Arrowed (Arrowed Series Book 1)

by Gryffin Murphy

  “I’ve broken three glasses.” I shrugged at the admission with disinterest.

  “Dammit! I bet Benji you’d break four,” she joked.

  “So you sicked your little brother on me? You realize you two are the worst people on the planet, right?” I rolled my eyes and walked over to my worktable.

  “It’s all out of love, cousin,” she said. I looked back at her and she winked, forcing a smile out of me. “Tonight will be fine. Unless she’s boring.”

  Anger flared up inside me again. “And just when I thought we were having a nice moment.” She laughed.

  “Relax, I’m kidding. Calm yourself down.” She walked over to the entrance of the barn and then turned around suddenly and curtsied, “Time for me to pretty myself up for tha comp’ny.”

  I laughed. “It’s a wonder why you were never a debutante.” She rolled her eyes and then turned toward the noise of a car moving up the driveway.

  “Looks like she’s here.” She looked at me over her shoulder and smiled. “Now go run and greet her like a good lapdog.”

  I ignored her but, embarrassingly, did break into a slight run as I went to meet her at her car. She lowered the window and was smiling so radiantly I could have sworn my heart had stopped beating for a second.

  “You found us!” I smiled, placing my hands above her window. I almost leaned in to kiss her but thankfully my brain kicked in to stop me just in time.

  “I did!” she exclaimed, “For a while I wasn’t sure I had. It’s such a long drive to get to the right place.”

  “Yeah it’s a big property.” I tried to play it off like it wasn’t a big deal, but I knew we were extremely blessed.

  “That’s an understatement.” She shook her head. “This land is huge. I can’t even imagine what kind of wildlife you have running around here.”

  Mostly wolves, but I wasn’t going to tell her that.

  “I can’t wait to give you the tour.” Ugh, I had to calm it down. I was acting way too bubbly, which was not a term I’d think one would often use to describe me. “Um so-” I paused as I tried to regain composure- “You’re good to park in front of that barn over there.”

  She eyed me skeptically at my sudden change of mood, but her smile didn’t falter as she followed my direction and cut the ignition. The second she was out of the car I had her up in my arms and was hugging her tightly. Dammit, calm it down, Noah! I mentally scolded myself, but the Arrow knew that my soul mate was finally seeing her hopefully future home, and the ecstasy could not be contained. I was acting like I was part golden retriever rather than wolf.

  “The first stop on the tour is the garage,” I said, walking backwards into the barn, “Because it is where I spend a lot of my time. This is where I put together my truck, and this is also where Frankie and I are hoping to kick off our own little mechanic side-business one day.”

  “I see he is doing well,” she said, running her index finger across the front of my Chevy. She looked at me with a wink and I felt both a twinge in my stomach and in my pants.

  “He is.” I nodded. “He misses you though.”

  She turned around and scoffed, “Misses me? I just saw him a couple days ago!”

  “He says that’s way too long.” I shrugged. It was way too long. I needed the visual of her bare feet on the dashboard and her hand miming waves out the window every day of my life.

  “Oh, he speaks to you?” She laughed, shaking her head. “And uh, are there any other kind of voices you hear?”

  “Yes, Doctor, there are.” I placed my hands behind my back and nodded.

  “I see.” She mimed writing on a pad of paper in her hand. “And what do these voices tell you, Noah?”

  “They tell me that a woman should never tease a man about his truck!” I dove down and wrapped my arms around her, tickling her hips. She laughed and flailed about in protest but I overpowered her as I lifted her in the air and spun her around.

  “Well whadda’ we have goin’ on here?” A loud voice sang out over our laughter. I immediately put her down and she hastily straightened herself out.

  I turned with annoyance to see Benji leaning against the doorway. He could clearly see we had been having a moment and was more than happy to interrupt it.

  “Benji,” I said through my teeth, “This is Sophia Rose. Sophia Rose, Benji.”

