The Very Naughty List

3. Nick

3

NICK

“Good boy, Bruno.”

I crouch down to scratch my massive dog under his chin as he wags his tail so hard it thumps against the cabinet. He twists his head a little, trying to lick my hand, then changes his mind and goes for my face instead, making me chuckle. My rescued hound is always faithfully ready to shower me with slobbery kisses as soon as I get home from a shift at the fire station.

“Too bad he only likes you. If he gave me the same kind of warm welcome, maybe he’d lick some of this grease out from beneath my fingernails,” Sebastian jokes, glancing down at where I’m crouched in front of Bruno as he strides into the kitchen.

“Dogs shouldn’t lick grease,” I grunt. “Especially not automotive grease.”

Sebastian is the youngest of the three of us, if you’re measuring our ages by the minute, since he was the last triplet to emerge during birth. Our mother used to always say that was the reason why he’s the wildest out of her sons. I’m not sure if that’s actually the reason, but she wasn’t wrong in pointing out that he was the one who was usually getting Reid and me into trouble. Sebastian can’t seem to help himself when it comes to seizing the opportunity for a laugh or a thrill.

At least now that he’s taken over our father’s garage, he has something to keep his hands busy and to keep him out of trouble. If Seb didn’t have something to occupy his time, he’d be off the rails playing into the “bad boy” aesthetic that he showcases so well. Our dad was smart to get him working on cars at an early age. And honestly, he’s good at it.

“Oh, come on. You’ll never know until he tries it.” Sebastian grins, holding out a hand toward Bruno. “Here, boy. Come here! Lick this.”

Bruno ignores him. Not even his ears twitch as he gives me another lick, stoically pretending my brother isn’t even in the room. It’s been like this pretty much since I brought Bruno home. He doesn’t give two shits about either of my brothers, although at least he doesn’t actively growl at them anymore.

“See?” I arch a brow at Sebastian. “He knows who actually loves him around here.” I give Bruno one more scratch before standing up. “That’s right, boy. I’ll take good care of you. You can just ignore that greasy fucker.”

Seb rolls his eyes, making the scar across the corner of his left eyebrow arch. “He only likes you best because you’re both so fucking grumpy. He probably recognized a kindred spirit the second he saw you.”

“At least I’m responsible enough to take care of a pet.”

He shrugs. “I had a lizard once.”

“Which ran away.”

“I like to think that’s because I raised him so well that he knew when it was time to leave the nest and strike out on his own.”

“Sure. Or he got eaten by a cat.”

He scowls. “It’s a good thing we’re brothers, or I’d deck you for even suggesting that.”

“You could try.” I roll my neck out as the two of us banter back and forth.

“I’d sell tickets to that fight.” We both turn around at the sound of Reid’s voice entering the kitchen. “We’re all pretty evenly matched, I’d say. We could probably raise a small fortune taking bets.”

“Don’t give him any ideas,” I warn. “Next thing you know, Seb will have a whole underground fight ring set up in Chestnut Hill.”

Reid isn’t wrong though. The three of us are all built similarly—muscular and broad-shouldered, with the kind of physique that comes from working with your hands all day. All three of us have physically demanding jobs, even though we joke around about whose is better from time to time.

We’re more alike than we’re different, although we each seem to lean into the qualities that make us uniquely ourselves. But the bond between us is a strong one. We relied on each other after our parents died in order to get through the loss, and we all submerged ourselves into trades that allowed us to distract our minds with physical exertion.

Now we live in our parents’ old house, which the three of us decided to keep after our older sister, Addison, moved out and got married. We owe her a lot for helping to raise the three of us after our parents died, and keeping the house seemed like the right thing to do. Plus, it’s big enough that I have room for a home gym, Sebastian has a whole garage to store his collection of motorcycles, and Reid has a workshop out back where he builds furniture for his carpentry business. And even with all of that, there’s still space leftover.

