Box of Hearts (The Connor's Series Book 1)

by Nikki Ashton

  Millie

  It was Wednesday and I hadn’t seen Jesse for four days. He’d been in Booker for three of those days, without any contact whatsoever. He’d spoken to Addy on the phone every night, and had a quick chat with whichever member of his family was around, but he’d never once asked to speak to me.

  Bonnie had noticed, and each time Addy chatted animatedly about her daddy, Bonnie would give me a sympathetic smile and try to turn the conversation elsewhere. As for me, I was sad, angry, and distracted, with a propensity to bursting into tears when I was alone. I’d hardly eaten for the last three days and once Addy was in bed, I curled up in my room crying into my pillow. Ruby, being the straight up person that she was, had tried to talk to me about him, but I brushed her off and found something else to do that was away from her.

  Tonight though, I was in town with Sarah, Zak’s wife. My promised apology for the night he’d missed her birthday. Zak was going into Knightingale with his Dad to play in a pool tournament, so they had dropped us off on the way and were picking us up later.

  “Okay,” Sarah said, leaning up against the bar. “What are we having first?”

  She was a gorgeous looking red head with curves to die for and the most beautiful green eyes that I had ever seen. I could also see that she was good fun, and if anyone could rouse me from my despair, it was probably Sarah.

  “A beer is good,” I replied, handing over a twenty dollar bill.

  Sarah pushed it back at me. “Hey, it’s my round and I do not want you thinking you have to pay all damn night just because Zak missed my birthday. Jesse already made up for it when he gave me three hundred dollars for a designer purse I wanted.”

  “He did?”

  “Yeah, he did. Said it was his fault you went off and it was the least he could do. I’d told Zak that was his penance for being late, but was only kidding. Jesse insisted though.”

  I was shocked. I thought he totally blamed me for that night.

  The guilt overwhelmed me again. “I am sorry, Sarah. I shouldn’t have just gone off like that.”

  “Ah, sweetie, don’t worry about it,” she cried, waving a hand at me. “Zak gave me some real good head and crazy monkey sex to make up for it.”

  Sarah was so matter of fact about it that I burst out laughing and my mood was broken.

  “What?” she asked innocently. “He did. Don’t tell me you didn’t use that little tiff of yours to get Jesse to set you off like a damn rocket.”

  I shook my head. “No, he gave me a really romantic kiss though.”

  “Ah shoot, you’re further gone than I thought.” Sarah leaned over the bar and clicked her fingers at the barman who was chatting to a couple of girls at the other end of the bar. “Hey, Dusty, get your frickin’ ass down here and serve us. It’s not damn singles night, you know.”

  Dusty, the barman, shook his head and strolled over to us.

  “What do you want?”

  “Some manners to start with, now move your damn ass and get me two Slippery Nipples.”

  “Ugh, you disgust me,” Dusty said with a roll of the eyes.

  “Shove it and do your job.”

  My mouth gaped open as I watched Sarah shove some money at Dusty.

  “Sarah!” I exclaimed. “You can’t speak to him like that.”

  “I can and I will,” she replied with a grin. “He’s my baby brother.”

  Oh my God, she was just what I needed. My worries over Jesse were pushed to the back of my mind as we commenced trying to drink ourselves into oblivion. Garratt, evidently feeling sorry for me, had offered to be on Addy duty the next morning. He’d given me a hug and a peck on the cheek, so his brother’s behavior evidently hadn’t gone unnoticed with him, either

  “Please, tell me that’s not true,” Sarah screamed, holding her sides. “Oh God, I’m gonna pee my panties.”

  “It’s not funny,” I moaned. “Imagine how you’d have felt if Zak had dumped you at the altar for another man.”

  A part of me was hurt that she thought it was hilarious, but the rest of me had to agree. After the last three days of Jesse rejecting me, Dean ditching me for cock was merely a blip in my life plan, and in hindsight damn funny.

  “If Zak had done that to me, firstly I’d have asked for a threesome and then, when we’d finished, I’d cut his balls off,” she said, pouring more Sangria into her glass. “Come on, pretty girl, drink up so I can get us another jug.”

