I finally arrived at the site six hours late, and boy did I get shit for it.
"Well, look who decided to grace us with his presence."
"So nice of our boss to finally do his job."
"And here I thought foremen just sat and looked pretty while the rest of us actually built the damn thing. Looks like I was right."
"She must have been pretty wild if Travis is rolling in at fucking noon."
I winced at that last one. I hadn't fucked anyone in nearly a month, which just so happened to coincide with the same night I'd last gotten a decent amount of sleep. The situation had become unacceptable—on both fronts. I'd never thought I would value sleep over sex in my entire life. But I wasn't going to bring a woman over to my place with the zoo next door, and if I stayed over at some woman's house, she'd inevitably get the wrong idea. So at the moment I was, regrettably, celibate.
Add that to the comprehensive list of reasons I hate my neighbor, I thought darkly as I swung into the mobile unit that was doubling as our breakroom and my office during the construction. I dumped my bag on the floor near my desk and slumped in my chair, simultaneously contemplating whether I could get away with sleeping in my office for a few hours and wondering when the fuck I'd become so pathetic.
I was just beginning to psych myself up for six hours of backbreaking physical labor when the door swung open and Gavin Harris strolled inside. A tall man with broad shoulders, sandy hair, and green eyes, Gavin was my second-in-command at Grant Construction and—more importantly—my childhood friend. I couldn't even imagine how fucked up my life might have turned out if I hadn't had Gavin when it mattered most.
He took one look at my haggard face and howled with laughter.
"You stupid shit. When are you going to cave and stay at my place? You know the guest house is yours whenever you want it."
"It's my home," I growled. "I will not be run off my own damn property. The only way this is going to end is with her going elsewhere. Literally anywhere."
"Uh huh. You know, I keep saying that maybe you should just invite the gal over. The way I see it, you simultaneously get more sleep, more sex, and less loud noise. There's literally no downside to that situation."
Gavin just so happened to be fully aware that my neighbor was ridiculously fuckable, and he had yet to stop giving me shit for it. I never should have told him about her in the first place. Chalk that up to yet another poor decision due to sleep deprivation.
I fixed him with the deadliest stare I could muster. "I will not bring the enemy into my home, my place of refuge. That would be like inviting a viper to make its nest in my bed or inviting a nemesis to dinner. Absolute stupidity."
Gavin held his hands up. "Okay, Rambo. Whatever you say. I'm simply observing that I've never seen you so preoccupied by a chick before. It's a little disconcerting."
I thought back to the careless way she'd flicked her long brunette hair over her shoulder when she'd finally pulled out of her driveway this morning. I shoved the admittedly delectable image out of my mind. There were simply some places you didn't insert your dick, and she was one of them.
Gavin took my silence as an opportunity to push too far. "Really, Trav, I don't think I ever saw you as upset with Annabelle as you are with this girl, and that's saying something."
"Don't ever speak that name. My neighbor might be a shitty person, but she's not the devil incarnate, you asshole. She's never forced me to go without dinner simply because I trampled through her rose garden."
"Okaaay, then. Apologies, dickhead. I'm just trying to look out for you."
I sighed, rubbing my temples and trying to slap some sense into myself. "Sorry, Gavin. That was uncalled for. I just can't think."
Gavin's irritated expression softened as he silently accepted my apology. "Look, I get it. You're really stressed and tired, and with this project going as poorly as it is, I'm sure it's a lot to handle psychologically. Something has simply got to change. You're staying with me tonight, and that's final."
As if I needed another reminder that we were already two weeks behind schedule constructing our town, Spring's, much-needed new civic center. The entire county was counting on the project to bring in the new businesses and families our community desperately needed to remain sustainable. Grant Construction had never been so far behind so early in a project. Ever.
Make that one more area of my life that had suddenly gone to shit. But one problem at a time. I needed to celebrate each little victory, and today I'd finally secured one.
"As much as I'd like to spend a night with you, Gavin, drink wine, and have pillow fights, that won't be necessary."
