LOVE UNCLAIMED
Copyright © 2014 by Jennifer Benson
All rights reserved
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events, and incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.
This book or any portion thereof may not be reproduced or used in any manner whatsoever without the express written permission of Jennifer Benson, except for the use of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.
Cover design by Renee Ericson
Cover Photo by Vikki Marie Wiessner at Choose the Right Image Photography
http://www.ctrimage.com/main.asp
Cover models Dusty and Danielle Nourse
Interior Design by Little House of Edits
https://www.facebook.com/littlehouseofedits
Edited by Rebecca Cartee
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Dedicated to
My hubby and kiddos –
without you where would I be,
probably saner and less grey, but where is the fun in that.
I love you with all my heart – you are my home.
“Come on, Audree!” Clint shouted at her from outside of the truck. They were out in the pasture dropping feed for the cattle and Audree was supposed to be moving the truck while he spread the feed around. Usually Gavin would help, but he was late getting to the ranch, so Clint promised her ice cream when they got back to the house if she would help him get the chores done before his football practice.
“Shut up!” she shouted at him as she moved the truck up behind him. Audree had only driven the truck once before, but that was with Gavin in the seat next to her, telling her when to hit the clutch. Now, she had to figure it out for herself and she knew Clint didn’t have the patience to wait for her to remember what to do. Hell, she was eleven. What did he expect? She was just hoping not to get in trouble for driving the feed truck at all, not that there was anything to hit out here, but their father had insisted that Audree wait a few more years. Audree secretly thought her father knew she had been driving the farm truck, but it was an automatic.
“I got ya, Pip,” Gavin said, pulling the passenger side door open and scooting onto the seat next to her. “Hit the clutch,” he instructed her, still trying to catch his breath.
“You scared me,” she half-laughed and sighed, glad that he had showed up to help her. “Clint has no patience and is being a jerk.”
“That is why he didn’t teach you to drive in the first place, Pip,” Gavin commented with a chuckle. “One day, we’ll get you that old red truck Mr. Garver has at the feed store, and you can tell Clint he isn’t allowed to drive it because he was so mean to you today.” He laughed once more and tapped her thigh when it was time to move again. Clint and Gavin had a rhythm when they worked, and they had decided that they would break Travis and Audree in, just in case one of the older boys wasn’t around to help the other.
“I love that truck!” she screeched with excitement. “You’ll really get the truck for me?”
“You bet, Pip. I’ll get you anything you want, especially if you don’t hit your brother with this truck and get us all in trouble for letting you drive,” he mumbled, just as Clint tapped on the driver’s side window.
“Nice of you to show up,” Clint said, hopping in next to Audree and making her move closer to Gavin. “We gotta do the other side then we’re done.” He pulled around a couple of stubborn cows that wouldn’t move. “You making it to practice today?”
“Yup.” Gavin adjusted his baseball cap. “Pip, you coming to watch?”
“Nope, going out with Ruby and her grandmother, but we’ll be at the game tomorrow. Ruby has a crush on one of the players.” She giggled when Clint missed the clutch and made the truck jump.
“Yeah, who?” Clint chimed in a little too quickly. Audree giggled again, and Gavin shook his head. They both knew Clint had a crush on Ruby, but he was two years older and she was Audree’s best friend. She was just a kid and like a sister to him. In his mind she was totally off limits.
“Don’t worry. It isn’t you.” Audree laughed.
“Whatever.” He rolled his eyes and drove to the next spot.
“Don’t forget the ice cream you promised me for helping.” She jabbed Clint in the ribs.
“Don’t think I didn’t catch you almost hitting me just before I got in the truck.” He turned his head, and Audree knew he was hiding his smile.
“She was excited; I told her we are going to get her old man Garver’s truck when she is old enough to have her own wheels.”
“You’ve been promising that to her for years.”
“It will be mine and if you don’t get it for me, Gavin said he would.” She beamed up at Gavin, and his face instantly turned red.
“Did he now? Well, that sure is sweet of ya, Gav.” Clint laughed at his friend’s obvious discomfort.
“She is the closest thing I’ve got to a sister of my own, so yeah, I’ll take care of ya, Pip.”
“I know you will, Gavin.” Audree smiled at him, then turned and stuck her tongue out at Clint.
“Whatever. Let’s just get this done and get her that ice cream so we can get to play some football.” Clint slowed the truck as they approached their next spot.
“Go ahead, Pip, keep practicing.” He tapped her thigh again. “Maybe one of these times you will actually hit him.” Gavin winked and they both laughed.
Fifteen years ago …
Gavin Montgomery had always liked Audree Edwards, in a ‘my best friend’s little sister’ kind of way, but today he realized it was more than like for her. Gavin was fourteen and Audree was twelve. Both of them were too young to know what anything other than familial love was. He knew he loved his mom. He loved his little brother, Travis, as much as he could love a little shit that drove him nuts. There was nothing Gavin wouldn’t do for Audree. Clint lived to tease and torture his little sister, but he also protected her from everyone, including Gavin and Travis. On more than one occasion, Clint had made it known that Audree was off limits to them, and, pretty much, every other boy on the planet.
