by KL Donn
“There’s someone there right now. She’s causing a fuss. I don’t want you around that.” He was omitting the truth, and he felt horrible.
“My mother?” Her perceptive question made him kind of sad for her. Imagining what she’d had to deal with growing up to even think that was who the problem was.
“Yeah.”
“I’ll come.”
She was gone before he could say a word of protest.
Planting his hands on his hips, his tilted back, he blew out a breath, mumbling, “This really isn’t going to end well,” before following her upstairs to finish dressing.
The drive to Lennox’s shop was short and quiet after they got Levi settled in the spare room to rest. Time Sophia needed to gather her resolve and fortify any cracks in her composure. She knew as soon as her mother saw her, the insults and accusations would fly. All the guys she’d worked so hard to get to like her would hear the lies, and she would become tainted again. As much as the idea made her sick to her stomach, she knew she had to take a stand against Rebecca. Having Nox by her side gave her the strength she was going to need to come to terms with the eventual loss of her parent.
Pulling up, all looked calm, but she knew her mother. Sophia recognized the woman as a viper in swans’ clothing. Elegant and beautiful on the outside, venomous and malicious on the inside.
Slowly exiting the car, she followed behind Lennox as he pulled the front door open. And that’s when they heard it.
“You’re so cute, I bet you know how to show a girl a good time.” If she were hitting on the guys, that meant they hadn’t given her what she wanted. Which meant next stage was pure rage.
“Rebecca!” Nox snapped. His repulsion for the woman couldn’t be masked.
“Lennox,” she hissed. Clearly angry with the man.
“You need to leave,” he told her while Sophia hid off to the side.
“My daughter needs to come home,” she bit back.
“Why?” Sophia spoke before thinking it through. When her mother’s cold gaze swung to her, she fought every instinct she could to not shrink away.
“Because,” the older woman walked closer to her, forcing Soph to back up in an effort to create distance between them, “you belong at home.” Lennox had grabbed Rebecca’s arm before she reached Sophia.
“You don’t even like me, why would I come home?”
“You belong to me.” Her words were low and venomous, reminding her of the viper she’d always compared the woman to.
“I don’t…” she struggled to defend herself. “I don’t belong to anyone.”
Looking into her mother’s eyes, the crazy light in them had her worried. The sounds she began making as she fought to get out of Lennox’s hold made her cringe. They were inhuman. Malevolent almost.
“I raised you; I brought you into this world. I can damn well take you out, you stupid girl!” She was sure the woman’s screams and accusations could be heard across the state.
“Why?” She shouted back, tired of being the whipping girl in her mother’s tirades. “You hate me so much, why keep me? Why not have given me away or killed me all those times we were alone?” Saying the words annihilated a part of her soul. “You keep calling me stupid. All my life it’s been, Stupid Sophia! Stupid, stupid, stupid!” Breath left Sophia’s body in erratic spurts as she fought back for the first time in her life. “Well, fuck you! You’re the stupid one! You can’t see a good thing right in front of your face. You can’t get past your own vanity to see anything but greed.” Walking closer, Sophia leaned into the woman, so they were nearly nose to nose. “Get out and don’t ever come back.” Her words were whispered but no less impactful than when she was shouting.
Ears ringing as her temper faded, she barely noticed Asher and Mac escorting the woman out the front doors. Lennox’s arms wrapped around her, and the tension left her body in a rush.
“I think I need to sit down,” she muttered into his chest.
Picking her up, he took her to his office and sat her on the couch. When she started hyperventilating, he forced her head between her legs. Rubbing soothing circles on her back, he encouraged with, “Slow breaths, Soph.”
“Joey!” She cringed at his call.
“Yeah, boss?” Was it her, or was everyone yelling?
“Stop yelling,” she cried as tears rolled down her face.
Am I having a panic attack? she idly wondered.
“No one’s yelling, baby.” Nox mumbled in her ear, laying a light kiss on her cheek.
“Crap,” she muttered.
She still had a hard time believing she stood up to her mother. The woman had been a menacing force her entire life. She’d never been able to fight back against the insults. She’d taken it, rolled over and played dead her whole life.
Standing up for herself was…freeing.
Exhilarating.
Cathartic.
Terrifying.
What if that woman was behind the threats against her? What if she upped her game and came after Sophia with more than threats?
“Sweetheart, take a drink.” Nox held a water bottle out for her. After a quick sip, the cool liquid helped calm some of her nerves. Not everything, though, because now all she could think about was her mother attacking her.
“She’s behind everything, isn’t she?” The quiet in the room confirmed her suspicions.
A knock on the door followed by, “Boss, they’re here,” had her finally sitting up straight.
“Mr. Hogan.” Her father walked in with Braxton right behind him.
“You still want to protect Soph, I assume.” Nox pulled no punches with that comment.
“Of course.” Her father’s brows furrowed in consternation.
“Your wife is off her fucking rocker. Get her committed and find out what the fuck she has planned for your daughter. After today, I can guarantee things will go to shit. Whatever the fuck you did, you need to fix.” His words left no room for argument.
“What happened?” Braxton asked before her father could.
