Disgruntled (6 page)

***
Todd stood at the corner until Reva reached her door. He
knew it mattered that he did so. She had obviously been
through a lot more than she wanted to share. If he was
honest, he didn’t want to know. He was not the kind of
person to rescue hurt animals and nurse them back to
health, and certainly not a man to rescue wounded women.
Eric was like that, not him. Todd liked to think he could
sympathize with those less fortunate, but he had never been
very good at nurturing. Maybe because he’d had so little of it
himself.
Reva had something bothering her that she was wrestling
with internally. He had no desire to pry it out of her and
certainly no interest in hearing about workplace gossip. Did
that make him cold? As he watched the movement of her
hips which still carried a spackling of dirt across the back
pockets of her shorts, he knew the answer was no. There
was nothing cold about the feelings he had around Reva.
Just the opposite.
She turned as she put a key in her door and waved before
disappearing inside. In fact, he decided to make a mission
out of getting that smile to reach her eyes. He didn’t want to
know her drama but he certainly did want to get her past it.
The following days flew by for Todd. He found a new line
of loungers that would sell well on his website and worked
through the contract language, then set a delivery schedule
with the supplier. A few emails back and forth to another
possible vendor and he had an idea to open another branch
of stores. He still marveled at how well the business had
done the past few years, literally growing from a small
landscape
business
to
a
worldwide.
He
had
done
focusing
the
biggest
part
receiving, and marketing. It had all been done from a small
warehouse he rented thirty minutes away. This year when he
had finally expanded to more stores, he needed a space to
use as a pseudo-headquarters. That didn’t seem likely at the
warehouse. So, he moved everything another ten minutes
from the house into a larger building that consisted of three
conglomerate
that
shipped

without
an
office
for
years,
of
efforts
on
the
shipping,
offices, a small kitchen, and a warehouse that equaled in size
to the prior one. It frightened him that the business had
grown so quickly.
Still, it had not taken any serious toll on him financially or
health-wise. The concerns had been for the new staff he
added
and
the
longevity
of
their
success.
With
gained
achievement
came
the
realization
that
he
had
new
responsibilities for the lives of his employees. Relationshipwise, it had been a relief to drown himself in work rather
than consider how long it had been since he’d been out with
a woman or simply “in” with a woman. When he had not
been at work, his time centered on Eric—at least on the
weekends that he was lucky enough to have the kid around.
Since he’d met Reva, he found himself spending more time
peering at the roof of her house over the fence. Sometimes
he had simply sat in the backyard with a beer and considered
what she was doing.
Thursday night, he stood in the kitchen and noticed Reva’s
light and wondered how she had managed her problem at
work.
“Hey.” He was tired but tried to be cheerful when she
answered her cell. “How’s your week been so far?”
“Fabulous.” Her voice sounded otherwise. “What’s up?”
“I have something for you. Mind if I bring it by? I could
drop it over the fence but I know how that bothers you.”
“What is it?”
He laughed. “Just wait and see. Be there in fifteen minutes.”
Dusk settled over their quiet little streets as he stepped up to
her door. He knocked, aware that she would look out the
window and door to validate his presence before opening
up.
Reva didn’t disappoint. Not by looking through the
door as he waved, and not by being exceptionally perky and
sexy in her shorts and tank top. Her hair was swept back in
a tie but much of it had fallen forward to frame her face.
The look was refreshing in the fact that she’d taken no time
to worry over it.
He smiled when she opened the door. He
reached for her hand. Reva drew back briefly, then let him
take it.
“Come on. It’s in the yard.” He nodded at the pile of rocks
he’d brought over in his truck.
“Rocks? You brought me rocks? Have you been talking with
Ben?” She followed him.
“No, it’s not a pile of rocks. Look,” he held up a clear hose,
“it’s a waterfall for your backyard. I thought you might like it
as an addition to all the other artwork. It’s from a supplier in
Phoenix that wants our business. I asked him to send some
samples a while back, and this is one of them. I’ve set up the
others at our office warehouse so we can test them out. This
was an extra. What do you think? I can install it for you if
you like it.” He watched her survey the mass of rocks and
plastic. Reva trod lightly around it with her hands in the back
pockets of her shorts as if to evaluate what it would look
like.
Todd
pulled
a
crumpled
paper
from
his
pocket,
smoothed the edges, then held it out to her.
“Here’s what you can expect it to look like when finished. It
requires electricity and water so I thought you might want it
by the back door. If you don’t think it’ll work for you, I can
keep it. It just seemed a good fit with all the rest of the…”
“Junk?”
“No, I wasn’t going to say that.” He laughed. “Artwork was
more the word I had in mind.” He peered at her with hands
on hips. Admittedly, it would be hard to picture the end
result without the paper he had handed to her. Since he’d
already assembled two at the office, he knew the basic look
and felt confident the end result would please her.
“Uh, okay. I can help you with it. How long does it take to
assemble? This isn’t going to be like my old dollhouse is it?
