Stay Here With Me, page 2
I never would have thought that six big, brash, scarred, bearded, sexy, former military men would end up hosting weddings, but they were good at it.
I loved this place, with the limestone and white buildings, the black roofs that made it look modern and yet Texas ranch at the same time.
There was a new building being built over on the hill, one that I didn’t recognize, but it had been a few months since I had been here. I’d have to ask Bethany what it was.
I got out of the electric town car and thanked the driver, as Bethany ran out from the front, blond hair waving, big sunglasses covering her face.
“You’re here!”
I threw my arms around her and hugged her tight, ignoring the person with a cell phone taking a photo of us.
They were a guest and allowed to take photos. We didn’t care at this point because if we had an issue with it, we wouldn’t be standing in front of the building. If we had wanted to hide completely, we’d find a way.
I’m sure one of the staff members would politely mention something about privacy, but that didn’t bother me.
I found privacy when I needed to.
I was grateful because I knew Bethany didn’t have as much of a choice as I did.
People knew my voice and my face, but they didn’t watch me day in and day out like they did her.
I didn’t have a stalker like Bethany had.
“Come on. I’ll show you to your cabin.”
“Jason, do you mind getting her bags?”
“Of course.”
“I’m good. I can handle it myself.”
“No no, you’re a guest. We’re going to do everything like we would if you were a normal guest.”
“Because I’m abnormal?” I rolled my eyes and she grinned.
“You said it. I didn’t have to.”
She kissed my temple, and we made our way down the path towards my favorite cabin. The little green one that nearly all of us had stayed in at one time or another.
It was like a show home, and yet filled with warmth.
I didn’t always stay here, as it was highly sought after, but the fact that it would be my home for the next couple of days—or weeks—made me happy.
“You didn’t have to give me this cabin.”
“This is our favorite cabin for family and friends visiting. Plus, we have it open for now with the wedding coming up and the weeks ahead of time making sure we’re all set to go.”
“I love the fact that you’re a we.”
Bethany beamed, the light shining off her smile and that gorgeous diamond ring on her finger.
“I know, right? It’s so weird to think about we as family, and not my team.”
“Well, your team is here too, right?”
Bethany nodded. “At least Trace is for now. He’s about to go back to LA to finalize a couple of things with the new bodyguards.”
I frowned. “New?”
Bethany waved me off. “He’s just in charge of training the new members of the team so they can rotate in and out. I want them on Everett when we’re out on things, too, and I think Trace is going to be working more with the people here. It’s nice, because it doesn’t feel like they’re always around, you know?”
I nodded, knowing that sense of security was needed. And not just after everything she had gone through. We lived day in and day out with people wanting to know our every move.
“I wonder which security guard they’re going to think I’m sleeping with now?” I asked as I rolled my eyes. I set my bag down, Jason following with the rest of the bags. I knew him from the security team, and he smiled, shaking his head.
“Not me, ma’am, if that’s okay.”
I blushed, shaking my head. “I think that was last year.”
“And I’m very glad that I have an understanding wife. However, she also said if you need a beard, we’ve got you.”
I groaned. “I cannot believe the paparazzi thought that we were sleeping together. Have I called Shelly recently to say I’m sorry?”
“Yes. And you didn’t need to. She understands the name of the game. And she trusts us. So, I will talk to Trace if you want to see if I can be on your detail.” He paused. “Not for anything nefarious.”
That made me laugh. “Because whoever works with me might end up in a song, right?”
Jason rolled his eyes. “No, because the paparazzi and everyone involved is going to say that. You’ve never written me, and I know you won’t. And even if you did, I’d get a kick out of it. Shelly would play it for hours on end, and with the baby coming, that’d be nice.”
“Shelly’s pregnant?”
“Yes. You want to see the sonogram?”
Bethany clapped her hands. “I haven’t seen the sonogram yet. Show me, show me.”
He pulled out his phone and showed us the sonogram, and I sighed looking at the little black-and-white piece of rice.
“Oh, they’re so pretty.”
“It’s because they look like Shelly, right?” Jason asked, wagging his brows.
Jason was hot as heck, something that the paparazzi and media had loved to point out during the week that they assumed we were sleeping together.
The song that I released afterward had nothing to do with him, but they twisted the narrative so it would match with their theories.
“Anyway, you’ll need detail when you go out and visit anyone. If you do. You know the rules.”
“I do, and I’m grateful. Although you might end up as a rebound or a second-chance song. Watch out.”
“Hey, anything to make my wife smile will work. You guys have fun, and we’ll be around when you need us.”
He closed the door behind him, and I sighed. “At least he gets it.”
Bethany raised a brow. “Who does the world think you’re dating now? Fictionally or not?”
“No one, and that worries me because you know they’re all waiting for my next breakup song.”
Bethany sighed. “Just relax, have dinner with us tonight, okay? At the house.”
