by A. E. Fisher
Silence stretched, feeling cold and strangled as I looked down at my hands, folding them over and over each other.
“I thought it couldn’t be. There was no way. You were only a one-night stand; you must have gotten pregnant after you left. So, I asked the woman. She said it was possible if you got pregnant before he …” He left the words hanging, like a hand squeezing around my heart as he struggled to get past them. “I wouldn’t let myself believe it. But then, yesterday, when I saw you coming out of the daycare center, and I saw him for the first time … there was no denying it. He is Noble through and through. He’s my brother’s kid, and he’s the only thing left of him. You’re selfish for taking him. Taking away the last piece of my brother I have.”
The tears welling up in my eyes were as pained as the sound of his voice turning so cold it could freeze fire. If his aim was to make me feel guilty, then he was doing a good job of it. I could see the repercussion of running away deep in the green eyes I loved so much. Even if I never regretted running away, I did regret what it did to those I left behind.
“I’m sorry,” I said into the silence.
Hunter, holding on to the steering wheel with a grip that could kill, didn’t even look at me as he growled, “No, you’re not.”
As the sign for Fellpeak rushed by, I felt anxiety rush into my veins. Twelve more miles, and I would be back in the snug grasp of the little, old town I hadn’t seen in over three years.
I had no idea how Adair had slept through most of the ride but, as if sensing our approach home, he had awoken and was staring out the window with big, round eyes. He held his kiddy cup in his mouth, keeping his teeth occupied on chewing the top while examining the outside world.
I fought for calm from Adair, but his care-free attitude—another trait of his father’s—wasn’t coming to me. I gripped the edge of the seat, taking long, deep breaths as I stared down at the passing tall evergreens that covered Fellpeak on three sides while a wide desert expanded in the east. That was what they got for being in the smack dab middle of Oregon.
The moist spring air seeped in through the crack in the window, the pine scent bringing back too many memories as I kept my chin tucked into my neck in an effort not to look out the window.
I couldn’t do this.
Nope.
I looked into my handbag. Maybe I should give the nail file a shot? Car floors aren’t that thick, right?
Or maybe I could get a one-way ticket from the next gas station to another state, or country, or outer space. Yep, outer space was a great idea. Of course, there was the whole no-oxygen thing, but oxygen was overrated.
“Calm down,” Hunter growled from next to me.
“I would if I could,” I hissed back, not in the mood to deal with the brooding bastard.
“You could always tell me the reason you ran.”
“And you could tell me the size of your penis.”
His eyebrows touched his hairline as his gaze flickered to me then back to the road, then back again.
Oh, yeah. Inappropriate questions always shut—
“Big,” he answered, like they were discussing the weather.
I stared open-mouthed at him, rationality taking a walk as I asked, “How big?” Now that we had stepped into this territory, my curiosity couldn’t handle it. He was at least six-foot-five with huge hands. You know what they say about big hands …
“I haven’t exactly measured it, but I get a lot of … comments.” His raised eyebrows and completely seriousness, husky tone made me very, very curious.
“Lots of women tell you that?” I asked, unable to stop myself.
“Every day.”
“Except yesterday. Because you were stalking me.”
He only smiled.
My mouth dropped open even further. The slut! I mean, yeah, if a man like that came up to a very lonely me in a bar with a body like that, I would certainly reconsider my vow of celibacy. However, with his attitude, cockiness, man-handling, and refusing to speak to me until all of twenty minutes ago, it had a price. The real question was: would I be willing to pay it?
Maybe after a drink or two.
Or five.
I wouldn’t listen to alcohol, though, because it led to lots of bad decisions.
“I …” I suddenly noticed the scenery change. Pine trees were exchanged for cement buildings, lampposts, and stores.
I turned to look out the windows and found myself surrounded. Fellpeak was all around me, and I had the horrible feeling it would never let me go again.
I’m going to hyperventilate. Or puke. Or both.
It hadn’t escaped my notice that Hunter had started a conversation to try to calm me down, and ever since I stopped talking, he had tried to restart it. I couldn’t reply, though, for fear it would be the cereal bar I had eaten at the last gas station.
Instead, my fingers bore down on the edges of his seat, not caring if I made holes in it. After all, it was his fault for kidnapping me.
It would have been better if the town had changed in the years I had been gone. But not even the yolk blotches on Mr. Jefferson’s house from when my friends had thrown eggs at it on Halloween had disappeared. Well, I didn’t do it. Even though it was amusing to see him all riled up, he was a nice man … to his cat, not other people, which was fine by me.
I watched the small market setting up under the cover of dawn. At least travelling in the early morning gave me some coverage. I hated the idea of being spotted by someone who would recognize me. Gossip spread fast in towns like these, and if someone saw me in Hunter’s truck, it wouldn’t take long to get to everyone I had ever known.
Despite the fact I hadn’t seen my friends or family in all the years I had been gone, I wasn’t keen to meet up with them. Therefore, I was overjoyed when Hunter continued past the center of town and then some, until there were only a few houses on the outskirts.
