by Jorja Lovett
Regardless that he’d tried to cover up and had leapt like a scalded cat from his chair, she couldn’t erase the words from her memory.
‘I love you.’
Words she had never expected to hear from him. Words she didn’t know what to do with.
Fuck! Neither the air blasting around him, nor the warmth of Mia’s arms wrapped around his waist could make him forget his latest fuck-up.
‘I love you.’
He’d never said the words in his life, had never heard them, and had never known what they meant. Until now? He didn’t know.
Perhaps the old place made him more sentimental than he cared to admit, or maybe an afternoon spent watching this beautiful creature had bewitched him into saying it. To her credit she didn’t pounce on the declaration like some needy women might have. Then again, she could have resented the fact that he’d said it as much as he did.
It would take more than the short ride home on the bike to figure out what the hell it all meant. When they stopped outside his house, he had only one thing on his mind.
“I can’t wait to get you inside.” He helped her off the bike, eager to show rather than tell her how he felt about her.
“Why? What do you have planned? A candlelit dinner for two? Or a movie and takeout?” She unzipped his jacket and trailed a finger down the front of his shirt.
“Shit. I thought we could just shag. But if you’d prefer something else…”
“No. That’ll do for starters.” Giggling like a schoolgirl, Mia grabbed his hand and hurried to the house with Caleb nibbling her neck as she opened the door. She tasted sweet on his tongue, and, impatient to feast on the rest of her body, Caleb unbuttoned her shirt as they stepped inside.
“Caleb?”
“Hmm?” He slid his hands under the satin cups of her bra and took her weighty globes in his hands.
“Caleb, I think someone’s been here.” The panicky tone ripped him from his erotic travels and opened his eyes to the fresh horror.
“What the fuck?” Plaster and paint lay in chunks at their feet, the interior walls of his house peppered with holes. It looked as though they’d had a run-in with a sledgehammer.
The mood well and truly ruined, he left Mia to fix her clothes. “Stay here in case there’s anyone still inside.”
He moved with caution to investigate but the house was as empty as he’d left it that morning. Only now with added ventilation.
“Oh God. Caleb.” Mia’s anguished wail followed him down the hall, ignoring his warning. He didn’t waste his breath scolding her. This woman’s forceful will was one of the many things he loved about her. Liked. Liked about her.
She walked through the house after him, trailing her fingers across every ding and dent in their path as if touching the evidence to make sure it was real. He couldn’t quite believe it himself. The doors he and Rory had hung only yesterday were battered and smashed with whatever weapon had also smashed up the bathroom. The sink where he’d washed only hours ago now lay smashed—shards of white porcelain scattered on the floor.
“Who would do this? Why would they do this?” Mia wandered into the bedroom where fresh graffiti stained the walls. The elusive ninja vandal had cleverly improvised with yesterday’s leftover paint and thrown it aimlessly round the room. The white gloss smeared her fingertip as she reached out to touch it.
“I have no idea.” The knot in his stomach pulled tighter with every new discovery. Not only at the personal trauma of finding his home ransacked for a second time, but also in despair of all the hard work lost.
Where he could pass off the first spate as a random act, this latest episode was a direct personal attack on him. Surely, apart from Mia’s parents, he hadn’t been in town long enough to piss off anyone to this extent? The very idea of Gayle Blake storming through the house in a ball gown wreaking havoc with a sledgehammer managed to lift his dark mood a fraction.
“I didn’t lock the front door.” It didn’t explain the vendetta against him, or his sink, but some of the responsibility rested on his shoulders. By accepting that, he hoped to take away some of the worry clouding the brilliance of her blue eyes.
“What will you do?” Poor Mia looked heartbroken on his behalf.
“What can I do, except start again from scratch? And start locking that bloody front door.” The daunting prospect of his workload took second place to his growing paranoia. How far would this stalker go to get at him?
