Her Men (book 2)

Chapter 2

Aiden

“Hey Luke, what do you have for me today, we finished with drilling yet?" I say walking into the office, ready to get what I need to get my day started.

"Morning Aiden, " Luke says "Here you go, take Finn with you alright, He's new around here so he'll need someone like you who knows his way around the town, backroads and all" I take my papers with the sites we are drilling at with addresses, Looks like an easy day.

"Yo Finn, let's go man" I yell from across the yard.

"How was Stella's this weekend?" I ask Finn when he gets in the truck.

"Great, beer was cold and shots were going down smooth," he says with a smile on his face.

Stella's bar is in the town close by only about thirty maybe forty- five minutes away from Woodrock. Sucks the best bar is that far but in towns like these the choices are slim.

"When are you going to come with us?" He asks

"Soon hopefully," I say

I moved back home about six months ago, to help my mom after she was diagnosed with breast cancer, she caught it early and doctors say she'll be ok but there was no way I'd leave her alone to fight. It was no brainer to come home. It's been nice to be back but I guess after being away for so long it seems a bit weird. So many people remembering me only for helping our school football team win a championship. Nothing else personal. Old cheerleaders who married other football players and had kids already. Most people move but some don't.

Once I got here I didn't work I saved up enough I was ok then I heard about the new oil company moving in, and jumped on that job so quick that I was the first applicant. Hell I'm not even sure they had opened positions yet I found out who was running it and called him myself

Oil field Money.

Easiest or hardest money you could get depending on the type of work. Most jobs don’t even need a degree just hard work and it still pays well. Either way degree or not oil field money was good money. Sometimes it could be messy, with long hours, most positions are but some aren't. I went to school on a football scholarship, planned to play professionally until I broke my leg my junior year, after I healed the game just didn't feel the same, oil was my fall back, graduated as a completion engineer, just last year.

Luke and I hit It off and we quickly became friends, and quickly built a team, I helped him hire most of the employees we have. Now that we are close to completion on two drill sites, We hired Finn, a production engineer, who will take over and make sure everything works the way it's supposed to.

"You getting used to the small-town life?" I ask.

"I think so, calmer then I'm used to but I'm getting too old for all the partying, but still nice to have Stella's so close for when you need a night out" his messy red hair is cut short but still long enough for a few waves to fall on his face.

"Yea the place has picked up the last year a younger crowd. Did you meet Luke's brother, Ian?" I ask

"Yea, so what the deal with them?" He asks

When I first meet Luke he mentioned he moved back to Woodrock to settle down, I didn't expect it to be with a woman he shared with his brothers, I've heard about poly relationships but mostly threesomes, one man and two women, everyone's had that one college experience. Luke's with his brothers relationship threw me for a loop, my mind raced but left it alone, he's a cool enough guy I didn't need to judge him on his relationship to tell he was a good guy,

"They fell in love with Stella, and she fell in love with them," I say not much else

"So who's lucky? her for having three guys, or them? Wonder if s*x is weird" he laughs

"Who knows, I know if I had a brother I wouldn't want to see him naked" I laugh

I can see him thinking about it, I have to admit that relationship has been the talk of the town but I don't understand why it bothers people so much. Who care who people want to be with or who they f**k. It shouldn't be anyone's business.

I learned that the hard way.

“Well maybe it's fun, who knows, I've been single for way too long so maybe I'm the one doing something wrong" he laughs

“ Same brother...... same" we joke.

We get our stuff done and head out to lunch the rest of the day goes by smooth and by five o'clock I am tired as heck. As I pull up to the house I notice something different. I glance at our neighbor's house, the house I spent all of my time at when I was a kid and I notice "Her" light on.

Teagans old room.

I can't remember how many times since I've been back that I've looked out of my window to check if her light was on like I did so many times as a kid. When we were little I didn't have to sneak over but I did anyway, my mom was never home either working at the hospital or out with her latest fling, it started when I was six and we had just moved to town, my mom got a good job as a head nurse, Teagan and her parents brought a basket over and our moms quickly became friends, when we started kindergarten a few days later I was so nervous stuck at the door ready to cry Like a baby and out of nowhere Teagan grabbed my hand and pulled me inside the class, "come on we are going to be late". Our moms worked out a schedule, my mom would take us and Teagan’s would pick us up, Later that year we had our first kiss, I know kindergartners kissing, but someone had triple dog dared us and you just couldn't back down from a triple dog dare, it was weird and awkward just a quick peck on my lips but she just laughed and ran off playing and we never talked about it again, her laugh was contagious and her smile shined so bright, after school we were inseparable.

She was the best part of my life, she had dark brown eyes and long brown hair, her skin a warm ivory color, growing up she had wild wavy hair, and had no care in the world to keep it controlled, never wore a bow no matter how hard her mom tried. She'd walk out of her house with it up tight in a bun or ponytail and always had a matching bow, by the end of the day it was down in a frizzy, poofy, waves flowing wild and free, her bow nowhere to be found. By fifth and sixth grade, she finally started to tame it, she'd always have it in braids so by the end of the day her hair would fall in soft waves flowing down her back. Her hair always smelled so good with whatever she used to calm the frizziness.

Seeing her light on, I didn't expect my heart to stop as it did or the hope that quickly grew. I haven't seen her since we were eighteen since the night she looked at me with tears and what hurt the most, disappointment, but knowing I caused it hit me so hard and I wasn't sure how to fix it. I was a stupid teen. But even, hurting her the way I did, I knew I made one of the biggest mistakes of my life.

When I moved back A part of me hoped I'd see her even if I know I wouldn't. Wishful thinking that someday she'd walk out of her front door and I meet her between the houses and we would run to her backyard and just lay on the ground to tell each other the parts of our day when we weren't together. since moving back her house has been all but empty, her aunt lives there now But I hardly see her, I've run into her a few times in town and I politely asked about her, and she told me she's happily living in the city and wants nothing to do with woodrock, I wasn't sure if she knew why, If she knew I had something to do with it. Too afraid to ask.

I pulled into my driveway, and sat in my truck, watching her window, the light turned off and I sat up. Looked around, I didn't see any other cars in the driveway so I'm sure it was just her aunt. I exhaled the breath I didn't realize I was holding and get out of my truck.

What would I even tell her if we saw each other almost ten years later? Hi? Cause that would repair it all. I head inside and try not to think about it.

I'm such a coward.