Crossroads, p.1
Crossroads, page 1
CROSSROADS
By
Riley Hart
Copyright © 2015 by Riley Hart
All rights reserved.
No part of this book may be used, reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval systems, without prior written permission of the author, except where permitted by law.
Published by
Riley Hart
This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any similarity to actual persons, living or dead is coincidental and not intended by the author.
Printed in the United States of America.
All products/brand names mentioned are registered trademarks of their respective holders/companies.
Cover Design by X-Potion Designs
Cover Photo by jackson photografix
Special thanks to Riley’s Rebels members: Hope, Abbey, Georgina, Erin, Michelle, Karrie, Mona, Christi, and Rod for letting me use your names.
Dedication:
To Mirjana for all your help. I appreciate it more than words can say.
Also, to Rod for letting me talk your ear off and ask you millions of questions.
Table of Contents
CHAPTER ONE
CHAPTER TWO
CHAPTER THREE
CHAPTER FOUR
CHAPTER FIVE
CHAPTER SIX
CHAPTER SEVEN
CHAPTER EIGHT
CHAPTER NINE
CHAPTER TEN
CHAPTER ELEVEN
CHAPTER TWELVE
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
CHAPTER NINETEEN
CHAPTER TWENTY
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX
CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN
CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT
CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE
CHAPTER THIRTY
CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE
CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO
CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE
CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR
CHAPTER THIRTY-FIVE
CHAPTER THIRTY-SIX
CHAPTER THIRTY-SEVEN
CHAPTER THIRTY-EIGHT
CHAPTER THIRTY-NINE
CHAPTER FORTY
CHAPTER FORTY-ONE
CHAPTER FORTY-TWO
EPILOGUE
ONE
“This is fucking strange.” Nick Fuller stood in the middle of the empty duplex, his eyes casing the room. It wasn’t a small place by any means, but it wasn’t a large one, either. It had two bedrooms, and two bathrooms. The front door opened into the living room. To the right of the living room was a decent sized dining room, and behind that a nice, large open kitchen, which had been the only thing he insisted on when getting a place.
He needed a lot of room when he cooked, and a great deal of counter space. The duplex had come with both, and even a little garage off to the left. It was only the second home he’d seen, and after one quick look, he’d known it was the one. The last thing Nick wanted was to be picky about where he moved. Now was the time for low-key, easy and convenient. It was Nick’s new motto. Or at least he wanted it to be.
Still, it was fucking strange to be standing in the first and only place that he’d gotten for himself, and by himself. He’d never even lived alone until the divorce, and then Jillian had moved out, leaving him in the house they’d picked together. Scratch that, the house Jillian had picked after months of searching. He’d been done with looking after about a week and had just gone with what she wanted.
Nick groaned and rubbed a hand over his face. He really fucking needed to stop thinking about his ex-wife in context to everything he did. It was an adjustment to only think of himself and what he wanted. His whole adult life had been about the two of them.
He and Jill had started dating when they were seventeen years old. It didn’t take him long to realize he was in love with her. It didn’t matter that they were young; Nick had known what he felt, and he wasn’t the kind of man to run from that. When you loved someone you did what it took to make it work, and they had.
That all shattered when she came home, divorce papers in hand, and admitted to multiple affairs. That’s what led him here.
Fuck. Why was he still thinking about his ex-wife?
Nick walked into the kitchen, going through the cabinets and mentally figuring things out as though they’d changed since he signed the lease a few days ago. Hell, he probably wouldn’t be spending too much time here anyway. Not with the hours he kept at his restaurant.
Deciding his kitchen hadn’t magically rearranged itself since he last saw it, Nick went to the sliding glass door, unlocked and opened it. The only downfall in the new place was the fact that he shared a backyard with whoever moved in next door. Yeah, technically they could divide it in halves, but really, they shared a yard.
The house next door was currently empty.
Knock, knock, knock. Nick turned just as the front door opened. “Nick? It’s Mom.”
“Fuck,” he groaned. He should have known she’d stop by. If she had it her way he would have moved home after the divorce. It had been hell living at home while he was in culinary school and dating Jill. There’s no way he could go back as a single, thirty-year-old man. “Back here, Mom.”
She was a small woman, with Nick’s brown hair and the same dark green eyes. Nick had gotten his height from his dad, who’d passed away a couple years ago. Everything else was all his mom.
“It’s a nice place. I like it.” She smiled at him, but he could tell she wasn’t fond of his new home. He was her only son. It was Nick and three sisters, and as ridiculous as it was, she very much believed nothing or no one is good enough for my son. She’d never liked Jill, for the same reasons Jill’s parents hadn’t liked him.
“I still don’t know why you insisted on rushing to get a place. I’m in that house all by myself. I would love to have you back home. Plus, it would have given you time to put some money away for a house of your own.”
