Kaleb (16 page)

Zoey
nodded again and turned away.

“It’s
a good offer, Kaleb.” Zoey began, and Kaleb expected to hear the ‘but’ that
would tell him to take his offer and go away. “I think he really needs to do
this. I don’t want to lose our home. I don’t think my dad will survive it if we
do.”

Kaleb
understood that. Theirs was a deep rooted community, many of the families
having been there for generations, including the Walker’s, so Kaleb knew all
too well what she was saying. If he could help her, he was going to do so.

He
only hoped his brothers and Carl Stranford would agree.

♀♂

Two
weeks later, Zoey found herself knee deep in the biggest mess she’d ever seen.
Literally.
What she and Vanessa had walked into that morning
would rival any one of the hoarder’s shows she had watched on television.

“Please
tell me you’ll do it.” Anderson Croft had been pleading for the last hour as he
tried to give Zoey and V a tour of his mother’s home. Thankfully he’d insisted
that his mother move in with him while he tried to figure out what to do with
this mess.

“When
do you expect to have it cleared out?” Zoey asked
,
glancing around at the mountains of stuff piled on every surface possible. If
she had to guess, it would be nothing short of a miracle to expect anything
less than a month, just to make a dent.

“I’ve
found a couple of people who said they would come and help me go through it,
but with only three of us, it might take a couple of weeks.” Anderson stated.

Zoey
had known the Croft family for most of her life, having gone to school with
Anderson herself. She wouldn’t go as far as to say they were friends because
honestly, she hadn’t talked to him since high school, but standing here now,
Zoey felt a deep tug on her heart. This man was beside himself and she could
see why.

“So,
what do you say? Will you come in and clean it once we have it cleared out?”

“Yes,
we’ll do it.” Zoey committed while Vanessa nearly choked, glaring at her from
across the room.

“Oh my goodness.”
Anderson all but cheered. “Thank you! You don’t know how many people we have
had come out here and take one look only to turn and run the other way.”

Zoey
could only imagine. If it were up to V, she knew that’s exactly what would have
happened today, as well.

“When
are you going to start trying to get it cleared out?” Zoey asked, wondering if
two weeks were a realistic timeline.

“We’re
planning to start after work on Friday. If we work through the weekend, we
might just make a dent.”

A dent?
Maybe in one room.

Zoey
fished out her iPhone from her pocket and dialed the all too familiar number.

“Hey,
baby. I was just thinking about you.” Kaleb’s sexy voice crooned in her ear,
making her smile.

“Well,
I was thinking about you, too.” Zoey said, turning away and wandering outside
where she could breathe a little fresh air. Whatever was in that house was no
longer living based on the stench that permeated every
room.
“I need a favor.”

“Hmmm...
I like favors. That means if I do something for you, then you do something for
me in return, right?”

Zoey
laughed. That was definitely how Kaleb’s mind worked. “I’ll give you whatever
you want in return.” She said, knowing his naughty mind would likely come up
with something that she would be begging for anyway.

“Honey,
be careful what you sign up for.” Kaleb’s voice was deeper, huskier than
moments before, and Zoey felt the impact deep in her belly.

“You
haven’t asked me what
I
want. I promise, once you hear this, you might
just rethink your answer.” She told him, turning around to see Anderson and V
talking by the truck.

“Ok,
lay it on me.” Kaleb muttered.

“You
know Anderson Croft?” She asked, knowing that he did.

“I
know of him, sure. Not personally, no.”

“Well,
he needs some help.” Zoey said before explaining in detail exactly what the
help would entail. Five minutes later she was hanging up the phone and smiling
back at V and Anderson.

“Is
everything ok?” Anderson with his coke bottle glasses and little boy cuteness
looked skeptical.

“I’ve
called in the big guns.” Zoey told him, smiling. “I’ve recruited the Walker
boys to help us get this place cleaned out.”

Ten
minutes later, Zoey had given Anderson the instructions on what he needed to do
in order to prepare for the weekend. If all went as planned, two weeks were
just reduced to about two days.

“Are
you out of your mind?” V asked as they drove back to Zoey’s house.

Probably.
“Why do you ask that?”

“Did
you not see that house? Oh my God! It’s so gross!” V stated excitedly.

“Exactly
the reason Anderson needs our help.” Theirs was a small town and Vanessa knew
as well as Zoey that when it came to helping their neighbors, everyone would
pitch in.

Figuring
V would only start complaining – good naturedly of course – Zoey chose to
change the subject.

“So
how’re things going with Zane?” She asked, glancing over at her friend when she
pulled up to a stop sign.

“Who?”
V asked, sounding none too happy.

“Uh oh.
What happened?” It wasn’t like V not to open up to her, but Zoey could tell
that whatever was or wasn’t happening with Zane was bothering her friend.

“Oh,
don’t worry, the sex is still fantastic.”

“Fantastic sex.”
Zoey pondered that for a second.
“So why the sour face?”

“Hell,
I don’t know, Zoey. Shit. I told myself not to get mixed up with one of the
Walker’s and here I went and did it.”

“
Did
it
? Care to clarify?”

“No, not really.”
V laughed, but there wasn’t an ounce of humor in it.

When
they pulled into Zoey’s father’s driveway a few short minutes later, V bolted
from the truck. Zoey barely managed to climb out before her friend was climbing
into her own car.

“If
you want, we can have coffee and talk.” Zoey offered, knowing full well V was
going to turn her down flat, but she had to try.

“Maybe tomorrow.”
There was
a sheen
of tears in V’s eyes, and Zoey’s
heart cracked for her friend.