“What happened is that cunt came into my shop, caused a shit storm of trouble with my employees then sweet little Soph found her backbone and basically invited the bitch to kill her.” His angered words made her think back to her own, and she couldn’t deny it.
“Oh, what did I do?” she moaned into her hands as she covered her face.
“Relax, Soph.” Nox still sounded so angry with her.
“You need me to stick around?” Braxton asked, his question directed at her.
How did she say yes without it sounding like she didn’t trust Lennox to keep her safe?
“Yes,” Nox blurted before she could answer. Relief swamped her as he exerted control once again. When he took over, she didn’t feel like the burden she’d always felt like at home. With him, she considered herself an equal half of a whole.
“Done.” Her father agreed. “Sophia?” He waited until she looked at him before saying to her, “I’m sorry you’re caught up in this. I’m sorry I haven’t protected you better.”
“Me too,” she whispered back as he stood to leave.
“When this is all over, I would like to try again to be the father you deserve. If you’ll let me?” The sheer emotion emitting from his words spoke to his sincerity, and she knew she would give anything to make sure they had the chance for a do-over.
“I’d like that.” She gave him a faint smile.
“I’ll be back tonight. I’m going to scope out your neighborhood and check the tracking device I have on Rebecca’s car. See where she’s been the past few days,” Braxton informed them before leaving with her father.
As the door closed behind them, her breath left her in a whoosh. When Nox said, “I’m so fucking pissed at you, Soph,” tears pooled in her eyes.
“I’m sorry,” she replied, not even having to ask what he was angry about.
“Why would you do that? Knowing how fucked up she is.”
“I don’t know.”
&nb
sp; His body crowded hers as he pushed her back on the sofa. “And you’re dead fucking wrong about one thing, sugar,” he growled into her throat, stealing her breath as he began kissing her.
“What?” She asked breathlessly.
“You do belong to someone.” His kisses were more demanding as he began sucking her skin.
“I do?”
“Me, Soph. Every delectable inch of this gorgeous body is mine. All” kiss “Fucking” suck “Mine.”
“Okay.” She acquiesced to his command.
If you want to know where your heart is, look where your mind goes when it wanders.
Every thought, every decision Nox made was with Sophia in mind. When she wasn’t near, it was all he could do not to hunt her down. She was at her weekly book chat with his mother discussing some new romance he had no idea how she found the time to read.
After their first night together, the first time he took her, he’d been insatiable. When they weren’t working or fueling up on energy, he’d had her pinned to the bed. Or wall. The counter twice while she was cooking for him. Damn was that a fucking turn-on he’d never expected.
The woman was a seductive siren with her innocence. The cute dresses she always wore. She was girly to the core, and he couldn’t be happier with it. Seeing his grease-stained hands on her perfect porcelain skin never failed to light his fire.
“Nox, you paying attention?” Loch bitched at him.
They were supposed to be watching an NHRA race, but he kept zoning out.
“Yeah,” he grumbled taking another sip of his beer.
For the first time in his life, the quarter-mile just didn’t interest him. The thought of fucking Soph on the hood of his car at the track, however, fueled yet another fantasy.
“Dude, you’re pussy-whipped.” Loch laughed.
With any other man, he’d clean their clock for even thinking of his woman like that; fortunately, he knew Loch was busting his balls.
Besides, it was completely true. She had him wrapped around her tiny little finger, and he wouldn’t change a damn thing about it.
Checking his watch again, he still had another hour before he had to pick her up. He was almost annoyed with his mom for demanding her time. She was his. Plain and simple. He didn’t want to share her with anyone.
His mother was a force to be reckoned with, and he knew that if he ever wanted to live in peace with his girl, he’d have to concede to some things with the older woman.
Like sharing.
“You could just knock her up, and Ma wouldn’t try stealing her from you anymore. She’d take the baby,” Loch suggested, laughing.
It wasn’t a bad idea.
“You’re thinking about it.” His brother laughed harder. “You can’t be that obsessed with the girl.”
“You’ll find out, Loch. You find that girl that steals your breath with just a look, and you won’t be laughing no more.”
A faraway look entered his brother’s eyes, making Nox wonder if he’d already found her.
“You’ve found her, haven’t you?”
Loch shrugged.
“Tell me about her.” Nox pushed.
“Can’t.” Loch took a long chug of his beer.
“Why the hell not?” he demanded.
“She’s underage. Don’t matter who she is. Can’t touch her.”
Nox was speechless as he watched his youngest brother’s heartache. Loch was a different breed of man compared to him and Levi. He was more sensitive, empathetic. He understood far more than either he or Levi ever could.
Knowing Loch had a girl out there, and one that he couldn’t act on made him ache for the younger man. The hurt he must feel not having her at his side. Well, call him selfish, but it made Nox want to have Soph in his arms that much more.
Following his brother to the kitchen, he clapped a hand on his shoulder, asking him, “Have you spoken to her?”
“Not once.”
“Damn.”
“Pretty much, yeah. Can’t do anything for I don’t know how long, and I can see it’s killing her inside as well. I can see the ache in her eyes, the sadness when I have to leave the room or risk going to jail for claiming her before she’s legal.” His words held all the pain he felt.
