Deceived: Devon Brothers, #2, page 19
“What news?” he asked.
“Peterson had video of the break in. It’s grainy but you can definitely ID Micheline and her truck,” he said, and Cade gave him a nod. “I already brought it to Wilkes, and I doubt anything will be done.”
“You know they won’t do shit,” Cade spat, and Sawyer gave him a nod.
“I know, that’s why I had a little face to face chat with Micheline before coming here. I let her know that we had evidence including video... not to mention the fact that her truck was covered in mud from the road, which I took pics of. She tried to come off as she didn’t care, but I know it shook her. I told her I was willing to drop charges if she paid up.”
“And?”
“And we’ll see if she pays up. If not, there are a few lawyers I know who’d love to add this little felony onto the list of misfortunes her father is dealing with right now.”
“Oh? Do tell,” Cade said, amused.
“Seems our dubious Mr. Cartwright is under investigation for tax fraud among other things.”
“Big shock there.”
“Yeah, well, he’s in deep debt and the banks are cutting him off. You know the wealthy don’t like to be called out for not being wealthy anymore. It hurts their feelings.”
Cade laughed at that and jumped down from the rail. He approached the hand circling the horse, gave him some instructions and headed back toward Sawyer.
“Let’s go get cleaned up for dinner, we can chat in the house. I have a feeling you have a lot more to tell me about what you found.”
Sawyer chuckled.
“Indeed I do.”
Chapter Twenty
“What do I owe the pleasure?” Sawyer asked as he answered the call from Parker.
“Hey, just wanted to check in, how’s everything going?”
“Things are what they are, you know. Did you get my list of equipment we needed to get for Ava?”
“I did and I’ll get you some links for what to buy. A few of those I can get discounts for you so let me know.”
“That’s great, that’s what I was hoping to hear. Want to get this stuff back online as soon as I can for her, so she doesn’t lose momentum, you know? She’s already disheartened by what’s happened.”
“I can imagine. How’s she doing?”
“As good as can be expected. Kit’s been great hanging out with her and they’re becoming fast friends, so I’m glad that she’s someone besides me to confide in, but I know Ava misses having her own space.”
“Yeah, so what’s up with that? I know you were looking to sell the penthouse and get some office space started. Have you two talked about living together?”
Sawyer sat at his desk and leaned back, stretching his back. He would love to live with Ava. She was already living with him, but it was temporary. And while she was at his place, he didn’t crowd her. He wanted her to feel it was her space as much as his. He’d already grown used to her signs of wanting space and he’d honored that. As much as he hated to admit it, he was as much a loner as she was, so cohabitation was a huge step for both of them.
“It’s not a subject I want to breach just yet, but we’ll have to as soon as the penthouse sells.”
“Have you gotten any offers?”
“Yeah, one came in just yesterday that I’m considering. I know the housing market isn’t great right now and it’s about a hundred grand below asking, but I’m willing to accept it because I’m still making out on the deal either way. I just kind of want it to be over so I can get on with everything, you know.”
“Yeah, I get it.”
“How about you? How’re things going on that end?” Sawyer asked as he swiveled in his chair.
“Can’t complain. Have a ton of gigs lined up so that makes me happy,” Parker said then was quiet for a moment. “I’m actually calling for a reason though.”
Sawyer chuckled.
“How much do you need?” Sawyer asked and he heard a chuckle from Parker.
“I don’t need any money, I’m actually doing well in that respect. No, this is about you.”
“Me? What about me?”
“Um...” Parker stalled, and it made the hairs stand up on the back of Sawyer’s neck.
“What?”
“Micheline and her friends... seems they’re engaged in a rather nasty dragging of you online.”
Sawyer furrowed his brows.
“What the fuck does that mean?” he asked. He wasn’t big on using social media and had no idea what he was talking about.
“They’re posting a lot of shit about you, like really nasty posts about how you’re a lousy lay with a tiny dick,”
“Whatever,” Sawyer said, rolling his eyes. Leave it to Mish to do something so childish.
“It goes beyond that though, she’s accusing you of harassment and telling people to boycott your business.”
“What?”
“Yeah, it’s nasty and of course all her little girlfriends are feeding into it,” Parker added.
Sawyer growled under his breath.
“Thanks for letting me know. I’ll have to look into this, and I’ll give you a call back,” he said.
“Sure thing, give me a call later.”
Sawyer swiped his phone and immediately went onto social media and searched for Micheline’s posts. And there they were in all their nasty glory.
Parker was right, this went beyond pettiness. This was slander. Just one more thing to hand to his lawyers to drive a nail into the Cartwright coffin.
His lawyer had called him the day before regarding the break-in and suggested he contact the DA to get this looked into since the sheriff wasn’t willing to make much of an effort. Lucky for Sawyer, the DA wasn’t in Cartwright’s pocket. In fact, the current DA was someone he knew well as he’d been to Harvard and graduated two years after her. So he called her office and set up an appointment for the next afternoon. In the interim, he’d made up his mind about the sale of the penthouse. It needed to be done, so he let his broker know he’d accept the offer he’d been given, rejoiced in the fact that that huge issue was off his plate, then went in search of Avalynn.
