by KL Donn
“Not a fucking clue.”
He didn’t have time to dig into Braxton’s cryptic words, so all the man had accomplished was pissing him off. Soph needed his attention more than anything else at the moment, so he knew he had to let it go.
Heading back into the room, he watched his mother lovingly brush Soph’s hair while she slept, being sure there were no tangles left as she went. He heard the older woman whispering softly to the younger one, and right then, he couldn’t have been happier. Seeing the two ladies he loved most in the world acting as though they’d been friends all their lives, melted his heart. Neither wanted to compete for his attention the way he’d seen some women do.
“You picked good, Nox,” Loch said beside him.
“Yeah,” he reflected, “I did.”
Agony assaulted her body as she fought for consciousness. It shouldn’t be so painful, should it? The beeping was incessant and made her head pound worse with each noise. Her eyes were still sensitive to the light from the open blinds. Shielding herself from the brightness with a hand over her brow, she immediately saw Nox asleep in one of the god-awful recliners the hospital supplied him with. She couldn’t imagine that being at all comfortable for his large frame.
“Lennox,” she called quietly, her throat dry. He stirred but didn’t wake, so she called him again. “Nox.”
His eyes slowly opened as her voice registered to his tired mind. “Soph?” He still sounded out of it. “You alright?” He was beside her in a flash.
“I’m good.” She smiled. Moving over, she patted the empty spot beside her. “Lay with me?”
“I don’t want to hurt you.” He tried to be chivalrous, but she saw the desire to be close to her in his eyes.
“Please, Nox.”
He caved easily, sliding under the blanket with her and wrapping one arm around the top of her pillow. As soon as he’d settle into place, she was moving towards him, needing the comfort of his embrace. Her request being purely selfish.
“Careful, Soph,” he grumbled when a breath hissed out of her lungs from repositioning herself too fast.
“I’m fine,” she uttered as she settled half on top of him. Her broken wrist laid across his hard stomach, and the stitched leg covered over the top of his.
It took a while, but he finally relaxed under her. His hands began running along any piece of flesh he could reach, soon lulling her into sleep once again.
“Miss Bennett?” A soft voice pulled her from sleep. The best sleep she’d had in the days since she’d been in the hospital.
“What?” She grouched.
“You get to go home today.” The nurse’s words had Sophia perked up immediately. “I’m going to unhook all the IV and the monitors. The doctor will be in to speak with you in a few minutes about discharge and aftercare.”
Her excitement almost couldn’t be contained as the woman got to work. Nox still slept under her, so they attempted to keep quiet. After a few minutes, the nurse placed a hand on her shoulder, whispering, “All set. Might want to wake prince charming here soon, the discharge doctor is a bit…boisterous.”
“Thank you,” Sophia whispered back. Grateful to finally be going home, showering, and feeling human again.
As her caregiver left, the room was shrouded in quiet and a light darkness. It gave her the first few moments of time to think about her life since the accident happened, and her mother’s role in the whole ordeal.
Of everything she’d learned in the past couple of weeks, her mother trying to kill her hurt the most. They may not share blood, maybe not even love, but it made no difference. The woman had raised her, at times, few as they were. She’d mothered Sophia.
After spending her entire life thinking there was something wrong with her, to finally knowing it wasn’t her fault was a tad overwhelming. It would take more than a few revelations for the damage to be undone.
She didn’t know if she could ever let go of the hurt, doubt, and pain. It was ingrained in everything and everyone involved in her life. She felt like the insults controlled who she was in such a fundamental way.
“Stop thinking so hard, Soph.” Nox’s words were soft but spot on as he rubbed his face in her neck. Breathing in her scent.
“I can’t help it.”
“None of this is your fault. You can’t hold onto it.” His breath met her ear with each word.
“Logically, I know that. Emotionally, though? I feel like the signs were in front of me this whole time. Almost like she was slapping me in the face with it.”
“I know, baby.” He ran the fingers of one hand soothingly along her arm as she thought things over. She didn’t want to be defined by how she was treated or who her real mother was or wasn’t. Yet, that’s all she had been.
Either the bastard child of her father.
Or the hated child of her mother.
It was a no-win situation.
When you love what you have, you have everything that you need.
It wasn’t long after the doctor left that Sophia was discharged from the hospital, and they were on their way to Nox’s childhood home. He still wasn’t sure it was a good idea. He loved his mother, but he worried she was going to get all proper on him and make him either go home or sleep in another room from Soph. Frankly, that just wasn’t going to happen.
“You doing okay?” he asked as they neared his mother’s house.
Her hand squeezed his. “I’m doing well, Nox.” Her smile was slightly loopy from the pain medication she’d been given before they left.
“Once I get you settled in, I’ll go grab your prescriptions.” She only nodded as she was visibly tired and had no energy for anything else.
Pulling up to the house, he saw Levi standing there, waiting on the front step. As he shut the car off, the younger man walked forward.
“How’s she doing?” he asked as Nox exited the vehicle. Circling the hood, he pulled his brother in for a quick hug, happy to note no more bruises on his face.
“She’s gonna be good. Ma see those yet?” He nodded to the fading bruises on Levi’s chin and eyes.
