by Vella, Wendy
“Just so everyone knows, I didn’t give in, and we scored that touchdown,” Annabelle said, waving one of Buster’s ribs.
Ethan didn’t refute her claim. Instead, he narrowed his eyes and mouthed the words, You’ll keep.
She shrugged, then licked the length of the rib while holding his eyes before sinking her teeth into it. Ethan managed to smile back while picturing those teeth on him.
What would it have been like to grow up here for Annabelle? The little information that Ethan had learned about her life had led him to believe it hadn’t been a bed of roses. But at least here, surrounded by people who would look out for her, it had to have been better on both her and her brothers. He thought about the scar he’d found, and wanted to hunt down the dead uncle and offer him the same pain he’d inflicted on his niece.
He looked at her again, now arguing with Branna over the touchdown. What the hell was it about this woman that got to him? Maybe it was that sometimes he saw something in her eyes, a flash of vulnerability, a small window that told him she wasn’t quite as confident as she wanted to world to believe.
Was she in fact like him? Did she have things that she kept hidden behind that beautiful façade? What had that phone call been about? Was it one of her brothers, or was something else causing her trouble? Pulling his eyes from her, he gave his head a little shake. He’d think about her later. Right now he wanted to have fun with his friends.
“Where’s your folks, Jake?” Ethan asked his friend. He liked the elder McBrides, who accepted him as their son’s friend. Sometimes when he was around they treated him as if he was one of theirs, and those moments had become precious to a man who’d never really had a family life.
“Over there with Cubby’s mom and the other old people.”
“You know if your mom hears you speak like that, you’re dead, right?”
“That’s a given, but since she’s over there and can’t hear me I can get away with it. Plus if you say anything I’ll deny every word,” Jake said.
“And she’ll believe you because you’re her son,” Ethan said, wondering what it would be like to have a mother who cared.
“You’ve always been a mama’s boy, McBride,” Newman said before going back to his conversation with Buster.
They always talked over each other, constantly interrupting and offering opinions. It was what he loved about this place, the close bonds the people in Howling shared, but especially his people. Ethan laughed as Jake lobbed a roll at Newman, who caught it and put it on his plate.
“So, have you set a date?” Ethan asked. “’Cause I need to clear my calendar and get my tux cleaned, especially since I’m the best man.”
“Yeah, Branna’s thinking soon, and we’ll have it here. I’ve decided to have two best men, you and Buster.”
“I suppose you’ve got to use him, seeing as he’s baking the cake,” Ethan said.
“Yeah, well, all you did was pull him from a burning building. Me,” Buster said, thumping his chest, “I feed him.”
They ate, tossed insults and laughed, and Ethan thought there was no place he’d rather be than here. As it got dark, everyone sat on their blankets and watched the fireworks display over the lake.
“It’s cold,” Mikey said, arriving beside the blanket he was sharing with Newman, Buster and Annabelle. The latter was beside him only because when she’d returned from seeing Dr McBride. It had been the only space available.
“Well then, squirt, come here and I’ll warm you up.”
Ethan watched Annabelle wrap her arm around him. The gesture was a natural one, and he guessed raising two brothers had made her comfortable around boys.
Pulling off his sweatshirt, Ethan moved so his hip brushed Annabelle’s, and laid it over the boy.
“Thanks, Ethan.” Mikey snuggled into Annabelle.
As the first of the fireworks started, he leaned his hand behind her to brace himself and his body towards her.
“Ethan.” Her caution was whispered.
“Relax, Annabelle, I’m just sharing body heat.”
Surprisingly she did, and they watched the display in silence. Beside them, Branna rested on Jake, and Ethan felt peace settle over him. He knew it was temporary, but at least here and now, he had found it. Tomorrow or the next day his family would raise their heads in some way, but he’d deal with that when it happened. Right now he would enjoy being near Annabelle without her trying to bite a piece out of him.
