Undeniable: Haven Falls (Book 5)

by Sheridan Anne

  “Nothing,” Noah grunts.

  Tully turns into Aiden and grabs a fistful of his shirt before wiping her eyes on it. “Noah got,” laugh. “He got…” Tully doubles over, unable to control herself. “Shit, I can’t even,” she tells him, needing to wipe her eyes once again.

  “Fuck me,” Noah grumbles under his breath. “You’re going to tell everyone, aren’t you?”

  “You better fucking believe it,” she laughs again before looking back at Aiden. “Noahsaurus got his dick pierced.”

  Aiden gapes for a moment before turning to me. “Fuck, yeah,” he howls before holding his hand up proudly for me to high five. “Get it, girl.”

  Noah shakes his head, probably out of embarrassment before slinking away. “I need a fucking drink.” He disappears into the crowd, leaving me to party the night away with Tully and Aiden.

  Spencer shows up at some point and I eventually find Kaylah who ditches her Broken Hill friends to party with us. Jesse crowd surfs, Tyson throws up in the lake, and Aiden dirty dances with some guy from Broken Hill who I’m pretty sure is straight.

  Before I know it, it’s two in the morning and the small night I assumed I was going to have is long gone. I can sleep when I’m dead.

  People slowly begin disappearing, leaving only the people with stamina behind which is when I drop down into Noah’s lap, loving the feel of his hand as it circles my waist. “Here, drink this,” he tells me, holding up a water bottle.

  I roll my eyes and take it from him anyway. I haven’t drunk too much tonight, so I’ll be fine tomorrow, but he can’t help the need to look after me. I take a drink and as I screw the lid back on the bottle, I feel a heavy gaze sinking into us.

  I glance around. It’s pretty dark but the fairy lights hanging above us are doing an alright job. I scan the bodies and then finally I spot the culprit. Over by the DJ booth is a girl I’ve never seen before blatantly staring at us. She must be from Broken Hill High. I’d know if I’d seen her before; she’s hot. Long brunette hair, curves to kill for, and startling blue eyes that I can see from over here. She has that whole innocent look about her with a baby face that I have no doubt all the guys at her school would fawn over. She’s instantly a threat.

  I watch her for a moment, wondering why she hasn’t looked away like normal people tend to do, but on closer inspection, she doesn’t even see me here. Her eyes are solely on Noah, staring at him like a meal she wants to devour.

  I don’t like it one bit.

  I stand from his lap and square my shoulders towards the brunette girl. My movement catches her eye and she looks up at me, instantly reading the challenge on my face.

  Her eyes widen like saucers and not a second later, she whips them away and scrambles into the crowd.

  What the hell was that? I mean, if you’re going to openly gawk at my boyfriend, then have some balls about it.

  Shrugging it off, I drop back down into Noah’s lap, being careful not to squish his junk beneath me. “You alright?” Noah murmurs in my ear as his lips skim across my neck.

  My eyes dart back up towards the DJ booth and with no sign of the girl, I sink back into him. “I am now,” I tell him moments before turning my face and capturing his lips in mine.

  Chapter 3

  Tully and I sit on the beach watching as Aria plays in the waves on Sunday afternoon. It’s been a massive weekend. We didn’t get home from Broken Hill until four in the morning, but we were able to sneak inside without waking dad, meaning Noah could also bypass the couch and come to sleep in my bed. Neither of us was thinking because a late night meant a massive sleep in this morning and dad wasn’t too impressed when he woke hours before us and practically dragged Noah out of my bed by his ankles. Actually, there was no ‘practically’ about it. He did drag him by the ankles and the sound of Noah’s body dropping to the floor has replayed in my head a million times already. I have to admit, it was funny though.

  I woke around eleven after Aria had bugged me one too many times to wake up. We enjoyed filling a spray bottle with icy cold water to spray on Noah’s face to entice him into consciousness. It worked like a damn treat and Aria’s giggles made it all worth it. Noah couldn’t even get mad.

  With nothing planned for our Sunday, Noah went to see if Maxen could use any help on the track while Tully and I surprised Aria with a trip down to the beach. She’s gotten used to this whole ‘being spoiled’ and absolutely loves it.

