by Emily Bowie
“Unfortunately, I am going to have to recant the job offer.”
If I were holding a dish, I would have dropped it right then and there. My hand goes out to steady myself on the oven.
“Now why would that be?” My tone is harsher than I meant. You can get way more with sugar than salt. But my heart is breaking. I was really excited about the hope this job brought me. I felt like maybe, finally, things might start going to plan.
“Well, you see…” I can hear the nervousness in his voice as he drawls his words. “Kellen Steele called this morning and was talking to my wife, asking us to give you a chance. When she heard a murderer was endorsing you, she felt the patients would feel too uneasy. We are worried that because the two of you are friends, we will lose business. Times are slow already. I can’t afford to lose any patients. Maybe in the future, once we see how Three Rivers accepts Kellen and any type of friendships he has, we can relook at your offer.”
I listen to him rambling on. Kellen Steele lost me my dream job. He is not my knight in shining armor, or my prince charming. This man needs to stop getting into my business.
I can’t help my temper. I end the phone call without saying goodbye. They have made up their minds; nothing will change their decision now.
Taking my anger out on my dishes, I scrub furiously. Each time I replay the conversation, my anger intensifies. I needed that job and got it on my own—no man required to help.
The walk to Nelly’s does me no good. I’m still riled up. By the time I reach the entrance, my thoughts have shifted to Kellen wearing a big ol’ bull’s-eye and me holding my rifle.
“What’s wrong?” Molly immediately asks, setting her tray of drinks down.
My heart is pounding like I ran here as fast as I could. I open my mouth to tell her, but I don’t trust my voice. If I tell her, I may just start to cry. Instead, I wave her off. All I can muster is a tight, closed-lip, fake smile, my back teeth grinding against each other as I force those muscles to work.
“When you’re ready to talk, let me know.” She stands looking at me, not ready to move on, her sympathetic eyes assessing me.
Molly and I have gradually become friends working at Nelly’s together. It seems that she and her sister have adopted me as one of their own. Slowly, she turns and leaves me to fester in my own irritation.
I’ve been working for less than a half hour when I spot Kellen sitting in my section. Typically, he causes butterflies, but today, my stomach turns.
“Kellen causing you trouble?” Molly’s voice comes from behind. She must have noticed me tense up. “Want me to take his table?” All I can do is nod, walking away to busy myself anywhere away from him.
“You going to tell me why Kellen keeps looking at you like he wants to take a bite?” Chance has one eyebrow up in question as he leans over the bar.
“Trust me; that man will never be taking a bite,” I flat out tell him, resting my hip on the bar. I pretend not to watch as Molly goes over to Kellen. I try to decipher what each of his body movements mean. When Molly comes back to the bar, I decide I need to tell someone. Otherwise, I may combust.
“Did you know he just cost me a job at the vet clinic by calling to ask them to hire me? Like he thinks I can’t get a job on my own.” It all comes flooding out like bad verbal diarrhea. I tell her about the phone call word for word. I can’t seem to stop, laying my problems out for her and Chance. He pretends not to be listening, but I can tell he’s hanging on to each word.
When I’m done, Molly winces as she teeters from side to side, looking unsure. Her eyes no longer look at me, casting down to avoid mine. She has that expression on her face that tells me that I’m not going to like what she might say.
“What is it?” I start putting my drinks on my tray, rougher than necessary. “Out with it. Can’t make my night any worse. Think of it like a Band-Aid. Just rip it off.”
She looks uncertain, still not really looking at me. “Are you sure, darling?” Her voice is so sweet, and she’s been so nice to me. I can tell she wishes whatever she might say wouldn’t be the case.
“Tell me,” I demand.
“Well, that’s how you got this job.” She cringes like she hates to be the one telling me this. “Kellen called up Becca for a favor, and here you are.” She looks at me with sympathy as she winces some more.
I thought I was pissed already. Now, I’m enraged.
I stomp over to him. He gives that smoldering smile as soon as he sees I’m headed over, but then it disappears. He stands before I can even get to him. “What’s wrong?” He has the audacity to look concerned.
