by Mia Carson
The message ended, and Anna glanced at Harold, wide-eyed and her heart pounding. “A large sum of cash? I never found anything like that.”
“You said you’re parents never made a will?”
“No, nothing. If he had money like that, why wouldn’t he have just told me?” She spun around to stare at a photo of her parents on the far wall. “Why would he wait?”
“Their accident was a few weeks before you turned twenty-one,” he said slowly. “Was it possible he was waiting for your birthday?”
Frustrated, she rubbed hard at her face. “I don’t know, but I need a drink.”
She paced behind the bar for a bottle of tequila and set out a shot glass. The clear liquid splashed into it, and she shot it back, sucking in a sharp breath as it went down hard. Her eyes wandered around the bar. Since her parents’ deaths, she hadn’t moved a thing. Not a picture, not a trinket, nothing. She squinted across the bar at a photo of her dad pointing. She assumed he pointed at something behind whoever was taking the picture…but what if she was wrong?
“That photo,” she mumbled, walking to it. “Where does it look like he’s pointing?”
Harold joined her by it and turned around to face the bar. “Towards the back wall, I think. Why?”
She followed the pointing finger and hurried to the back wall where more photos hung. She searched each one for a sign, while in the back of her mind she told herself she was losing it. All of this could be for nothing and she was grasping at straws. But she spied the photo of her parents, taken out west somewhere on one of their bike rides. Both grinned down at her from the wall. They weren’t pointing, but her dad wasn’t looking at the camera. His eyes stared off to the left. Anna’s heart racing, she followed his gaze to the wall behind the bar where a few more scattered photos hung.
“Come on, Dad,” she whispered, bouncing on her toes. “Help me out here.”
“Are you sure there’s something here?” Harold asked.
“I don’t know…” She trailed off when her gaze landed on another photo of her dad and her. She smiled sadly at the image, remembering that day perfectly. They stood outside the bar. He’d just told her that one day, he would retire early with her mom and they would leave the bar to her if she wanted it. Keeping The Crawler going for her dad and carrying on his legacy was always her dream, and that day, she had been so close to having everything she could ask for. A month after that photo was taken, she lost her parents.
He told her about the bar and how special it was to him. How important it was she not change a thing, especially the bar itself. “Because it’s the most important part of the room,” she whispered, trying to remember exactly what he told her. “When everything else looks ready to fall around you, go back to the bar.”
“What?” Harold asked.
“What he told me that day,” she said and turned around to face the bar her dad had built with his bare hands. Over the years, he constantly reminded her how important taking care of the bar was, not the bar as a whole, but this particular piece of it. She walked around to the front of it, rapping her knuckles on the wooden front. She listened intently, and when the sound changed, she paused.
Harold hurried over and knocked his knuckles in the same place. “Do you have a hammer?”
Grinning madly, she rushed to the storeroom and found a hammer on the table. She brought it back and gripped it in her hands. “Step back.”
Holding her breath and praying she wasn’t about to destroy her dad’s beautiful handiwork, she swung the hammer hard into the wood. The panel popped out in the upper corner easily—too easily. This bar was supposed to be solid wood. She swung it again until another corner popped out of place. Prying the wood free, she tossed it aside and worked at it frantically with Harold until the panel fell away and she could see a gap that should have led into the back cabinets under the bar. She stuck her hand inside. Shaking, her hand slipped inside and felt around. There was a shelf of some kind, and when she reached farther in, her hand brushed against something that felt like paper bills. They were stacked and wrapped. She grabbed it and pulled it out into the light of the bar.
“Does…does that say ten thousand?” she whispered in disbelief, staring at the wrapped bills in her hand.
“Yes, yes, it does,” he replied. “Was it the only one?”
“I don’t know.” She set it aside and reached back in, feeling around. “Oh, my God. Harry…get another hammer.” She drew out two more stacks. “I think we just found my dad’s hidden stash!”
