by Nash, Willa
But seeing the pain on her delicate face for myself, I wasn’t so sure.
“Is something wrong?” I asked again, when she didn’t answer my first question.
“My mom can be such a bitch.”
I barked a laugh. Yeah, so can mine. “What did she do?”
“What she always does. Treats me like I’m this huge burden on her life, this inconvenience. But when I suggest I get out of her hair and live with my dad, she flips out. She doesn’t want me, but she doesn’t want him to have me either.”
It was so achingly familiar. I stepped close and put my hand on her shoulder. “I’m sorry.”
A tear, perfectly round and big and bursting with sorrow fell down her smooth cheek. “Why did she have me if she never wanted me?”
Savannah was in my arms before my brain could process that I’d pulled her in. Or that she could process I was hugging her. But I held her tight, wishing more than anything she weren’t in this position.
It wouldn’t get easier. She’d deal with this her entire life, searching for her mother’s love and approval.
“I’m sorry,” I whispered.
She sniffled and nodded, her tears soaking into my coat. Then in a flash she was gone, wrenching herself out of my hold.
Savannah dried her face, sniffled once more, then jutted out her chin. “What do you care anyway?”
Ah, yes. There was the bold girl. The one hiding her pain behind the bravado. “I care.”
“Yeah, right.” She rolled her eyes. “You don’t even know me. Just because we watched a bullet rip a woman’s heart open doesn’t mean we’re friends.”
Damn, this kid had a good sneer. Better than most adults. She was angry. She was humiliated that I’d caught her in a moment of weakness. I raised my hands. “Okay.”
“Whatever. I’m fine.” With another eye roll, she shoved her hands into her pockets and flew past me, stomping in the opposite direction toward the dirt bike.
I waited, watching as she strapped on the backpack and revved the bike to life. Then she raced away without a glance in my direction.
“Teenagers,” I muttered. How could they insert so much spite into a whatever? “Whatever.” I tried to copy Savannah’s tone, maybe for my own mother, but it fell flat.
When the whine of the bike’s engine disappeared, I continued on to my apartment. My index finger hovered above the keypad. Should I tell someone? Savannah had said she was fine, but she wasn’t.
Dropping my hand from the door, I sighed and made my way to the gallery. The door chimed as I stepped inside, and my eyes took a moment to adjust to the dim light.
“Hello.” The petite woman seated at the corner desk smiled and adjusted her glasses. “Can I help you with anything?”
“Uh . . .” The words disappeared, stolen by the surrounding artwork that demanded my undivided attention.
Wow. Each piece was mesmerizing, no single painting more addictive than the next. Standing amid his work, I got my first glimpse into the man who’d joined me in bed, a glimpse far more intimate than the sex had been. His tattoo made sense now. It was a mirror to his artwork. Bold and colorful, without clean lines.
The landscapes were a mix of chunky strokes, dropped thick and heavy on to the canvas. The mountains on one piece were such a brilliant indigo that they leapt from the sky. The animals he’d painted were of the same style. A wolf with white and gray fur, soft to the touch, collected snow on its sable nose. A rainbow trout with brown freckles on its underbelly and a reflective pink-blue sheen to its side flexed as it swam upstream. A deer hid in trees with antlers tinted the same caramel gold as the wheat field hanging four pieces over.
Hux’s art was nothing like I’d seen before. The way he mixed rough strokes with soft lines gave the paintings enchantment. He’d given them life and dimension. He’d given them an edge.
His edge.
In the lower right corner of each, a black smudge marred the bright colors. Was it a thumb print? I leaned in close to inspect one, finding the ridges of his dried fingerprint. That was . . . him. It didn’t surprise me in the least that he would forgo writing his name when a simple dab of his thumb would brand it as his own.
“This is one of my favorites.” The woman from the desk appeared at my side. Her hands folded in front of her as she stared at the same piece I’d been inspecting. A buffalo.
The bison wasn’t my favorite animal, not since Lucy and I had encountered a herd of the surly beasts in Yellowstone National Park. We’d gone hiking and mistaken a bison path for the hiking trail. The animals were enormous and intimidating as hell. Maybe some would say majestic. I preferred demented. Not even Hux’s beautiful painting could hide the menace in their black beady eyes.
Fucking buffalo.
Though the run-in hadn’t been a total bust. Lucy had met Duke that day. He’d rescued us from certain death and steered us in the right direction.
To Calamity.
“Are you shopping for a gift or your home?” she asked.
“Actually, I’m looking for Hux.” I gave the bison my cold shoulder. “Is he here?”
The woman’s pleasant smile vanished and she gave me a sideways stare. “He’s on the phone.”
“No problem.” I shrugged. “I’ll wait.”
Her lips pursed together. “And who can I tell him is here?”
“Everly Christian.”
It took her an uncomfortable moment to unglue her feet. With a suspicious head-to-toe glance from behind those black-rimmed frames, she turned and disappeared down a hallway at the far end of the room.
“Oh-kay,” I drawled. “Customer service—three stars.”
I walked around the showroom, trying to pick my favorite painting while I waited. The moment I spotted it, my breath hitched.
Savannah.
