Lead Me Home: A Fight for Me Stand-Alone Novel

by A. L. Jackson

  Didn’t matter. His body reacted no matter how fucking bad he begged it not to. There was just . . . something about her that twisted him all up inside.

  “Come on,” Sydney urged, angling her head. “You can do it.”

  He could feel his sister squeezing Nikki’s opposite hand.

  There they were. Teenagers. Close to grown. Three of them holding hands the same way as they’d done since they were little kids.

  Best friends never leaving the others’ sides.

  Call it lame.

  Hell, Rex constantly razzed him about it, giving him shit that he liked the girls better than him.

  He did.

  His crew was cool. His friends the type of guys he could count on for anything. Guys who would always have his back and he’d have theirs. No matter the circumstances.

  But not like this. He didn’t care that the rest of them didn’t understand. Ollie’s entire world was watching over these two. Protecting them.

  Problem was, that protectiveness for Nikki had grown into something new.

  Nikki nervously peeked over the edge. She sucked in a staggered breath and started backing away, shaking her head as she tugged her hands from theirs. “You guys go ahead. I’ll take the trail back down.”

  Sydney turned to face her, wearing her own bikini. That made him angry, too.

  He’d kill whoever looked at her the wrong way.

  The last year, he’d gotten into trouble twice for fighting some dipshit who thought he could mess with his sister.

  One he’d overheard talking about her in the locker room, saying how easily he could get in her pants. The other had the audacity to think Ollie would actually turn a blind eye when he’d found them making out in the back of the senior’s car at a party.

  Fuck no.

  “No way, Nik Nik,” Sydney said. “We aren’t going without you.”

  “Really. It’s fine.”

  Sydney perched a hand on her hip. “No, it’s not fine. It’s fun. I promise. You don’t want to miss this.”

  Nikki shook her head, timid the way she’d always been. “I’ve never done it before.”

  A giggle lifted from Sydney, and she bounced forward, taking Nikki by the hand. “That’s the whole point. It’s the experience. About living. You know this. Every day counts, every moment matters. Don’t ever forget it.”

  Ollie reached out and gathered back up Nikki’s hand. “Yeah.”

  Every moment mattered.

  “Come on, you can do it,” Sydney reassured again. “You don’t have anything to be scared of. Ollie and I are right here. We’ll be with you the whole time.”

  All three of them squeezed hands and inched up to the edge of the cliff.

  The roar of the waterfalls pouring into the lake a few yards away filled their ears, loud and stirring. Nikki drew in a deep breath, and Sydney peeked around her, his sister’s gaze bouncing between the two of them in her soft kind of encouragement.

  Then she whispered it, the words no longer a shout but just as loud. “Fly, fly, dragonfly.”

  They jumped.

  Hand in hand.

  Nikki screamed, and Sydney shrieked through her laughter.

  Joy.

  Always joy.

  Ollie shouted as they plunged downward.

  Loving it.

  The feel of just . . . falling.

  Falling.

  He was falling.

  He knew it then.

  They hit the water. It split, swallowing them whole, sucking them down deep.

  The three of them floated beneath the surface, surrounded by gushing bubbles and the streaks of light that penetrated the cool blue waters. Sound was distorted against his ears, and his heart beat harder in his chest as he used up all his air.

  Or maybe it was Nikki who was doing it.

  Stealing his breath.

  She started to kick her legs through the water, and her foot scraped his upper leg as she propelled herself upward.

  Just that graze rushed through him as if she’d raked her nails down his back.

  The three of them broke the surface, laughing and gasping for air.

  Nikki giggled the way she always did when she overcame a fear. After she’d tried something new that she wouldn’t have done without the two of them.

  The roar of the waterfall was almost deafening as he looked across at Nikki with her head kicked back toward the sun.

  Everything was so loud and silent at the same time as he stared.

  Freckles and olive skin and honey hair.

  He wanted to put his mouth on her so badly it hurt.

