“She should have put it lower so you could reach it.” What if I hadn’t been here and she’d fallen? She could have hit her head, knocked herself out.
“This isn’t my home. Ashlynn has every right to put the first aid kit wherever she likes.”
“Yeah?” I looked around at the bowl of batter on the table, the pots sitting on the stovetop, the dirty dishes in the sink. “Seems like you’re more at home in Ashlynn’s kitchen than she is.”
Ariana flinched, and I frowned as I watched her pull back, biting her lip.
“Ariana? I didn’t mean to say anything to hurt you.”
“N-no, it’s fine. You didn’t.”
Liar. If she were mine, she’d be in big trouble for that right now.
“You happy here? How’s your writing going? How many books have you published now?”
“Yes, and good. Up to five now.”
“You still haven’t let me read any of your books.” I teased her.
She blushed. “You d-don’t read romance.”
I didn’t. But that didn’t matter, I was so proud of her I’d read anything she wrote.
“You sure you’re happy here?”
She looked at me quizzically, and I shrugged. “Guess I thought you’d move away when your aunt died.”
I’d thought the ailing woman had been the only thing tying her to this place and its bad memories.
“Where would I go?” she said simply. “I have no family.”
“You have us. We’re family.”
“Which is why I stayed. I like it here.”
“Even though it holds so many bad memories for you?”
She looked up and studied me. “Life here wasn’t bad for me. Not like for you.”
“Life wasn’t bad for you? What about the bullying? What about the way the people in town treated you?”
“But I was safe here on the ranch, with you guys.” She watched me worriedly. “Do you think I s-should leave?”
Christ, no. I actually liked knowing she was here. Safe. Protected. “No. This is where you belong.”
“Joel said I c-could stay as long as I liked.”
I grabbed hold on her forearm with my good hand. “Of course you can. This is your home.”
She nodded, looking slightly unsure and I decided to change the topic. “You’re not stuttering as much today.”
“I stutter more when I’m tired. Or stressed.” She looked down at my hand. “I think this will need stitches.”
“It’ll be fine. Just stick a Band-Aid on it.”
“Luke, this is way beyond a Band-Aid.”
“Ariana, I’ll live. Just do it.”
“And you call me bossy,” she muttered. “Stubborn male.”
I grinned down at her bowed head, liking the easiness between us. I thought things might have been a bit awkward seeing as we hadn’t seen each other in a while. But it was as if I’d only been gone a few weeks rather than a few years.
“There. That’s the best I can do. But if you get an infection and your hand drops off, don’t blame me.” The look of worry on her face as she chewed on her lip took any sting out of her words.
I pulled her lower lip free of her teeth. “Don’t bite your lip. And don’t worry, I’m fine.”
She stared up at me, her eyes wide, her breath coming fast. It would be so easy to lean down and . . .
The phone ringing interrupted us, and I took a step back, feeling uncomfortable.
“I better get that then go check on Caroline,” I said.
She flinched and turned away. I cursed myself for bringing up Caroline. Idiot.
“She’s not here. She went shopping with Ashlynn and Daisy. I’ll get the phone.”
She darted away before I could reply, and I ran my good hand over my head. Christ, what was I doing? Had I really been about to kiss Ari? I had a girlfriend. Well, sort of. Even if Ariana weren’t like a little sister to me, there was still Caroline to consider. I didn’t cheat. Ever.
Chapter Three
Ariana
I sat quietly at the large table, listening to everyone talk, wishing I’d been able to get out of dinner tonight. Usually, I ate by myself in my little cottage, but since Luke and Mac had been back, I’d been eating dinner at the main house. And each night was worse than the last. On the one hand, I loved having them home; I only wished Caleb and Van could have been there as well.
And that Ashlynn and Caroline weren’t.
I knew it was selfish of me to wish that. This was Ashlynn’s home, not mine. Her family, not mine. Luke and Joel were their men. Yet, they’d been mine first, and a selfish part of me didn’t want to share. Especially when it came to Luke
I had to get over it. I had to be grateful that I got to be a part of his life at all and not wish for something that would never be mine. He was home. At least for a short while. That was enough. It had to be.
