Can't Let You Go: A Wheeler Brothers Novel Read Online Free Page B

tonight."
    "Who's she going out with? Is she getting back with Zach?"
    Zach. I tense up just hearing that asshole's name. Zach is Jen's ex-boyfriend. The guy she dated for a month.
    "No. This is a new guy. Chad." I try to sound cool about it, but Jake knows I'm not. He knows I love Jen. My whole damn family does, which is why they keep pushing me to be with her. I've told them I won't date her because I don't want to risk ruining our friendship, which is part of the reason. I won't tell them the other part. If I did, they'd tell me I shouldn't be trying to make decisions for Jen. That I should date her and let her decide if she wants to stay here after she graduates. But I can't do it because I know what she'd decide and I can't let her ruin her life for me. If Jen stays here, her mom will keep manipulating her and taking her money. She'll never have a good life. Her mom will make sure of it.
    "You're running out of time," Jake says, crossing his arms over his chest. "She graduates in May, and after that, she'll probably move out of Chicago, unless she has a reason to stay."
    "I'm not talking about this." I walk over to the hallway and pick up the trash the workers left; some empty pop bottles and bags of chips. "And I'm sick of hearing about it. I already know what you think so you don't have to keep telling me. That goes for Nash and Austin too." I toss the trash in the garbage bag next to the sink.
    "If we see you making a mistake, we're going to tell you."
    "Yeah, well, you've already told me about a million times, so you can shut up now." I assess the half-finished kitchen. "What are we going to do about this?"
    "It's too late to hire another crew. Didn't you say the homeowners are back on Monday?"
    "Yeah. So it needs to be done and cleaned up by Sunday night."
    "Shit, that's not much time." Jake gets his phone out. "I'll text Nash and Austin and see when they could get over here." He sends the texts, then says, "I need to go check on my own project, then I'll go home and change. I could be back here around six."
    "You sure? I thought you and Ivy had plans."
    "We were just going to a movie. We can go some other night. But I'm bringing her with." He smiles. "Can't go a whole night without seeing my girl."
    Jake is so in love with her. For years he slept around, vowing to never be in a relationship, and then he meets Ivy and suddenly he's a new man.
    "Besides," he says, "if I tell Ivy we need to get this job done asap, you know she'll want to pitch in and help."
    "It'd be awesome if she could do the trim work. Ron was supposed to do it, but he was so freaking slow he didn't get around to it."
    "I'm texting her now," Jake says.
    Ivy's a carpenter. She worked for Jake on one of his projects, which is how they met.
    He laughs. "When can I start? That's what she texted back. She's actually excited about it. Fuck, I love that girl." He texts her back. "Nash just texted me. Said he could be here at five-thirty. Callie has class tonight."
    Callie is Nash's fiancé. She's good friends with Jen. So is Ivy. So in addition to my dad and brothers nagging me to date Jen, I've got Ivy and Callie doing it too. It's freaking annoying. They think they're helping but they're not. They're just making it harder.
    "Did you hear from Austin?"
    Jake doesn't answer, his eyes on his phone as he sends another text, probably to Ivy.
    My phone rings and I see it's Austin. "Hey, what's up?"
    "Got Jake's text. Sorry, but the band's practicing tonight. We're playing on Saturday so we really need to practice. But I could be there tomorrow night and Friday and a few hours this weekend."
    "Sounds good. I'll talk to you later." I end the call.
    "Was that Austin?" Jake asks.
    "Yeah. He can't make it. He has practice tonight."
    Austin's in a band. They play at bars in the area and at local music events. They're getting to be really popular.
    "I'm going to head out." Jake takes his keys from the counter. "You staying here?"
    "Yeah. I'm going to start ripping