Greer
Another holiday and we’re still alone. We who? My best friend Eli Saxton and I. Inseparable since birth, roommates since college, and now business partners. We own the best landscaping company in three counties. Living in Alberta, a lot of people wonder how and why. The answer is simple… Moisture from the snow means luscious yards for the spring. There’s never any shortage of work between summer yard work and winter snow removal.
We are successful; however, some people have misconceptions about our success. They think we have it all: money, women, anything we could want.
The irony is, we don’t. We both feel like we’re missing one thing.
A woman to call our own.
A woman strong enough to want us both.
A woman confident enough in herself that she can handle the pressure and demands of two men and all that come with it. Like the criticism and ignorance of judgmental people that couldn’t possibly fathom the love we would both give her.
Yeah, I am ready to meet this woman anytime now.
Eli
There was a time in my life when I’d have been happy by myself. More often than not my family was overwhelming, but ever since Greer and I moved from Toronto to Calgary, we’ve been more alone than ever before. I’m not sure about Greer, but I am more than ready to change that.
It hasn’t been long since we’ve moved to Olds, a smaller city about an hour north of Calgary. The idea being we could settle in and get out more. Hopefully, meet a woman that is willing to hear us out and not some college girl looking for a good time. We’ve encountered our fair share of them, and it ain’t pretty.
The need to have a woman to take care of is beginning to override my common senses. I can’t concentrate at work. I find I stare off into space, thinking up the perfect woman but not accomplishing much of anything else.
The only problem?
We have to find her first.
Jet
“Stupid fucking Christmas.” Yeah, I’m grumbling to myself, fucking sue me. After my last client, I am ready to call this whole season quits. All the happy, little prep girl could do was brag about her holiday plans.
Skiing in Aspen with her family.
Yeah, family. What a fucking joke.
At least mine is. Twenty-two years old and I’m still the outcast—black sheep if you will. Everyone wants to like me but being true God-fearing Christian folks, they can’t understand my need to be different. The tattoos and piercings have them all looking down on me.
I thought I was over it until some happy apple family is everything client came in and screwed everything up.
My Pappy is the only one to understand my need to stand out, to be my own person. So maybe I shouldn’t have gotten my first tattoo when I was sixteen or rubbed it in my parents face so thoroughly, or gotten another one each time they tried to be stricter with me.
I am who I am, and they refuse to accept it.
One day, I’ll find someone who can.
I hope.
Chapter 1
Eli
“Yo, man, get your shit; we’re going out,” I tell Greer as I walk into his office. His look is skeptical, but I don’t care, I’m ready to shake his ass up.
My plan is to take him to get a tattoo. One of the best artists in the province is finally taking new clients, and I have managed to get the first opening available.
Tonight.
Jet Ryhan is the best in the business according to anyone who has anything to say about tattoos. I have more than I can count, and Greer has gone with me for each one, always refusing to get one of his own. I know he wants one to memorialize his father who passed away two years ago, but the stubborn bastard always has one stupid excuse or another not to go.
He’s not allowed an out this time, though. Someone is getting tattooed tonight, and it’s not going to be me.
“What the hell? I got shit to do,” Greer bitches.
“Don’t care. We’re going out. Got uh, reservations and shit. Let’s go!” I call, walking away before he tries to convince me otherwise.
Greer and I grew up together. Him always being the quieter, more laid back one. Our families have been friends for generations, so it was no surprise when we became attached at the hip. As we got older, Greer became more and more of an introvert, only going out when I insisted. Which I find sort of comical because a lot of people have misconceptions about our names. Greer is different, something you don’t hear often; therefore, folks think he’ll be the wild one with tattoos and an outgoing personality. Whereas my name is a little more proper I guess you could say, so they expect me to be the quiet one. I always have a blast proving people wrong.