47. Thea
47
THEA
I hoisted a bag of potting soil from the back of a Gator onto the display pile Rhodes and I were currently erecting at the side of the potting flowers.
“I’m thinking we could’ve hit it big in Ancient Egypt. Our pyramid-building skills are next level,” Rhodes said as she dropped another bag of soil on the pile.
I chuckled, putting the next one in place. “How’s your arm feeling?”
Rhodes rolled up her T-shirt sleeve and flexed her cast-free biceps. “Good as new.” She let her arm fall to her side. “How are you holding up with everything?”
Her gaze moved to the parking lot where a Mercer County Sheriff’s Department vehicle was parked. They’d been my frequent companions over the past week. Not twenty-four-seven but fairly constant. Trace must’ve been in contact with Shep because on the days when he picked me up from work, they peeled off quickly. But when I drove myself, they followed me home or were waiting for me at work when I got there.
But everything had been quiet. Too quiet. There’d been no word from Brendan. And that almost unsettled me more.
“I’m doing all right.” It wasn’t a lie, but it wasn’t the whole truth either. My nerves were eating away at me. But there was good, too. Every time I got too wound up to sit still, Shep found other things to keep me occupied.
And more than that, there were no more walls between us. Everything was out in the open. We’d spend time in the greenhouse or at Shep’s restoration project, planning out the landscaping for all around the house. Despite everything swirling around us, we were building a life.
Rhodes’ lips pursed, her eyes squinting. “I’m sensing a lie.”
I couldn’t help but laugh. She looked like she was trying to see through my skull. “Practicing that X-ray vision?”
“You know, I’ve always wished I was psychic. It would come in so handy.”
I grinned at her. “Have one of Lolli’s brownies and you might get there.”
“Oh, hell no. Been there, done that. I still haven’t recovered.”
I laughed again as I lifted the final bag of soil onto our perfect pyramid. “She probably did change your brain chemistry.”
Rhodes shook her head. “That woman needs someone to watch her every move. It’s a miracle she hasn’t ended up in jail yet.”
“Comes in handy having a grandson who’s the sheriff.”
Rhodes raised her arms over her head, stretching out her back. “Trace would be the first one to lock her up in an attempt to get her on the straight and narrow.”
“I can see her mugshot now.”
One side of Rhodes’ mouth kicked up. “It would make for a great Christmas card.”
I brushed the dirt off my hands. “Kind of want to report her for something now.”
Rhodes was quiet for a moment .
I glanced at her. “You okay?”
She blinked a few times as if coming out of a haze. “I love having you as a part of our family.”
The words were like a surprise attack, sneaking in with a sucker punch to my diaphragm. “Rho.”
“Love it for me because you’re awesome, funny, kind, and you’ll talk plants with me until we’re blue in the face.”
My lips wanted to twitch, but I was still trying to stay standing in the face of her words.
Rhodes’ eyes misted. “But I love it for Shep more. He’s different since you two started spending time together. I can’t totally explain it, but he’s more at ease. At peace. And I know he’s happy.”
My eyes began to burn. “He gives me the same. More.”
Rhodes reached out and took my hand, squeezing, “You deserve all the more.” She released me, wiping at her eyes. “Now that I’ve turned us both into puddles, I’m going to take the Gator back. You good here?” She did a quick survey of our surroundings as if to check for the bogeyman.
“I’m good,” I assured her. There were plenty of patrons around. Duncan was helping a couple pick out trees, and other staff members milled about, working on various tasks. “Shep should be here in a few to pick me up.”
“Okay.” Then Rhodes shot me a grin. “Can’t wait for our girls’ night.”
“Not you, too,” I groaned.
She laughed as she climbed into the Gator. “Not going to miss Lolli hitting on cowboys.”
I barked out a laugh as I gave her a wave and headed toward the parking lot to wait for Shep. On my way, I caught sight of a woman loading up a cart with various potted plants from our sale section. She struggled with an especially heavy one, and I hurried to help her.
“Here, let me help you with that.” I bent to help her lift it.
As she straightened, the light brown hair shifted out of her face. Panic slid through Raina Wheeler’s hazel eyes. I saw it then. The yellowing green of a fading bruise beneath her makeup. She’d done a good job of concealing it, but helping her with the plant, I was close enough to see beneath the mask.
“Th-thank you,” she mumbled.
“Of course.” My stomach twisted as I struggled for words. I wished Fallon was with me. She’d know what to say. What to do. “What are you working on?”
Raina kept moving, grabbing more flowers as quickly as possible. “I’m putting the finishing touches on the yard at one of our houses.”
