat of his Jeep and Caleb claimed the passenger side.

I looked back at the dorm, square and squat, with one grimy window for each room. The old white brick had grown dingy over the years, but it felt like home. However, this was Georgia. The lush, green foliage of huge live oak trees and bushes that bloomed with colorful flowers dotted the manicured lawns, saving the appearance of the otherwise drab campus. I snapped the image like a photograph in my mind to draw when I got the opportunity.

"Okay, give me a minute," I agreed and then headed for the parking lot. After climbing into my reliable dark blue sedan, I drove to where they'd parked, waiting for me. I pulled out ahead of them and followed the streets toward the highway.

I rarely visited my uncle's house because he spent most of his time at his downtown tattoo parlor. When we'd meet up for lunch, it was always somewhere near the campus or his shop. But I still easily navigated the quick fifteen-minute drive toward his place on the outskirts of the city.

We entered a neighborhood completely different from the upscale one my mom and I had moved into ten years ago. In a way, it was like coming home. Before my stepdad came into the picture, Mom and I had lived in a similar one a few towns away. Then, while working as a waitress, she'd met Paul while he was in town on business. She'd relocated us to his home in Florida, and the mom I'd always worshipped turned into someone I barely recognized. Money and grooming had not only changed her appearance, but she’d grown cold and distant. Just like him.

Pushing away the disappointment, I scanned the houses that had seen their prime thirty years ago. The roads were lined with towering trees reaching toward the sky, and though aged, the houses were in good shape and the yards tidy.

An older woman sat on a swing on her front porch and waved as I drove by. Further down, a younger boy had shed his shirt, leaving it hanging out of his back pocket as he pushed a mower across the front lawn. Kids played outside and dogs barked behind fences.

I hooked a right on the next street and slowed in front of my uncle's two-story home. Divorced and living alone, the simple gray brick with white trim exterior lacked shrubbery of any kind. The inside was just as bare. In contrast, his tattoo shop was decked out with bold paint, shiny new equipment and modern furnishings.

When I pulled into my uncle's driveway next to his prized ‘67 Chevelle, black paint so shiny I could see my car’s reflection, CJ and Caleb parked along the curb.

I hopped out just as the front door swung open, and a man in his forties with a wide smile, half hidden by a salt and pepper mustache and beard, stepped onto the wood porch and began walking toward me. He wore faded jeans, a well-worn Pantera t-shirt, and black motorcycle boots. "About fuckin' time. I thought you'd changed your mind."

He engulfed me in a giant bear hug, and I squeezed back.