Page 4 of Rival Hearts

Something banged against my front door—likely a fist. The dogs stirred around me but didn’t bark. I grabbed the worn jeans off the floor next to my mattress and yanked them on. The pounding continued, and I held in another sigh. Could only be one person. That level of annoying persistence was special.

Opening my door, I leaned my bare shoulder into the edge and waved Kelvin into the house. Stepping past me, Kelvin glanced around the run-down entrance while Hite and Zeus circled him.

“I called you.”

“I know.”

“You should have answered.” Kelvin sounded pissed, but when he half turned to look at me, his white teeth flashed in his brown face, taking the edge off his words.

I should have answered, but I couldn’t get my head wrapped around seeing Maggie again. I’d known we’d run into each other eventually. Inevitable, given how small the town was. Last night had been unexpected, but I couldn’t decide if it was unwelcome. “I was getting my head on straight.”

“It’s always a little crooked. Why should today be any different?” Kelvin turned around in the foyer taking in all the decay. “You dozing this place to the ground or what? You’re probably getting a lung disease sleeping in here.”

I chuckled and shrugged. “I’ve slept in worse places. Why are you here so early?” I squinted into the bright sunlight before closing the door.

“You called me last night and said you were running for mayor and needed a wingman.”

A deeper, stronger laugh escaped. “I did what?”

“Yeah, man. You said stick-up-her-ass-Maggie couldn’t get a second term without having to work for it.”

I shook my head. I shouldn’t have done those shots with Sabrina, my ex-girlfriend from high school. At least I hadn’t brought her home. Not that she didn’t try. Not that I didn’t consider it.

For a moment, my mind rewound to Sabrina’s hand sliding up my leg, massaging my inner thigh. I’d looked at her and thought,Should I? Then, she gave a high-pitched drunken giggle, and I decided I should not. Sober Grady was very happy drunk Grady led with the right head. I didn’t come to Little Falls to slip into old habits. None of those habits had brought me any happiness the first time around. Anger. Depression. The one lick of happiness was forever tainted.

“Let me grab a shirt, and we can get breakfast.” A pack of gum sat on the landing of the chipped wooden stairs that divided the house, and I grabbed it, tossing a piece into my mouth. “Want one?”

“You’re going to brush your teeth, right? I’m a fucking dentist. You’re not going to do this to me, are you?”

I grinned and chewed a little louder, rolling the piece of gum around my mouth, pretending to coat my teeth with it. “No running water at the moment. I need to buy more bottled water today. Used the last bottle for the dog dish.” True, but it was also fun to fuck with Kelvin a little—he’d become too uptight for his own good.

“You need to bulldoze this place.”

“The house was a good deal.” Crossing into the living room, I threw my shirt over my head and called back to Kelvin. “Breakfast?”

“Man, I’m on my lunch hour. It’s lunch.”

“Whatever.” Sometimes I forgot other people worried about keeping track of their day. In all the years I’d traveled, I’d worked on whatever schedule suited me. From the minute I leftLittle Falls after winningCenter Stage, I’d drifted. Buying this house was the first time I dropped anchor. “Is that a yes?”

“Only if we walk past the office and I can grab you a toothbrush and toothpaste. I cannot sit across from you knowing you’ve got all that bacteria and shit coating your teeth.”

“You and Maggie could make little stick children with all your rules. I imagine you don’t have much competition for her.”

“I’m gay, Grady. Remember?”

I squinted at Kelvin in mock surprise and then grinned. “I’m just fucking with you. I was the first person you told. Always considered that an honor.” I slapped him on the back. We’d been drunk during our last year of high school when Kelvin had burst out with his sexual orientation. I’d suspected long before Kelvin told me, which was why I’d never given him a hard time about dating girls, or who he’d slept with, or any of the other shit most of the guys in our circle had been preoccupied with at the time. With my index finger, I banished the dogs back to the mattress and walked out the door in front of Kelvin. “Lead the way Mr. OCD. The toothbrush awaits no man.”

“You can be a real prick sometimes.” Kelvin slipped out the door behind me. “You locking this?”

“No. That mattress is heavy. If some robber can get it out the door, they earned it. Besides, I’ve heard from a few people Hite and Zeus are intimidating when I’m not around.”

“They are big mutts—got some husky or German shepherd in there somewhere,” Kelvin agreed.

The two of us walked in silence for a minute before I said, “Maggie’s little friend called me that last night.”

“She called you a mutt?”

“No, a prick.” My mind ticked through the night before. “Whatisher name? I kept looking at her, and it was driving me nuts. I don’t remember a cute Asian girl hanging around Maggie in high school.”

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