6 Mountain Brothers for Christmas

by Rye Hart

  “Hey,” I said softly. “I'm not going to hurt you, Hailey.”

  “Yeah, that's what they all say. And I'm sure they even mean it,” she said. “Doesn't keep them from doing it though.”

  She looked at me as she gripped the gate tightly before slinging it open. Stepping into her yard, she slammed it shut again behind her and without turning to look at me, ran up the stairs to her front door.

  I fought with the gate, which was stuck, as she went inside. I called out to her, one last time, before the door closed behind her. If she'd heard me, she ignored me. Not even a glance back at me. I stood there for a moment feeling absolutely awful and completely powerless to do anything about it.

  CHAPTER TEN - CASON

  “Wait, so you think someone is abusing her? Who?” I asked as I got ready to pick Hailey up for our dinner date.

  Quinn told me everything that happened earlier – including the part where she said to leave her alone. All of us. Not like I was going to let that bother me – for all I knew, it could be Quinn trying to pull one over on me to keep me from seeing her. It's not like it would have been the first time he'd tried to get over on me.

  I straightened my tie and looked in the mirror, making sure it was perfect as Quinn paced my bedroom behind me. I could tell there really was something bothering him. He was a little more agitated than usual. Whatever had happened with Hailey had rattled him.

  But, I was determined to not let it bother me. I was determined to see Hailey.

  “I don't know,” Quinn said. “She was really upset though. And I don't know if it's a good idea if you – or any of us – try to see her. She was pretty clear about wanting to be left alone.”

  Bennett was standing in the doorway, leaning against the jamb, eating a leftover BBQ pork sandwich, listening to us with curiosity. Quinn went on about the bruises on her wrist for another couple of minutes.

  “It's not like we know much about her,” Bennett said around a mouthful of sandwich. “Maybe she's got a boyfriend already that we don't know about.”

  “Here in Black Oak?” I asked. “You can't believe that. We'd have heard about it.”

  “Maybe he's not from around here,” Bennett said. “Maybe he lives a town over or something.”

  “And if she does have a boyfriend already, he's an abusive prick,” Quinn said.

  He paced the room, his fists balled up, and his jaw clenched tightly. From one side of the room to the other. Back and forth. Back and forth. His agitation seeming to grow with each step he took.

  “We need to beat the shit out of him,” Quinn announced. “No one hits a woman and gets away with it.”

  “He hit her?” I asked.

  “Well, he did something to her obviously,” Quinn said. “You should've seen the bruises on her wrists, man.”

  “This may sound bad and I don't mean it to,” I started, “But are you sure she's just not into some BDSM or something?”

  “Nah,” Quinn said, stopping his pacing to look over at me. “No, man, the way she reacted – it wasn't like that. She wasn't embarrassed about having some fetish. She was scared shitless. Trust me, this wasn't the case of a woman being into kinky shit.”

  “Well I'll ask her about it tonight,” I said.

  I looked over at the clock and then back at my reflection, straightening my tie one last time because I had to leave in a few minutes if I was going to be on time picking her up.

  “You're still planning on meeting up with her?” Quinn looked at me with a look of disbelief on his face. “Even though she asked us to leave her alone?”

  “I want to get to the bottom of this and clear it all up,” I said. “If someone is hurting her, I want to help her.”

  “Someone is hurting her,” Quinn reiterated. “There is no if about it.”

  “Then I'll help her,” I stated matter-of-factly. “Jesus Christ, Quinn. We'll get to the bottom of it, don't worry. I'll find out who it is and we can figure it out from there.”

  Picking up my phone, I looked and saw that there were no messages from Hailey canceling on our date, and shrugged. As far as I was concerned, it was still on. I slipped my phone into my pocket and grabbed my jacket, stepping around Bennett to get out of my room, before rushing out the door.

  Quinn was hot on my heels, and Ben was right behind him.

  “What?” I said, turning around and glaring at both of them.

