by HELEN HARDT
Melt
Steel Brothers Saga: Book Four
Helen Hardt
Contents
Warning
Prologue
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fifteen
Chapter Sixteen
Chapter Seventeen
Chapter Eighteen
Chapter Nineteen
Chapter Twenty
Chapter Twenty–One
Chapter Twenty–Two
Chapter Twenty–Three
Chapter Twenty–Four
Chapter Twenty–Five
Chapter Twenty–Six
Chapter Twenty–Seven
Chapter Twenty–Eight
Chapter Twenty–Nine
Chapter Thirty
Chapter Thirty–One
Chapter Thirty–Two
Chapter Thirty–Three
Chapter Thirty–Four
Chapter Thirty–Five
Chapter Thirty–Six
Chapter Thirty–Seven
Continue The Steel Brothers Saga with Book Five
Message from Helen Hardt
Also by Helen Hardt
Discussion Questions
Acknowledgments
About the Author
This book is an original publication of Helen Hardt.
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events, or locales is entirely coincidental. The publisher does not assume any responsibility for third-party websites or their content.
Copyright © 2016 Waterhouse Press, LLC
Cover Design by Waterhouse Press, LLC
Cover Photographs: Shutterstock
All Rights Reserved.
No part of this book may be reproduced, scanned, or distributed in any printed or electronic format without permission. Please do not participate in or encourage piracy of copyrighted materials in violation of the author’s rights. Purchase only authorized editions.
Warning
This book contains adult language and scenes, including flashbacks of child physical and sexual abuse, which may cause trigger reactions. This story is meant only for adults as defined by the laws of the country where you made your purchase. Store your books and e-books carefully where they cannot be accessed by younger readers.
For everyone who has ever left me a five-star review—thank you! I’m so glad you enjoy my work.
Prologue
Jonah
“What is it, Tal?” I walked into the kitchen of the main ranch house, where Talon, his girlfriend, Jade, and our sister, Marjorie, were sitting at the kitchen table. Our younger brother, Ryan, was also there.
Talon raked his fingers through his dark hair. Dark circles rimmed his eyes. He looked like he hadn’t slept in weeks.
“I came as soon as I got your text.”
“Thank God you’re here,” Talon said.
“So what’s going on?” I asked. “You look like hell.”
“Take it easy, Joe,” Ryan said. “He’s freaking out.”
Ryan always had Talon’s back. The two of them were close in a way I would never be close to my brothers. I was the oldest, the one doling out dictatorial commands when they wanted to play. And then of course there was the fact that Talon had protected Ryan the day of his abduction—a courtesy I had been unable to extend to Talon as his older brother.
I spent a lot of time thinking about that, thinking I was a piece of shit.
“You want some coffee, Jonah?” Jade asked.
I nodded. “Don’t get up. I’ll get it.” I helped myself to a mug, filled it, and sat down at the table with the other four. “What’s going on?”
Talon paced around the table, clearly agitated. “Someone’s been in our house. This house.”
I raised my eyebrows. “What are you talking about?”
Marj hunched her shoulders. “I’m terrified, Joe.”
Jade nodded. “It’s really scary.”
Frigid fingers trailed up my spine. “Would somebody please tell me what the fuck this is about?”
Talon looked at Jade. “You guys are well aware what happened between Jade and me a while back. When I asked her to leave the house.” He winced.
“It’s okay.” Jade stroked his arm.
He rubbed his hands together. “Evidently, sometime while Jade was in the shower, someone got into the house.”
“Again, please explain what you’re talking about.” My nerves were on edge, and I was growing impatient.
Jade cleared her throat. “After I came out of the shower, I found this on my pillow.” She opened up what appeared to be a law dictionary and pulled out a flattened red rose. “I never mentioned it because I thought Talon had left it.”
Marj piped in then. “Yeah, Jade told me about the rose. I thought it was kind of weird at first, because we don’t grow roses here on the ranch. But maybe Talon had gone into town and gotten it for her. I didn’t know.”
“Neither of us thought anything about it at the time,” Jade said.
Talon cleared his throat. “Then, just this morning, Jade mentioned it—that I had left a red rose on her pillow. But…I never left her a rose.”
Marj shivered, running her hands up and down her arms. “I don’t feel safe here. It’s…a violation.”
Talon darted his eyes back and forth. “We need to find out who it was. I can’t have Jade and Marj at risk in this house.”
“Absolutely, I agree,” I said, my skin cold. “Have you called the cops?”
Talon shook his head. “Not yet.”
“The only evidence we have is the rose,” Jade said. “And obviously it’s all dried out now.”
“I’m glad you kept it,” I said. “Maybe the cops can get prints or something.”
“I don’t know how they’ll be able to,” Jade said. “I’m sure my prints are all over the stem. And getting something off the petals would be impossible.”
“Still,” I said. “It’s all we have.”
Talon sat down at the table, finally, and then punched the wooden surface. “Damn! Just as we’d all agreed to move forward. Just when I was starting to feel like I could have a life with my family and the woman I love.”
