Happily Ever After: A Contemporary Romance Boxed Set

by Piper Rayne

  One lady had hung up a warmer dress on the clothesline. I felt horrible for taking it, but mine was already thin when I first got it. After being out there for so many days, it had holes in it all over, it was dirty and wasn’t keeping anything away from me. The cool nights were turning colder, and the daylight wasn’t much warmer. It would get harder and harder to stay warm over the next couple of weeks. As autumn kicked down summer’s door, winter wouldn’t be far behind.

  I found a nice clearing in the middle of a thicket of trees close enough to a stream I could get to it daily, but far enough away from anyone seeing me. I was sure my stepmom had put up reward signs all over town and everyone who was looking for a fast buck would be looking for me. In that town, other than a few who were lucky enough to live on the hill like my parents, all of them were desperate for a fast buck. She wouldn’t stop looking until she was sure I was either dead or no good to Daan. Even after him, I was sure she could find someone to sleep with her poor stepdaughter and still make a profit off me. I could never go back there or anywhere close to there. I wasn’t going to be her way to live without having to work.

  Snap.

  A tree branch broke under the weight of something. I held my breath and waited to hear what direction it was moving in. When another branch snapped, even closer, I panicked. Looking around for a place to hide, I froze when a young man came out of the brush to my right.

  He was covered in dirt and had overalls with what was once a white T-shirt on. Boots were laced up tight over the bottom of his pants and his hat was pulled down low to shelter his face from the midday sun. I saw light brown hair peeking out from under the hat running wild in all directions. I couldn’t see his eyes, but I could tell he was outside a lot from the deep tan I could see on the flesh that wasn’t hidden away by his clothes. He was tall and slender, but not thin. There was a confidence about him that held my attention and when I thought I should run, even though he would see me for sure, it was too late to move.

  He stopped only feet from where I was and moved his hat up to see me. His blue eyes matched mine and, when he frowned, dimples appeared on his cheeks. He wasn’t bad looking, but if he was out there looking for me because of some prize my stepmom had promised, I had gotten myself into whatever trouble he was bringing.

  “She won’t pay you, you know,” I said when he wouldn’t speak.

  “What?”

  “My stepmom. She won’t pay you whatever it is she promised you. Please, don’t tell anyone you saw me here. Just go back to where you came from and forget about me.” I tried to fight off the tremble in my voice, but the thought of having to go back terrified me more than anything Daan would have thought to do.

  “I’m not sure what you’re talking about or who your stepmom is. I was on my way home and decided to come through here because I haven’t in a while, and I love this part of the woods.”

  “So, you’re not here for me?”

  “’Fraid not honey.”

  “Oh.”

  “Why are you out here?” he asked.

  “It’s a long story and it’s not worth telling.”

  “Sounds interesting to me. You said something about a stepmom? Where’s your mom or your dad? Why is she the only one looking for you?”

  He stopped talking and waited for me to answer. I wasn’t sure how much to tell him, so I didn’t say a word. He dug into the front pocket of his overalls and came out with a shiny red apple. I hadn’t had one since before my father died and I could taste the sweet juicy insides as he took a bite.

  “Oh man, I am so sorry. Here,” he said and held out his hand for me to take the piece of fruit. “You must be starving. When’s the last time you ate something?’ he asked looking me up and down. I grew self-conscious as he did and tried to fold my arms across my body.

  “A while ago,” was all I said back. I looked from him to the piece of fruit and back. I wanted it so bad, but I didn’t know him at all. I had heard about the tales of girls taking fruit or candy from men they didn’t know only to wake up in a house they didn’t recognize and have horrible things done to them. I didn’t want to be the girl who escaped my own hell only to go down like that.

  “Please, it’s safe. You just watched me take a bite. I won’t hurt you. You can have this, and I will leave you alone if that’s what you want.”

  “Please, don’t go.”

  It was dumb and desperate, but he was the first person to talk to me since Jasmine left and it felt good. Not having a lot of practice, I wasn’t sure if he was a good person or not, but there was something about him that was drawing me in.

  “Okay. I won’t go but you have to eat this. I think I might have…” he trailed off as he dug deeper into his pockets and came out with a small bag of nuts. “Yeah. I didn’t think I ate them all at lunch today. Here. You like peanuts, right?”

  I nodded my head and my stomach growled so loud; you would have thought there was a mountain lion hiding in the brush behind me.

  “Yeah. You need this way more than I do. Where are you staying?”

  “Here,” I said and pointed to a small circle of leaves I had gathered and placed under a low hanging tree branch.

  “You stay there? At night? Out here? You know it’s going to get close to freezing tonight, right? You can’t stay out here with only that dress on and a pile of leaves to protect you. I’ll come back this way tomorrow only to find you frozen to death. You don’t want to do that to me now, do you? How would I ever live with myself?”

  “I don’t even know who you are, and you can always go a different way home. It’s the first time I’ve seen you here and I’ve been here for over a week.”

  “That long? Why?”

  “It’s a long story. I don’t want to tell it.”

