Chapter 7
Knock-On: When the ball is accidentally knocked forward resulting in a penalty.
Translation: Like accidentally passing out and having to be man-handled off a van by your best friend’s hot brother.
Everly
I feel like I was hit by a bus, I think to myself as I wake up, not knowing where the heck I am. I sit up in the big white fluffy bed I find myself in and
glance around the room that’s drenched in broad daylight. My eyes move to the window as I hear a creek bubbling outside. I
would swear I was dreaming if I didn’t feel so fucking awful.
“Okay, that Ambien was a bad life choice, I think,” I croak as I lick my dry lips and crave water something fierce.
I thought taking it on my way up to Fletcher Mountain would mean it would kick in just after I got settled. I guess I was
wrong because I don’t even remember coming into this house.
And what a house it is! My dad and uncles didn’t start building this place until after I went off to university, and it was
declared move-in ready right before I graduated. I glance into the attached bathroom and note glossy white tile and double
sinks. Everything is so shiny and new. The smell of bacon permeates my nose, showing other signs of life in this house, so
I yank the covers back and crawl out of bed to investigate.
“Ew . . . I’m in my airport clothes still.” I wrinkle my nose and jerk my head up when I hear loud footsteps thundering down the hall before the door bursts open.
“Mom, she’s awake!” Ethan screams loudly, his dark hair flopped over his eyes.
“Where am I?” I ask my little brother.
“The Fletcher Family Getaway . . . duh.” He rolls his eyes, clearly annoyed by me. “Come on. Mom’s making breakfast.”
He turns and walks away, so after taking a moment in the attached bathroom, I follow him through the hallway, taking in my
new digs that I have no recollection of seeing last night. There’s a slew of boxes lining the wall filled with my stuff from
my bedroom back at my dad’s, and I wonder what time it is and where my phone ended up.
I emerge to find Cozy at the stove in the kitchen, turning bacon, and my dad is at the white quartz island, reading a paper.
Glancing around our new home, I wince against the bright sunlight pouring in through all the giant windows everywhere.
“I have no memory of getting into that bed.” I point down the hall, and my parents both swing their heads to me. “Or this
house.”
“Good morning!” Cozy says cheerily as she bustles over and gives me a big hug. I wish she wouldn’t touch me because I feel
filthy. She chucks my chin playfully. “Trista said you were pretty out of it last night. That boy Wolf had to carry you inside.”
“He carried me?” I gasp, my jaw permanently on the floor as my body erupts in chills. Oh, God, maybe it’s good I don’t remember
any of that. I’m sure he scowled the whole time, pissed he had to be so close to me.
“You don’t think he drugged her, do you?” My dad directs this question to my stepmom, his brow furrowed with worry. “Dammit,
I knew we should have come up the mountain with them.”
“I took a sleeping pill, Dad.” I groan and pinch the bridge of my nose. And then he fucking carried me to my bed. When I wasn’t even conscious enough to enjoy it.
Cozy tsks knowingly. “Everly, I told you those things are strong.”
“I’m gathering that.” I blow out a long breath and rake my hands through my disastrous hair. “I need a shower. I can’t think
straight.”
“Food will be ready when you come out. Go feel human again.”
I turn to make my way down the hallway and then pause to confirm one more time. “He actually carried me?”
Cozy winces and nods. “I’m afraid so, Sea Monster.”
I groan and tip my head back. “This is so embarrassing.”
I emerge twenty minutes later in a clean pair of leggings and a Trinity T-shirt that I found in my suitcase. Someone must
have left it in my room along with my tote bag and phone, which is now charging on the wall.
Cozy has just dished the last plate, so I join them at the counter to eat. “Um . . . love the house,” I say around a mouthful
of bacon, feeling mildly more awake. “That shower is amazing.”
“Right!” Cozy smiles triumphantly, glancing up at the lofted area above us that overlooks the living room and glass side of
the house. “The one upstairs is great too. There’s two bedrooms upstairs with a Jack and Jill bathroom. And there’s another
full bathroom around the corner there off the living room, with a soaker tub. I’ll give you the full tour after you’ve eaten.”
“Amazing,” I reply with a sigh. “I should sleep upstairs though, yeah? I don’t want the primary room in case you guys want
to come up on a weekend.”
“Oh, don’t be silly,” Cozy says with a wave of her hand. “We can sleep upstairs if we come up. It makes no sense for you to take a smaller bedroom when you’re living here full-time.”
I sigh heavily. “It’s too much. I’m going to pay you rent.”
“No,” Cozy argues.
