by Cora Seton
“This feels good,” he told her, murmuring into her ear.
“You’re kind of old to be going through a rebellious phase, aren’t you? Although I guess it makes sense.”
He chuckled. “In what way?”
“You probably never stepped out of line before.”
“Sure I did. Once,” he added and felt her laugh. “Seventh grade. Can’t quite remember what was going on that year. Hormones, maybe. Anyway, I played it pretty cool at the start of the year, not paying attention in class, slacking off on homework. I even skipped class once or twice.”
“You crazy man, you,” Olivia teased him.
“Only until report card time. Then the remorse hit me, hard. I tried to clean up my act, but by that point it was too late to improve my grades. Usually when they handed them out, I’d open mine right away, then run home to show my parents. That time I shoved the unopened envelope in my backpack and took my time getting home. I sat at the dining room table for an hour with the envelope in front of me, just staring at it. When my dad caught me at it, he sat across from me. Didn’t say a word, just picked up the envelope and looked it over. Felt like another hour before he put it down again and looked me in the eye. ‘Son,’ he said, ‘no matter how long you stare at that thing, it won’t make what’s in it any better. But you’ll get another one in a couple of months, and it’s up to you whether it’s better or worse.’ Then he got up and left.”
Noah smiled at the memory. He missed his father.
“At first I thought he was telling me not to worry about it. That I didn’t have to open the envelope and confront the truth, as long as I worked harder and got better grades next time. But that wasn’t it at all. I realized later what he meant was if I wanted to improve my grades, I had to open the envelope and see where I stood. Only then I’d know what I needed to do to fix them.”
They were quiet for a little while, and Noah could almost hear the gears turning in Olivia’s head. “Maybe you’re right,” he went on. “Maybe I’m ready to rebel again. I want the world to know about us. We’ll see where we stand when they do and go from there.”
“I still think you’re crazy.” But she nestled in his arms.
Noah breathed a sigh of relief.
Everything was going to be all right after all.
Olivia liked the way she could feel Noah’s chest stir when he spoke, liked the solidity of his body against hers. The dance music swelled like waves crashing over her, but Noah kept her anchored. She wasn’t half as sure as he was that this was a good idea. She was a realist. Still, she appreciated Noah for taking this chance.
“Steel taught me a lesson once. Kind of a different one, though.”
“Oh yeah? What?”
“I had nightmares when I was little, and I slept with a night-light. It helped at first, but it didn’t light up the whole room, so I started looking for monsters in the corners that were still dark. I made Mom get me another one, but then the closet was still dark. It was Steel who put his foot down.
“He came into my room one night and took the lights out. I fought and argued with him at first, but he sat with me for an hour or so, playing I Spy with me. It was such a challenge, trying to pick out the objects in the darkness, I forgot to be scared. Steel gave me the lights back before he left, saying I could plug them back in if I wanted, but he warned against it. ‘When there’s light,’ he told me, ‘you’ll always fear what’s in the darkness. But if you let your eyes adjust to the darkness, you can see what’s really there.’”
“He sounds like a good brother,” Noah said.
Olivia laughed softly. Sure. A real sweetheart. Probably best not to tell Noah how the rest of that story went.
The evening after Steel had unplugged her night-lights, she’d gone to bed with a newfound confidence. She could see in the dark, and she could see there was nothing there.
Except suddenly she wasn’t sure that was the case.
Something rustled, a soft scrape that could have come from anywhere in the room. She’d pulled the blankets to her chin and told herself it was nothing—until she’d heard the breathing. Heavy, slow, rhythmic. After a minute she’d been able to pinpoint its source.
There was something under her bed.
Mustering all her courage, she’d pushed aside the blankets, getting ready to make a run for the light switch. She leaped out of the bed—
And tripped when fingers closed around her ankle.
Her shriek should have woken the whole house, but a second later, a hand covered her mouth, and a familiar voice hissed, “Shh!”
Steel kept his hand there until she’d gotten under control—too terrified to cry.
“You missed the whole point,” he told her in a rough whisper. “I didn’t teach you about seeing in the dark just to convince you there wasn’t anything there. I did it to teach you to keep your eyes open—because you never know when something will be. Fear is what keeps us alive. Remember that.”
Olivia pressed her face into Noah’s chest, wanting to forget that memory. Wanting to forget her parents’ fights, her father’s refusal to walk the straight and narrow path, the splintering of her family when it all came to a head. She wondered now what Steel had known to make him feel the need to do that to her. He’d always been her father’s confidante, and Dale had run with a crowd that was nowhere near respectable.
If she was honest, she’d never asked her brother because she didn’t want to know what her father was involved in. But she’d taken the lesson. She’d started sleeping with a baseball bat beside the bed. Kept her eyes open whenever she was alone. And tried to remember that at the end of the day, she could only count on herself.
If she was smart, she’d remember that now.
Then Noah cupped her chin and kissed her—
And Olivia forgot everything else.
Mahoney was a lunatic if he thought Olivia was capable of any dangerous crime.