  I shook my head and waved a dismissive hand at the jug. “Nope, no more Sangria. I need something less sweet. I have a coating on my teeth.”

  Sarah opened her mouth and rubbed her molars with her finger. “Ugh yep, fluffy as all fuck. We’ll have Tequila next.”

  “Hey ladies, can I get you a drink?” a deep, rich voice asked.

  We both turned to see two tall, blond haired men dressed in jeans and polo shirts standing behind us at our spot at the bar.

  I opened my mouth to say ‘no’ but Sarah slapped a hand on my arm and gave the man a pouty smile.

  “Why, that’d be kind of you,” she purred. “Patron would be lovely. Silver.”

  The man only winced slightly, knowing how much it cost, but nodded and lifted his chin to Dusty, who was watching in amusement.

  “Sarah, we can’t,” I hissed.

  “Sure we can,” she whispered. “Tequila makes me randy, and if Zak finds out I drank it but didn’t pay for it, that’ll make him come like a train.” She giggled and turned to the men. “So, I’m Sarah and this is my friend Millie, she’s from England.”

  “Hey, nice to meet you both,” the man who was buying the drinks replied. “I’m Trent and this is Corbin.”

  Corbin gave me a smile, and while he was handsome, he was not Jesse. But, Jesse clearly didn’t want me, so I decided that maybe Corbin was just what I needed.

  “Pull up a stool boys,” Sarah said. “Now you should know, I’m married and have twin boys, so I’m sorry you won’t get any fun with me. Hoooweeever,” she giggled, elongating the word. “Our English Maiden here is well and truly single.”

  Trent suddenly looked uncomfortable and I noticed him nod his head towards the door, silently telling Corbin that they should leave. Corbin, however, had other ideas.

  “No problem,” he said, taking the money from Trent’s fingers. “It’s just a drink, no harm in that.”

  Corbin moved down the bar a little, with Trent following.

  “Sarah, I don’t know whether I’m single or not,” I said, my eyes firmly on Corbin and Trent who appeared to be arguing.

  “Did you or did you not tell me that Jesse had been MIA for three or four days and never once spoke to you?”

  I nodded. “Yes, but…”

  “Not buts about it lady, except that mighty fine one in those Levi’s that Corbin is wearing. Now, sit back and enjoy some attention, and let Jesse Connor go suck his own dick for a change.”

  I think I loved this woman and she may very well turn out to be the best friend I’d ever had.

  Almost an hour later, Trent had relaxed and was happily chatting to Sarah. He’d told us that he’d just split with his girlfriend of four years because he hadn’t been ready for the next step, but within ten minutes, Sarah had persuaded him that he was being a ‘dickwad’ because he was obviously miserable without her. Trent had agreed. He sent his ex a text and she’d called back immediately. They agreed to meet up at the weekend, when he got back from his business trip, to talk things over. He and Corbin ran a stud farm in Florida, and were here to look at some horses that Wyatt McKenzie was selling. They were staying with the McKenzie’s but had come into town for the evening.

  “I still can’t believe you’re single,” Corbin said, looking at me over the top of his beer bottle. “There must be someone.”

  I sighed and shook my head. “No, not really.”

  “No or maybe?” he asked. “Not really sounds like there may be.”

  What should I say, and what difference would it make anyway? Corbin was nice,
he was good looking and had a great sense of humor, but he lived in Florida and besides, that buzz wasn’t there.

  “I am in love with someone, but he doesn’t feel the same,” I explained, pushing my tequila to one side. “He’s my boss actually.”

  I’d never thought of it like that before, but he was. It was Jesse’s daughter that I was taking care of, it was his name on my pay check.

  “Unrequited?”

  I shrugged. “I didn’t think so, but he’s been away on business for a few days now and I’ve not heard anything from him.”

  “Maybe he’s busy,” Corbin offered.

  “Not too busy to talk to his daughter or his family; just me.”

  I couldn’t help the tears that slipped down my cheek. All the emotions that I was feeling, plus alcohol, meant that they were inevitable.

