by Khloe Wren
I was still trying to catch up with the fact that Ryan had just manhandled me so easily.
“You just hauled me inside like a sack of potatoes! You can’t do that.”
He scoffed, the fire still wild in his gaze. “I just did. Deal with it. Why the fuck were you going to those houses? I told you I was dealing with it.”
I slammed my palms against his chest, trying to push him back away from me, but unlike last time, he expected it and didn’t budge an inch. Instead, he wrapped his hands around my wrists and pushed my hands above my head against the wall. I tugged to break free, but his hold was solid.
“Let me the fuck go! You don’t get to boss me around! I was trying to gather more information. Time’s running out. On Monday your mom is signing those fucking papers, then she’s gonna be dead!” A sob caught in my throat as he sucked in a breath.
“What do you mean? What did you find out?”
“One of the houses he now owns belonged to a girl who went to school with us. Remember Mirabelle? She was a few years younger than me.”
“Not really. But if she was younger than you, I would have dropped out by the time she started high school. What does she have to do with this?”
I tugged at my hands again. It was getting distracting having his body so close to mine. “Let me go.”
“No. I like you right where you are. Now, talk.”
Gah, he was so damn frustrating.
“After the first two houses turned out to be empty, I called her instead of going to the third house. She mentioned how she hadn’t seen me since my dad handled her parents’ estate last year.”
He dropped his head into my neck for a moment, the brush of his beard against the sensitive skin of my throat stealing my breath and my thoughts.
“Keys is gonna wanna hear this, isn’t he?”
“I would assume so.”
He stayed pressed against me, his hard, warm body against mine as he kept his face in against my neck for another moment. Then with a jerk, he released me and spun away. I gulped a breath and watched as he paced across the room while I rubbed my wrists. He hadn’t held me tight enough to injure them, but I’d tugged and twisted against his hold enough that I could feel where he’d gripped me. After some mumbled cursing, he pulled his phone out.
“Hey, Keys.” Pause. “Yeah, I’m here. She’s got something you need to hear. I’m gonna put you on speaker so she can explain this shit. Yes, I called you using the app.”
He mumbled something about a paranoid bastard as he pulled his phone away from his ear and hit speaker, then he set it on the coffee table and glared at me.
“Get over here and tell the man what you found out.”
I walked over, glaring at him the entire time. “You know, you catch more flies with honey than vinegar.”
“You’ll catch even more with shit, but who fucking cares.”
“Such an asshole. Hey, Keys.”
The man was clearly trying to not laugh at our bantering. “Hey, there, sugar. What you got for me?”
“The girl who owned the first house he took ownership of is a few years younger than me. We went to the same school. I rang her today, and in the conversation, she reminded me that my dad handled the estate for her parents last year. They died in a car accident. Mirabelle was in the car too, but she survived basically unscathed. A tire blew out and the car spun out and went into a stand of trees. Her parents died on impact, from what I know. Mirabelle got knocked out but suffered no major injuries.
“Once I remembered that, I went back to work and did a little more digging in the old files. Her parents had just gotten a new Will drawn up. But not by my dad. It was done by a firm up in Riverton. The road they crashed on was between here and there. And, Keys, the new Will? Stated that Mirabelle got everything, but if she wasn’t alive, Drake Industries got it all.”
The cursing that came over the line was inventive and had me sitting back, staring at the phone in shock. Hadn’t thought the man had that kind of brashness in him. Ryan took the phone off speaker and put it to his ear. I left him to it and went to grab a drink from the kitchen. I’d just downed a healthy mouthful of whiskey when I felt him closing in on me.
“Why’d you call her?”
“After the first two houses were empty, I figured the third one would be too.”
I turned to face him.
“Why’d you think they wouldn’t be empty?”
“Your mom told Dad that Godfrey wouldn’t take physical ownership until after she died.”
He squeezed his eyes shut and clenched his fists. “She isn’t that fucking stupid. What the fucking hell is that woman thinking?”
