Cole (Protecting You, Finding Us), page 3
Before I can say anything back, Zayn gets in and shuts his truck door. He pulls out of his parking spot and gives me a head nod as he pulls away. I’d be so pissed off at Zayn right now…if he was wrong. It’s not that I don’t want kids. I’m just saving any kid from having a father like me.
Every time I walk into my barbershop, I’m filled with pride. It’s the one thing I feel like I did right, and it took a long time to accept that feeling. Now, this shop is my favorite place on the planet. It could be that I fitted the space with warm dark woods mixed with black leather and chrome. It’s sleek and stylish but still pulls that classic old barbershop vibe. There was a time I spent every waking minute in here. If I wasn’t cutting hair, I was updating the shop or staying until all hours in the office. The day I opened, I had clients. Two of my first were Jaxon and River’s dads, and they spent the entire time in my chair, telling me how proud they were of me. I’ll never forget that because I hadn’t heard those words before. They were hard to believe.
My father never supported me. He had an expectation that I found impossible to fulfill. So I rebelled instead. I was the one who got into fights, stayed out all night long, and let the women flow. The second I turned eighteen, I was told to get out of my parents’ house. I saved all of my money while I worked during high school and got a few loans to get myself through barber school. Then I worked at a barbershop in Simmons, a town slightly bigger than Airabelle Valley, about twenty minutes away. I was satisfied working there, but I really wanted my own place. I made the mistake of telling Jaxon, and before I knew it, he came to me with the deed to this building.
He thought he was doing something beautiful, and I know it came with the best of intentions from one of the biggest hearts in the world. For him, it’s not a big deal. I was more than grateful to have such an amazing friend who cared that deeply about my success, but this was something I needed to do on my own. Not only for myself but to show my old man that I made it. After a lengthy and uncomfortable talk with Jaxon, he agreed that I would rent the shop from him until I could buy it. He hated taking the monthly rent, and as soon as I could, I got my own loan from the bank to buy him out. Most people would tell me I’m a fucking idiot not to take him up on it. Even more so when I refused to let him remodel the place for me.
I started from the ground up and worked my ass off, gradually updating the shop into what it is today. With the addition of Raymond, I no longer work past four in the afternoon unless I want to and take off one Saturday a month.
Raymond rents the only other chair in the shop, and working with him has been so natural and easy. He’s the same easygoing, happy-go-lucky guy he was in high school. It made the transition from working alone to having him here most of the time a breeze. There’s no nonsense, he makes his own schedule just like I do, and he’s better at keeping tabs on the products he’s using than I am.
I step inside the shop, and my nose is hit with my favorite smell of brut musk and shaving cream. With the flip of a switch, the lights illuminate the rich, brown wood and a few of my vintage barbershop signs. I close the door and head into my office in the back to grab Levi’s bin.
Over the past few years, I’ve been collecting things to help Levi as he gets his hair cut. It’s always been a thing for the little man with his sensory issues. He’s much better now than he was when he was younger, but I’ve always just let him dictate how we get it done. I’ve cut his hair sitting on the floor, standing on my kitchen island, and even in the bathtub at Steph’s house. Whatever we need to do and however long it takes.
A smile spreads across my face as I think about how far we’ve come, and I carry the bin up to my chair. I get everything set up so that when Levi comes, he can make the decision on whether he wants to go first or if he wants his dad to go first. He’s never liked the traditional barber’s cape, so I asked Mrs. Bea, the town’s retired seamstress, if she would sew him a special one made of cut-up dress shirts, which she was delighted to do. I hang it on the hook next to my chair before placing a few fidget spinners and a handheld gaming system on the counter.
Just as I finish setting everything up, the front door opens, and the wind blows Steph’s hair behind her as she steps over the threshold and into the shop. Her lips are painted a shade lighter than their natural pinkish tone, and her eyes find mine as she pushes her cat-eye sunglasses on top of her head.