A small stab of guilt hit him. It was almost a reflex to tell her he’d stay there, but then, he’d promised himself to make this time about him, and he needed to do that. He knew part of it was the fact that she didn’t want to be alone. He was the youngest, the oops child, so his parents were a little older than most his age. When his sisters moved out, she had Nick and his father. Now, she had no one. “You know you don’t have to keep the house, Mom. It’s a lot of space for you alone. Karrie already told you she and Eric would love to have you at their place.” Karrie was his oldest sister.
She waved him off and shook her head. “I raised my kids in that house. I’m not leaving it until I die, and when I do, my kids will get it. Considering I’m fit as a fiddle, it’ll be a while before anyone drags me out of my home.”
He chuckled. She was a strong woman, he had to give her that. And the thought of losing the home made Nick’s gut ache as well. “You’re right. I don’t know why I said that.”
“Thank you. And I still think you should come home. Who’s going to take care of you?”
Nick tried not to roll his eyes. His family was extremely old fashion, his mom the worst of them all. “I’m a grown man. I can take care of myself.”
“That’s not what I mean and you know it. You work a lot. You’ll have the house to take care of. I can help out. The girls don’t need me much. I can help you decorate, too. The shape of the living room is awkward. You’ll have to put your couch there on the far wall for the layout to be smooth.” She pointed toward a wall and Nick had to bite his tongue. She meant well, there wasn’t a doubt in his mind about that, but that didn’t mean she was easy to handle.
“I’ll be fine, Mom. I can figure it all out. It’s good for me. I went straight from living at home to getting a place with Jill. It’ll be good to live by myself.”
He could tell she bit her tongue, only it didn’t work to keep her quiet. “And look what she did to you! It wasn’t as though she was very good at being a wife, anyway.”
That had been a big topic of conflict for them. She always had something to say about Jill because Jill didn’t do for Nick the things she’d done for his dad. That wasn’t what he wanted, though. He liked that Jill was strong; he just wished she hadn’t also thought it was okay to fuck other people.
“Let’s not do this, okay? Want to check out the rest of the place with me?” Nick nodded toward the hallway, slipped his arm around his mom and led her through the rest of his new home.
Things were going to be different now. His whole life had changed, but maybe this fresh start would be good for him. And this time, he vowed to have a whole hell of a lot more fun than he’d had the past few years.
***
“You share a backyard with your next-door neighbor.”
Bryce Tanner shook his head as he looked at his older brother, who stood at the sliding glass door. “Good observation.”
“But you share a fucking backyard with a neighbor you don’t know.” Jamie turned to face him, and then snapped his head back toward the yard as though it changed.
“No shit. I realize that.”
“But—”
“Would you shut the fuck up
Jamie’s brow rose. “Don’t put your bed against that wall.”
Bryce chuckled. “Wrong side, asshole. You’re such a fucking knucklehead. I don’t know how your wife deals with you.”
“Cuz I know how to make her scream my name every night.” Jamie winked at him.
“I’m telling Hope you said that. She’s going to kick your ass and you won’t get laid for a month.” He nodded toward the sliding glass door. “Close that up, would ya? When is Mitch supposed to be here?”
“Right now.” Their other brother stepped through the front door. Mitch was the oldest, Jamie the middle and Bryce the youngest. Mitch was one hundred percent responsible, Jamie ninety percent, and Bryce around twenty-five, if you asked their parents. It had always been that way.
“Did you know he shares a backyard with his neighbor?” Jamie asked.
“Oh, fuck,” Bryce rolled his eyes as Mitch said, “So?”
“Exactly. I don’t know why he’s losing his shit over that. Come on, let’s go empty the truck before I kick his ass. He’s driving me bat-shit crazy.”
The three of them walked out of Bryce’s new place. His brothers were idiots, but he loved them. They’d always been close, and never let each other down even though they annoyed the hell out of each other half the time.
“Was Hope at your place when you left? She said she was picking Abbey up and they were going shopping or something,” Jamie said as they made it to the U-Haul packed with all of Bryce’s things.
“Pulled up when I left,” Mitch replied. “FYI...Mom wants all the girls to get together soon for a spa day or something like that. Including Christi.”
Bryce dropped his head back against the rental, not sure why he was surprised. Both his brothers were married, while Bryce preferred to fuck his way through life. Well, that and work on motorcycles—but the motorcycles were a new love.
He enjoyed his lifestyle too much to want to settle down. He was able to get his dick sucked when he wanted, but he also had his freedom. That wasn’t such a bad gig to him. His mom wanted nothing more than for him to tie himself down like his brothers. It had been like that even before things between Bryce and his closest friend Christi, had changed.
They’d been fucked in the head to think they ever belonged together. Both Bryce and Christi knew that, which was why they’d broken up a couple months ago. The shitty part was he hadn’t had the balls to tell his folks yet. It just meant they’d get on his back again about settling down and taking life seriously. Apparently Bryce was the only person in their family who sucked at that.
