Overwhelmed by You

by Nashoda Rose

  “Let’s go.”

  The smoke was thick by the time we reached the side door. The crackle of wood as it burned sounded like gunfire, and I cringed every time, afraid someone was going to come up behind us and stop us, take us back, or kill us.

  But soon I was sucking in fresh air, coughing, and spitting up the ash that was in my lungs. Ream hung between us as Haven pushed us farther, not stopping until we reached a fence line. She kicked at a couple of wood boards and they sprung free.

  Then she hauled off and slapped Ream in the face. I gasped, but she ignored me and grabbed him by the chin. “Ream.” He flinched and I saw his eyes flicker open, glazed over and bloodshot. He was nearly unconscious from the pain. “Get on your knees. You need to crawl through that hole. You hear me, Ream.” When she let go of his face, I could see the imprint left from her fingers.

  “Let him go,” Haven ordered.

  “But he’ll—”

  I didn’t finish the sentence because Haven grabbed Ream from me and he crashed to his knees, his back arching at the pain jolting through him. I stared up at her in horror, my mouth hanging open.

  “Pain drives the body to do more than you’d think possible.” It was a statement and I had a feeling she knew that statement better than anyone. Then I thought of the branding I’d seen on her inner wrist.

  Haven held the boards up and Ream agonizingly crawled through and then we followed. My legs reacted to the exertion, the pins and needles running rampant, but I didn’t have the nervousness to accompany it, and that was how I figured I lasted so long. I was calm.

  Ream was beside me. We were alive.

  Just as the boards slammed shut behind us I heard the loud bang of something blowing up and instinctively covered Ream’s body with my own. Haven wasn’t waiting for anything though and grabbed my arm. “Move it. The police will be here any minute.”

  “But they can help …” My voice trailed off as she picked up Ream, ignoring me. I scrambled to help and then we were running down the street. I noticed the street lights weren’t working and wondered if that was coincidence or not. Five right in a row and one above the blue nondescript car she was currently unlocking.

  I went to get in the backseat with Ream, but Haven pulled me back and pressed the keys into my hand. I looked up at her confused.

  “I don’t know how to drive,” she stated, and then she went in the back seat with Ream and slammed the door.

  I started driving; although I had no idea where we were and the car was really old and didn’t have GPS. But Haven directed me to the highway, and after we passed the first sign, I knew where we were and pressed my foot down on the pedal.

  The hospital wasn’t that far away. I started to take the exit ramp that had the blue sign with the big H. A hand clamped down on my shoulder. “No hospital.”

  “But—”

  I looked at her face in the rearview mirror and she shook her head. “No. I just blew up a house … killed Alexa, and two men. Olaf. That filthy lowlife is still alive. If we go to the hospital and there is a report … he’ll find out we’re alive. Our best hope is he thinks we all died in that blaze.”

  “Okay.” Holy shit. There was no question this Olaf would look into what happened. “Okay, we’ll go to the farm.”

  I saw her nod and then she leaned back in the seat, Ream’s head in her lap. For a second when I looked in the mirror, I saw the cold, hard expression in her face falter when she looked down at him. I had a feeling the sister Ream once knew had died in that hospital and this woman … the one who didn’t even flinch when she killed three people … she wasn’t his little angel anymore.

  We arrived at the farm and I honked the horn all the way up the driveway. By the time I pulled the car to a stop, Logan, Emily, Crisis, and Kite were all there. No questions were asked as to who Haven was or what happened or where I’d been for nearly two days. I don’t think words were necessary when they saw Ream’s back.

  Logan and Kite lifted him out of the car while Emily pulled me into a crushing hug.

  “When Georgie showed up at the gallery and you weren’t there … Then Ream disappeared … Georgie finally got a hold of Deck. He’s on a flight here now.” Emily’s tears soaked into Ream’s shirt I was still wearing.

  “Ream. I need to see Ream.” I didn’t want to talk about anything right now; all I wanted to do was hold Ream.

  Emily pulled away. “Yeah. Oh my God, yeah.”

