Series: Fever Falls Series by Riley Hart
Total pages in book: 89
Estimated words: 85157 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 426(@200wpm)___ 341(@250wpm)___ 284(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 85157 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 426(@200wpm)___ 341(@250wpm)___ 284(@300wpm)
“Yes, sir.”
“I like that better than Cranky Campbell. I think that should be your nickname for me.”
“You wish.”
“A man can try.”
We unloaded my truck and carried everything around the back side of the house. The pool I’d swam in with him as a teenager was still there, but it surprised me that it was running. It couldn’t have been all this time, so he must have had it serviced when he moved back.
The patio cover was over a slab of concrete behind the house. It had definitely seen better days, and I could understand why he wanted it torn down. The shed too, years of damage and sitting there having caught up with both of them. I wouldn’t have expected him to do it himself, though. Someone with his money…hell, it still surprised me that Ash even chose to live in his family home. I hadn’t thought about it since that first day. Early retirement or not, Ashton Carmichael had to have more money than I’d ever see in my lifetime. He could have had anything, yet when he’d left his home in LA, he’d come back to Fever Falls, back to the small, ranch-style home he’d grown up in.
“Why are you here, Ash?” I hadn’t meant for the question to slip out, but now that it had, I couldn’t take it back.
“Huh?” He used his hand to push his hair off his forehead and shield his eyes from the sun.
“Back home…Fever Falls, same house. I don’t mean to sound like a dick when I ask that. I’m just curious. You could go anywhere, have anything, yet you’re here.”
He rubbed that same hand over his face before dropping his arm to his side. “Because this is my home. This is the place the parents who chose me raised me, and if there’s anywhere I can figure out who in the hell I am, I guess I figured it was here.”
He went to turn around, but my arm shot out, my fingers wrapping around his large wrist. His skin was hot, sun-kissed, the heat from his body penetrating mine. How could Ashton Carmichael not know who he was? He was what people strived to be—smart, confident, funny. “I don’t think you give yourself enough credit.” Those weren’t words I’d ever imagined myself saying to Ash. He’d always seemed too full of himself, too over-the-top, which should have told me something right there. Maybe it had, and I hadn’t wanted to see it.
“I can’t believe you just said that to me.”
“I was just thinking the same thing.” I grinned, hoping to lighten the mood.
“Maybe hell’s frozen over?”
“I’m sure it’ll thaw out in a little while and things will be back to normal.”
“Thank fuck for that. I’d hate to have you being nice or giving me compliments all the time. That’s not us, Cranky Campbell.”
I shook my head. Fucking Ash. Of course he had to go there. “No, I guess not, Cocky Carmichael.”
His eyes darted down to my hand, and I realized I still held on to his wrist. Dropping it immediately, I said, “Sorry.”
“No, no. It’s fine. If you wanted to hold my hand, you just had to ask.” He winked, and I rolled my eyes.
“Let’s get started before I change my mind and refuse to help you.”
“Please, let’s not pretend you’re not the guy who’s always there to help someone in need. You’re a hero, Beau.” He moved toward me, and I sort of froze, wondering what in the hell he was doing, but then Ash stole my dark-blue Fever Falls Fire Department cap, fitting it over his head. “Sun was getting to me,” he said before walking to the shed, and damn Ashton Carmichael, because I didn’t even ask for my hat back.
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
Ashton
Ashton “Take a chance” Carmichael did just that… Will it pay off?
We spent hours tearing down the shed. The conversation hardly stopped. Beau talked about his job and his mom and his group of friends.
Rush was apparently a professional motocross racer. I didn’t know much about the sport, but had always been interested in dirt bikes, even though I’d never ridden.
I realized Camden and Sawyer were actually brothers we’d gone to high school with, only they hadn’t been friends with our group. Sawyer had been…shy…quiet, really fucking smart. He’d gotten picked on a lot, and Camden had always come to his rescue. Camden had been known as a troublemaker.
It just struck me that there had been Camden, Sawyer, and Beau around me, who were all gay and no one had ever known it. I mean, obviously I had to have had some inclination about Beau since I’d kissed him, but hell, it could have been a fluke with him the way it was with me.
“This is awful nice of you…helping me out like this,” I told Beau.
He shrugged. “You’re not an asshole.”