My parents bought one of those build-it-yourself dollhouse
kits when I was ten and we worked on it two or three nights
a week for over a month. It sat on the counter in the den for
ages unfinished because I lost interest. I basically grew out of
dolls while it sat there. My dad finally admitted defeat and
gave it to a little girl down the street.”
“What are you trying to tell me?”
“That if it can be done quickly and efficiently so I can use it
right away, I’m all in. Otherwise…count me out.”
“So, you’re not a very patient woman then?” he teased.
She shook her head, sending the ponytail whisking back and
forth. “Nope. Not for that kind of thing. I love building
things but I love
finished
things more. I do technical projects
for a living so I’m pretty good at them…and I like to get
them done ontime. On the other hand, I
do
believe in doing
things proper and sturdy. So, I guess you could say I’m
patient to a point, but once it crosses the realm into tedious
and boring, you lose me.”
Todd held up his hands. “You might get a little dirty doing
this but I doubt it will take us more than one day, maybe
only an afternoon. Depending on how much you like hard
work of course.”
“Is that a challenge?”
“Pretty much. What do you think?”
The rumble of a car approaching caught her interest and she
glanced down the street. Todd noticed that she moved a few
steps toward the house and frowned. “Okay, come by on
Saturday but not in the afternoon. I don’t want to be out
working in the yard in the heat of the day. Be here at eight.”
“Sounds good.”
“You’re not going to leave this here in the front yard, are
you?”
Todd laughed. She sounded like his mother. “Of course not,
but I wasn’t going to go traipsing around in your backyard
without talking to you first. Not only would that be bad
manners but, based on the scare you had when Bugsy made
his escape, I was afraid I’d catch you topless or something.
Then you’d probably call the cops on me.” His thoughts slid
back to the strings left loose around her neck from her bikini
and the way they’d tantalized him as if they’d fall at any
moment. Maybe he
should
have gone to the backyard first
anyway.
“Yeah, probably. I’ll help you carry it back and we can stack
it next to the door until Saturday.”
Reva bent over and
picked up the largest of the rocks. He noticed she tested the
weight before lifting to prevent injury, which indicated she
had done a fair bit of lifting before. He admired that she
hadn’t been afraid of the work.
“Are you trying to impress me?” he asked.
“Impress you how?” She craned her neck up at him.
“By going for the biggest rock just to show you’re not
helpless.”
“No, but if that impresses you, feel free to wonder at my
incredible charm and beauty while you’re at it.”
Todd stacked two rocks on top of each other and hoisted
them in his arms. “I already noticed that part, Reva, but it’s
good to know you’re strong as an ox too. That’ll come in
handy next time I get in a gang fight and need Helga the
Bone-crusher on my side. Been doing a little weightlifting
along with the running?”
He followed as she worked her way to the backyard with the
rock. As much as she wanted him to think her an Amazon
woman, she struggled under the weight. The thought to
drop his and help was fleeting. She wouldn’t want the help.
She pressed the rock against the wall of her house while she
maneuvered her weight under it.
“I stay in shape. You never know when you might be in a
position where you have to kick some ass.” She pulled the
rock back and crossed the remaining distance to her back
door before dropping it to the ground. The thud punctuated
her statement quite effectively.
“Or protect yourself. Remind me not to piss you off,” he
answered before adding his rocks to her pile of one. They
carried the rest of the pieces back and when done, she
offered him an iced tea.
“You’re bleeding, Reva.” He noticed the drip trailing off the
scratches on her arm. “You must have aggravated the tree
scratches.”
He moved toward her to get a look. Reva lifted her arm and
peered at the flesh.
“It’s nothing. I’ll wrap it up.” She swiped the blood with her
finger.
Todd wrapped his fingers around her forearm and lifted it.
He leaned in to get a better view of the damage. Her pulse
spiked but she didn’t pull away.
“I shouldn’t have let you carry all this. I’m sorry,” he said.
“What the …” A booming voice said from the gate. Reva’s
brother Tim glanced over the fence posts, taking in Todd’s
hand, Reva’s scratches, the words, and – the blood. “No
way!” Tim bellowed as he slammed the gate open and
barreled through with Ben on his heels.
“You son of a bitch,” Ben added.
Todd dropped Reva’s arm as the two pit-bulls charged him,
their faces filled with anger.
“It’s not like that guys!” Reva stepped between them to stop
her brothers’ attack but they pushed her aside. “He was just
helping me.”
“I see that. Helping you get cut up and pushed around
again.” Tim shoved Todd against the brick and levered a
forearm against his throat, pinching off his breath.
Todd had no way to defend himself against both men.
Doing so would have escalated the issue further. He simply
held up his hands and faced the palms toward them. He said
nothing.
“You think it’s okay to take advantage of women, smartass?”