  “Hi!” She stepped forward, reaching out a hand. He eyed her up and down like she was some kind of desert with whipped cream topping and my blood began to boil.

  “Enchante, mademoiselle Sophia Rose,” he said in a fake French accent as he took her hand and turned it to kiss her knuckles. “You are as beautiful as your name.” To my relief, she raised an eyebrow at his performance and looked thoroughly unimpressed.

  “Thank you,” she said simply, “but you can just call me Sophia.”

  Suddenly Milo ran into view. “Sorry.” He shook his head at Benji. “I tried to stop him from getting here before me, but he sucker punched me in the nuts.”

  She busted out laughing at that while Benji glanced at Milo sheepishly, no doubt expecting some retribution coming his way.

  “Is Benji always so…charming towards Noah’s friends?” she asked, side-eyeing Benji, who was winking and smiling at her. Milo grinned at her.

  “He’s really ‘suave’ towards everybody, which is why we try to keep him on a leash at all times.” He wrapped his arm around Benji’s neck and messed up his hair with his fist as Benji struggled and punched anywhere he could. So far, my friends were making themselves out to be real intellectuals. “I’m Milo, by the way,” he said once he set Benji free. “We met briefly before.”

  “The park.” She nodded. “I remember.” He nodded and there was a slight awkward pause before I clapped my hands together loudly to get everyone’s attention.

  “Well,” I announced, “I’m going to give Sophie a quick tour of the ranch before dinner, so you two should see if Ma needs a hand.”

  “Have fun,” Milo said, grabbing Benji by the shirt collar and dragging him away before he could get in another word. She turned toward me with a raised eyebrow and I put a hand to my forehead in shame.

  “You promised you wouldn’t judge me,” I reminded her.

  “I think they’re great.” She smiled, putting her hands in the pockets of her leather jacket. With a shuffle of her feet, she turned to take a look around. It was while she was scanning the room that I had the opportunity to really check her out. She looked so sexy in that leather jacket, I wanted to put her on my bike and go for a ride. In more ways than one.

  I shook the thought from my head. The Arrow wanted to be as close to her as possible, intensely craved her in every way, but I would never be able to truly entertain those desires or try to act on them until I was sure she wanted it too. Still, though my mind tried its best to be respectful, the physical response of the Arrow was harder to subdue.

  She turned back to me and I noticed she was biting her lip and standing on her tiptoes, something she only did when she was nervous.

  “What’s up?” I asked, leaning against my worktable.

  “Hmm?” She looked away innocently, still biting her lip, which caused another twitch in the pants.

  “What’s on your mind?”

  “Oh, nothing. It’s just that meeting your friends is one thing but…I guess I hadn’t realized I’m meeting your mom.” Her eyes grew wide with such worry that my heart almost burst. She was nervous about meeting my mom. I almost couldn’t take it.

  “You’re so funny.” I pulled her into a hug. “She’s going to love you.”

  She laughed at herself and pulled back, but her hands remained on my elbows, which I took as a sign that I could keep my hands upon her waist.

  “I have to tell you something,” she said, straightening her posture in excitement, “My dad made an attempt to bond with me today.”

  “Seriously?” I was ecstatic to hear it. Her estranged relationship with her father was something that bothered me deeply. Here was t
his guy who had the most amazing daughter in the entire world and he couldn’t even give her the time of day, even after she lost her mother and was living in the same house as him. It was beyond incomprehensible.

  “Well, all he said was that he was ordering take out and invited me to join- but still, it’s something!” The fact that she could be so happy about such a little gesture killed me.

  “That’s awesome! It’s about time.”

  “Yeah.” She nodded. “He also tried to have “The Talk” with me, which was really weird.” She rolled her eyes and tousled her hair, suddenly freezing with wide eyes as if she had said something she hadn’t meant to.

  “Why would he want to have…’The Talk’?” I asked. She stepped back and turned away from me, waving her arm dismissively.