It was the one and only portrait in the gallery, hung at the back of the room and tagged with Display Only. Not For Sale. I pressed a hand to my heart to keep it from escaping. Hux might hide himself behind that stern, rugged exterior, but there was no question that he’d painted this with his very soul.
Savannah was younger in this painting, maybe twelve or thirteen. The colors on her face were pale and muted. The same was true with her hair, nearly white with a shimmer that gave her an ethereal glow. It stood out like a halo against the gray and black background.
But the way he’d captured her violet eyes was so vivid that the painting didn’t need more color. It was a violent blue like the color of electricity. In those eyes was every bit of the pain I’d seen in the alley today.
Her lips were a pale pink. Was she about to smile or frown? Her expression was void of all emotion, everything except those eyes. Those lonely blue eyes that cut so deep into my heart that my knees began to shake.
“Everly?”
I tore my eyes away from the painting, sucking in air as Hux came down the hallway with his receptionist bloodhound following close behind. “Hey. Sorry to bother you. Could we talk in private?”
A flash of panic crossed his gaze, but he gave me a single nod and jerked his chin to follow him down the hallway he’d just come from.
“Thanks, Katie,” he said as he passed her.
She smiled at him and gave me more side-eye.
Attitude—two stars.
Hux led me down the hallway and into an office, standing aside to close it behind us. His shoulders were stiff, his spine a steel rod.
“I just ran into Savannah,” I said, jumping right in. “She was crying in the alley behind my building. Thought you should know.”
“Oh.” His frame relaxed. “Fuck. She was going to stop by after school and say hi. Did she say anything else?”
“That her mom is a bitch.”
“Because she is.”
“Anyway, like I said, I thought you’d want to know.”
“Yeah.” Without waiting for me to leave, he dug his phone from his pocket and called who I could only assume was Savannah. “Hey. Just checking in. Are you coming do
wn?”
Whatever her response was caused him to frown. But the voice on the other end of the line was too quiet to hear. She wasn’t screaming obscenities, so that was probably good. Though if Savannah was anything like me, ranting wasn’t the real indication that something was wrong.
It was the quiet.
Not wanting to stare, I diverted my gaze to the room, taking in the space. It was unorganized and chaotic. As expected. I couldn’t picture Hux keeping his office space neat and tidy. With papers strewn across his desk and others crumpled into balls littering the floor beside the trash can, this office would be my mother’s personal nightmare.
“You sure? You good?” Hux’s frown deepened at whatever Savannah said, then he pulled the phone away and stuffed it back into his pocket. “She says she’s fine.”
Savannah was not fine, but Hux was a typical man and hadn’t figured out that fine wasn’t actually fine.
“Okay. I’ll get out of your hair.” This wasn’t my family squabble to get into the middle of. I’d done my duty and hopefully, if she was really upset, she’d confide in her father eventually. I took a step to pass him for the door, but before my fingers could touch the knob, his hand wrapped around my arm.
“Hold up.”
“Yeah?” I tipped up my gaze and . . . damn this man. One look at those blue eyes, soft lips and stubbled jaw and my temperature spiked. I swallowed hard.
“Thanks.”
“You’re welcome.” I nodded. “When I came in, what did you think I was doing here? Stage-five clinger?”
“Something like that.” The corner of his mouth twitched. An almost smile. A win, in my book.
“I like your art. You’re a man of many talents.”
Hux inched forward, towering over me, all height and strength. His spice-and-soap scent filled my nose. His heat engulfed me. Hux’s fingers found their way to my hair as his palm cupped my jaw.
A shiver rolled down my spine and the throb in my core drummed to life. “It’s not the weekend. I thought this was a weekend sex thing.”
“Do I look like a guy who gives a fuck what day it is?” His lips descended, hovering above my own as he waited for an answer.
I grinned. “Nope.”
Chapter Six
Hux
“Towels are under the sink. I put a spare toothbrush on the counter.”
Everly gave me a sleepy smile as she hugged a pillow. “Mm-hmm.”
“Take your time.”
Her eyes drifted shut. “Care if I sleep a little longer? Someone kept me up all night.”
“No rush.” I left the bedroom, closing the door behind me before jogging downstairs. Then I went straight for the coffee pot.
Today, I was supposed to be helping Katie rearrange the showroom. Though I doubted I’d be much help come noon. I was wiped.
Everly had drained all my energy. Not that I’d complain.
Yesterday, when Katie had told me there was an Everly Christian to see me at the gallery, I’d panicked. I’d assumed Everly had come to ask me on a date or some shit. Because no matter what women said, they saw me as a challenge: the guy who didn’t want a relationship. When they realized I was a lost cause, feelings got hurt. That was why I’d stopped hooking up with women in Calamity.
That was also why I’d decided to end it with Everly. To just . . . be done. She was simply too tempting, and I needed to focus on Savannah.
Yeah, the sex was otherworldly, but what happened if she caught feelings? What happened if she ran to Lucy, who then told Duke and rumors spread that I’d fucked and dumped his wife’s best friend? That kind of thing could blow my chances with a judge.
Duke was a good guy and all, but Lucy and Everly were tight. It was too much of a risk.
It was time to call it quits.