As Noah broke off the kiss and gazed down into her eyes, he knew he was in too deep to turn back now. The more time he spent with her and the closer they got, the more he realized what a strong, brave and beautiful woman she was. He leaned in for another kiss, and she welcomed him hungrily.
How on earth had some incident with a clock over a century ago come to be more important than what he and Olivia had between them right now? It was more than that single incident, though. Something happened every generation, some trivial slight that set the families off again and kept the war alive. This time it was the Founder’s Prize, he realized. Why couldn’t city council have come up with a way to award people for working together, instead of pitting families against one another to determine who was the best? That didn’t seem very civic-minded, now that he thought about it.
Noah pulled back and searched Olivia’s face. What if they could bring their two families together? The drought and the hard times all around could work in their favor. His family couldn’t disown him no matter what he did. He doubted the Coopers had much leeway when it came to Olivia, either. Their families needed them, which meant they had leverage.
He was about to say so when she went up on tiptoe to recapture his mouth. Noah forgot all about the future.
All he knew was he wanted Olivia.
Right now.
Olivia couldn’t help herself. She stole kiss after kiss while her hands explored the broad expanse of Noah’s back.
Why had they waited so long to do this? Because they were afraid of the consequences? Whatever else her family might be, Coopers were survivors. No matter how hard things got, a Cooper could bounce back and land on her feet. There would always be pain in life, and no amount of worrying could prevent it. She needed to just go for what she wanted, like she was doing now. Take the good in life where she could get it and deal with the bad when it came.
There was a lot of good to take just then. Olivia wanted Noah so badly she felt dizzy. She’d missed this heady, wonderful feeling.
“We should go somewhere,” she said between kisses. �
��Run away together, and forget everyone else.”
“I wish we could, believe me.”
She knew what he meant; they weren’t the types to leave their families high and dry. Her sigh was almost a groan. “Let’s slip away for the night, then.”
“That I can do.” He took her hand, as eager as she was, and Olivia’s pulse thrummed as he led her through the crowd. Why had they ever left the Ridley property in the first place? It was private, and right now she wanted to be alone with—
Noah stopped in his tracks, and Olivia bumped into him. “Hell,” he muttered.
Looking around Noah’s shoulder, she spotted Liam and immediately understood his reaction. She might have talked a good game about going public and confronting their families, but now that exposure was a real possibility she quickly realized she wasn’t ready for it at all.
She ducked back behind Noah. “Run,” she hissed.
“Too late. He’s already seen us.”
Liam crossed the room to confront Noah. She couldn’t hear what they said over the din of the music, but Liam got up in Noah’s face, and Noah shoved him back.
The crowd was churning at the edge of her vision, and she turned to see two more men forcing their way through. Was that—?
Lance and Steel.
How did everyone know to find them here? Olivia glanced around, took in all the cell phones focused on them. Had someone filmed her and Noah? Put it on social media and alerted everyone?
As she hesitated, unsure what to do, Noah pointed, Liam swung around and both men, who’d been about to come to blows, presented a united front against her brothers. Steel stepped right up to Noah, Lance right behind him. She didn’t catch his words, but when Liam shoved him, Lance pushed him back.
“Stop!” Olivia winced when Lance threw the first punch. Damn it, now everyone would say the Coopers had started it, even though it was the Turners’ fault. Typical.
Lance caught Liam in the shoulder, and Liam clocked him on the side of the head. Then Steel was on Liam, punching him in the gut. Liam doubled over, and Steel went in for the kill, but Noah tackled him to the ground. Then the circle closed around them as each side’s supporters started throwing punches of their own.
Olivia fought a rising panic. Someone was going to get hurt—this was real fighting, not a boozy, drunken brawl. The worst part was she couldn’t root for either side. She didn’t want Noah hurt, but she didn’t want anything to happen to her brothers, either.
She pulled out her phone. Who could she call, though? Cab?
She didn’t want the sheriff involved.
A notification on her screen caught her eye. It was photo taken near the time she and Noah first arrived. It showed them dancing together. They’d both been tagged in it, and the caption read, “Has hell frozen over?” She nearly didn’t recognize herself in the picture. She looked so peaceful and in love.
Who had shared it? Why couldn’t everyone just leave them alone?
The fighting surged her way. Nearby Noah grappled with a stranger.
“Noah!”
He didn’t even hear her, and she gasped as the crowd surged against her again. In the chaos nobody noticed her struggling to get free. Olivia pushed back, trying to create some room to breathe—
To escape.
A stray elbow caught her in the face—
And darkness reached up to swallow her.
Chapter Six
What the hell was he doing?
Noah blinked the sweat out of his eyes, noticed his hands were bloody and took in the crowd brawling around him.
He was a parole officer, for God’s sake. Not a fighter. How had this gotten so far out of control? Someone must have called the sheriff by now. He’d lose his job. Lose the money his family needed.
For what? For—
Noah swore. Olivia. Where was Olivia?
He took a deep breath and stepped back into the fray. Found Liam and wrapped his arms around his brother’s waist, ducking as Liam swung at him with a haymaker. Noah dragged him out of the crowd, and Liam stopped thrashing when he saw who’d grabbed him.
“Where’s Olivia?” Noah demanded.