  We bought ice cream and gave her everything a five year old could possibly need. She’s now roaming free over the beach while Tully and I sit back, watching from the sand and soaking up as much sun as we can.

  It’s the middle of spring so it’s not exactly beach weather but it’s certainly getting there, and besides, a little bit of weather isn’t going to stop us from taking our favorite five year old for a day at the beach.

  I watch as Aria stands right at the shore, preparing herself to jump over a wave. It comes toward her and she bends her knees. Her little arms bend and she balls her hands into fists. I can’t see her face but I’d bet everything I’ve got that she’s got her concentration face on and her tongue hanging out.

  A smirk cuts across my face. “Watch this,” I tell Tully. She looks up from her Kindle and focuses in on Ari just in time to see her launch herself into the sky just a moment too soon. She comes back to the ground and is instantly hit with the wave that comes halfway up her thighs, drenching her little body as it splashes up all over her.

  I choke back a laugh, knowing if she heard me, I’d have hell to pay. I somehow manage to control myself as Ari turns around to look at me with her hands out and water dripping off her. “I missed,” she calls out.

  “No shit,” Tully chuckles to herself.

  “I know, I saw,” I tell Ari. “You have to wait a little longer before jumping.”

  “But it’ll get me.”

  “Yeah, it’s a little too late for that,” I grin.

  Ari decides she doesn’t care for my teasing and turns back around, instantly spotting a shell in the sand. She ducks down, scoops it up, and gets busy inspecting it before using it to draw in the sand.

  I try to focus on what she’s drawing but the picture is a little distorted from here. “What are you making?” I call out.

  “My mommy.”

  Tully raises a brow as her head whips back up from her Kindle before looking at me in alarm. Concern filters into me. “Are you missing your mommy?”

  “Yep,” she says, concentrating hard on her picture before looking up. “Come and see. I drew her with a swimsuit on so she can be at the beach with me.”

  My heart breaks as I get up off the sand and dust off my ass. I stare down at the picture she’s drawn in the sand and can’t help but notice that it’s not just Aria’s mom in the picture. It’s a family. “Who’s this?” I ask her, though something tells me I already know.

  Ari points down at the sand, beaming proudly at her work. “It’s our family,” she tells me as though I’m silly for not having already figured it out. “The one with the big belly is Daddy, that’s Mommy, and you, and me.”

  I wrap my arm around her and pull her into my side. “You’re so clever,” I tell her, absolutely adoring her pureness and innocence. If only we didn’t lose that as we grew up. The world would be such a happy place. “Why’d you add your mommy? She doesn’t live with our family.”

  “But she’s still my family. I came out of her tummy and that means she’s my family even if she doesn’t live with us.”

  “You love her very much, don’t you?”

  She nods her little head making me realize that she’s wise beyond her years. A child’s love for his or her parents knows no bounds and I hate that one day, she’s going to grow up and discover just how ugly the world is. Though, maybe dad will shield her from the truth just as he did for me.

  “You know, Daddy and I love you too,” I tell her. "We were so lucky the day you showed up on our doorstep.”

  “You looked scared,” she
says, reminding me just how freaked out I was in that moment.

  “I certainly was because I didn’t know what was going on, and you know it’s always ok to be a little bit scared sometimes.”

  “I don’t have to be scared because I have you and Daddy now.”

  “That’s right, Ari,” I smile, forcing myself to hold back tears. "You’re exactly where you belong.”

  I look down at her sand drawing once again, wanting desperately to move on from such a heavy topic. Though, I have a feeling it’s only heavy for me. Ari wouldn’t know any different, she’s just sharing her truth.

  I grin as I look over her interpretation of me. “Why’d you draw my butt so big?”

  “Because your butt is big.”

  I suck in a deep breath, exaggerating my outrage as I turn to face her. “It is not,” I demand. “It’s the cutest butt I’ve ever seen.”

  Aria looks up at me with a cheeky smirk. “Because it’s so big you can see the cuteness from everywhere.”