Clint’s overprotectiveness landed him and Gavin in a huge fistfight one day. Clint found out Audree had kissed Gavin, after he had protected her during an argument between the two siblings. Audree had spent the day with ‘her boys’, as she referred to them. Her best friend, Ruby, had been away visiting her grandmother so it was just Audree and the three boys. Clint had talked them into going out to the lake to go swimming, something they had been doing all summer, but today, Clint was in a mood and Audree had been his endless target for dunking and tossing across the water.
Unbeknownst to Gavin at the time, earlier in the day, Audree had some of her friends from school over and let it slip that Clint had been talking endlessly about one of them. Clint was quite embarrassed and decided he would get her back by torturing her in the lake. Gavin let it go for a while because he knew Audree was pretty strong for a girl. Hell, she had three boys teaching her how to kick ass, so she could hold her own, at least for a while, but Clint was relentless that day.
“Clint, don’t you think she’s had enough?” Gavin swam over to his best friend who was presently holding Audree under water.
“Have you had enough, Audree?” Clint lifted her up out of the water and tossed her a couple of feet away.
“I’m going to get you, Clint,” she called, ducking under the water and disappearing.
“She is a tough kid. She’ll let me know when…” Clint stopped as he was pulled under the water. “Get back here, Audree!” he shouted at his sister as she disappeared back under the wa
ter.
Audree was the best swimmer out of all of them and could hold her breath the longest. This, of course, came in handy when they played Marco Polo or when her brother was chasing after her to retrieve his swim trunks.
“Are you going to stop dunking me?”
“Hell, no! You opened your big mouth about something you know nothing about.” Clint grabbed at his swim trunks before they disappeared under the water again.
“I think she’s got you, Clint,” Travis hollered from the edge of the water, laughing.
“Shut up, Travis,” Clint yelled back at him.
“If you promise not to dunk me again and to leave me alone for the rest of the day, I’ll give them back. If not…” Clint, charging at her, interrupted her and she quickly made her way to the edge of the water near Travis.
“If you think getting out of the water will stop me from coming to get them,” Clint started toward her, “you are totally mistaken.” He took another step in her direction.
“Man, I don’t want to see your junk.” Travis laughed harder.
“Give me my damn trunks, Audree,” Clint growled, as he moved closer. “You better just drop them and run, because when I catch you, you will be sorry.” He took another step toward her.
“Leave her alone, Clint.” Gavin appeared in front of Audree, pulled Clint’s trunks out of her hand, and tossed them at Clint.
“Gavin,” Audree protested.
“I’m still going to get you, Audree.” Clint slipped his trunks back on and moved out of the water toward her.
“I said, leave her alone.” Gavin stepped closer to Audree, putting his hand on her waist and moving her directly behind him. “You’ve been going at her all day. Enough,” he said, now standing toe-to-toe with Clint. They were about the same height and had the same muscular build from working on the farm and playing football.
“Are you seriously protecting my sister from me?” Clint laughed as he eyed Gavin. “Step aside and get out of my way. I’m going to toss her ass across the lake.” Clint reached around Gavin.
“I said, leave her alone.” Gavin took a step back, holding Audree behind him.
“Are you kidding me?” Clint looked at Gavin and saw something in his eyes. “Get away from my sister, Gavin; I’ve told you to stay away from her! Don’t even think about it.” Clint gave Gavin’s shoulder a shove.
“Come on, guys. Knock it off,” Audree said from behind Gavin, delighted that Gavin was defending her and willing to get his butt kicked. She held back a dreamy sigh for the boy she loved.
“Guys, come on. Let’s just go swimming and knock this stuff off. Clint was just playing with Audree, and it is done now.” Travis came over and pulled Audree’s arm away from behind Gavin, but kept her out of Clint’s reach. He knew Gavin liked Audree, but he would never speak out against his older brother, his idol.
“Gavin, tell me you are not thinking about…”
“I just want you to stop…”
“She is off limits …”
“Yeah, so you’ve told me,” Gavin said with a sigh and glanced over his shoulder at Audree, who was now standing with Travis.
“And I mean it.”
“What if some day she wants…”
“Don’t…”
“Okay, please stop fighting.” Audree walked over between them. “Clint, I’m sorry for what I said; it won’t happen again.” She looked her brother in the eye and moved her fingers over her lips as if she was sealing and locking them, then throwing away the key.
“You are such a pain in my….” Clint paused when Audree threw her arms around his neck.
“I love you, too, big brother.” She laughed.
“Yeah, yeah, come on. Let’s go swimming,” Clint said before turning back toward the water.
“Thanks for protecting me, Gavin.” Audree turned, threw her arms around Gavin’s waist, giggled, and turned around, right into Clint.
“What was that? You are so dead, man.” Clint charged at Gavin, knocking him to the ground.
“Here we go again,” Travis said, trudging out of the water and toward the two boys who were now rolling around in the dirt at Audree’s feet while she screamed for them to stop fighting.