“You look a little more awake than the last time I saw you,” I tease.
“That’s what three cups of coffee does for me.” Her supple lips tip up in the corners as the air fills for only a moment with her intoxicating perfume. “It also makes me have to pee like twenty times.” The hem of her sexy black jean shorts rests on her upper thigh, allowing each leg to torture me as she takes long strides to the back before disappearing into the bathroom for a few minutes.
The front door opens, and Levi shouts as he rushes inside and up to me. “Cole! Did Mom tell you that I’m going camping?”
“No, she didn’t! But you can tell me all about it while I’m cutting your hair.”
Levi’s face scrunches. “I don’t want to.”
“I know. But I have something new today.”
Levi gets excited and bolts around me. I don’t even have to turn around to see when he spots the game because he gasps.
“What did you find this time?” Isaac asks as he walks up to me and shakes my hand. Steph’s ex-boyfriend is probably one of the coolest guys in Airabelle Valley. He moved here our senior year of high school and was kind of a shy guy. He’s clean-cut, neat, and a damn good man. I would have been happy as can be for Steph if she and Isaac had ended up together. But life doesn’t always do what looks right from the outside. Steph never went into too much detail on why their relationship didn’t work out, but it’s also not my business. If she wanted to tell me, she would.
“Oh my God,” Steph says as she walks up. “Cole, what did you do? Those are expensive.” She walks close to Levi and inspects the game. “How much was that? I’ll pay you for it.”
“No you won’t. This is something I wanted to do. I read in some comment section that letting her kid play his video game helped distract him, so I want to see if it works for Levi.” I turn to Levi. “Mario Kart is already loaded on there for you.”
Isaac walks up to Levi, who already knows how to turn it on and pull up the game. “Even loaded with your favorite game? What do you say, bud?”
“Thank you, Cole. Now I have another thing I can get even more practice in so I can kick your butt.”
Levi usually only gets video games when he’s with Jaxon, Zayn, or me. Steph can be kind of a stickler when it comes to screen time, but she bends quite a bit when we’re hanging out with him. And he loves it. Levi jumps up into my chair, and Steph, Isaac, and I flash each other a surprised look. Instead of making a big deal about it, I grab his cape, and he puts his hands through the special arm holes we put in for him. Isaac pats my arm in approval before heading over to the waiting chairs that sit in front of the floor-to-ceiling windows. The sharp heat of Steph’s hand lands on my bicep as she squeezes my arm and leans in.
“I owe you for that game and not another word about it. I can’t believe you did that. But also, thank you, Cole.” Her whisper in my ear could paralyze me in this very spot. Instead of letting myself get lost in the way she makes me feel when she touches me, I focus on her words to shake myself out of it. This is all about Levi.
Steph’s usual hard demeanor turns to complete mush when it comes to Levi. I nod, trying to ignore the loss of her touch as she leaves my side and sits in the chair next to Isaac. She knows I’d do anything for him. Especially after the time I almost went to jail for some asshole commenting on Levi’s meltdown in the mall when he was four. I have no regrets, and I’d do it again.
I can’t tell you how many dirty looks Steph’s gotten over the past few years from people. Most just saw Levi as a hyper kid that needed to be disciplined. That’s the problem with invisible illnesses and disabilities. People judge quickly when they have no fucking clue what they’re talking about. Just thinking about it makes me rage inside because Levi is so much more than that. He’s brilliant and creative. He’s fun and outgoing. And he’s absolutely hilarious. Just because you can’t match someone else’s energy doesn’t mean there’s something wrong with them.
Levi wiggles and cringes as I put the cape around his neck. He adjusts his new video game, but still, a groan comes out of him. I know he’s uncomfortable.
“You can do this, Levi. Tell me about the constellations you want to see on your camping trip while you play.”
I know I’ve opened up a can of worms when Levi starts rambling off names I’ve never even heard of before.