“Deal,” my dad says over top of Cozy’s no.
“Max!”
“She can contribute to the household expenses, Cassandra.” Dad pushes his eggs around his plate. “I know Trista isn’t paying
her much, but a little rent will be good for her. She already has a free car, free insurance, free cell phone.”
Cozy hits my dad with a stark look. “Are you going to tell her what’s sitting outside?”
My eyes snap to my dad. “What’s sitting outside?”
“A new car,” Ethan answers casually.
“Ethan,” Dad growls, looking over his shoulder. “It was supposed to be a surprise.”
Speechless. I am speechless.
I rush out the front door onto the deck, and my jaw drops when I see a pearly white Range Rover sitting in front of the cabin
with a big red bow on it. I hear my family joining behind me, and I turn around, shaking my head from side to side.
“I know you liked your truck, but it needed new tires, and it was time for an upgrade. This has four-wheel drive, so you won’t
have to even think when you’re driving up here in bad weather. It has a five-star safety rating and is fully electric with
hookups just over—”
My dad’s voice is cut off when I barrel into him, hugging him like I did when I was eleven years old and leaving him for the
week to go to my mom’s. Back when I used to worry about him being lonely and sad and thinking he’d never find love again.
He grunts, clearly caught off guard, but in seconds, his arms bind around me, tight, familiar, and so incredibly safe.
“Thank you, Daddy,” I say, my body shaking with the tears flowing freely down my face. “You didn’t have to do this.”
He releases me, and when I back up to look at him, I see his eyes are red-rimmed. “I’m proud of you, kid. Going to school
in Dublin took guts, and you stuck with it, even when it was hard. You’re lucky I didn’t buy you your own mountain.”
I expel a garbled laugh and look over to Cozy, who’s full-on crying just like me. I close the distance between us and hug
her just as fiercely, her warmth radiating straight through my heart. “Thank you, Mama Cozy,” I croak, using the name I gave
her after she and my dad got married all those years ago. “You guys are too much. I’ve missed you all so much.”
“You can say that again,” Dad huffs knowingly. “No more going several months with no visits, okay, kid? I’m not too proud
to call this car a bribe for quality time.”
“I’m home for good, I swear.” I grin back at him, and he shoots me a wink.
“Tell her about the party,” Ethan blurts out as he stuffs a pancake into his mouth.
“What party?” I snap my head back to my stepmom.
“Ethan,” Cozy chastises. “That was also supposed to be a surprise.”
“What party?” I ask again, my interest piqued.
“Your uncles are hosting something for you tonight down at the Mercantile,” Dad answers with a shrug. “You can’t honestly
be that shocked.”
“Seriously?”
“Yeah, are you up for it?” Cozy asks, inspecting me in that motherly way she has about her. She reaches out and tugs on my
short locks, marveling over my hair just like my mom did.
“Yes, absolutely.” I smile brightly.
“Your Ambien hangover is magically cured?” my dad drones, pulling the keys out of his pocket and dangling them at me.
I rush over and grab them out of his hand. “Yes, definitely! I am dying to see everyone. I bet Stevie is so big now, and I want to see Addison actually pregnant. I can’t believe no one is over here knocking down the door already.”
“Dad told them not to come.” Ethan shoots a glare at our father.
He frowns back at him. “My brothers will have her up here all summer long. I can claim her first day back home.”
My chest swells at my dad’s sweet sign of affection, so I pocket the keys and walk over to give him a big hug. “Love you too,
Dad,” I say with a quick kiss on his stubbled cheek. “Want to go for a drive with me?”
“You bet I do.” He huffs out a noise before pulling me back in for one more hug. “It’s good to have you home, kid.”
I stand outside the barn, anxiously trying to find the nerve to go upstairs and invite Wolf to the gathering tonight. It was
Cozy’s idea, and I know it’s the right thing to do. He doesn’t have a car, he has no friends, he’s probably hungry. It’s the
decent thing to do.
Just go and invite him.
Only now that I know he carried me into my house last night, I feel all types of mortification stopping me in my tracks. At
six foot tall, I’m not exactly light as a feather. Never have been. In fact, I remember a doctor giving me a speech once about
how I shouldn’t compare my weight to my friends’ weights because they’re so much shorter than I am. Not to mention, I’ve put
on a few pounds over the last four years. I hate thinking about my jiggly, travel-stinky body in his arms.
As he remarked on the plane, he’s never had issues attracting female company, so I just feel a bit . . . embarrassed. Disappointed. I know he’ll never see me as attractive, for reasons that probably have nothing to do with my looks, but still. A girl has her pride.