***
Anna had no idea how much time had passed as she and Harold tore apart the bar piece by piece. Her dad had turned it into one giant box puzzle, an intricate design that hid a large sum of money for seven long years. The sun came up, trying to poke through a dark clouded morning as more snow threatened to fall on Concord. Not that she cared. She lost track of how many stacks of bills they found in the bar as each piece was pried away. The more they dug into the bar, the more she realized that sometime over the years, her dad had replaced all these pieces as he hid the money away. When she came across his handwritten note, she finally found her explanation for it all.
Tears sprang to her eyes as she sat in Harold’s lap on the floor, bits and pieces of the bar scattered around them along with the stacks of cash. She hadn’t been able to read it, so Harold did the honors.
“He says, ‘Happy 21st Birthday, Anna. I can’t wait until you find what’s here. It’s not enough to fully purchase the bar from Terry, but if the bar keeps doing well, you’ll own it straight out in a few years. Your grandma had a number of bonds in her possession she left to me, and I’m leaving it all to you. Your mother and I are so proud of you, and I can’t tell you how thrilled I am to see you follow in your old man’s footsteps. This place is yours now. I’m sure it will treat you well and lead you to do great things, as it has for me. While you take over the bar, we’re going to get back on our motorcycles and take that trip we’ve been talking about. You’re going to do great, baby girl. With all our love, Mom and Dad.’ That’s all there is.”
Anna wiped her eyes and sniffed, taking the note back from Harold. She ran her fingers over the words. “I had no idea.”
“Now that Johnny’s in jail, you could definitely use this to put towards purchasing the lower level. Terry should call me in a few hours,” Harold reminded her. “I think you need to set up a meeting with him.”
“I think you might be right,” she agreed. She kissed the letter and tucked it in her pocket.
Keys jangled and they looked up as Missy and Pat and stepped inside. At the sight of Anna and Harold on the floor surrounded by the dismantled bar, Missy blinked and Pat’s jaw dropped.
“Good morning?” Missy questioned. “Anna, what in God’s name did you do last night?”
She reached over and picked up two stacks of bills. “Went on a scavenger hunt,” she announced and tossed the bills to each of them. “Consider this a long-awaited bonus.”
Missy frowned until Pat cursed loudly and she held up the bills in her hands. “What…how? Is that ten-thousand dollars! Where did this come from?”
Harold helped Anna to her feet, and she motioned to a photo of her dad. “The old man. I think our future is going to be looking up from now on, guys. This bar, it’ll be ours.”
Missy and Pat rushed her, hugging her as they celebrated with her. Harold remained close by, his warm smile touching her deeply. If not for him, she would have lost everything she cared for. Gently, she disentangled herself from her friends and reached out for his hands.
“Thank you,” she said sincerely.
“For what? You saved your bar, Anna, all on your own.”
“No, I didn’t. It was you, it was always going to be you who eventually came back into my life and got me sorted out.”
“Don’t you mean you who would get me sorted out?” he corrected.
“How about we agree to say we gave each other a good shove in the right direction?” she said and stood o
n her toes to kiss him. “I don’t think I’m going to open today.”
“Hmm, a day off for both of us,” he murmured. “I like the sound of that.”
“Spend all day in bed…sleeping,” she said with a wink.
“Yes, sleeping. That’s exactly what I had in mind.” He kissed her, and Anna melted into him, expecting this all to be a dream. When she opened her eyes, he was still there and her friends were chatting about what they could do with the bonuses she gave them. The bar would be hers, officially.
She glanced skyward and smiled. “Thanks, Dad,” she whispered.
She swore the lights in the bar brightened for a split second, but it was probably a trick of her eyes. Nothing more.
Chapter 12
“Will you stop fussing with your hair? You look gorgeous,” Harold said.
Anna frowned at him from the bathroom as he leaned in the doorway, watching. “Are you sure this is a good idea?”
