Return of the Jerk (Sweet Life in Seattle, Book 2) (11 page)

“You’re seriously going to ask me that? You know what I’ve put into her. I love that car.”

Tori sighs. “I know. And she’s amazing, but Uncle Lance gave Isadora to Road for his sixteenth birthday.”

“So what?”

“Uncle Lance was the closest to a dad either of us ever had. Road is never going to give up that car.”

Blair goes silent at this. Uncle Lance was their mom’s brother, and it’s true he was a good guy. Rough around the edges, but still all right from everything she remembers. Unfortunately, he died about ten years ago. She knows Road always looked up to him as a kid. “You think Road has an emotional attachment to Isadora?”

“Of course he does.”

“I don’t believe it. Why did he abandon her then?” Blair shakes her head. “No, I think he wants to sell her.”

Tori laughs. “That’s silly.”

“It’s not. He probably needs the money.”

“He doesn’t need the money.”

Blair is watching Tori as she finishes giving all the animals their snacks and goes over to wash her hands in the sink. Warrant’s “Cherry Pie” is playing on the stereo from one of Tori’s endless hair band playlists.

Blair waits for her to come back over and figures it’s probably time to enlighten Tori about some things. “Do you know what Road does for a living?”

Tori dries her hands with a paper towel. “Of course.”

Blair’s eyebrows shoot up, and she has to admit she’s surprised. “And it doesn’t bother you?”

“Not at all. I’m proud of him.”

“Proud?” Blair nearly chokes. “How can you be proud of something like that?”

Tori flops down next to her on the couch and puts her feet on the coffee table. Her toenails are painted red with a white daisy on each big toe. “We’re all proud of Road. The whole family.”

Blair takes this in. She’s starting to get an uneasy feeling. Road’s family is kind of crazy, but she never thought they were
this
crazy. “Tori, he could get into a lot of trouble for what he’s doing.”

“Why?”

“Because,” Blair lowers her voice, “it’s illegal.”

This gives Tori pause. “What exactly did Road tell you he does for a living?”

“He hasn’t told me in so many words, but I figured it out. And he didn’t deny it when I asked.” She lowers her voice again. “I know he’s smuggling drugs.”

Tori studies her for a second and then bursts out laughing. “Blair! How could you of all people fall for that?” She’s still laughing and shaking her head. “My brother is such a goof.”

“It’s true.”

“No, it isn’t.”

“He didn’t deny it.”

“Road is not a drug smuggler! He’s a writer and a travel blogger.”

Blair blinks. “What are you talking about?”

Tori sighs. “I never told you because you didn’t want to hear about him, but Road wrote a book that’s become a bestseller on Amazon.”

“He did? Road writes?”

“It came out about six months ago. It’s based on some of the stuff he wrote for his travel blog.”

Blair’s head is spinning as she tries to take this in. “Are you serious?”

“Totally serious. His blog gets like a zillion hits a day. Plus, he’s working on a second book.”

“How is this possible? I’m completely stunned!”

Tori laughs. “I know it’s a lot to take in, but that’s why we’re so proud of him.”

“I can’t believe you never told me any of this.”

“I wanted to, but you were so adamant about not discussing him, and I didn’t want to upset you.”

Blair lets out her breath. “I feel seriously stupid.”

Tori smiles sheepishly. “He’s a really good writer.” She pats Blair’s leg. “You should read some of his stuff, especially his book. It’s called
Edge of Zen
, the same as his blog. I bet you’d like it.”

Blair shakes her head in disbelief. All this time, Road let her think he was doing something illegal.

That jerk!

Back at the bakery, Blair still tries to recover from her shock. Road is a successful writer and blogger? Once again, she feels like an idiot. He must have been laughing behind her back this whole time. She was tempted to download his book, but decides not to. Forget it.
Who cares if it’s any good? He can burn in hell!

No wonder he didn’t worry about her calling the police last night. Why should he?

What’s ironic is that she should be relieved. Relieved about all of it. Relieved that he’s not smuggling drugs or doing something illegal.

Blair brushes a stray hair off her face with the back of her hand as she adds the final Swiss dots to the cake she’s working on. Finally, she steps back to inspect it for symmetry. Looking at it from all sides, she’s satisfied enough to take her gloves off. Most people would say her cakes look perfect, and her brides are typically thrilled, but most of the time all she can see are the flaws. So instead, she imagines the couple who’ll be eating this cake on Saturday. All the joy and happiness they’ll be sharing with their families. It’s a good feeling to be a part of that.

When she gets home late that afternoon, her silver Honda is in its usual parking spot and for once, she’s glad to see it. She figures Road must be upstairs.

Blair slams the front door shut behind her when she arrives and throws her purse on the couch. He’s not sitting in the living area, but it doesn’t take her long to find him in her second bedroom, the one she’s been planning to convert into an office, only it looks like he’s already done the job for her.

“What’s all this?” Her mouth drops open. There’s a brand new desk and office chair where Road is currently sitting.

He glances up at her. “I’m turning this into my office.”

“
What?”
Her eyes bug out. “Who gave you permission to do
that?
”

“You already had a filing cabinet and a bookcase in here. Figured this was your plan all along.”

Blair walks closer and puts her hand on the wooden desk.
It’s a nice one, but this is crazy.
“I can’t believe you bought furniture!”

“Needed a desk, babe.”