“Vega, Deneb, and Altair are stars that make up the summer triangle. But it’s not technically a constellation. It’s an asterism.”
“What the heck is an asterism?” I ask, starting the haircut and getting a little bit of wiggle.
“It’s a pattern of stars. But each of those stars are part of three separate constellations, Cygnus the Swan, Lyra the Harp, and Aquila the Eagle. Vega is the brightest star, so I’m going to look for that one first.”
As Levi talks, I glance in the mirror at Steph and Isaac, who are deep in conversation, but as if she could feel my eyes on her, she looks up and gives me that same sweet fucking smile she always does when I’m with Levi. It’s the only look she gives me that makes me wonder if she’s ever thought of me being more than her brother’s best friend.
CHAPTER THREE
Steph
It’s been a long two days of work as I usher out the last customer picking up their order for the day and collapse into my desk chair. I hate rushing the time I have with Levi before he spends the second half of the week at his dad’s, but I’m on the struggle bus and dreaming about the weekend.
Having Levi has saved me though. If I just lie around as much as my body wants me to, I’m afraid I’ll get worse. Thankfully, the medication my doctor put me on is working, and even though I still have a lot of rough times, when I’m not in a flare, I can live life like I did before my symptoms began. It’s also been easier to keep my symptoms hidden. That’s been a full-time job on its own over the last year.
I wanted to tell Jaxon about my lupus diagnosis so many times. But every time I’ve tried, something else that was bigger and more important seemed to be happening. And this past year has been really hard on all the guys, so giving them one more thing to worry about isn’t something I’m willing to do. Especially now with Holly being pregnant and the wedding coming, there’s no way in hell he needs anything more on his plate.
“I think today went pretty smoothly, don’t you?” Eckerd says, spinning in the chair Jaxon usually sits in next to me. “See? I told you I’m a fast learner.”
Eckerd has been working for us at JJ’s Graphics for over three years now. He’s never had a role in the office part of the business, but we’ve known Eckerd since we were kids. Jaxon trusts him. And as soon as he found out Holly was pregnant, he started thinking about bringing someone else into the office that could handle the day-to-day operations and be a key holder to the shop so that we could both have time off when we wanted it. Eckerd is a good guy, but I wasn’t sure how he would do in the customer service aspect of this. He’s kind of a goof.
“I’ve got to admit, you picked up on it way faster than I thought you would. You did great and even got a new contract. Jaxon will be stoked about that one.” I stand from my chair and start gathering my purse and water jug.
“It helped I had a good teacher.” He smiles at me, and I shrug.
“You ready to go?”
Eckerd nods and stands from Jaxon’s desk, which sits next to mine, follows me out the door, and stands next to me as I lock up. “So, uh, it’s been a long day. You want to go get a beer or maybe grab a bite to eat?”
Oh God. Is he asking me out on a date again? “Sorry. I’ve got to go pick up Levi from his dad’s house and get home to make dinner. But I’ll see you tomorrow,” I say and start walking to my car.
“No worries. See you tomorrow.”
I nod and hop in my car. There’s nothing wrong with Eckerd; he just wasn’t my type in high school, and he isn’t my type now. Fuck, this could make everything weird now between us. Maybe we don’t really need any more help in the office. That’s my part of the business anyway, and I could totally run this whole place all on my own…if I wasn’t struggling already. Not only can I not physically take on more, but there’s no way I’m missing more time with Levi than I have to.
I already feel guilty that I have Tori watching him in the summer while he’s off school, knowing I don’t have to work. But when Jaxon opened this graphics shop, I offered to run the office aspect of the business because he really enjoyed working with his hands in the back, and I needed something to do while Levi was in school. But I can’t just abandon the business for two months in the summer. The only thing that saves a little of my guilt is knowing how much his stepmom loves him and how comfortable he is with her. And even more, Tori watches Ella’s daughter, Saige, in the summer too, and Levi loves how much he gets to play with her.
