Chapter 24
Chapter Twenty-Four
Merritt
B y the time my shift at the lodge was over, my feet were tired and there was a constant ache in my lower back, but I didn’t mind. Being tired and sore meant I’d done a good day’s work, and I honestly didn’t mind cleaning rooms.
Levi’s social worker had been impressed with how well he was doing after such a traumatic experience, and even offered to testify on my behalf in my custody case if it came to that.
We’d been living with Tristan for about three months now, and each day was better than the one before. We’d fallen into a routine unlike anything I’d experienced. It was safe and comfortable. It felt like we were our own little family, complete with a small dog with a big personality. I was finally where I was always meant to be. I knew in my heart this was the happy life my mother had told me to go out and find before she passed away, and I had no doubt she was looking down on Levi and me and smiling.
“You finally off?” Becky asked as I hit the bottom of the stairs.
“Yep. I think tonight calls for an Epsom salt bath and a glass of wine.” I reached into my purse and fished out my keys.
“You deserve it, honey. You’ve been workin’ hard.”
Ivy was getting closer to her due date, and though she fought her boyfriend on it tooth and nail, she’d finally relented to taking six weeks off once the baby was born. When Ivy asked if I’d be interested in handling some of the work she did for the resort, I’d been honored she trusted me enough and said yes without a second thought. So on top of my regular work, I was also training to take over for her so she could actually relax on her maternity leave and not worry that things here were going to hell.
It was a lot, and most days I felt like there was so much information in my head there couldn’t possibly be room for more, but I was excited for the challenge.
I walked backward, grinning in her direction as I began, “You know what they say... it’s not work if you love what you’re doing,” we both said at the same time. It was a mantra Becky lived by and said at least once every day.
“Look at you, catching on quick.” She shot me a wink. “You enjoy your evening with that gorgeous man and that adorable little boy.”
Word of my relationship had spread through the lodge after Tristan and Levi surprised me at work one day a few weeks back. They had made a special lunch they wanted to bring me, and we’d eaten it together at one of the picnic tables outside. Tristan hadn’t shied away from touching me while they’d hung out during my break, and when they got ready to leave, he’d given me a kiss right out front for everyone to see. Fortunately, it was G-rated, considering there were kids and families running around everywhere, but it still set tongues wagging.
It was the same in town. The cat was out of the bag after that first family dinner a couple months back. It seemed like everyone in town knew. Even people I’d never spoken to. There had been a couple days where I panicked, worried what Warren would do when he found out. Because in a town like Hope Valley, it was a foregone conclusion it was when , not if . Tristan had to talk me out of spiraling a couple of times, but I’d eventually settled.
The divorce proceedings were moving at a snail’s pace, and as badly as I wanted them over with, I trusted Rochelle when she said this was the way things went. When it came to divorces and the like, there was a whole lot of what she called “hurry up and wait.” It sucked, but I wasn’t going to let it cast a shadow on my life. Not when it was finally so bright and sunny.
“I will, Becky. You have a good night too.”
I headed out of the lodge and rounded the back where the staff parked, waving goodbye to different people—staff and guests alike—as I passed them. Pressing the button on the remote, I beeped the locks once I was a few feet away from my car, and pulled the door open, tossing my purse across to the passenger seat. I was just about to climb in when a flash of red out of the corner of my eye caught my attention.
I slowly turned my head, a chill working its way down my spine as soon as I spotted the flowers propped up where the hood met the windshield. The blood in my veins turned to ice at the sight of those six, perfect, long-stem red roses. It wasn’t the flowers themselves that scared me.
It was what they represented and who they were from that did.
Those were the very flowers Warren would bring me as an apology every time he hit me. I’d received so many bouquets of red roses, that the sight and smell of them made me sick to my stomach. I hated roses now, and he knew that.
Just like I knew they weren’t currently resting on the hood of my car because Warren was sorry about anything. They were meant to scare me.
