21. Reid
Manto and I finish right at four and unload the boat, leaving it in better shape than when we took it out. I make sure to scrub everything down, letting him drive back as I do, just so Al doesn’t have anything to bitch at me for.
Before I leave for the day, I stop by and check on Hope’s Grace. She’s still at the dock, but in a few days, the parts should arrive.
It’s bullshit. That damned engine was fine. I just replaced it two years ago. There’s no reason for it to start having problems now.
If it hadn’t broken down, I’d be going about my daily life. I’d be finishing up my loose ends in peace, without any of this fucking guilt on my chest weighing me down before I head to Alaska. Not here in Port Nova, wasting time.
Of course, the moment I think about wasting time, Nova pops into my head. Does she think we’re just wasting time? Something about that pisses me off.
If the engine hadn’t broken down, I never would have come to Port Nova. We never would have met.
Maybe that would have been a good thing.
The last couple nights have been strange. Holding her while she slept, waking up to her in the morning. And now that I know who she really is, I’m finding it harder and harder to ignore that shitty little term divine intervention.
I wasn’t meant to meet Nova any more than I was meant to come to this town.
But I did and now I can’t get her out of my head.
Every day I spend with her, it gets harder to think about leaving. I could stay, but then I would only disappoint her. I can’t be what she wants. I’ll get bored. She’ll hate me for it.
Not that she’d want me once she learned the truth. You don’t murder someone and then get handpicked by God for redemption.
No. I’m a monster. She just doesn’t know it yet.
I should leave her alone. Go to the inn. Finish up my books for the summer and get my shit together to leave in a couple weeks.
Still, I make my way through town and find myself walking toward the school where she’ll be having her art class. As I pass the Quick Mart, I stop for some popsicles for the kids because it’s hot today. I know I’m just making up shitty excuses to see her, but I’d be lying if I told you I’m a strong man where she’s concerned.
I feel like a drug-addicted maniac who needs his fix, but I can’t stop.
Something about Nova Fischer just . . . drives me fucking crazy.
The school is quiet when I arrive, save for the sounds of chatter from the far end. I follow the sounds, the feeling of her presence growing stronger, and I swear I can smell her fucking perfume.
As soon as I see her, my chest aches.
Then my cock.
She’s wearing this pretty little sundress that I’d love to push up around her waist. It’s something I would expect any other teacher to wear in the summer, but on her, it’s sexy as fuck.
Do I have a teacher kink?
Or is Nova?
“That’s a very pretty horse,” she says to Abigail, a little girl I met a couple days ago when I stopped by her dad’s hardware store in town for some nails to fix a couple loose boards in the floor. From the doorway, I can see it’s a horse, colored purple with green polka dots and blue hair.
“It’s mane is made of fish,” the little girl says, pointing at the squiggles that must be fish-hair.
“Wow,” Nova says, dropping down in front of her. “You know, you have a very creative mind. You’re going to do great things, someday.”
“Like buy a boat?” Abigail asks, her little blue eyes lighting up with stars.
“Girls can’t be fishermen,” a boy beside her interjects and Nova shoots him a look.
“Now,” she scolds. “Girls can be whatever they want to be, just like boys can be whatever they want to be.”
“What about an astronaut?” another girl asks.
Nova chuckles. “Even an astronaut.”
“I want to be an artist, like you, Ms. Fischer.”
“You have to be a good artist,” another boy says and he and the first kid snicker together.
“No,” Nova corrects. “Art is all about how it makes you feel.” She steps over to the cork board on the wall and pulls a picture down, holding it up for the class to see. “Cody, you drew this. A blue lobster. Tell me about it.”
The kid’s not laughing now as he looks around him nervously. “Uh . . . It’s the lobster me and my dad caught, last year.”
“And why is it blue?”
“Because it’s rare,” he stammers, his face a bright shade of red.
“I see,” Nova says, inspecting the picture. “And how did that make you feel?”
The kid’s cheeks flame and he chuckles, a smile lighting up his face. “It was awesome.”
“So, when someone else looks at this picture, they might feel the same thing.” She points the picture to Abigail who wrinkles her nose in disgust. “Or, they might feel fear because lobsters scare them.” Nova pins the picture back to the wall and turns back to the class. “Or they could think you’re crazy because they don’t know about the rare blue lobster.”
All eyes are on her, transfixed, and I really don’t know how the fuck she does it. It’s like she’s using mind control. Hell, with Nova, maybe she actually is.