“It’s Sunday night dinner at Mom’s. I would rather go than have her show up here and interrupt our lives. Trust me, this is better, and besides, it’s only Jenny and her. How bad can it really be?” The look she shot him told him exactly how bad it could be.
When he was with Anna before, his mother made it quite clear how much she abhorred the woman and the fact that she owned a bar. His friends hadn’t been much help and only added to the situation, telling him they couldn’t stand to see him brought down by such a low-class woman, the daughter of a biker, for God’s sake. Before, he’d listened to them, too much of an idiot to admit how much he truly loved Anna and what she brought out in him.
Now, he was no longer afraid of facing his feelings head on and dealing with whatever shit his family wanted to throw at him. Since the situation with Johnny was resolved and the paperwork was underway for Anna purchasing the rights to the first floor of the building, only one item remained for Harold. It had burned a hole in his pocket for the last two weeks, but he had yet to find the perfect moment to propose to her and make their new arrangement permanent. Anna muttered a she twirled her violet hair up into a bun and deciding she didn’t like it, letting the wavy locks fall down her back.
“Leave it down,” he told her, moving behind her to nuzzle her neck and wind his arms around her waist. “I always liked it down better. You can see more of the color.”
“I’m not sure your mother is going to agree with you.”
“Who cares what my mother thinks? I don’t.”
She turned in his arms and his gaze raked down her body, hungry to plunge into her exposed cleavage and hike up the skirt of her black dress so he could hear her moan. They could be late to dinner, very, very late.
He kissed her neck again and cut off whatever she was about to say. He sensed he already knew what it was. She worried about him facing down his family and his friends again. She had a right to be, but he wouldn’t let her down. If he had to throw away his relationship with his mother and his so-called friends, so be it. Anna made him the man he truly wanted to be.
His lips moved down her neck to the mounds of creamy flesh, and he tugged the fabric aside gently, revealing a dusky nipple hardening before his eyes.
“Harry,” she whispered. “We’ll be late.”
“Hmm,” he murmured and sucked that pert little bud into his mouth.
Her hands clutched at his shoulders as her head fell back. When her thighs squirmed, he sucked harder. Deciding he wanted dessert first, he picked her up and set her on the counter and shoved her dress up to her waist, placed her legs over his shoulders once he knelt before her, and pushed her thong to the side. He licked along the length of her cleft, starving for her taste even though they’d spent the last two weeks tangled up together every chance they got. As his hands held her ass, he ravaged her sex. He swirled his tongue around her clit before he sucked it hard, and his fingers penetrated her sweet, silky folds. She clenched around him as his fingers thrust hard and fast within her body. Each gasp urged him on faster, and his arousal swelled within his trousers until it threatened to split the zipper.
“Harry…please, Harry,” she begged as he slowed his movements, teasing her as she drew closer to her orgasm. Her thighs quivered and her chest heaved with every breath. He couldn’t take it any longer.
Harold was on his feet and undoing his pants in seconds. She wrapped her legs around his body as he dragged her closer and thrust home. Her sleek sheath took him all the way, and they moaned together. They moved as one, their bodies melding together, as did their breaths, their heartbeats, their very beings. As the orgasm ripped through him, he groaned as she cried out sharply, clinging hard to his body as her body tensed against his.
“Damn,” he groaned, out of breath, and though he was spent, he considered carrying her to the bed and ripping that dress off her body to make ready for round two.
“That about covers it,” she agreed, giggling as she often did after quickies like this. They thrilled her as much as they did him, and he made a point to fit in as many as he could. “I guess we should get to dinner now, huh?”
“We’ll only stay long enough to eat and have a cup of coffee after dinner,” he promised.
She trembled when he pulled out, both frowning at the loss. “Deal.”
She hopped off the counter and fixed her dress and fluffed her hair. The rosy color in her cheeks after their love-making brought a smile to his face, and he kissed the tip of her nose. “We’ll get cleaned up and then we can go.”