Ryan turned to Talon. “You can still have that, Tal. This is just a minor setback.”
“A minor setback?” Talon’s eyes lit with fire. “Someone was in our fucking house, Ryan. The house I now share with my girlfriend and my sister, the two most important women in my life. I will not have them in danger.”
“Do you think it could have been Colin?” Jade asked, referring to her ex-fiancé.
“I wouldn’t put it past him,” Talon said.
“Of course, no one knows where he is,” Ryan said.
“He’s dead,” Talon said. “Larry Wade killed him.”
“I’m not sure he did,” Jade said. “Don’t get me wrong. I don’t have any love lost for Larry Wade. I’m glad he’s going to prison for a very long time. But when I talked to him recently, he swore up and down that he had nothing to do with Colin disappearing. That someone had planted Colin’s personals on him.”
“Colin could definitely be the culprit,” Marjorie said. “He turned out to be a
bad seed. How did I spend four years with him at college and not realize that?”
Jade shook her head. “You’re telling me. I spent seven years with him. I was going to marry the creep.”
“Colin.” Talon hit the table again. “He wanted you back. Somehow that motherfucker got into our house.”
“What about Larry Wade?” I asked. “It could have been him.”
“Why would Larry leave me a rose?” Jade asked.
I let out a sarcastic laugh. “Why would Larry molest his nephew?”
Eight eyes met mine, all widened. Perhaps I shouldn’t have said such blatant and tactless words, but really, the time for pussyfooting around this subject was long past. “Look, I’m sorry if that upset any of you. I really am. But this is no longer a secret. Everybody knows why Larry is sitting in a jail cell. It made the news, and this time Dad and Wendy Madigan weren’t around to cover it up. Maybe I should have quashed it. In truth, I thought about it, but what good would that do any of us now?” I zeroed in on two of the eyes. Talon’s. “Did I do the right thing, Tal? Did I do the right thing by not covering it up?”
He met my gaze, and his expression softened. A bit. “I would’ve covered it up myself if I’d wanted to, Joe. As humiliating as it is, I know it wasn’t my fault. Maybe my story will help someone. Who knows? That’s the least of my concerns right now. Right now, I want to know who the hell broke into my house and put a flower on my woman’s pillow.”
Chapter One
Jonah
In the end, I knew the guilt would eventually kill me.
As I lay on the harsh pavement in a dark alley, guilt—in the form of a couple homeless vagrants booting me in the kidneys—was kicking my ass.
I always protected my face. I couldn’t risk my brothers seeing evidence of what I was up to. Anything from the neck down was fair game though. Sometimes I even threw the guys a couple bucks for their trouble.
Tonight, though… Nope.
Tonight guilt would end my life.
And I welcomed it.
“Joe! Thank God!”
My sister’s voice. I opened my eyes. Marjorie’s form was a blur, but it was her. Her dark eyes shone with concern. Where the hell was I?
I groaned. My lower back throbbed, and I inhaled sharply. Big mistake. Damn, guilt had gotten a few of my ribs, too.
But I was alive.
Still alive.
“Thank God you woke up. I’ll go get Ryan. He just stepped out for a minute to take a call.”
Marj’s blur was replaced with a blue blur I didn’t recognize.
“How are you feeling, Mr. Steel?”
Like shit, thanks. I wasn’t sure if I’d said it out loud.
“I’m going to check your blood pressure. You might feel some squeezing.”
Not likely. I couldn’t feel anything over the bass drum beating on my back.
“You’ve been beaten pretty badly,” the blur said.
Not badly enough, apparently. I inhaled again, and a knife sliced through me. Damned broken ribs. Nothing I hadn’t experienced before many times. This was the first time I’d ended up in the hospital, though. As I tried to focus on the blur through slitted eyes, my heart sped up.
What had I been thinking? I didn’t want to die.
I had this revelation every time after I let myself get beaten up. Each time would be the last. I swore it. Well, this one would truly be the last. Even though she’d been a blur, Marj’s voice had cracked with fear. I couldn’t take that sound in my baby sister’s voice, nor in the voices of either of my brothers.
I breathed in again, wincing at the sharp, knifing pain.
Never again, goddamnit. This dangerous self-indulgence was over.
“Hey, you gave us a pretty good scare, Joe. Thank God you managed to crawl to that bar and get help. What were you doing in that neighborhood? What the hell happened?”
Ryan’s voice. A bar? I’d been at a bar? The last thing I remembered was blacking out in the alley. I opened my mouth to speak, but only a crackled croak emerged.
“It’s okay, bro. Don’t try to talk. Looks like you’re going to live.”
Dr. Melanie Carmichael sat across from me in her office decorated in dark wood and hunter-green. She was as beautiful as I remembered. She and I had met months ago in a hotel bar. We’d both been staying at the hotel for different conferences. Her golden-blond hair had fallen in gentle waves against her shoulders as she sat next to me, sipping a cocktail. She wore it up today, pulled back in a tight bun at the top of her head. She was still gorgeous, even with the severe schoolteacher hairstyle. Piercing green eyes, though—they were the same. I hadn’t been able to look away from them that night in the bar, and I was having a difficult time trying to do so now.