It wasn’t like he’d ever see me as anything more than a sister. He was way out of my league. He was gorgeous, confident, and together. He didn’t freeze up in strange situations. He didn’t hide from life because he was scared.
Joel sat back, resting his hand on his stomach. “Oh, God, your chicken casserole is the best, Ash. Thanks for making dinner.”
Ashlynn smiled and preened. She was in a good mood tonight, laughing and telling old stories from when she and Joel first started dating. I swallowed back my resentment as the other woman took credit for my work. I knew the rules.
I turned away from where Joel was giving his wife a soft kiss and met Luke’s bright-blue gaze. His eyes held mine for a minute, questioning. Oh shit, he wasn’t going to say something, was he?
Ashlynn stood. “Let me clear some of these away.”
Joel grabbed her hand, pulling her down. “Sit. You spent all this time cooking. We’ll clean up.”
“Oh, if you insist.”
“So you girls went shopping today?” Luke asked in a low drawl.
Ashlynn stiffened. “Yes. I’m allowed off the ranch once in a while.”
Joel placed his arm around her shoulders and squeezed. “Of course you are, love. Luke didn’t mean that.”
“Not at all. I’m glad you could show Caroline around.”
“Not that much shopping in Bear Ridge,” Joel said. “Couldn’t have taken too long.”
“Didn’t know they had a Macy’s in Bear Ridge now,” Luke said.
Joel frowned and sat up. “You went to Corpus Christi?”
“Well, there’s no shopping in Bear Ridge, is there?” Ashlynn stood and started gathering up the plates. “Anyone for dessert? I made apple pie.”
“You made it?” Luke asked, looking straight at me.
I glared back at him. Why couldn’t he just let this go? I stood. “I’ll help you, Ashlynn.”
“No, you won’t,” Luke countered. “You’ll sit right down and tell everyone why you’re covering for her.”
“Covering for her?” Joel asked.
Mac looked on in with interest, but I noticed Caroline yawn. Did that woman ever pay attention to what was going on around her? Mind you, the bottle of wine she’d had before dinner could be to blame.
“Ariana is the one who cooked dinner tonight, not Ashlynn. What I want to know is what the hell the two of them are up to.”
“Is that right, Ashlynn?” Joel asked.
“Well, you don’t need to look at me like that. I was busy. I really don’t know why I should have to cook dinner, anyway. Why can’t we pay someone to cook?”
“Because I already pay Daisy to make breakfast and lunch and to clean because you said you couldn’t handle that. I kind of thought that with the rest of your day free, you could manage dinner.” Joel’s words were cutting and cold, and I flinched. I probably should have felt a bit sorry for Ashlynn.
Probably.
Ashlynn scowled at him. “I’m not your damn slave, Joel Carlson, even though that’s what you’d like. You want me to slave away all day in this horrible house then fuck you all night l
ong.”
He smiled tightly. “Well, if that was my criteria for a wife, I sure picked wrong, didn’t I?”
“Joel,” Luke said in a low voice as Ashlynn gasped.
Joel turned to look at him and seemed to realize where he was. He ran his hand over his face. “I’m sorry, Ashlynn, that was completely out of line.”
“Save the apologies. I’m leaving.” Ashlynn flounced out, and a door slammed upstairs.
Joel winced then looked around the table. “I apologize. That got out of hand.”
“Joel, man . . .” Luke started
Joel held up a hand. “Don’t. Just don’t. I know I was out of line. I’ll apologize after she’s cooled down. Right now, I need to go and convince her not to leave. She shouldn’t be driving while she’s upset.” He stood then looked down at me, puzzled. “How often do you do her jobs?”
I shrugged, not wanting to make the situation any worse. My stomach tightened.
“Ariana, tell me. You’ve been lying to me all this time, and I thought we had a better relationship than that.”