I shrugged. “Grief does strange things to a person. At a guess, she’s lonely and looking for somewhere to belong. A church, on the surface, seems like a safe place. It’s just unfortunate she picked a fake one.”
When his eyes reopened, my breath caught again. This shit was eating him up, destroying him from the inside, out. He wasn’t the asshole he pretended to be. Deep down, he was still my Ryan from so long ago. I couldn’t ignore his pain. I took slow steps until I stood in front of him, then wrapping my arms around his waist, snuggled in against his body that was hard as a rock with all the tension he was holding onto. When after a few seconds he hadn’t relaxed at all or returned my embrace, I winced and released him, turning away to hide the hurt I knew he’d see in my expression. Guess he didn’t want me to ease his pain. That was fine. I mean, it was for the best, right? We could only ever be friends. I needed to remember that. Ryan kept making me forget what I couldn’t have and shouldn’t want.
I was such a fucking fool.
I rushed to my room and closed the door. I didn’t slam it, but was firm enough that it made a solid thunk as it shut. I headed over to the window that faced out into my small yard and wrapped my arms around my middle, desperately trying to hold myself together even as I felt the pieces falling apart inside me. My mind was all but screaming as memories shattered my sanity.
I was stuck remembering the pain as James had his men hold me down while he beat the hell out of me.
The hot agony as he slid that fucking knife in deep.
A strangled sob tore from my throat as I fell to my knees.
That knife had taken two lives that day nine years ago. I’d been left nothing but a breathing corpse. Chained down to the agony that day had wrought on me.
Chapter 5
Needles
I was such a fucking asshole. The woman gave me a hug, and what did I do? Did I automatically return the gesture? Nope, I froze the fuck up. Although, in my defense, the last thing I expected from her was her to wrap herself around me. It took me a fucking minute to catch up with what she was doing. And in that minute, she took my shock as rejection and all but ran for her room.
With a shake of my head, I headed to the front door. I should be getting back to Bridgewater and Ashlynn anyway. She and Ariel had hit it off yesterday when they’d met, and Scout had made arrangements with the school for Ashlynn to sit in on classes while we were down here. When Keys told me what he’d spotted Bess doing earlier, I’d sorted with Scout for Ashlynn to stay with them until I could get back from figuring out what game Bess had been fucking playing.
I had my hand on the door handle when I heard it. That wasn’t just her sobbing. That sound was not the normal sound of a woman crying, that was the sound a woman in absolute agony made. Had someone been waiting in her room for her? Hurting her? On instinct, I pulled the gun Nitro had given me earlier and bolted to her bedroom door, thrusting it open and sweeping the room with the weapon up. When I spotted her, I nearly dropped the damn thing. What the fuck? She was kneeling in front of her window, her arms wrapped around her middle while she sobbed as though she was bleeding out.
Tucking the gun back away I went over and scooped her up into my arms.
“Shhh, Bess. I’ve got you, baby. What’s wrong? You need a hospital?”
She shook her head but the tears kept
streaming down her face. She had a big armchair by the window so I sat down and she curled up into a ball in my lap. Not all that different than what Ashlynn would do if she was scared. I had no clue what to do with the bundle in my lap, but she’d told me she didn’t need the hospital so I figured it must be something emotional, not physical, that had hurt her. She had herself so worked up at this point, she couldn’t talk at all, let alone explain any of this shit to me. So I did the only thing I could think of doing. I cuddled her, holding her small body against mine as I stroked her hair, arms, legs. I just kept running my hands over her, pressing the odd kiss to her temple. I kept it up, even when she started to calm down, hiccupping between her quietening sobs.
“I’m sorry, baby. I don’t mean to be such a fucking prick to you. I really don’t. I’ve got so much shit running around in my head, so many people that need me to do different things, I don’t even know which way is fucking up half the time. I didn’t mean to hurt you. I’d never intentionally hurt you, babe.”
How the fuck had I broken her so badly by simply not returning her hug? I didn’t get it. But I didn’t want to upset her just as she was starting to calm down, so I didn’t ask. For now. Later, maybe once we got this shit with Ma settled, we were going to have a long talk about what the fuck happened in Miami. Because clearly something had gone down while she’d been away. If it had happened here, Ma would have told me about it.