Levi has a hard time making and keeping friends, but Saige is a different type of tiny human. One with a huge heart and patience for my boy that no other kid around here seems to have. They became best friends quickly after Ella and Saige moved here, which made it really easy for Ella and me to become fast friends too. I never had a close girlfriend until she came to town. Mostly because I always found out the women in this town kept trying to get to Cole through me. They still do. Over my dead body.
As I pull out of the parking lot of JJ’s Graphics, I tap on Ella’s name and listen as the speakers in the car ring, waiting for her to answer.
“Hey—bark—hello?” Ella answers in a half laugh as a blow-dryer and dogs barking in the background of Bubble Pups take over my speakers.
“Is this a bad time?” I ask.
“Never,” she laughs. “Hang on.” I wait as the dryer stops and rustling comes over the speaker. When she returns on the line, it’s quiet in the background, and I assume from her large sigh she just plopped down on that bright pink couch in front of her grooming shop. “I’ve got like three minutes, so what’s up?”
“You aren’t going to believe what just happened to me.”
“Oh God,” Ella says. “Knowing you, I can only imagine where this is going.”
“Eckerd just asked me out for a beer or dinner. Now, it’s possible it was completely innocent and I’m looking too far into this, but I think it was his tone that makes me think he was asking me out.” Silence fills the line, and for a second, it seems Ella’s hung up. “Are you still there?”
“I’m failing to see the problem here, Steph. He’s well-known around town, your brother trusts him, and he’s reliable. So basically, he’s got three up on any other guy you’ve ever gone out with.”
“Well, thank you very much. I was fully expecting you to back me up here and agree that I definitely shouldn’t be going out with Eckerd.”
“Why not? The few times I’ve met him, he was so nice, and not to mention, he’s pretty cute.”
“Dammit, Ella. I need you to say that we work together and it’s inappropriate for him to ask.”
“I’m sorry. You’re right. What an asshole.”
I laugh as I turn down the street Isaac and Tori live on. “Truthfully, I’m taking a bit of a break from dating right now anyway. There’s too much going on with Jaxon, and after the other night, I’m not even interested in going out anymore.”
“I knew it. I knew you weren’t just brushing off that guy’s hands on you.”
Thoughts of what could have happened creep back into my mind. I’ve always been a tough woman and learned how to defend myself. Well, Cole demanded I learn how to defend myself and made sure of it by bringing me with him to the karate studio he took classes at. They had a self-defense course, and he enrolled me before I even agreed to do it. I must say, even though it’s been ten years, I still remember all the moves. I couldn’t be more thankful for it when I saw Louis come through the women’s bathroom door after me last night.
“I’m fine, but also, I just need a break from the drama. And between spending time with Levi and Jaxon taking a little more time off to figure out this wedding and with the baby coming, I don’t even have the time for it.”
“Oh, I’m sure about that. I can only imagine how hard it’s going to be to get everything organized for a wedding so quickly. I thought Zayn and I were crazy for wanting to get married in just a few months. Holly’s got to be so busy over there, with it being peak tourist season too. I told Holly I’d be willing to help on Mondays at Juneberry since Bubble Pups is closed.”
“That’s so sweet of you, Ella. I know how much it means to Jaxon and Holly to have us all rallying around them.”
“It wasn’t long ago that I was the one who needed the help, and not one of you hesitated. I’ll never forget that. I’ll always be first in line to repay that favor. Now, before I tear up, let’s change the subject. Levi is going camping, right?”
“In a few weeks. His dad and Tori have been taking him the last few years, and he’s so excited about it.”
“Saige has been telling me all about space and the stars when I pick her up. Levi’s been teaching her all sorts of things about camping too.” A loud bark echoes through the speaker. “Shit, I’ve got to go. Are we still on for hanging out at your house on Friday night?”
“I’ll have to get back with you on that. I completely forgot that I have a doctor’s appointment in the morning, and I don’t know how long I’ll have to stay to catch up on work.”