  We started to walk to the house when a car door shut. Haven. Shit.

  She was leaning against the side of the car, her body stiff and unyielding, blood all over her white dress. She held the gun clenched in her hand at her side, eyes narrowed on Crisis who stood in front of her staring.

  “Fuck, you’re his twin. You’re Haven.”

  Crisis knew about her? I waited for her reaction, if she was going to give any at all. Her piercing gray eyes met Crisis’s and she stared at him.

  Then her rigid expression wavered, the gun fell from her grasp, and she collapsed to the ground.

  ***

  Two months later

  “Baby, get your ass over here.” Ream had the frayed yellow rope in his hand.

  I rolled my eyes then cocked my hip and placed my hand on it. “Pumpkin.” He hated when I called him that. “I’m not doing it. Told you that. But you can come over here and kiss my ass.”

  Ream laughed. It was a real laugh, one that started deep in the stomach and went all the way up through the chest with a deep vibration. I bit my bottom lip as I watched, wanting to say screw this and run back to the cottage while everyone was here and have him do more than kiss my ass.

  “He looks … relaxed,” Emily leaned into me and whispered. “There was always something in him that was … I don’t know, sad and dark. I could never put my finger on it.” Emily nodded to Haven who was leaning up against a tree, arms crossed and staring off into the distance. She hadn’t wanted to come with us, but Ream told her if she didn’t come, then he was staying and if he stayed no one could go. She came. “That girl is seriously hurting.”

  I nodded. She’d woken up three days after she collapsed in the driveway. Deck found us a doctor willing to keep quiet—with cash of course. There’d been nothing wrong with her—exhaustion. Ream on the other hand had weeks of bandage changes and two rounds of antibiotics.

  Like me, he’d live with the scars of Alexa and her madness, but it only made us stronger. She would’ve been pissed to know that.

  “I can’t get her to talk. Ream’s tried so many times but she just … it’s like she’s staring right through him, not even taking in what he’s saying.” Ream had that look once, and now I knew where it came from. He’d told me from the beginning he had a fucked-up past; well, fucked-up didn’t even begin to describe it.

  “I’m sure the therapist I saw would be happy to see her. She was really nice, didn’t push me—much.”

  I nodded. But I suspected Haven wouldn’t take any help offered. Maybe not for a long time … if ever.

  Logan and Emily had moved into their new place, a ten acre “fuck-nest” as Crisis liked to call it. It was quaint with an old eighteenth century house up on a hill overlooking a pond. It was also far from the road and had iron gates across the driveway. Logan had a security system put in, top of the line with cameras around the property. Emily came home last week with a German Shepherd puppy to which Logan said “no way.” The puppy was named Tear. Emily said he was named after the band. Logan said it was because the dog tears everything to pieces. Tear was at the farm with Hank while we were here.

  Haven moved into the farm, although we rarely saw her as she spent most of her time outside somewhere … None of us really knew where she went. Ream was frustrated and I suspected hurt because Haven refused to let him in. Maybe in time she would. I hoped she would. I knew she cared about him, I’d seen her face in the car, although that look had never crossed her face again.

  They’d both sacrificed for one another. Ream gave up his innocence i
n order to protect hers, only to have it broken by her rapist. Then Haven gave herself to Alexa and Olaf in exchange for Ream’s safety.

  But that wasn’t enough for Alexa.

  I didn’t know how Haven was treated, if she was abused or forced to prostitute herself like Ream had been, but she’d been a prisoner. A prisoner for twelve years and that was something many couldn’t come back from.

  Deck had taken Haven aside and talked to her. I figured he was getting as much of the story as he could so he could keep us out of the police investigation on the house. I suspected Deck had something to do with the quick closure of the inquiry too. They would’ve found out how the fire started, yet it was deemed accidental.

  What I couldn’t figure was Haven’s ability with a gun and that she was no longer a drug addict. Ream asked her outright, but that got him nowhere because Haven simply walked away.

