Page 15 of The Compass Series

They had crossed a line, and they didn’t even care that they had. More and more each day, I was becoming certain that I wouldn’t be able to stay in that house with these two women living right down the street.

“I’m sorry, that’s kind of a private question, and?—”

Louise cut in. “Did you know you can freeze your eggs? I read an article that you can do that.”

Before I could reply, Louise was waving over at Lars, who was digging up some dead plants. “Hey, Lars. It’s good to see you,” she sang, eyeing him up and down like he was a T-bone steak she was going to devour. “I see you’ve still been working hard as always.”

He wiped his forehead with the back of his hand and gave a devilish smirk. “You know I can’t keep myself from getting my hands dirty, Louise.” He then winked at me, and my stomach flipped fifty-seven times.

Louise fanned herself and blushed as if she wasn’t a married woman while Lars went back to work. “Wow, my gosh. If I were still a single girl, I would love to get down and dirty with that man.”

“Amen,” Kate sang along with her sister. “Anyway, let us know about the pedicures, Kennedy! And about Bernie. You two would get along so well. I just know it.”

The two hurried away, and I’d have been lying if I said I missed them when they left.

At the end of the day, Lars came knocking on the door to let me know his team had headed out. “Let me show you what we’ve accomplished today,” he said, gesturing to the front yard.

With a hesitant smile, I followed after him.

We walked around as he gestured here and there, explaining what it would look like a few months from now.

He spoke about the garden that would be placed in the back yard and went on and on about the lighting fixtures that would be put in place.

He boasted about how talented and intelligent—and single—he was, sometimes touching on the amount of success his business had achieved in Havenbarrow.

Then, as we were looking toward the corner where the lilac bush would go—Mama’s favorite flower—he placed his hand on my lower back, and I shot forward.

“What are you doing?” I said, feeling a jolt of nerves rushing through my system.

He cocked an eyebrow, apparently baffled. “I’m sorry? I was just?—”

“Touching my lower back without my permission,” I spat out. “And frankly, that is highly inappropriate.”

Instead of apologizing for his actions, Lars rolled his eyes. “Come on, lady. It’s not like you haven’t been coming on to me all day since I arrived here with my team. The signs seemed pretty clear.”

“There were no signs. I wasn’t coming on to you at all.”

“There’s no need to lie about it,” he argued, raking his hands through his hair as if he were the most confident man alive.

“I get it. You’re a good-looking girl. I’m a good-looking guy.

It only makes sense that”—he placed his hand on my shoulder, sending chills down my spine—“we’d be attracted to each other. ”

“I’m not,” I said, my voice growing louder as I tossed his hand from my shoulder. “And if you touch me one more time, you’ll regret it.”

“No need to be a bitch,” he huffed. “The truth is, you’re not even my type.”

What is it with men who can’t accept the fact that a woman isn’t interested in them and therefore become defensive?

“You’re a little too plump in all the wrong places,” he said, eyeing me up and down.

“It’s time for you to leave,” I ordered, my voice stern even though I was shaking a little bit on the inside. At least in my marriage, I knew the monster that was coming home to me each night. But with Lars? A complete stranger? I didn’t know where he drew his lines of anger.

“Whatever. I’ll be back tomorrow to get to work.”

“It’s probably best if you don’t come back,” I said, knowing there was no way Yoana would be comfortable with someone like him working on their property. She’d never want me to feel uncomfortable. And Lars? He was the definition of discomfort.

He snickered, shaking his head. “You don’t have the right to fire me. As you said, your sister is my client—not you.”

“And my sister will be getting a call from me the moment you leave. Now, leave.”

“Listen, lady—” he said, stepping toward me, making me flinch backward. Gosh, I hated that. I hated him seeing reaction escape from me. I hated how I saw the flicker of confidence my flinching gave him. I hated looking weak in front of men. I hated feeling boxed in.

His chest puffed out as he stood taller. “I can’t have you messing with my income, so we are going to have to figure something out.”

“Or how about this? How about you listen and leave her property,” a voice said, making Lars and me both look in the direction of Joy’s house.

There he stood, Mr. Personality at the short fence that separated Joy’s yard from mine.

His eyes were stern and filled with…anger?

Was that anger? Only this time the maddening look was focused on Lars.

“How about you mind your own fucking business, buddy?”