He pulled onto a small gravel road, parking in front of a house that screamed modern, yet was warm at the same time. It had dark-tinted glass windows with wood panels. The shape of the house was miss-matched with three different levels of roofing and an oak-stained chimney rising out of the lower roof. The roofing platforms came out over the edges of the building, providing shelter over the introverted doorway where marble stone spheres lined the steps up to the house.
I had been hoping he had a horrible house with beer and broken windows so I could complain about it enough to insist on having to move into a more “child-proof” and anti-broody men apartment. However, that would mean moving closer into the town, which I wasn’t ready for. Not to mention, my absence of money.
While my conscience battled between awe and disgruntlement, Hunter had already gotten out of the truck and was opening the boot, dragging the pink suitcase and bag out of the back.
I quickly undid my seatbelt, settling on the slight hope that the inside wasn’t as stunning as the outside, and slipped out of the truck. Adair had fallen asleep again, so I made sure to be quiet as I slipped the straps of his car seat over his arms and chest and scooped him up.
Unfortunately, Adair had been one of those chubby babies, and even now, his dead weight was only possible because of the mommy muscles I had built picking him up for the last three and a half years.
I kicked the door shut with my foot and almost unbalanced myself before following Hunter, who had long since reached the front door and was putting the keys into the lock.
He opened the door and marched in without waiting for me, leaving the door wide open so I didn’t have to use my hands, not that I could without dropping Adair. Although I wasn’t sure why Hunter was so mad at the world, I didn’t want to test out my theories on my baby boy.
Another Noble was a gift, and though I had only known Hunter for eighteen hours, I wasn’t exactly sure that another one of him would be quite as pleasant.
My hopes withered, as I expected them to, when I stepped into the architectural mastery of the interior. It had smooth black marble floors with a
rug by the front door and carpet in the sitting area with a black leather couch and two smaller, wing-backed chairs adjacent. The kitchen was an open floorplan next to the sitting area with sleek marble tops and light oak cabinets with a huge double-sided stainless steel fridge. There was also another sitting area farther back, with a television and fireplace.
None of those were the best part. The best part was the glass hexagon greenhouse in the center of the house. It didn’t have roof, allowing the weather to seep in. The small light pods showed a wilderness of exotic flowers that budded in the dark, decorated with unusual colors.
And everything was super clean. Like, neat freak clean.
Hunter looked back at me as I tried to scoop my jaw off the floor. Then he turned toward the wooden steps, which doubled as a storage compartment, before gesturing for me to follow.
I was slow and careful going up the steps, trying to keep my balance steady as I lugged Adair up.
At the top was a simple wooden hallway with three doors. Two doors on one side, and one on the other side.
Hunter waited at the top, empty of any luggage, gesturing toward the first door. “That’s the bathroom you’ll be using. It has a shower and a bathtub.” Then he pointed at the last door. “That’s your room, as well as Adair’s. I’ve already put your stuff in there.” Which meant the other door was his.
Something about the bedroom taking up the expanse of one wall had all sort of ideas wandering through my head about what he kept in there. Maybe it was simply spacious … Maybe not.
I nodded and moved toward the bedroom. Stopping in front of it, I tried to juggle Adair onto my hip—he was getting far too big—as I tried to free a hand to open the door.
After a few moments of struggling, I heard a loud huff before Hunter stepped into my space. I turned in surprise, the door coming up against my back, and looked up, finding him staring back at me. His green eyes glowed in the dim lighting of the morning.
I opened my mouth then shut it again when every word I knew flew from my mind. Instead, my eyes took charge of the opportunity to get a good look at him.
His dark features were harsh, yet his lips were soft and tempting. His skin was tanned from working out in the sun for too long, with darker marks around his neck where his biking leathers hadn’t protected him while out on his ride.
I could see the faint markings of a tattoo peeking out through the thinness of the black shirt that clung to his skin. His dark jeans hung low on his waist, and when he moved his arms to close me in, I could see a dark trail of hair beneath his navel, dipping down into the waistband of his jeans.
I forced my eyes back up where Hunter met mine.
His eyebrow was raised and a smirk played on his lips, amusement on every aspect of his dark features.
I held back a gasp as an embarrassed pink blush burned across my cheeks.
Way to go, Mallory! You’ve been busted drooling over the guy with the bad attitude.
Anger followed my shame as I scowled at him.
“Excuse me, but you’re taking up my oxygen, and I kinda need it.” I shifted Adair on my hip.
Hunter’s smirk flattened into a thin line, his eyes narrowing. I thought he was going to get mad, but instead, he gave a jerk of his chin.
“Your door,” he said before stepping away.
I took in a deep breath and looked over my shoulder at the now open door.
He had only been opening the door for me.
My heart did that annoying little deflate thing, and I pumped it full of annoyance. Just opening my door, yeah, right. He could have told me that was what he had been doing, and not make it seem like he wanted to wet my panties. Not that my panties were wet. Nope. For Mr. Annoying, they would stay as dry as the western desert.
