by Sadie Savage
Arrow snorted and Ari looked at him, her clear eyes puzzled.
“Sorry,” Arrow said, sniffing and standing from the table. “I had something in my throat.”
“Oh,” Ari said, hurrying to her feet. She got Arrow a glass of water and smiled warmly at him. “This will help.”
Arrow studied the girl from above the ledge of his glass and then drank deeply. The water was sweet, and he sighed inwardly. He couldn’t be sure, but from what he could tell, she was something beyond what he had expected, and he wasn’t quite sure what to do now.
When he’d seen her being attacked, he hadn’t even thought twice about rushing over there and kicking the intruder’s ass. He knew Hawk wasn’t around, and the sound of her struggling made him feel sick to his stomach. Anybody who could treat such a slight, tender-hearted girl like that wasn’t worth the mercy. The only reason he had decided to let the man go was because he didn’t want to deal with the repercussions of killing a man right on Hawk’s land, barely thirty yards from where his new job was.
“Thanks for the water,” Arrow said, grabbing the little succulent from the table and avoiding Ari’s eye.
He had some thinking to do.
“But I really have to get going.”
Ari’s smile faltered, but she held his gaze, the kindness on her face never fading.
“Of course,” she said, leading him back to the front door. “Thanks again, you know. I don’t know what I would have done if you hadn’t come by.”
Arrow smiled at the girl, a young wisp of a thing, but there was something so mature behind her eyes, something he almost never saw in a woman, no matter whether she was his age or not.
“You take care of yourself. And don’t let anybody in here when you’re alone. All right?”
Ari nodded.
“Take care of that plant,” she said, nodding at the little succulent cradled in Arrow’s big palm. “If you take care of it, it will take care of you too.”
Arrow quirked his brow, but instead of ridiculing Ari, he just shook his head and laughed.
“Night kid,” he said, turning away from her and stepping off the porch.
“Good night.”
Ari’s soft voice reached his ear and a small surge of warmth coursed through him. But Arrow did all he could not to look back. There was already too much on his mind, and the last thing he needed was to get himself caught up in the clear blue eyes of that girl again. Not only was she half his age, but she was Hawk’s niece of all things. Fuck.
Arrow got into his car and sighed. He had a lot to think about.
Chapter 8
“I thought I told you that I wanted dinner ready at five!”
Ari cringed. She hated it when her uncle got like this. It didn’t happen often, but every so often he seemed to turn into a whole other person. A person who didn’t care about anybody or anything except what he wanted. It was a very unappealing side to him.
“I’m sorry,” Ari said, avoiding his eye. For some reason, looking him in the eye when he got like this made him even angrier.
“Don’t give me your fuckin’ excuses. Just go cook, woman! Damn. I’m starving and I have shit to do today! Christ.”
Her uncle let out an unkind laugh, as if he were trying to convince them both that he was just joking and he wasn’t being a tremendous asshole. But it didn’t work. It just made her even more uncomfortable.
“All right, Uncle Hawk,” Ari said, moving quietly into the kitchen. She had been busy all day trying to get the house cleaned up after her uncle, upon somehow sensing that somebody who wasn’t Ari had been in the house, had torn the entire place apart, swearing that the place could have been bugged while he was gone.
He interrogated her for hours, until she finally admitted that Pete had been there and had tried to come inside. What she didn’t tell him was how he had been stopped. Her uncle had just assumed that Ari had been the one who had stopped him from coming inside, and she didn’t want to stir up any more trouble by telling him about Arrow. Besides, there was something about Arrow that she wanted to keep just to herself, something that was just hers.
She had gotten so wrapped up in cleaning that she’d lost track of the time. There was broken glass and dirt from her plants everywhere, and it had been hard for her to move all the furniture back into place all by herself, with her uncle watching scornfully from his study any time she passed by. It’d been stressful, if she was going to be honest. She’d been all but assaulted the night before, and all her uncle seemed to care about was whether or not anything was missing from the house. He didn’t even ask her if she was all right. It was kind of upsetting.
But Ari wasn’t a whiner. She wasn’t going to try to make her uncle feel bad for slipping into the dredges of what she was sure had to be a mental illness. He was just a sad, pathetic little man who needed security. And she had failed to give it to him. She felt terrible about that.
She worked as hard as she possibly could to get her uncle his dinner by at least five-thirty so that he could do his best to make it to whatever social engagement he had set up for himself. She never liked to pry, as it seemed to be a sensitive area for him. He was always such a nice man, except for when he felt like his privacy was being violated or he felt like he was going to be late to an appointment. He took those kinds of things way too seriously for her taste, but her uncle wasn’t very social by nature. In fact, her father was always telling her stories about when they had been children and his younger brother had been so unpopular that their mother had made Ari’s father stay home every weekend just to make him feel better about his lack of a social circle.
Ari’s father had always found the situation frustratingly unjust, however, since in his opinion, his brother had brought the situation upon himself by being a bully to other kids and forcing his will upon others. In a relationship, there had to be give and take, Ari’s father had told her. Not just take. But her uncle hadn’t seemed to grasp the conduct of healthy relationships and had done whatever he felt like, encouraged by his mother and ultimately made to feel that he could get away with murder if he so chose.
