“Go over there all caveman, banging on your chest. She can handle herself. She did it for years in Boston, and she was single then. She isn’t now. Trust her.”
“It isn’t her I don’t trust. It’s Mr. Hammer wanting to pound into her.”
“Oh, you did not just say that, honey. You didn’t.” Oliver laid his hand on his hip and cocked it as he stared at me. “Only hammer pounding her is yours. Get over it,” he huffed. “I can’t believe I went along with that.”
I could. Had he met himself? He was the worst out of the group.
I checked the time and noticed it was getting pretty close to three in the afternoon. We were supposed to meet everyone at the hospital soon. Mom had called that morning saying Ethan had woken up, but then quickly fell back asleep. It was good though. It was a promising sign that he woke up. It meant that he was healing.
The construction worker reached out and tugged one of her curls.
My curls.
Only I got to tug them.
That was my thing.
I pushed off the wall with my boot and stomped on the hardwood floors, the loud steel-toe boots sang through the space, bouncing off the walls until I had his attention. Luna took a step back from him when he did that, and his eyes widened when I stood in front of him. I was five inches taller, if not more, and fifty pounds heavier. I might have a broken arm, but I’d kill him if he ever touched her again.
“You don’t touch her. She’s spoken for. You get me, Travis?” Yeah, I remembered him. The little sleazeball. He was a few years younger than us and had a bad gambling problem. He had greasy brown hair and beady eyes. Eyes that reminded me of a rat.
I fucking hated rats.
“Yeah, Easton. Sorry, I didn’t know—”
“Everyone knows Luna is mine. Everyone. It has always been that way. Tell everyone because I won’t be so kind next time. You’re fired. Send Charlie in. Someone who isn’t a creep,” I glowered. I was so angry. He tugged her curl.
He ran out the door like a dog with his tail between his legs, and Luna’s annoyed sigh sounded in my left ear. I spun her around and pinned her against the wall, my hand caging in her head as I leaned in, invading her space.
“I could have handled myself,” she said, her breath tickling the tip of my nose. The way her breasts pushed against her shirt, I knew she was turned on.
“He tugged your curl,” I huffed and reached for the perfect spiral, giving it a gentle yank. “Only I get to tug your curls.”
She pinched her lips together to keep from smiling and laid her hands on my chest. “You are insane, but only you, sweetheart.”
“Damn straight,” I grunted, just about to lay my lips over hers. She was wearing pink lip gloss that smelled like cotton candy, and I wanted to taste it so bad.
A loud shatter rang through the boutique, ruining the moment. I was going to kill whoever broke something.
“Oh no,” she said and slithered out from under me. Her eyes landed on the ceiling, and when I looked up, I cursed.
A piece of the ceiling had fallen in the middle of the room, and by the way the ceiling kept splintering, I knew it was only a matter of time before the entirety of the ceiling fell.
“No, no, no,” Luna stressed. “What am I going to do? This wasn’t supposed to happen! Everything was inspected and approved.” She was on the verge of tears. “This is going to set the grand opening back. Easton,” the way she said my name broke my heart because she sounded so defeated. “This ruins everything.”
‘No,” Oliver said. “It just sets us back. We will get it fixed.” Oliver glanced up when the ceiling creaked, and I lunged at Oliver and Luna, wrapping my good arm around them and tackled them out of the way when another chunk of the ceiling fell right where they were standing. Dust and drywall clouded the space, and everyone coughed and tried to keep their eyes shut until the dust settled.
“Is everyone okay?” I asked.
“No,” Luna said. “I have so much to do now. I don’t even know how to fix this.”
“I’ll fix it. Me and my brothers. You will have to wait a little longer for reopening, but you’ll save some money.” I wanted to give her options. The last thing I wanted was for her to feel like she sank all her money into this place just for something to go wrong with it.
The people in this town were nice folks, but when it came to things like this, they passed inspections for anyone. I should have inspected this place myself, and maybe we wouldn’t be in this situation.
I stood and helped her and Oliver up. London was in the corner, drinking her iced coffee and listening to music. She had no clue what had just happened. She was painting a mural by the window and was in her own little world, dancing.
Oliver brushed off his pants, and Luna had her hands on her hips, standing in a superhero position, ready to take on the world, but her face told a different story. She was angry. Her brown curls fell down her back as she tilted her head up and looked into the apartment upstairs.