“Art is about evoking an emotion, whether it’s good or bad. Just like the rest of life, if you do what everyone else wants you to do, you’ll never be happy.”
“What does that mean?” Cody’s friend asks, cocking his head.
“Say your friends really want you to get strawberry ice cream, but you really want vanilla,” Nova explains. “You settle for the strawberry because that’s what everyone wants you to do, but are you really happy about it? Wouldn’t you have rather gotten the vanilla?”
Silence fills the room as each of them process this and I’m reminded about the popsicles, currently melting in my hand.
“I prefer chocolate.”
“Reid!” Abigail yells and everyone rushes to the door when they see the popsicle box in my hand. Abigail hugs me and I’m so taken aback, I stumble a step to catch myself. “Did you come to see us?”
“And I brought popsicles.”
Each kid takes one excitedly, and the world doesn’t seem quite as bad anymore.
“Kids, what do you say?”
“Thank you,” they chime in unison as they head back to their seats to talk animatedly while they eat their popsicles.
Nova smiles as she approaches me, though I can see the faint blush on her cheeks.
“Going to be some mighty sticky artwork later,” she chuckles.
“Ah, all the more fun,” I say, holding up the orange creamsicle I brought for her. “Didn’t think I’d forget the teacher, did you?”
Heat spreads up her neck and her smile widens as she takes it from me.
“Thank you. You didn’t have to do this.”
I’m starting to think I’d do just about anything to see that smile of hers. Let’s face it, she’s got me by the balls, heart, fucking soul. Whatever Nova Fischer wants . . . that’s what she gets.
“So, how much of that did you hear?” she asks, leading me to the back where her desk is strewn with various art supplies.
“All of it,” I chuckle, pulling up a chair and she groans. “It was good.”
Her eyes zero in on me when I sit down, almost crushing the tiny chair.
“Are kids getting smaller? Or am I just huge?”
She laughs, covering her mouth with a pretty twinkle in her eye. “I think you’re just a lot bigger than them, Daddy Long Legs.”
I raise a brow at her, smirking deviously, and she blushes harder, fighting a grin.
“You know what I mean,” she scolds quietly so the kids don’t hear. “How’s the boat?” she asks, ripping open the wrapper of the creamsicle and sucking on the end. My cock pulses against the zipper of my jeans and heat travels through me.
“You’re damned lucky we’re in a school,” I murmur roughly and slip my hat off my head to scrub a hand through my hair. “You’ll pay for that, later.”
I love the way the blush spreads up her chest and into her cheeks, but still, I shove the dirty fantasies back down, adjusting discreetly in my tiny chair.
“How was the water?”
“Caught a lot. Manto invited me to his wedding.”
“Oh, and are you going?”
“That depends.”
“On?”
“You.”
“What about me?”
“If I’m going, I’m going with you on my arm. Nothing less.”
Her eyes twinkle and she smirks. “I have to go. I’m a bridesmaid.”
“Well, you’re my bridesmaid, then.”
“Staking claim, Mr. Morrison?” she teases, but she has no fucking idea how right she is with those words. In my own fucking way, yeah, I am. Should I be? Abso-fucking-lutely not. “Fine,” she concedes. “I’ll be your wedding date.”
Damn straight.
“What about tonight?”
“What about it?”
“What are you doing?”
Fucking anything to you that you’ll let me.
“Are you asking me on a date, sweetheart?”
She rolls her eyes and fights a smile.
“I just have something I want to show you.”
My cock twitches and I eye her. She must get what I’m thinking because a blush burns on her cheeks.
“You’re impossible.”
“You’re beautiful.” She can’t fight the grin that pulls at her lips and I swear my chest aches. “Come find me when you’re done. I’m all yours.”
She finishes her popsicle, tossing it in the trash as I stand. I need a shower before I get within five feet of her.
“Ms. Fischer, what’s snow blowing?” Abigail asks and Nova goes pale, shooting a look at me.
“Well,” I chuckle, standing. “That’s my cue to go.”
My father wasn’t the type of man for affection. There were no words of affirmation. No bonding. Even the times we went out on the boat were met with harsh words and often punches being thrown my way.
It’s part of why I’ll never have kids.
I can’t stand the thought of fucking them up like Dad did me. No one wants a father like that. I didn’t.
Me as a dad? What a fucking joke. My kids would hate me. Their mother would hate me. I’m not cut out for a family.
Some people just aren’t and that’s the cold reality of it.
Nova seems to think I’m the good guy. The one that saves people. I’ve saved one single person in my life and it was only because . . . some part of me fucking had to.
Now, I pay the price for it.