“I’ll
see you in the morning, right?” They had two houses to clean on Friday, and
Zoey knew they’d need to get them done early in order to meet Anderson out at
his mother’s house in the afternoon to start working.

“Of course.”
V said and quickly drove off.

♂♀

Kaleb
was sitting in the small office of Walker Demolition shooting the breeze with
Sawyer, Zane and Ethan when the door opened and in walked Gage.

“Well,
I’ll be damned.” Kaleb greeted his best friend, standing and walking toward
him. With a quick sideways hug and a couple of thumps on the back, Kaleb took a
step back. “Finally back from your world tour?”

Gage
laughed before turning toward the coffee pot sitting on the counter.
“World tour, huh?
Being a truck driver isn’t nearly that
glamorous, bro.”

It
seemed as though Gage had been driving a truck since the minute he graduated
from high school and Kaleb had gotten used to his friend being gone for weeks
at a time. And each time he came back, it was as though a part of
himself
had returned.

Since
the very first day Kaleb met Gage, back in the fourth grade, they’d been friends.
Well, that wasn’t entirely true. They’d actually become friends after that
first visit to the principal’s office when they’d bloodied each other’s noses
on the playground. They’d both been cocky little boys, both wanting to be king
of their own little worlds, and until that year, they had been. It wasn’t until
fourth grade when they’d had the same teacher that they realized there was
someone else wanting to fight for the title. But after that day, when they’d
been forced to sit side by side for an hour while they waited for Ms. Thompson
to dole out their punishment, he and Gage had formed a friendship the likes of
which had survived even their childhoods.

“So,
what’d I miss while I was gone?” Gage asked, sipping his coffee and pulling up
an empty chair.

“Shit,
man. It’s like the fucking twilight zone around here.” Sawyer said, glancing at
Zane, then Kaleb and back to Gage with a shit eating grin on his face.

“Yeah?”
Kaleb could see the interest in Gage’s eyes, and he knew Sawyer was about to
spill every last damn detail. At least the ones he had.

“Zane
here has gone off and hooked up with Vanessa Carmichael.” Sawyer stated.

Kaleb
watched his brother, noting the evil glare Zane shot Sawyer, but he didn’t say
a word. He knew better because the more one of them denied something, the more
the others would pester them about it.

“Then
there’s Kaleb. That boy’s long gone. He went off and fell in love with Zoey
Stranford. But, we all knew that one had been coming for a long time.”

“Fuck
off, man. I did not go and fall in love.”

He
hadn’t.

Gage
stared back at Kaleb, and he recognized that heated look in his friend’s eyes.
It had been a damn long time since the two of them shared a woman, especially
one that either of them was remotely serious about, but Kaleb knew exactly what
the question in Gage’s eyes was. He was not about to have this conversation
right now, in front of his brothers. Instead, he nodded his head, acknowledging
the question, but he turned to Sawyer.

“And what about you?”
Kaleb questioned, and all eyes turned to Sawyer. “I heard something about you.”

“I
heard it too.
Something about you and Kennedy Endsley.”
Zane offered, grinning.

“Oh
shit.” Ethan chimed in. “You going after women your own age now?”

That
got the room laughing, but just like always, nothing fazed Sawyer.
“Ain’t nothing going on with me and Kennedy.”

Well,
if that statement didn’t speak volumes, Kaleb didn’t know what did. Sawyer
never had been one to keep his interludes to himself. That didn’t mean that
what he did say was all truth, but for the most part, Sawyer was as wild as
everyone thought he was.
But Kennedy Endsley.
That was
surprising. The woman was the exact opposite of anyone Kaleb had ever known
Sawyer to go after.

Kennedy
was sweet and more than a little prim and proper for his taste. She was also
the town's veterinarian, and her father was the sheriff, which in Kaleb’s
opinion meant she was off limits to any one of them. At least if they wanted to
live another day.

“So, you and V, huh?”
It was Gage’s turn to contribute, and he turned his attention on Zane.

They
all knew Vanessa Carmichael because she had gone to school with both Kaleb and
Gage, but she was a few years older than Zane, which was probably what
surprised Gage the most. It had Kaleb. The woman was a dichotomy. On one hand,
she was the fun loving friend they’d all hung out with from time to time and on
the other, she was an extraordinarily complex, somewhat tortured soul. She’d
had a rough life, they all knew that and although she did run in their circles,
she tried to keep to herself as much as possible.

“It’s
not like that.” Zane stated, then stood and walked right out the door, leaving
them all speechless in his wake.

“What
the fuck?” Sawyer asked, staring at the door that Zane just exited through.

“Well,
I think that’s my cue.” Ethan added before standing from his seat. “Glad you’re
back, Gage.”

Kaleb
was glad Gage was back too. It’d been a couple of weeks since he’d seen or
heard from him, and it was high time the two of them caught up on a couple of
things. Not that they would do that with Sawyer in the room, but hopefully
later that afternoon they could grab a beer together.

There
was something Kaleb needed to talk to him about.

“Throw
a brother a bone, would ya? Tell me how exactly you landed Zoey Stranford.”
Gage grinned, the two of them sitting in Kaleb’s living room several hours
later.

“Hell
if I know.” Kaleb admitted. “One minute we’re just friends, and the next. Well,
fuck. That’s all I can say.”

“Just
all of a sudden, huh?” Gage questioned, looking not at all convinced.

“It’s
been a long time coming.” Kaleb mirrored Sawyer’s words from earlier, which was
an understatement as far as he was concerned. Twenty years of lusting after her
and suddenly he finds himself in Zoey’s bed – or her in his. Whatever it was
that had gotten them to this point, Kaleb wouldn’t change a damn thing.