Unfortunately for him, his little plan didn’t work. I was done letting him intimidate and threaten me. I was done letting him control me with fear.
I spun around, looking in every direction to see if I could spot him, even though my gut was telling me he was long gone.
“You sick, manipulative bastard,” I said on a growl. I snatched up the bouquet and beat it against the hood. The flowers exploded, raining torn and tattered petals all over the place, but I didn’t stop until all I was holding were six scraggly twigs. Just in case he was still around and was watching, I wanted him to see I wasn’t scared of him. I was pissed.
I was in the middle of stomping the stems and grinding them into the dirt as I let out a string of curses that would have made a whole boatload of sailors blush when the sound of a throat clearing broke through my haze of rage.
I looked up to find Raylan Bradbury, Rhodes’s brother and the excursion guide for the resort, watching me like I’d lost my ever-loving mind. “Those roses do somethin’ to piss you off?”
I blew at the hair that had fallen into my face and tried to catch my breath as I struggled to get control of myself. “Uh... h-hi.”
His brows winged up toward his hairline. “You okay, Merritt? You need me to call Tristan for you or anything?”
“No. I mean, yeah. I’m fine.” I pushed my hair back, my fingers catching on a tangle from the little jig I’d just danced on those rose stems. My tongue poked out to wet my suddenly dry lips. “Um... did you happen to see someone sneaking around out here who looked out of place?”
His expression changed from humorous to serious. “What’s goin’ on, Mer? Did something happen?”
I curled my lips between my teeth. “Well. Kind of. But it really isn’t a big deal. It’s just... I think Warren was here.”
In the blink of an eye, his jaw tensed and he stiffened like he was on alert. “He what?”
“Really, there’s no reason to make this a thing. I’m pretty sure he’s already gone, anyway.”
“What’s going on?”
God ! Was everyone and their dog coming through here right now?
I looked over my shoulder as Lennix came up to join us. “Nothing,” I answered at the same time Raylan said, “Her fucker ex was here, lurkin’ around.”
Lennix’s eyes bugged out so wide I worried they were going to fall out of her skull. “ Are you serious?” she practically shrieked.
“Len, why don’t you rein in the screamin’ before you bust someone’s ear drum and get Merritt inside where it’s safe while I take a look around to see if he’s still here.”
The attitude Raylan just shot her way had me sucking in a gasp. Lennix threw him a glare so vicious I was shocked it didn’t melt the skin off his face, but she did it while hooking her arm through mine and giving me a little tug.
“And how about, while you’re out here looking, you see if you can locate that stick that’s been shoved up your ass and yank it out?” she snapped. Before he had a chance to rebut, she jerked me around and pulled me toward the lodge.
I chanced a glance over my shoulder and saw Raylan still standing there, watching as she stormed away. Competing expressions of anger and torment tore across his face before he shook himself out of it and took off in the opposite direction.
“Um, Len, sweetie, are you okay?”
She muttered a string of curses under her breath as we clomped up the steps of the lodge’s back deck. With her free hand, she pulled her cell from her back pocket and dragged her thumb across the screen, typing out something with that one digit with more skill than I had using both hands to text. The message she composed whooshed off, and she stuffed it back into her pocket before turning to me with a sympathetic smile. “Yeah, I’m good. He’s an asshole, don’t think about it for another second.”
The moment we hit the lobby, Ivy and Becky were there, crowding around us. “Oh my God. Merritt, are you okay?” Ivy’s words came out in a rush. I knew without having to ask who Lennix had been texting a second ago, and I had a feeling I was about to have a lot more company.
Sure enough, Lennix’s text had gone around like a game of telephone, and within a matter of minutes, Rae, her husband, Zach, and Zach’s parents, Rory and Cord, had gathered in the lobby at the lodge. Ten minutes later, Tristan came blasting through the door like a hurricane, his gorgeous face twisted up with fury and concern.