  Sometimes living with my brothers could be a pain in the ass. No matter how close we might be.

  “I just can't believe you're still thinking that you're going out with her,” Quinn said. “She told you to stay away,” I said confidently. “She has my number. If she wanted to back out on me, she would have called or texted me.”

  Quinn looked over at Ben. “And how about you? You still planning on seeing her?”

  “Yeah, I'm still planning on taking her out tomorrow,” he said, wiping BBQ from his chin with the back of his hand.

  “Assholes,” Quinn muttered under his breath.

  “You're just jealous because she told you to get lost,” I said and chuckled. “Get over it, Quinn. You're out.”

  “It's not a game,” he said.

  “Oh, it's not? That'd be a first,” I smirked as I stepped out of the house. “But then, of course you'd say that since you've already lost.”

  ***

  Standing on the porch, I took a deep breath and let it out as I rang the doorbell to the Roberts' home and waited. From inside the house, I heard footsteps approaching the door as a female voice called out, “I'll be right there.”

  The door opened, and I stared back at Ada Roberts, Hailey's mother, who looked a bit taken aback by the fact that I was standing on her porch. Ada looked like an older version of Hailey with her dark brown, almost black hair, and very large hazel eyes. The only difference was the Ada had a bit of gray mixed in with the brown and smile lines on her face. Otherwise, they were almost mirror images of one another.

  Ada had been the librarian for our school for a really long time. She only retired within the last year or so, in favor of working from home. The scent of lavender oil filled the air as soon as she opened the door, and only grew stronger the longer I stood there. “Cason? What a pleasant surprise,” she said, hands on her hips and a warm smile on her face. “What in the world are you doing here? How's your mama doing these days?”

  “She's good, thank you, Mrs. Roberts,” I said and laughed. “Enjoying life as a retiree in Florida. Dad too.”

  “Glad to hear it. I think it's great that you and your brothers are sharing your family home, by the way. Family is everything,” she said. “So, what can I help you with?”

  “Actually, I'm here to see Hailey,” I said. “I'm taking her out to dinner tonight.”

  “Oh, are you?” she said, her smile widening a bit. “Hailey didn't say anything to me about that.”

  “It was sort of last minute,” I said. “I hope you don't mind.”

  “I don't mind at all,” she laughed. “If you can actually get her to go with you, that is. I think getting her out of the house would be good for her.”

  “Oh?” I cocked an eyebrow.

  “Well, it's just –”

  Before she could finish her sentence though, I heard footsteps coming down the stairs. I peeked over Mrs. Roberts’ shoulder and looked right at her daughter. Hailey's long hair was pulled back in a ponytail, but tendrils fell around her chin and highlighted her delicate features. Her wide eyes looked even larger than life, and when she caught sight of me standing in the doorway, her face fell.

  She was wearing leggings and an oversized sweater. No makeup and no shoes. Just bright pink and neon green socks that didn't match the rest of her outfit. She looked ready for a night in, rather than a night on the town.

  “Cason?” she sighed, stopping before coming all the way down the stairs. “What are you doing here?”

  Her mother answered for me, “He said he's here to take you to dinner, dear.”

  Hailey shook
her head. “Uh no,” she said, stomping the rest of the way to door, a look of anger on her otherwise sweet face. “I cancelled. I can't go out tonight.”

  “Why not?” both her mother and I said at the same time.

  “Because I don't feel like it,” she said. “Do I really need any other reason than that?”

  Hailey stood her ground in the doorway, glaring at me, arms crossed in front of her defensively. I could see why Quinn said she was so freaked out. Among a mix of emotions, I saw genuine fear in her eyes.

  “Come on, dear,” her mom said placing a hand on her shoulder. “Cason is a nice boy, I think you two would have a great time. Getting out and about might even be good for you.”

  She bit her lip and continued shaking her head. “I'm not dressed for a nice dinner out anyway,” she said. “And I don't feel well. I'd rather not get dressed up anyway.”

