Fostering Hope (Silver Lining Book 1)

by Amanda Perry

  “Dom, I’m sorry! I didn’t mean to knock into you.” I gasp, covering my reddening cheeks. “Are you okay?”

  “I’m fine, Muñeca.” he grins, glancing toward the guest room he usually occupies then back at me. “I, uh, I think dinner will be ready soon,” he informs me, scratching the back of his head.

  “Yeah, I was going to straighten my room before dinner’s finished. I left some books lying around, and I don’t want to confuse the ones I have read and the ones I haven’t.”

  Dominic nods, rocking back on his heels. “Want help? I’m not so sure we like the same books, but I love reading. I’d love someone to talk to about it.”

  “Yeah, I’d really like that,” I chirp, perking up a bit. “What sort of books do you like?”

  Dominic’s returning smile twists me in knots. I love making the guys smile at me. I love to make them happy. Dominic follows me into my room, and we spend a few minutes going through my books, talking about the ones I finished and the ones I liked and didn’t. Dominic chuckles when I push the romance novels to the side, knowing he won’t read them. We happen to both love Stephen King and James Patterson. Time flies as we chat about our favorite works by them.

  “Ready to get downstairs for dinner?” Dominic asks, standing up and reaching for my hand to help me up as well.

  I don’t expect his strength to pull me up that easily, and I stumble into him, knocking him back a few steps. He wraps his arms around me to help me stabilize, and I grab his shirt in my hands, afraid of falling. “Sorry,” I murmur, not wanting to gaze up from his chest, embarrassment tightening my chest.

  “I’m not,” Dominic whispers, his voice impossibly deep. It forces me to meet his eyes. “Not at all.”

  He tucks my hair behind my ear as his eyes flicker to the diamond hanging around my neck.

  “This is beautiful on you,” he murmurs, his fingers lightly tracing the edges, giving me goose bumps.

  “It’s too important to me to take it off,” I admit sheepishly. “I haven’t taken it off since you gave it to me. It’s so beautiful.”

  “You’re beautiful,” he whispers, his eyes flickering to my lips.

  I know what runs through his mind, and I can’t stop myself from wanting the same thing. He must realize this because he lowers his head toward mine. I lift onto my toes and wait for him to press his lips to mine. He moves with painful slowness, and my heart races faster with every passing second. After an eternity, his lips softly touch mine. I press my body into his, savoring the weight of him against me, kissing me. Time escapes us both as we get lost in kissing each other, soft and slow. Neither of us wanting or needing to hurry.

  “Are you fuckers gonna eat or what?” Austyn’s voice floats from down the hall, causing me and Dominic to jump apart. My hands fly to my heart, as if holding my chest might calm the erratic beating.

  “On our way,” Dominic calls back, not taking his eyes off me. His voice lowers, and he steps toward me again. “Are you okay?”

  My cheeks heat as I nod. “I’m okay.”

  Dominic narrows his eyes suspiciously, flickering to my blushing cheeks. Finally, he nods, either accepting my words or resigned not to ask what put me on edge. I’m not sure I could explain myself even if he did ask. It’s all too confusing and embarrassing to say aloud. I don’t want Dominic or any of the guys to hate me when they find out how I’ve been behaving. It’s not like I only kissed one or two of them. I threw myself at all five of them. My heart and mind refuse to agree on what to do around these guys.

  Without another word, Dominic takes my hand, and we make our way to dinner. I should lock myself in my room and refuse to come out. Then, I wouldn’t need to worry about kisses and temptation.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE

  “Parker, I’m supposed to drive you to your lunch date,” Lochlan calls out the back door as I pull myself out of the pool. “We leave in an…. Uh…. Erm an hour.” His voice trails off, and his eyes slowly drop down my body, taking in the black bikini Declan got me for my birthday. Our lessons paid off in the past few weeks. I can now swim by myself, though I prefer to be with someone.

  “I’ll get ready now,” I call back to him, strolling over to him and picking up the towel on the table beside him. “Thank you for taking me. Jack still won’t let me drive.”

  Lochlan pulls himself together and laughs at my admission. “I don’t know why Pop thought he could teach you to drive. He’s too nervous for that. If he hasn’t let you behind the wheel by next month, let one of us know, and we will get someone else to teach you.”