“Just go in there,” I tell myself by way of a pep talk. “Go in to say hi to Millie and Handsome and Reggie. Start with the
animals, and then you can march upstairs and knock on his door. Just knock on his door. It’s that easy.”
“Knock on whose door?” a deep voice booms from behind me, and I swerve around to find Conri the Convict standing before me
in nothing but a pair of rugby shorts and sneakers.
His chest is heaving and drenched with sweat as he struggles to catch his breath. He pulls his headphones down around his
neck, catching me staring at his corded and ink-covered muscles like I’m committing them to memory to draw in my furry notebook
later. Maybe I am. And maybe I am mortified for the second time in less than twenty-four hours, but I can’t seem to tell myself
to stop the staring.
“Handsome’s door,” I blurt out. “The horse. Handsome the horse. I don’t know if you’ve met, but I was just getting ready to
knock on his door and, um . . . reconnect.” I swallow the painful knot in my throat as I try and fail to tear my eyes away
from his massive thighs in those damn shorts of his. Talk about reverse sexism here, I scold myself and finally meet his gaze.
“Knock on his gate, you mean?” Wolf side-eyes me.
“Yeah, you could call it that. In America, we call them doors . . . sometimes. Just a cultural difference . . .” My voice
trails off as I debate flinging myself off this mountain.
“Okay, I’ll leave you to it, then.”
Wolf makes his way past me before I open my mouth and blurt out, “Are you all settled, then?”
He stops and turns on his heel. “Yeah, just about. My sister is shipping more of my stuff, but I’m sorted enough for now.”
“Do you like the apartment?” I glance up at the little window where the bathroom is that looks down over the mountain compound.
“The flat? Yeah, it’s grand. Trista said if I keep the pens mucked out, my stuff won’t smell like a barn too awful.”
“Oh, so you met Trista in person, then.” I glance back at my uncle Wyatt’s house. It was the first house they built up here
since this land is technically all his. It was just a few years later that my uncles Calder and Luke added their homes up
here. And now my dad too.
“Yeah, I met her last night.”
“Did you meet my uncles?” I bite my lip in preparation. I can’t imagine how that first greeting would have gone.
“No, not yet. It’s been a bit quiet up here. I thought there’d be more people around.”
“Um . . . yeah, I guess they’re planning a big surprise party for me tonight down the mountain at the Mercantile. It’s the
pub in Jamestown.”
“Oh, I saw that place when we arrived last night. Doesn’t sound like much of a surprise if you know about it, does it?”
“Ethan kind of spilled the beans.”
“Ah, sure.”
“Do you want to come?” I ask, feeling blood rush to my cheeks. “I mean, you don’t have to, but you could meet everybody, and
I can show you a bit of Jamestown beforehand if you want.”
His eyes narrow as his brows twitch with a flash of discomfort, like he’s not sure he wants to say yes. Then it’s gone and
replaced with something more guarded. “Sure, I’ll come. What time?”
God, why did that make my heart nearly skip a beat. “Um . . . we could leave in like an hour?”
“Perfect. I’ll have a shower, then. Thanks much.”
I exhale a huge breath when he turns to make his way inside, grateful I got through that interaction without having to discuss what happened last night. I turn to make my way back toward my cabin but stop dead in my tracks when he calls out to me one more time.
“Oh, and Stretch?”
“Yeah?” I turn and smile brightly at him.
“Were you aware that you talk in your sleep?”
A pit settles in my stomach. “Um . . . your sister mentioned it a time or two. What did I say?”
“Something about a watermelon,” he replies with a quizzical brow. “It was very flattering, though I’m not sure it’s decent
to repeat within earshot of the precious animals.”
My cheeks flame with humiliation, but then another thing causes my body to physically react in a different way.
The rugby bad boy is . . . smiling.
And dare I say . . . chuckling?
It’s low and rough, and it sends a rush of warmth over my skin that gives me goose bumps. His eyes are practically twinkling
with mirth. I’ve rarely seen Wolf smile. I’ve certainly never heard him laugh. Who the hell is this guy in front of me? And
is he acting like he likes what he heard?
I blow out a long breath and lift my arms into a shrug, trying to feign confidence I just barely feel. “Maybe if you weren’t
so boring, I wouldn’t have fallen asleep on you.”
“Oh, so that’s how it is?” He chuckles softly. “Very well, then. I’ll try to be more stimulating company tonight.”
He taps the barn gently with his fist and shoots me a dark look before heading off and leaving me positively swirling with
emotion.
Stimulating company, indeed.