I shifted from foot to foot. “With all of these, it’ll look amazing. Do you need any help? I’ve got a day off coming up?—”
“No.” The single word snapped out, but Raina flushed, quickly ducking her head. “I’m sorry. I just…Russ wouldn’t like you being there.”
The pain in my stomach intensified, a vicious cramping that wouldn’t let go. “You shouldn’t have to fear your partner, Raina. There’s a way out. I promise. I’ve been there?—”
“I’m fine. I don’t need your help or anyone else’s. Please, just stop.”
There was a desperation in Raina’s voice that had me taking a step away. It hurtled me back in time, to a season where I’d done the exact same thing. I’d lied to Nikki’s face and told her everything was fine. That I was happy. Because admitting how bad things had gotten was more than I could bear.
“Okay. But if you change your mind, I’m always here. Anytime, day or night.”
Raina ignored me, going back to loading up her cart.
I stayed for a moment longer, hoping she’d change her mind and tell me she wanted to leave the bastard. But she didn’t.
Shoulders slumping, I turned toward the parking lot. The second I looked up, my eyes locked with amber ones that flashed gold in the afternoon sunlight. Shep leaned against the back of his truck. It was a sight that had my mouth going dry.
That damn white T-shirt and dark-wash jeans, his Colson Construction ballcap shielding his eyes. But the way the sun was positioned, I could still see them beneath the bill. As I started toward him, Shep pushed off the truck. His muscles bunched and flexed as he moved—broad shoulders, defined chest, powerful thighs.
The moment I was within reach, he hauled me into him. “You okay?”
I didn’t hold back, simply burrowed into Shep. Because he’d come to mean comfort, safety, and reassurance when the world went haywire around me. “Raina has a bruise on her cheek. It’s old, but I saw it.”
Shep tensed, and I felt his focus flick to Raina and then back to me. “She say anything?”
I pulled back just enough that I could see his face and shook my head. “Nothing except she didn’t need my help.”
Shep’s expression softened, but I didn’t miss the fury beneath it. He reached up and brushed my hair away from my face, fingers lingering in the strands. “You tried. But you can’t force her to take your help. She has to reach out.”
“I know,” I whispered. “I just…I hate him for doing this to her. He’s broken her.”
“Thorn.”
“I know what that’s like. To be too scared to even reach for help.”
Shep’s hold on me tightened. “But you did. You got out. And we have to hope Raina will, too. We’ve given her all the paths we can.”
My hands fisted in Shep’s tee, the soft cotton soothing. Sometimes, it felt like my getting out of the relationship with Brendan had been nothing less than a miracle. I’d been so exhausted, I was ready to give up altogether. It had been one tiny flicker of strength when everything else had been pure darkness.
The blast of rage I’d received in return had been a weird balm. Because Brendan had been thousands of miles away filming a movie, I’d felt safe, even relieved. But I hadn’t realized he could reach me even then.
Shep’s thumb ghosted over my bottom lip. “I’m in awe of you.”
I blinked up at him.
“So fucking strong. ”
“I don’t always feel like that. Didn’t feel that back then. I felt so weak.”
His thumb stayed there, right at the swell of my lip. “You got out when you felt weakest. That just shows the depth of your strength. You clawed your way out, even if you had to crawl. Strength doesn’t matter when we’re at our best; it matters when we’re at our worst. And I don’t know anyone who’s stronger than you.”
My breath hiccuped, a hitch at the power of his words. Shep was always one who could shift my view of an experience just enough that my whole world changed. “I like the way you see me.”
He stared down at me, his gaze locked on mine. “I just see the truth.”
My throat burned, but I refused to get teary for a second time today. “You gonna take me home so I can show you how I feel about that, Shepard?”
Shep’s eyes flashed gold. “Fuck.”
I couldn’t help it, I laughed.
Shep bent then, throwing me over his shoulder and stalking toward his truck.
“Shep!” I squealed as I tried to twist out of his hold.
His arm locked across my thighs.
“This is my place of work,” I hissed, but I couldn’t help the hint of laughter that bled into my tone.
“Then you probably shouldn’t have made me hard in the damn parking lot. You’re a goddamn temptress, Thorn.”
Warmth surged through me at his words, a sensation that was nothing less than empowering. Even if I was being carted off over the man’s shoulder.
Shep opened the passenger door of his truck and deposited me inside. He pulled the seat belt across me, clicking it into place but not moving. My chest brushed against him with each inhale, that scent of sawdust and cedar swirling around me.
