It Started with a Crack by Piper James

Chapter Two

Noah

Ileft the television off and leaned back against the couch cushions. The house was silent, and the sound of rain pattering outside had me relaxing in seconds. I’d picked up a burger on my way home from work, ate it alone at my kitchen table, and took a shower. All in the peace and quiet that comes with living alone.

I loved my brothers and my nephew, Daniel, but I’d really missed this. We stayed in the dingy motel downtown for the first few weeks we were here, and moving into this house five and a half months ago had been a huge relief. But there were always people around. I couldn’t even take a shit without someone commenting on the smell.

Chase and Daniel moved in with Sage, Daniel’s teacher and Chase’s new—and if he had it his way, permanent—lady in his life. Ethan found an old fixer-upper of a house and fell in love with it, moving in as soon as escrow closed so he could work on it until he fell into bed every night. That left me here, alone. Just the way I liked it.

But this was just a rental. I had no plans of staying here long-term, and with the lease coming to an end in two weeks, I needed to make a decision—sign on for another six-month agreement, or find a place of my own to buy.

It wasn’t as if I hadn’t looked. The real estate game in Red River was not exactly hopping. Ethan had lucked out when he found his place, and Ryder and Chase had both moved in with their significant others. I couldn’t find a single house that suited me in a thirty-mile radius, and I’d been checking the online realty sites daily.

I could always ask Dakota Jones for help…

I brushed the thought aside as soon as it entered my head. She wouldn’t help me if I was the only person in Eastern Texas looking for a house to buy. She despised me, and I had no idea why.

I’d met Dakota through Belle, my brother Ryder’s wife, months ago when Belle and Ryder got us all together so Ethan, Chase, and I could meet her friends. Sage and Chase had met when she had a parent-teacher conference with him about a little scuffle Daniel had gotten into at school, but the rest of us were strangers to each other. Ember, the fourth member of their friend group, was a gorgeous blonde bombshell of a woman with a vivacious personality and no filter. She said what she thought and never held back. I liked her immediately, but I knew we’d never be anything but friends—we were far too alike.

But Dakota…

That woman had piqued my interest from the start—and I thought she’d liked me, too. But she disappeared halfway through the night and had been giving me the cold shoulder ever since. And I had no fucking clue why.

She’d probably tell me to go fuck myself if I asked for her help. It was frustrating as hell, being so attracted to her while she looked at me like I was gum on the bottom of her shoe. And every time I tried to talk to her about it, to find out what the problem was, she blew me off…so I stopped trying. Contrary to popular belief, I knew when to let something go. I just pretended like I didn’t with my brothers because it was so much fun to get under their skins.

They called me the hell-raiser of the bunch, and I’d done everything to earn that title. Late nights, women, parties, more women…I’d led a full life back in L.A. But all of that changed once we moved to Red River. I’d gone out a few times, hitting the bars and clubs in nearby Oakley and Saddleback, but I always left early. And alone.

That lifestyle didn’t appeal to me anymore, especially after seeing how happy Ryder and Chase were with Belle and Sage. I wanted that, too, not that I’d ever admit it to any of them. I’d never hear the end of it if I did.

The only time I’d even considered taking a woman home was that night with Dakota. With that long, chestnut hair, big brown eyes, and a soft, curvy body I’d die to feel beneath me, I hadn’t felt such a strong surge of desire like the one I had for her in years…if ever.

I shook my head to clear it. I needed to stop thinking about her. It was never going to happen.

My phone chimed, and I plucked it from the couch beside me to pull up the texting app to see a new message in the group chat between me and my brothers.

Ryder: Has anyone heard from Dakota about the listing? Has there been any interest?

Speak of the fucking devil, and he shall appear. My brothers had no idea that there was tension between Dakota and me. I knew if I told them, they’d never let me live it down. I’d been quite the douche in my twenties, claiming Casanova status when it came to women. Oh, I got my fair share of denials, but they never heard about those. Only my victories—in great detail. But I was thirty-two now and more mature. Most of the time.

Chase: I haven’t heard from her, but I’ll ask Sage if she’s talked to her at all.

Ethan: I’ve been too busy with the house to check in, sorry. I can try to make time to call her tomorrow.

Ryder: Noah? What about you? Anything?

I took a deep breath and blew it out as my thumbs tapped at the screen.

Me: Nope. Nothing.

Ryder: Can you take point on this? Belle and I are knee-deep in baby preparations, Chase is still setting up house with Sage, and Ethan is working triple-duty, running the business, volunteering for Belle’s foundation, and working on his house.

Fuck. I knew, logically, this should fall to me, as the least-busy one of us. But shit, this was going to be awkward. I let out a deep sigh. There was no way I could say no.

Me: No problem. I’ll call her tomorrow.

Chase: Thanks, brother.

Ethan: Yeah, thanks.

Ryder: Thank you!

Ryder: *pic sent*

Ryder: Meet Baby Boy Perry!

I turned my phone this way and that, trying to make sense of the grainy, black and white ultrasound picture. I couldn’t see anything that remotely resembled a human. It looked like a toddler scribbled something with white chalk on a blackboard. There was a blurry circle that looked like it might be a head that dominated most of the picture, and I smirked.

Chase: Congrats, man! A boy! That’s awesome. Daniel is going to be so excited!

Ethan: Very cool. Congrats, brother.

Me: Congratulations. I see he has your giant head.

Ryder: Shut up, asshole.

I chuckled and tossed my phone back to the couch. Leaning my head back, I listened to the rain splattering on the roof and tried to relax my tense muscles.

I was going to have to call Dakota tomorrow, like I promised. The longer I thought about it, the more I unwound. I decided this might not be such a bad thing. Being in charge of our dealings with Dakota would give me access to her. I’d see that she wasn’t the perfect woman I’d built up in my head since that night at the bar.

And once I did that, I could push her out of my head and move on. Maybe.