It didn’t help that his mom wanted grandbabies, but Mitch and Abbey didn’t want kids, and Jamie and Hope weren’t able to have them. Adoption was a possibility, but it wasn’t something they’d pursued yet, and his mom was getting restless. That meant she put all her energy into Bryce. He tried to play the youngest brother card, but being thirty-two, that didn’t work anymore.
Mitch continued, “Abbey tried to put her off, saying how busy everyone was. You’re lucky she loves you.”
“Your wife is the best. See? There’s no need for me to settle down since you two got the best ones out there. Think Mom will go for that?” Not that Christi wasn’t great. She was. He loved her with all his heart. He just wasn’t in love with her. If there was anyone who could make him settle down, it would be her.
Both his brothers laughed and basically told him he was fucked. When their mom got something into her head, she didn’t let it go. She became obsessed and was as determined as they came, much like Bryce. It would be a hell of a battle, which was why he put off telling her about the break up.
“She already loves Christi like a daughter. This is going to kill her. Especially because your lame ass has kept it going for so long,” Jamie added.
Fuck. What the hell had he and Christi been thinking? The thing was, for a while there, he’d thought he might die—an aneurysm that could burst. Knowing he could die did funny things to him, freaked him out and made him wonder if his mom was right and he was missing out on what the rest of his family had. But being with Christi had just been wrong, and now he had to deal with the consequences of his decision.
“Come on, let’s get this stuff unloaded.” An idea popped into Bryce’s head and he grinned. “Maybe I’ll go out tonight. You know...if I’m ever going to find the right one, I need to get out there and experience what they have to offer.”
Mitch shook his head. “Christ, you’re ridiculous. You know, one of these days you’re going to meet a woman, and she’ll end up knocking you on your ass. You’ll fall head over heels for her without realizing what’s happening, and by the time you do, you’ll be a goner. That’s what happened to me.”
Yeah, somehow Bryce didn’t see that coming. Not fucking likely. While Bryce’s diagnosis made his Mom want him to hurry up and settle down, it just made him want to hurry up and live. He was healthy, and wanted to grab life by the balls. He’d take whatever he wanted, when he wanted. He didn’t see falling in love as one of those things.
CHAPTER TWO
It had been a long night at the restaurant. It was close to midnight when Nick pulled into the driveway in front of his duplex. He’d been here two weeks, but hadn’t had time to do much of anything. He was basically at Nick’s—his restaurant—from open to close, even when he had another chef working. What the hell else did he have to do? Come home to an empty place that he was still working on furnishing?
As shitty as it sounded, that was pretty much all Nick had. He hadn’t had many friends when he and Jill were married. His only friends were her friends’ husbands, which made things too awkward now. Before he was either with her, them, or work, so now he was either at work or at home. So much for all that fun he was supposed to be having.
Nick stepped out of his car and closed the door. He happened to glance at the home attached to his. Someone had moved in a few days after he had. He’d seen a woman come and go a couple of times, but no one else. He didn’t know if it was a family, single person or what. The garage was open now, light spilling out, so he thought, what the hell, and headed that way to introduce himself.
When he got closer he saw a motorcycle on a stand, tools, and a man leaning over the bike. He didn’t know much about motorcycles, but he could tell this was an older one, a classic, maybe. She was a beauty.
“Hobby or profession?” Nick asked, before noticing a second bike in the garage. The other looked newer. It must be the one he rode while he worked on the other.
The dark-haired man looked up at him, a grease smudge on his forehead and a face full of dark stubble. He wore faded jeans and no shirt, more grease on his chest as well.
“Both.” The man grinned at him, stood, held out his hand and then said, “Second thought, you probably don’t want to shake my hand. I’m Bryce, nice to meet you.”
Nick didn’t give a shit about the grease. He was probably covered in food so he reached for Bryce’s hand and said, “Nick. I moved in next door a few days before you did. She’s pretty.” He nodded toward the bike.
“Thanks. She’s a 1974 Harley Davidson Shovelhead. Prettiest girl I’ve ever had. So pretty no one lays a hand on her except me.” He winked at Nick. “You ride?” Bryce leaned against the wall of his garage and crossed his arms. His hair was a little longer on the top than the sides. He was maybe two inches shorter than Nick, but stockier.
“Hell no.” Nick laughed. “I can appreciate a nice bike when I see one, but, if I’m being honest, they scare the shit out of me. You wouldn’t catch me on one.”
“No! Don’t say that.” Bryce chuckled. “It’s only because you haven’t been on one before. There’s nothing like the freedom of cruising on a bike, wind all around you and just fucking going.” His voice was all passion, and it almost made Nick want to ride. Almost.
“I’ll have to take your word for it. So, do you work at a shop around here?”
“Yeah, I rent a space downtown and have a shop. I also buy old bikes, fix them up and resell them. What about you?” Bryce’s deep-set eyes took him in as though he was trying to figure out what Nick did by his clothes. He’d changed before leaving work, though.