  “Okay. I can respect that, now I need you to respect me. Come with me. Even if you only stay one night. Get a hot meal and sleep on a real bed. I bet you haven’t slept in over a week either judging from the bags under your eyes.”

  “I don’t know.”

  “Is it because you don’t know me?” he asked.

  “Yes, maybe.”

  “Hi. My name’s Zane. I live about three miles from here and I have a real roof over my head. I would love it if you would come with me.” He held out his hand for me to shake and I just stared at him.

  “You’re very odd,” I said and backed up a little more.

  “Yeah, I’ve heard that before.”

  He laughed and when he did, my stomach did something it had never done before. Something moved in it, but it wasn’t hunger pains, it was more like a swarm of dragonflies dancing around in there.

  “Are you going to tell me your name? It would help if I knew who you were when I introduced you to everyone.”

  “Everyone?”

  “Yeah. I live with a few people. I think you’ll like them though. You probably have a lot in common with Lars if I had to guess on what drove you to the woods this time of year.”

  “I don’t know who that is either.” I paused trying to decide if I should give him my name or not. Who didn’t know who Sno Whyte was? The whole town and then a few over knew the Whyte family. Or at least they used to.

  “Please tell me your name.”

  “Sno Whyte,” I spit out before I could change my mind. He had already seen me and there was no way to undo that. If he was after some reward, then I had let him get all the information he needed. I was in trouble either way.

  “That’s a beautiful name.”

  He sat down on a tree stump a little closer to me and held out the apple again. I took it and sunk my teeth into it. Juice ran down my chin and the chewing of the peel was so loud, it drown out the rest of the noises around me, but I didn’t care. For the first time in weeks, I was eating something other than berries and mushrooms.

  11

  “I know you’re hiding from someone and you don’t know me, but you really can’t stay here. Not like this and not when we have weather coming in. Come with me and if you s
till don’t feel comfortable when we get to my place, you can go. I won’t try to stop you. You’ll be doing me a favor too,” he said. It was the first words spoken after he handed me the apple. I ate it as fast as I could even though I wanted to savor it.

  “How would that be a favor to you?” I asked, pausing only long enough to get that out.

  “If you don’t come with me, I will worry about you all night. Then I won’t sleep, and I will be so tired at work tomorrow, I could get severely hurt.”

  Taking a deep breath and letting it out in one big puff, I wrestled with myself on what to do. There was something about him that made me feel I could trust him, but there was another part of me, a bigger part, that told me to be careful. I didn’t know him at all and going back to his place could be more deadly than staying in those woods and facing the first frost of the year. I had made it so far being out there on my own, I was sure I could make it longer.

  The thought of a real bed and food was thrown into my internal fight. I hadn’t had either in a very long time. Longer than I had been in the woods. The heat from a fireplace and the sweet smell of the wood burning also popped into my mind making me lean more and more to taking him up on his offer. It wasn’t like I couldn’t leave if it didn’t feel right. I would have to find a new place to stay though because he had seen that one. The woods were big and there had to be many other places that were as nice as the one I found.

  In the end, after the long fight I had, his offer won out.

  “Okay.”

  “Okay?” he asked. His eyebrows rose and his smile threatened to show again. If he did that, there was no way I was going to be able to refuse him.

  “Okay, I will go with you. If I don’t like it though, you’ll let me leave and not follow me?”

  “I promise.”

  He stood and held out his hand for me to take. I slowly placed mine in his and watched as his large palm swallowed my little hand up, making it disappear. There was a spark when our flesh touched and when I looked up at him, he had the same look of surprise on his face. He had felt it too. It was almost an instant connection and while I kept my guard up some, it wasn’t as much as it had been only a moment ago.

  “Wow,” he muttered under his breath, but I heard it.

  We walked in silence for what felt like hours before a small house appeared before me. It was a one level, all brick and stone house. Taking a closer look, I could see where the farther side of the right of the house was made of wood. It looked like an addition to the existing house that they tried to blend in. The off white and grey building with the dark red roof looked inviting. Smoke came out of the stack in the back right corner of the house and I knew they had a fire going. Seeing that sent a chill through me and reminded me how cold I had been for the past few weeks. I looked forward to sitting by the warm fire even if I only stayed long enough to thaw out.

  Getting a little closer, the wind shifted and blew the smell of meat toward us. My mouth watered and my stomach attacked itself as my true hunger kicked in. It smelled like venison but there was more. The smell of fresh baked bread was tangled in with the meat smell and I wanted that even more.

  “Thijs must be cooking dinner. If he is, you’re in for a real treat. His venison stew is the best I’ve ever had. If you leave here hungry, it will be your mistake for sure.”

  It wasn’t a threat when he said it and his smile was playful. He couldn’t have been much older than I was, but he seemed to be more mature by years. I wondered how long he had been out on his own and what happened to make him leave. He seemed to know all too well what it was like to have to leave your home behind in order to save yourself.

  “Who is Thijs?” I asked as we got closer.

  “He’s one of my roommates. You’ll like him. He seems tough, but he’s really a softy at heart. He’s been hurt a lot, so he shows anger to hide his vulnerability. If you can ignore that part of him, you’ll see how great of a guy he is.”

