“Out in the field,” Caden said, wiping sweat from his brow.
“We’re not federal officers,” I said.
“No shit. I mean, literally. We’re out in the field today. Fucking sawing down trees and loading them onto trucks.”
“I know. We’ve been doing it for four hours.”
He frowned. “I just can’t believe they stuck me out here. I’m not the beast that you are. What the hell do they expect me to do?”
“Cushion the fall of tree limbs?” I asked.
“So, you’re a terrible friend.”
“Why?”
“You didn’t tell me how things with that chick went.”
“What chick?” I asked.
“You know. The redhead from the bar. Don’t tell me you already forgot about her.”
“Oh. Her.”
“Yeah. Her. I take it she wasn’t very good.”
“I don’t know,” I said. “It was okay, I guess.”
“Which is code for, ‘she didn’t know how to suck dick.’”
I shrugged. “More like, she was a real pain in the ass. She didn’t want to take the hint when we were done.”
His eyes glistened with amusement. “Oh, shit. You let her sleep over, didn’t you?”
“How could you possibly know that?”
“What kind of fit did she throw? Was it massive? Did she break something? Oh, oh, oh. Did she try to cook you breakfast?”
“She offered, but I told her no.”
“Did she try to persuade you to let her stay with sex?”
“Don’t they always?”
“Damn, I really thought she was just in it for some fun,” he said.
“They never are, Caden. We’ve had this talk a million times.”
“Yeah, yeah, yeah. You think women are trying to change you from a broken bad boy into a suburban husband who dicks them well between the sheets at night.”
“Yep.”
“So, I take it you’re not following up with her?” he asked.
“I can’t even remember her name, dude. So, no.”
“You really are a hardcore son of a bitch,” he said, chuckling. “Now, are we gonna eat, or what the fuck?”
We grabbed our food and found a shady spot to sit in. Lunch was what it was. Two sandwiches, a water, a bag of chips, and some grapes.
Bringing my lunch meant I could turn people down when they asked me to grab lunch with them. I was here to do what was asked of me, earn a paycheck, and go the fuck home. I didn’t want to socialize with the people who reminded me of work. I didn’t want to fuck around with guys who smelled like lumber and asshole.
And I didn’t understand why anyone else would want to.
“You need to be careful with these chicks,” Caden said between bites of his cold hamburger. “If you aren’t, you’ll end up with a kid.”
“Don’t worry. I’m careful when it comes to that kind of shit.”
“Protection careful? Or pull-out careful?”
“I’m just careful,” I said. “And you don’t need to micromanage my sex life.”
“Just looking out for you. No offense, but you’re the last person I see with a kid.”
“No offense taken. I don’t plan on having kids.”
“Because you think your bloodline should die with you?” he asked.
I shot him a death glare as he bit down into his fast-food burger.
“How can you stand that shit?” I asked.
“What? The greasy goodness of the Burger Hut? I don’t understand how you can’t eat it.”
“It’s gross, that’s why.”
“You’re the tea drinking, health food nut, you weirdo.”
“Sorry I keep up my body better than you do,” I said.
Caden looked past me and frowned. “There’s that damn car again.”
I looked up and saw a beat-up, white vehicle cruising by the site. It didn’t look out of place to me, and I rolled my eyes before I took another bite of my sandwich.
“What damn car?” I asked.
“That white car’s been by here three times already.”
“You counting all the white cars that come by today or something? This another business tactic of yours?”
“Dude, I’m serious. It’s driving in the opposite direction right now, but on the right side of the car, there’s a massive dent where something’s scraped the paint off it.”
“Imagine that,” I said. “A beat-up, white car in Brookings.”
“Stop making fun of me and look,” he said.
I looked up and saw the car cruising back by the site. And he was right. The car was traveling down the road, and there was a massive dent in the door. The paint was scraped off, and the hubcap was missing on the front passenger’s side wheel.
As far as beat-up cars went, that one was pretty rough.
“Someone’s checking out the lot,” Caden said.
“Probably another environmentalist pissed off that we’re cutting down poison oak trees.”
“Holy shit. These trees are poison oak?”
