How can I feel this way about more than one man? I do, and I don’t feel guilty about it either. I just feel like maybe we need to head back into the house for a quick minute.
Fuck.
Right, distraction. I need one and quick. “I’m dying my hair again. I’m thinking hot pink. Or maybe some lime green streaks. Which do you like better?”
Gabe pulls a face at me. “I thought you were good with North now; who are you trying to piss off with that choice?”
I roll my eyes at him and make kissy noises at Brutus until he comes to walk behind me, butting into the backs of my thighs with his little comfort nudging that he does. He’s always extra affectionate in the mornings, as though me sleeping and not being awake to love on him makes the nights unbearable. “No one. I hate the silver, and now it’s almost freaking white. Black won’t stay in, I’ve tried it before. The purple washed out fast, but at least it stuck around for a few days. I just… don’t want to look at the white for a few days. Maybe I should just shave it off.”
He looks incredibly alarmed and starts rummaging around in his pockets for his phone in a very obvious display of calling in backup. It’s almost comical and, with extreme effort, I keep my face straight as I watch him fumble around for words.
“I don’t think you need to do that—I mean, you can do whatever you want, obviously, it’s your hair but—pink is good.”
He gives me a shaky smile, tapping on his phone without even looking at the screen, and I start counting, because he’s about as obvious as a smack in the face. Honestly, if it wasn’t so freaking funny, I’d be chewing him out for it.
Don’t you dare shave your head. I don’t care what color your hair is, but do not shave it.
I giggle at North’s stern tone and shake my head at Gabe, who doesn’t even attempt to look innocent.
“You’re lucky you’re hot, Ardern, because you’re also a total freaking narc.”
He shrugs. “I work with what I have, and you can’t deny that North is the best person to convince you to do anything. If being an asshole is Nox’s superpower, then this is his brother’s.”
It’s true, and when Gryphon chimes in, he goes for a very different and effective tactic, one I’m not going to tell Gabe about because I don’t need him setting Gryphon on me more regularly.
What am I going to wrap around my fist when I fuck you from behind if you so much as trim it? You’d look good with the pink, the purple was hot too. Just don’t touch the length.
Well.
That sounds very reasonable.
Watching Gabe help with the construction is a great way to spend the afternoon, and I can see why this is where he’s most useful. He’s strong, smart as hell, and knows exactly what the builders need when they start with the framing on the new structure. There’s six other houses on this street in various stages of being built at the moment, and I help with the one that is at the lock-up stage, carrying in supplies and holding up giant sheets of drywall for the guys working there.
At first they all eye me like I’m just there to get in their way, but after a couple of hours of good, honest work, they’re including me in their stories and joking around. It’s hard, but it clears my brain out to actually be helping out. By the time Gabe comes looking for me, I’m up on a ladder having a go at one of the nail guns and whooping with joy when I actually get a piece of the ceiling fixed in place without any new holes in my fingers or hands.
He grins at me like I’m the sun, warming him right down to his core.
I stare back at him the same way, both of us looking like sappy idiots in love. I know this for sure because Elliot, the foreman, tells me so with a hell of a lot of snark in his old, gravelly tone.
“I’m not sure if you noticed, but she’s my Bond. There’d be something majorly fucking wrong if I wasn’t a sappy shit over her. Besides, look at her with all that dirt over her and that big grin. Can’t blame me,” Gabe drawls. Elliot waves us both off for the night, demanding we show up on time tomorrow morning.
“No promises. I’m a delicate princess about my sleep,” Gabe calls back, draping his arm over my shoulders. He’s just as dirty and sweaty as I am, so I don’t feel self-conscious of how bad I must smell.
We walk together through the almost empty streets, it’s mostly dirt and loose gravel on this side of the town because the houses are not move-in ready yet. Eventually, there’ll be cars and all sorts of vehicles here, but we’re not quite at that point yet. The logistics of starting a whole new town and community makes my head hurt. I can’t think about it too much without wanting to puke on North’s behalf.