He Chose My Sister, So I Left Him With Nothing novel · Chapter 4 of 32

Chapter 4: Across the Lake

On Monday morning I took the work skiff across the lake.

It's ten minutes by water to Moss Brothers. Forty by road.

I'd never made the trip in either direction.

Their dock stuck out from a sandy point on the east shore with a hand-painted sign nailed to the end post.

MOSS BROS. FIREWORKS. SINCE 1981.

Behind it sat a long red shop, two magazines dug into the hill, and a gray house with a screened porch.

A man was sitting on an overturned bucket at the end of the dock, cleaning fish.

He didn't look up when I tied off.

"You're on private property, Buckley."

"I know where I am."

"You're on it in a boat with your company name on the side. That's bold."

Hayes Moss had a short dark beard, a faded cap and a gray T-shirt soaked through at the collar.

He slid a knife down the belly of a whitefish and flicked the guts into the water. A gull took them before they sank.

"I need to talk to you," I said.

"I heard you've been talking a lot. Saturday night. Big speech. Heard you dropped a ring in a drink."

"Who told you that?"

"Everybody on this lake with a phone." He finally looked at me. Green eyes, squinting against the sun. "I watched the video four times. You've got a good arm."

"I didn't throw it."

"It was a good drop, then."

He went back to the fish.

I stood on his dock in my work boots and waited.

He let me wait.

"There's a hearing Friday," I said. "Dustin's claiming half my company. He's got a note with my signature on it."

"Is it your signature?"

"No."

"Then you're fine."

"I'm not fine. The council doesn't know a pyro license from a fishing license. I need another licensed operator to stand up and tell them who runs a show and who doesn't."

← Chapter 3 · All chapters · Chapter 5 →

Want to keep talking to characters like these? Chat with AI romance characters: AI Boyfriend · AI Girlfriend · Dark Romance · Fantasy Romance · BL (Boys’ Love) · Billionaire Boyfriend · Mafia Boyfriend · Possessive Boyfriend · Hockey Boyfriend · Older Boyfriend · K-Drama Boyfriend · Anime Boyfriend · Vampire Boyfriend · Werewolf Boyfriend · Demon Boyfriend · Fae Romance · GL (Girls’ Love) · Anime Girlfriend · Goth & Alt Girlfriend · Gamer Girlfriend · Tsundere Girlfriend · Fantasy Girlfriend