He didn’t stop until the tips of his shoes touched mine. He reached up and took my face in both his hands, bringing his forehead to mine, and inhaled like it was the first full one he’d taken in the past several minutes.
He held me like that for several seconds, like he needed to feel me to reassure himself I was here and I was okay before pulling back and scanning me up and down. He still hadn’t let me go as his eyes traced every single inch of me.
I wrapped my fingers around his wrists and pulled his hands from my face so I could twine our fingers together. “I’m fine. I swear.”
Zach spoke up then. The angry expression on his face was one I’d seen him wear frequently, but Rae had informed me it was all for show. He played at being grumpy, but really, he was as soft as fluff on the inside.
“Rest assured, this is never gonna happen again. I’m callin’ Rhodes tomorrow and havin’ security cameras installed around the property.”
My eyes widened. “You really don’t have to do that.” I was sure something like that cost a pretty penny, and I hated the thought of him shelling it out because of me.
His face softened. “Should’ve done it a long time ago, sweetheart. It’s for the best, really. It’ll make sure you’re safe from that asshole, and it’s also another level of security for our guests. It’s a win-win.”
I wasn’t sure I believed him, but the stubborn set of his jaw told me he wasn’t going to be deterred. “Fine. As long as it isn’t just because of me. I mean, I didn’t see him. I don’t know when he was here.”
Tristan’s thumbs swiped back and forth across the pulse points in my wrists, pulling my focus back to him. “What makes you certain he was here?”
I huffed out a breath. “He left flowers on my car.”
Tristan’s brows pulled together. “Flowers? And you’re sure it was him?”
I nodded, pulling my bottom lip between my teeth and biting down nervously because I knew Tristan was not going to like what I said next. “I’m sure. It was six long-stemmed red roses. Those were his apology flowers. He gave them to me every time he hit me.”
Sure enough, Tristan’s expression turned murderous. His cheeks grew ruddy and the vein in his temple began to throb. A haze moved over his eyes, and I knew he wasn’t with me anymore. He was somewhere else, lost in his anger.
I’d never seen that look on him before, and if this had been a few months earlier, it might have scared the hell out of me. But now I knew Tristan would never hurt me. He might have looked like he was seconds away from morphing into the Incredible Hulk, but there wasn’t a single part of me that feared what he might do.
“Hey. Come back to me.” I placed my hands on the sides of his neck and forced him to lean in closer to my level. “I’m right here. You need to come back.”
He blinked, and just like that, my Tristan was standing in front of me once again. “Dandelion.” That word came out in a rasp.
“Whatever he planned on those flowers doing didn’t work. I’m right here, and I’m fine, so you need to be too. Okay? He doesn’t get a second of our energy.”
Tristan’s chest rose on a controlled inhale. He closed his eyes, and his lips moved wordlessly as he counted to ten before giving those baby blues back to me. “What do you want to do? You want to go to the station and file a report?”
“I want to go home,” I answered without hesitation.
“Baby—”
“I stomped those flowers to death in a fit of rage.”
“She did,” Raylan confirmed. “Walked up on her grinding them to dust under her shoe and cussin’ up a storm that’d put the devil to shame.”
The corner of Tristan’s mouth trembled in a barely-suppressed grin at that news. “Would’ve paid to see that.”
I rolled my eyes. “Yeah, well, it wasn’t one of my finest moments. Though, I’d say I was entitled. But there’s no point in reporting this. As far as I’m concerned, Warren’s the only one who suffered anything from this little stunt.”
Tristan’s expression turned bewildered. “How do you figure that?”
A sly grin curled my lips up. “Because he wasted money on expensive flowers that I destroyed in two seconds flat. And when I get home, I’m going to forget all about this.”
Pride flashed across Tristan’s features right before he brought his lips down on mine. “So goddamn strong,” he said under his breath.
And he was right. I was strong. And that son of a bitch did not get to win.