“You’ll never guess who I ran into in town today.” Reid grabs a beer from the fridge and gives Bruno a wide berth before sitting down at the table. It takes Sebastian less than a second to open the fridge and grab bottles for the both of us too. “Hailey Bennett. Apparently, she’s back in town.”

Instantly, my body tenses.

Hailey Bennett .

Our best friend’s little sister, and the woman I’ve had a secret crush on for as long as I can remember.

There’s a whole lot of history between all of us, but I’ve never told anyone that. While we all grew up around each other, looking out for Hailey and keeping her under our protection, I also couldn’t seem to shake the constant awareness of how beautiful she was.

Every time she came around, I felt a visceral reaction to her. I just never fucking acted on it because she was Lucas’s little sister, thus making her off-limits. That didn’t make it any easier to breathe whenever she was in the room though. For years, I could barely string two words together anytime I talked to her.

Hell, she probably wondered if I could talk at all, since most of the time all I would do is speak in monosyllabic answers anytime she was around.

I pick up my beer and take a long swallow, trying to shove down the old feelings for Hailey at the same time. At least I’m not the only one who seems caught off guard about Hailey’s reappearance back in town.

“Holy shit. Is she here to stay?” Sebastian leans forward, resting his elbows on the table. “I wonder what brought her back to Montana.”

“No idea, but I’m guessing that it must have been a last-minute decision, since Lucas didn’t say anything about it to any of us.”

Reid’s got a good point. Lucas and Hailey are still close, even though she hasn’t been back here in two years. If he’d known she was coming home for the holidays, we would’ve heard about it.

“How did she seem?” Bruno barrels over and slams into the side of my chair to play, nearly knocking the beer out of my hand and making me spill some on my scruffy beard as I pull the glass away from my mouth to ask the question.

Reid shrugs. “She seemed fine, I guess. I only talked to her for a minute or two.”

I want to ask more, but before I can, Sebastian’s stomach growls. He declares that he needs food, and he and Reid launch into a debate about where we should go. It takes me a second to wrench my thoughts away from Hailey and focus on the argument playing out at the kitchen table, and I only fully snap out of it when Seb nudges my foot with his.

“I say we go to The Old Oak. Back me up on this, Nick. You know you want a nice cold beer on tap.”

I frown, glancing down at the nice cold beer I already have in my hand, and he shakes his head.

“That’s different,” Sebastian insists. “Fridge beer isn’t as good as draft beer.”

He’s got a point—and besides, they serve food, and I don’t have the energy to cook at home tonight. So after a bit more debate, the three of us settle on The Old Oak. We disperse from the kitchen, going to our respective bedrooms to change out of our work clothes, then reconvene and head out to the bar.

When we arrive, the place is already packed. Sebastian flags down one of the servers, Chloe, who grins at the sight of the three of us and waves for us to follow her over to our usual table.

“Crowded in here tonight,” I mutter as I let my brothers take their seats first.

“Sure is.” She smiles back at me and touches the side of my arm as if she’s testing to see if I’ve been working out harder than usual. “But you know I always save a table for you three. How can I resist those blue eyes of yours, Nick?”

I don’t say anything in response, and Sebastian shakes his head at me as she gets pulled away to deal with another customer.

“When are you going to lighten up and hook up with her already?” he asks. “She’s been throwing herself at you for weeks. Seriously, Nick, you’re all work and no play.”

“He’s not wrong,” Reid points out. “You need to blow off a little steam one of these days, or you’re going to fucking combust.”

I brush off both of their remarks and head to the bar to get us all drinks. I’m not interested in flirting with the waitress. I’m interested in becoming the town’s fire chief and making something of myself. When I decided to become a firefighter, I threw myself into it a hundred percent. I don’t intend to get distracted and half ass anything. I intend to be the one in charge and take on the responsibility of this town’s fire station.

Distractions only serve to?—

Shit .

My thoughts about staying focused evaporate into thin air as I look over and see Hailey sitting at the bar.