There had to be some hot guy god I could write a letter of complaint to. Tell him he had sent out a dodgy batch of men and that someone should fix that. Make him übernice and polite.
Hunter polite. That made me laugh.
As I slipped through the doorway, I saw my luggage at the bottom of a queen-sized bed and a smaller double bed against a wall. A funny feeling churned in my stomach.
Because of all the moving around and cost of living these days, we had always moved into homes with a single bedroom with a double bed. Adair had slept by my side ever since he had grown out of his crib. I knew he should have been sleeping in his own bed by now, but the thought made me lonely.
I could deal with that later. Right now, I was exhausted, having had no sleep for over twenty-four hours. My problems could wait until I had some semblance of rest.
I pulled back the covers on the right side of the queen bed and tucked him in. He was still in his clothes from yesterday, but I couldn’t bring myself to wake him up to change him.
I tucked the sheet in all around him, despite the room being a mild temperature, and Adair barely noticed the difference. The fact that he had practically slept like the dead all his life was one of my favorite things about him.
I opened my suitcase, dug through my clothes, and pulled out a pair of cotton pajamas before slipping into the bathroom. It was huge and stark white, with streaks of lime green. It had a self-clean toilet and jet-spray tub. In the corner wall, there was a shower with a long, floor-to-ceiling mirror that made me both stare in awe and gasp at my appearance.
As far as first impressions had gone, Hunter had seen me at my worst. Scraggly red hair all over the place, and brown eyes worn and slightly bloodshot. My jeans had seen better days with a few holes here and there, enough to pass them off as ripped jeans. As for my white shirt, it was covered in drool, stains, and a small yellowish mark on the hem that had me wondering if it was oatmeal or snot. Maybe both.
I sighed before stripping, showering, and thanking the world for great water pressure and shampoo before I stepped out and wrapped myself in one of the softest, fluffiest towels. Talk about luxury.
I used one of the two toothbrushes in the pot on the edge of the sink and cleaned my teeth, something I hadn’t had the chance to do before Hunter had come storming into my house. Considering one was a green dinosaur toothbrush, I figured Hunter must have had his friends collect some things for us after his spontaneous decision to move us in with him. I saw the second he had decided it, though I wasn’t sure how he had spent so long tracking me, only to figure out living arrangements then.
It was probably kidnapper number two, who I had seen dropping off the truck for Hunter. He had nice hair.
I yawned, figuring that debating the niceness of my kidnapper’s hair wasn’t the best solution to my exhaustion. So, I went for the cliché option of going to bed, not caring that it was ten a.m. I didn’t want to wake up for a long time. Though, I wouldn’t mind waking up in Denver and realizing this had all been a bad dream. I would rather wake up back on that fateful night next to Noble, kiss his head, and never tell him about Adair. Maybe then he would never have left the world hating me.
With that thought lingering in the back of my mind, I snuggled into the queen-sized bed next to Adair and wrapped him up in my arms, giving him a kiss then turning away before he could kick me in the stomach like always.
Silence descended on my thoughts, and I let the darkness take me away.
Chapter Three
Hunter
I pulled into the driveway next to the truck, shutting off the rumble of my Harley, happy to have it snug between my legs once again.
True to his word, Jax hadn’t gotten a scratch on her, so I would let him live another day. In exchange, he had annoyed me by waking me up early, or rather late in the afternoon, to pick it up, and then grilled me on Mallory and the kid.
I avoided the topic, not wanting to go with Mallory’s condition and lie about Adair being mine. I hated myself for agreeing, but at the same time, it was more than enough motivation for me to find out what exactly it was she was hiding.
Sitting on my bike for long enough, I swung my leg off then walked up the steps to the door.
I could
feel something wasn’t right the second I put the key in the lock. I had locked every window and door before leaving, effectively locking Mallory in so she couldn’t escape, even if I wasn’t there to watch her.
I prowled through the door and met absolute silence. My heart began to gain weight in my chest, going from a steady thump to a deep thud.
Being able to look across the entirety of the house, with the only wall being made of glass, let me know she wasn’t down here. So, I crept up the staircase, my eyes and ears on everything, going over and over in my head the locks I had checked before leaving, wondering if I had missed one. I never missed.
Even so, I was taken off guard when I saw a flash of a blond race across the hallway from one door into the next then back again. A naked blond.
I was halfway up the stairs when Adair turned and noticed me. He pattered across the wood toward me, his feet not making a sound, until he stopped at the top step.
I let myself go up a few more steps to meet him eye to eye, eliminating any threat of him falling. Looking at the mirror-image of Noble’s youth was like being a kid all over again. I only had memories of Noble being older than eight, though there were photos of a younger him in an old attic somewhere.
As I went to say something, Adair stepped closer to the edge and placed his chubby little finger against my lips.
“Shh!” he whispered. “Mommy’s sleeping.”
Sleeping? Anger rippled through me in a heavy wave. All I had heard about her was “good mother this,” and “good mother that.” What good mother would let her son run around naked where he could slip and trip down the stairs?