Her body loosened from the tight curl as she drifted into sleep and I focused on her face. It was all red and blotchy from her outburst just now, but still so fucking beautiful it hurt to look at her. I ran my fingers through her long, dark, wavy hair a few times until I was sure she was sound asleep, then I gently ran my thumb over her soft pink lips that had felt so fucking good under mine when I’d kissed her.
“Ah, Bess, what the fuck are we playing at here?”
She didn’t respond to my whispered words and I slowly rose from the seat, and holding her with one arm, I shoved her sheets back and laid her down. Slipping her shoes off, I then unzipped her skirt and slid that down her legs. She was easily the sexiest woman I’d ever seen, but I wasn’t thinking about jumping her bones right now. Nope, for the first time in my fucking life all I wanted to do was care for a woman. Further proof that, surprisingly, it appeared I did have a heart, after all.
Bess had exhausted herself so much, I got her stripped down to her panties without her so much as twitching. I tucked the covers around her body, then headed to the bathroom to wet a cloth. I returned and wiped her face, careful not to wake her. Then I went and filled a glass of water to leave by her bed with some Advil for the headache she was gonna have in the morning. After that, I stood back and watched her sleep for a few minutes. This situation with Ma was already a giant fucking mess, add in what I was now feeling for Bess, and I was getting close to losing my damn mind. Someone had hurt her, badly. Something I did had set off a trigger for her. It was the only explanation that made sense.
With a sigh, I leaned in and kissed her temple.
“Sweet dreams, babe. We’ll sort this shit out. Somehow.”
Then I was out the door, heading back to Bridgewater. After switching over to a cage, I went to Scout’s place to collect Ashlynn, who was talking a mile a minute about all the fun stuff she and Ariel had done with Marie as we walked out to the car.
“I helped bake, Daddy! A real pie!”
“That’s great, honey. What flavor did you go with?”
She frowned. “Rhu, ah, Rhub. The purple stuff.”
I tried not to laugh. She could say most shit now, but the odd word tripped her up. “Rhubarb?”
She jumped up and down. “Yes, that! And Marie said it was good enough to take to the shop this week. People are gonna pay to eat the pie I made, Daddy!”
Laughing I ruffled my hand through her hair. “That’s amazing, kiddo. Hop in and let’s get back to the clubhouse and get you ready for bed. You’ll need all your energy for whatever you and Ariel are gonna do tomorrow.”
She scurried into the back seat without another word, sitting in the booster seat Scout had loaned me and buckling herself in. I stood in shock for a moment. That was new. Guess she really was looking forward to tomorrow. Once I had myself in and we were driving, I asked her another question.
“So, you like it here?”
“Oh, yes. It’s great! I really like Ariel, even if she doesn’t have a horse. The school is so cool. They have this huge playground, it’s all spread out with this zipline and TWO monkey bars!”
I chuckled again. Guess there was more space here than in New York for play equipment.
“Daddy?”
“Yeah, honey?”
“Do you like it here?”
A flash of Bess sleeping in my arms hit me hard enough I jerked the wheel, jarring the vehicle a little. “Ah, yeah. I guess I am enjoying it down here.”
“It would be better if Grandma was here too. Do you think we can bring her here? So I can show her the monkey bars?”
Again with the shot of pain through my chest. “Soon, sweetheart. Grandma doesn’t know we’re here yet. I’m trying to get this mess sorted out before I let her know we’re down here, but it won’t be long until we can tell her, okay?”
She yawned before giving me an uh huh. By the time we pulled up to the clubhouse, I had to carry her inside as she was three quarters asleep. Grateful Scout and Marie had given her dinner, I took her straight upstairs and helped her get into bed. I’d worry about getting her to take a shower in the morning. No way did she have the energy for it tonight.
“Sweet dreams, Ashlynn. I’ll come wake you up in time for school in the morning. And if you need me, I’m gonna be right next door, or just down the stairs in the main room, okay?”
