Chapter 14
14
“You’ve got that look on your face,” his momma accuses suspiciously during one of their weekly calls. “Who is she?”
The morning after puppygate, I incessantly yawn over a cup of black coffee and try to rub away the crick in my neck gained from sleeping at a freaking right angle all night.
Not that I slept that much.
It took some coaxing and a lot of food-related bribery, but eventually, Hunter and I managed to get the mom dog—so creatively nicknamed Mama—out of the barn and into the house. With Lux's permission, she and her puppies slept in the laundry room on a makeshift bed of old clothes—likely the warmest, safest, coziest night of sleep they’ve ever had.
In stark contrast, I spent the night hunched over the kitchen table, dozing and regretting volunteering to watch them. I only did it because Eliza was trying to convince Lux to let her stay up with them, and Lux was worried the puppies might be sick or something and they'd take a turn for the worse and it would freak Eliza out, so I offered myself up as the sacrifice.
And I wasn’t the only one.
When everyone else got their fill of adorable puppies and went to bed last night, I expected Hunter to do the same. Instead, he flicked on the kettle, made us both a cup of tea, and plopped down on the kitchen floor with that same puppy from the barn curled up on his lap. Half the reason I barely got any sleep was because I was so freaking aware of the unignorable man in my vicinity, too self-conscious to doze off. Although, I must’ve at some point because I woke up to the sound of birds chirping, a pillow tucked beneath my head, the dogs' makeshift food bowls full, and my sleepover buddy nowhere in sight.
Sipping my third caffeine hit, I absentmindedly stroke the puppy on my lap—the runt of the litter, and the cutest of the bunch, in my opinion, with his fluffy black-and-brown dappled body and the white sock-like markings on his tiny paws. I think I really love him, and I think he might love me too. At the very least, he loves sinking his surprisingly sharp teeth into my fingers.
“You should keep him.”
I glance at Lux where she leans against the counter, smirking at me over the rim of her mug. “You know I can’t.”
There’s no room at my place for a dog, even one as small as this little guy. Herc, I’ve been calling him—short for Hercules. It’s silly, but it makes me laugh, though I’m begrudgingly aware that naming him is only setting myself up for heartbreak. That doesn’t stop me from cuddling him close, and it’s a good thing I do because when the front door swings open, he starts wriggling like he’s plotting an escape.
When I see who’s walking inside, I can’t say I don’t share the sentiment.
Flicking her red locks over her shoulder, Lottie regards me with the usual amount of disdain. But, because apparently even Satan herself has a soft spot for puppies, her gaze softens when it lands on the little furballs squirming on the kitchen floor. “They okay?”
“Uh-huh,” Lux confirms, looking amused at her sister's rare display of an emotion other than anger. “Just a little skinny.”
A grunt of acknowledgment makes me wonder if Lottie’s been hanging around Hunter too much.
One of the puppies scuttle towards her, the white patch on its butt marking it as the girl we’ve affectionately nicknamed Grouch. She doesn't like cuddles or affection, she's the whiniest of the bunch, and she loves to bite—her sharp little teeth nipped a chunk out of Hunter’s thumb when he carried her inside last night.
Naturally, the little demon has a thing for Lottie.
Naturally, the feeling is mutual.
Scooping Grouch up, Lottie cradles her gently, receiving a remarkable zero injuries in the process. Without another word, she stomps upstairs, and a few seconds later, her bedroom door slamming shut echoes throughout the house.
When music starts floating downstairs, a decibel below deafening, I grimace at Lux. “Is she still…” I trail off, waving a hand in the air as I try to find the right word.
“A nightmare?” Lux finishes for me with a scoff, rolling her eyes, but I see the flash of concern that darkens them. “ Yup . I have no idea what to do with her. She's not even talking to Grace anymore. Or maybe she is and Grace just won't tell me anything because of that fucking twin bond thing.”
“Should she…” I shift in my seat, nervous to offer advice I’m not sure is wanted. “I don't know, talk to someone, maybe?”
“Like a therapist?” Lux pulls a face. “I brought that up to Jackson once. She overheard and ran away for an entire weekend. Said if we forced her to go, she'd never come back.”
Jesus. “I'm sorry, Lux.”
“It's fine. Five kids, statistically one's gonna be a problem child, right?” It’s a weak joke, a thin veil to hide how much I know this whole situation hurts her. But she doesn’t want to talk about it, as is made evident by her crouching down and scooping up the puppy nibbling on her socked feet—the one who cried every time Lux puts him down, and I swear Lux whimpers a little when she does too. “Speaking of problem children.”
