“What?” Rafe asked.
“I might’ve fucked up.” I prayed that it wasn’t the same chick, but as she got closer and smiled, I had no doubt it was her. “Nope, I definitely fucked up. I fucked up big.”
“What the hell are you talking about?”
Before I could answer, she walked up to Hawk and said, “Hey there. I’m glad you guys could make it.”
“Appreciate you having us.” Hawk motioned his hand. “You’ve already met Menace. These are my other brothers Country and Rafe.”
“Hi, I’m Kier...Oh, umm…” Her voice trailed off the second she noticed who I was, and the blood drained from her face as her eyes widened. We both stood there, silently reliving the events of the other night in our minds. I felt like the fucking wind had been knocked out of me, and by the expression on her face, Kiersten felt the same fucking way. Thankfully, she recovered quickly and went straight back to business. “I’m Kiersten. I think it’s best if we start the tour here in the school.”
“Just lead the way.”
I was hoping no one noticed her odd reaction to seeing me, but no such luck. As soon as we started down the hall, Rafe gave me a hard nudge with his elbow and whispered, “What the hell was that?”
“That was my fuckup.”
Rafe looked over to her and then back to me. His head fell back as he groaned. “Oh, damn. You didn’t.”
“I did.”
“What the hell were you thinking, man?”
“It’s not my fault. Seriously—”
Before I could finish, Hawk glanced back at us and gave us both a scolding look, putting an immediate end to our conversation. He then turned his attention back to Kiersten. “Gotta say, it’s an interesting place you got here.”
“You haven’t seen anything yet,” she replied proudly.
Kiersten opened one of the wooden doors and motioned us through.
As I walked past her, she did everything in her power to avoid eye contact with me, making it painfully clear she wasn’t happy about me being there. I couldn’t exactly blame her. I felt the same fucking way, but neither of us was going to let it interfere with the tour.
When we continued down a long, dark hall, she stepped in front of the group. “If you haven’t noticed, we’ve completely renovated the entire property. Every room has been updated to fit our needs.”
She opened one of the doors, revealing row after row of cannabis plants. As she waited for us to gather inside, she said, “We’ve created a state-of-the-art greenhouse using the best lighting on the market, a filtration system above all others, and we’ve developed the perfect blend of nitrogen, potassium, and phosphorus for optimal growth of our plants.”
“Damn, seems like a lot of trouble for fucking weed,” Rafe grumbled.
“It is, but it’s worth it. You’ll see.”
I had to give it to her. Kiersten had certainly outdone herself. Damn, the chick wasn’t only beautiful, she was intelligent and driven, too. I was impressed—so much so, I couldn’t seem to take my eyes off her. She had my full attention as she continued, “This is just one of our many start-up rooms. We use this and a hydroponics room to start the process. Once the plants are thriving, we move them to the gymnasium. Come with me, and I’ll show you.”
Hawk nodded, then followed her out of the room. I was about to do the same when Rafe reached for my arm and tugged me back. “What are you going to do?”
“About what?”
“Kiersten.” He shook his head. “I’m watching the way you’re looking at her. Damn, brother. You got a thing for this girl?”
“No, it was nothing. I’m good.”
“Then what’s your plan here?”
I knew he was concerned, and he had every right to be. Viper already had his misgivings about Kiersten. Not only was she Billy’s daughter, but she’d also breached Menace’s computer. If he’d known that she and I had gone at it in the bathroom, I had no doubt he’d lose his shit, and for good reason. I had to tell him what happened, but I didn’t know how or when. We were in the middle of the fucking tour, so I told Rafe, “Fuck if I know.”
“Well, you best be figuring it out.”
“Okay, Judge Judy. Court is adjourned,” I grumbled, then turned and walked out. Rafe followed after me, and we quickly caught up with Menace and Kiersten. As soon as he saw that we were back, Hawk gave us both another reprimanding look.
Kiersten was either ignoring it or hadn’t noticed our odd behavior and simply continued on with her tour.
When we walked into the gymnasium, I was blown away by the number of fucking marijuana plants lining the floor. “Each of our startup rooms offers a different harvest time, so we have to use a variety of methods to ensure we’ll have the right amount of product we need.” She waited a moment, then said, “If there aren’t any other questions, I’ll take you over to the barn where we dry and cure the plants.”