by Marla Monroe
“I–I’m not sure. He’s nice, and I liked spending time with him. It’s only been one date.” Where was he going with this?
“And how do you feel about me?” he asked.
“I like you, Nick. You’ve been a good friend ever since I’ve known you. Don’t endanger that by interfering in my private life. If I want someone’s opinion, I’ll ask for it.” She set down the cup and crossed her arms, staring at him so that he would understand that she was being serious.
“Cynthia. Don’t be that way. I’m only looking out for you. Who’s to say how long he’ll be hanging around here? He doesn’t really have any ties in the Gatlinburg area.”
“Since we’re just getting to know each other, I don’t see that it matters at this point. And, it’s really none of your business,” she said.
“You have no idea what you’re getting yourself into. He could be crazy for all you know. At least let me check him out before you decide to go out with him again.” Nick stood up and walked around the bar and wrapped his hands around her upper arms. “I care about you.”
“Let me go, Nick. I think it’s time for you to leave.” Cynthia pulled against the other man, but his hold on her tightened. She’d end up with bruises if he didn’t stop squeezing her.
“You belong to me, Cynthia. Don’t see him again. Do you hear me?” he yelled.
“Nick. What’s gotten into you? Let me go. You’re being an asshole!” She shoved against his chest, making him release her and take a step back.
It hit her that he never had said where he’d parked his truck. Had she made a serious mistake letting him inside at this time of night? Would he actually hurt her? Fear began to eat at her stomach as her cell phone chimed, indicating she had a message from someone. Her head jerked toward her purse, but Nick hurried over to the couch to grab it before she could take it from him.
“Nick? What the hell? Put my purse down. You have no business going through my things.” She reached out to take it from him, but he turned as he rummaged through it and she missed.
When he pulled out her phone and checked the message, anger swept across his face. Cynthia tried once again to snatch the phone from his hands, but he shoved her back hard enough she ended up losing her balance and hitting the floor ass first. It jarred the breath from her.
“The bastard wants to know if you made it home safe or not. You gave him your cell phone number after only one date? Are you crazy? Hell, you didn’t even give it to me. I got it from Denise.” Nick punched something out on her phone then hit send. The familiar sound indicating the message had been sent told her he’d answered Roy’s text. What had he said to the man?
“Nick, give my phone back, now.” She pushed herself back up and held out her hand, expecting him to comply.
Instead, he threw the phone across the room so that it hit the wall with a loud thump. Now it probably wouldn’t work anymore. She felt the tightness in her chest grow.
“If you broke my phone, Nick, you’re going to replace it,” she said with more bravado than she felt.
“I don’t want you talking to him anymore. Do you understand me?” He stomped toward her, the anger having turned to something close to rage now. “You’re mine, Cynthia. No more seeing other men.”
“You can’t tell me who I can and can’t be friends with. Get out of my house, Nick. Right now.” She pointed at the door, forcing a stern, no-nonsense look on her face.
When she finally managed to get up again, Nick stomped over and grabbed her, pressing his mouth to hers in a painful kiss. Surprise froze her in place at first, but once she got over the shock she pushed him away and backed toward the door.
“You don’t mean that, Cynthia. I admit that I got a little too carried away. You’re not used to that. I should have been gentle with you.” He shook his head, walking toward her now.
“Out, Nick. I mean it.” She stood with her hand on the door in a white-knuckled grip, waiting to see what he was going to do.
God help her if he refused to leave. She didn’t know what to do. Her phone was probably broken, and she didn’t have a landline anymore. Why had she ever gotten rid of it?
“I’m going, but this isn’t the end, Cynthia. Just think about it, okay? I’m sorry if I scared you. That Roy guy isn’t for you.”
“Get out. Now, Nick. I don’t want to ever see you near me again.” She knew there were tears in her eyes, more out of betrayal than any physical pain he’d caused. He’d ruined their friendship and abused her trust.
He frowned as if finally realizing what he’d done then nodded and opened the front door. After looking at her once more, Nick walked outside. Cynthia slammed the door as soon as he was gone. She had no idea where his truck was or how far he might have to walk to get to it, and she didn’t care. How had things gone so terribly wrong? She’d never dreamed that Nick believed there was more between them than just friendship.
She immediately set the deadbolt, wishing she had another one as well. She hurried to the back door and made sure it was locked then checked all her windows to be doubly sure they were all secure. She never would have believed that Nick would do something like this. He was always the playful, easygoing one of the group. He’d never said anything harsh about anyone until that night when he’d baited Roy then stormed off in a huff.
It took all of her courage to undress and climb into the shower. She kept thinking she heard something the rest of the night, getting very little sleep at all. The last thing she thought about was that she had no idea what he’d texted Roy before he’d broken her phone. She wouldn’t find out until she saw him again, if she saw him again. And Cynthia knew now for sure that she wanted to see both him and Aden again.
Chapter Eight
By Tuesday when Cynthia hadn’t heard from either Aden or Roy, she began to worry. Her phone had indeed been broken, so texting them was out. She couldn’t even call them on her store phone since she didn’t have their numbers except in her cracked phone. She was too busy on Monday to go get another phone but planned to at lunchtime today. It wasn’t safe for her without one, especially since Nick had turned psycho on her.