Mr. Personality walked around the fence and then over to my yard.

He stood face to face with Lars, and within seconds, Lars looked like a little fish about to be eaten by a shark.

Sure, Lars was a bigger guy, tall and somewhat fit, but Mr. Personality was fit.

Like fit fit. Like, will lift a car with his pinky and not break a sweat fit.

They had a staring contest for a few moments before Lars stepped back and surrendered.

“Whatever, man. I don’t have time for this.

” Lars turned his stare to me, and his blue eyes looked a little colder.

“Good luck finding another landscaper to finish this shit. I’m the only one in town, so congratulations—you’ve fucked over your sister’s yard. ”

“Leave,” Mr. Personality hissed, his stare still throwing daggers at Lars.

“Okay, okay, asshole.” With a sinister snicker, Lars tossed his hands up into the air. “Don’t shoot.”

Those words rolled off his tongue in a disturbing fashion, and now it was time for Mr. Personality to stumble backward a bit. His eyes flashed with emotion before he blinked it away. What was that? What was the story behind his slip of emotion?

Lars hurried away, and I watched a slow exhausted sigh fall from Mr. Personality’s lips as his shoulders dropped. The grizzly bear before me let go of his growl.

Relief rolled through me as I smiled toward Mr. Personality. “Thanks for that. I was about?—”

“What the hell are you doing?” he snapped, his hard tone throwing me for a loop.

“What?”

“Why would you let him harass you like that for the whole day? Then, on top of that, you keep letting these nosy people come to your house and belittle you.”

I stood a bit straighter. “What are you talking about?”

“Every day, these people have been bringing you shit while shitting on you with their backhanded comments. They were pretty much spitting their disrespect straight into your face, and you just allowed it like you don’t have a freaking backbone.”

Wow. Okay. Apparently we were back to the aggressive, rude guy I met in the woods. “It’s really none of your business.”

“If you don’t shut them down right now, they aren’t ever going to pull back on being so aggressive and in your business.”

“And why do you care how people treat me?”

His eyes flashed with a softness, and I swore I saw a person I’d once known.

He stuffed his hands into his jeans pockets and shrugged.

“I’m just saying. The people in this town are walking trolls.

If you have to play the bad guy, take on that role.

Don’t stay timid, though. They love to break the timid.

They’ll drive you crazy, push you up against a wall, attack you repeatedly until you snap—and believe me, you will snap—and then they’ll ask you why you snapped. ”

“You still didn’t answer my question. Why do you care how people treat me?” I asked.

“I don’t,” he harshly muttered, brushing the back of his hand across his forehead. “But you don’t care how they treat you, either. Pretty sure that’s the real problem at hand.”

I wanted to argue with him. I wanted to tell him he was wrong, say I didn’t care a lick what these townspeople thought of me, but the truth was I did care. I wanted them to like me, because more than being bullied, I feared being unloved.

My husband had made sure to put that fear into me—that I was unlovable. All I wanted to do was be loved, even if it meant breaking my own heart in order to get people to like me. That was a very depressing fact.

“A word of advice from the town asshole?” he offered.

“By all means, enlighten me.”

“Get a solid backbone. Stand up for yourself. Push back when they push up against you.”

“I don’t know if taking advice from the town asshole is such a solid idea. I don’t want to be a loner like you. I want to have friends.”

His eyes shifted away from me for a split second. When he looked back, I swore I saw…hurt? Had I hurt him with my words?

“I have friends,” he said, sure as ever. “People who mean the goddamn world to me. People who get me when the rest of the world tries to break me.”

My stomach knotted up. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean that…”

“You did, and that’s fine, but before you sit here judging me, focus on yourself right now.

Decide if you truly want these people as friends.

People aren’t careful about who they give themselves to nowadays because they think being liked is more important than being respected. These people will kill you.”

I laughed. “I doubt Louise and Kate are going to take my life.”

“I’m not talking about taking your life. I’m talking about them taking something more important.”

“And what’s that?”

“Your soul.”

I didn’t know what to say, didn’t know what to do. I just stood still as day as he moved in closer to me and spoke so softly. “Bark at them, Kennedy. Bark.”

He took a step backward, taking my breath along with him. My chest was so tight as he walked away. His words were sending chills down my spine as they played on repeat in my head, as if they were trying to unlock something within my memories.

Bark at them, Kennedy. Bark.