Gavin glared at me. "Oh, really?"
"Yep. I am happy to report that this evening I will be getting an excellent night's sleep. The beast will be caged as of ten o'clock."
"And how is that going to happen when nothing you've done has made any difference for like weeks now? As I recall, you've already called the cops on her twice, and the only thing they ever did was give her a warning. And hell, wasn't the second time after she'd blocked your driveway with a giant bouncy castle? Something tells me they're on her side."
I growled. That had been a particularly annoying extravaganza. What kind of a person threw a rager with a huge inflatable house at one in the morning on a fucking Wednesday? And I could have sworn I saw those cops jumping in it after they assured me they'd given her a warning …
"Gavin, any reasonable person would have been pissed. Nothing was working. I just wanted a little payback. I had to escalate."
"So tell me, oh reasonable one, what did you do?"
"I, uh, might have installed an electric time switch on her electric box."
"You broke into her house?!"
"Well, when you put it like that it seems downright criminal. It was unlocked, anyway. I mean, who doesn't lock her damn house? Even in a safe community like ours, you just don't do that. I practically did her a favor."
Gavin paled, dropping into the chair in front of my desk as he leaned forward to stare directly into my eyes. "Travis. This is not acceptable behavior. Breaking into someone's home, violating her privacy, is not doing any woman a favor. Shit, I had no idea things had gotten this bad. She could have you arrested."
I dropped my head into my hands. "Yeah, I know. I know. I'm beyond thinking straight. And I can't just sneak back into her garage and remove it. She's probably home now.
"It's not a huge deal; it'll just mess with her lights. She'll probably find it right away and then everything will be fine. No harm, no foul."
"You better hope that's what happens. From what I've heard of this girl, she's not exactly reasonable, especially after that time you tried to barricade your road and all that happened was her guests drove their Jeeps around the pylons."
"A natural response to the Inflatable Incident. I couldn't have predicted they'd go off-roading. Or that she'd retaliate by hiring a valet to deliberately park her guests' cars in my yard the next night. It's not like she's an innocent party in all this!"
"Yeah, but up until now the insanity has been mostly contained to the outdoors and publicly accessible roads. Not actually inside a house, you stupid shit." Gavin leaned back in the chair, staring up at the ceiling. "You know, it's Friday."
"So?"
"So she's probably having another party tonight. Party animals tend to do that on Fridays. She's going to be super pissed when her lights go off and she has to cancel."
"That was sort of the point."
"No shit, you dick. But that means it's going to be harder to smooth over the situation when she inevitably finds that time switch and knows it was you who did it."
"She won't necessarily know that I placed it there."
"Please. Who else lives nearby and hates her loud noise? She'll know it's you. I mean, you were the one who complained to the community board, right?"
"Only after she called the cops on me for blocking our road! Neither the board nor the cops even cared about the valet! It's a conspiracy, I tell you!"
"So essentially, you're both nuts. Anyway, change of plan. I'll stay with you tonight."
"That's really not necessary."
"No, dude. It really is. There's no way I'm leaving you by yourself to deal with a beautiful woman who's been bugging the shit out of you for weeks. I'll be there to look out for her just as much as I'll be there for you."
"The fuck? Are you actually implying I would hurt a woman? The fuck kind of a friend are you?"
"No, Travis," Gavin said calmly. "You'd never hurt a woman. But I do believe that if some of her asshole friends antagonize you, you're likely to do something stupid, and if that happens, she could get caught in the crossfire. Sleep deprivation and drunkenness don't mix well."
I threw up my hands, utterly disgusted with the situation, my friend, but mostly, with myself. "Fine. Whatever. Come if you want. But I'm letting you know right now that it's not going to be fun, and you're not going to be getting any rest, either."
"I'll take a few hours of shitty sleep if it means looking out for my friend. Now stretch out on this couch and sleep for the next six hours. No, don't shake your head. It's happening. I'll take care of everything today, and then tonight we'll handle your domestic shit before someone winds up hurt."
