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“But getting a job’s going to be a problem,” Chloe muttered absently as she worried her bottom lip between her teeth, seeming to think it over while Cole sat there, congratulating himself on coming up with the perfect solution to their problem.
She was a pain in his ass.
She was always so damn stubborn and so goddamn determined to do this all on her own. She never let him help her, refused to even consider asking for help, and now…
He had her exactly where he wanted her.
Chloe knew it judging by the way that her eyes narrowed on him as she worried her bottom lip between her teeth while she debated her options, which, if he was correct, weren’t that many. She could either take him up on his offer or continue struggling to hold it together and that just wasn’t going to work for him.
Not anymore.
She would probably hate him, but he was good with that, Cole decided as he helped himself to a handful of popcorn while he waited for her to finish debating her next move. When she grumbled incoherently to herself a moment later, he had to force himself to bite back a smile, knowing that it would only piss off the adorable teenage girl glaring at him.
So, instead, Cole helped himself to another handful of popcorn, and after deciding to give her another moment when he realized that her gaze was now flickering between him and the fire poker leaning against the wall, he got up and headed back to the kitchen. After helping himself to a bag of chocolate chip cookies that she’d hidden behind the box of oatmeal, Cole made his way to the fridge and-
“What’s the plan?”
-couldn’t help but smile as he grabbed a Coke.
“I’m glad you asked,” Cole murmured, taking his time opening the Coke and took a sip while he considered her for a moment. When her right eye twitched along with that delicate muscle in her jaw, he decided that he’d dragged this out long enough.
“I’ll cover the parts and do the repairs with a twenty percent markup to cover my time in exchange for one hour of your time for every ten dollars doing whatever I want,” Cole said, watching as her gaze turned calculating.
“Ten percent markup, twenty dollars an hour, and I get veto power on every disturbing request that brings you one step closer to being buried alive in that shallow grave that Katie’s been working on all summer,” Chloe said as she folded her arms over her chest and went for an intimidating glare that was just too goddamn adorable for words.
Absently nodding, Cole took a sip of Coke as he made a show of thinking that over. “Twenty percent markup, twenty dollars an hour, and you can have two vetoes, and now you can also make me a sandwich to make up for hurting my feelings,” he countered, watching as she narrowed her beautiful blue eyes on him.
“Hurting your feelings?” Chloe repeated back slowly as she continued glaring at him.
“For the shallow grave comment,” Cole said with a sad shake of his head and a long-suffering sigh. “It was hurtful.”
Chloe opened her mouth, most likely to explain in minute detail how she was going to drag his body out back, only to end up closing her eyes in defeat and slowly exhale when Katie yelled, “Deal!” from the other room.
“I knew that I should have locked her in a closet for this meeting,” Chloe said, reaching up to rub her temples with her fingertips.
“You really should have.”
CHAPTER20
“You’re late,” Mikey said with a heartfelt sigh as she pushed away from Uncle Trevor’s truck only to find herself frowning when something in his bedroom window caught her attention. “Is…is that Jonathan?” she asked, trying to make sense of what she was seeing.
“He wanted to see us off,” Sebastian drawled while she stood there staring up at the teenage boy who normally went out of his way to make their lives a living hell.
“Is he duct-taped to the window?” Mikey asked, taking in all the duct tape securing Jonathan to the window before shifting her gaze back to his face and-
“And screaming from the looks of it,” Sebastian said dryly, not really sounding all that concerned as Mikey noted that he’d doubled-taped his brother’s mouth shut.
“You want to tell me why you felt the need to tape your brother to your bedroom window?” Mikey asked as she pulled her phone out and snapped a picture, knowing that it would put a smile on her face later.
“Because it entertained me,” Sebastian said, grabbing the back of her sweatshirt and gave it a gentle tug that had her reluctantly following him.
“And?” Mikey asked, sliding her phone back into her pocket.
“That’s not enough?” Sebastian asked, sounding distracted as he released her sweatshirt and headed towards the sidewalk.
“I suppose it is,” Mikey murmured as she threw him a curious look.
“Nothing’s going on,” Sebastian said with a heavy sigh.
