The men fell silent and stared at her with surprised, wide eyes.
“We’ve had enough of you and you and you.” She pointed at each one of them in turn. “We are going to have a pleasant, peaceful Christmas Eve. Do you understand?”
Tanner shifted his weight and ducked his head. Zeke stared at his feet. Isaac nodded grimly, guilt etched on his handsome face.
“Thank. You.” Emma turned to Paisley and Avery. “Let’s take care of dinner.”
Chapter 3—Rabid Dogs
Isaac and his brothers had been dressed down by a fierce little demon with the face of an angel. No wonder Tanner toed the line with her. She had his once-playboy brother completely whipped. It was a thing of beauty to behold.
Isaac barked with laughter, and Zeke joined him. Tanner’s head shot up, and his eyes narrowed to menacing slits, not that Isaac gave a shit. Stuff like that didn’t work on a guy who faced down the toughest guys hockey had to offer.
“What are you fuckers laughing at?”
“You know what.” Zeke grinned like the asshole he was most of the time.
“She’s pregnant. I don’t cross her.”
Zeke exchanged a knowing look with Isaac. “You never crossed her when she wasn’t pregnant.”
“Like you are with Paisley?”
Zeke frowned and glared at Tanner. “That’s different.”
Isaac snorted and rolled his eyes, even though he knew his actions were poking the bull. “How is it different?”
Both brothers turned on him like rabid dogs.
“You’re the worst of all of us. You do whatever Avery wants you to do. Hell, she even has you riding a fucking horse,” Tanner said.
“I like horses.”
“Right. You’ve always been an animal lover. Your dog hates you.” Zeke added his own fuel to the fire, and it wouldn’t take much at this point to ignite them into a full-blown shouting match once again.
“Talk about whipped. Big brother here is wrapped around his little woman’s finger.” Tanner threw back his head and laughed out loud, and Zeke almost blew beer out his nose.
Just like that, their wives’ wishes were forgotten, and they were catapulted into another argument. Isaac had sworn to himself he’d play nice for the women’s sake, but he couldn’t control his need to come out on top with his brothers any more than they could. They’d been raised to be competitive at all costs by an abusive, ruthless father.
It seemed they had a ways to go to get beyond his negative influence.
* * * *
“They’re at it again,” Emma sighed, almost as if resigned to her fate. “One of you gets to take care of them this time.”
“I will.” Paisley’s voice was determined, with an edge to it they seldom heard. She marched over to the three men, shouldered her way between them, and got in each of their faces. Whatever she said, she kept her tone low, but they watched her warily and didn’t say a word. A few minutes later, she marched back, while the three men scattered.
“What did you do?” Emma sounded incredulous.
“I put them to work. None of them are good at just sitting around, so I gave each of them jobs to do. After all, we don’t have any power. I sent Zeke back outside to bring in more wood, Isaac to stoke the fire and close the doors upstairs, and Zeke to the store to buy more candles, flashlights, and batteries.
“At least we’ll have a few moments of peace before they start in again.” Emma rubbed her slightly protruding stomach.
“I’m going to have a talk with Isaac. Regardless of what they’ll admit, he’s the oldest and the other two do look up to him. This madness must stop.”
“Good luck with that,” Paisley said.
Avery shrugged and headed for the wide staircase. She stepped gingerly in the darkness until she was on the large landing. The candles from below flickered and cast an almost eerie light on the house.
A cold chill came over her. She was perfectly aware the former occupants of this house had met their fate in a plane crash on their way to this house for Christmas Eve. The entire family had been wiped out except for Isaac’s former teammate and current owner of the home.
She wondered if it was haunted and shivered. She didn’t really believe in such stuff, but she’d been in places where things had gotten a little weird and unexplainable. Not in this house though. She didn’t feel anything off about this home other than the brothers’ constant bickering.
“Isaac?” She felt her way down the long hall, wishing she’d brought a candle or flashlight. No answer.
“Isaac?” she tried again.