“Why should I care?” Liam lunged back toward the melee, but Noah grabbed him again.
“We’ve got to find her. We’ve got to get out of here.”
“We’ve got to teach these Coopers a lesson they won’t forget.”
Noah had to restrain him again. This time he dragged his brother toward the door. “We’re better than this. We don’t brawl—that’s Cooper territory. Think about my job.”
Liam closed his eyes. “Shit. Your job.” When he opened them again, he grabbed Noah. “Let’s get out of here.”
“Not until I find Olivia.”
“You go back in there, and you’ll make it worse. I saw that photo and knew Lance and Steel would come and beat the shit out of you. That’s why I came.”
“Photo?”
Liam filled him in as he hustled Noah outside. Noah heard sirens in the distance. “Whatever’s going on with you and Olivia, everyone knows about it. What the hell were you thinking?”
“I wanted—” It all seemed stupid now. Thinking he could bridge the gap between the Turners and Coopers. Thinking he and Olivia stood a chance. That was—
Naive as hell.
“There’s my truck,” Liam said. “You got yours?”
“Yeah.”
“You okay to drive?”
“Yeah.” He hated the thought of leaving Olivia behind, though.
“She’s got her brothers,” Liam told him. “They wouldn’t let her leave with you anyhow.”
“It isn’t right—” He had to go back.
Sirens blared much closer this time, and red and blue lights flashed over them as Cab Johnson pulled in.
“Damn it. Now you’ve done it, Noah.”
Cab climbed out of his patrol car and faced them. “What’s going on here?”
Liam crossed his arms. “If anyone has some explaining to do, it’s the Coopers.”
Noah stepped forward and cut him off. “I should be the one to explain. I took Olivia out dancing. Someone took a photo of us. Liam came to help me. Lance and Steel came, too—looking to sort me out.”
“And you all thought you’d fix this with your fists?”
“The Coopers started it,” Liam protested.
“And I bet you tried real hard to stop it.”
Liam looked away. “There wasn’t any stopping it, Sheriff.”
Cab grunted. “Don’t think you’re going to get off easy. You’ve crossed a line here. Come on.”
“Inside?” Liam asked when the sheriff turned toward the club. “But—”
“Get your ass over here now.”
Noah and Liam exchanged a look but followed the sheriff. What else could they do? Inside, the fight had ended, but chaos remained. Someone had turned the lights on, giving Noah a clear view of the destruction: overturned chairs and tables, blood and broken glass on the floor. People reeling from their injuries. But more than anything, Noah was shocked by the faces he saw. These weren’t strangers.
They were neighbors. Acquaintances.
Friends.
How many of them had gotten hurt in the heat of the moment? In the dim light, it had been too easy to swing first and ask questions later.
His heart skipped a beat when he spotted Olivia. She was leaning against Steel’s shoulder, a tissue clamped to her nose, which was oozing blood. Had she been in the fight?
Could he have hurt her?
His stomach flipped.
No. No way. Not even accidentally. His radar was clear where she was concerned.
“Come here.” Cab led him and Liam to where the Coopers stood bunched together. He waited until Noah and Liam had caught up, then turned to the rest of the crowd. “Everyone, listen up, because I’m only going to say this once. If you’ve got an injury, or property that was damaged, you call these idiots. The Coopers and the Turners. They’re the ones who started i
t; they’re the ones responsible for fixing it.”
“But—” A look from Cab stopped Liam cold.
“He’s the one who started it,” Lance said, pointing at Noah. “He’s the one who took advantage of my little sister.”
Olivia snorted, then gave a little cry of pain and clamped the tissue more firmly to her nose. “No one takes advantage of me. Everything would have been fine if you’d just left me alone.”
“Both of you quiet down,” Steel snapped.
All around Noah, people talked in hushed tones.
“I’m going to make something clear right now.” Cab ignored the interruptions. “You two families are done causing trouble in this town. Next time I’m called out, someone’s spending time behind bars. Got it? Now get out of here. And expect a bill for all this damage. You all can split it.”
Noah tried to catch Olivia’s eye as he followed Liam out the door, Cab walking between them and the Coopers to keep them separate.
Olivia avoided his gaze, and he realized with a sinking heart whatever had started between them was now over.
It was his own stupid fault for bringing her to the Boot. Thinking they could smooth over a hundred years of family rivalry with a dance.
If he tried to pursue her anymore, he’d probably wind up in jail.
Noah drove back to the Flying W in silence, hoping to get home and go to bed without further incident, but his sisters were awake and had obviously heard what happened.
“Oh, my God, you’re hurt!” Maya rushed to him when he entered the house. She touched a bruise on his face. Noah shrugged her off. Stella hung back but looked just as concerned.
Liam grinned wolfishly. “You should see the other guys.”
Maya swatted him in the shoulder. “It isn’t funny.” She turned to Noah. “And this isn’t okay. You need to stay away from Olivia.”
Noah sighed. “Guess you saw the picture.” He sat down in one of the easy chairs.
Maya nodded, and Stella spoke up. “All of my friends made sure we did. What were you thinking, dancing with her? You’ll end up setting this town on fire over it.”