Anna put on a brave face, but the trepidation was plain in her eyes. The ride to his mother’s house was quiet. He held her hand on the center console, and her nervous energy radiated off her in waves.
“You said it was only your sister,” she muttered a few minutes later when they pulled up to the house. “Harold, whose cars are those?”
He parked and shut off the car. “Who do you think? Damn it, I can’t believe she invited them over. This was not what I agreed to.” He glared at the three other cars belonging to Bailey, Rodric, and Christian. He tapped his fingers on the wheel, trying to decide what to do when Anna opened her car door. “You want to go in?”
“You said it yourself. If we don’t make an appearance now, your mother will show up one day, and I’d rather not have her barging into your house or making a scene at my bar.” She puffed out her cheeks and nodded her head firmly. “Yeah, let’s go.”
Harold tucked the keys in his pocket after he locked the car and placed Anna’s hand in the crook of his elbow. “Have I ever told you how incredibly brave you can be?”
She laughed nervously. “You might want to hold onto that compliment.”
“No, you deserve it, but I want you to know you don’t have to worry about us going in there.”
She shot him a sideways glance. “Are you sure about that?”
“Yes, yes, I’m sure.”
He felt the small, velvet box in his pocket and grinned wider. He reached up and rang the doorbell when they stopped at the front door. He could just walk in, but making his mother walk to the door so he could see her annoyed face was too good to pass up. He had yet to tell Anna about the other announcements he planned to make tonight. The night would certainly be filled with several large surprises.
Terry might be letting her buy the first floor of the building, but Harold was buying the rest of it and planned on putting his house up for sale once summer rolled around. He wanted a house for Anna and him, one they could choose and fix up together. And there was also his decision to quit the current firm and open his own in Anna’s old apartment above the bar.
The door opened and he swallowed a laugh when Prentice Jenson glowered at her son and the woman beside him. “Harold, you’re late.”
“I know,” he replied simply. “You were more than welcome to start without us.”
“Hmph,” she huffed and stepped aside so he and Anna could enter. “Really, dear, you couldn’t have worn your hair any other way? Or changed the color to something normal?”
Anna’s
hand tightened around Harold’s elbow. “Why should I? Harry likes the violet on me.”
“It’s true,” he agreed when his mother’s body stiffened and her jaw clenched. “Care to explain our extra guests this evening? Sunday dinner is usually reserved for family.”
Prentice’s eyes darted to Anna as if to point out she wasn’t technically family, but she refrained from saying it out loud. “I’ve always considered them family. After everything you’ve been through the past few weeks, I thought you would like to see them. Was I wrong?”
“Not at all, as long as everyone behaves themselves,” he added and guided Anna past his mother and further into the house. “Jenny!”
“Harold!” Jenny rushed to greet him, hugging him. “Anna, you know I’ve been meaning to ask you what color this actually is. I’m thinking of changing things up a little bit.” Prentice made a loud choking noise behind them, but Anna grinned widely.
“You should take a trip with me to the salon one day. My stylist is amazing. He does some crazy work with hair colors.”
“You will not be dying your hair,” Prentice stated. “You’ll ruin your chances.”
“For what, modeling jobs? Mother, I have more offers than I care to count,” Jenny sighed as if being so successful was terrible, but the mocking look in her eyes forced Harold to bite back his laughter. “There’s nothing wrong with being adventurous.”
“No daughter of mine will walk around with purple hair,” Prentice stormed.
“Violet, actually,” Harold pointed out helpfully.
Prentice’s eyes narrowed so much in her anger Harold wondered how she could still see. “You horrible wench! This is exactly what I warned him would happen the last time you tried to steal him away from us. You twist him up, confuse him.”
“Mother, just stop,” Harold snapped. “Anna reminded me of the man I wanted to be when I grew up, not the arrogant, self-centered bastard Father was.”
He glanced up when his friends stepped out of the kitchen wearing worried looks and holding their drinks. “Harold, is everything all right?” Rodric asked.