“Get out.” My voice is low, not wanting to make a scene, and not wanting to lose the only job I have. I grit my teeth as the words come out, hanging on by a thread.
“You can talk to me.” His face is etched with concern.
“You are my problem.” I cross my arms over my chest. “Stop trying to help me. And don’t even think about walking me home tonight.” I’m livid at him right now, anger pumping through my veins.
I watch as Kellen looks around him. Slowly, we’re gathering a few sets of eyes in our direction, even with me trying not to.
I can see the conflict in his eyes. “Can we talk? Because I have no idea what’s happening right now.”
A movement from my right catches my eye, and I see Chance coming toward us. More eyes lock on.
“Please.” I can feel my emotions quickly uncoiling, not wanting most of Three Rivers to know my business.
He nods at me before pulling a few bills out, tossing them angrily at the table before he walks out.
“You okay?” Chance asks, searching my face for answers.
There is a sharpness in my throat that refuses to slide down. Instead of replying, I force my smile back on and nod, clearing his table and preparing it to be wiped down for other customers.
CHAPTER 18
When I take one last look around, I see Molly watching us with curiosity. When our eyes collide, she smirks at me before signaling Chance. Looking back down at Sloan, I see the pain in her eyes. She looks to be hanging on by a thread.
If she wants me gone, I will go, but only because I care about her. I don’t want to upset her more.
Her anger seems to be about more than me pulling away from our kiss. Pulling out of Nelly’s parking lot, I head toward home. There are plenty of chores that need to be done. With my dad aging and his continued blood pressure problems, Brax and I have started doing more.
I try to be the first one up in the morning, to make sure I give Dad no reason to head out there. I hope, once he realizes he can slow down, he and Ma can start doing things they enjoy more. Maybe start going on vacations. I can’t think of the last vacation they took.
Since I stepped out of Three Rivers Federal Correctional Institution, I have been trying to make up for lost time. My head swarms with things I need to do to make up the last five years, and now it includes my last interaction with Sloan, not understanding or knowing where her anger came from.
Brax finds me cleaning out the horse stalls. “I thought maybe you forgot how to do this type of work.”
Looking over my shoulder, I see a small tug at his lips, telling me that he’s kidding. He doesn’t offer to help but sits down on a lone chair, taking a drink of his beer.
“Shouldn’t you be with Raya?” I grunt, shoveling another large forkful of hay that stinks like shit.
“She had to cancel. Last-minute meeting.” He takes another pull from his beer, leaning back and getting comfortable in the hard chair.
“Why don’t you go see her then?” I ask, and he glances off in the distance, not saying anything and looking lost in his own world. “Or you could be helpful and help me here,” I point out the obvious.
He laughs off my comment. “Fuck no. I’ve done this five more years than you. It’s your turn now, pretty boy.”
“Hey, is Molly dating anyone?” I keep on clearing out the stall, while I wonder about that look she had on he
r face as Sloan was yelling at me.
“You finally going to give that girl a chance?” Brax asks, chuckling.
Her family seems to be pro-Kellen Steele, but something seems off.
Filling in my silence, Brax continues, “If you’re thinking of that, looks like you and Sam Levy might be back to your old feud. I think they’ve been dating a few months now.”
I’m not shocked; Sam hated that Molly ignored him in high school and would drop everything when I came around. She was the source of a few of our fights. I tried telling him I wasn’t interested in her, but he thought I purposely kept stringing her along.
“No, I’m not interested in Molly.”
“You sure about that? I heard you’ve been hanging around Nelly’s a lot.” Brax lifts one questioning eyebrow, sounding like he might not believe me.
“Positive. You hear anything about the new girl, Sloan, who works there?”
He gets up, heading toward the wheelbarrow I have full of dirty wet hay, and wheels it away.
“It’s always about a girl,” he mumbles. “Haven’t heard of her. But I’ll let you know if I do.”
I continue working, going back into my head.