“So, she knows about you?”
“Yup.” The hiss of the can of beer being opened the only sound in the room.
“What are you gonna do?”
“Not a fucking clue. Worst part is, I think her parents already have her married off when she is legal. Maybe even before then.”
“Before then? How is that even possible?”
“She’s from that religious compound an hour out from here.”
That put a wrinkle in things.
“Can’t she leave? Don’t they have something where the kids can move out on their own for a while when they’re eighteen, choose where they want to live or something?”
“Beats me.” He could tell Loch was done with the conversation as he walked out of the room.
Seemed to Nox now, he likely wasn’t the only one with girl trouble. He had his girl under control. Watching his younger brothers fall was gonna be fun.
His phone ringing had all traces of amusement leaving his system at the terrifying words were blasted at him.
There’s been an accident.
“So tell me, Sophia, how are things going with my boy?” Lorraine’s question threw her off guard. She knew the woman would eventually ask her about how quickly things had been moving, but she hadn’t known when.
“Umm, well, good, I think. I hope,” Sophia responded honestly.
“You think?” She had to remember Lorraine didn’t know what had transpired between her and her mother. The accusations, the truths and lies, all the scary things that could happen. Lorraine was in the dark.
“Between us is good. At work is good.” She looked away before saying, “It’s my family that’s not so good.”
“Well, we always knew they’d be a problem. Especially that jealous mother of yours.” Lorraine’s lip curled in disgust as she mentioned the other woman.
“It’s uh, well, become a little more complicated in the last couple of weeks.” She stuttered over her words.
“What do you mean?” her friend asked, understandably confused.
“Lennox told you there was a threat?” Lorraine nodded. “Turns out it was aimed directly at me, not my father, and I think it comes from my mother.” Saying it out loud still hurt like hell.
“Why would you think that?” In the Hogan’s world, Sophia could understand how unfathomable it seemed. Because who really wants to harm their child? How she wished that could be her world, too.
“I guess I’m not really hers. Dad wanted kids, Mom wanted money. They got a surrogate, but my mother was sterile, so, from what I’ve been told, they used the surrogate’s eggs. Turns out this vile woman isn’t really my mother. She spent her entire life making my father regret bringing me into this world with how vicious she’s been. She made my life miserable solely because she could.” Tears stung her eyes.
“But why would she do this now?” Lorraine moved to sit beside her, gripping her hands tightly in her own for comfort. Sophia relished the affection.
“I have no clue. Maybe she finally sees a way to truly hurt one of us. Or maybe she’s simply mentally unhinged. Maybe she’s plotted this for years. I doubt I’ll ever know.”
“Is that why that delicious hunk of meat is sitting outside my door?”
It took Sophia a moment to realize the older woman was talking about Braxton. Laughter bubbled up thinking of him as a hunk. “Yes, that’s why he’s here.” She couldn’t stop laughing; eventually, Lorraine joined in with her.
Once they ran out of breath, things turned serious again. “So, what’s being done? Are the police investigating? Is your father finally going to divorce the wretched woman?”
Thinking back on all the conversations they’d had, she didn’t remember mention of police involvement. Most of the time,
she had been stunned by the new information thrown at her, so she couldn’t be sure.
“I assume the police are involved. I know Brax has men following my mother and digging through her entire life with a fine-tooth comb. They did discover she was obsessed with someone back before Dad. Charges were withdrawn, though.”
“Maybe it’s time your father and I had a talk about this whole situation.” It seemed as though she was thinking out loud and not actually speaking to Sophia.
“Oh no, please don’t. My mother will come completely unglued. I’d hate for something to happen to you because of me, Lorraine.” She would rather die a thousand deaths before letting harm come to the sweet woman who had treated her with nothing but kindness and compassion.
Patting her hand, Lorraine assured her, “It will all be fine, dear, you’ll see.”
Letting it go because she knew how stubborn Nox and his brothers could be, she mentioned the book they were supposed to have read the past two weeks. As they spoke about the good and the bad, ups and downs, Sophia couldn’t help thinking of all the trouble she was causing with so many people.
She wasn’t a martyr, not by a long shot, but she wondered if maybe she should confront her mother on her own. Get everything out in the open. Find out what the hell was really going on because she had a sense there was more than just hatred between them. Something deeper.
Before she knew it, their time was coming to a close and Braxton was knocking on the door. “Braxton, huh? Different name,” Lorraine commented, a teasing gleam in her eye.
“Nice to meet you, ma’am.” He looked uncomfortable.
“Next time come inside. No sense sitting out here alone.”
“I like the quiet.” He was nearly squirming.
“I’ll see you soon, Lorraine,” Sophia interrupted.
Leaning in to give her a hug, she whispered in her ear, “Stay safe, dear.”
Nodding, Sophia followed Braxton down the front steps and to the waiting town car. She’d insisted Lennox spend the afternoon with his brothers, knowing he was worried about Levi and whatever was going on with him.
“Hungry?” Braxton asked her as he opened the door.