How was I supposed to tell this woman my innermost thoughts?
My brother Talon had, and he was on his way to healing from a horrific childhood trauma of being abducted and held captive by three men when he was ten years old. Once I had regained consciousness in the hospital, Talon had come and begged me to make an appointment with his therapist.
So here I was, three weeks later, my ribs still aching a bit, sitting in a supple leather recliner. My brother had sat in this chair, no doubt, and told this woman his deepest secrets. Now it was my turn.
“I’m not sure what to say.”
She smiled. My God, she had a beautiful smile. Her lips were full and red, the color of a ripe currant. “Say whatever you feel like saying, Mr. Steel. This time is for you.”
“First of all, no Mr. Steel. Only Jonah. Or Joe. Whichever you prefer.”
“Okay, Jonah. Why don’t you just start with what brought you in to see me today?”
I felt like a fraud. My brother had been through so much, and here I was, seeing a therapist when there was nothing wrong with me at all—nothing except the guilt that lived inside me like a parasite, killing me from the inside out.
I looked around the room, playing for time. On the wall behind her desk were her various degrees. I was surprised to see a medical degree.
“I thought you were a psychologist,” I said.
“I am.”
“But you went to medical school? Wouldn’t that make you a psychiatrist?”
She cleared her throat. “Technically, yes. But I also have a master’s degree in psychotherapy, which is what I practice. Because I rarely prescribe medication, I prefer the term psychologist or psychotherapist.”
I shook my head. “That’s a lot of schooling.”
She tilted her head back a little. “Yes, there were times when I thought it would never end. Being a psychiatrist has some advantages, too. I have admitting privileges at Valleycrest Hospital, in case any of my patients need more day-to-day care. But I consider myself more of a psychologist than a medical doctor.”
I nodded, continuing to peruse her office.
“So do my qualifications meet your approval?” she asked.
I turned back to her abruptly. “Of course. I was just curious.”
“You mean you were desperate for something to talk about other than what brought you in here today.” She smiled.
Guilty. She knew as well as I did. No need to prolong it. “I… Well, you know my brother’s story.”
Dr. Carmichael nodded. “I do. And he has given me permission to discuss his case with you if we need to.”
My neck chilled. I wasn’t sure I wanted to know what Talon had told the doctor. Hopefully this wouldn’t get to that.
“It was Talon who suggested I call you and make an appointment.”
“I know. He told me. And he talked to me a little bit about you.”
Christ. God only knew what Talon had said. He knew I’d gotten the shit kicked out of me by a couple thugs in a dark alley. What he didn’t know was that I’d been there on purpose, that I intentionally hadn’t fought back, that I’d actually started the fight. Thing was, I wasn’t a coward. I could’ve made quick work of the vagrants who’d attacked me. And I sure as hell did
n’t want to tell this beautiful woman across from me that I’d let them beat me to a pulp.
Then the word popped out of my mouth.
“Guilt.”
“I understand,” Dr. Carmichael said. “You have a lot of guilt about what happened to your brother.”
I swallowed and nodded.
“Let’s talk about that,” she said. “Why do you feel so guilty?”
“Because I’m the older brother. I should’ve been able to protect him that day. I should’ve protected him the way he protected Ryan. But I wasn’t there, and he paid the ultimate price for my failure.”
“You do understand that Talon doesn’t blame you for what happened, don’t you?”
I understood that, all right. He’d told me enough. But that didn’t seem to matter. Still, I blamed myself. “I do know that, Melanie.” Shit, what a blunder. “I’m sorry. Dr. Carmichael.”
She smiled again, and my heart did a little dance. What a gorgeous smile.
“If you’re more comfortable calling me by my first name, please feel free to do so. After all, I’m calling you Jonah.”
For some reason, she was Melanie to me. Maybe because we’d met before. I didn’t know. “All right. If you don’t mind.”
“I don’t.”
“So anyway…Melanie, I know he doesn’t blame me. But I also know he resents what happened to him.”
“He may have in the past, but he no longer feels that way. And even if he did, it was completely subconscious. We’ve talked at length about that.”
I looked down at my hands. “God, it’s so weird for you to talk to me about this.”
“As I told you, Talon gave me carte blanche with you. He’s very concerned about you and the guilt you feel. He wants you to get help, and if his sessions with me can assist you along the way, he wants that to happen.”
“It just feels so…”
Melanie nodded. “I understand. So if you would rather I not share Talon’s sessions and feelings with you, we can go that route. Either way, I’m here for you, Jonah, just as much as I am for your brother. I can also recommend another therapist, if you’d rather deal with someone who doesn’t know Talon’s history. I have several colleagues, both male and female, who are excellent and who I think could help you.”
