Crazy (The Gibson Boys 4)

“Come by anytime. I work at four, but I’ll be here until then,” she says.

“Okay.” I climb out of the car and face Peck’s house. “I’ll talk to you in a bit.”

“Bye.”

I shove my phone in my pocket and take in the cute little house with the rose bushes.

“Fuck.”

I head inside to pack up my life.

Again.

Twenty-Eight

Peck

“What a fucking day.”

I park my truck next to Dylan’s. It’s a simple thing, an action that becomes routine. A habit. But every time I pull in my driveway and see her car setting there, something happens inside me. The thought alone makes things feel different. And good. And that the possibilities of life going forward might be endless.

I hop out of the truck and jog to the front door. It occurred to me today that she hasn’t eaten at Peaches yet, and while I would like to spend a lazy evening with her in the kitchen, I know I won’t be able to keep my hands off her. Plus, I’d like to take her out and make her feel special.

The door swings open. With a furrowed brow, I step inside. A banging sound followed by a thud comes from Dylan’s room.

“What the hell?”

I walk down the hallway with my senses on high alert. Peeking in her bedroom, I spot a large box from the barn on her bed … and her standing at the foot.

She looks up. Her eyes are vulnerable yet guarded. It’s not the Dylan I know.

“Hey,” I say.

She smiles. Sort of.

“What are you doing?” I nod toward the box. “Did you carry that inside all by yourself? You could’ve waited on me to help you, you know?”

“No. I, um, well, I did. But it was empty.”

“Empty?”

I pause and look around. The suitcase in the corner is zipped up instead of propped against the wall with its contents spilling everywhere. The cup of water that’s sat by the bed since the first night she was here is gone. Her deodorant and girlie stuff have disappeared from the dresser, and the books and papers that she’s been sorting through off and on are gone.

Oh, fuck.

My throat feels too tight to pass a swallow.

“What’s going on?” I ask.

She fiddles with the lid. Her eyes avert from mine. She switches her weight from one foot to the other as she tries to avoid my question.

“Dylan?”

“Oh, well, do you remember the house I was telling you about? The one that Joanie, my new boss, told me about. I think I mentioned it to you.”

What the hell is she talking about? A house? For what? What’s it matter?

And then it hits me. Like Walker slugging me in the stomach for a joke I made at his expense, I feel like the wind is knocked out of me.

“What does that have to do with you?” I ask carefully.

She forces a swallow. “Well, Joanie messaged me today about it because I hadn’t responded to her earlier text. And she said I basically had to jump on the rental or lose it because someone else was interested.”

“What did you say?”

She looks into the box. Her face is flushed, her lips swollen, and I wonder if she’s been biting them.

Why?

“I told her I’d take it,” she says.

I grab the doorframe to keep myself steady.

She’ll take it? What the actual fuck?

My first instinct is to grab her and hold her against me and not let her go. Not let her ruin this thing between us because it’s the greatest thing I’ve ever had. But she looks at me, and a fire burns through my veins like wildfire, and I can’t move.

“Why did you tell her that?” I ask. “Do you not like it here?”

She smiles, but it’s not for me. “It was never the plan for me to stay here long term.”

“Well, it was never in the plan to have you sleeping in my bed either, but I’m not arguing that.”

“Maybe I shouldn’t have been doing that either. Thank you for pointing that out.”

I raise a brow. “What happened today? I feel like I went to work with one life and came home to another.”

“I don’t know, Peck. What did happen today?”

“Nothing that I know of.”

She nods. “Well, I think it’s best that we have some space for a while. As you mentioned, I ended up in your bed awfully fast, and I think it makes a lot of sense to let things simmer for a while and see how we feel.”

“I know how I feel.” I take a step toward her. “Don’t you?”

“I do. That’s why I’m doing this.”

She makes no sense. She’s lost her damn mind. Leaving me because she wants to be with me … She never said that.

“Dylan, do you want to be with me?”

The pause is too long. The silence too deafening. The hesitation lingers in the air until I release a frustrated chuckle.