CHAPTER SIX
“I’m taking the front seat next to you, Annabelle Smith.”
“You sure you wouldn’t be more comfortable sitting in the back, Millie?” Annabelle said to the angry woman standing before her. Her lips formed a thin line as she scowled. And people say I’m belligerent, Annabelle thought.
“I’m keeping an eye on you, Annabelle Smith, making sure you don’t speed or run over any small critters.”
“Yes, because that’s something I do regularly,” Annabelle muttered, climbing into the front seat of Mr. Lindt’s van.
“Just so you know, I’ve got excellent vision. I had it checked last week, and was told it’s nearly perfect.”
“Well, now, that just about makes my day, Millie, because I need glasses, but as I can’t afford them, we’d all better hope and pray those road markings are prominent.” Annabelle accompanied the words with a smile and then released her breath when Millie stomped to her seat.
Annabelle looked out the window at the main street of Howling. It was immaculate, as always. She saw lights on at The Hoot, which meant Buster was in early like he was every day. She imagined the smells he would be creating and wondered if she could duck out and back in time to steal something from him for the ride, then thought better of it. Bran would kill her if she wasn’t ready at the set departure time.
The Howler was locked up tight, all the people who were staying there still in their beds, like she would be if she hadn’t been coerced into this. The Roar was open; as the general store, it pretty much stocked everything, and even though the weather was slipping from summer to fall, there were still plenty of tourists in cabins who might need supplies before they hiked the trails through the redwoods.
She sat quietly and studied the scene, while behind her Millie muttered. Annabelle didn’t get a lot of contemplative time; it wasn’t, if she was honest, her thing. She was always on the move, a things to do, people to see kind of person. But sitting here watching her town was soothing. It gave her peace from the turmoil that usually raced around inside her head. Usually if she stopped then she thought, and that wasn’t always a good thing.
Cooper was there in her mind most often, him and his problems. He’d called her constantly since he’d drained her bank account, sending her endless texts and leaving messages, all of which she deleted without listening to or reading them. She couldn’t bring herself to change her number, but she could ignore him for now, at least until the pain eased and the rage inside her cooled. By then hopefully Zach would have called and she would get him to call Coop and check on him.
She watched Jake pull up with Branna. Her friend hopped out with a clipboard in one hand and a backpack in the other. “Geek,” Annabelle muttered.
“Hello, Annabelle. It’s very nice of you to drive us, dear.”
Elizabeth Heath climbed up the steps to where Annabelle was sitting, a smile on her pretty face. She was dressed in neat, pale blue capris and a white sweater over which she was wearing a pale pink rain jacket.
“The pleasure is all mine, Lizzie. I love a road trip, and if I can spy on you guys at the same time, that has to be a bonus, right?”
“Now, dear, you’ll have to wait your turn like the other women of Howling.” Lizzie then winked at her, which could mean one of two things in Annabelle’s book. She was to be Lizzie’s nomination if and when she could no longer be in the book club, or she was just winking.
“Walt invited me for a meal tomorrow, Lizzie, so I’m expecting pot roast,” Annabelle added.
“Walt�
�s shopping for you today, dear, and he’s even doing that caramel thing you like,” Lizzie said, patting her hand before heading down the van to take her seat.
“Morning, Annabelle.”
“Good morning, Mrs. Roberts-Haigh.” Annabelle pulled her shoulders back as HRH entered the bus. The woman had been intimidating her since she was in first grade. Large and loud, she was not a person who tolerated slouching, cussing or bad speech.
“Henry is my name, and seeing as you’re spending the day with us I’ll have you use it now, please, Annabelle.”
Annabelle’s jaw literally dropped open as HRH marched past her to take a seat.
“You look like one of those clowns at a carnival, Annabelle. You put a ball in their mouth as they turn from side to side, in the hopes of winning a toy,” Dr McBride said as she climbed into the van.
“HRH just told me to call her Henry.”