  I suck in another breath. “You’re going to pay for that.”

  She catches my look and her eyes widen in panic. A high-pitched squeal comes tearing out of her and in the blink of an eye, she takes off down the beach. “NOOOOO!” she screams.

  I rocket after her with my big butt and all, determined to get my revenge. She screams and laughs the whole time filling me with absolute joy but throwing her into the cold water will make that joy so much better.

  She’s fast but with my longer legs, I’m quickly able to catch up to her. I scoop her up, my breath coming in hard and fast making me realize just how unfit I am. Maybe I should be joining Noah and dad on their workouts and add a little jogging into the mix.

  Throwing her over my shoulder seems a little harder than I ever thought. I mean, she’s only five but she’s heavy. Are all five year olds this heavy or am I just seriously lacking in the health and fitness department? Noah’s able to throw me over his shoulder with ease and still be able to chase after Tully, yet here I am struggling with a little kid who’s mostly skin and bones.

  I half race, half die as I make my way to the water’s edge. “Take it back or you’re going in,” I warn her.

  “NOOO!” she squeals, somehow able to make the sound deafen me.

  “One.”

  “No, no, no, no, no.”

  “Two.”

  She tries to claw her way free, but I won’t be giving in that easily.

  “Three.”

  I hurl her off my shoulder and throw her towards the water. She screams out and latches onto my arm, the momentum of the throw forcing me forward. I tumble over the sand and before I know it, I fall face-first into the water as Ari comes splashing down in front of me.

  “Shit,” I shriek, scrambling to my feet. “It’s cold.”

  Tully’s howling laughter is heard from behind me, but I’m focused on the fact that I’m dripping wet, and unlike Aria, I’m not in my swimsuit. She puts her little hands on her hips and pokes her tongue out. “Serves you right, big butt.”

  With that, she takes off up the beach, leaving me to face Tully and hope to God that she somehow forgets that ever happened.

  Tully stares at me the whole shameful walk back up the beach. “Did you seriously just fall and eat dirt?” she laughs. “That was so fucking funny. I wish I’d caught that on camera. Aiden’s never going to believe me.”

  “Shut up,” I groan, rolling my eyes. “It’s freakin’ cold.”

  “Here,” she says, leaning over to pull out the towel from under her ass. She throws it up at me and I shake it off for a while, trying to get all the sand out of it. I absolutely love the beach but there’s nothing I despise more than sand, especially when it gets caught up in and around my lady bits.

  “Thanks,” I say as I start wiping myself down. “Remind me to clean off my tattoo when I get back home. I don’t want it to get infected after being in that water. I mean, I’m almost certain kids pee in there all day long.”

  Tully scrunches her face up in distaste. “You’re so gross.”

  “You know it’s true.”

  Satisfied that I’ve dried up as best I can, I lay my towel down and plonk myself down on top of it. I already have a love/hate relationship with the sand but add a wet ass to the mix and that’s just begging for trouble.

  I spread out on my towel and angle myself towards the afternoon sun, hoping there’s enough sun left in the day to dry out my clothes, so I don’t have to walk around looking like a drowned rat for the rest of the afternoon.

  I lay back on my elbows watching Ari dig to China when Tully steals my attention. “Oh, shit,” she moans low. “Look at that.”

  I look down the beach to follow her gaze to find a shirtless guy off in the distance, running up the beach. I can’t make out a face from here but there’s no mistaking the fact that this guy takes care of himself.

  We both watch for a moment and I can’t help but feel the guy has nothing on Noah, especially without the tattoos covering his body. I mean, Noah has ruined normal guys for me. If we were to ever break up, I’d be screwed.

  I quickly lose interest but as he grows nearer, Tully sits up a little straighter and begins squinting towards the guy. “Wait…is that Spencer?”

  My head turns back towards the runner and sure enough, as he continues running our way, it becomes clear that Tully’s right, it’s definitely Spencer.

  Tully waits until he gets a little closer before calling out to him. “Spencer,” she yells loud enough to make sure he can hear us from right down at the shore.