Someone grabbed her around the waist, and she opened her mouth in a silent scream. Her heart pounded in her chest, and she whipped around, ready to do battle. Isaac grinned at her in the darkness. She swatted him on the chest, but he paid no attention and pulled her close. He felt good, as always, warm and hard and very male. Even better, he was hers, all hers.
She snaked her arms around his neck and beamed up at him. Despite how mad she was at his behavior and his brothers’, she loved this man, damage and all. Beneath his hard exterior, he had a heart of gold, even if he hated showing it to the world.
“You’re incorrigible,” she said.
“But you love me.”
“I have to. I have no choice.”
One of his brows shot upward. “You have to?”
“Yeah, if I don’t love you, who would? I’m a sucker for stray animals.”
Isaac chuckled, not the least offended by her words. “Thank God for you and your kind heart. I’d be lost without you.”
“I’d be lost without you.” Avery wasn’t one for romantic statements, but her voice sounded breathless and soft even to her, not her normal no-nonsense tone. When it came to Isaac, she was a different person, too. Most of her life, she’d saved her affection for her animals because the people in her life had disappointed her too much. Until Isaac.
“Then I guess we can get lost together.” Isaac bent his head and kissed her. Avery kissed him back, forgetting their family below, forgetting it was Christmas Eve, and forgetting she was mad at him. His mouth had that effect on her. Damn him. His kiss deepened and she buried her fingers into his short hair and pressed her body against his.
He came up for air and jerked his chin toward the bedroom they’d claimed earlier in the day. “Why don’t we take advantage of this power outage and keep each other warm?” His grin broadened to a lecherous smile.
Avery started to nod but shook her head. “I know what you’re doing. You’re trying to distract me to avoid hanging out with your brothers. Sorry, but as much as I’d love to take you up on it, I can’t. We’re going back downstairs. You guys are going to be a family if it kills you.”
“It is going to kill me,” he muttered.
That pretty much summed it up.
Chapter 4—Lost Child
After going back downstairs, Avery was drafted along with Paisley into making more pies, while Emma rushed around preparing dinner with the items they had at hand, hamburger, bread, lettuce, and tomato. Avery had no idea who was going to eat all these pies unless they invited the entire island to dinner.
“Where’s Sadie?” Paisley asked, looking around the large room. She wiped her hands on her apron, her brows furrowed with concern.
Avery silently applauded her clever guise to avoid more pie making. Neither of them were thrilled about the time-consuming, messy process. They could’ve picked up some pies at Costco and called it good. No one would’ve minded except Emma.
“I saw her a few minutes ago. She appeared distressed by all the arguing. She probably escaped and is hiding out upstairs.” Emma cast a pointed glare at the men, standing toe to toe near the bank of windows in the dining area. The men took no notice. They were each too busy trying to prove their point and winning some insane competition as to who was right. The argument was pointless because there wasn’t a correct answer, in Avery’s opinion. Each sport had its merits. Too bad these men couldn’t see that.
“Let me ask the other kids,” Paisley said with a sigh.
“I’ll go upstairs and check,” Emma volunteered.
Paisley nodded and walked over to where her niece and nephew played Candy Land. Zeke and Paisley had custody of the children after the death of their mother at the hands of their father. They were in the process of adopting them.
Avery abandoned her pie crust and tagged along, grateful for a reprieve.
“Hey, kids, where’s Sadie?” Paisley asked.
Both children shrugged.
“Did you see her leave?”
Sophie, Sadie’s twin sister, nodded. At five years old, she was a chatterbox, while her sister rarely said anything. Only currently, she, too, had lost her gift of speech.
“Where did she go?”
“She didn’t like all the yelling. She left. I don’t know where she went,” Brayden answered and scowled at the guys across the room, still oblivious to what was going on around them.
“No one does,” Paisley said drily. They looked up expectantly as Emma hurried down the stairs.
“She’s not up there. I checked all the rooms, under the beds, the closets, the bathrooms. She’s not there.” Alarm crept into Emma’s voice, mirroring the mounting worry building inside Avery.