  “Will he get mad you brought me to his home?” Fear gripped me and my instinct to run was taking over. I didn’t want to be the reason someone lost control and I didn’t want to be somewhere I wasn’t wanted. I had left that situation behind and wasn’t looking to go into another one.

  “No. If anything, he will mumble that he should have made more food as he’s setting a spot for you. Come on. You’ll love them all.”

  “Them all? How many…” I wasn’t able to finish as he flung open the door.

  The inside of the house was nothing like the outside. It wasn’t filthy, but there were things scattered all over. Clothes littered the floor and dishes piled up along any open counter space they might have had. The floor was covered in a fine layer of dirt from them not taking their boots off when they walked in. The couch I could see, was worn thin with a few rips in the arms and on the back cushions. It made me wonder what the other couch and chair looked like, but I couldn’t see them in the shadows. They only had the kitchen and dining room lit and I could see all the things I wanted to clean in those two areas alone.

  The other part of me envied him because he had a real roof over his head, food to eat and warmth. I had all of those things once and I missed that time. Back when my mom was alive, I never went without anything, I was their little princess and, being their only child, they made sure I was taken care of. I wasn’t overly spoiled or anything like that. I didn’t need all the things other people wished for even though my parents could easily have afforded anything I wanted. I had them and the staff they kept around our property to entertain me. I learned a lot from them and as I grew up, they became family to me. Up until we lost my mother, they were treated like that too. Every holiday, they joined us for a meal and much deserved time off. Since most of them lived on the property, there wasn’t a time I didn’t remember a few of them always being there.

  Jasmine was the one who was put in charge of me when my parents weren’t around. After my mom died, that became more times than not, and we grew very close. She was a second mom to me, and I loved her just as much as I had my own mother. Thinking about her and wondering where she had ended up after my stepmom let her go hurt. I missed her so much. I missed the way she always smelled like vanilla and the way she hugged me with all her might. I missed our long talks and the way, no matter what was going on, I always felt safer with her around. The last two years without her had hurt as much as losing my parents.

  “Are you alright?” Zane whispered in my ear. “You’re crying.”

  I reached up and touched my cheek; it was wet.

  “I was thinking about someone and I guess it makes me sadder than I thought.”

  “I don’t know what you’ve been through, but I promise it will get better.” He grabbed my hand gently at first and then gave it a light squeeze. I felt myself relaxing a little with him holding on to me.

  “Thanks.”

  “Zane, who are you talking to? Yourself again?” a male voice said, and it was followed by several different laughs.

  A sudden panic washed over me when I realized how many other men were in the house with us. I thought he maybe had one or two roommates, but what peeked around the corner shocked me. I fought back the urge to run when Zane held my hand a little tighter. In that moment, I realized I might have screwed up and there was nothing I could do about it.

  I was trapped in there with all of them and they out powered me by a lot.

  12

  “This is Sno,” Zane said to the small circle of men that flooded out of the kitchen and into the half lit living room.

  A light flicked on and I could see them all clearly. There were six of them in total plus Zane. None of them looked very old, but they all seemed older than I was. The skepticism on their faces had me worried. Out of all of them, someone had to have heard about me and the reward that was being offered to get me back to my stepmom. A new wave of panic washed over me, and I held back the need to vomit or run. I was closer to the door than they were for the time being and the only one I would have to ou
trun would have been Zane. Looking around, I weighed my options if I needed a way to escape.

  “Relax doll, we won’t hurt you if that’s what you’re worried about. We have enough troubles of our own around here, we aren’t looking to add to that by hurting an innocent young girl,” a tall, black haired, brown eyed man said. He stood over Zane by a few inches and was built with muscles trying to break free from the too tight shirt he had on. “My name is Akio.”

  “I’m Jett,” another one said stepping closer. He held out his hand for me to shake and Zane nodded to me that it was alright. He looked so young with his baby face and pale blue eyes. His blond hair washed him out even more with his Casper-like complexion. He almost made me look darker but working outside had given him a little more color than I had. He was shorter than the rest of them. From what I could tell, he wasn’t much taller than me, but he seemed sweet.

  “That over there is Thijs,” Zane said pointing to the man holding the big wooden spoon. “He’s our resident cook and the one responsible for all the amazing smells in here.”

  Thijs was about Zane’s height, but he was heavier by a lot. His fiery red hair and deep green eyes were unique for that area. His face and arms were covered in freckles, so much so, that it looked like someone had flung a paint brush on him and sprayed him down with light brown paint. His belly was round and moved up and down when he breathed. He didn’t say anything but grunted at me as he folded his arms across his chest, resting them on the top of his gut.

  “Don’t mind him, he hates everyone,” another man said.

  “I do not,” Thijs said in a deeper voice than I expected to hear come out of him.

  “My name is Bran.” He was so handsome; it was hard to feel nervous with him. His black hair and dark eyes matched his beautiful skin. He was tall and slender but had a confidence about him that couldn’t be missed. When he smiled, his bright white teeth showed, and a dimple appeared only on his left cheek. He had a tattoo on his upper right arm of a music symbol. It was gorgeous and I wondered what it meant to him.