“Haven’t been inside yet,” he said sheepishly. “Was hoping the arrival of Soph would distract her.” Embarrassment tinged his cheeks as he admitted to using her.
Shaking his head, Nox opened Sophia’s door to help her out. Her stiff movements belied her insistence that she was indeed fine.
“Hey, Levi,” she greeted through clenched teeth as they held her arms to keep her steady.
“How you doin’, sugar?” Nox was amazed at his brother’s entire demeanor change. He went from terrified of their mother to sweet to Soph in a heartbeat.
“Good.” She smirked. “She’s still going to notice.” She pointed to Levi’s face.
As she started walking and he saw her cringe, Nox said, “Fuck it,” and picked her up in his arms. Cradling her to his chest.
“Caveman!” Levi called behind him.
“Whatever, just grab her shit.”
“When did I become the doorman?” he heard mumbled from behind them.
“Thank you,” Soph sighed against his chest.
To have that sigh from her, he’d be her caveman all day long.
With his arms wrapped so securely around her, Sophia felt a sense of belonging. Maybe it was the drugs, maybe it was real. But with Lennox cradling her so, with his heartbeat in her ear, it felt like kismet. Nothing could touch her when he was around.
She remained silent as he carried her up the stairs into what she had been told was his childhood room. Smiling as she saw the trophies and posters, she could picture him as a teenage boy. Loud, popular, outgoing—even if he thought he wasn’t. He was the boy everyone would have flocked to. The girls would have crushed on him, and the other boys would have wanted to be him.
Watching as he lay her down gently on the bed, his eyes kept darting to the posters of the sexy actresses and singers on the wall. A giggle left her when she saw the pin-up girl laying across a vintage car on the back of his
door. His cheeks turned a shade of crimson she never thought she’d see on such a confident man.
The pain meds had her lips a little loose as she shyly told him, “I’d do that for you.”
Shock lit up in his eyes just as desire replaced it. “The things I’d do to you,” he muttered against her lips as he leaned down to kiss her.
“Tell me,” she murmured back as her eyes grew heavy with sleep.
“Later, gorgeous. Rest now.” His voice was husky with his want for her.
A heavy blanket was laid over top of her as he sat on the side of the bed, one hand running through her hair, the other rubbing her hip.
His presence made her feel safe enough to sleep. To finally rest in a way her body would be re-energized when she woke.
Things were not going as Lorraine had planned. Well, they were, but they weren’t. Sophia and Nox were falling in love and how beautiful it was. Her son was the best man for Sophia’s soft shell. He treated her like a princess, and she couldn’t be prouder of him. But the danger and hurt, that wasn’t something she wanted for any of her children. Most especially the young lady she considered her own long before her son claimed her.
Which was why she’d driven to Anthony Bennett’s office downtown. It was time the two of them hashed a few things out. Her own husband, bless his soul, had connections from his Army days that extended to her, and she’d put every one of them to use if she had to.
She knew Lennox was leaving stuff out, not telling her or Sophia. It was time to stop the secrets. He didn’t need to protect her.
“Can I help you?” the cute receptionist asked from behind her mahogany desk.
“I’m here to see Mr. Bennett,” Lorraine responded stoically.
“Did you have an appointment?” the woman asked her, looking down to her calendar.
“Nope.” She wouldn’t leave.
“Then I’m sorry, he doesn’t have time to see you.” Her attitude changed to one of impatience.
“Honey, you go ahead and tell him Lorraine Hogan is here. I’m sure he’ll have time for me.” Feigning a bored stance, she looked at her watch as if to say, today.
The young woman got on the phone, and not two minutes later, the man himself came out to get her.
“Mrs. Hogan, how can I help you?”
She eyed him critically, he looked…tired. Worn down. He was also putting on a front for the receptionist.
“We need to speak in private, please,” she suggested.
“Of course.” He led her back to his office, which to her surprise wasn’t nearly as pompous as she’d expected from the things Sophia had told her about her parents wanting to keep up appearances.
“Your daughter doesn’t know you at all, does she?” she said walking past him to one of the overstuffed chairs by the window looking over the city.
“Why do you say that?” he asked, but she saw the shame on his face. He purposely hid this from her. Not letting her in.
“Because your daughter thinks you’re a cold, uncaring man. And since my son tells me you only went to the hospital once while she was there for nearly a week, I have to say I agree with her.”
He gazed out the window, eyes full of so much emotion she didn’t think anyone else had ever seen him so vulnerable. “I always wanted children. I wanted an entire house full of them.” His words were wistful, dream-like. “Rebecca didn’t.”
“So how did Sophia come about, Anthony? That girl thinks she’s worthless.” She was so angry at the Bennetts.
A deep sigh left his chest as he answered. “Rebecca’s complaint wasn’t that she didn’t want children, it was that she didn’t want to ruin her figure. So I found a surrogate. Then we found out Rebecca was sterile. Hope, the surrogate, offered her eggs. I wanted children so badly, and Rebecca put on a front good enough to convince everyone it was what she wanted too.”
Lorraine could see he was struggling with his emotions. He wanted to shut down, block that time out of his life, but something happened. She knew it. No child was as hated as Sophia without due cause.