Sadie was a sensitive little girl, and she didn’t like conflict. She’d been cowering behind a couch when her abusive father killed her mother in the same room. She hadn’t uttered a word for months afterward. Only recently had she started to come out of her shell.
Paisley ran to the doorway and opened it, emitting a cold gust of wind. She paid the weather no mind and disappeared onto the porch. Avery followed, grabbing a coat hanging on the peg by the door. Emma was on her heels. Dusk was settling in and dark clouds threatened to unleash a nasty, drenching storm any minute.
Paisley called and called for Sadie but received no response. The little girl was nowhere to be found. Her face paled as she turned toward her sisters-in-law.
“Where could she be?” she said with a quiver in her voice.
Avery glanced over her shoulder. The other two kids stood in the doorway, both faces scrunched with worry. Beyond them the men continued their pointless argument. Anger built inside Avery. She was going to rip those jerks a new one and then some. They’d caused this. She was certain of it. Sadie wouldn’t be able to handle the animosity currently poisoning the air inside the festively decorated home.
“We need to find her before dark,” Emma said.
“We will. We’ll turn the place upside down and won’t leave one stone unturned. Let’s get the guys involved.” Avery focused her attention on the men and stalked toward them. They didn’t notice her until she stepped in the middle of their latest heated argument.
Isaac’s eyes flashed fire momentarily at being interrupted, but he must have picked up the fear in her expression because he immediately sobered and moved back a step, creating distance between him and his brothers. Both brothers stopped yelling and blinked several times as if coming out of a trance.
“What’s wrong, Avery?” Isaac asked. Concern lined his handsome face and furrowed his brow. His brothers gathered round him, finally silent.
“We can’t find Sadie.” The words came out in a choked sob, effectively transmitting the direness of the situation.
“Can’t find her?” Zeke stepped forward. His concerned gaze slid to Paisley, who was wringing her hands and sniffling. She nodded and gazed up at him, eyes brimming with tears.
“Where did you look?” Isaac asked.
“Everywhere in the house and close by outside. We need to spread out and find her before dark. The kids didn’t see her leave. Just said she was upset about all the yelling.” Avery’s final words had an effect on the brothers.
“Yelling? What yelling?” Tanner asked. As a quarterback, his normal speech was in the loud zone.
“All of you. You were yelling. You upset her.” Emma glowered at them like a mother chastising her children. She raised her chin and shot each of them a ferocious glare.
“You morons. I told you to shut up,” Isaac said, pointing a finger at both brothers.
“You dumb shit. You were just as bad as we were,” Zeke shot back.
“Yeah, don’t go all innocent on us. You were right in the middle of it.” Tanner crossed his arms over his chest and glared smugly at his brothers, as if he were innocent.
Avery gaped in mute amazement as they were off again, fighting with each other.
“Shut the hell up!” Paisley screamed over the melee. She never screamed. The entire house went silent except for the howling wind outside. “You’re not helping. Not one of you.”
Zeke stared at his feet, while Tanner shuffled his weight from one foot to the other.
“Sorry,” they both muttered together.
Isaac’s head hung with guilt. Finally, he lifted his gaze, determination burning in his eyes. “Let’s cut out the blame and start searching. Ladies, you look in every nook and cranny of this house. We’ll take the outside. Zeke, search the outbuildings. Tanner, take the yard and surrounding brush. I’ll start walking down the road.” Isaac had gone into controlling, big-brother mode. Tanner stiffened, and Avery could see him building up to a protest. Zeke pursed his lips. Neither of them appreciated Isaac ordering them around.
“Who put you in charge?” Tanner bristled.
Emma elbowed him, and he yelped. She narrowed her eyes and gave him the evil eye. Tanner wasn’t stupid.
“Okay, I’ll start in the yard,” Tanner said meekly. His cowed expression would’ve been comical if the situation hadn’t been so serious.
Zeke opened his mouth to say something, but he snapped it shut after one murderous glare from Paisley. Instead he nodded grimly. “I’m on it.”