“You know what you're gonna do with them?”
“We're keeping them, right?” Both of us jump, our attention flitting to the doorway where Eliza suddenly lurks.
Groaning, Lux tosses her little sister a reprimanding look. “How long have you been there, sneak?”
“Somewhere around nightmare .” Eliza grins, flopping into a chair and bending down to scoop up a puppy—another girl with a white patch on the left side of her face who she’s been calling Pirate. “We have to keep them.”
“Puppies are a lot of work, Eliza,” Lux chides gently. “We're already stretched pretty thin here.”
Pure, outraged horror contorts Eliza’s face. “We can't just abandon them!”
“We're not abandoning them, kiddo. They're not ours to keep.”
“But they have no one,” Eliza whines, holding Pirate up to her face and pouting. “Look at this little face. How can you give her up?”
“Elizabeth, stop trying to manipulate your sister with puppies,” Jackson reprimands as he waltzes into the kitchen, pulling a yawning Luna behind him. Both of them are dressed for the day, stuffed tote bags slung over their shoulders and sunglasses propped atop their heads. Jackson stops short when he sees everyone still in pajamas, groaning. “You guys aren't ready?”
“For what?”
“Creek day.”
“Creek half -day,” Lux corrects him. “We're heading up after lunch. Some of us have to actually work to be rich, Oscar.”
Jackson scoffs, flicking his sister on the forehead as he steals her coffee. “You have just as much money as I do.”
“Yeah, and I'm trying to keep it that way. By running your ranch,” Lux teases, elbowing Jackson in the gut.
He rolls his eyes as he ruffles her hair, but Eliza’s loud groan cuts off any retort. “Can we keep the dogs or not?”
Both siblings’ playful expressions fade. “Eliza…”
“ Please . I promise I'll take care of them.”
“You're gonna pick up six dogs worth of poop every day?”
“I already shovel a million pounds of horse shit every day.”
I try and fail to stifle a laugh.
“Please, Lux.” Eliza pouts. “I'll clean up after them, I'll feed them, I'll walk them. I’ll even drive them to the vet and pay for their vaccinations, I swear.”
I swear, with each pathetic blink, I see the resistance leave Lux’s body. All it takes is the weepy pup trying to climb onto her shoulder letting out a whine to break her. “Two weeks. You get a two-week trial run, and I swear to God—”
An exuberant squeal cuts her off as Eliza throws her arms around her sister’s neck. “Thank you! Thank you, thank you, thank you!”
“Don’t thank me yet,” Lux grumbles, doing a piss-poor job of hiding her smile. “I have to ask around if anyone’s missing a dog. They might belong to someone.”
“They do.” Eliza grins, wriggling her brows. “ Us .”
Icy water is a blessed reprieve against the summer heat.
Submerged in the deepest part of the creek that borders the Jacksons’ property, I relish in the quiet of the underwater, the relief from the sun, a single moment alone. The creek, the heat, this whole day, really, reminds me of trips my family took when I was a kid. We never went far, bouncing around Sequoia camping for a weekend or so, just me and my parents. They’re fond memories, some of the best I have, and after the past few weeks, I’m glad to be reminded that pleasant moments in my childhood actually do exist.
I stay underwater until my lungs beg to surface. When I eventually come up for air, a cacophony of noise greets me, and I can’t help but smile at the chaos.
Lottie, unsurprisingly, opted to stay at home with the dogs, but everyone else is here. Luna, Eliza, Jackson, and Grace are locked in an anything but friendly chicken fight, the former two balancing on the shoulders of the latter as they try to knock each other in the water. Lux hides in the shade cast by the tall trees bordering the creek, quietly introducing her son to the horses everyone but them rode over; much to Jackson’s chagrin, Alex is too young to mount a horse, so Lux drove with everyone’s stuff.
Even though I knew he was coming, I was still surprised when Hunter mounted Gaia and rode here alongside me and Aster. I was even more surprised when, instead of lurking on the shore, he stripped off and waded knee-deep into the water. He said he’s not a people person, and the Jacksons are definitely a whole lot of people, but maybe they’re the exception. I’m glad he came—something about him being alone on the ranch while we all messed around made my chest hurt—even if it does mean it took me a little longer to work up the nerve to strip off my dress.
Usually, I’m fine with my body. Sure, when I was younger, I would endlessly lament my slightly-above-average height of five-eight and yearn for a flat stomach and a thigh gap, but it’s not something I fuss over incessantly anymore.
