8. Ariana
8
ARIANA
“Y ou are not taking my home!” I shout, marching up to him as he messes with the hitch like he owns the damn thing. “Unhook it, right now!”
Jasper doesn’t even flinch. The man’s a wall of muscle and testosterone, and apparently, full-blown stubbornness too. “Too bad. You’re not living out here in the damn forest in freezing temperatures with wild fucking animals, rainbow.”
Rainbow?
Huh.
I guess that’s better than Little thief.
I’m still pissed at him, though.
“I’ve been living out here just fine, thank you very much!” I stick my hands on my hips and glare at him like I can set fire to him with just my eyes. “You don’t get to waltz into my life and play boss.”
“Stop arguing with me and get in the truck,” he growls, standing to his full intimidating height.
“No.”
He lifts one of his dark eyebrows, then marches toward me.
“No!” I say again, louder this time, so maybe he’ll take me more seriously.
I’m planted with my feet concreted to the ground. I’m not going anywhere, and he can’t make me.
And then I’m upside down.
“What the—Let me go!” I squeal, pounding my fists against his back as he hauls me over his shoulder like I weigh nothing. “You caveman! This is assault! Kidnapping! Burglary!”
He chuckles. “You would know if it’s burglary, wouldn’t you, Little thief?”
I gasp.
The audacity of this man.
And the shoulders.
Wow.
How is he so strong?
I can’t be distracted by that right now. I’m about to be kidnapped.
He doesn’t say a word as he stomps to his truck, throws open the door, and drops me unceremoniously into the passenger seat.
I scramble, about to lunge out of the seat.
Click.
He flips the child lock on.
He turns, smirking like the devil himself. “Now stay.”
My jaw drops. “You absolute crazy person! You can’t just throw me in here like a sack of potatoes and expect me to obey!”
“I’m not crazy, rainbow. I’m psychotic. There’s a clear difference.” Then he slams the door shut.
Oh, great. Like that makes me feel any better.
* * *
“W here are you taking me?”
“To my home.”
“You’re driving deeper into the woods. Yet you don’t want me living in the woods.”
Jasper shrugs. “I have an actual house. With heat. And sturdy locks. And fucking food in the cupboards.”
I glare at him. “I have food!”
“Three cans of soup, some crackers, and a jar of peanut butter aren’t sufficient food, rainbow.”
It’s kept me alive. Although based on the way his jaw is flexing, I don’t think it would be wise to say that out loud.
“I don’t know you. You might actually be a murderer. Are you going to take me into your woodshed and chop me into bits? I saw that Criminal Minds episode.”
He tightens his grip on the steering wheel as he maneuvers the truck through a dirt trail. “What the fuck? No more watching that show. It’s too scary for you.”
I blink several times, trying to figure him out. Did he just forbid me from watching a TV show? As if he has some sort of say?
“Why are you taking me? You don’t know me. I might have a boyfriend who is going to come looking for me. He’ll kill you when he finds you.”
This time, Jasper chuckles. “I’d like to see him try.”
Crap.
I’m being held against my will, driven deeper into the forest, with a man who looks terrifying. And instead of being scared, I keep glancing around, waiting to see Jasper’s house pop into view. Maybe that explains why he’s so grumpy. He lives all alone in the middle of nowhere. He probably doesn’t have any friends and talks to wild animals. Yep, I bet that’s it.
“How old are you?” he asks, glancing in my direction with furrowed brows.
“Twenty-two. How old are you?”
“Thirty-eight. Is Ariana your real name?”
“Is Jasper your real name?”
His jaw flexes again. “Little girl.”
I let out a sigh and relax into the seat, which is surprisingly warm and comfortable. Did he turn on the back heat for me? Aw, that was nice of him.
“Yes, it’s my real name.”
“Cute,” he murmurs so quietly I think he doesn’t mean for me to hear. “What’s your full name?”
“What’s yours?” I counter.
Sheesh.
“Jasper Black. I don’t have a middle name.”
Jasper Black. That’s quite ominous. Wasn’t Jasper a character in Twilight? Maybe he really is a vampire.
“I’m waiting,” he says impatiently.
“Ariana Jade Riley.”
“Why are you living in a fucking camper? Are you running from someone?”
Just as I open my mouth to snap at him, a house comes into view. Not just one. Many. An entire neighborhood, almost. But somehow, they all look like they are connected by sidewalks that lead to one enormous home. I’d imagine the big one is considered a mansion, but it’s not pretentious like the ones I’ve seen in movies. It almost looks like a lodge, with wood siding, huge posts with decorative rock cemented to the lower half, dark shutters, and tons of windows. And inside those windows, it’s all lit up by various lamps throughout. It’s breathtaking. All of it.
“What is this?” I ask.
We are in the middle of nowhere. Miles from where he left my car. But somehow this feels like we’re right in town. There’s even what looks like a park, though it’s hard to tell much in the dark.
“This is home. I live here with my family. We all have our own houses, and then there’s the family house.”