“I’m starting on the framing of my new place at 10:00 a.m.”
I look up to see Brax has stepped in to help me out. He’s spreading out the fresh hay where it’s needed in the stall.
Nodding, I begin to do the same. “I’ll be there.” At this moment, there probably wouldn’t be anything I wouldn’t do to get out from under my parents’ roof. No twenty-four-year-old wants to hear their parents snoring in the room next to them. I think about how easy it could be if I wasn’t undercover.
“The Bennetts are going to come by and help too.”
Not the first time I’ve heard this name. Seems like these guys are Three Rivers’s new golden boys.
“Yeah, Luke mentioned the name a time or two,” I grunt out as I work.
Brax looks up to me, smirking. “Feeling a little replaced?” he teases.
Picking up some hay, I toss it at him. “Fuck off.”
The smile on my face tells him I’m playing around. But in all honesty, it’s been hard to come back after five years of being gone. In those five years, I lost connections with my family and best friend, Luke. I had assumed at the time I could get those relationships back anytime. I’m having a tougher time than I thought I would connecting with everyone.
David wasn’t kidding when he explained the details of this job and how I may find myself somewhere in limbo, where the lines of reality and the job are blurred.
CHAPTER 19
Stepping outside, it’s pouring. “Just great,” I mutter to myself, moving my backpack over my head before walking right into the waterfall coming down around me.
The night is dark. I can hear splashes and the continual drumming of water. I pick up my pace but then realize I’m soaked through. No point in walking any faster. I can’t get any wetter. My feet hurt more than normal from my shift. Somehow, I’ve managed a blister in the back of my heel, causing me to walk on top of my flats. Why I have to be so stubborn and wear heels is beyond me. No one else does. It would be fine if I didn’t.
The sound of tires splashing through the rain catches my attention, and I see Kellen’s old truck. I watch as his window slowly slides down. “Get in,” he demands.
“Over my dead body.” I smirk at him with my bitch face on. My fake grin makes my lips widen over my strained face.
“Stop being stubborn. You’re going to kill yourself by getting sick if you keep walking.”
His truck idles beside me, matching my pace. I only turn my head to speak to him again. “Then I guess I would be right in saying over my dead body.”
My pace can’t go any faster, and I feel myself limp from the pain in my heel as I try to move faster than my body is willing. Looking up to the sky, I see a full moon that would be lighting my path if Kellen’s damn truck weren’t eating up space in my world.
“You’re limping. Stop being stubborn,” he repeats, his voice becoming smoother as he works his charm, trying to persuade me. I know his type, and I want nothing to do with it. As I say this to myself, my skin tries to retaliate against my mind, slowly waking up other parts of my body. It starts with my heart warming, the heat flowing through my body, stiffening my nipples, down to my core, as it begins to zing to life. My body being so in tune with his infuriates me.
I want to hate him, but then he does stuff that makes me think he might actually care. The hard, cold cage that has been guarding my heart stays firmly in place; I’ve been duped before. But that guard wants to loosen.
“Please.”
I look at him, rain falling through my eyelashes. His smile is sweet and coaxing. Damn, he’s good. Gah!
“No.” I refuse to allow his charm to win. I am an independent woman.
It takes two steps for me to realize his truck has stopped following me. Good. I’ve just proven to myself he’s like every other person—gives up way too easily on everyone, including me. They always do. I hug myself, keeping my backpack close to me.
As I give myself this pep talk on how I’m always right, my feet lift off the ground, causing me to scream in shock.
“What the hell?” I yell out.
“Woman, I’ve had enough of your stubborn ass tonight,” Kellen growls at me, carrying me back to his stopped truck, and places me into it, hooking my seat belt on and everything.
When he hops back into his side, I scoff. “Woman? Oh hell no.” Crossing my arms, my back stays straight. The only reason I stay put and do not leave is because I do need a ride.
A fuzzy blanket is tossed at me as I watch him turn his heat on full blast. “Sorry, sweetheart. I shouldn’t have called you woman.” His gray eyes twinkle, knowing I hate the endearment just as much. Although, it doesn’t sound half as bad coming from his lips.