  I looked at Logan, Crisis, and Ream, who were talking quietly together, the lake behind them, the sun beaming down on their naked chests. Ream’s hair was wet from swimming, and I felt the familiar warmth of love as I ran my gaze over him.

  “What do you think they’re talking about?” Emily asked.

  “How sexy we are?” She snorted. “Or how much they love us and can’t live without us.”

  “I think they’re conspiring to get us sloshed tonight for drunk sex,” Emily said.

  Ream glanced over at me and winked. My heart skipped a beat, and I smiled. “Drunk sex is loud and the walls are paper thin in this place. I’m thinking lake sex at midnight. You can have it here.” The cliff was a perfect spot, but Ream and I had it last night under the stars. Tonight I wanted lake sex, right after I kicked his ass at Monopoly. We went and bought a new board right after we all went go-karting. But this time I made sure he was never alone with the attendants.

  Crisis kicked all our asses and surprisingly Kite came next. Guess he was better at live racing than gaming. Logan tied with Ream, although I think Ream did beat him by a fraction of a second. Emily and I … well, we both decided to take it easy on the men. Kicking their butts in front of everyone, it was more fun watching them hack it out.

  But Ream knew I threw the race.

  He’d tossed me onto his shoulder and smacked my butt as we walked ahead of everyone back to the car. “You lost on purpose, baby.”

  He set me down against the car and leaned in. I wrapped my arms around his neck. “So then you owe me.”

  He raised his brows. “How so?”

  I smiled.

  “I don’t recall making any wager.” He nipped my neck.

  I tilted my head to the side to give him better access then moaned as his tongue swirled over the sensitive place he nipped. “For saving you any embarrassment at losing to your girlfriend—”

  “Fiancée,” he growled then bit my neck—hard.

  “Oww.” I shoved back on his chest, but he was immoveable. “Okay, fiancée.” We didn’t have a date yet, and there was no rush. I’d been adamant at not even discussing it until after Logan and Emily’s wedding in February. They wanted a winter wedding with a horse drawn sleigh to which Clifford was delegated. I think the damn horse was proud of being given a job.

  “What do I owe you then, beautiful?”

  He made his payment last night up on the cliff under the stars. Thin walls or not, I was certain they all heard me scream his name down at the cottage.

  “Oh no.” Emily grabbed my arm, jerking me from my thoughts.

  “What?”

  “Run.”

  “What?”

  “Run!”

  I glanced up and saw Ream and Logan running toward us. My eyes widened and Emily and I both bolted down the path. But neither of us were quick enough as we were hitched up by our men and carried kicking and laughing and screaming back up the hill.

  “On three,” Ream said.

  “One,” Logan counted.

  Emily squealed. “Logan. Put me down. Don’t you dare.”

  “Ream. No.” I kicked and squirmed in his arms. His reaction was a chuckle.

  “Fuck it. Go,” Ream said.

  Ream ran with me in his arms, Logan and Emily beside us as the boys jumped off the edge of the cliff and we plunged into the cool water at the same time.

  I came up sputtering, Ream’s arms still locked around me, and Logan and Emily were busy kissing then sinking beneath the surface of the water.

  I heard a strange yelp from above and looked up just as Crisis flew over the edge of the cliff with Haven in his arms.

  Holy shit.

  “Fuck,” Ream said, his arms tightening around me.

  When they surfaced, Crisis was laughing his ass off and Haven clung to him for dear life. Shit, it was obvious she couldn’t swim. Her eyes were wide and she was staring at Crisis like he was a lunatic. Well, maybe he was a little.

  Ream was all revved up and ready to kick his ass, but I wrapped my legs around his hips and kissed him before he could start something with Crisis.

  “Haven, babe. We are so doing that again.” I looked up just as I caught the tiny quirk at the corner of her mouth. Crisis kept her locked to his side while he helped her to the edge of the lake, and before she could take off and hide like she always did, he grabbed her hand and pulled her along behind him.

  Ream’s eyes watched as the two disappeared up the path. His eyes narrowed and I could feel his shoulders tense beneath my hands. “She isn’t dating that asshole.”

