All Broke Down (Rusk University #2)(37)
Author: Cora Carmack

Henry tugs hard on the board, and his hands slip, sending his crowbar tumbling to the ground.

“Here. Let me.”

I step in front of him and pry it off with one hard pull.

His expression looks like he’s been run over a few times, and I figure I’ve made my point and can get started on replacing the siding in my section.

He may have had her for years, but I’ve got her now.

Or I’m going to. I’ll prove to her that I’m worth her time. If I don’t, I’m just as big a dumbass as he is.

Chapter 14

Dylan

I finish the first task I’m on, helping to repair the handrail on the stairs at the back of the house. Greg assigns me to start removing some kind of creeping vine that’s taken over one side of the house, and tells me to look around for a partner who’s not busy. I find Silas at the water cooler, in the middle of pulling up his shirt to wipe at the sweat on his forehead.

I forget how to walk at the sight of his stomach. I just stop halfway across the yard and stare. It’s not like I haven’t seen it before. Totally got up close and personal with it (with a lot of him) yesterday. But there’s something about seeing just a peek of it that unravels my brain. His jeans also hang perfectly on his hipbones, and I swear if I snapped a picture I could sell it to some magazine or clothing designer. He looks that good without even trying.

I watch him take a drink of water and I think for the hundredth time that I’m a jerk. I feel awful for what I said to him earlier. It’s all I thought about while I worked. The way his expression locked up and he wouldn’t look at me—I’m drowning in guilt. Here I am wanting to help this guy because I see something in him, something worth protecting and cultivating, and instead I stomp all over it.

And why? For Henry? To keep the walls up between my two worlds? Or maybe it’s because where my jail buddy is concerned, my control is a frayed thread that could snap at the slightest provocation.

Maybe I want it to snap, and that terrifies me.

I take a deep breath and with my head down, march over to the water cooler. I spend a few moments filling up a cup to let myself adjust to his nearness, to the fact that he didn’t move back even an inch when I stepped up beside him.

“How’s it going?” I ask, my head still down.

“Fine. Though your ex has the upper-body strength of a T. rex.”

I bark out a laugh and nearly drop my water. And I keep laughing because it’s so true. When I moved into my apartment, Henry was completely useless. I cover my mouth while I struggle to get myself under control, and Silas’s smile is so warm and gentle, it feels almost like our last conversation didn’t happen.

With the sun beating down on his back, his hair seems more golden than normal, and he really is unfairly gorgeous.

“You still busy? I’ve got a new project that I need some help with.”

My eyes are drawn to his Adam’s apple again as he takes another drink. That freaking thing is going to be my downfall.

“No, I’m done. With my part anyway. Henry might be here until nightfall.”

I close my eyes and bite back a smile. Feeling a little vindictive over an ex is normal, right? Totally valid.

“Come on, then.”

I lead him back to the section of the house we’re supposed to clear from vines. They’ve crept their way from a nearby tree, all the way up to the gutters. Silas whistles. “I think we’re gonna need a ladder.”

I nod. “I’ll go see if I can find one.”

He touches my shoulder to stop me. “I got it.” Then just for a moment, he tucks a stray hair behind my ear, and his fingers linger on my neck. As he leaves, I can’t help but wonder if this is what dating Silas would be like. Little touches. Warm smiles. Uninhibited laughter.

Could it be good? Could it be more than just mind-blowing kisses and miraculously talented hands? Am I crazy for even thinking that’s a possibility?

I have to remember that Silas and I live by very different definitions, and dating would no doubt fall into those disparities.

I pull on one of the pair of gloves that Greg gave me and start clearing away the brush at the bottom of the house. I give an experimental tug on a grouping of vines. The thickest one holds fast, but I manage to grip a smaller one and pull a couple feet of it away from the house before it snaps, just leaving a piece of it in my hands.

I’m bent over at the waist tugging at the larger vine again when Silas returns.

“Bad news.”

I glance up and he’s staring at my butt. I straighten, but his eyes stay glued to a backside that I know is on the larger side because I don’t really have the time or inclination to spend much time working out. And by much, I mean any.

“Bad news?” I prompt.

He looks up at me with a lopsided grin, completely unapologetic, and says, “All the ladders are being used, so we’ll have to improvise.”

“We can work on the stuff we can reach until one opens up.”

“It might be a while,” he says. “But I’ve thought of an alternative.”

I raise my eyebrows in question.

“If you sit on my shoulders we should be able to reach pretty close to the top, enough that you could probably pull at the highest stuff.”

“Is that why you were staring at me?” I don’t say at my butt, because we both know what I’m talking about.

“I’m not sure that’s a question you want me to answer in public.”

Well, clearly my earlier outburst didn’t faze him at all. Or if it did, he’s not letting me see.

“Are you sure it’s not better to wait for a ladder?”

“That doesn’t sound better to me at all.”

I try to ignore the flirting, not to take it too seriously, but he’s gorgeous so it’s more than a little difficult to keep a clear head.

“You’re not going to drop me?”

“I’m not Henry. I think I can handle you, Pickle.”

“You’re never letting go of that, are you?”

“I could be persuaded.”

Yeah. Not even touching that one.

“Let’s just do this.”

I grab his forearm and lead him around the back of the house to the steps and climb up two of those to give me a little extra height. He bends until he’s practically resting on his heels, and then using our newly repaired handrail for a brace, I put one leg over his shoulder and then the other.

“Ready?” he asks. I keep a hold on the handrail and then tell him yes.