She’d had to wear three-quarter length sleeves to cover the ugly bruises on her upper arms on Monday. Tuesday she wore a sleeveless tunic dress with a long sleeved loosely woven sweater that covered the areas well enough. It was a bit nippy out, so she’d brought her jacket with her in case she needed it that night after closing.
Cynthia hadn’t said a word to Denise about how Nick had shown up at her house and basically accosted her. How could she explain that to her friend when they’d all been a group for years? How was she going to handle being around him when he was with the others? She didn’t want to stop going out with them sometimes. It wasn’t fair that she would have to change her plans because of him. The more she thought about it, the angrier she became. Nick was the one at fault here, not her.
At lunchtime, she closed the shop and stopped to tell Denise where she was going. Thank goodness her friend had been busy at the time and couldn’t ask her what had happened to her phone. She’d think of something before she had to answer her friend’s questions. The trip to and from the store didn’t take too awfully long, but they hadn’t had the same phone in stock. That meant she now had the newer version and would have to learn it all over again. The one good thing that had occurred was that they were able to transfer all of her information over to the new phone.
Thank you, Jesus, for advanced technology.
By the time she’d made it back, there were several people standing outside her door. She quickly parked in back and unlocked the shop. The rest of the day passed quickly with very little time for her to stop and think. She didn’t even see Denise again before it was time to close up for the day. Just before she locked the door, Aden and Roy slipped inside with broad smiles on their faces.
“Just made it,” Roy said. “Mind if we wait while you close up?”
“Um, no. That would be fine. How are you two doing?”
/>
“Doing fine. We would have stopped by yesterday, but we had some problems crop up at the farm,” Aden said.
“Nothing serious, I hope.” Cynthia started counting down her drawer, making notes on the report next to her.
“No, mostly just an all-around pain, but it had to be handled,” Aden said.
“I had hoped you might call or maybe text us,” Roy said in a hinting voice.
“Oh, well, I dropped my phone and broke it. I just got a new one today at lunch.” She didn’t look up, just continued filling out her sales report.
Aden chuckled. “Roy here has been through two since we moved back here. He keeps demolishing them when he’s working on some of the machinery.”
“Yeah, well. When they say the case is indestructible, they should back it up,” Roy fussed.
“I made him get insurance the second time,” Aden said with a smug expression.
“Oh, shut up, Aden.” Roy popped the other man on the back of the shoulder.
“So what are you doing in town at this time of night?” Cynthia asked.
“We came to see you. We wanted to maybe take you for dinner and just talk some,” Roy told her.
She only barely managed to keep from dropping her mouth in surprise. Both of them? At the same time? As much as she liked that idea, it scared her at the same time just because she’d been thinking along those lines the last couple of nights.
“Sure. Sounds good.”
“Awesome,” Roy said, stuffing his hands into the front pockets of his jeans.
“Is there anything we can do to help you close up?” Aden asked.
“Thanks, but once I get the deposit written up, I’ll be ready to go.”
“You can ride with us, and we’ll drop you back off at your car later. Do you need to stop by the bank?” Roy asked.
“Not tonight. I’ll put this in the safe and make a deposit tomorrow when my helper gets here.” Cynthia finished writing out the deposit and then hurried back to the office to put it in the safe.
She grabbed her jacket and purse, then double-checked that the back door was locked. When she rejoined the men out front, Aden was standing by the door, and Roy stood next to the row of light switches.
“Let me put my jacket on. It’s nippy out there tonight.”
“Yeah, it is.” Aden walked over and took her jacket from her. “Here, let me help you with that.”
She slipped off her bulky sweater to pull on the warmer jacket and yelped when Aden suddenly dropped her jacket to turn her farther into the lights.
“Roy, look at this.” Aden’s voice held tightly controlled anger.
“Who the fuck did this to you?” Roy asked when he had looked over her arms.
She hadn’t expected them to become so enraged over it. Truly, she’d forgotten about it, or she wouldn’t have pulled off the sweater and forced the jacket on over it instead.
“Look. I really don’t want to talk about it. It was all a misunderstanding. That’s all.” She reached for her jacket, but Roy grabbed it off the ground.
“This isn’t some misunderstanding, Cynthia. This is assault. You’ve got some guy’s fingerprints on your arms. That took force. I don’t care how easily you bruise.” Roy handed the jacket over to Aden and gently lifted one arm to look at it.
“You’ve got as long as it takes us to get somewhere to eat to think about telling us what happened. Then we expect some answers, Cyn baby,” Aden said, his voice soft but insistent.
He helped her slip into the jacket, then zipped it up for her, folding her sweater over one arm. Roy flipped all the lights off, and she set the alarm before locking the door after them. Their truck was only a few steps away from the shop, but both men seemed to surround her as they walked over to it. Roy helped her up into the truck then climbed in after her. Aden quickly climbed up into the cab on the driver’s side and started the engine.