Caleb’s calmness bothered Mia, as if having people smash up his shit was an everyday occurrence for him. Maybe it was. What do I really know about him? She hadn’t bothered to find out anything about him beyond his considerable talents in the bedroom. For all she knew, he could be involved in all manner of dodgy dealings with the sort of people who liked to express themselves through the medium of a sledgehammer.
A shudder ripped through her at the thought of Caleb at the mercy of this hammer-wielding maniac. Forgetting her earlier plea for independence, Mia’s first instinct about the whole situation was to run to her big brother for help. “You need to report this to the police.”
Caleb’s emphatic “No” did nothing to ease her fears or suspicions.
“Why on earth not?”
He lifted the upturned tin of paint from the floor and began to mop up the spillage with a rag, making no attempt to preserve the scene. “Look, I don’t want any trouble. Even if someone is literally intent on bringing it to my door. Right now, that shitty offer I got for the place doesn’t seem so bad. I could add a ‘sold as seen’ clause and get the fuck out of here.”
He dumped the paint-sodden rag in the bin with excessive force. Perhaps Mr Cool wasn’t entirely as laid-back as she’d first thought. But she didn’t want him to wave the white flag and run away. If he did, he might never come back.
“We should go see Rory.” He could talk some sense into Caleb. Mia had her own selfish reasons for not wanting Caleb to leave, but her brother wouldn’t let the sheer injustice of the situation pass without a fight either.
“Can we leave your fucking brother out of this just for once?” Caleb punched the door, adding to the structural woes of the property, before he stomped off.
“Hey!” Mia took off after him, pissed off by the completely unnecessary act. She grabbed him by the shoulder and spun him around with a surprising show of strength. “Take it out on the people who deserve it.”
Under her palm, the coiled muscles slackened. “Sorry. When I think of all the trouble he went to, getting everyone here to patch the place up… I don’t want to go cap in hand again. I’ll sort this.”
“There’s no need to be so proud. Or stubborn.” She waited for him to throw that particular character trait back in her face, but he was too caught up in playing the martyr to notice.
“Maybe I’m sick of Super Rory swooping in to save the day and making me feel like the village idiot.” Just when she’d thought they were making progress, Caleb’s defences had shot up again, topped with some barbed wire to make sure no one got close.
“You are a fucking idiot!” That did it. Caleb stopped slouching and snapped upright. Mia gulped, but she didn’t want another whiny Robbie clone. Bring back my kick-ass bad boy.
“You need to find out who’s doing this and put a stop to it. Or I will.” She folded her arms across her chest, drawing on her inner warrior princess. It merely succeeded in making him smirk.
“Yes, mistress.” The spark flared back to life in Caleb’s green eyes, and he pulled her into a confident, assured kiss. His attempt to take her mind off the subject may have worked temporarily, but his safety wasn’t something she would leave to chance.
Chapter Six
Mia preferred Rory’s house to the one she shared with her parents. Much like its owner, the modest dwelling didn’t pretend to be anything other than a solid dependable structure. It didn’t need fancy embellishments to be loved.
She let herself in with her own key. Rory understood her need to escape from her parents on a reg
ular basis, and let her veg out here when she needed to.
“Come on, huff muffin.” With the door held open, she hurried Caleb inside.
He rolled his eyes at her, but swallowed his pride to enter the house. In her heart she hoped he’d agreed to come, not simply to pacify her, but because deep down he knew he could confide in Rory.
She couldn’t get her head around his resentment that festered towards her brother. Yes, they were close, but Caleb certainly had no reason to be jealous. The two men were similar in so many ways—both independent, pig-headed, dominant males who played huge roles in her life. If not for Caleb’s sake, for her own selfish reasons, she wished they could happily co-exist. After all, she would rely on Rory’s steadfast support when Caleb inevitably left her.
“Hi, bro.” Seeing him on the settee, fire blazing in the hearth beside him, brought comfort, even as she imagined life without Caleb.