She was currently curled up on his couch reading something on a tablet when he came in and took a seat next to her.
“Hey,” she said as she looked up and yawned.
“Hey there, whatcha reading?” he asked, settling in next to her.
“Vlogging for dummies,” she said with a chuckle, turning the ipad to him. “It’s actually very interesting and I’m learning a lot.”
“Well, I spoke to Parker earlier and he’s sent me links on where to get replacements for your stuff, with discounts mind you, so we can order everything today and get you back on track. Sound good?”
“That sounds wonderful. I have so many ideas now, and I’ve been writing them all down so I have a lot I can film.”
“That’s awesome. I mean, we could pick up a new camera today for you and you could film here. There’s lots of space and lots of light,” he suggested, gesturing around the room.
Avalynn looked around and gave him a nod.
“That’s very true. OK, we can do that.”
“The other thing I wanted to bring up was our living situation,” he said, and she furrowed her brows.
“I know,” she said sadly. “I was hoping to be out of your hair by now. I’ve been looking into apartments, but I haven’t found anything feasible nearby.”
Sawyer gave her an adamant shake of his head then gave her a smile.
“That’s not what I mean,” he said, putting a hand on her thigh. “I got an offer for the penthouse, so we’ll have to be out soon enough.”
“Oh my God, really? That’s wonderful for you. How soon?”
“Well I just accepted the offer but closing and all that can take a month or so, so it’s not a huge rush, but we need to get our affairs in order.”
“OK, well, I’ll start looking at more places right away,” she said and moved to get up, but he gave her leg a squeeze.
“No, no... I don’t mean that either. I’d been giving a lot of thought about both of our living arrangements. I know you want your old space back and we both need a place to live...and I need an office,” he started, then gave her a smirk. “I’ve been doing my own digging as well and I think I came up with a solid idea.”
“What’s that?”
“We set you back up at your place, secure everything and all that.... Or,” he said with a smile. “I’ve been reading about these houses built of cargo containers. I mean, talk about secure. There’s a ton of places that sell them relatively cheap.”
Her eyes lit up at his enthusiasm, but she shook her head.
“I can’t afford a new place, and the containers are cheap but not that cheap,” she said.
“That’s the thing. I was thinking we buy a few of them, or more to the point I buy a few of them and two of them will be my place and my office. I can tie them together and you can have your separate space in your own. They’d all be business write offs for me so it’s no cost. I know Peterson kind of lent you that spot you’re on, but I can speak to him, see if he’ll sell some of that property to me, again a write off, and we can fix it up really nice. What do you say?”
Avalynn was speechless. Her eyes sparkling with tears at the thought of a new place of her own.
“Really?”
“Really,” he said. “There are some really cool designs for the containers, and they are seriously heavy duty. They’d probably withstand a hurricane. And I can get the damn road fixed, at least pave it so it’s not so rutty.”
“I don’t know if Mr. Peterson would like that, he’s pretty vocal about strangers using the road.”
“Then I’ll pave the other end, so it doesn’t go past his place, that’s fine. What do you think?”
The look on her face was priceless. A mix of excitement and trepidation.
“I mean... not to sound like a pessimist, but what if we don’t work out?” she asked. And it was a question that had gone through his mind as well. They had only been together for a couple months and relationships were hard to judge this early on, but based on every other relationship he’d ever had, this one felt different. More solid. Perhaps because it wasn’t based on superficial characteristics, but instead was built around trust and support. Still, that didn’t guarantee longevity.
“That’s not something I want to consider, but I understand,” he said. “And again, all your equipment and your new home would be yours. As an investor, this will be part of our contract, as it were. I’ll make sure, legally, once you take ownership of everything, you own it outright. No strings attached.”
She tilted her head at his words.
“I don’t know. That’s a ton of money. You’d really do that?” she asked.
“Of course I’d do it...... for you. And like I said, its business. I can write it off as an expense, so I won’t lose any money,” he said, then gave her a soft smile. “My being your boyfriend aside, I want this for you, and so much more. You deserve it. And if things don’t work out romantically, I’d still want you to be happy and secure and not obligated to anyone else for your life. I know how important that is to you and I want to make that happen.”
Tearfully, she set her tablet aside and threw her arms around him, sniffling on his shoulder as she squeezed him.
“I don’t know what to say. This is more than anyone has ever done for me and I’m... I’m humbled. Really I am, and thankful for everything you and your family have done for me.”
Sawyer happily accepted her hug and held her tight, kissing her cheek and wiping her face as he pulled away.
“We all want you to succeed, and we know you can. Trust me, Cade especially wouldn’t throw his weight behind you if he didn’t think you’d succeed at what you were doing. Just ask Parker,” Sawyer offered with a chuckle.
“I’ll have to thank him later for all his help in this as well. Between him and Amanda, they’ve both given me such great advice. I’d still be lost trying to figure out my camera phone if it weren’t for them.”