But after Ari’s parents had died, her uncle had come just in time to save the ranch from being taken by the bank, and he had allowed Ari to remain in her home, where she had been staying until one of her teachers finally realized that there wasn’t a guardian at home looking after her.
She would’ve lost everything then if it weren’t for her uncle, so she didn’t mind returning the favor and taking the brunt of his temper now and again. It was the least she could do. She still had her home, and that’s what really mattered.
“All right, Uncle Hawk. I’m sorry about that, but it’s ready now.”
“About time,” he grumbled, walking into the kitchen.
She hadn’t bothered to make enough for herself, since he was obviously hungry and irritated. It was faster just to focus on her uncle’s meal, but he ordered her to sit down and fill a plate for herself.
“I’m not hungry yet,” Ari said, sitting heavily in her chair across from him.
He nodded, but his eyes were hard, and Ari swallowed. This was going to be a long meal. She could already tell.
“So, tell me again, Ari,” Hawk said, his eyes boring into hers as he took his first bite of spaghetti. “What the hell happened with Pete last night? You didn’t sleep with him, did you?”
“What?!” Ari exclaimed, horrified. “No, I didn’t sleep with him! And it wouldn’t be any of your business who I sleep with anyway!”
“You live under my roof and I’d say it is!”
Ari opened her mouth to protest – after all, it was technically her house, according to her parent’s will – but she stopped herself. There was no point in working him up any more than he already was. Her uncle was a sensitive sort of man. She couldn’t just let herself cause any more trouble than she had to. He wasn’t quite all there in the head, if she was going to be honest.
“Well nothing happened with us. He got out of here
before anything could.”
Hawk stared at her hard for a few long moments before finally relenting and looking down at his plate of food. “All right, then. I just want to make sure you’re safe out here. If he knows where to find us that means other people do too. You’re going to have to be extra diligent. No leaving the house for anything! You understand me? I’m going to be real busy this week so you’re going to have to hold down the fort while I’m gone, you got that?”
“Of course,” Ari said quietly. “I always do.”
“Good.”
Hawk finished his meal and stood abruptly, putting on his light jacket and heading out the back door. “I will be back late. Don’t fuckin’ let anybody in the house. Don’t even open the door for them. I’ll be able to tell, you know.”
“All right,” Ari said, a sudden chill traveling down her spine.
Sometimes her uncle really did come on strong. Today though, he was being ridiculous.
“I’m not going to let anybody in. I learned my lesson.”
“Don’t even answer. They don’t need to know anybody is home. Alright? If they find me I don’t want anything to happen…”
Ari frowned. Was he becoming more paranoid than usual or was this the same old thing? It was impossible to tell with him. He was such an unpredictable person. But he was family, and she had been taught that no matter how annoying it can be, you don’t give up on your family.
“All right then. I’m going now. You remember what I said.”
Ari nodded and watched her uncle’s back as he disappeared out the door, taking great care to lock up behind himself. He waited as he always did for Ari to lock the other locks inside the door and then she heard the sputter of his little blue car’s engine as he took off toward whatever it was that he was trying to get to.
She sighed once she was sure he was gone, and a sudden overpowering sense of claustrophobia overwhelmed her. Ari took a deep breath and unlocked the door as quickly as she could, stepping outside into the cool breeze of the porch. The more controlling her uncle got, the harder it was to bear his rules. Especially when, as far as she was concerned, they didn’t make any sense whatsoever.
Ari sat down on the front porch and sighed deeply with her head in her hands. She wished that she had someone to talk to.
As if on cue, Arrow’s car sped past, slowing in front of the house, ever so slightly, so that Arrow could give her a private wave from the car. Ari waved back, relieved, feeling instantly better. Arrow had been there to save her from Pete. The man was incredibly brave, and those muscles…
She tried to push the thought away, but it persisted as Arrow’s car made its way to Mel’s and he began his shift for the night. Her eyes lingered on Arrow’s dark form as he got out of the car and walked into the convenience store. Mel proceeded to walk out, growing slower and slower with age. Soon he would retire completely. Would he want Arrow to take over the store then?
Ari sighed. It was useless to try to sit there and pretend she wasn’t upset. She’d spent all day long cooking and cleaning the house, and just sitting there was making her upset. It felt wrong, somehow, that her uncle should be acting that way. It wasn’t up to him how she spent her time. She stayed all cooped up at home all the time anyway, and that didn’t mean that she owed it to him to be cooped up on his behalf. Absolutely the opposite, in fact. She didn’t owe anybody her freedom.
Ari stood, her heart pounding hard, and walked unsteadily down the road, until she reached the convenience store. She felt like she was doing something wrong when she opened the door, and the little bell rang as if it were tattling on her for leaving the house. She laughed the thought nervously away, and then caught Arrow’s eye from across the room.
“Hey kid,” he said, looking a lot like a deer in the headlights. “What are you doing here?”
“I needed to take a walk,” she said quietly. “I don’t feel like being alone right now.”