  “I don’t know. It was weird, so I don’t really want to talk about it,” she rambled. I couldn’t help but smile at how cute she was when embarrassed. “Anyway.” She whirled back around and put her hands on her hips. “How about that tour?”

  Chapter Six

  Sophia

  He walked over to a shelf of helmets and pursed his lips speculatively. Quickly moving, he reached over and picked one up, holding it out for me.

  “Are we going through a construction zone or something?” I asked, taking the helmet from his hands. He smiled,

  “No, but the property is pretty big, so the full tour would be more fun and efficient if we take a motorbike.” My eyes widened and a small smirk appeared on his face. “Is that okay?”

  “Yes!” I said, hoping not to come off too eager. I had never ridden on one before, but the idea had always interested me. He pulled a bright blue dirt bike out from the group of parked motor vehicles and pulled it out onto the path.

  “Is that one mine or yours?” I asked.

  “Both,” he said. I blushed at the realization that we would be riding together. “Why, have you ridden a dirt bike before?”

  “No,” I admitted, strapping on my helmet.

  “Well I can teach you sometime,” he offered, “but not tonight. You probably don’t want to risk getting scraped up before meeting my mother.” He winked and I blushed with a groan, shoving him. I should never have admitted out loud to being nervous about that. It was stupid; I wasn’t his girlfriend or anything.

  He mounted the bike and motioned for me to get behind him. I did so tentatively, trying to keep as much space between us as possible.

  “You’re going to want to get a little closer, Sophie,” he said lightly. I scooted forward, my chest pressed up against his back. I was grateful I was directly behind him, or he would have witnessed the redness heating up my face.

  “Close enough for you?” I asked, blowing lightly on the back of his neck. He jolted and I laughed. He was so ticklish sometimes, and I loved discovering which places really tortured him.

  “Stop it! Don’t do that, or I’ll drive us into a ditch,” he threatened.

  “Aren’t you going to wear a helmet?” I countered.

  “No, I should be okay. You’re the guest here, so your safety comes first. Particularly when you haven’t signed a waiver yet.”

  “So the helmet is really just to protect your assets from a lawsuit,” I said with mock disappointment, “And here I was thinking you had so much concern for my safety.”

  “Speaking of which, you’re going to want to wrap your arms around me. This machine has a little kick to it that could send you flying backwards.”

  “Noah, I promise I won’t sue,” I said, rolling my eyes. Ignoring me, he reached back and grabbed my hands wrapping them around him.

  “Better safe than sorry,” he said definitively. Unconsciously, my hands splayed out across his lower abdomen, my thumb caressing over the grooves of his taught stomach muscles. He hissed in a breath at the movement and I winced, damning my mindless actions to hell.

  “Okay,” I said, trying to keep my voice steady, “Let’s get this show on the road.”

  Without another word, he kicked the bike into action and we took off down the dirt path, away from the garage and the beautiful stone house that was only a couple yards from it. I found I did need to hold on pretty tightly, mostly from fear, but he didn’t seem to mind.

  The first stop down the road was a large, picturesque lodge with a wooden porch and rocking chairs. The wooden columns were wrapped in string lights that gave the façade an almost magical feel to it. I got off the bike slowly, staring at its grandeur in awe.

  “This is the Main Building,” he said as I assessed every detail, “When they first come in, visitors can park their vehicles in the gravel lot that you see behind you, and then go in here.”

  I nodded silently, still unable to look away.

  “You can take off the helmet now, you know,” Noah said, snapping me out of my dreamy stare. I looked at him with a smirk.

  “But I still haven’t signed the waiver!” I gibed.

  “Keep it on if you’d like,” he said with a laugh, “Although, are you sure you want to risk the hat hair? You are meeting my mother, after all.” I hastily removed the helmet with a huff. Was he ever going to let that go?