There are two computers open in front of him and he’s fiddling with some wires and a box that looks like a router. She also spots a new printer/fax machine in the corner. She’s so stunned, she can’t even speak, just watches the top of his blond head.

Finally, she finds her voice. “You’re a real jerk, you know that?”

“Look, it’s just some furniture. Easy enough to take with me when I leave.”

“This is quite the drug smuggling operation you’ve got here.”

Road chuckles, still fiddling with the wires. “Yeah, I know. Tori called me.”

“How could you let me think that?”

“The better question is how could you think it to begin with?” He gives her a look. “Seriously, Blair.”

“Don’t turn this around!”

“You had me convicted and sentenced without a single shred of evidence. Quite the hanging judge, aren’t you?” He chuckles some more.

“That’s not true. I’ll bet you had a great time laughing behind my back, didn’t you?”

“Wasn’t like that.”

“Yes, it was.”

He shakes his head. “Shouldn’t you be relieved? Or are you pissed that I’m not smuggling drugs?”

“I’m pissed because you lied to me!”

“No, never lied. You made assumptions, and I admit I had a little fun with it.”

“And what about that list I created?” She’s mortified thinking about her ‘How to help Road get back on track with his life’ list. “That must have been really fun for you. I look like a total idiot!”

“I thought that list was real sweet.”

“You should have told me the truth right away. You’re a liar!”

“Hey, lighten up, all right?”

“Lighten up? That’s all you have to say?”

He looks as if he’s pretending to think it over. “In fact, wasn’t that already on one of your lists somewhere?”

She grits her teeth. “I know what my next list is going to be. All the reasons why I’m never reading your stupid book. Ever! And I don’t care about your blog, either!”

Blair spins on her heel and marches out of the room. She can hear Road behind her saying, “Babe.”

“And stop calling me babe!” she yells, halfway down the hall. “I am
not
your babe!”

Blair goes into the kitchen and starts slamming things around as she makes herself a tomato sandwich. Right away, she notices he’s bought more groceries. There’s fruit in the fridge and three boxes of cereal on the counter—healthy brands that she surprisingly approves of. She moves them to the cabinet where they belong and lines the boxes up evenly.

She takes her sandwich over to the couch and eats, still fuming. It’s all been too much for her. Road showing up after all this time. The ways he’s stirred up all these old feelings, feelings she thought she’d conquered. Memories of things she’d rather forget.
I thought I was over him. Over all of that.
Not to mention the way he’s trying to take Isadora away from her.
Jerk!
She should have known that when he left her, he’d land on his feet.

He always does.

After she eats, Blair soaks in the tub for a while and decides she’s sleeping on the couch tonight. Three nights without sleep is too much, and her thinking is muddled from exhaustion.

When she gets down all the sheets and pulls the hideaway bed out from the couch, Road wanders into the living room, eating a bowl of cereal.

“What are you doing? Told you my back can’t take sleeping on that couch.”

She gives a haughty sniff. “Don’t worry, it’s for
me
.”

His brows go up and he seems at a loss for words. Apparently, this was a maneuver on her part he hadn’t predicted. “You are
not
sleeping on this couch, princess.”

“Yes, I am.”

“No. You are not.”

She turns toward him and smiles without humor. “Watch me.”

He remains silent, brooding, as she continues to make the bed. She’s wearing her oversized T-shirt and shorts again and can feel his eyes on her, but ignores him.

Eventually, he disappears into the bathroom, and Blair grabs something to read and settles into the sofa bed. She’s never slept out here before, but decides it’s quite comfortable.

Nathan takes a long hot shower. Usually, he takes short ones, but tonight he wants to escape, wants to let his frustration run down the drain.

Swear to God, in some ways, I’ll never understand women.

Blair steals his car and accuses him of smuggling drugs, yet sees herself as the one being wronged here.

What the hell is she so pissed about?

He can’t believe how stubborn she’s being about Isadora, and he’ll be damned if he can figure out why. He was sure she would have given in by now, as soon as she saw he wasn’t leaving without his car, but her tenacity has surprised him. In a weird way, he even likes it. Likes seeing her stand up for herself, even if it is misguided. Somewhere over the last five years, the little mouse he left behind has turned into a lioness.

He puts his hands on the wall and lets hot water run down his back.

And then there are those little shorts she wears to bed.
Christ
. He was too out of it the first couple of nights to pay much attention, but he’s paying attention now.

Too much attention.

He had trouble falling asleep last night thinking about those pale, smooth legs. She has a redhead’s coloring, and he’s always found himself partial to it.

He wonders if she’s telling the truth about not sleeping with that guy who called. No way is that dude her boyfriend, unless he’s an idiot. No guy is going to let a woman like that out of his sight for long.

She’s not for me, though.

Blair deserves better than him and always has. Even with everything he has going on now, she deserves some guy in a suit who’s going to buy her a big house and let her fill it with kids. She’s not meant to be with the likes of him and all of his crazy family, who, if he’s honest, are nothing but a bunch of rowdy assholes.

Nathan eventually turns the water off and towel dries himself, throwing on a shirt and a pair of sweat pants. He doesn’t own any pajamas, since he usually sleeps naked.

He goes out to find Blair on the couch reading a magazine.

Those pretty hazel eyes flash up at him. She’s wearing that haughty expression again. Princess Blair. He started calling her that in high school because even though she was mostly shy, she always had that royal look about her. Plus, she came from the right side of the tracks and was definitely off-limits.