  I simply nod, not wanting to cause problems with my eagerness to get behind the wheel. I don’t mind going for drives and learning from Jack, but I do want to get my license. I hate depending on the guys for rides. Jack promised to teach me last month, but so far it’s all been verbal teachings, no behind the wheel.

  “Thank you, Lochlan.” I whisper, wrapping the towel around my body and hugging him lightly, careful not to get him wet.

  “Uh,” he stutters, his arms going around me. “You’re welcome, babe.”

  Pulling back, I grin up at him and giggle. “Why are you acting so odd?” I ask, watching his pupils dilate.

  “Because controlling myself when you’re half naked and wet isn’t easy for me.” He growls, pulling my body closer to his. “You drive me insane.”

  He doesn’t wait for my response, which I’m happy about because no words come to mind. Instead, he presses his lips to mine, his hand skimming over my ribs through the towel. His kisses are hot, hard, and perfectly Lochlan. I sink into him, allowing him to take over.

  Too soon he pulls back and rests his forehead against mine, breathing equally as hard as me. “Get dressed, babe. We need to get you to Talen and Declan for your lunch date. And if you don’t get dressed now, you’ll never make it.”

  I nod, rather flustered and shaky. It always takes me too long to get a hold of myself when the guys kiss me. They put me into a fog and I can’t seem to get out.

  “I’m, uh… I’ll go do that now.” I stumble over my words, hurrying past Lochlan and into the house as he chuckles.

  I get ready quickly, already knowing I want to put on my dark skinny jeans and white tank top. Since my hair is all wet, I brush then braid it because I don’t want to take the time to wash it. I grab some socks then pull out the boots Dominic picked out on our last shopping trip. A tag still hangs on them, an oversight on Dominic’s part since he never lets me know prices. I find the numbers four, nine, and nine and nod to myself, believing the price to be reasonable. Until I notice a decimal and the two zeros after the last nine.

  “Oh my…” I whisper, staring at the boots costing more than I’d ever spend on an article of clothing.

  It takes me a good five minutes to decide if I should actually wear the boots or not. In the end, I can’t bring myself to slip on a pair of boots I know cost Dominic five-hundred dollars. Perhaps there’s a way I can return them and get him something special instead. He deserves something for all he does for me. I should plan something special for each of the guys.

  “You ready, babe?” Lochlan calls from downstairs.

  Instead of answering him, I finish lacing my plain white sneakers and grab my jacket. Rushing down the stairs, I nearly fall into Lochlan. He notices I’m going too fast, and he catches me, swinging me around with enough momentum to prevent either of us from falling.

  “Easy, babe.” He kisses me quickly before letting go. “I don’t want you to hurt yourself.”

  His straightforwardness in kissing me does funny things to my heart and lower belly. I like how at ease he is with it, but at the same time, I don’t want anyone to witness us and get upset at me or him. It’s all too complex to handle at the moment, and Declan and Talen will be waiting. I shake myself of my troubles and follow Lochlan to the car.

  The ride to the guys’ current construction site goes quick, and Lochlan gives me a hug goodbye, watching me walk up to the small portable building Talen sta
nds in front of. He wears his standard dirty white shirt, hard hat, safety jacket, and a big smile on his face.

  “Hey, beautiful girl!” he calls, opening his arms to me. “Miss me?”

  “I just saw you at breakfast, Talen.” I giggle, wrapping my arms around him in a tight hug. “But I did miss you.”

  “I missed you, too,” he whispers, kissing my hair. “Let’s go eat boring delivered food and hang out with boring Declan.”

  I follow Talen up the stairs and into the portable. “I don’t think any of you guys could be boring if you tried.”

  Talen glances back at me with a smirk. “Parker, we aren’t going to make it through lunch if you keep that up.”

  “Keep what up?” I ask, frowning as the giggles fade. “What’d I do?”

  Talen turns his body and gazes down at me, his eyes heating up as they drop down at the lip I’m biting. “You’re just too fucking cute.” He kisses me softly, but pulls away before I can really savor it.

  He doesn’t say anything more as we make our way through the small building to a tiny office where Declan sits with some Chinese take-out boxes spread across a messy desk.

