Read Online In Plain Sight (Stolen Hearts) by Kate Kelly - Free Book Online

afraid if he looked at him, Gage would splinter to pieces.
    “I probably have the money to build all three floors,” he said, carefully. Really? Where the hell did he think he could find half a million dollars? He didn’t even have a job.
    He pushed on. “You and Sophie can rent to own. It would be the same as paying a mortgage, but you’d be paying me. Or the bank, through me. Or after you sell the house, you can get another mortgage for this place.” That’d work, wouldn’t it?
    “Think about it. You and Sophie talk it over. Just promise me you’ll talk to Sophie about everything. She’s got an active imagination. You’ve got to nip it in the bud sometimes.”
    “Why are you doing this? I’ve always been a prick to you.” Gage continued staring across the street.
    “You were okay when I was in jail.”
    “Just doing my job.”
    “We don’t have to be best friends, Gage. We just have to be civil to each other.”
    Gage jingled his keys in his pocket. “You’re smarter than I thought.”
    “Ah, ah.” Rafe wagged his finger as he stepped off the curb and headed for the truck, feeling surprisingly pleased by Gage’s comment. “Don’t go setting me up for a fall. We both know I’ll mess up sooner than later and piss you off again. It’s what I do best,” he said as he waited for Gage to unlock the doors. “Don’t take it personally. I piss off everyone, eventually.”
    “Why is that?” Gage asked over the hood of the truck.
    “I don’t know. Guess it’s easier to fail if that’s what everyone expects.”
    “You’re a weird dude, Rafe.”
    Rafe knew Gage had a lot to think about, and he didn’t mind not talking on the way back to his apartment. He hated when someone asked him questions that started with why, and his brother-in-law did that a lot. They’d probably never be friends. But that didn’t mean they had to be enemies, did it?
    He flashed on Bridget, shoved the thought away. Hell, with everything that had happened he’d managed not to think of her for a whole hour. That had to be some kind of progress. He was going to spend the rest of the night ripping his apartment apart to find the damned stones, though.
    And if he found them? What then? He glanced at Gage’s profile. Guess he’d be pissing him off sooner than later this time round.
    When they pulled into the parking lot at Rafe’s apartment, Gage turned off the engine. He sat silent for a minute, staring out the windshield before turning to Rafe. “You know when you walk down the street, women actually stop and look back at you? Of course you do. But you act like you don’t notice. That art gallery opening Sophie made me go to? You walk in, and everyone’s tripping over their feet to get to you. You’re a top male model, yet you act like a failure and live in a dump. And people eat it up.
    “I’m nobody compared to you,” Gage continued. “And most of the time I don’t give a shit. But I want to be someone to my own wife. I can’t live in your shadow, and I can’t keep trying to compete with you, Rafe. So, thanks for the offer, but I’m that selfish I’m going to pass. Me and Sophie, we’ll figure out something.”
    Rafe opened his mouth to respond, but the words were all jammed up in his head. Gage had made him sound like he was successful, although he knew in his heart it was all smoke and mirrors. But he doubted he’d make Gage feel better by pointing that out.
    “You’re really good at your job,” he said. “The people you work with have a lot of respect for you. Plus, you’re a really good carpenter.”
    Gage glared at him. “What’re you doing?”
    “I just thought I should point out… Forget it. It’s probably a bad idea building there, anyway,” he murmured.
    “It’s a great idea, and I’m sure you’ve got the house completely planned. I always wondered why you lived in a dump. Now I know. See what I mean? I can’t match a gesture like that. I can’t even come close.”
    Of all the