Possessive Best Friend

He frowns and walks into the main part of the warehouse. I hurry to keep up and our footsteps echo in the space.

“Amazing, right?” he asks. “I mean, I know it’s sad, a lot of people lost their jobs when this place closed. But it’s still amazing.”

“I agree,” I say. “There’s so much potential here.”

He laughs. “Only you would look at a big-ass empty warehouse that failed once and see potential somehow.”

I shrug a little and grin at him. “I’m an optimist.”

“So what’s the potential then?” he asks.

“I don’t know,” I admit. “But… Something about what you said the other day.”

“What did I say? I say a lot of genius things.”

“About how there’s nothing to do in this town.”

“Hm,” he says, tilting his head. “Are you thinking about making this into a theme park or something?”

“No, not something so big, but maybe…” I trail off and gesture to one side. “Arcade over there. Batting cages over there. Go-kart track over there. Skating rink over there. That sort of thing.”

He smirks at me. “So like an indoor fun park. Have you ever been to a place with batting cages before in your entire life?”

“Nope,” I say. “And I’m proud of that fact, thank you.”

“But you’re right that people would want something like that. I just…” He trails off.

“What?”

“I just don’t know if there are enough people in Loftville to make it worthwhile, you know?”

“Sure,” I say with a shrug. “But the surrounding towns could come too. I wouldn’t keep them out.”

“Oh, yes, of course, their money is good enough for Lora Lofthouse.”

“Truly.” I walk toward the center. “Come on, what do you think?”

“I think it’s a good idea,” he says. “And we’ll never, ever do it.”

I pout. “Why not?”

“It’s just too big. And plus, I have a car wash to manage.”

“Good point, but I don’t.”

“Listen, if you want to turn this place into some kind of fun park, I will do everything I can to help you.”

“Good boy, that’s what I wanted to hear.”

He grins at me and shakes his head. “You’re no different, you know that?”

“I know,” I admit. “I’m an old dog. Can’t learn new tricks.”

“I doubt that.” He steps over to me and grabs me by the hips. I laugh and try to get away, but he grabs me tighter and pulls me against him. I wrap my arms around his neck and kiss him, unable to help myself. The kiss lasts a while, just us and the echoes of our breathing.

The kiss breaks again and I tilt my head. “I should go,” I say.

“Of course you should.”

“You have to work, remember?”

“Oh, right. That old thing. Like you know anything about working.”

“I know plenty about work. I see other people doing it all the time.”

He laughs and steps away. We hold hands as we leave the warehouse, but the image of the indoor park doesn’t leave my head when we step out into the daylight again.

“See you later?” he asks.

“Yep. See you later.”

“And thanks again for the permit. I hope it didn’t get anyone in trouble.”

“Me too, but don’t worry. I’m a Lofthouse. We run this joint.”

He grins at me, starts his engine, and drives off.

I get into the back of the car and tell the driver to take me back to the manor.6DeanI walk into my father’s office early the next morning and slap the permit down on his desk. He looks surprised and frowns at me as he stares at the paper. “What the hell’s this?”

“Permit,” I say. “Read it and weep.” I sit down and lean back in the chair, grinning at him.

He picks it up, frowns, reads it, then looks at me. “Who’d you bribe?” he asks.

“Nobody. Lora Lofthouse got it for me.”

“No kidding?” He narrows his eyes. “I thought you weren’t friendly with that girl anymore.”

“She’s back in town,” I say, brushing his tone aside. “But now we can get back to building.”

“But you used a Lofthouse to do it.”

“I didn’t use anyone,” I say, annoyance spiking. “She knew I needed a permit and used her family name to get it for me. I didn’t ask her for a favor.”

“But now you owe her.” He pushes the permit toward me. “Rip it up. Forget about the fucking car wash.”

“Excuse me?”

He shakes his head. “We’re not owing that fucking family anything. Rip it up.”

I grab the permit and stand. “No,” I say.

He frowns. “Rip it up, Dean. Do you really want that family to own you, too?”

I shake my head. He’s disliked the Lofthouse family my whole life and never approved of my friendship with Lora. I’ve always kept her away from him, because I’m afraid of what he’ll say to her. But I thought he’d gotten over that stupid grudge.

Clearly, he hasn’t softened one bit. If anything, he sounds even angrier than I remember.