  Sydney was already swimming for the shore, splashing with Rex as they drifted off in the distance, the two of them throwing barbs the way they did.

  Ollie ducked under the water. He came up right in front of Nikki.

  She gasped in surprise, then her mouth dropped open with more when he wrapped an arm around her waist and started to paddle them toward a cove in the cliffs.

  “What are you doing, Ollie, you brute?” she asked, but it was a whisper.

  All breathy from exertion.

  Or maybe she felt the same way touching him as he did when touching her.

  Like it meant something.

  Like it meant everything.

  Because she wrapped her arms around his neck and clung to him. Her scent was all around him, his thoughts going haywire with having her like this.

  “If you dunk me under that waterfall, you’re gonna pay for it,” she warned, trying to put lightness in her tone.

  But there was no missing the way it came raspy from her throat.

  Ollie tugged her into one of the secluded recesses carved out in the cliffs. A small vein of the waterfall dumped water into the lake from the rock protruding above their heads, making the cove completely secluded from the shore.

  His feet barely touched, and she floated where he still held her around the waist.

  “Ollie, what’s going on?” she whispered again, so low it was swallowed by the thunder of the waterfall.

  He only wavered for a second before he threaded his fingers through her hair and murmured, “This.”

  He dipped in and brushed his lips against hers.

  Softly.

  Barely there.

  It didn’t matter. It was the most powerful thing he’d ever felt.

  Intense and overwhelming.

  Nikki gasped, but her hands went to the back of his head to pull him closer.

  His tongue swept across her lips, prodding, praying she’d want to kiss him back.

  Thank God. She did.

  Her lips parted, and she plastered her body against his, her tiny boobs pressed against his bare chest.

  Ollie grunted, overcome.

  Was this really happening?

  Their tongues danced.

  Carefully.

  Cautiously.

  Her breaths soft, and his pants hard.

  She pulled back, something like awe and confusion in her features. Exactly what he felt.

  Confused.

  Awed.

  He ran the pad of his thumb across her bottom lip. “I’ve been wanting to do that for the longest time.”

  A shy smile pulled across her mouth. “I’ve been wanting you to do that for the longest time, too.”

  “Yeah?”

  She bit at her lip. “Yeah.”

  Her gaze traveled over his shoulder. Worry climbed to her face. He knew where her mind had gone.

  “This is just between us, Nikki. You and me. It’s not anyone else’s business.”

  “What about Sydney?” Guilt and more of that worry filled her words.

  “Don’t think we should tell her.” He brushed back her hair, needing to touch her. He didn’t ever want to stop. “Not yet. One day . . . just . . . not yet. I don’t want her to get upset.”

  We are three. Forever and ever, you and me.

  Their pact swam through his mind. He shoved it down. For right then, he didn’t want to contemplate they
might be doing something wrong. Leaving his sister when she’d been the one who’d brought them together in the first place.

  Warily, Nikki looked back at him like she’d just thought all the same thoughts. “Okay. You and me.”

  Then Ollie . . . he kissed her again.

  And he knew he didn’t ever want to stop.

  19

  Nikki

  I snuggled deeper into the massive arms locked around me, and contentment left me on a sigh as I relished in the steady thrum of his heart at my back.

  I couldn’t believe I was lying there with Ollie wrapped around me like a blanket.

  A big, gorgeous, burly blanket.

  Heaven.

  That’s what it was. Even when so much felt unstable and wrong, this felt . . . right.

  In the dark recesses of the night, I let my eyes drift back closed, only for them to fly open again when I heard what must have pulled me from sleep in the first place.

  Ringing.

  Ringing from down the hall.

  Shit.

  I’d left my phone in my purse where I’d dumped it when I’d come through the door.

  Trying not to disturb Ollie, I carefully peeled his arm from me and slid out from his hold, keeping my footsteps quieted as I tiptoed across the floor and out the door.

  Once I clicked the door shut behind me, I quickened my pace, rushing for my phone that was ringing again. Both praying and terrified that it would be my sister.