Cynthia couldn’t concentrate to figure out how to get out of saying anything to them because of the intense awareness she had sitting between them. She was on sensory overload. The subtle differences to their scents, along with the way they smelled combined, made it almost seem as if they came as a pair. The irony of that wasn’t lost on her. She’d been contemplating the possibilities of having some sort of relationship with both of them already. This only made things worse. Now she’d never get the idea out of her head. They just smelled right together, felt right together.
She looked up as Aden slowed the truck and pulled into a parking lot of one of the little-known diners around the Gatlinburg area. She loved their burgers and fries here. Once they’d parked and Roy had helped her down, the butterflies started their incessant fluttering in full force. There was nothing wrong with having dinner with two handsome men at the same time. She’d eaten out with Davis and Andrew before, even Nick and Andrew, and it hadn’t fazed her. The difference now was that with them she’d never thought of them in a romantic way, but with Aden and Roy? Well, she was in so much trouble.
She found herself sandwiched between them as they walked across the gravel lot to the door. Aden opened it, allowing her and Roy to enter first before bringing up the rear. They steered her to a round booth in the back with each of them scooting in on opposite sides of her. As soon as the waitress had brought them drinks and taken their orders, Aden turned to her with an expectant look on his face.
“What happened, Cynthia?” he asked.
“Look. It’s not a big deal. I was talking with Nick, and he made me mad. I started to turn away, and he grabbed me to stop me. I told him to let go, and that was basically it.” She shrugged and sipped her iced tea.
“Not going to cut it, baby girl,” Roy said. “When did this happen, and what set him off?”
“Really, it’s no big deal. We’ve been friends for a long time. It’s all just a big misunderstanding. I wasn’t paying attention and didn’t realize he was, um, he liked me.” Cynthia stared down at her hands as she ran the pads of her thumbs up and down the condensation on the outside of the glass.
“This is the same asshole that was bothering you Saturday night at Hogg’s?” Aden asked.
Roy answered for her. “The same one. I knew he was trouble.”
“But that’s just it, Roy. He’s never been like this before. I’m sure it won’t happen again.”
“When did it happen, Cyn?” Aden asked.
She winced and looked down again. “Saturday night after I got home.”
“He was at your house?” Roy asked.
“Yeah. I really didn’t think anything about it at first. I mean, we’ve been friends for a long time.”
“Romantically?” Aden asked in a quiet voice.
“No. Just friends. I didn’t have a clue he felt that way until Denise said something the other night,” Cynthia said.
“So what really happened to your phone, Cynthia?” Roy asked, catching her off guard.
“Um, he got mad when you texted me, and after he answered it, he threw it across the room. It hit the wall and sort of fell apart.”
“Son of a bitch!” Aden said with a low growl. “How did you get him to leave?”
“I opened the door and told him to get out and to not come back,” she said.
“Have you seen or heard from him since then?” Roy asked.
“No. I doubt I will. The next time I’m eating with the group, he’ll act like nothing happened, and so will I.” Cynthia could tell by the deepening tension in the air that neither of the men liked her take on things.
* * * *
Aden tried hard, really hard, to rein in the anger and instant urge to protect what was his. He looked over at Roy in hopes his friend would be able to keep him from saying something that would lead to bigger problems. Unfortunately, by the expression of carefully controlled anger on his friend’s face, he’d get no help from him. Roy seemed to be struggling as well. He could count on one hand the number of times he’d seen Roy truly pissed off before, and one of those times had been with him when they’
d finally gotten back states side.
“What kind of locks do you have on your doors, Cynthia?” Roy asked.
“Good locks. I really don’t think Nick would try to break in, guys. He’s not usually violent or anything. I figure he’d just had a few too many and gotten his feelings hurt is all. He’ll apologize the next time I see him, and that will be that.”
“What did he say when he left, Cynthia?” Aden asked.
“Well, I don’t remember exactly.” She ducked her head, so Aden knew she was lying. She knew exactly what he’d said.
Before he could call her on it, the waitress had returned with their meals. He held off questioning her further for a little bit to allow her to get a few bites of her hamburger and him some added time to calm down. He wasn’t going to leave her at her car tonight. He and Roy would be following her home and checking out her house, whether she liked it or not. She was theirs.
Theirs. It felt right. He’d been trying to convince Roy to think about it when, until that moment, Aden hadn’t totally been onboard himself. Now he wanted his best friend to help him take care of Cynthia, keep her safe. Between the two of them, surely they could keep her happy and make sure no one ever hurt her again. Just thinking about those bruises on her arms had his blood boiling all over again.
When he looked up, it was to see Roy nodding at him. His friend agreed with him. She was theirs, and they would take care of her together. Now to convince her that two men were better than one. It was going to be a challenge, but one he couldn’t help but feel good about for the first time since he’d returned home. Taking care of the family farm hadn’t even seemed like much of a reason to go on, but Roy needed a home and Aden was determined to make a go of it.
The things he’d seen over there haunted him, visited him in his nightmares. The things they’d been forced to do to survive kept his gut in a constant churn. What had been the purpose of it all? He’d thought he had known all those years ago, but he didn’t know jack shit. Agendas and policies changed directions easier and more often than a woman changed her purse or shoes.