I looked up at that, shocked. “I haven’t been lying.”
“Yes, you have. You let me think Ashlynn was doing those jobs.”
“But I didn’t lie! I just let her take the credit!”
“Why?” Luke asked.
“I-I don’t know.” I looked down at my clenched hands on the table. “It-it just seemed e-easier.”
Luke reached over and took my hands in one of his. Joel came around and crouched beside me. “Big breath in. Let it out,” Joel coached. “Slowly. There’s no rush.”
There was no impatience on either of their faces even though Ashlynn was probably upstairs packing a bag right now. I knew a lot of people found my stuttering annoying. And while I hardly stuttered around people I knew, I was a lot worse around people I didn’t, or whom I wasn’t comfortable with.
I thought about my words and spoke them slowly. “The first time she did it, I was too shocked to speak up. Then she came to me. Said how nice my cottage was and wasn’t it great I got to live here for free.”
Joel made a noise I couldn’t interpret, and I hesitated.
“He’s not angry at you, Teeny,” Luke told me.
Joel raised his face, staring up at me intently. “No, not at you. What then?”
I licked my lips nervously. “I-I realized she was r-right. I’m not family. My aunt was dead. T-there was no real reason for me to be here. I hadn’t thought about it before. I’d j-just thought I could stay forever.”
“You can stay forever.” Joel took my face between his hands. “And you are family. You don’t have to earn your keep for fuck’s sake.”
“Joel, watch your tone,” Luke warned, and Joel took a step back, running a hand through his hair.
“I’m angry at me, not you, Ariana. And at Ashlynn for making you think for a second that you’re not part of this family. Hell, if I thought you would agree I’d have moved you into the main house. But I figured you wanted some independence. You are always welcome here. This is your home. And you don’t owe us anything. I wish you’d have come to me about this.”
The knot in my stomach started to unravel. “It’s not really a big deal. I like helping out.”
“It is a big deal. I appreciate you helping out. You know that. But I should’ve known about this.” With that, Joel turned and strode out of the room.
My heart dropped as I watched him go.
“Not you he’s mad at, Teeny.”
“I didn’t want to c-cause any problems between them,” I said, worried.
“Their problems have nothing to do with you.”
Joel came down into the main living room a few hours later, after we’d tidied up. Well, Mac and Luke had tidied up. They’d insisted I go sit down with Caroline. That had been the most awkward hour of my life; the other woman sat and texted while drinking her way through another bottle of wine.
Without a word, Joel came and sat on the sofa next to me. He pulled me in close, and I snuggled against him. He was a big bear of a man. All of the Carlson brothers were big men.
“You okay?” I asked.
“Yeah. I will be. We decided we needed some space, so she’s headed over to her mother’s in the morning.”
I sat up so I could look at his face. “Oh, G-god, I’m so sorry.”
“Don’t be. This has been a long time coming, and we both knew it. We were clinging to something that’s no longer there.”
A tear dripped down my cheek, and he smiled, reaching up to wipe it away. “Always worrying about everyone else, aren’t you?”
“No. Not everybody else. J-just you guys.” He pulled me back into his embrace, and sensing he needed it, I held on tightly.
“This show is crap. Who’s got the remote?”
“Hey, I like it,” I protested.
“Watching strangers get married is not good TV,” Luke informed me.
“Oh, but watching men run around and get the shit kicked out of them is?” I countered.
“It’s football.”
I shook my head but didn’t protest as they switched over to the sports channel. At a break, I yawned and sat up. “I need to go to bed.”
“Yeah, suppose I should as well,” Joel said.
“I need to go into town tomorrow if anyone needs anything,” I said casually as I stood.
I saw Joel stiffen and looked back to catch his horrified look. “How are you getting there?”
“I’m going to drive my car.” It had been my aunt’s car, and she’d left it to me when she died. I didn’t drive it very often.
“No, you’re not. Luke will drive you.”