  Dropping to my knees, I fumbled through my purse, hands shaking when I grabbed it and spun it around to find the number on the screen.

  Not Sammie.

  Brenna.

  “Shit, shit, shit,” I muttered, quick to accept the call and press it to my ear. “Brenna, what’s happening?”

  My attention darted to the kitchen so I could look at the time on the microwave.

  Three twenty-seven a.m.

  Not good.

  Panicked cries echoed from the other end of the line, and she rambled something I couldn’t make out.

  “Brenna, calm down. Tell me what’s happening.”

  Staggered breaths ripped from her. She tried to suck them down. Keep them contained. “Caleb . . . he keeps texting me. Telling me he’s going to take Kyle from me if I don’t go back to his place.”

  That little asshole.

  “I think he might be outside,” she all but whispered, as if he could hear her.

  I pushed down the anger that surged and gave it my all to remain professional, searching inside myself for the right advice. “You need to hang up and call 9-1-1. Right now. I’ll be over as fast as I can. Don’t go outside.”

  There I was. Crossing more lines that weren’t supposed to be crossed. But what was I supposed to do?

  “Okay,” she agreed, and the line went dead.

  I started to push back to my feet when I felt the surge of energy blast me from behind.

  Potent.

  Intense.

  That power alone was enough to shift me around to face him.

  A magnet.

  “Ollie.”

  “Who was that?” he grated.

  I’d realized earlier I wanted this man to hold all of me. Have all of me. My body and my secrets and my heart.

  Even if it was foolish. Filled with risk and danger and peril.

  But I refused to be the girl who was too scared to live her life.

  I needed him.

  Wanted him.

  And I was taking this chance.

  “That was Brenna. The girl you saw me with at the ice-cream shop the other day. Her ex-boyfriend keeps texting her and threatening to take their little boy if she doesn’t cave to him.”

  Ollie’s hands clenched. “Piece of shit.”

  Ollie had it spot on.

  For a moment, I wavered before I lowered my voice. “I think he might be the one who broke into my apartment. I was with her the first time she called the cops on him. He was angry. Called me a bitch. There were two notes left on the windshield of my car over the last week that basically said the same thing.”

  Rage blistered across his handsome face. “What? Someone’s been following you? Fuck, Nikki. Why didn’t you tell me?”

  “I didn’t have proof, and I didn’t know what you would do.”

  His jaw clenched, and those sapphire eyes flashed. “I think you knew exactly what I would do.”

  It was true.

  It was exactly why I was afraid to tell him.

  I nodded, then started toward him so I could move down the hall. “You’re right. I was afraid of what you might do and what that might mean. We can talk about that later. But right now, Brenna needs me, and I need to get over there.”

  I let my fingertips brush across his bare abdomen as I passed.

  He shuddered.

  Fire rippled and danced.

  I’d almost made it to the guest bedroom when his voice boomed in the enclosed hall, and I froze in the doorway. “I’m coming with you.”

  Of course, he was. I wasn’t even going to argue it. I glanced at him from over my shoulder and gave him a nod before I rushed inside and pulled on some jeans and a tee and slipped my feet into some shoes.

  Five minutes later, we were flying down the road in Ollie’s Mustang, taking the corners fast.

  Intensity bound the air. Worry and fear and fury.

  I felt it radiating from Ollie’s flesh. Dripping from his pores.

  His protection of me. Maybe the protection of a girl he didn’t even know.

  “Take a right here,” I told him.

  The tires squealed as he took a sharp turn.

  Two seconds later, Brenna’s mother’s house came into view.

  My stomach dropped to the floorboards.

  Caleb was in the driveway, shouting at Brenna, who was cowering against the back of her car.

  Dread spiraled through my senses. “Oh my God, I told her to stay inside.”

  Quick to release the seatbelt, I sat forward, hand already on the doorlatch as Ollie screeched to a stop.