  “I am not speaking to you for the next thirty seconds,” I told him sternly. He laughed and I started towards the lodge, dying to get a closer look. I walked up the steps and placed a hand on one of the wooden columns, feeling how smooth it was. I peered over its cracks and knots in wonder. Almost everything in sight was made of wood or stone and I loved it. It made everything seem so environmental, as if the buildings had grown naturally on this land over time, rather than had been constructed.

  “So since the ranch is closed this weekend, everything’s locked up,” Noah explained, walking up and gesturing towards the door, “and I don’t have a key on me, but we can walk around and look through the windows if you’d like. I figured this was the least exciting part of the tour so you wouldn’t be interested in it much.”

  “How could I not be interested?” I asked, turning to examine the beautifully carved entrance. The mirrored image engraved on either door was a forest scene full of wildlife creatures, the largest and most centered being a wolf. “This building is stunning.”

  “I’m glad to hear you think so. It’s one of my favorites on the property,” he said, looking at me with some unclear emotion in his eyes. He took my elbow and led me gently to the side window and together we placed our hands on the glass and peered in. It was hard to see in the dark but I could make out the basic silhouettes.

  “That’s the concierge desk,” he said as he pointed through the window, “where guests can check in and get their keys and directions to the cabins, or they can register for the different activities. Out those back doors are the patio and a fire pit, which we use as a venue space. That’s the waiting or seating area right there, and through those doors are the kitchen, dining hall, and employee lounge. The offices are upstairs and there’s a couple conference rooms up there as well.”

  “Conference rooms?” I asked, leaning back from the window.

  “Different companies come to us throughout the year,” he explained, “Some for business conferences, others for company retreats or team building exercises. Word must be spreading because we get a couple more bookings with every year.”

  “Wow,” I said breathily. To see someone so young take on such a growing business was intimidating.

  “Ready to move on?” he asked, gesturing back down the stairs. I nodded and followed him, still looking over my shoulder to take in as much of the architecture as I could.

  The next stop was a quick one that we didn’t need to get off the bike to explore. It was an open campfire area surrounded by forest.

  “Right through those trees is where the obstacle and ropes courses are. We also have a couple zip lines and a trapeze. I’d give you a closer look but Milo runs this area with other trained staff members, and doesn’t like anyone to walk through it without his supervision. When the ranch is open, this is a popular location for birthday parties,
boy scout retreats, or team building.”

  “So Milo’s in charge of coordinating the trust falls?” I joked.

  “You know, I’ve never actually witnessed his ‘team building technique’ so it’s entirely possible,” he admitted. I smiled at that. Milo seemed like such a down-to-earth and open guy, he probably was great at leading bonding sessions.

  We continued our way down the road, pausing to look at open barns used for events and hiking trails of varying intensity. Occasionally we would come across a fork with wooden directional signs and Noah would describe what was down the road we weren’t going to travel down, like the neighborhood of guest cabins or a family member’s house. I couldn’t believe how vast the property was, but I was starting to enjoy the long ride through it.

  “Down there is the lake,” Noah said, at one particular intersection. I peered down his pointed hand and saw the reflective lights of water in the distance. “Connall runs the boathouse and all the water activities, like fly fishing and jet skis. Occasionally Frankie comes over and assists him with a big sea kayak trip or two.”

  “Are the two of them dating?” I asked.

  “No,” he said, his tone almost grim, “I think things would be a lot better for both of them if they were, but they just can’t see each other that way.”

  “Why?” I asked. It was clear they had a lot in common.

  “It’s complicated,” he said dismissively with a shrug, “Anyway, I’d love to take you down there to get a closer look, but I have a feeling it’s almost dinner time and there’s one last place I want to take you before we go back.”

  “What place is that?” I asked curiously.

  “You’ll see.”

  A surprise? I tightened my arms around him in excitement.

  ➹➹➹

  Noah

  I wished we could forego dinner all together and spent the entire evening riding around with her arms around me. Now that I knew what it felt like to have her so close up against me for more than the length of our typical hugs, I never wanted to be without her physical touch again.