My eyes go round, and my head snaps to look at him. “Oh, God. Is this some sort of cult? How many wives do you have?”
Jasper stares at me for a long moment, and I think he might be stunned. Then he slowly shakes his head and runs a hand over his face. “Ariana Jade Riley, you’re going to make me regret kidnapping you, aren’t you?”
“I told you it was kidnapping. Seriously, though, Jasper. I’m kind of panicking right now. Tell me this isn’t a cult.”
Almost in slow motion, he reaches over and tugs on one of my low pigtails. “Relax, rainbow. It’s not a cult. I live here with my brothers and my sister and my one sister-in-law.”
My shoulders drop, and I rest my head against the seat. “Oh, good. I was starting to worry you were living some sort of secret life or something.”
Jasper huffs out a breath and climbs out of the truck. “Never said I wasn’t. Just said it wasn’t a cult.”
Then he slams the door shut and leaves me staring at him through the windshield as he rounds the hood to my side.
Wait.
Did I really just hear what I think I did?
When he pulls the door open, I stick my hands out to stop him from reaching for me. “Jasper?—”
“Ariana, relax. Come meet my sisters and you’ll feel better. You’re safe here. Just be a good girl.”
Be a good girl.
A bone-chilling shiver runs down my spine, straight to my core, and the sparkle in his eye tells me he noticed my reaction.
Crap.
My vagina is going to need to chill out.
Just because he said those words doesn’t mean we like him.
“How old are your sisters?”
Change of subject.
That’s smart.
“Around your age. Come on, before you freeze out here.”
Great, he’s back to being bossy.
I follow his long strides, taking one last glance at my camper before we step through a huge set of oak doors. As soon as we do, I’m met with two unfamiliar things. Warmth and loud, boisterous conversation.
The house is overwhelming. Everything about it is supersized. The hallway is wider than my entire camper is long, the kitchen we pass by looks like five people could sleep on the center island. As a couch comes into view, I’m shocked by just how enormous it is and even more so by the number of huge men lounging on it with two small women stretched out in between.
Everyone in the room stops talking and looks toward me, then at Jasper. One of the women sits up and grins while the other eyes me cautiously before slowly starting to smile.
“Jas, you brought company,” one of the men says. He’s tattooed like Jasper, he even has a few small ones on his face, and he looks just as terrifying. All of them are, actually. And as I stand here staring at them like a deer in the headlights, I’m not scared. Because even though I don’t know Jasper, I know he’s not going to hurt me or let anyone else hurt me. It’s both a comforting and disturbing feeling at the same time.
“This is Ariana. She’s going to be staying here for the time being,” Jasper announces. “Ariana, that is my sister Rowie over there, and that is my other sister Ember. These are my brothers, but the only name you need to know is mine, so ignore them.”
Yeah, somehow, I don’t think that’s going to be possible.
With all of them watching me like I’m some sort of alien, I take a step closer to Jasper, letting his woodsy scent soothe me.
As if he senses my hesitation, Jasper leans down so his mouth is near my ear. “You’re safe here, rainbow.”
I nod and force a smile. At least the two women look nice.
“I love your hair. It’s so pretty. It reminds me of cotton candy,” Rowie says.
That makes me smile for real as I reach up and touch a tendril. “Thanks. The color is Kiwi Strawberry Kool-Aid.”
All of the men furrow their eyebrows and look even more confused than they already were, while both Rowie and Ember’s eyes light up.
“Oh my gosh, I’ve heard of using Kool-Aid!” Ember sits on her knees and bobs her head. “It doesn’t damage your hair, and it smells good while you do it.”
Yeah, and it’s less than a dollar a packet, and I can barely even afford that, but I don’t tell them that. Instead, I shrug and nod. “I like it because it’s not as toxic as regular hair dye.”
Jasper snorts, and when I glance up at him, he’s shaking his head. “Come on, rainbow. Let’s go eat before you give these girls any other wild fucking ideas.”
Rowie leaps over the back of the couch, much to the terror of one of the men who was next to her, and hurries over to us, throwing her arms around me.
“It’s so good to meet you. I hope we can hang out tomorrow. Without Grumpy Gus hovering.” She steps back and winks at me, then sticks her tongue out at Jasper and goes back to her spot next to the large, scowling man.
Jasper lets out an exasperated sigh and nudges me out of the room. “Rowie and Ember will be your best friends by tomorrow if you let them.”
An ache forms in my chest at his words. Best friends . I’ve never had those. I had foster siblings, and we all got along. I was close with several of them, but I never considered them my friends. We were all there by circumstance, just thankful to be in that foster home because we’d all experienced a few bad ones before we landed with Dan and River.
I like the idea of having best friends. In fact, I like it a lot. But I won’t be here long. Jasper might have kidnapped me tonight, but that doesn’t mean I’m staying.
One night is all it is.
Then I’m getting out of this town and as far away from this man as possible before I start getting my hopes up.