  His head whips around and he starts searching us out, only finding us when Tully raises her hand and waves.

  A fond smile spreads across his face before he starts heading up the beach towards us. “Hey,” he says, breathing hard. “What are you guys doing?”

  Tully tosses her bottle of water to him before he drops down in the sand beside her and finishes off what’s left of her water, clearly thankful for the interruption. “Just chilling out,” she tells him before pointing out Aria and the massive hole she’s digging. “Ari loves the beach so we thought we’d come and hang out here instead of at home.”

  “Oh, yeah,” he says, leaning around Tully to look at me. “Get her out of your dad’s hair, huh?” he chuckles. “How’s he doing? Aiden told me about his heart attack.”

  “He’ll be fine,” I say. “He just wants to get back to work and pretend it never happened.”

  “Sounds like my dad when he fell off the roof and gave himself a concussion last year,” he laughs. “I swear, the older they get, the harder they are to deal with.”

  “Tell me about it,” I scoff. “I’ve been having to organize all his meals for him just to make sure he eats healthy; otherwise I can guarantee he’ll be right back to eating his burger with chili fries every chance he gets.”

  “Damn. That’s tough. I think with kids, you just tell them what’s what and they do as they’re told, but when it’s an adult…I don’t know, they’re so much more frustrating.”

  “Ain’t that the truth,” I grumble.

  “So, what’s going on?” Tully asks Spencer. “What’s with the afternoon run? Don’t you get in enough running during practice?”

  “Football season’s over,” he explains. “So, I need to keep up on my fitness for next year in case I get onto a college team.”

  “You’re still waiting to hear?” she questions.

  “Yep. Hopefully, I’ll know soon,” he says. “Fingers crossed though, if I don’t get into college, I’ll be heading to work with my old man in used car sales. He thinks the big dream is for me to run the business one day.”

  “That’s not so b-”

  “Wait,” I cut in. “What do you mean football season is over? Noah and dad were watching a game last night.”

  “I don’t know,” he tells me with a shrug. “They must have been catching up on a missed game or something. The season ended in January.”

  Well, shit. You learn something new e
very day. I wonder if Noah knew he was watching an old game. I can just imagine his reaction finding out that he put the effort in and sat through the game thinking it was live. Hell, he even shouted at the TV as though he was actually into it.

  Tully and Spencer get chatting and while he’s not someone that I’d consider a close friend, he’s certainly come a long way over the past few weeks and that has a lot to do with the fact that he’s able to make Tully smile.

  She’s still been hurting a lot since Rivers went away but since Spencer has been hanging out, she hasn’t seemed so upset and that’s always going to be a bonus in my eyes, despite my feelings towards the guy.

  If he can somehow heal her heart, then I can learn to put up with him, though, I think it might take a little more than a smile for a handsome boy to heal a heart like Tully’s.

  I don’t think it’s anything romantic between them, but I think she simply just enjoys his company as a friend and that’s all I can ask for.

  My phone rings and I look down at the screen to see Noah’s name flashing up at me. A smile instantly rips across my face and suddenly, Tully and Spencer no longer exist. Hell, I have to remind myself that Aria is playing in the water and not get distracted from watching her.

  “Hey,” I say, the smile still pulling at my lips while those familiar butterflies begin taking flight in my stomach. “Are you finished with Maxen?”

  “Yeah,” he tells me in that fond tone that tells me he’s pretty damn happy to be hearing my voice right now. “He was a little too hungover to put in a decent day’s work.”

  “Really?” I laugh. “I didn’t realize those rich kids knew what a decent day’s work was. Don’t they usually hire someone to do that shit for them?”

  “Now, now, Kitty. Retract those claws,” he tells me. “What’s up? Are you not feeling it today?”

  “I’m fine,” I say with a laugh, thinking how the Ryder boys and all their friends would have reacted to that comment. It might have been a little much. After all, each and every one of those guys are pretty damn awesome, despite having money. Growing up, I never expected to like guys like them, but they proved me wrong and I’m so pleased that they did. “I’m just teasing. Don’t tell them I said that. They’ll kick my ass with their piles of cash.”