Power Drilled (Roommates, #8)(20)

“Just keep it simple,” Jackson repeated while Reid smacked Hunter on the back of his head.

“Thank you all for doing this.” It was clear it wasn’t going to be easy, but I couldn’t wait to show up with such a hot guy. Tanya’s eyes would probably bug out of her head. But it wasn’t about showing off. It was about getting through this week. I’d been miserable earlier, despite how entertaining my new great aunt was. But the rest of it had been awful, especially seeing Jeff and Tanya together.

“If someone asks what our job is, just say we’re contractors,” Reid advised. “And how are we going to say we met?”

My face flamed. “Not at an art class.”

Jackson looked amused. “We could say I was a student there.”

No way. I just couldn’t face my family while thinking about what Jackson looked like naked. “How about we say Lila introduced us?”

Reid shook his head. “Too risky. We’d have to be able to speak knowledgeably about your friend, and we don’t know her.”

“Penny doesn’t know us,” Hunter pointed out.

“That’s why we keep things simple, like Jackson said. Don’t volunteer information or we might screw up,” Reid said sternly. “This is Penny’s family, not a math class.”

“Right,” Jackson said. “The stakes are high for her. But I think we have to use the art class. Let’s just say that I showed up at the end of your art class so that I could take my buddy Carl out for a beer, and that’s when I met you. Sound good?”

I nodded. As much as I didn’t want to think about the art class and nude models when I was around my family, it probably was the easiest explanation. Besides, Jackson and Reid’s support had me nearly blinking back tears. These men didn’t know me or owe me anything, yet they were stepping up, big time. “Thank you all for doing this.”

Hunter winked. “Don’t thank us until you see how we do. And speaking of that, tomorrow night’s the dance, right?”

“Right.”

“I thought people danced at the reception.” Reid looked bemused.

“They do, but this thing tomorrow night is to meet and greet out-of-town friends and relatives who flew in for the week.” Between Matthew’s family and ours, there were a lot of people coming to the wedding.

“I thought that’s what that thing today was,” Jackson said, but then he shook his head. “It doesn’t matter—we just want to know the score so that we don’t screw things up.”

“I won’t screw up dancing,” Hunter said. “Plus, you two have that walk-through. So I guess I’m up first?”

Truth be told, I felt the most comfortable with Jackson, but I was already imposing on these men. “Sounds good.”

Jackson didn’t seem so certain. “Just remember, it’s a family event, not a nightclub in Miami.”

“You think I don’t know that?” Hunter sounded offended.

“He means no dirty dancing,” Reid said.

“And keep your hands to yourself,” Jackson added.

“Clearly, neither of you understand how dancing works, but yeah, I get the message,” Hunter said. He gave me what he seemed to think was an innocent smile.

Spoiler alert: it wasn’t.

Tomorrow evening was going to be really interesting.



After our late dinner, Jackson drove me to my place in an SUV, not the truck he’d brought to the art class the other night. It seemed like so long ago, probably because things were changing so fast. Three days ago, I hadn’t even met Jackson. Now I was going to be spending the night in an empty house with him and his brothers.

But the changes began before that. For a while, I knew things were wrong in my relationship with Jeff, but I didn’t know exactly why. Then I spent a week with Lila out in the countryside, which Jeff wasn’t happy about. From then on out, everything happened so quickly. Lila met the men of her dreams. Jeff became even more secretive. Then he told me there was someone else. Then I found out who.

It felt like my regularly scheduled life was now trapped on a roller coaster, and I didn’t know when or where it would stop.

Jackson turned off the highway and looked over at me as we stopped at a light. “You don’t have to be nervous about tonight.”

“I’m not,” I said automatically.

“You can sleep in the back bedroom, and no one will bother you. We can be gentlemen if we have to.”

Yesterday, the thought of me staying with them was preposterous. Now it wasn’t even my biggest worry about the weekend. “I’m actually more worried about tomorrow night.”

“Ah.” Jackson nodded as he drove down the dark road. “I wish I could be the one to go.”

I wished that too, but I didn’t want to insult his brother.

“The thing is, tomorrow evening Reid and I will do a walk-through and make a big order of the supplies we think we’ll need for the rest of the week.”

“You mean you’re getting even more stuff?” That was hard to believe since there were piles of lumber everywhere.

“Once we really get going on the house, we don’t have time to run to the hardware store twice a day.”

Which meant they also didn’t have time to go to my family events. But I didn’t say that. I doubted I could get through the week without them.