  “Hey,” Corbin soothed, reaching a thumb out to swipe at my cheek. “Don’t cry, he really isn’t worth it.”

  I leaned into Corbin’s touch and smiled. “Thank you, I really appreciate it.”

  “What the fuck is going on?” A voice boomed behind me.

  I swivelled on my seat and gasped.

  “Oh fuck,” Sarah cried. “Call Mulder & Scully, and tell them aliens haven’t taken Jesse Connor after all.”

  Jesse

  When I’d gotten home and Mom had told me that Millie was at Rowdy’s with Sarah, I knew that I had to go and see her. I needed to tell her right away what I’d decided before I lost my mind and talked myself out of it. Then, when I walked in and saw that douche’s hand on her, I was in no doubt that I’d made the right decision.

  “Jesse,” she gasped. “What are you doing here?”

  “To get you and take you home. Now get your things.”

  My eyes remained on the douche, daring him to say a damn word.

  “Sarah,” I snapped. “You’re coming, too.”

  “Oh, Jesse,” she cried. “Stop being a caveman and sit down and have a drink with us. Trent and Corbin are doing no harm, and Zak and Pop will be here soon to pick me up.”

  My eyes switched between the two preppy boys. I didn’t know which was which, but the one who’d had his hands on Millie looked about ready to say something.

  “I wouldn’t,” I growled. “Nothing you can say will be a good enough explanation as to why you have your hand on my woman.”

  “Oh for God’s sake, Jesse,” Millie hissed. “Corbin was just being kind.”

  “Yeah really, well if being kind is his dick getting hard for you, then good for him, but it stops now.”

  “Hey man,” the Corbin guy said. “She was upset, talking about you.”

  I looked at Millie questioningly.

  “I haven’t seen you in four days, and had no contact whatsoever in three. What did you think Jesse? That I’d hire a marching band to celebrate?”

  She looked hurt and I saw now that she’d been crying, making me feel like the biggest tool on the planet. That being said, it still didn’t explain why Corbin felt the need to touch her. Fucking Californian frat boy if ever I saw one.

  “We’ll talk about that when we get home,” I replied, picking up her jacket. “Let’s go.”

  “No,” she spat back at me. “I’m staying with Sarah and waiting for Zak.”

  I huffed a sigh and crossed my arms over my chest. I could see by the look on her face that she was not budging.

  “Fine,” I sighed. “You mind?” I nodded at Corbin, wanting him to move.

  He hesitated at first, but when I took a step closer, he got down from the stool and pushed it towards me. That would have made me happy, but he pulled another one over and sat on it.

  “Well this is fucking cozy,” I muttered.

  “Jesse, stop being an idiot.” Millie gave me a look that pretty much told me to shut the fuck up.

  The next twenty minutes, while we waited for Zak, were more painful than a tooth extraction. Millie and Corbin tried to continue a civilized conversation, but I have to admit, every time preppy spoke I sighed or rolled my eyes, until in the end he gave up and suggested to Trent that they left.

  When he hugged Millie and kissed her cheek, I felt like punching him, but when he offered her a place to stay if she ever went to Florida, I actually pushed up off my seat. If it hadn’t been for Zak and his pop arriving, I think there may have been a bar fight. Zak came over to me while Pop went to talk to Sarah’s brother, Dusty, at the bar.

  “Hey, Jess,” Zak said, placing a hand on my shoulder. “How did Booker go?”

  “Okay, got the deal I wanted. He’s going to take all of them.”

  “Sheesh, well done, buddy.” Zak looked over at Sarah and laughed. She was talking at the Trent guy and giving him a hug. “She been flirting with guys for drinks again?”

  I looked at him and shook my head. “And that doesn’t bother you?”

  “No way. I’m betting she told them she was married and had kids, but invited them to sit down and buy her some fancy assed drink anyway. It’s me she loves, me she’s married to, and it’s me she gives unbelievable blow jobs to, so no, it doesn’t bother me.”

  I could not imagine being that cool about Millie asking another man to sit and drink with her.