  “What the fuck?” Ollie growled. “It’s that little fucker who sold me the car.” His arm flew out in front of my chest, his body ridged in hard lines, muscles bristling as he took in the scene. “Don’t move out of that seat, Nikki.”

  His door flew open, voice low. “I mean it.”

  I didn’t pause.

  Didn’t listen.

  I jumped out of the car.

  Caleb whirled around when he felt me approaching him. “You bitch. You’re responsible for all of this. Telling her not to be with me.”

  No, Caleb. You’re responsible. You twat.

  I didn’t say it.

  Not wanting to incite him more.

  It didn’t matter because he started for me as if this time he was going to take his anger out on me.

  His warnings never so glaring than right then.

  A tremble of fear rocked through me as I prepared for him to hit me.

  A blur of movements had me taking a shocked step back.

  Before I could process it, Ollie had an arm hooked around Caleb’s neck from behind, his hold cinched tight.

  No fear.

  No reservation.

  Brenna shrieked, and Ollie wrangled Caleb, who clawed at his arm, flailed and kicked and shouted as if he might wrestle out of his hold.

  I doubted it took a whole lot of exertion on Ollie’s part to keep Caleb restrained. Ollie had the scrawny kid in a lock that there was no chance he could break free of.

  Once he knew he had him contained, Ollie sent me an angry glare. “Told you to stay in the car.”

  “Since when do you get to tell me what to do?” I shot at him.

  He scoffed and pretty much rolled his eyes while he kept a tight hold on Caleb who continued to flail and kick. “And you say I’m impossible,” he said.

  “You, asshole. Let me go, you piece of shit. You’re gonna regret it,” Caleb ranted.

  Ollie tightened his hold. “Pretty sure it’s not gonna be me w
ho’s feelin’ the regret, fucker. You really think I was gonna let you play us all? Is that what you thought? You thought wrong.”

  Confusion wound through my mind, Ollie’s words making absolutely no sense. But my only concern right then was Brenna. Brenna who started sobbing when I pulled her into my arms.

  She clutched me and buried her face in my shirt. “Nikki . . . you’re here.”

  “I’ve got you. I’m right here.”

  Sirens rode on the night, a quiet toll that grew closer and closer with every second that passed. “The police are on their way. You’re safe. You’re safe.”

  Her fingers curled in my shirt. “I’m so sorry. I’m so sorry. But he was trying to get inside to take Kyle. I couldn’t let him take him. I won’t let him take him.”

  “Shh . . . I know. I know. It’s okay.”

  Kyle’s cries lifted on the dense air, fearful and distraught, and I peeked over to where Brenna’s mother was holding him, her wary attention darting between all of us.

  “That’s my son,” Caleb shouted. “My girlfriend. You can’t keep them from me. They’re my family.”

  He thrashed against Ollie’s restraint, and Ollie was hauling him farther back, out into the street.

  Away.

  But I could hear him. The low warning he uttered at Caleb’s ear. “Shut the fuck up, asshole. You don’t get to claim someone as your family when you threaten them. When you hurt them. That’s not what family is. You think you can mess with her? Take advantage of her? I’ll end you if you even look at her again. You hear me, asshole?”

  Two cruisers rounded the corner, lights reflecting off the darkened sky. I knew neighbors were peering out, could feel the eyes of morbid curiosity, but the only thing I cared about was Brenna.

  That she was safe.

  Four officers slipped out of their cruisers, their guns drawn. Thank God, one was Seth.

  “Don’t move,” one of them shouted.

  “Stand down,” Seth ordered, pushing a hand out at the officers as he moved toward Ollie and Caleb, cuffs out.

  “On the ground,” he told Caleb.

  Ollie released him, and Caleb dove to the pavement.

  “Motherfucker,” he gritted, face in the ground.

  “Motherfucker is right,” Ollie spat, backing away and letting Seth read Caleb his rights as he cuffed him and patted him down.

  Seth hauled him to his feet, looking between Ollie and me. “This him?” he asked me.