“Hey, sis. Caleb.” Rory didn’t get up. He couldn’t with Emily curled up into a ball on his lap. Mia thought the protective father look rather suited him.
Naomi entered carrying steaming mugs of coffee to complete the cosy scene. “Oh, hi, you two. Little Miss Cranky is refusing point blank to leave Rory’s side.”
Neither Naomi nor Rory appeared too distressed over the matter. In fact, they looked every inch the happy family together—a sight that wouldn’t have been out of place on a cheesy Christmas card.
Rather than make some flippant comment that would unsettle the oblivious couple, Mia made herself at home in one of the comfy seats and urged Caleb to do the same.
He took it upon himself to disrupt the easy atmosphere with the real reason they were here. “I’ve had another break-in at the cottage.”
Rory automatically morphed from the laid-back family man into the vigilant police officer. “Did they take anything?”
“There’s nothing left to take.” Caleb snorted but failed to disguise the hurt in his voice. “They smashed the place up pretty good.”
Rory plucked Emily from his person and handed the sleeping bundle to her mother. “When?”
“Sometime today while I was out.”
Waiting on me.
“In broad daylight?” Rory scowled as Caleb nodded. “Someone’s obviously watching your every move. Someone who’s trying to send you a message. Any idea what that could be?”
Caleb didn’t shy away from the blunt line of questioning. “Rory, I haven’t seen anyone here in eleven years. I have no idea who’s doing this. If it’s one of the locals holding a grudge from something I did when I was a kid, surely they’d want me to leave town as soon as possible? Not screw up my chances of a quick sale.”
Mia braved a suggestion, “What about your father? Is it possible someone is taking their anger out on you over something he did?”
Both men looked at her with puzzled expressions but for very different reasons. Rory couldn’t understand why she would besmirch their past alpha’s character, and Caleb couldn’t know how much insight she had into his father’s true nature. Witnessing the brutal beating John Jackson had dealt his son was a secret she had kept for many years. It gave her some understanding of Caleb’s strained relationships with those around him, and also made her question what else his old man had got up to behind closed doors.
“I don’t think he made many enemies, outside of his own family.” A shutter came down over his features with the mere mention of his father. Obviously it wasn’t a matter up for discussion and Mia immediately sensed that she should back away from the subject. For a proud man like Caleb, any hint that she had seen him at his most vulnerable might shatter their fragile relationship.
“I’d like to take a look at the damage. Do you want me to call it in?” Rory got to his feet, raring to go.
Caleb stopped him. “I don’t mind you coming over, but I don’t want anyone else.”
Rory didn’t argue and the two left in companionable silence. They understood each other on a level neither of them appreciated. Mia wanted to bang their heads together.
“Are you okay?” Naomi, quiet during the discussion, now approached, carrying her babe in her arms.
“Yeah. Just upset for Caleb. Anyway, do you want to put her down in the bedroom rather than take her back out into the cold?” Spots of red bloomed on Emily’s cheeks. Guilt would have eaten Mia alive to send her out into the frosty air.
“Do you think Rory would mind?” Naomi shifted the dead weight from one arm to the other, looking as exhausted as her daughter.
“Not at all. Put her down in the back bedroom and I’ll put the kettle on for another cuppa.” She could do with the break—dealing with all this emotion and testosterone was exhausting.
* * * *
It didn’t take long to survey the damage. It lay at their feet in plain sight. Rory wore the same serious expression as he had done the first time around.
“You’re staying at mine tonight.” He was probably used to barking out orders, but Caleb sure as hell wasn’t used to following them.
“No.”
“Yes.”
“You’re not my alpha.” This lone wolf belonged to no pack.
“No, but I do want my sister safe.”
Shit! Caleb could tell by the steely gaze pinning him to the spot that Rory knew exactly what they’d been up to in the cottage. He didn’t need a lecture when everything in that look said, ‘My sister gets hurt, I’ll kill you’.