  “You don't have to get dressed up,” I chuckled. “You look beautiful just the way you are.”

  The look on Hailey's face – as well as the look on her mom's – was priceless. They both softened their expressions and smiled gently, as if they were reacting on cue. Hailey, however, still shook her head, quickly losing the softer expression.

  “I have an idea then,” Mrs. Roberts said. “Cason, why don't you join us for dinner?”

  “I don't think –,” Hailey said, just as I started to speak.

  “I'd love to, Mrs. Roberts,” I said. “Are you sure you don't mind?”

  “Not at all,” she said. “I always make way too much food anyway.”

  “Well, thank you for having me then.”

  Mrs. Roberts opened the door wide enough for me to step inside and as I passed Hailey, I gave her a smile, but she wasn't having it. She simply rolled her eyes and sighed loud enough to be heard.

  She was definitely going to be a tough nut to crack.

  CHAPTER ELEVEN - HAILEY

  Not having time to change – and frankly, not having the inclination to – I sat at the table in my comfy clothes, not really caring what he, or my family, thought about it. Still, even though my parents were wearing casual clothes as well, I felt incredibly underdressed with Cason sitting there in a nice suit.

  In front of us at the table was my mother's pot roast, potatoes, and cornbread. All homemade and honestly, one of my favorite family meals. But my stomach wasn't having any of it tonight and I picked at my food as my parents made small talk with Cason.

  He kept trying to engage me in conversation, by asking questions that I really didn't want to answer just yet. I just wanted the meal to end so I could go hermit away in my room.

  “So Hailey,” he asked, turning his light brown eyes to me. “What do you miss most about California?”

  Choking down a bite of cornbread, I gave the most obvious answer I could think of, “The weather.”

  “Oh yeah?” he asked, cocking his head to the side with a curious grin on his face. “The weather here isn't all that bad. What's so great about the weather out there?”

  He had a point. It's not like it got terribly cold in South Carolina, not compared to other parts of the country. But it was still an easy question to answer – one that didn't require a lot of mental taxation – so I went with it.

  “The lack of humidity, for one thing,” I said. “I didn't have to worry about sweating all the time. Especially not in October, like we do here.”

  “True,” he laughed. “But aside from the weather, what drew you out there in the first place?”

  I took another bite of my cornbread and chewed slowly, giving myself a little time to think about my answer. I didn't want to open any doors I wasn't willing to walk through, but I knew if I didn't give him something, I'd be stuck there all night. And I was getting tired of the cat and mouse game we were playing.

  “I wanted to act,” I said.

  My mom butted in. “She was in a couple commercials,” she said, beaming with pride. “And weren't you an extra on some TV show, dear?”

  “Yes,” I said. “A non-speaking role. I was literally in the background for all of about ten seconds.”

  Cason looked impressed nonetheless. He leaned forward, not even touching his food. He seemed far more interested in me than in what was on his plate. It made me uncomfortable and yet thrilled me at the same time.

  “Wow, that's great,” he said. “Why didn't you stick with it? It sounds like things were starting to pick up for you.”

  I froze and looked over at my mom, hoping she might save me from that question. Even she didn't know the full story, but she knew it was something I didn't want to talk about. Knowing my mom, the way I did – and her knowing me – she knew that whatever it was, had to be bad. She wasn't forcing me to speak about it, trusting me to come to her when I got my head wrapped around it all.

  However, she just sat there looking at me, looking like she had no idea what to say to derail that line of questioning. It was my dad, who jumped in and saved the day.

  “It was time for her to come home,” he said sternly.

  “Yes, it was,” I said.

  “Ahh, well, I'm certainly glad you did,” he said. “It's been so long since we hung out, I –”

  “We never hung out, Cason,” I laughed, pushing my roast around my plate with my fork. “You were my lab partner. We studied after school a few times, but we never hung out like we were friends or something. It was always about our lab work.”