***
Clint and Gavin each ended up with a black eye and a fat lip, along with some pretty bad bruises. They also stopped talking to each other for almost a week before Audree didn’t like it; she missed hanging out with all of her boys. Her mother told her a sure fire plan to get them talking again. Audree got them together in the barn under the pretense that the other wanted to apologize; they both turned on Audree when they learned it wasn’t true. They finally got them to apologize to each other and shake hands. Clint tried to get Gavin to say he would stay away from Audree, but Gavin simply told him that he would protect her the same way Clint would. If someone had been treating Audree wrong, Clint would put a stop to it. That is what Gavin had been doing and nothing more. At least, that is what he told Clint.
This, of course, crushed Audree, until they both turned to her and thanked her for forcing them to talk it out, in a ‘stay-the-hell out of our business’ kind of way. Clint hugged her and apologized again for taking things too far at the lake. Gavin held back, after Clint invited him to go in and play video games until dinner. Once Clint was out of sight, he turned back to Audree.
“Pip, I’ll always protect you from anyone and everyone, including your brother. I’ll never let anyone hurt you, Audree.” He stepped closer to her. “Just like your brother.” He kissed her cheek, then turned and ran out of the barn after Clint, leaving Audree, once again feeling like a stupid little girl with a crush on her big brother’s best friend.
Eleven years ago…
“Clint, why can’t I stay?” Audree pleaded with her older brother as he wrapped his hand around her upper arm.
“Are you kidding?! Mom and Dad would have my ass if they knew you’d even come out here tonight.” He glanced over his shoulder at the girl he just left on the couch. “Babe, I’ll be back as soon as I put this little one back to bed.” He started moving Audree toward the front of the barn.
“Back to bed! Clint, I’m not a baby!” She struggled to get her arm loose.
“Well, you sure as hell aren’t an adult either, and you are not staying down here.”
“What is so different about tonight? You’ve never thrown me out before.”
“You’re usually here with your friends or with Travis to keep you out of trouble. I don’t see any of them here tonight, and I’m not babysitting you at our last party before we leave,” he growled, looking back over his shoulder.
“Go back to your girl. I’ll go back to the house,” she said with puppy dog eyes, trying to make her brother feel some empathy toward her.
“Not going to work this time, little sis.” He pushed her arm again.
“I know you are really throwing me out because you want to get laid before you leave for college, but really, her?” Audree gestured to the girl her brother had left sitting on the couch, the girl who had already started talking to another guy.
“What the hell do you know about getting laid?” he growled again at the sight of ‘his’ girl throwing her head back, laughing.
“I’m sixteen! I’d be more worried about me if I didn’t know something about it.” She laughed sarcastically at her brother’s dismay at her knowledge of sex. If he only knew the things that went through her head when she thought about ….
“I’ll walk her back up to the house.” Audree froze when she heard the deep voice behind her. She didn’t have to turn around to know who had spoken. She would know that voice anywhere, anytime. She would recognize it in a room full of people. She had been in love with the owner of that voice since she was a young girl.
“Hey, Audree,” said a blonde girl dressed in a tight-fitted half shirt and cutoff denim shorts who waved and smiled as she walked past.
“Hey, Delilah,” she answered and smiled shyly at the older girl. She had grown up with m
ost of the people in the barn tonight. They were all at least a year or two older, but because Clint was the social networker he was, everyone knew her, too. She suspected it was only so they could watch out for her and report back to Clint.
“You sure, man?” Clint looked over her head at the man standing behind his sister and then back over his shoulder at ‘couch girl’.
“Yeah, I got her. Your little sister is always safe with me, right Pip?” He placed his hand on her shoulder and she had to hold herself together, praying he couldn’t feel her body tremble.
“Thanks, man, I owe you.” They bumped fists and smacked each other on the shoulder.
“No problem. You just get the first shift of driving tomorrow morning.” He laughed, still standing behind Audree.
“It‘ll be worth it.” Clint looked over his shoulder again, then back as he wiggled his eyebrows.
“You are so gross.” Audree rolled her eyes at her brother.
“Hi, Audree.” A boy dressed in worn, fitted jeans, and a tightly fitted t-shirt moved past her.
“Hi, Dean, how ya doin’?” she asked and smiled when she felt Gavin’s body tense behind her.
“Not bad, not bad at all.” He looked her up and down until he noticed who was standing on both sides of her. “Catch you later, Audree.” He quickly made his escape to a girl across the room.
“You two are like guy repellent,” she sighed in defeat.
“Someday, little sister, a long, long, long time from now you will be able to play with the grown-ups.” Clint shook his head, laughed, and then kissed her on the forehead. “A long, long, time from now. Goodnight, Sis. And thanks again, Gavin,” he said, turned on his heel and headed back to the couch as yet another guy approached ‘his’ girl.
“Why would he even want to be with a girl like that?” she asked as she watched her brother take the girl’s hand and pull her from the couch toward the makeshift dance floor at the other end of the barn.
“‘Cause she’s hot.” Gavin chuckled at her side.
“Guys are gross.” She rolled her eyes again and turned in the opposite direction.
Love Unclaimed Page 1