Sawyer wiped the last tears from her cheeks and stood from the couch.
“Let’s get this day rolling then. We can go pick up your new camera and then we can order the rest of the stuff you need to get back up and running. I have a few errands to run along the way, so we’ll make a day of it, how’s that sound?” he asked, holding out his hand, helping her to her feet.
“That sounds wonderful,” she said, jumping up, throwing her arms around him once more. “Maybe we can head out to Lancaster for lunch, enjoy the crisp day.”
“That sounds absolutely fabulous.”
And heading out to Lancaster was kind of a boon for Sawyer. Though he did have a handful of errands to run, he did want to head in that direction to surprise Avalynn with yet another idea he had up his sleeve.
They purchased her new camera- a newer, flashier version of the one she had with more features that would help with her endeavors going forward. They were also able to buy a new ring light, a couple of extra tripods and a green screen to replace the one she’d lost. He knew it wouldn’t be as special as the one Amanda had sent her, but he was sure in time Amanda would send her new items that would take her mind off what she’d lost.
And before they headed toward their favorite Amish eatery, Sawyer gave her a sly smile and a wink as he pulled off the highway and took a side road through the lush Amish landscape.
“Where are we going?” she asked, suddenly realizing he’d taken a turn.
“It’s a surprise,” Sawyer offered with another sly smile, then turned again and headed toward a large industrial building off across a field.
Avalynn was so caught up in where they were going that she’d missed the large sign, but it was obvious what she was in for once he rounded a corner and made his way across a vast parking area filled with cargo containers in various states of construction.
Turning wide eyes to him, she slowly unhooked her seat belt as he parked and got out of the car. Taking her hand and tucking it into his elbow, he gave her a beaming smile.
“What?!” she asked, bewildered.
“This was part of my surprise for you,” he started. “Kevin and I have been researching this quite a bit and he found this place. They make custom modular homes, and they specialize in cargo containers. When I spoke to the owner, I knew this was the guy we needed to work with. And his designs are spectacular.”
Avalynn looked up at him with her mouth agape as her eyes flitted between him and the handful of cargo homes being built around them.
“Mr. Devon?” A young man asked as he strode toward them.
“Yes, I’m Sawyer Devon, and this is Avalynn Barlow,” he said and took the man’s hand, giving it a shake. “You must be Jeremy Martin?”
“That’s me. I’m assuming this is your first time here?” he asked.
“It is. I’ve been talking to one of your colleagues about ordering my containers, but I wanted Ava to have the honor of picking all her own features.”
“As it should be,” Jeremy said, giving Ava a warm smile. “Do you know what size you were looking for?”
“I didn’t even know we were coming here. This is so fantastic. I don’t even know where to begin.”
Jeremy chuckled and crossed his hands behind him.
“What kind of square footage were you looking for and what will it be used for? A home? A workshop or studio?” he asked.
“Um... kind of both? My last home was about 360 total square feet.”
Jeremy raised his brows at that.
“Wow, that really is a tiny home.”
“It was a converted barn shed,” she said, and Sawyer gave her a smile.
“It was an awesome place. She really made it comfortable.”
“OK,” Jeremy said, looking around the lot. “We don’t have anything quite that small, but we do carry half containers. About twenty feet in length.”
“How high are they?” she asked.
“About eight and a half feet,” he said, and Ava twisted her mouth.
“Get a bigger one,” Sawyer egged her on and she shook her head.
“I don’t want bigger. I don’t want it to take up the whole yard.”
“I can stack containers, so you could stick with a shorty but just have two floors,” Jeremy offered and that piqued her interest. “I actually have one across the yard that I’m finishing up if you’d like to see the inside.”
“I’d love that!” she said and turned another brilliant smile to Sawyer, who melted with every glance.
This is how he wanted to see her every day. Happy, excited, and thrilled with everything going on in her life. He once thought advancing his career and getting ahead was a rush, but that held no comparison. Just one smile from her, one satisfied grin made his entire day. It was worth all the money in the world.
Jeremy walked them across the massive yard toward a double high container. It was small compared to the standard 40 foot containers, but it was exactly what he would expect Ava to choose. Something unremarkable at first glance, but extraordinary on the inside. Climbing the temporary stairs before them, Jeremy opened the front door, and they stepped inside to what was actually a pretty massive space. It was much bigger than it seemed on the outside.
“As you can see the framing and drywall is complete and we’re just adding the last touches now,” he said as he ushered them toward the kitchen in the back. “This one has quartz countertops, brushed nickel finishes and soft close cabinets and drawers.”
“This is beautiful,” she said, reverently running her hands over the countertop. “Is this a gas stove?”
“Propane actually. Appliances are chosen based on the utilities you have available at your lot. You can also choose totally off grid.”
“As much as I would love to go off grid, I don’t think it’s too feasible given the location of our lot. We’re back in the woods so solar wouldn’t be an option,” she said with a grimace.
“We can do hybrid setups where if you choose to add solar or any other means of utility later on it can be done with a simple switch,” Jeremy offered.