  Zak started laughing. “We’re all different buddy, you’re a fighter and I’m a pacifist. We love our women hard, but just in a different way, doesn’t mean that either of us is wrong. Hey, baby,” he called to Sarah who was now cupping Trent’s cheek while she spoke to him. “What’ve you been up to?”

  Zak went to join his wife, leaving me watching Millie as she took her turn to say goodbye to Trent. Corbin, thankfully, kept his distance, eyeing me warily. Finally, they were gone and Millie came back over to me, but she was not happy.

  “What was that all about?” she snapped, snatching her jacket up and putting it on.

  “He had his hands on you,” I stated. “And I didn’t like it.”

  “Well you have no right to say whether you like it or not.”

  I narrowed my eyes and took hold of her hand. “Excuse me? I have no right?”

  “Yes, you have no right.”

  She bit on her lip and I knew she was desperately trying not to cry, and once again I felt like a shit.

  “Baby,” I whispered. “I have every damn right. You’re mine, I thought I made that clear.”

  The words almost made me want to punch myself in the balls. Running away and not speaking to her for almost four days was not me making it clear that she was mine. It was the total opposite, but that’s exactly what I’d been thinking at the time. Push her away and she’ll soon forget about loving me. I didn’t want what she was offering, because if I took it, what I’d had with Melody would’ve been a lie.

  It had only taken a three hour drive to make me realize that, but I was such a dickhead I’d waited three more days to tell her. Seeing another man’s hand on her was even stronger proof that whatever had been going through my head four days ago was, in fact, a crock of shit. What I’d had with Melody had been different. We’d been younger and she’d been my first love, so it was only natural to grieve for her in the way I had. This with Millie was just as good, it was intense and deep, but it didn’t take away from what I’d had before.

  Millie’s bottom lip trembled and she echoed my own thoughts. “Leaving me is your way of telling me that I’m yours. You’re joking right?”

  “Nope, never been more serious in my life.”

  “You fucking pig headed idiot,” she cried and slapped my face. “I absolutely hate you.”

  With that, she turned on her heels and stormed out, leaving me with a smarting cheek.

  “I did tell her to slap you next time,” Zak laughed. “What did you do this time?”

  “Shut up, Zak,” Sarah chastised, slapping at his arm. “You need to go after her, Jesse.”

  “Yeah I know, Sarah. I don’t need telling.”

  “Well, maybe you do, you great big lug. Leaving her here while you go and contemplate your asshole is not the
way to show her how you feel. If you don’t want her, tell her, and if you do want her, then tell her, because she won’t wait forever, Jesse.”

  “I know that too, Sarah.”

  I rubbed my cheek and moved towards the door, stopping in my tracks and turning back when Sarah started to talk again.

  “You know, some people are not always how they appear,” she said, taking hold of Zak’s arm and wrapping it around her waist. “But Millie, well she is. She’s an open book, Jesse, and what you see is what you get. She loves you, and if she didn’t, you’d know it because she’d be honest about it.”

  Thinking on her words, I gave Sarah and Zak a chin lift, pushed open the door, and went to find what was mine.

  Millie

  I stood on the pavement outside Rowdy’s, wondering how the hell I was going to get home. There was a distinct lack of taxis in this stupid place. In fact, I was going to suggest to Garratt that he should start one, as his business. Trouble was, there were probably only a handful of people who would use it; everyone, and I mean everyone, around here appeared to have a huge penis replacement truck. I sighed and kicked at a stone. I shouldn’t really take my anger at Jesse out on every other resident of Bridge Vale. It was just him who had a penis replacement truck - as decrepit as it was - everyone else’s was perfectly acceptable. Actually, not even that was true; there was nothing wrong with the size of his penis. It was more than adequately sized.

  “You standing on the sidewalk waiting for me?”

  I spun around to see Jesse watching me from Rowdy’s doorway.

  “No!” I snapped. “I’m looking for a taxi.”

  “Hate to disappoint you, but you won’t get one on a Wednesday night. Not unless you call an Uber, and I believe I’ve just seen Bobby knocking back a shot of bourbon. He’s the only Uber driver around here”