I finally arrived at the site six hours late, and boy did I get shit for it.
"Well, look who decided to grace us with his presence."
"So nice of our boss to finally do his job."
"And here I thought foremen just sat and looked pretty while the rest of us actually built the damn thing. Looks like I was right."
"She must have been pretty wild if Travis is rolling in at fucking noon."
I winced at that last one. I hadn't fucked anyone in nearly a month, which just so happened to coincide with the same night I'd last gotten a decent amount of sleep. The situation had become unacceptable—on both fronts. I'd never thought I would value sleep over sex in my entire life. But I wasn't going to bring a woman over to my place with the zoo next door, and if I stayed over at some woman's house, she'd inevitably get the wrong idea. So at the moment I was, regrettably, celibate.
Add that to the comprehensive list of reasons I hate my neighbor, I thought darkly as I swung into the mobile unit that was doubling as our breakroom and my office during the construction. I dumped my bag on the floor near my desk and slumped in my chair, simultaneously contemplating whether I could get away with sleeping in my office for a few hours and wondering when the fuck I'd become so pathetic.
I was just beginning to psych myself up for six hours of backbreaking physical labor when the door swung open and Gavin Harris strolled inside. A tall man with broad shoulders, sandy hair, and green eyes, Gavin was my second-in-command at Grant Construction and—more importantly—my childhood friend. I couldn't even imagine how fucked up my life might have turned out if I hadn't had Gavin when it mattered most.
He took one look at my haggard face and howled with laughter.
"You stupid shit. When are you going to cave and stay at my place? You know the guest house is yours whenever you want it."
"It's my home," I growled. "I will not be run off my own damn property. The only way this is going to end is with her going elsewhere. Literally anywhere."
"Uh huh. You know, I keep saying that maybe you should just invite the gal over. The way I see it, you simultaneously get more sleep, more sex, and less loud noise. There's literally no downside to that situation."
Gavin just so happened to be fully aware that my neighbor was ridiculously fuckable, and he had yet to stop giving me shit for it. I never should have told him about her in the first place. Chalk that up to yet another poor decision due to sleep deprivation.
I fixed him with the deadliest stare I could muster. "I will not bring the enemy into my home, my place of refuge. That would be like inviting a viper to make its nest in my bed or inviting a nemesis to dinner. Absolute stupidity."
Gavin held his hands up. "Okay, Rambo. Whatever you say. I'm simply observing that I've never seen you so preoccupied by a chick before. It's a little disconcerting."
I thought back to the careless way she'd flicked her long brunette hair over her shoulder when she'd finally pulled out of her driveway this morning. I shoved the admittedly delectable image out of my mind. There were simply some places you didn't insert your dick, and she was one of them.
Gavin took my silence as an opportunity to push too far. "Really, Trav, I don't think I ever saw you as upset with Annabelle as you are with this girl, and that's saying something."
"Don't ever speak that name. My neighbor might be a shitty person, but she's not the devil incarnate, you asshole. She's never forced me to go without dinner simply because I trampled through her rose garden."
"Okaaay, then. Apologies, dickhead. I'm just trying to look out for you."
I sighed, rubbing my temples and trying to slap some sense into myself. "Sorry, Gavin. That was uncalled for. I just can't think."
Gavin's irritated expression softened as he silently accepted my apology. "Look, I get it. You're really stressed and tired, and with this project going as poorly as it is, I'm sure it's a lot to handle psychologically. Something has simply got to change. You're staying with me tonight, and that's final."
As if I needed another reminder that we were already two weeks behind schedule constructing our town, Spring's, much-needed new civic center. The entire county was counting on the project to bring in the new businesses and families our community desperately needed to remain sustainable. Grant Construction had never been so far behind so early in a project. Ever.
Make that one more area of my life that had suddenly gone to shit. But one problem at a time. I needed to celebrate each little victory, and today I'd finally secured one.
"As much as I'd like to spend a night with you, Gavin, drink wine, and have pillow fights, that won't be necessary."
