After everything, it’s just a little unnerving being in his presence. I still feel like that little girl who wants his attention. If Xander wasn’t here, I wouldn’t have come at all.
I wouldn’t have felt that I was welcome.
Chapter Three
The next day, I open the door, surprised to see Reid standing there. And that he actually knocked for once.
“You knocked,” I say, stepping aside for him to enter.
“Yeah, well, it was locked for once.” He grins at me. Oh, right.
I walk in front of him to the kitchen. “Xander’s not here.”
“Where did he go?” he asks, opening the fridge and helping himself to a bottle of water.
“Gym.”
“Right, I’m heading there now so I’ll catch up with him then,” he says, his eyebrows scrunching together.
“Are you okay?” I ask.
“Yeah. How are you settling in?” he asks, looking like he genuinely wants to know.
“Great, actually. Feels like I’ve known Xander my entire life.” I smile fondly, thinking about my brother.
“Yeah, he can’t stop talking about you,” Reid says, running his finger absently along his scarred jaw line. “Do you maybe want to…” he trails off, staring at me.
“What?” I ask warily, when his gaze doesn’t budge.
He clears his throat. “You look… beautiful today.”
Wait, did he just say that? “Umm. Thank you,” I reply, looking down at my frayed denim shorts and white singlet top. I glance up to see his eyes on my thighs.
“Reid,” I say, smiling when he trails his gaze from my thighs to my face, his perusal bold. “Not one for subtlety, are you?”
He leans down onto the kitchen bench, his lip twitching. “I can’t help it. It’s been so long since I’ve seen something I wanted this bad.”
“Umm,” I mumble, the look on his face leaving me incoherent. I don’t think any man has ever looked at me like that. Like he’s dying of thirst and I’m the iced water. I shift on my feet under his scrutiny.
“You’re not so bad yourself,” I finally reply, leaning on the bench, so our elbows are almost touching.
He tilts his head, regarding me. “I told you… trouble.”
I roll my eyes. “How so?”
“I’m standing here right now, watching you. Pretended I came here to see Xander, when I knew he was already gone, just so I could get a few minutes alone with you. I can’t seem to stop thinking about you. Trouble.”
My eyes widen in surprise. “You came here to see me?”
“I did, and now I can see it was a mistake. You’re not for me, Summer, I shouldn’t have come here,” he says, pulling back to stand straight. His eyes are now shuttered, his expression closed off.
Having no idea what to say to that, I stay quiet.
“I gotta head to the gym,” he says, turning his back on me and leaving.
*****
My first week living with Xander passes quickly. He goes to work, or goes to the gym with the guys. Most days they come here to hang out, and I cook us all dinner. They act like they haven’t had a home cooked meal in years, and it feels good to be making myself useful in the house.
Reid doesn’t come over as much as Dash and Ryan, and when he does, he's his usual charming self. We never mention him coming to see me. Sometimes I catch him staring at me when he thinks I’m not looking, but then his trademark scowl takes over, and then I think I imagined the moment we had when he came over altogether.
I glance down and look at the newspaper once more, hoping I missed something. There are hardly any jobs available for an unskilled worker like me. I was hoping for a waitressing job or something like that, any place that would take me on.
Giving up on the job ads, I decide to fill out my application for the course I want to do. After changing my mind several times, I’ve settled on nursing. I’ve heard it’s a very competitive course to get into, but I have good high school grades, so hopefully it will be enough for me to gain entry to the Tafe course. After that I can continue on to University, which is my plan.
“What are you doing?” Xander asks as he walks in, shirtless and sweaty. He went for a run about an hour ago. That must have been one long ass run.
“I was looking for a job, but nothing. So now I’m filling out the Tafe forms,” I tell him, looking back down at the application.
“Why don’t you ask Reid or Ryan for a job?” he says, shrugging like it’s no big deal.
“Why would I ask them?”
“They own a bar. You could work there whenever you wanted, it'd be flexible for you with school, and there'd be people there to keep an eye on you,” he says, lifting a brow.
“I didn’t know they owned a bar,” I grumble, not wanting to ask Reid for anything. “And why do I need someone to keep an eye on me?”
Xander shrugs. “Dad has a motorcycle shop you could work in, too. I work there a few days a week. And because you’re beautiful, and new to town.”
My eyes widen. That I did not know. Why did he seem so evasive about it before? “I’m sure I’ll find something, and I don’t need a babysitter.”
“Stubborn.” He chuckles. “The Kanes are all stubborn.”
“Apparently.”
“Yep, it’s a fact,” he says, smiling.
“I’m sure the Kanes are a lot of things,” I say with a smirk.