“Anthony, what happened?” she asked again, her voice harder.
“I fell in love with Hope.” His words cracked, tears streamed down his face, and she finally got a sense of what was going on.
Walking over to him, she gripped one of his hands in both of hers. “Why didn’t you leave Rebecca, then?”
Agony radiated off of him. “Because I loved her, too. By the time I found out how insane she had gone, it was too late. Hope had died, and Sophia was here. I had to put my family together.”
And tonight, I’ll fall asleep with you in my heart.
Nox and Levi were sitting in the kitchen after he’d gotten Soph settled and asleep. He hated what had happened to her. That he wasn’t there to protect her when she needed it most. As she’d nodded off, he made a promise to her that he would be there from now on. He wouldn’t let harm come to her again.
“You think she’ll pull out of this?” Levi asked, breaking the silence they’d been surrounded in.
Blowing out a deep breath, he told the man, “Yeah. I do.”
“She’s so vulnerable. Her entire demeanor screams it. How can you be so sure?”
Lennox understood his brother’s worry. If he didn’t know Soph so well, he’d have the same doubts. “You guys don’t see her, the real Sophia. At home, she’s got fire. I think she’s even surprised herself a time or two.” He laughed thinking of a couple days before the accident when she’d tossed a plate after he got her fired up and left her hanging because they had to get to work. “There’s no doubt she’s shy, man, but that girl is stronger than anyone else knows.”
“If you say so.” Levi’s doubt was still clear.
“You’ll see.”
The front door opening had him straightening up and Levi cowering a bit, trying to hide the fading bruises on his face as their mother walked into the room.
“Hey, Ma,” Nox greeted, kissing her cheek as she walked past him and straight to Levi.
“Hi, baby,” she said to him. Her hard gaze zeroed in on his brother’s face. “Care to explain?” she asked him.
“And that’s my cue.” Nox got up to leave when her hand whipped back to grab his arm.
“Not so fast, Lennox.” Her voice was pure steel. “Lochlan will be here soon. Sit.” She pointed back to his chair. “We’re gonna have a little pow-wow.”
Well, shit. The last time they’d done that was when his father was sick.
“You sick, Ma?” Worry bled through his voice.
She looked genuinely shocked by his question as she met his gaze. “No. Of course not. Why would you ask that?”
“Last time we had a pow-wow was when Pop was diagnosed,” Levi answered.
“No, I promise I’m healthy.”
Nox searched her eyes for any kind of deception. As much as she could get on his nerves and be slightly over-bearing, he loved the woman to death and couldn’t imagine a world without her in it.
Nodding, he sat down as they waited for Loch to show up. She puttered around, making sweet tea and sandwiches. A task she only did when something was weighing on her mind.
A knock followed by, “I’m here,” announced their baby brother’s presence. He came into the kitchen, took in their mother’s actions as they sat quietly, and blurted out, “You sick, Ma?”
Her motions stopped as she turned to face them. “For crying out loud, I’m fine. I just had this dance with them.” Her hand waved to him and Levi. “Sit,” she instructed Loch.
They all remained quiet and vigilant as the woman continued to move about the kitchen. Bringing things to the table, going back to the fridge for more. He knew she had to be upset about more than Sophia and what was happening with that if she were so quiet.
When she did finally sit down across from the three of them, he braced for the worst as she opened her mouth. “I went and seen Sophia’s father today.” Not what he was expecting. “He’s been staying cold and clear of her because of Re
becca. Braxton is looking into Sophia’s biological mother and her life before the Bennett’s found her.”
He was torn between anger at his mother for going there when things were unsteady and pride that she was so set on helping his woman. His mother was a formidable presence, and with his experience, he knew Anthony would have tried to hide things from the woman. She most likely forced the truth from him.
“What did you find out that we don’t already know?” Nox asked her.
“Not a lot. I mostly wanted to find out his thoughts about everything that was happening. Why he felt the need to distance himself from his only child. She shouldn’t feel like she has no one to love her.” When he went to speak, to dissuade that notion, she talked right over him. “No matter that we have a significant other that loves us, Lennox, it’s not the same as a parent. Having one who makes you feel like you’re nothing and the other reinforcing it by not fighting for you? It weighs on a person. I know Sophia is strong. I know she will get past this, but she needs to understand everything that’s happened to make her life the hell it has been.”
He nodded, understanding what she meant. He couldn’t fathom feeling the way she did. He would help her however he could to move forward, but a huge part of that was going to have to be on her father. Anthony had to be the one to make amends.
“Anthony has a meeting today with the police detectives that Sophia had already spoken to after the accident. He’s going to tell them everything that has been going on. All about Rebecca and what she’s been up to, as well. It’s time for things to end, and I think he realizes he can’t make this go away quietly.”
Silence remained after her revelations. He was so happy for his mother and the way she’d handled Soph’s father.
“Levi,” she finally breathed out softly. Almost like she was afraid the other man would shatter from all the questions in that single word.
“Ma,” he countered.
Levi had always been a bit of a different man than he and Loch. He had inner demons held on a tight leash, and Nox worried.
