Power Drilled (Roommates, #8)(18)

Anger filled me. They were acting like I’d made up my boyfriend. Which, of course, was true, but I didn’t want them to know that. And you’d think after all they put me through, they could give me the benefit of the doubt.

Tanya watched my face and her expression sharpened. “Maybe she’s just afraid he’ll get snatched up by another bridesmaid, too.”

My jaw dropped, but I couldn’t seem to draw a breath. It felt like the wind had been knocked out of me. Tanya and Jeff stared at me, not giving me any privacy to recover from their cruel words. Finally, I stood up. “I think we’re done here.” My voice was shaky, but I suddenly wondered what a woman like Aunt Evelyn would say if she was treated like this. “I think other couples are better suited to give relationship advice to Claire and Matthew.”

Shock showed on Tanya’s face, but just for a second. She pulled Jeff to his feet, wrapping her arm through his possessively. Then she gave me a smirk and led him away.

I wanted to go hide somewhere and never see anyone from my family again, but when I turned, the woman I’d just channeled was right there.

“Nice one,” Aunt Evelyn said. But then she raised a drawn-on eyebrow that matched her dyed red hair. “But you’d better get that new man of yours to come to the dance tomorrow night even if he has to quit his job to do it. Those two need to be put in their place.”

She had a point.

I thought about it as I wandered the resort after the luncheon was over. And I thought about it when I checked out the room with a king-sized bed that had been assigned to me.

Then I found a taxi—a real one, not a ride service—and gave the driver an address I’d only been to once before.

A gorgeous, shirtless man opened the door after my fifth knock. I didn’t know which triplet he was, and I didn’t care.

“Does the offer still stand?” I asked.

Whoever he was—Jackson, Reid, or Hunter—just smiled and held the door open for me.





7





PENNY





“So what do you think?” Jackson asked. We were sitting at the rickety table out back eating Chinese takeout that Hunter had ordered.

“It’s good. I like the sweet and sour pork.”

Jackson—and I knew it was him because of the pencil behind his ear—laughed. “About the house, not the food.”

He’d been the one to give me the grand tour after I showed up in the early afternoon. That was hours ago, though. It was after ten now—these guys really did work long hours.

“It’s, ah, dusty.”

Reid nodded. “There’s a supply of masks with the toolboxes if you ever need one.”

He said toolboxes, but from what I’d seen today, one entire bedroom was filled with all their equipment.

“You can always come out here if you need fresh air,” Jackson added. The backyard wasn’t the prettiest thing ever, but yeah, fresh air was nice. Especially right now when it was scented by delicious food.

I’d taken lots of footage today, and I was eager to get started editing, but first, I needed my tools which included my laptop and editing software. Jackson was going to drive me back to my place to get that and everything I’d need for the week since I hadn’t exactly been planning to sleep over here.

“What I don’t get is what you’re doing with the ceiling in the living room.” Between when I’d left yesterday and gotten here today, the triplets had taken out a large patch of the ceiling in the living room. Now, the rafters in the attic were clearly visible.

Jackson addressed Hunter, who had his shirt off again. Or maybe he’d never put one on today. “Want to explain it? It’s your project.”

“But it’s your design,” Hunter said.

Curious, I looked over at Reid. “What’s your role in the mysterious hole in the ceiling?” Now that I was part of the team, I wanted to know more about how these guys operated.

“I make sure we don’t go over budget,” Reid said. “Oh, and I got the permits, too.”

“You need permits to renovate a house?”

“For significant changes, yes.”

“Reid’s the king of getting permits approved—even last-minute ones,” Jackson said. “Anyway, we wanted vaulted ceilings in the living room. That’s a popular feature many buyers want.”

That made sense, but… “Aren’t those rafters needed to keep the roof up?”

Jackson grinned. “Some of them. It’s our job to know which ones. Well, Hunter’s job.”

Somehow, I wasn’t entirely comfortable with the thought of Hunter being in charge of keeping the roof from crashing down on our heads. Jackson seemed to think highly of his skills, but so far, all I’d observed was Hunter tearing things down with his sledgehammer. And staring. That was another thing he seemed to do a lot of.

Staring at me, to be precise. Not in a leering way, not exactly, but… well, I couldn’t quite get a read on him. All I knew was that it had been a long time since Jeff had looked at me like that.

A really long time.

“Okay, but then what’s going on over the master bedroom? Will there be vaulted ceilings there, too?”

“We’re building a loft up there,” Jackson said. “It can be an extra bedroom.”