“Okay, Daddy. Love you.”
“Love you too, honey.”
With that, I crept out of her room and into mine. Grabbing my sketch pad and my case, I headed downstairs. It was only seven and normally way too early for Ashlynn to be out like she was, but she’d had a big day so I wasn’t surprised she crashed early. It was also too early for things to be getting lively here in the bar, although it was a Wednesday, so it might not get too crazy regardless of the time.
After collecting a beer from the bar, I headed to a table toward the back of the room and set about venting some of my frustration with art. Taking a deep draw on my drink, I flipped open to a clean page, pulled out a pencil and started sketching. Letting my mind wonder, I didn’t bother focusing on what I was drawing, but just let my hand move over the page as it wanted to.
I couldn’t believe it had only been a month since Ma had called to tell me about Dad’s funeral and when I’d not felt a damn thing, I’d been so sure that had meant I was heartless. Now here I was, and every fucking thing seemed to be messing with the damn organ in my chest that needed to stop aching.
From the moment I’d seen Ashlynn, she’d held my heart. I knew no matter how heartless I was to the rest of the world, a part of my heart would always beat just for her. And Ma, for all her bullshit, was in there too. It had been my old man who’d so callously told me not to come home after I’d dropped out of school and started working for Rusty. Guess he thought he could scare me straight. Clearly that shit failed. Then there was Bess. The sweet, little, dark-haired angel who’d been so filled with attitude as a kid was now a sexy as fuck woman who held all my attention whenever I was near her. Fuck, who was I kidding? She held all my damn attention no matter where she was.
Smooth as whisky.
Sweet as honey.
All fucking Bess.
I’d fell in with Ashlynn’s mom, Tori, soon after I’d landed in New York. She’d been my muse, my canvas, but I’d known I’d never love her. I’d blamed it on the fact I didn’t have a heart to give her, but now I was wondering if it was because I’d already given the damn thing away to Bess. I just hadn’t realized it at the time.
I was so fucking messed up. Wasn’t good enough for either Ashlynn or Bess
, or Ma, for that matter. But dammit, I was all they had. Yep, I was including Bess in that. After this afternoon, I couldn’t lie to myself about her anymore. That woman owned my fucking soul and as soon as we got Ma straightened out, I was claiming her for my own. She didn’t want to live in New York? Fine. We’d live here in Bridgewater. Ashlynn actually seemed happy here. Granted, it had only been a day and a half, but still, seeing her smiling all the damn time today did things to me. Guess that meant I needed to talk to Scout, and call Wolf.
Looked like Arrow was right. The clubs would be doing some sort of fucked up exchange program after all.
“Whoa. Yo, Silk! Getcha ass over here and check this shit out.”
Nitro’s booming voice had me pulling out of my trance and coming back to the present. I blinked up to see a lot of the brothers and their old ladies had gathered in the main room while I’d been lost doing my thing.
Silk came over with a wriggling toddler in her arms. Unlike Ashlynn, that was one kid who looked nowhere near ready for sleep. She saw me watching her son. “Raven decided to have a nice long nap this afternoon. So he’s gonna be up for a while yet.”
Bulldog came over and took him off her. “Come with Grandpa for a bit, tike. Give your ma a break.”
“Marie and Ariel wore Ashlynn out. Barely got her in bed before she was asleep.”
Silk’s expression softened. “Naw, poor baby. She’s had a busy few days. I can’t wait to meet her. You should drop by the shop tomorrow, meet the others.” She leaned over the table. “May I?”
“Ah, yeah, sure.”
I had no fucking clue what I’d drawn, which happened sometimes when I got really lost in thought. I looked down at the same time as Silk and tried to hold in my wince. I’d drawn an anatomical heart but the main part of the heart wasn’t flesh, it was a silhouette of a man walking with thorns coming from the edges of the heart, surrounding him. I’d only used my lead pencil so there was no color to it, but plenty of shading. Even I had to admit it was an impressive piece. I just hoped no one put too much thought into where my head was at in order to draw the thing.