“I’d love that. And yes, I do need to relax. Thanks for having me here.”
“Don’t worry. I’m always here. And just so you know, there’s construction on the north end. So beware of the area. Though it hasn’t been bothering guests yet.”
“What’s it going to be?”
“A spa. Finally.”
My eyes widened. “The Wilders are putting in a spa?”
“I know. I’m shocked. But we have the space for it, and the need. We’ve had to send people over to another spa, and they’re booked to capacity too. We’re happy to finally add it.”
“Well, I’m going to be your first customer.”
“No, you’re going to have to stand in line with us girls. And maybe some of the Wilders. Elliot and Everett are both chomping at the bit.”
“None of the other Wilders? I would assume Elijah would enjoy that.”
“Him too. Not all of the Wilders are in the mood for dipping in a mineral spring.”
I had a feeling that East wasn’t one of them, but I wasn’t going to bring him up. Mostly because if I did, it would just stress me out and maybe make Bethany wonder why I would mention him at all.
Bethany said goodbye, and I stood on the porch, notebook in hand, breathing in the air that I knew would probably make my nose itchy later.
Damn allergies.
I needed to write, to sing, to focus.
And I would do that.
Because this was my home for now.
I’d had homes all over the world, because my job let me.
But I didn’t have a place to go home to.
I just wanted something different.
I wanted what Bethany had. A family.
“Didn’t know you’d be here,” a familiar gruff voice said from the right of me, and I turned, the hairs on the back of my neck standing on end.
I loved that voice.
I hated that voice.
“Just for a few days. To visit Bethany.”
And not you.
I hadn’t realized how cool my voice had gotten until he raised a brow.
“Okay then. I’m off to work. Hope you’re not recording anything in there because I’m about to use hammers and saws.”
“Don’t worry. I’m not writing a song. At least not now,” I said pointedly.
He raised a brow and looked around as if he were searching for something, then shrugged and made his way toward the construction area.
I ignored the way that his green eyes sparkled. His dark hair looked messy, as if he’d run his hands through it over and over again.
His beard was longer than before, and it would probably be rough against my skin, but I ignored that shiver.
I ignored everything about him.
He wasn’t mine.
I had promised myself a long time ago, multiple songs ago, that I was never going to fall in love again.
Love hurt, and inspired me to write a song that changed it all.
And I wasn’t about to write another.
Chapter Two
East
The letter in my hands burned. Seared flesh from ink on paper. I ignored it. It wasn’t a physical pain, but I would’ve preferred it had been. It seared my soul and my memory. I crushed the letter, tossing it in the bin next to my desk, and shook my head.
“There’s no bringing him back. There’s nothing for me to do.”
I repeated that mantra over and over until I finally grabbed my phone, shoved it in my pocket, and made my way outside, slamming the door behind me, annoyed with myself. I had a list a mile long to do, and I wasn’t in the mood to do any of it. I needed to get on it though, or it would never get done.
“East!” Elliot called out as he bounced towards me.
He always fucking bounced. It didn’t usually bother me too much because I was used to the way Elliot had a constant surplus of energy, but on my grumpier days, I wanted to throttle him. Of course, that was on me, not on him. Usually.
“What? I have to go meet the crew and I’m not in the mood.”
“When are you ever in the mood?” Elliot asked, shaking his head. “But seriously, we have a family meeting at noon.”
“Are you kidding me? We just had one two days ago. How many fucking family meetings do we need when we all work at the same place, and most of us live here?”
“I don’t know what crawled up your ass and died, but shit it out and just be in the conference room at noon.”
I winced at that visual. “Well, now I’m just thinking about a roach making a home up somebody’s ass, and I just died a little inside.”
Elliot shuddered. “Why did you have to get so descriptive?”
“You started it.”
We looked at each other and burst out laughing. Some of the tension that was riding me since I had seen Lark the day before finally began to ease. I didn’t know what it was about her. No, that was a lie. I knew some of it. She was fucking hot and smart, and I knew exactly what she felt like beneath me as I plunged into her.
And that wasn’t something that I would ever feel again. So I needed to get over myself and whatever annoyance I had with her. The further I stayed away from her, the better for both of us.
“What’s this meeting about?” Elliot paused, and I narrowed my eyes at him. “What is it?”
“Maybe nothing. I have a few phone calls to make, but just be there, okay? And don’t shoot the messenger.”
I glared at my brother. He was the youngest of us all, except for Eliza, our only sister. He and I were also the only two that hadn’t settled down with someone permanently.
Each of our brothers had finally succumbed to the end of bachelorhood.
Eli had gone and married our wedding planner. Now they were parents to a little girl and didn’t even live on-site anymore. Evan married his ex-wife, something that confounded me, considering I thought the two should have just stayed married in the first place. But no, they made mistakes, fixed them, and somehow figured matrimony was the way to go. Now they were parents to twins and lived on-site in a place that they had built.
