Well Played by Vi Keeland
CHAPTER 12
Levi
The next morning I was on my way to pick up Presley at her mother’s when my cell phone rang. Tanner flashed on the screen. It had been a long time since my brother had called, so I was curious about what he wanted. Maybe I had some latent guilt for rubbing one out to thoughts of Presley eating that damn pie last night, but I got a little nervous that maybe my mother had said something about Presley and me growing too close.
I took a deep breath before swiping to answer on speakerphone. “Hey. What’s up?”
“The superstar decides to answer his phone…”
Tanner and I didn’t speak much, but this was exactly the shit he did every time we did. To my knowledge, I’d never blown off a single one of his calls. Yet he had this passive-aggressive way of making it seem like my ego kept me from talking to him. “Have you tried to reach me recently and I missed your call?”
“Nah. I just know how busy you are. So I try not to bother you.”
I gritted my teeth. “Always have time for family, brother.”
“Yeah, well, speaking of family. What the hell happened at The Palm Inn last night? I just heard about the fire on the news.”
“We had some work done, and the fire department thinks it disturbed some frayed wires and started a small fire in one of the bedrooms.”
“I told Presley that place was falling down. Maybe now she’ll come to her senses and move back to New York.”
I felt defensive. “It’s actually not falling down. She’s done a lot of work, and it’s looking pretty good already.”
“Yeah, whatever.”
I realized he hadn’t asked how Presley or Alex were, even though he’d said he heard about the fire on the news. “Have you spoken to Presley today?”
“Nah. I left a voicemail, but she hasn’t called me back yet. That’s why I’m calling you to find out what went down.”
“Did you talk to Mom?”
“No, why?”
“So how do you know Presley and Alex are okay?”
“The news said no one was hurt.”
I shook my head. Unbelievable. Even if it were okay to accept what they said on the news, he should’ve at least asked about their emotional states. Being in a fire could be traumatic, especially for a kid. This fucker probably didn’t even know Alex hadn’t been home.
“Nice legs, by the way,” Tanner said. “Are you sure whatever the two of you were doing didn’t start the fire?”
My face wrinkled. “What are you talking about?”
“The news had a picture of you and some woman getting cozy on the lawn. Was your shirt off before the fire, or did you take it off when the reporters showed up?” He snickered.
Shit. I had no idea what picture he was talking about, but I didn’t have a good feeling about it. I pulled over to the side of the road and took my phone out of the hands-free cradle. “Listen. I need to run into the insurance broker’s office, so I have to hang up.”
“Alright, yeah. I’ll talk to—”
I swiped off before he’d even finished his sentence and typed into the Google search bar: Beaufort fire.
Sure enough, the picture he’d been referring to popped up.
Jesus Christ. I raked my hand through my hair. That did not look good. Thankfully, my bonehead brother didn’t even recognize his ex-fiancée’s legs. The photo showed Presley from the back, but her entire body was wrapped in my Broncos blanket, including the back of her head. So the only thing you could see was the rear of her bare legs. It was easy to assume she was naked under the fleece, and I stood close, with one hand on her arm, looking down at her. And of course, I’d given her my shirt, so I was shirtless. The shot captured what looked like a pretty intimate moment. I scanned the headline underneath the photo: Levi Miller and mystery woman get cozy as family’s historic B&B goes up in flames.
I shut my eyes. Great. Just freaking great.
***
After I picked Presley up, I showed her the news article and gave her a heads up on what Tanner had said while we drove to the insurance broker to open a fire-damage claim. Then I drove her home. Her friend was going to drop off Alex soon, and she wanted to break the news about the fire before he heard about it from someone else. I’d told her I had a couple of errands to run, and I’d be back in a little while to help deal with the cleanup.
Early this morning, I’d called Ned to tell him what had happened. Obviously there was no need for him to come to apply a second coat of Spackle anymore. I’d asked if he could come take a look at the damage and see what he could do to get us back on track, but he’d said he had a few jobs lined up, and it would be a while before he could get back over to The Palm Inn for any extended period of time. I’d initially thought that was fine, until I watched Presley walk into the house. The look on her face was so defeated.
So I’d decided to stop by and speak to Ned again, this time in person. I knew he had to start a big job at the hardware store in town this afternoon, so that’s where I headed.
“Hey, Mr. Connor,” I called as I entered. “Is Ned here? I saw his truck parked outside.”
“Hey, Levi. Heard about the inn. Sorry, son. I know how much your grandpa loved that place. Hope the damage isn’t too bad.”
“It’s not. We got lucky.”
“Good. Good.” He pointed to the back of the store. “Ned’s in the back storage room. He’s building an extension. Help yourself in.”