Nancy laughed, and like the rest of her, it was pretty. She was tall, elegant and still as beautiful as she’d been in her youth. Half the men of Howling still had a crush on Nancy McBride.
“Takes some adjustment, but you’ll get used to it.”
“Thanks for this, Annabelle.”
“No worries, Ellen.” Ellen Todd was next.
“That’s all of us, so you can head out when you’re ready,” Branna said, last in with her clipboard.
“HRH told me to call her Henry, Bran. It’s unsettled me.”
Her friend laughed, which made her green eyes light. “I know, right? Scared me spitless when she asked me to call her Henry. I wondered if it was some kind of test and she was going to put me in detention if I failed.”
Dressed in blue jeans, boots with a small heel and a green jacket with buttons up the front, Branna looked all business.
“I can’t believe you have a clipboard. You are such a geek.”
Looking down at said clipboard, Branna flipped up a page. “It’s called organization, Belle, something you should appreciate, being of that mind too.”
“I still wouldn’t use a clipboard no matter how many papers I had. I’m way too cool for that.”
“You hassling my girl, Smith?”
“Man alert, man alert!” Annabelle cried as the tall, handsome figure of Jake McBride entered the van. He climbed the steps and stopped beside Branna. Annabelle watched him place a hand on Branna’s back, then brush a kiss against her head. She made a couple of gagging noises because she knew they expected it of her.
“She’s got a clipboard, Jake! Come on, seriously!” Annabelle said as he then bent to kiss her cheek. “Even you have to agree that’s Geek 101.”
“Sexy women can carry clipboards off, Annabelle. It’s just the way of things.”
“You’re so whipped it makes me want to puke, McBride.”
“True. And while I’m enjoying this conversation with two of my favorite people, I have to say the right side of my face is burning from the look Militant Lawrence is sending my way, so I’d better give you this.” Jake handed a small brown box and a slip of paper to Annabelle. “And get out of here.”
“What’s this?”
“It’s for Tex. He needs it today. He said if he’s not at his apartment, then he’ll be in the hanger drooling over his bird. If you can get it to him, that’d be great. Both addresses are on there.”
“Sure.” Annabelle didn’t want to go anywhere near the handsome Texan, but she couldn’t refuse, or Branna and Jake would want to know why.
“Bye, baby, see you tonight.” The couple shared another lingering kiss and then Jake was off and Annabelle shut the door.
“Hold on now, ladies, we’re gonna burn some rubber!”
“Annabelle Smith, you keep to the speed limit!”
Laughing at Millie’s words, she headed the van out of Howling.
Two hours and thirty minutes later, they pulled up in Brook, and Annabelle’s ears were ringing. There might be only six of them, but they could sure make some noise.
“Okay, so, I can’t tell you where we’re going, but I’ll text you when we need to be picked up, okay?” Branna said after everyone had gotten out of the van.
“Branna, we’ve been over this. I can manage to idle away a few hours on my own. In fact, right now it sounds like a dream,” Annabelle said, scowling at the rest of the passengers, who were milling about outside, chatting like a gaggle of excited geese.
“They’re excited, Belle. This is their first official road trip.”
“Which is just plain weird considering the average age of them.”
“Don’t be a grouch.” Branna gave her a hug and then, flipping up the first page on her clipboard, she got out.
With a final blast on the horn, Annabelle headed to where Ethan lived. The building was just outside of the main part of Brook. Constructed of old red brick, it sat easily on the street with tall green trees dotted every few paces along the footpath. Windows jutted from façades painted pristine white against the brick. It was a building that would cost its owner plenty to live in, and as she knew money was not a problem for the Texan, she was not surprised that he had settled here.
Pulling up outside, she saw her car and ignored the savage tug of pain it gave her. She climbed out of the van and was soon heading in through the canopied entrance. She made her way to where a man was sitting behind a reception desk.
“Hi, can I help you?”
“Are you Roy?” Annabelle smiled at the man.