Using the end of the blanket, I try to dry off the best I can, but the coldness has already seeped into my bones, making me shiver. Wrapping the warmth around me, I try to keep my teeth from chattering.
Each moment I’m with him, he warms my heart, thawing it and seeming to give it life once again. The feeling is overwhelming, and I fight back tears. Not that anyone could tell from the rain that poured down on me.
I remind myself that this moment changes nothing. He is still the enemy—an enemy I’d love to ride, but nevertheless the enemy.
I watch as Kellen looks over at me a few times. I wait for some know-it-all remark about me walking in the rain, but it never comes.
I start to feel relaxed and safe inside his truck. Other than my uncontrollable shivers, I’m content—a foreign feeling for me.
“Thank you.” My voice is low and wobbles with my chattering teeth.
He tilts his head at me, coming down my street. “You’re welcome.”
Leaning my head on the window, I feel myself giving in. I had told myself I would never do that again. I need to speak up.
“I lost the job at the vet clinic because you talked to Mrs. Jacobson.”
Looking out my window, the street is black, the thick rain making it hard to see. I wait for him to tell me it’s my own fault or deny my words in some sort of way.
“Ah fuck,” he curses. “No wonder you’re so livid at me.” Glancing back at him, I watch him rub his neck, lifting his arm over his head. It seems to be a sign of when things aren’t going his way. “I’m so sorry, Sloan. I just wanted to help.”
My eyes go back to looking out the window. I’m tired and have no energy left to fight him. The only thing that seems to come through the haze is the yellow light from inside my house. The same house I turned off every light inside, even when I’m home, to save on the bill. My front door is open, flapping freely in the wind, allowing the rain to take refuge in my home.
Instantly, my body freezes, my jaw clamping down.
“You forget to lock your door?” Kellen looks over at me, his eyes turning concerned as he sees my express
ion.
My head gives two short shakes, telling him no, the muscles in my neck so tense I can hardly make the movements.
Instead of pulling into my long, cracked driveway, he pulls onto the curb in front of my home.
“You stay here. I’ll check it out.”
I let him go, welcoming the offer.
I don’t use the front door. It’s one of those homes where the side door is used as the main entrance. The front door opens to carpet and the living room, making the side more useful, since it has tile and opens to the kitchen area. I also know the door stays dead-bolted, all the time. I even considered placing furniture in front of it, because of its lack of functionality.
Kellen’s large frame disappears from my view, and I hold my breath. My fingers slowly begin to move, unclasping my seat belt, ready to fly into the driver seat with the keys still in the ignition. My eyes stay glued on the house, the sway of the curtains, the shadows that creep across them afterward.
The house is silent as I wait in anticipation, my fleeing ways tingling. The thought of packing up and leaving keeps entering my thoughts. But I have nowhere to go. For the first time in a long time, it seems I’ve made friends. I have Kiptyn and a home.
A shadow moving along my driveway kickstarts my heart. I begin to move my body into the driver seat, ready to take off the moment I need to. Reminding myself that I need to breathe, I take in a deep breath, my nerves refusing to come down, my active imagination playing on them fiercely.
The sound of the truck door opening has me screaming before hearing Kellen’s deep voice. “It’s okay. No one is in there.” His hands turn my waist so that I’m facing him. The water flooding in is lost on me.
Relief floods me, my body reacting of its own accord by wrapping my arms around his neck, hugging him strongly, thankful everything is all right.
“You’re going to have some water damage, but I can help you fix that.”
My eyes squeeze tight, grateful that Kellen is around and that he made my stubborn ass get into his truck.
“Thank you.” My words are muffled into the crook of his neck, where I cling to him. Slowly, my fight-or-flight reaction dissipates, and I’m left realizing I’m clinging to this sexy bear of a man. His pine scent infiltrates my senses, causing me to take a deeper breath. I pull myself off of him, feeling slightly embarrassed for my actions.
