Power Drilled (Roommates, #8)(44)

I gave a faint smile. “I’ve been trying to avoid drama where I can. Even so, every time I set foot in that hotel, people give me that “Poor Penny” look. I swear, even some of the hotel staff are doing that.”

“In my opinion, it’s less “Poor Penny” and more why the hell did a woman like you stay with a man like that for so long?”

That wasn’t something I wanted to get into tonight. “Just stupidity.”

“I don’t believe that.”

I sighed and looked out the window again. But then I couldn’t keep my mouth shut. “He wasn’t like that in the beginning.”

Half of me expected Jackson to argue. For him to say that leopards don’t change their spots or whatever the saying was. But instead, he just nodded.

“I figured.”

“Really? You believe me?”

“Yes. And you want to know why?”

“Why?”

“Because you’re not stupid.”

His simple statement had me blinking back tears. “It—it feels like an excuse sometimes to say that he changed. But that’s what it felt like at the time.”

“And now?” he prompted.

“Now I think I missed a hell of a lot of red flags.”

Jackson patted my thigh. “It happens. One of the first houses we bought was a real lemon. We had it inspected and thought we were buying a place with potential, but it had problem after problem. That was the only time we ever sold a house at a loss.”

“You sold it for less than you bought it for?”

“No, but we didn’t recoup the money we put into fixing it up.”

“That stinks.”

Jackson laughed. “You can say that it sucks.”

“No, I can’t.”

“Anyway, we didn’t make the same mistake twice, and neither will you.”

I sighed. “I wish I was as sure as you were.” I sighed. Then I looked around. “Jackson, we’re nowhere near the restaurant. I never thought you’d be the kind of man who would refuse to admit he’s lost.”

“We’re not lost,” he countered. “We’re just not where you were expecting us to be.”

“Which is?”

“Near the restaurant.”

I shook my head. “Okay, I’ll bite. Why aren’t we near the restaurant?”

He looked over with a wink. “Traditionally, when a woman gets in a car with a strange man and he drives somewhere she’s not expecting, it’s called a kidnapping.”

That was so absurd I had to laugh. “I’m too old to be kidnapped.”

“All right, abducted.”

“And for the record, you’re not a strange man. Or at least no stranger than the two other men who look like you.”

“I’m by far the most normal of the three of us.”

“Yet you’re the one abducting me.” I sighed. The truth was, I wasn’t all that disappointed to miss the meal at the restaurant. “Can I at least text Claire and tell her we won’t be coming? Since you forgot to take my phone at the beginning of the kidnapping, I mean.”

“Sure.” He chuckled. “And I thought we agreed it was an abduction.”

I sent Claire a quick text saying I wasn’t feeling very well and then I put my phone away. “So now can you tell me where we are?”

“Almost back at the house,” he said. “I took the scenic route.”

I squinted out the window, and sure enough, we were on the street where the house was. In fact, I could see the black pickup truck parked on the road in front of us.

Jackson pulled up behind us and turned off the engine. I started to get out, but he stopped me. “Let me. As long as I’m pretending to be Reid, I’ll get the door for you.”

“I thought you were pretending to be a kidnapper,” I grumbled when he opened the door for me.

“Yes, but a polite one.”

I couldn’t help but laugh, as we walked across the lawn to the dark house. “Do you think they’re asleep?”

Jackson shrugged. “We’ve all been working some pretty long hours.”

They had. Even me. But editing videos late at night didn’t compare to the intense physical labor these men did. Even Reid. He definitely didn’t spend all day crunching numbers.

“I like that you guys don’t come from a gym.”

Jackson stopped on the front step. “Come again?”

“Your muscles.” I ran my fingers from his forearm to his bicep. “Your muscles don’t come from a gym, they come from the physical work you do.”

Jackson donned a smug smile that made him look like Hunter. “Are you flirting with me, Penny?”

“Maybe.”

“Remind me to buy you drinks more often.”

“Okay.”

He chuckled and held the door open for me. The living room was dark, and when he reached for the light switch, nothing happened. He swore under his breath. “If one of the contractors damaged the electrical system, there’s going to be hell to pay. That was one of the few things that didn’t need much work.”

I turned on the flashlight on my phone and used the light to make sure I didn’t trip over any piles of lumber.