  “Hey, sweetheart.” Declan stands and greets me with a big grin.

  I hold onto him a little longer than I should and savor his arms around me. “Hey.”

  Once seated, we eat our lunch quickly and quietly, all of us clearly starving. Talen keeps his eyes on the fortune cookies. He wants to get the best one before we pick ours, and I don’t mind. His logic seems sound when he says it’s only a real fortune if you pick from the whole pile. After that, it’s simply a leftover fortune.

  “Ready for dessert?” Talen bounces out of his seat and shoots giddy glances in the direction of the fortune cookie bag across the room.

  More giggles erupt as Talen pulls me to my feet and drags me to the bag. “Better watch it, Parker. Fortune cookie picking is serious business.”

  I grin and shake my head at him. “I’m sorry, Talen. Of course, this is very serious.”

  “Pick mine for me, sweetheart,” Declan calls, clearly amused by his brother.

  Talen rolls his eyes. “Then, it’s just her fortune, not yours.”

  “I’ll take my chances.” Declan snorts.

  I allow Talen to pick his, laughing loudly when it takes him a full five minutes. I grab the two left and hand one of them to Declan.

  Talen opens his, eats the cookie, and then reads his fortune. He refuses to go in any other order. As he eats his cookie, Declan and I open ours, reading the fortunes first. “Okay,” Declan sighs. “Mine says ‘Very soon, your heart will be stolen forever’.”

  Declan’s eyes shoot to mine and widen. I blush at the depth of his stare and drop my eyes to my own fortune. “Erm, mine says, ‘Never let the fear of striking out keep you from playing the game’.”

  Frowning, I consider the fortune and how pertinent it could be to my current issue with the guys. If I stop fearing their reactions and tell them how I feel, things would work out better than I expect them to.

  “What the fuck is this?” Talen yells, glaring angrily at his fortune. “It says, ‘Ignore previous cookie’. What the actual fuck?”

  Declan and I share a glance before we both burst into laughter at Talen’s expense. Declan had seen the disgarded fortune in their apartment on my first visit. He found it as amusing as me. Talen spends a good ten minutes pouting and searching his phone for a place to email a complaint to the company who made the cookies.

  My phone buzzing ends our time together. “It’s a text from Duncan. He is waiting outside for me.”

  “Fine.” Talen pouts. “He can borrow you for a while. I have to go build stuff for a little bit anyway. I’ll see you at dinner, though.”

  “I can’t wait.” I grin up at him and give him a big hug. Talen leaves the building and heads off to get his work done, all the while scrolling his phone for the fortune cookie company information.

  Declan hops to his feet and grabs my hand. “I’ll walk you out.”

  We nearly make it to the doorway when the phone rings, pulling Declan back. “Shit,” he grumbles, answering the phone. “Yeah?”

  He listens for a minute then sighs loudly. “What the fuck did they do that for? I asked them to order this shit last week. No, our deadline will be pushed back if we try it their way.”

  Knowing the call must be important, I sneak out quietly to go find Duncan. He can’t be far, and I don’t want to keep him waiting.

  I skip my way down the gravel pathway, toward the front entrance to the site where Duncan said he would wait. I can’t keep the smile from my face as I think over how today went. I should be mortified to have kissed Talen and Lochlan today, but they both made me blissfully happy. I can’t bring myself to be upset or stressed right now. I wish I’d been able to sneak a kiss from Declan as well. Maybe we can find alone time later. Maybe I should take my fortune cookies advice and just tell them.

  “Ah, sugar.” A voice I recognize sends chills down my spine, and my blood turns to ice. “I have missed you. Maybe we’ll get to have that fun after all.”

  I spin around and find Mr. Track standing next to me behind one of the portables on the gravel path. His eyes narrow, predatory and excited. He glances around, noticing we’re alone behind a building. Before I can scream or call for help, Track puts a hand over my mouth, spinning me around and pressing something sharp and cold against my throat. The prick of a blade cuts against my skin causing drops of blood to run down my neck.

  Silent tears slide down my cheeks as Track drags me into a car waiting only feet away. When my mind finally catches up to what’s happening, I try to scream and fight, but it’s too late. My effort only angers him. His hand tightens over my mouth, moving up and covering my nose, too. I try to shake my head, hoping for some air, but his grip holds strong. I can’t fight the black dots taking over my vision.