“I am, yes. How can I help you today?”
“I’m a friend of Ethan’s and I need to drop off a package to him.”
He flashed a smile at Ethan’s name. “He’s not here. He’s out with his bird.”
“Okay, I know where that is. I’ll just head over there and see him,” Annabelle said. “How’s the car going? It was mine,” she added.
“My boy loves it. Thank you.” His words were accompanied by another smile. “I told Ethan he shouldn’t give it to me, but he insisted.”
I’ll kill him.
Annabelle wasn’t sure how she managed to keep her smile in place, but she did. Then when she was back in the van, she screamed.
“You’re a dead man, Gelderman!” Starting the engine, she inhaled and exhaled several times before pressing down on the gas.
How fucking dare you!
The journey didn’t take long, and by the time she was driving through the gates of the small airfield and towards the hanger where Ethan kept his bird, rage had made a red mist form over her eyes. She saw his Bronco and pulled up beside it. Anger was clouding every thought in her head, anger and pride. How dare he do this to her? How dare he give her money and say he’d sold her car! A small part of her somewhere in the back of her head knew that what he’d done was a seriously generous thing, but at that moment all she could think about was her pride and the hammering it had just taken. He’d given her money of his own, and had she not spoken to Roy then she would never have known that she now had a debt to repay.
God, how was she going to repay it?
Annabelle heard music as she approached, loud rock that made it impossible to hear anything else and suited the rage inside her.
The hanger was big, and right in the center was the large helicopter she had flown in. Annabelle wanted to kick it…hard, but that wouldn’t achieve anything accept a sore toe, so she’d kick the large Texan who owned it instead. She found Ethan Gelderman the Fifth by his workbench, head bent, hands braced. He appeared to be reading something. He was wearing old, worn jeans that even her enraged mind acknowledged looked nice across his taut butt, and on top a worn gray t-shirt, seemingly oblivious to the cooling weather.
“You’re an asshole!” Annabelle snarled, storming towards him.
He turned as she approached. In his hands was clenched a white card embossed with silver writing.
“The look in your eyes would suggest this is not a friendly visit, Annabelle.”
“You lied to me!”
“Which time?”
His words simply fu
eled her fire as they were accompanied by a slow smile on his handsome face.
“You didn’t sell my car! You gave it to Roy, your doorman, and then you handed me your own money.”
He didn’t try to hide it or look guilty; he simply leaned that big, beautiful body back against the bench, crossed his legs and nodded.
“Yup, I did.”
“You had no right!” She pitched her voice to rise on the last word. She felt betrayed, as if everything she had fought hard to become was changing before her. For so long pride had been the only thing Annabelle had to hold on to, and she’d held it tight with both hands when everything around her had threatened to implode. This man had taken a swing at that. He’d taken away her choices and stomped all over them.
“How was Roy?”
He was deliberately taunting her, and Annabelle saw red. Taking a step towards him, she lifted her hand and swung. He caught it and spun her so her back was pressed to his front. Both his arms came around her and the card fell to the floor at their feet.
“Let me go!”
“Not until you calm down. I have no desire to go a few rounds with you anywhere but in the bedroom.” The words were growled into her ear and suddenly Annabelle was surrounded by him, his body trapping hers. She could feel the strength inside him, in the muscles in his chest and arms as with little effort he immobilized her.
“Never! I’d rather sleep with a skunk!”
“Aww, honey, you don’t mean that really, my body keeps you awake at night?”
“I’m going to kill you,” Annabelle gritted out as she fought him, but he simply tightened his grip.
“Settle down and listen to me.” Ethan gave her a shake, his voice suddenly serious.
Squeezing her eyes shut, Annabelle hauled in a breath and tried to calm down. She’d always been like this, react first and listen to reason second. Over the years she’d learned this wasn’t the way forward, especially when she was in charge of two boys, and had taken steps to learn how to control herself, but if anyone could make her forget reason it was this man.