“Gonna be the death of me.” He took my mouth, tongue stroking in. Each languid lash had my insides twisting tighter at the promise of what was to come .
When he pulled back, we were both out of breath. Shep shook his head. “Like a drug. One of these days, I’m gonna end up fucking you somewhere we definitely shouldn’t, and I’m gonna get arrested for indecent exposure.”
A giggle bubbled out of me, my hand flying to my mouth.
“And she’s fucking cute on top of it,” he muttered. “I’m absolutely screwed.”
Shep shut my door, continuing to mutter to himself as he rounded the truck and climbed inside. Once we were on the main road toward my house, his hand slid up my thigh, thumb tracing absent-minded circles on my jeans.
“Did you make good progress today?” I asked as he drove.
Shep’s work had been interrupted since he played chauffeur to me half the time. He mixed up which days he took me and picked me up so Brendan wouldn’t be able to plan to get me alone if he was watching. Between him and my sheriff’s department detail, there was no way Brendan would try anything.
“We’re humming along. I’m hoping when one of my crews finishes up on another project, I can steal them for this for a few weeks. It would make a big difference.”
I toyed with a loose thread on my jeans. “I’m sorry I’m slowing things down.”
Shep’s gaze flicked to me. “You aren’t.”
I sent him a look. “If you weren’t picking me up, you’d still be working.”
“No, I’d be leaving to get a few hours in on your bathroom. I gotta pay my rent, unless you accept sexual favors.”
My lips twitched. “I don’t think I could afford that tongue of yours.”
Shep grinned. “Damn straight.” He moved his hand from my thigh, weaving his fingers through mine. “The house will get done. There’s no rush. And you’ll always be more important to me than any project.”
My fingers tightened around his. “Love you.”
“Love you, too. ”
Shep turned onto my long drive, his truck bumping along the gravel road. As we got closer, I caught sight of an SUV parked in front of my tiny house.
“You know who that is?” Shep asked.
I shook my head. “I don’t recognize it.”
The SUV was black, or maybe a dark blue with tinted windows. It had Oregon plates, but they weren’t ones I’d seen before, and that was the sort of thing I paid attention to.
Shep pulled up to my house but put some distance between us and the other vehicle. “Stay here.”
“Shep, wait.”
But he was already out of the truck. The moment he rounded the vehicle, someone stepped out of the SUV. My stomach sank the moment I saw the blond hair and blue eyes.
I shoved the door open as Shep stalked across the gravel toward Brendan, panic racing through me.
“You need to leave,” Shep barked.
Brendan’s face was a polite mask, but I saw the anger in his eyes, the way the blue went so cold you knew it would burn. “And you are?”
“No concern of yours, but you’re on private property. You’ve got to the count of five before I get the sheriff’s department out here.”
“But it’s not your property, is it?” Brendan’s gaze moved to me. “Come on, Selly. We need to talk.”
“I don’t have anything to say to you.” My voice was calmer than I felt. Just having him anywhere near my house was almost more than I could take.
Brendan sent me one of those smiles that used to reel me back in. The kind full of disarming charm that promised the world, only to pull the rug out minutes later. “Don’t be like that. I’ve missed you?—”
“Don’t talk to her. Don’t even fucking look at her,” Shep ground out.
Rage flashed across Brendan’s face for the briefest of moments before cocky arrogance replaced it. “But I’ve more than talked to her, Shepard. I know every inch of her body. I know what it sounds like when she?— ”
Shep lunged. He was fast, but I had sheer panic on my side. I grabbed hold of Shep’s T-shirt, trying to hold him back from decking Brendan. “Don’t,” I begged. “That’s exactly what he wants. He’d have you in jail before you could blink.”
Shep struggled for control, knowing I was right but not wanting to listen to reason.
Brendan started to laugh. “She’s got you on a short leash.”
A muscle ticked wildly in Shep’s jaw as he pulled his phone out of his pocket. “Calling the sheriff’s department.”
Anger flashed again in Brendan’s expression. He knew that a public police report was the last thing he needed, but his gaze cut to me. “It’s good that you remember who’s in charge, Selena. Who always will be.”
Shep made a move for Brendan again, but he slid into his SUV, gunning the engine and peeling out of my drive. Shep jumped back, narrowly avoiding a spray of gravel. He didn’t turn back to me until he was sure the SUV was gone for good. When he did, fury blasted across his face.
“Are you okay?” he gritted out.
No. I wasn’t okay. Not because Brendan knew where I lived or because he wasn’t leaving me the hell alone, it was for another reason entirely. One that brought all my fears roaring back to life.
“Shep, he knows who you are.”