Secret Admirer

Chapter 5

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Chapter 5

Cole

I never did get an answer from Mia. Now I wonder if I should even bother asking her out again. Of course Lindsey had to screw my shot up. It's Lindsey, she messes up everything.

Hurling the sledgehammer into the wall, I start tearing down the wall Georgia wants removed from the gift shop. Some hard labor is what I need right now. Yanking the wood and stucco I just busted up, I make a big hole and hurl the hammer again.

"Hey! I thought we weren't starting on this until after the grand opening of the restaurant? What are you doing?" Ethan and Leo walked in, while Beck hung back talking on the phone.

"I figured I'd get started on it," Growling my response, I thrust the hammer into the wall again.

"Sorry, Aubrey is out shopping for a new dress for the opening. She wants me to ask you if Mia wants to go with her," Beckett looked at me like I had a say on what the woman does.

"How the hell should I know? I'm not dating her!" And dammit, I asked her too!

"O...kay..." Beck turns to Leo with his eyebrows raised.

"Maybe she should ask Quinn to go and they can drag Mia with them." Leo suggested.

"Brynn will want in on that. The girls can gang up on Mia and find out what the deal is between her and the hulk here, since he's not talking to us." Ethan grins at me as if he's going to get some deep dark secret from me.

I'm not hiding anything. There's just nothing to tell. I asked Mia to the opening and she was distracted by the ghost of Lindsey walking around the preserves. I have to admit, it freaked me out too. But it definitely proved Ethan was right, Lindsey isn't dead or she has a doppelgänger.

Going back to work, I try to ignore the three stooges as they press me for answers I wish I had. I can't answer their questions when I don't have a clue what the woman wants.

"Come on, Cole! Why are you holding out on us?" Leo pushed again. "You did ask her to go with you, right?"

The three looked at me then at each other. "Right, Cole? You did ask, right?" Leo pushed again.

"You didn't ask her." Ethan took the hammer out of my hand. "Did you chicken out?"

"Shit, Cole! What the hell? The girl is a wallflower as it is, she's not going to come if you don't invite her!" Beckett has that right.

Fed up with the questions, I lose my temper. "I fucking asked her, okay! She didn't answer me. She saw Lindsey out by the preserves and didn't answer me. I don't think she wants to go with me. Honestly, I don't think she wants to go with anybody."

They stopped bugging me and looked at each other stunned. Fine with me, I've got work to do. Taking the hammer back, I continued busting out the wall. I don't want to have this conversation with them. I don't want to talk to anyone.

They got the picture and let me be. Beckett and Leo headed to the hardware store, while Ethan went to the other side of the room. Turning up the hard rock music, he went to work on dismantling the old floor to ceiling built-ins. We worked and rocked with the sound of Def Leppard, Van Halen and Bon Jovi.

Within an hour, Georgia blew in. That is the only way to describe the way she enters a room. The woman literally takes over everything that is happening when she shows up.

"Well, you boys have made some real progress here," Georgia went right over to inspect Ethan's work.

"Piss Cole off and he's your man for any demo work," Ethan smartassed, stopping to turn the music down.