Ben’s voice was low and threatening behind Tim’s mass. He
reached in and grabbed a handful of Todd’s hair. “Think
again. She’s been through that already and there’s no way—”
Reva screamed and lunged onto Tim’s back, tightening her
arms around his neck and forcing him to release Todd. She
pushed the fingers of one hand into his hair, pulling hard
while she threaded the other hand over his eyes and blinded
him. “He didn’t touch me guys! He. Didn’t. Touch. Me. It’s
just a scratch.”
“Sure. You’ve said that before,” Tim growled.
With Tim occupied, Ben stepped in and took over by
landing a solid punch to Todd’s face.
Damn.
Todd leaned
down cupping a hand over his right eye, which very likely
had started swelling. He couldn’t open it. He held out a hand
to try to wield off the next movement, which ended up a
good swift kick to the shin. He felt lucky – it had been aimed
at the groin. His fast reaction readjusted the target.
“Ouch! Jesus, this is
not
happening.” Todd groaned and fell
to the ground to rub his shin.
“Stop it!” Reva shouted. “Stop it! He’s done
nothing
.
Nothing
,
you hear me? He helped me carry these rocks back here and
I opened up the scabs on my scratch. A scratch which was
inflicted while climbing a tree.”
“Sure, sis,” Ben said. “I haven’t seen you climb a tree since
you were eleven. That didn’t come from a damn tree and
stop covering for him. His type doesn’t deserve it.”
“I’m not covering for him, and if you so much as lay another
hand on him, Ben, I will…I will send all this crap to the
junkyard and tell your sweetie you haven’t sold a single
piece. Do you hear me?”
Todd had no clue what that meant but he assumed Ben had
been passing off his artwork as more successful than hoped.
Probably for his family’s benefit. Or his. Who knew?
“And Tim, I’ll tell Mom about your trip to Dayton last
spring. I’m sure she’d find that real interesting. Almost as
interesting as the grandkid they don’t know about!”
Oh my God. It’s the Kardashians – in a Latin sort of way.
Ben released Todd and switched his snarl to Tim. “What
grandkid?”
“Oh shit,” Reva muttered and removed a hand from Tim’s
head to clamp it over her mouth. Tim shrugged her off his
back and gave her a snarl that Todd thought might actually
wither a weaker person. Not Reva.
“Yeah, oh shit. Thanks, sis. I appreciate you airing my dirty
laundry. Any other bombshells you want to drop on us?”
Ben recognized his evasion and persisted. “What grandkid,
Tim?”
“None of your damn business.” Tim stomped back to Todd,
still nursing a battered shin. With a growl, Tim pulled him
from the ground and twisted fingers into the neck of his
shirt. When they were almost eye-to-eye he spoke. “Did you
lay hands on my sister or not?”
Todd looked through the healthy eye and shook his head.
The movement sent a shot of pain across his right cheek and
he quickly ended his denial.
“Did you cause that scratch?”
Todd looked at the smear of blood on Reva’s arm. If he
hadn’t let her carry the rocks, the wound would have been
fine. If his eyes had not been focused on her ass and legs as
she flexed to lift the rocks, he’d be a little less bruised.
Way to
go, perve.
He started to nod.
She stepped in front of him, noticing his acquiescence
before they did. “Of course not, you idiots. He was helping
me carry this stuff to the backyard, like I said.” Reva waved
at the fountain parts. “I scratched my arm in the process.
Well, technically I scratched it a while back because I got it
stuck in a tree trying to get a baseball. But carrying the rocks
opened up the scratches again.”
Ben stooped down to evaluate the equipment. “So, you’re
putting in a fountain, Rev?”
“Yes. Actually, Todd
gave
me the fountain earlier. It’s a demo
from one of his suppliers and we were going to install it this
weekend. Now, it looks like he’s going to need a couple days
of recovery before we get started, thanks to you two.”
Tim and Ben exchanged glances and backed away from
Todd. Tim ran a hand down his shirt to smooth it and
added, “Sorry about that man. No hard feelings?”
“Reva?” Todd tried to focus her way. “You have any ice in
there?” He motioned to her door as he pressed a hand to his
eye. He understood Tim and Ben. He knew where they came
from and likely might have done the same thing. Still, as
much as he liked her and enjoyed her company, this seemed
to punctuate his reservations about involvement with a
woman that had been through so much. What the hell had
convinced him to keep trying?
“Sure. Come on.” She took his arm between her hands and
led him inside. Ben and Tim followed. “So, now that you’ve
done all the damage you can, mind telling me why you’re
here?” She spoke over her shoulder at her brothers.
“Uh, we just wanted to stop in and check on you,” Ben said.
Reva eyed them suspiciously as she removed a baggie from
the cabinet and filled it. She walked to her living room for a
minute then returned and placed the ice against Todd’s
cheek. He sighed at the coolness of the contact which drew
the
heat
and
pain
away.
Home
sounded
good
at
the
moment. He wanted to lie down for a while, down a beer,
and consider how he’d get out of building the fountain.
“Is that one of your sculptures in the back of Tim’s truck?”
Reva asked Ben.