But I’m not normally wearing a swimsuit borrowed from Lux, who’s about three inches shorter than me and a whole lot better endowed. The neckline dips low while the legs cut high, clinging to my hips and emphasizing their width and where they dip, and don’t even get me started on the material riding up my butt.
All that insecurity is part of the reason why I only get out of the water when my fingers start to prune. Carefully skirting around the ongoing emphatic duel, I hustle to the towels strewn across the shoulder and plop down on one, knees drawn up tight to my chest so I can semi-hide. Eyes closed, I tilt my face towards the sun, enjoying a few minutes of relative solitude before someone inevitably joins me.
When that happens, I know who it is without opening my eyes; no one else would momentarily block out the entire sun, nor make the ground quite literally shake as they flop down beside me.
Cracking open one eye, I sigh.
It's not fair. It's really not fair. How the hell does someone just look like that?
Propped up on his side, Hunter looks out at the water—half-naked and glistening, just as Lux promised. Water droplets track a path down his torso towards the waistband of black swim trunks that ride low on his hips, high on his thighs.
I sigh again.
“You okay?”
My gaze snaps to his. I allow myself a singe second to acknowledge how pretty his eyes look in the sun, to note how the light really brings out the green in them, before looking away and nodding.
“You hikin’ this weekend?”
“I was thinking about it.” Stretching my legs out in front of me, I twist onto my side, mimicking the way Hunter is laying. It's probably a trick of the light, but I swear his eyes scan the length of me for a moment, lingering on my bare hips, the curve of my hip, the exposed skin of my chest, before flitting away too quickly for me to really know. “Did you wanna join me?”
He takes his time replying—to torture me or because he actually needs to think about it, I’m not sure. “Yeah. I do.”
I force myself to restrain the wide smile that threatens to break free, aiming for something non-demonic instead. “Cool.”
“Hey!” Near the shore, Lux passes her son off to her brother as he gets out of the water. Her gaze ping-pongs between me and Hunter. “Coming in?”
Eyes narrowing at the mischief emanating from my friend, I’m about to call back that we just got out when the sound of rustling interrupts me. Glancing to the source, I find Hunter clambering to his feet. He brushes his hands against his damp shorts before holding them out to me. After a beat of hesitation, I take them and let him haul me up, my grip lingering in his for a beat longer than it should before his hands drop.
One of them rises again, and I watch with wide eyes as it brushes my damp hair back from my face. “You had a leaf in your hair," he murmurs, but that doesn’t much explain why his hand settles on top of my head.
“Thanks,” I manage to squeak out, praying he can't hear the way my heart is thumping erratically in my chest. It barely returns to its normal rhythm when he cracks another smile and pushes me away playfully.
Hoping the cold water will cool down my flushed skin, I follow Hunter into the creek, not making it more than half a dozen steps before I'm splashed by Lux. The minute I turn to her, she splashes me again, a smirk lighting up her face.
I raise my brows. What?
Nothing, she mouths back, but her smirk doesn't fade.
I splash her and she shrieks, launching herself at me and pushing down on my shoulders to dunk me underwater. I come up seconds later, choking out a watery laugh before I lunge, wrapping my arms around her neck and trying to pull her under in retaliation.
It doesn't take much encouragement for the others to join in and soon, the sound of splashing and shrieking fills the air again. There's so much water flying at me from every direction, I can barely open my eyes, or hear anything other than screeching, which is why I don't see him coming.
When an arm bands around my waist, I don’t need to glance down to confirm the thick limb belongs to Hunter, but I do so anyway, momentarily gulping at the weirdly alluring sight. A second later, I’m lifted clean out of the water and spun around so quickly, I gasp as I steady myself on broad shoulders.
Under different circumstances, I'd be a lot more flustered by our current position. But right now, I'm way more occupied with the look of pure evil in Hunter's eyes as he wades into deeper water, pretending to drop me a couple of times until my yelps reach a new decibel of shrill. “ Don't ,” I plead playfully, digging my fingers into his traps. “Please, Hunter.”
His gruff laugh vibrates throughout my entire body. “You splashed me first.”
“I didn't mean to!” I wriggle in his grip to absolutely no avail. “ Hunter! ” His name ends in a shriek as he tosses me away, and I swear I’m airborne for a whole minute before I crash back into the water.
There’s this moment when I resurface, choking on water and laughter in equal measures, and the first thing I see is sparkling hazel eyes followed by a roguish smile, when my heart does this weird flipping thing in my chest.
Crap, I find myself thinking as my smile falters. You’re in so much trouble, Caroline.