Everett, my twin brother, was only here half the time these days because he spent the other half with his fiancée, Bethany. She was an Oscar Award-winning actress, and considering that they wanted to spend as much time with each other as possible before their wedding, which was coming up pretty damn soon, we rarely saw Everett. But most of his job was on the computer anyway, so he was able to work remotely. It was just weird not having him here.
Which was odd, considering that none of us had lived near one another for years. When we were on active duty, we hadn’t been stationed together. None of us had the same specialty, and had gone in at different times, except for Everett and me. In the end, when the world had literally destroyed us, and only one of us had made it through our twenty, we came together.
It had originally been Eli’s idea to make this resort and winery work. Our eldest brother liked fixing things. And he hadn’t been able to help our sister. No, she had helped herself, had dug her way out of the hell of becoming a widow. But now she was happily married, a mom, and living up in Colorado.
The rest of us lived outside San Antonio, becoming innkeepers and wedding hosts.
It didn’t make any fucking sense, but it seemed to be working.
The winery, of course, was a surprise, but Evan and Elijah ran it well. Elijah was dating our tasting room and wine club manager, the two of them so fucking happy it was nauseating. And that was another one down, again, just leaving Elliot and me.
“I need to go. You okay?” Elliot asked, bringing me out of my thoughts.
“I’m fine. I just need to go work on the new site. The contractor’s already there, and I have to be in charge, apparently.”
Elliot winced. “You’re damn good at what you do.”
“I’m a handyman. Not a contractor.”
“You have a contracting license. And you are a licensed electrician and plumber. You have it all. I don’t know how you were able to do all that, but you have it all.”
“I needed the skills in order to fix this place. Something’s always breaking down.”
“Yes, please scream that for the guests. They’ll love to know that everything’s falling down around them.”
Elliot was the major event planner and seasonal detail man. It was nothing like what he had done in the military, but none of us were doing what we had done in the military. Elliot was damn good at rearranging everything to make sure people had the best time that they could, so they came back, gave great reviews, and had more people come.
I would rather not see people at all since I didn’t like anybody, but them staying here meant that we had an income. That meant we had roofs over our heads.
At one point, those roofs had all been on the property, but now we were all moving on. I was just grateful that Elijah and Maddie had decided to stay on-site instead of buying their own place.
We were running out of family members that lived here, and I didn’t know how I felt about that.
“See you at noon,” I growled as Elliot’s phone buzzed, and my brother waved me off before working on probably the thousandth thing he had done that morning, on his fifth cup of coffee.
That probably wasn’t great for him.
I passed a few of the guests and nodded my head in hello. That was all they were going to get, and they were lucky I didn’t growl. I didn’t like it here all the time. I didn’t know what was wrong with me. I just fucking hated change, and everything just seemed to change these days without warning. Everybody was getting married, having babies, and settling down in ways that made me uncomfortable. It had taken me forever to figure out how to be a civilian and change my outlook and life completely after getting out of the military. And by the time I had found my footing, Eli got married. And then the next one and the next one.
We even had a damn celebrity wedding coming up—again—on our property. People I saw in movies and on TV were going to be rubbing elbows with people like me. Covered in dirt and not in the mood to be there.
It didn’t make any damn sense, and sometimes I just wanted everything to slow down so I could keep up.
And didn’t that make me sound like an old fucking man rather than someone in their thirties? But my back ached, my head ached, and while I knew most of it was because I had been thrown into more than a few walls and out of buildings, it was also just because I was damn tired.
Out of the corner of my eye, blond hair made me blink, and I narrowed my gaze.
No, I wasn’t going to think about her. But of course, she was here.
She was always fucking here.
But she kept moving, earphones in place, as she bounced her head to some song.
And then Lark turned the corner. I didn’t see her anymore, and I did my best to push her out of my mind. Because I didn’t want to think about her. I couldn’t.
But I was just damn tired of wondering exactly how we had gotten here.
And the thing was, it wasn’t going to get any better soon. Because eventually, Elijah would get married, and Elliot would probably find someone, and then people would just keep moving away.
At some point, we’d have to ship in our cousins in order to fill the spaces that my brothers had left. Honestly, that wasn’t too bad of an idea. I knew that my cousins were thinking about relocating, and we made a pretty picture, but that would just be more change. And I was so tired of change.
I went to the construction site, nodded at my team members, and went to speak with our contractor.
We were building a spa. A spa with mineral pools and solariums and random fucking things that didn’t make any sense to me. If you want a dip to relax, then go to the lake, or jump in the pool. We had both. But no, they were going to want to hit themselves with branches or some shit, inhale lavender, or whatever. I knew that Elliot was working with the manager and director, and they were going to focus on what services we were going to have—including the juice bar. A fucking juice bar. There was even going to be an infinity pool or some shit, and while the contractor, architect, and I had worked on figuring it all out, it still didn’t make any sense to me.
