Page 117 of Story of My Life
I’d spent another nearly sleepless night fighting my baser instincts as they’d played an endless montage of all the naked things I could have been doing with Hazel.
Which was why I was sitting at the curb in front of Heart House, debating the merits of being a lying coward and telling my brothers I was too hungover to work today. If I said I was sick, it would get back to my mother, who would show up at my apartment with chicken soup, a bag of cold and flu meds, and a lot of unnecessary motherly advice.
The only thing stopping me from taking the coward’s way out was the fact that Levi and Gage were already inside. And both of them had already shown too keen an interest in Hazel. MaybeIwasn’t in the market for a relationship, but that didn’t mean I was going to step back and let one of them try to start one.
I’d kissed her first.
My gaze slid to her book on my dashboard. The second in her series since I’d already finished the first.
Christ on a cracker. I’d just gone too long without sex. That’s all. It wasn’t like I was infatuated with the infuriating woman. I just liked the way she felt and tasted…the way she laughed.
“Fuck me,” I muttered, wrestling my seat belt off.
I grabbed my belt and bucket from the bed of the truck and stomped into the house. There was no sign of Hazel, not that I was specifically looking for her.
“Look who finally decided to join us,” Gage said when I shoved back the plastic tarp acting as a curtain to the demolished kitchen. He was irritatingly chipper this morning.
I grunted at him.
Levi grunted back.
“Got a little more demo left in here, which we’ll finish up today. The cabinet crew is swinging by this afternoon to take measurements. Figured we can finish up the bathroom and closet demo upstairs. Least we can once our sleepyhead client wakes up,” Gage noted.
The woman thought she could leavemesleepless while she caught up on her z’s? I didn’t think so. I picked up the sledgehammer.
“Where you goin’ with that?” Levi asked lazily.
I didn’t respond. I took the stairs two at a time to the second floor and strode into the bedroom behind Hazel’s. After a quick check to make sure the water was turned off to the en suite’s busted sink, I donned my safety glasses, wound up, and let the hammer fly through the warped vanity.
The entire thing dislodged from the wall with a satisfying crash. I swung again, this time striking the god-awful bubble-gum-pink wall tile. It shattered, sending shards of octagonal porcelain in all directions.
“Ugh! What. The.Hell?” came a muffled cry through the wall.
Smugly, I took another swing, sending the head of the sledgehammer through the plaster. I was winding up again when I heard footsteps.
“What is wrong with you?” Hazel demanded from the doorway.
Her hair was exploding out of a braid. Her glasses were on crooked, and she was wearing either the shortest pair of shorts in the world or a pair of underwear and a David Bowie tank. I was suddenly regretting my decision to interrupt her sleep.
“A lot of things. Nothing a good night’s sleep won’t cure.”
“I could murder you right now,” she said, taking a step toward me, but I met her in the doorway and blocked her path.
“You’re barefoot, and there are pieces of tile everywhere.”
“Whose fault is that?” She scrubbed her hands over her face. “What time is it?”
“Seven-thirty.”
“Are you freaking kidding me? I just went to sleep three hours ago, you ass.”
I suddenly felt much more cheerful than I had a few moments ago. Vindication would do that to a person. “You knew we were coming to do loud construction work on your house. This is what you signed up for.”
“There isn’t enough Pepsi in the world for this,” Hazel grumbled. She turned on her heel and stumbled into the doorframe.
I caught her and steered her into the hallway.
“What the hell, Cammy?” Gage said, stopping short. Levi ran into his back.