Gavin glared at me. "Oh, really?"
"Yep. I am happy to report that this evening I will be getting an excellent night's sleep. The beast will be caged as of ten o'clock."
"And how is that going to happen when nothing you've done has made any difference for like weeks now? As I recall, you've already called the cops on her twice, and the only thing they ever did was give her a warning. And hell, wasn't the second time after she'd blocked your driveway with a giant bouncy castle? Something tells me they're on her side."
I growled. That had been a particularly annoying extravaganza. What kind of a person threw a rager with a huge inflatable house at one in the morning on a fucking Wednesday? And I could have sworn I saw those cops jumping in it after they assured me they'd given her a warning …
"Gavin, any reasonable person would have been pissed. Nothing was working. I just wanted a little payback. I had to escalate."
"So tell me, oh reasonable one, what did you do?"
"I, uh, might have installed an electric time switch on her electric box."
"You broke into her house?!"
"Well, when you put it like that it seems downright criminal. It was unlocked, anyway. I mean, who doesn't lock her damn house? Even in a safe community like ours, you just don't do that. I practically did her a favor."
Gavin paled, dropping into the chair in front of my desk as he leaned forward to stare directly into my eyes. "Travis. This is not acceptable behavior. Breaking into someone's home, violating her privacy, is not doing any woman a favor. Shit, I had no idea things had gotten this bad. She could have you arrested."
I dropped my head into my hands. "Yeah, I know. I know. I'm beyond thinking straight. And I can't just sneak back into her garage and remove it. She's probably home now.
"It's not a huge deal; it'll just mess with her lights. She'll probably find it right away and then everything will be fine. No harm, no foul."
"You better hope that's what happens. From what I've heard of this girl, she's not exactly reasonable, especially after that time you tried to barricade your road and all that happened was her guests drove their Jeeps around the pylons."
"A natural response to the Inflatable Incident. I couldn't have predicted they'd go off-roading. Or that she'd retaliate by hiring a valet to deliberately park her guests' cars in my yard the next night. It's not like she's an innocent party in all this!"
"Yeah, but up until now the insanity has been mostly contained to the outdoors and publicly accessible roads. Not actually inside a house, you stupid shit." Gavin leaned back in the chair, staring up at the ceiling. "You know, it's Friday."
"So?"
"So she's probably having another party tonight. Party animals tend to do that on Fridays. She's going to be super pissed when her lights go off and she has to cancel."
"That was sort of the point."
"No shit, you dick. But that means it's going to be harder to smooth over the situation when she inevitably finds that time switch and knows it was you who did it."
"She won't necessarily know that I placed it there."
"Please. Who else lives nearby and hates her loud noise? She'll know it's you. I mean, you were the one who complained to the community board, right?"
"Only after she called the cops on me for blocking our road! Neither the board nor the cops even cared about the valet! It's a conspiracy, I tell you!"
"So essentially, you're both nuts. Anyway, change of plan. I'll stay with you tonight."
"That's really not necessary."
"No, dude. It really is. There's no way I'm leaving you by yourself to deal with a beautiful woman who's been bugging the shit out of you for weeks. I'll be there to look out for her just as much as I'll be there for you."
"The fuck? Are you actually implying I would hurt a woman? The fuck kind of a friend are you?"
"No, Travis," Gavin said calmly. "You'd never hurt a woman. But I do believe that if some of her asshole friends antagonize you, you're likely to do something stupid, and if that happens, she could get caught in the crossfire. Sleep deprivation and drunkenness don't mix well."
I threw up my hands, utterly disgusted with the situation, my friend, but mostly, with myself. "Fine. Whatever. Come if you want. But I'm letting you know right now that it's not going to be fun, and you're not going to be getting any rest, either."
"I'll take a few hours of shitty sleep if it means looking out for my friend. Now stretch out on this couch and sleep for the next six hours. No, don't shake your head. It's happening. I'll take care of everything today, and then tonight we'll handle your domestic shit before someone winds up hurt."