“Hm,” Arrow said.
Today he was dressed in a red bandana tied over his head and a black t-shirt with a snake on it. Was he one of the Pythons that her uncle was always so worried about?
“How’s the succulent doing?” Ari asked, browsing the shelves casually.
She would just grab a snack and go home. Something to treat herself so she wouldn’t have to cook anymore that day. She had already done enough. She was tired, and nobody would blame her for that, would they? Not if they had any sense.
“It’s doing well, actually,” Arrow said, a faint smile spreading across his face.
God, he was handsome when he smiled. It lifted some of the weight from his shoulders and made her want to keep talking with him forever. It would feel like winning a prize if she could get that face to laugh.
“It seems to like the little window of my bedroom.”
“You sleep with it? That’s good,” Ari said. The image of the burly man sleeping near her tiny plant was unimaginably cute.
“Well…” Arrow said gruffly, changing the subject. “That guy didn’t come back after I left did he? Are you all right?”
Ari felt like crying. Her own uncle hadn’t given a shit whether she was all right or not, but here was this stranger, a man who barely knew her and had saved her from lord only knows what, who was looking at her with piercing blue eyes full of concern.
“I’m fine, thank you. I think you taught him his lesson, don’t worry. I doubt that I’ll ever see him again.”
“Good. You let me know if you do. You know where to find me, kid.”
Kid. Ari felt somewhat deflated by the condescension of the word. Sure, he was older than her, probably by a lot. But that didn’t mean she felt like a kid. In fact, she had grown up way faster than most girls her age, and had never been able to relate very well to people who seemed to have things handed to them. It was hard to make friends in her peer group, especially after everybody started treating her like she had the plague after her parents had died. She wished things would have been normal for her, but they weren’t and might never have been again, if she was going to be honest with herself.
“Thanks,” Ari said, not bothering to go into how she felt.
But Arrow seemed to sense it and frowned.
“Something wrong?”
Ari sighed.
“I’m not that much younger than you,” she said.
Arrow laughed heartily. “I’m afraid you are, actually.”
Ari could feel her face burning with anger. “I’m not. And even if I am younger, I’m still as much of an adult as you are.”
The smile faded from Arrow’s face and he studied her for a moment. At first, she was afraid that he was going to get very angry at her, probably because of how her uncle had been acting all that day, but instead, Arrow pursed his lips, his eyes surprisingly kind.
“Well I know you’re an adult. If you don’t like me calling you kid I don’t have to do it.”
“It’s not that,” Ari said miserably.
How could she possibly explain what she meant? The implication of him seeing her as just a kid meant that her feelings for him, this bizarre attraction, might never end up going anywhere. And the idea of that was kind of devastating. It was embarrassing, but it was just the way it was. Still, she had enough pride to hide that fact from Arrow, who was watching her quietly.
“Well what is it then?” Arrow asked finally, his voice surprisingly gentle.
“I don’t know. You can call me whatever you want.”
Ari picked up a bag of chips and a can of soup and walked to the counter for Arrow to ring her up. He studied the items for a moment and then looked at her, his brow arched.
“This ain’t your dinner, is it?”
Ari sighed and shrugged half-heartedly and Arrow scowled.
“It best not be your dinner, Ari.”
“I’m tired, Arrow. I’ve been doing housework all day. My uncle was upset and I made him dinner and now I just want to eat something fast and just…read a book or something.”
Arrow
frowned. “Can you wait here a second?”
Ari didn’t have a chance to answer before he had disappeared into the back of the store. There was a deep, quiet rumble as Arrow spoke softly to someone on the phone, but she couldn’t make out what he was saying. Finally, Arrow emerged again and smiled.
“Mel said we can go out to dinner if I come back and open back up in an hour. I’ll just take my dinner break early.”
“Arrow, you don’t have to…”
“No, really,” Arrow said, his eyes suddenly serious. It nearly took her breath away. “I’m going to treat you to a meal. You deserve that much, especially after the time you’ve been having.”
Ari opened her mouth to protest, but before she had the chance to get the words out, Arrow was ushering her out the door with his big hands. Before she knew what was happening, she was in his car and they were speeding down the road toward town, the forbidden place where she only went once or twice a year around her birthday.
Her heart panged nervously. If her uncle came home before she did, he would be furious to find her gone after specifically forbidding her to leave. But she was a twenty-three-year -old woman, and it was technically her land. She could do whatever the hell she wanted.
She found some comfort in the clarity and glanced over at Arrow, who grinned at her as he whipped into the parking lot of a diner on the outskirts of the town.
“This place is really good. You’re going to like it,” Arrow promised, getting out of the car and walking around to open the door for Ari.
She smiled, a little bit flattered by the gesture, and followed Arrow into the diner. They got a booth by the window and Arrow grinned.
“This is my favorite place to eat of all time, and it’s really good prices too. Get anything you want. I’m buying.”
“You don’t have to do that,” Ari said, her eyes scanning a colorful menu full of pictures that made her stomach rumble. “I have money.”
“I want to. You know, as payment for the succulent.”
“The succulent was payment for saving my life,” Ari said with her brow raised.