Then she’d walked into the gallery, not for me, but for my daughter. And damn if that hadn’t shattered my plans.
So I’d kissed her.
After that kiss, she’d given me a wink and walked out of my office. She’d left me standing there, my cock throbbing behind my zipper.
If her play had been to get me to chase her, it had worked. I’d slipped out the alley door and looped around the block, spotting Everly as she’d been about to cross the street for her apartment.
I’d whistled.
She’d stopped.
I’d jerked my chin for her to follow.
The afternoon, evening and midnight hours had been spent worshiping her body in my bed.
I yawned. Damn, that woman had stamina. She met me beat for beat when we were in bed, always fighting to take the pleasure to the next level.
Like last night, I’d been ready to call it quits, pass out and sleep for a few hours. But she’d given me just enough time to recover after making us both come, then trailed those long fingers up my thigh, letting them wander and trace the skin on my stomach, memorizing the peaks and valleys.
Five minutes of that delicious cruelty and I’d been hard again, so I’d flipped her over and taken her from behind, with one hand on her hip to hold her in place and the other stroking up and down her spine, memorizing my own path.
By the time I was finished, I’d been too tired to drive her home.
Truthfully, it didn’t really matter which bed she slept in. Everly might be the only woman in the world who understood the stakes of casual, and thank fuck I’d found her before someone else.
I brewed myself a cup of coffee, guzzling it the second it cooled off from scalding. Then I made another cup, drinking it from a stool at the kitchen island, while I called my daughter. School would be starting soon, so there was no risk she’d be home and around April.
“Hey.” Chatting teenagers and slamming lockers rang in the background.
“Hey, baby girl. How’s it going?”
“I’m okay.” Her voice was monotone. Flat. There was no smile in her words.
“You don’t sound okay.”
“Probably because I have a quiz in chemistry this morning and I’m going to flunk it.”
“Why do you think you’ll flunk it?”
Another locker slammed, this one so close to the phone I could hear the metal rattle. “I hate chemistry.”
I chuckled. “But is it worse than government?”
“No.” She giggled. It was barely there, but it was enough to put some fears at ease.
“How are you really? The truth.”
She sighed. “Mom found out you met me at the theater.”
“What?” My heart dropped. “How?” We’d been careful. Very careful.
“One of her bitchy friends was there and saw you when she went to the bathroom.”
Well, fuck. “Shit.”
Why hadn’t April called me? This was normally something she’d take out on me, not Savannah. Maybe she was just hoarding this bit of information to use against me later. Maybe she knew Aiden and I were done negotiating and the next step was court.
“What else did she say?” I asked.
“She said that no matter how much I want to live with you it’s never happening. Then Julian got all pissed off because I called him Julian instead of Dad and they told me I was grounded for a month.”
My free hand balled into a fist on the counter. I fucking hated them.
Julian had been Savannah’s father figure from day one. Not because he’d earned it. Because he’d stolen it from me.
Julian had been there the day she was born. He’d been the one to bring her home from the hospital. He’d been the one to feed her bottles and rock her to sleep. He’d been there to watch her take her first steps.
Savannah’s last name wasn’t even Huxley. It was Tosh. That son of a bitch Julian had given her his last name when that had been mine to hand down.
She’d called him Dad until she was thirteen, both from habit and his requirement.
Until she’d decided differently.
I’d never forget the day Savannah had walked into the gallery alone. She’d been downtown with some frien
ds shopping and had ditched them. Luckily, I’d been at the gallery that day. Katie had taken a rare vacation, so I’d been stuck at the desk.
Thank God for it. When Savannah had stepped inside, I’d been petrified. Scared that I’d get thrown back in prison because my kid had come to see me.
But the fear had vanished the moment I’d noticed the look on her face. Empty. Lonely. Lost.
I’d immortalized that look in a painting. Then I’d hung the portrait on the gallery wall to remind myself that the reason she was alone was because I’d fucked up. I’d let her down before she was even born.
Maybe I was still letting her down. Maybe I should have fought harder to get her away from April and Julian. But a man can only have his heart broken so many times before he finally admits defeat.
That was the first day she’d snuck away to see me but it hadn’t been the last.
From that day forward, I’d been Dad. So fuck you, Julian. Somehow, I’d find a way for her to be a Huxley.
“I’m sorry, Savannah,” I said, unsure of what else to say. I didn’t want to tell her I was going to petition the court again. I didn’t want to get her hopes up.
“He’s a dick.”
I laughed. “You’re not wrong.”
“And Mom’s a bitch.”
I grunted my agreement.
“But they can’t keep me in that house.” The defiance in her voice rang loud and clear. I could practically see her jutting out her chin.
“Don’t get into trouble.”
She scoffed. “Maybe if I piss them off enough, they’ll let me go.”
Doubtful. She’d been trying that move for years. Savannah would push and push the limits, both at home and with the law. In her sixteen-year-old logic, if she got into enough trouble, either the legal system would yank her out of that house or April and Julian would finally give her the boot.
It wasn’t working and I didn’t like the risks she was taking. And I really didn’t like the dare in her voice. Like the trouble she’d already caused was only the tip of the iceberg.