Caden started hopping around, and I laughed. He was dusting himself off and scratching his neck, like the poison oak was swirling around in the air or something.
“Dude, I’m getting itchy everywhere,” he said. “You don’t feel that?”
“You idiot. Poison oak isn’t a tree. It’s a vine. At best, it’s a shrub.”
Caden stopped dancing around and threw me a glare before he sat back down and continued eating.
“You’re an idiot,” I said, laughing.
“That wasn’t funny. You’re a dick.”
“Yes, I am. Tomorrow, we’ll wake up, and that protestor stalking the site will have people picketing here. Talking about how we’re demolishing the forest and ruining animals’ homes or some shit.”
“Wow, that’s the most I’ve ever heard you talk,” he said. “You really hate those protesters, don’t you?”
“They’re just annoying. Bored college kids and anxious stay-at-home moms with nothing better to do.”
“That why you don’t want kids? You don’t wanna create another anxious environmental protester?”
I sighed as I saw everyone else returning to the field to get back to work.
“Looks like it’s time to clock back in,” Caden said.
“Sure does,” I said.
The day flew by and not another thought was given to that car. We cut down trees and stacked them onto trucks, making sure to ratchet them down as tightly as we could.
We cleared the entire field before we set a controlled burn to the leaves the trees left behind, and I was glad to not be nominated to stay behind. I was all about overtime, but this past weekend had kicked my ass. All I wanted to do was go home, tinker around on my computer, and pass out.
“Up for going to the bar tonight?” Caden asked.
“You know I don’t drink on work nights,” I said.
“Whoever said you were a bad boy had that shit all wrong,” he said, chuckling. “Catch you tomorrow.”
I shook my head as I climbed into my car, ready for my ass to get home. I was tired, I was hungry, and I was sweaty. I wanted to take a nice hot shower and feel the sweat run off my body. I wanted to order an entire fucking pizza for myself. I wanted to down an entire two-liter of soda without having to share that shit with anyone, and then I wanted to roll over and go the fuck to sleep.
But as I left work, a familiar car pulled out behind me.
It was that beat-up, white car that Caden had seen this morning. The one with the dent and the missing hubcap. The car tailed me off the site and right into town, and I wasn’t about to lead some environmental lunatic to my home. I drove around town and kept my eyes in my rearview mirror, watching as this car made every turn I did. I was two seconds away from pulling over, getting out of my fucking car, and giving them a piece of my damn mind.
But just as I pulled out onto the main road that split Brookings in half, they turned in the other direction. I lost them in my rearview mirror, and they never returned, which brought me a bit of relief.
Though I’d have to keep my eye out for that damn car tomorrow morning.
I went back to my apartment and ordered a pizza. I took a long-ass shower, washing myself down in the piping-hot water. I steamed up the room so badly, I couldn’t see anything in the mirror, and I sighed with relief as I moved past it.
I hated looking up into that thing in the mornings.
My food arrived just as I pulled a pair of jeans on, and this cute little pizza girl was standing at the door. Her eyes connected with my chest and danced all over my tattoos before they descended onto my abs.
I grinned at her shocked expression as I took in her beautiful features. She was skinny, which wasn’t my type. Her black hair was long, and her dark brown eyes were wide. She looked up at me with a breathless expression as I took my food from her. Then I set it on the table by the door so I could sign the receipt she had for me.
“I, uh, hope you enjoy your food,” she said.
“Would you like a slice?”
“What?” she asked.
My eyes connected with hers, and I watched as she squeezed her thighs together.
“Would you like a slice?” I asked.
She looked around, like someone was supposed to be watching her before she looked back up at me. I saw her car downstairs, the headlights still on and the car still running. She bit down onto her cute little lip, dragging it between her white teeth before her eyes looked back up at me.
“You’re crazy,” she said.
But her eyes lit up, and I knew I could have her if I wanted her. Sometimes that’s all I wanted. Just to know I could have any woman I wanted— and I was always right.
I picked up the food and drink I’d ordered and set it on the counter before I turned around to leave. There were so many things I could do to this woman.
But it would have to wait for another time because I needed to get home and get some rest. The last thing I needed was another crazy cling-on like the one who had just left my cabin by force.