GRANT
Several days passed with the tension high between Harley and me whenever we were around anyone else. We still adhered to the silent agreement that nothing happened until Cat was in her bedroom for a solid hour or more. The tension ratcheted higher when we were with Cat in the staff house. She thought it was funny. She was enjoying being in on a secret. She was enjoying it enough that I thought she would actually keep her word. I knew she would try, but she would likely slip up at some point.
The worry about that was eating at me. Late one afternoon, I landed after a busy day of supply delivery mixed in with a few tourist trips. I walked into what most of us thought of as the main plane hangar for Walker Adventures. We used several here, but this was the one where we had an office.
Diego was there, tinkering in the engine compartment of one of the planes.
“What’s the problem?” I called over as I approached.
He glanced over his shoulder and shrugged. “I'm probably going to need to give Ryan a call.”
Like my brother and the other pilots, Diego could handle the basic mechanical issues for planes. They'd all been in the Air Force together and had taught me some mechanics, but I wasn't as good as them. Ryan was a local guy who had gotten his training in airplane mechanics and had a lot more time than we did to handle issues.
“I keep having this problem with one of the valves. We need a full replacement. He's got the time, and I don't,” Diego pointed out.
Diego straightened, catching my eyes. He and Harley shared the same deep-green eyes. My chest pinched with a twinge of guilt. I knew she didn't want Diego to know what was happening with us, but I was struggling with my thoughts about it. It was inevitable he would find out. I'd rather just own it than have him find out another way.
“What's up?” he asked. He was a perceptive guy and sensed something was off kilter with me. He reached up, lowering the small hood to the engine and closing it.
I paused, tension tightening in my gut. “Look, I need to tell you something.” I gulped in air.
The thing was, I had feelings for Harley. I sensed I wasn’t alone in that. I knew we’d planned for this to burn out, but that wasn’t happening. Not even close. I was far past convincing myself she was just a friend, and I didn't want this to blow up in my face.
I figured maybe I could thread the needle here. I didn't have to tell Diego we were hooking up. I could tell him I had feelings for Harley and see where that went.
“You got a minute?” I asked.
“Standing right in front of you,” he said with a chuckle, “and I just asked you what was up. Of course, I have a minute. Something bothering you?”
“You're probably gonna kick my ass,” I finally said, deciding to take the most direct approach.
His brows hitched up, his eyes narrowing. “This about Harley?”
“Uh, yeah. I have feelings for her.”
Fuck, that sounded weird.
His eyes narrowed further. “Uh, okay. You acted on those feelings?” he pressed.
I shook my head, deciding to keep my lies silent. “I just wanted to let you know about it before it became a thing.”
Diego studied me. It felt like his gaze was boring into my very soul. “You telling me the whole story?” His tone was understandably skeptical.
“I just told you I have feelings for your sister. That's the story.” I deliberately dropped “whole” from that, but whatever.
Diego eyed me quietly before nodding slowly. “Okay.”
“Okay, what?” I pressed.
“Just okay.”
“Well, are you upset with me?”
“Of course, I am. She's my little sister.”
“She's an adult,” I heard myself pointing out.
“Obviously, she can do what she wants, but you're a good guy, and I trust you with my life when it comes to flying and working together. But you don't exactly have a great reputation when it comes to women. Casual is the name of your game.”