  I smiled. It wasn’t like Ream would have a choice in anything when it came to Haven. She may be hurt and broken and driven inside herself, but the girl had shot three people point-blank, blew up a house, and survived twelve years as a prisoner.

  Yeah, that girl was deciding her own fate.

  I leaned against the kitchen counter and watched Ream from across the room. He was talking to Logan and chuckling at something he’d said. His grip on the beer bottle comfortable and relaxed—actually, everything about him was relaxed. Even more so now than ever was this complete confidence that rolled off him in waves.

  I could hear him say something to Logan, and the husky deep sound vibrated with a familiar tone that felt like it was made just for me.

  He was made just for me.

  As if Ream knew I was thinking about him, he glanced at me and my heart leaped then started pounding as his eyes raked over my body. I cocked my hip and put my hand on it and lowered my gaze. Then I tilted my head slightly and my hair fell easily to the side making a veil across half my face. Slowly, I dragged my teeth over my lower lip.

  I didn’t have to look up to know that he was striding toward me. My body knew and it was heating up and lighting up with tingling, and these were good tingles. Actually, my symptoms had been behaving as of late. I’d even gained some of the weight back with the nutritionist’s recommendations. I think Ream had something to do with it as well. I slept curled in his arms at night and woke to demanding kisses every morning.

  There was an ease to us. A trust built after what had happened that had driven both of us into a place that not many relationships had. Logan and Emily had it—the ability to know what one another needed and giving it to them completely.

  His smell hit me first and I breathed it in like a drug. Then his touch as his finger nudged beneath my chin and raised my head so I had to meet his eyes. Desire spread through me like wildfire in a heated blanket.

  “You flirting with me, beautiful?”

  His soft whispered tone was an orgasm in itself, and I held back my moan. He’d become even more cocky about his sexual prowess. He even let me go down on him once and the touching was slowly getting better. I think it was because his past was no longer hidden and he could finally begin to heal. “Is it working?”

  His finger tightened on my chin. Then he leaned in and my breath hitched just before his mouth claimed mine. It was a hard, slow kiss, his tongue gliding across my teeth then seeking the familiar warmth of the velvet touch of my mouth. Claiming. Needing. Him telling me I was his.

>   I sagged into him and he wrapped his arm around my lower back, and with one sharp tug had me up against him, the hardness of his muscles pressing into me.

  He groaned and deepened the kiss. “Kat.”

  I buried my hands into the short strands of his hair and pulled, needing him closer, wanting every part of him to be mine.

  He was mine. Ream had been mine since the beginning, and it took us getting back to our beginning to find our way back to that.

  “You going to fuck her right there on the kitchen counter, buddy?” Crisis’s voice separated us.

  I lifted my thigh onto Ream’s hip, and he easily hitched me up so I could curl my legs around his waist. Then I looked over his shoulder at Crisis who stood beside Kite. “No, he’s going to fuck me out on the beach. And then in the water, and maybe if I beg, he’ll fuck me on the dock too.”

  Crisis rolled his eyes and groaned. Then I noticed his eyes go to the closed door and his smile faded. Haven had disappeared behind that door right after dinner.

  I caught Emily’s eye and she winked at me then took Logan’s hand and stood on her tiptoes as she whispered into his ear. His expression never changed, but there was a slight tightening in his muscles. I just bet she’d just asked him to go to the cliff.

  Ream nipped my ear and then his tongue slid over the sensitive spot. “You going to beg?”

  “Baby, I’m going to do more than beg.” I kissed the tip of his nose. “God, you’re so lucky I gave you a second chance.” He carried me to the sliding door, and I reached behind and slid it open for us. “Nite, everyone,” I shouted over his shoulder.

  Ream shut the door with the heel of his foot then his hands squeezed my ass. “I don’t need second chances, Kitkat.”

  I ran my finger down his cheek then across to his lips where he grabbed it between his teeth then drew it in his mouth. “Bah, we’re together because I gave you a second chance.” I pulled my finger from his mouth and interlocked my fingers around his neck and hung my weight on him.