I nodded. “Thanks a lot.”
I found Ned with his nose buried in a set of blueprints. “Hey, Ned.”
He offered me his hand. “Levi. How’s it going over at the inn?”
I shook my head. “That’s what I came to talk to you about. Is there any way you could juggle your schedule around to rip out that bedroom again and re-sheetrock it? The entire room, including the ceiling, needs to be done this time, not just the one wall.”
Ned rubbed the back of his neck. “I wish I could, but I’m booked solid for the next month.”
“Could your guys do some overtime, maybe? I’ll pay for it, and I’ll make it worth your while.”
“That’d be pretty expensive, Levi. My guys are paid pretty well, and overtime is double for them.”
“I can afford it.”
He smiled. “I know you can. But I don’t want to take advantage.”
“You wouldn’t be. I’m asking to pay the extra. Maybe your guys can come in the evening, when they’re all done here for the day.”
Ned still looked on the fence. So I thought I should sweeten the pot.
“And I’ll get you and your entire crew box seats on the fifty-yard line when the Broncos play the Panthers next year.”
Ned’s brows jumped. “Wow. Box seats. I’d have to run it by my guys, but my guess is they won’t pass up double time and seats on the fifty. Hell, they might’ve done it just for seats on the fifty and a few autographed balls.”
“Now you tell me.” I laughed. “I’m joking. I’m happy to pay the overtime and get them seats. Do we have a deal?”
“I have to talk to my guys. They’re over at another job right now. But I’m sure they’ll say yes with that offer.”
“Great. Will you let me know for sure?”
“Give me an hour. I’ll call you.”
“I appreciate that.”
Ned smiled. “I’m glad to see you decided to keep the inn. I’d heard through the grapevine that you were thinking about putting it up for sale.”
Had I decided to keep the place? Fuck if I knew. But I didn’t want Presley to give up. I extended my hand to Ned and avoided confirming my intentions. “Thanks again, Ned.”
On my way back to the inn, I made some phone calls and managed to book one of those fire-damage-restoration places that could start this afternoon. When I walked into The Palm, I found Presley sitting at the kitchen table. Her shoulders were slumped, and she looked lost in thought.
“Alex take the news about the fire okay?”
She nodded. “He wanted to see the room because he’d never seen a house that caught fire before. I debated showing him, because the charred walls look ominous, and I wasn’t sure if it would scare him. But he thought it was cool and asked if he could bring some friends over to check it out.”
I smiled. “That sounds about right for his age. You gotta show your buddies anything gross, scary, or wrecked. It’s sort of an unwritten rule.”
Presley smiled, but it didn’t quite reach her eyes. So I pulled out the chair across from her, flipped it around, and straddled it. “Alex is okay, but it seems his mother isn’t. Talk to me. What’s going on in that head of yours?”
She sighed and shook her head. “I don’t know. I guess I’m just second-guessing, well, everything.”
“You mean about the inn?”
She nodded. “And the move, in general. I think I might’ve bitten off more than I can chew here, Levi.”
It would’ve been so easy to get her to agree to sell the place today. Hell, the fire damage probably wouldn’t even matter to the developer who had made an offer, since he was going to tear it down. But I couldn’t let Presley feel like she’d failed. She needed this, for more reasons than just a better life for her son.
“You didn’t bite off more than you could chew. It was just a little setback, that’s all. I stopped off and spoke to Ned, and his guys are going to come start gutting that room tonight. We’ll be back on track in a few days.”
“But he said he had job after job lined up?”
“He does. But his crew is going to work nights here. Which reminds me, it’s probably best if everyone finds somewhere to stay for at least a few more days. They’ll be banging away here. Oh, and I also hired a fire-restoration company to clean up all the soot and stuff. They should be here early this afternoon.”
She searched my face. “Why are you helping me when you’d rather sell the inn?”
I shook my head. “I don’t know. Maybe it’s because I like a good fight. It’s not really a true win unless both teams are firing on all cylinders. If you bow out now, I won’t get the chance to beat you fair and square.”
Presley smiled. “I don’t believe you.”
“What do you mean, you don’t believe me?”
“I’ve watched you trample teams that have their third-string quarterbacks in because of injuries. You don’t go easy just because you like a fair fight. You know what I think?”
“What?”
Presley got up and walked over to where I sat. Leaning down, she kissed my cheek. “I think you’re helping me because you’re a good guy.” She stood and took a deep breath. “I’ll be right back. I’m going to go get my to-do list.”
I watched her walk away—her beautiful ass swinging from side to side. Once it was out of sight, I looked up at the ceiling. Not so sure you’d think I’m a good guy if you knew what I was thinking right now.