  CHAPTER THIRTY

  DECLAN

  Slamming my office phone down, I push my hand down my face in frustration. I tried walking Parker out, hoping to sneak a few kisses with her, but the fucking idiots on our current job can’t do shit right. My phone pings with a text, and I smirk, assuming Parker messaged me.

  My smile turns to a frown quickly when I find a text from Duncan. He knows better than to text and drive, especially with Parker in the car.

  Duncan: Can you two stop hogging her and send her out to me?

  Glancing at the time, I realize my phone call went way longer than I first thought, and they should be home by now. He’s fucking with me, the shit.

  Declan: Very funny, did you two get home safe?

  Duncan: What do you mean? She’s not here yet.

  Declan: Duncan, not funny. She left the office as soon as she got the text you were waiting.

  Duncan: Bro, she isn’t here.

  Declan: I’m on my way. I’ll call Talen now. You call everyone else in case he hasn’t seen her. If no one has heard from her, tell them we will all meet here.

  In a panic, I hit Talen’s number and quickly find out the last time he saw her was lunch. Rushing to Duncan, I find him in the parking lot. I reach his car at the same time as Talen.

  Duncan hangs up his phone and shakes his head, his eyes wild. “No one’s seen or heard from her. She hasn’t answered her cell. Everyone is on their way here to help us search the site.”

  “She probably just got lost on the site,” Talen murmurs, his voice breaking slightly. “She’ll be fine.”

  None of us, not even Talen, believe his words. If Parker isn’t hiding around the site and she didn’t make it down here, then where is she?

  ~

  “What the flying fuck do you mean gone?” Austyn shouts, pulling his hair as he paces back and forth behind Duncan’s car in the parking lot. “She can’t be fucking gone. She’s hiding, right Dom?” He gives Dominic a desperate stare as he watches the security cameras.

  “Someone took her,” Dominic whispers, tightening his grip on the arms of the
desk chair. “Some man took her with a… um… he had a…”

  Pop puts a hand on Dominic’s shoulder, trying to calm him down as his entire body shakes. This is so fucking bad. Pop finishes Dominic’s sentence for him, and it goes from bad to catastrophic. “He had a knife to her throat. When he pulls her into the car, there’s blood, and just before the doors shut and we lose them, she goes limp.”

  “Pop,” I choke, staring down at my hands. “I’m sorry. I should have walked her down. I didn’t know, I swear. I got a call, and she left. I didn’t think—”

  “Hey!” Lochlan shouts, pointing a finger at me and getting right in my face. “Don’t you fucking dare blame yourself for what happened! You didn’t take her, you didn’t push her into that car. You will not blame yourself for this fucker’s actions, you got me?”

  I’m completely broken, but I nod anyway. Lochlan pulls me into a rough hug before letting go and pinning Duncan down with a glare I know he’ll understand. He better not blame himself for this shit either. It will do nothing to help us get Parker back if we blame ourselves, and logically, I know he’s right. We didn’t take her, but we will get her back.

  “He’s right, brother,” Dominic speaks up, eyeing me. “You didn’t do this. Let’s just come up with a plan and get our girl back, okay?”

  “Our girl?” Austyn asks, unable to hide his smirk.

  We’ve all talked to Austyn about Parker and the possibility of a relationship between the six of us. He hasn’t said much, except to suggest we talk to her and be honest. I’m not stupid. Austyn knows more than he’ll tell us, but I can appreciate him not betraying Parker’s trust by telling us what we really want to know.

  “Our girl,” Dominic reiterates with eyes full of resolve. I nod, knowing he made his decision. All of us decided to go for it. Austyn appears equal parts elated by the news and terrified we may never get the chance if we can’t find her. I know it’s what he’s thinking because we’re all thinking the same fucking thing. I’d made my decision. We all had. The five of us got together a few days ago, after Talen told us what Dad said, and decided to tell Parker how we feel. We wanted to explain our idea of a nonconventional relationship to her and hope she’d be interested. Now, I don’t know if we’ll ever get the chance. The idea of losing Parker crushes me, and it’s clear on the faces of my brothers they’re all experiencing the same thing.