I turned around, placing my hands on my hips as I gave him an impatient look. “He’s got an injured hand.”
“My truck’s an automatic. He can drive with one hand.”
“And I can drive with two,” I pointed out. “I’m driving myself. This phobia you have is ridiculous.”
“Phobia? This isn’t a phobia. A phobia is an irrational fear. This fear is very real.”
Luke cleared his throat. “One of you want to let Mac and me know what you’re talking about? What’s wrong with Teeny driving into town?”
“Nothing,” I told him.
“Nothing, unless you want her to come home in one piece.”
I held up a finger. “One. I had one accident. I’m not a bad driver.”
“You’re a terrible driver,” Joel countered.
I gasped, offended. “I am not.”
“Accident? What accident?” Luke asked impatiently.
“It wasn’t even my fault, and Joel continues to hold it against me.” I pouted.
“Not your fault? You crashed into a parked car.”
“There was a bird.”
Joel shook his head. “There was no bird, Ariana.”
“Were you injured?” Luke asked urgently, running his gaze over me as though it had only happened yesterday. “Why didn’t you tell me?”
“No one was hurt.”
“Except Mrs. Clarkson’s car,” Joel said dryly.
I winced.
“Mrs. Clarkson?” Mac asked. “Our old English teacher, Mrs. Clarkson?”
He whistled as I nodded. “Bet she ripped you a new one.”
“She did,” I said miserably. “I couldn’t understand most of the words she used, but I got the gist of how unhappy she was.”
“Thing is, that’s not the only incident.”
“I’ve never had any more crashes,” I protested.
“You ended up in a ditch four months ago,” he said.
“The road was s-slippery, and it wasn’t really a ditch, just a dip in the road.”
“You nearly wrapped yourself around a tree at the start of the year.”
“Nearly. And that time there was a deer I was avoiding. D-did you want me to hit a deer?”
“I want you to be safe. So Luke is going to take you into town tomorrow. No arguments.”
“This is crazy.
I’m twenty-three. I have my license. I own my own car. Legally, I’m allowed to drive.”
“No arguments.”
“But—”
Luke came up to me and cupped my chin in his hand. “If anything happened to you, we’d all be devastated. Joel is just trying to keep you safe.”
And I loved him for it. “I know. But I can’t keep relying on people to drive me around.”
“Hey, beats having to work for Joel, he’s a bit of a slave driver,” he half-whispered.
“I can hear you,” Joel grumbled.
“Yeah, he can be really bossy,” I commiserated with a smile as Joel gave us both a dirty look. “Okay, I need to leave at ten.”
“I’ll be waiting.”
Having Luke go with me tomorrow just might make the trip into town a bit more bearable. The truth was, I’d rather have my eye-teeth pulled than go into Bear Ridge. But I needed to go to the doctors. I probably should have changed doctors and gone to a clinic in Kingsville, but I liked Alice McClellan. She was a straight-shooter, and she was fairly new to the area, so she didn’t have the same history with me everyone else did.
Chapter Four
Ariana
I came out of the clinic to find Luke leaning against the cab of Joel’s huge, black truck.
“You didn’t have to wait,” I told him. He’d bugged me the whole way into town about what the appointment was about. In the end, I’d told him I had women problems, expecting that would shut him up. To my consternation, he’d listed every female issue I’d ever heard of and some I hadn’t. Seriously, it was an extensive, embarrassing list from thrush to menstrual cramps to a UTI.
By the time we’d reached the clinic I was as red as a beetroot and wishing to hell I’d just told him the truth. That I needed a new prescription for birth control pills and the doctor wanted to see me first.
“Yes, I did,” he said simply before opening my door for me. I was damn grateful I’d worn jeans instead of a skirt as I stretched my foot up to the running board. Suddenly, two hands circled my waist, and I squealed as Luke lifted me into the cab.
“Luke!”
He raised an eyebrow, clearly asking what the problem was.
“You could have w-warned me first!”
Luke (Bad Boys of WildeSide Book 3) Page 3