  That shut him right up. I watched his jaw clench and his smile was gone. He just sat there and stared at me, an inscrutable expression on his face. I felt bad for being so blunt with him since I could tell my words had hurt him.

  He looked like I'd slapped him across the face, but it was the truth – whether he cared to admit it or not. Suddenly, and completely out of the blue, the McCormick brothers were interested in me, and all three of them were lavishing me with attention. While it was flattering at first, it quickly became overwhelming and I was incredibly nervous about their intentions.

  I was so nervous that my stomach roiled, and a wave of nausea hit me hard.

  “Excuse me,” I said quickly.

  I jumped out of my chair and rushed toward the bathroom, afraid I might not make it in time. Thankfully, I managed to get to the hall bathroom and slammed the door behind me, falling to my knees in front of the toilet before I lost everything.

  I let it all out, and knew they could probably hear me throwing up. I emptied what felt like everything I'd eaten in the past year into the toilet, praying that I'd feel better once I stopped vomiting.

  I retched again and heard a soft knock on the door.

  “Yes?” I croaked.

  “Are you alright, honey?” It was my mom.

  “Yeah, I think I just have a stomach bug,” I croaked. “I'll be right out.”

  I pushed myself up off the floor and flushed the toilet. Leaning heavily upon the sink, I stared at myself in the mirror, not liking what I saw. I somehow managed to look pale as a ghost and a little green around the edges all at the same time. I pulled the mouthwash from the cabinet and swished it around my mouth for a few minutes before stepping back out into the dining room.

  “Sorry about that,” I said, sliding back into my chair and avoiding eye contact with Cason. “Told you I wasn't feel up to going out.”

  My mom piped up. “You've been throwing up a lot lately,” she said, a note of concern in her voice. “You sure you're okay, Hailey?”

  “I'm fine, mom,” I said. “Just stress, I promise.”

  I looked up and caught Cason watching me closely. He wasn't smiling, nor was he frowning. He had a neutral expression, but slowly, what looked like concern crossed his face as he looked at me.

  I couldn't manage to take my eyes off of him, no matter how hard I tried. Sitting there looking at Cason like an idiot, I felt a tug at my lips as remembered Quinn kissing me earlier that day. They looked so much alike, even though Cason had the super short hair and Quinn's was grown out. You could tell they were brothers though, and t
hat they were close in age. His golden eyes were soft, set apart from his rugged face with his chiseled cheekbones and strong jaw.

  His lips were plumper than Quinn's, and as if he somehow knew I was looking, he licked them. His tongue slipping over those sexy lips caused something to stir deep inside of me. But just like before, when Quinn had kissed me, I pushed that feeling back and stuffed it down into that dark box inside my soul. I couldn't do that. Not now, and especially not with brothers.

  Picking up my plate, I excused myself as I walked into the kitchen. At the same time, Cason offered to do the dishes. My mother objected, but it was a losing battle, as he insisted. Cason followed me into the kitchen, dishes in hand.

  ***

  My parents had retired to the den to watch TV, leaving me alone with the youngest McCormick boy. I was apparently stuck with him, so I tried to make the best of a shitty situation. I did everything in my power to avoid talking about myself. Instead, I asked him a billion and one inane questions.

  “Do you like your career? Are you and your brothers still close? Do you still play football?”

  Every time he tried to turn it around on me, I had another question ready and waiting for him. And finally, when it felt like I might run out of questions, I started to panic. I racked my brain for something, some bit of trivial information. In my panic, what came out of my mouth was not what I wanted.

  “Are you seeing anyone?”

  The moment those words crossed my lips, I mentally kicked myself. I did not want to open up that line of conversation with him. It was a horrible mistake and one I hoped we could gloss over or otherwise just pass through quickly.

  “I'm seeing you right now,” he said, giving me a sideways glance and a crooked smile.

  “I mean –”

  “I know what you mean,” he said with a sigh, wiping his hands on a dish towel. “And no, I'm not. I'm as single as they come. How about you?”