The sight of how gorgeous she is stops me in my tracks. She’s even more beautiful now than I remembered. Stunning, all grown up, and arguably the most attractive woman I’ve ever laid eyes on. Waves of her honey blonde hair fall against her back, and the outline of her curves sends a tremor through every tensed muscle in my body.

I can hear her voice as she talks to a few women sitting around her, and my brows draw together as I pick up on her tone. She sounds stressed .

I walk up to the other side of the bar and order me and my brothers a drink. While I wait, I listen.

The women around Hailey seem to be battering her with questions. Most of it sounds like they’re being nosy, poking around in her personal life. Nothing overtly mean or malicious, just strings of questions that poke at an old wound—because apparently, the scandal of how Hailey left her fiancé on their wedding day makes for highly entertaining gossip. Even now, after all this time has passed, I guess.

One of the women asks her how it felt being left on her wedding day, and I can hear Hailey struggling as she tries to explain that she was the one who left Dylan, not the other way around. But the gaggle of women around her don’t seem to care about details as mundane as the truth. They just want to breed drama as if it were profitable livestock.

“How on earth can you bounce back from something like that? I would just roll over and die.”

“I would die too. I mean, to come back to Chestnut Hill and show your face here again? God, Hailey, you’re braver than I would be.”

Hailey looks between the women who are talking on both sides of her and sips her drink without saying a word.

“Inquiring minds want to know. Have you gotten back on the horse again?”

“Excuse me?” Hailey’s eyes widen as she looks up from her drink at the woman sitting closest to her left side. I catch a glimpse of her expression and can read the shock and discomfort on her face.

“You need to get back out there, honey.” The woman who asked the question leans in closer to Hailey as if she’s providing some sort of sisterhood support, but Hailey just looks a bit claustrophobic. “Get back in the dating pool. There are plenty of fish in the sea, you know? I know it can be so scary after being dumped like that, but you just have to try.”

She looks around at the other women, who all nod quickly. But Hailey’s face drops, the light washing out of her eyes. It’s clear to see that even if they’re trying to be encouraging, it’s just making her feel worse.

I fucking hate seeing her like this. I remember Hailey having an exuberant nature that was almost infectious, and a near-constant mischievous twinkle in her green eyes. But right now, she looks like she’s trying to make herself smaller and smaller, as if she’s hoping she can disappear entirely.

Fuck that. And fuck anyone who makes her feel that way.

The tension in her expression rouses something inside me, and before I can even think twice about it, I shove away from the bar and walk over toward where she’s sitting.

I push myself right in between the girls sitting around her until I’m standing at Hailey’s side with my chest pressed up against her shoulder.

“Ladies, you’re not trying to steal her from me, are you?” The question comes out sounding smooth even though my posture beside her feels awkward and stiff.

Hailey’s head whips up, and she does a little double take as she registers my face.

“Steal her from you?” one of the women asks, looking confused.

“Yeah.” I nod. “She’s with me.”

I can’t help but notice the way Hailey’s lips part in response to those words, as if she is letting out a silent little gasp. I try not to get distracted by the sight of it—or thoughts of what it would be like to press my tongue between those plush lips and kiss her senseless—clearing my throat to regain my composure.

“We’re dating,” I elaborate. “And if you don’t mind, I’d like to claim my girlfriend back for the night.”

The space between barstools that I’ve wedged my broad body into in order to stand beside her is a tight one. So tight that our bodies can’t help but touch in several places at once—my chest against her shoulder, my leg against the side of her thigh. I’m not normally great in crowds. I prefer to be the one not dancing at weddings and not standing in the center of the mosh pit at concerts.

I’m more comfortable running into a burning building to save someone than engaging in any sort of social event or conversation with strangers. But Hailey clearly needs some help here, and just like when we were younger, I will always show up if she needs something.

I reach down and rest a hand on her thigh, forcing myself not to give in to the thoughts racing through my head as soon as I touch her.

“Well, I guess that answers that,” one of the women says with a raised brow. “I guess you’ve definitely gotten back on the horse, Hailey.”