Because I can’t have what I want. Who I want. I can’t be the man that she needs and I’m for damn sure not worthy of a woman like her.
Now, being with Nova on this shitty little island . . . I don’t know what I did in my past life, but it must have been something good to make up for all the bad shit I’ve done in this one.
Or maybe, because it took pity on me, the universe sent me an angel to try and save my damned soul.
All I can say is good luck.
I cut the shower water off, my mood dark. This is why I avoid thinking of Dad.
Just like me and Nova, Mom was too fucking good for him and look where it got him. He didn’t deserve her anymore than the next guy, but she didn’t see it that way. She was the best part of him and then she died, sucking all that out of the world with her last breath.
I dry off, slipping on some clothes to head out and meet Nova. She should be getting off any second and I’m ready to have her alone. Just the two of us without the fucking world needing something from her.
I swear that girl’s phone goes off more than anyone I’ve ever met. And I’ve traveled the world.
I realize this obsession is unhealthy, but I honestly don’t give a shit. The need to bury myself inside her, forget who I am and what I’ve done is heavy today and with the way she was flashing those pretty eyes at me earlier, I hope to God it’s sooner rather than later.
My cock’s been rock hard since I left the school.
I step out into my room, looking for a shirt when a giggle from the doorway startles me. I look up, expecting to see Nova, but finding Sophie there, instead.
Oh, this isn’t good.
“Do you need something, Sophie.”
She blushes, smiling brightly and looking around.
“I just came to say you really turned this place around. It was falling apart when you arrived. I was surprised Nova didn’t close the doors.”
Okay, it wasn’t that bad. I know there’s some secret rivalry between the two half-sisters, but I don’t want to get in the middle of it. Whatever happened before is before. I’m here now and I’ll be damned if I get sucked into family drama.
I had enough of that when I was a kid.
“How did you get in here?”
She uncrosses her arms, holding up a keycard.
“No one was at the desk, so I took what I needed.”
She steps toward me, and I shrug a shirt on, ignoring her when she reaches out and runs her fingernails down my arm.
I need to get out of here. I need to get her out of here.
“I’m about to leave,” I murmur, pulling on my flannel and making it evident, I’m not fucking staying around for her to one-up her sister. Not when it’s her sister I can’t get out of my fucking head. “I’m meeting Nova.”
“Why?”
I pause, unsure what she wants from me.
“Did you really need something, or did you break into my room because you think it’s going to go well for you?”
She rolls her eyes, stepping toward me. Her hands come up, resting on my stomach and even though I take a step back from her, it doesn’t deter her. Sophie likes a chase, as predatory as that sounds.
“I thought Nova wasn’t into dating anymore. You know since Jack and all.”
There’s that fucker’s name again.
“We aren’t dating.”
“So, you aren’t exclusive.”
“Sophie. You need to leave.”
“Did she tell you how she tried to blame Jack for everything? How she lied and told our father he hit her when we both know he didn’t?”
I grit my teeth. I’ve had my suspicions. After speaking with Will, even more so. Now, I’m ready to fucking hurt someone. Nova hasn’t said, but sometimes, when I reach for her, she’ll jump, like she’s afraid I’m going to hurt her. That shit doesn’t happen overnight.
“Does it matter?”
“Jack was a good man, Reid. My sister is a lot of things. Honest isn’t one of them.”
“Sophie. Time to leave.”
“Just listen to me.”
“I said leave.”
I move to push her hands off me, but apparently, she has other ideas.
She lunges for me, her lips pressing to mine and for a moment, I’m so taken back that I just freeze, rooted in place.
Then . . . the gravity of the situation sinks in.
“Jesus Christ, Sophie,” I jerk back, pushing her off me, but a small gasp is what stops us both in our tracks.
Nova. Standing in the doorway and watching us both, her mouth set in a grim and disappointed line.
Fuck.
Me.
“Nova,” Sophie blushes, stepping back from me as if she’s innocent. “I didn’t—”
But it’s too late. Nova is gone, taking off down the hallway without stopping once.
Sophie sighs, grabbing my arm when I move to go after her, a panic I’m not used to seizing my veins.
“Let her go. She’s always been overdramatic.”
Gripping her hand, I pry it off my arm and drop it, leaving her bereft. “Let’s get one thing straight, Sophie. I am not interested. Now, get the fuck out of my room.
She stumbles back, a mixture of shock and horror on her face, but I don’t stick around to explain. I follow Nova because, like a man gone insane, I need to make sure she understands, that wasn’t me.