Caleb didn’t intend to apologise for something that wasn’t any of his damn business. “Whatever this is, it has nothing to do with Mia.”
“This fucker obviously has anger management issues, whoever he is.” Rory jammed his whole fist into one of the new wall decorations. “How do you know he won’t come after you next? Or someone close to you?”
Caleb could look after himself, he’d spent a lifetime doing so, but could he stop Mia getting involved? He doubted it. What chance did he have of protecting her when he didn’t even know who, or what, he was dealing with himself?
“You think you can stop him? I gotta say, I’m not convinced.” Caleb wouldn’t roll over and let Rory take charge without a valid reason.
The vibrato of Rory’s low growl made Caleb’s hackles rise “This bastard shat all over my backyard and scared my little sister. I will hunt him down if it’s the last thing I do.”
Perhaps having back-up, as livid as he was, might give Caleb the edge over his unknown adversary. With an armed police officer, and one seriously pissed off home owner, this fucker wouldn’t know what had hit him when they caught up with him. In the meantime, Mia’s safety took precedence over their score settling. Now that Rory had put the thought of her in danger into his head, Caleb was keen to get back and check up on her.
On their return they found Mia and Naomi curled up on the settee watching trashy reality television. The women hastily scooted along to make room for them.
“I hope you don’t mind, Rory, but Emily’s sleeping in your bedroom.” Naomi made cute doe eyes at the big dolt who still hadn’t broken out of his funk. To see him this riled over someone he’d yet to cross paths with, Caleb knew he was fucked if he ever messed his sister about.
“Sure.” He totally dismissed the single mum with a gruffness that should have been directed elsewhere. Much like Caleb’s own behaviour earlier, he suspected.
Now he saw Mia’s point about attacking her brother without just cause. It made him question how much of his father’s bad qualities he’d inherited along with the house. He knew only too well that a Jackson temper needed taming and he resolved to work on it. After all, he didn’t want that part of his father’s legacy putting a downer on anyone else’s life, when he was still trying to repair the damage to his own.
Mia couldn’t help but wonder if they’d undergone some sort of body-swapping experiment while they had been away. Rory took to stomping around the house in the traditional brooding male fashion, whilst Caleb moved back into the spare bedroom without a murmur of dissent.
She l
ooked at Naomi and they both shrugged together. “Men!” Their fit of giggles probably wouldn’t have gone down well with either man of the household.
Mia gave Caleb time to get settled in the room before she went in search of him. The faint sound of a guitar drifted across the hall and drew her in like an unfortunate sailor lured by siren song. She found him perched on the end of his bed strumming on one of Rory’s old guitars without a care in the world.
“I didn’t know you played.”
“A little.” He practically threw the guitar on the bed when he discovered she was listening. His grin was surprisingly coy for a man who gave the impression that he didn’t give a shit about what people thought.
“Do you sing too?” Just when she’d thought she couldn’t fancy him any more than she did, he had pulled the ultimate heart throb trump card.
“I used to, in bars for some pin money.”
She could imagine him sitting in the corner of a dingy bar, holding the audience captive with some bluesy ballad, and wished she could witness it.
“Maybe you could ask Naomi about getting a gig at The Dog?” It gave her chills to think of him baring his soul. The only thing sexier than having her lover serenade her at work would be if he did it naked.
“I don’t know.” He carefully placed the guitar back in the corner of the room with Rory’s stuff and closed the subject.
Mia didn’t push it for now, but, in her mind, this newly discovered talent could provide an income if he chose to stick around. “So, what’s going on with you and Rory? I thought you’d rather die of hypothermia than take a room here again.”
“Let’s say your brother is taking the whole thing very personally. He’s making it his mission to track this guy down, and I think he wants me where he can see me.” The cryptic reply didn’t answer her question fully, but she accepted the change of heart for the sake of harmony. She wouldn’t make any more waves if it kept Caleb safe.