“Then let’s get started. We don’t have much daylight to burn.” The men donned their raincoats and trudged out the door.
Paisley stood in the doorway, her fist shoved in her mouth and her eyes filling with tears. “We have to find her.”
Emma moved next to her and put an arm around her shaking shoulders. “We will. She wouldn’t have gone far.”
Avery shoved her hands in the pockets of her hoody and stared out the window at the angry clouds on the horizon and turned to call the sheriff.
* * * *
Sadie ran and ran and ran to get away from the arguing brothers. Why couldn’t people just be nice to each other? Why did they have to be mean?
She splashed through a puddle, not caring about her soaked shoes and wet feet. She was wearing a sweatshirt and jeans, not exactly warm enough for the chilly night.
The rain had stopped for a moment, but the clouds were dark and ugly. Soon it’d be raining again. Her feet pounded on the gravel road, harder and harder as she blindly ran away from the noise, not just in that house but in her head.
All she’d wanted for Christmas was a pony.
She tripped over a branch and fell, skinning her knees. She started crying. After crawling on her hands and knees for a short distance, she scrambled to her feet. The wind whipped her hair across her face, and a dog howled in the distance. It sounded like a big dog. Maybe one that tore little girls apart and ate them for dinner. Her daddy used to threaten her with dogs like that, said he’d throw her over the fence into the neighbor’s yard if she was bad. The neighbor’s dogs were mean. They snarled and bared their teeth. She was scared of them. He new neighbors didn’t have mean dogs, and her new daddy, Zeke, wasn’t mean, either. Not to her. But he was mean to his brothers, and his brothers were mean to him.
She saw a shadow on the road ahead and ducked down a trail. The trail was steep and crooked, and she fell a few more times before the trail ended on a rocky beach. She walked down the beach a ways and stopped. It was almost dark. She turned and looked for the trail back up the hill but couldn’t find it.
Her heart raced wildly. Did sea monsters live in the dark, angry water that beat against the shoreline? Would they come after her?
<
br /> She wrapped her arms around her body and cried some more.
Sadie was lost and had no idea how to get home. She wailed in despair but her cries were swallowed up by the roaring wind and the churning water.
She should go back, but in some ways the beach was preferable to her new dad and her uncles yelling at each other. She couldn’t take any more yelling. She’d stay here for now.
She looked to the sky and wished Santa would swoop down in his sleigh and take her somewhere fun, maybe his toy workshop. Huddling on a rock, she watched as the waves crept closer and closer to her. The beach she’d walked down to get here disappeared into the black, angry water. The water was like a monster ready to gobble her up. The waves hit the bottom of the rock, and she tucked her legs closer to her body.
Even if she wanted to go back to that house, she didn’t think she could go back the way she’d come. She twisted and gazed up the steep bank. She’d have to climb over big rocks and crawl up the bank to get back to the road. If she went back, the men would yell. She didn’t want to hear them yell. Yelling led to other things. Awful things.
Maybe she’d wait here for a little while longer.
Chapter 5—Angry Waters
Isaac stood on the deck and stared at the angry waters of the inlet below. Tanner and Zeke stood on either side of him. For once, they were quiet, each deep in his own thoughts.
They hadn’t found her though they’d searched the surrounding area until well after the sun had set. His heart was weighted down with fear. Judging by the solemn expressions on the others’ faces, he wasn’t alone.
A panicked Paisley had attempted to call the sheriff’s office multiple times but the storm must have taken out the cell tower. There wasn’t any response. Most likely, they wouldn’t be able to reach an officer on Christmas Eve. He wasn’t certain whether this island had a resident officer or if one had to come over from a nearby island.
They were on their own.
“What’s the plan?” Tanner asked.
Despite the dire situation, Isaac couldn’t help being taken aback by his brother asking him for direction. That wasn’t how the brothers operated. Usually they each believed they knew better and spent the majority of their time together trying to prove their superiority, including him. They’d been raised to be competitive, even to settle their brotherly disputes with their fists, not words. Breaking those old habits was more difficult than Isaac had imagined.
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