Chapter 2 Greer
GREER
“Greer?” His voice is rougher than I remember it.
I lift my chin and see two familiar dark eyes staring down at me. He looks exactly like he had all those years ago, except there’s an edge to him. A fury simmering just beneath the surface.
“Kell?” comes my brother’s voice. “You there?”
He brings the phone up to his ear, barks, “I’m gonna have to get back with you,” and pockets his phone, never taking his eyes from me.
“Hi,” I say, giving a small wave.
“What are you doing here?”
I take a step back, shoulders slumping. “I…I can go. Sorry to waste your time.” I turn and start forward, but Kellan’s big hand lands on my shoulder, sending a shiver racing down my spine that has nothing to do with the mountain chill.
“No, you can come inside. I was just about to make dinner, and there’ll be enough for two.”
“Are you sure?”
“Yeah, it’s fine. I’ve had a rough day, and I ended up unexpectedly adopting a rooster, so if I’m grumpy, don’t take it personally.”
An unexpected smile curves my lips. “If it’s not a bother, I would appreciate a meal.”
The moment I step inside his cabin, an angry clucking fills the room.
Kellan grumbles as he grabs a red animal carrier and brings it to a habitat in the corner.
He unzips it, and tosses some feed into the habitat to lure the squawker inside.
“If you keep carrying on like this, I’ll have to return you to Miss Lackney, where you’ll most likely end up in a stew.
Or, maybe you’ll get upgraded to tasty little nugget. ”
I gasp. “That’s terrible! Who would be so cruel?” The fact that chicken nuggets are my favorite food is not lost on me.
The rooster clucks in agreement.
“Honestly, I can’t begrudge a woman for processing her own food. In fact, I respect the hell out of that.” He looks down at the rooster who’s gazing up at him as though expecting more treats. “But I couldn’t let Gerry suffer that fate.”
I reach inside the pen to pat Gerry’s head. “I heard you were a veterinarian. It must be nice to love what you do.”
“Some days weigh on you more than others,” he says offhandedly, then heads into the kitchen. “Dinner will take about an hour to cook, but help yourself to the fruit bowl or anything in the pantry.”
While he’s in the kitchen, I glance around the main room of the cabin, in awe of the rustic luxury he’d inherited from his father.
When they were young, Kell and Rus were thick as thieves, always making mischief together. When Kell joined the military, my brother helped keep his affairs in order at home, and when he returned and proposed to his high school sweetheart, my brother leaped at the opportunity to be the best man.
Then, one day, he was gone, leaving behind his fiancé and cutting all contact with everyone who cared about him. I was sixteen at the time and beside myself with grief.
My brother never understood why he disappeared, and eventually gave up trying to contact him.
Starving, I head to the dining table with a bundle of bananas, eating three.
“If I’d realized you were so hungry, I would have made something that didn’t take so long.”
My cheeks flush. “Sorry…I was in such a hurry to get here, I forgot to eat.”
“Yeah, about that.” Kell grabs the back of the chair opposite mine, and pulls it around, straddling it. “I need to know what kind of trouble you are in?”
“T-trouble?” I stammer.
“There has to be a reason you drove cross-country in the beater you have parked outside my cabin. It’s a miracle it made it up the mountain, or that your brother let you pull a stunt like that.”
“My brother didn’t let me go, but he was glad to see me leave—not that he doesn’t want me around. It’s just…” I look down at the table and unleash a shaky breath.
“Who hurt you?” Kellan growls.
My eyes dart to his. “No one hurt me.” I shake my head, dazed. “I just got to be too much for my parents.”
“Too much?”
“I wasn’t contributing enough, and they had to think about the future.” My fingers drum nervously on the table. “And I didn’t like what that future looked like.”
“Did they kick you out?”
“Not exactly.”
“Then what the hell were they going to do?”
I swallow hard, praying I don’t break down. “They have a family friend. An older man with hard eyes who never smiles. He asked my parents for my hand, and…well…they didn’t give me a choice.”
For a long moment, there’s silence.
And then, rage.
“Are you fucking kidding me?” Kell snarls, eyes dark and savage. His massive chest rises and falls, muscles twitching under his flannel like he’s using every last ounce of restraint to hold himself back from my parents who are several states away.
The raw power in him should scare me.
It doesn’t.
Heat stirs low in my belly, pulling my mind to places it ought not go. I’d thought I’d gotten over my childhood crush years ago.
Apparently, I was wrong.
Tears threaten to pour down my cheeks, but I blink them back, determined not to appear weak.
“Why didn’t you try finding another job?” Kell finally asks.
“The few I’d be qualified for wouldn’t pay me enough to live on my own. Not with my condition.”
“Condition?”
“I’m dyslexic. Or, as my mother says, ‘a little dull’. I struggled in school, so my parents recommended I drop out to work more hours at the family restaurant. Now they want to sell it and pawn me off to their friend.”
He grumbles a slew of curses under his breath, his muscles so taut, they stretch the seams of his shirt.
“I’m not looking for a handout,” I assure him. “Just a place to crash while I figure out what to do next—just a few nights. I’ll cook, clean, and—”
“I’ll be having none of that.”
My mouth falls open and the familiar feeling of fear coils in my gut. “I’m sorry. I’ll be on my way—”
“I didn’t say you had to go, but you’re not my maid, and that’s that.” He gets up from his seat and goes to the pot simmering on the stove.
I follow him. “I could clean your clinic each day while I study for my GED?”
“You’ll get your GED—but you’re not lifting a damn finger.” He takes on a lecturing tone. “Not when you’re supposed to be studying.”
“But how will I earn my keep?”
“By passing your exam.”
I chuckle derisively. “Then expect to be disappointed.”
He ladles two helpings of stew into bowls and moves back to the table. I return to my seat, wondering if I’ve fallen and bonked my head, because there’s no way Kellan Blackwood is just going to let me live at his house indefinitely while I study.
He starts in on his stew, completely unbothered while my stomach is twisted in knots.
“Do you not like stew?” he asks between bites.
Ignoring his question, I blurt, “I can’t do it.”
“Can’t do what?”
“Pass the exam. I’ve already tried. Twice. And failed.”
He takes another bite and shrugs his big shoulders. “Then I guess you’ll have to try again.”
“And if I fail?”
“Then I’ll start tutoring you myself, if I have to.”