53. Blake
BLAKE
“Is it true?”
I turn to find Aspen standing in the doorway of my bedroom.
I’ve only just gotten out of the shower, and I’m wearing only my sweatpants, my hair still wet and dripping down my back.
I hadn’t heard her open the door. Her face is streaked with tears, and her eyes are red and puffy.
She clenches her fists at her sides, and I realize she’s trembling.
My stomach knots. Fuck. Something has happened.
“Is what true?” I deliberately keep my tone level.
“That you brought me here to be a little fuck toy for you and your demented sons?”
I want to punch Levi. This has to have come from him. What the fuck was he thinking? I glance out the window. The snow has grown heavier. That’s what he’d been thinking, that she’s stuck here now, so it doesn’t matter if the truth comes out.
“Aspen,” I say on an exhale and step forward, reaching for her.
She jerks back. “Don’t you fucking touch me. I thought you were a good man.” She barks laughter that turns into a sob. “I told myself you’d never look at me in such a way because you were my dad’s best friend and you only saw me as a little girl.”
I shake my head. “You’re not a little girl anymore, Aspen.”
“You think I don’t know that? Was it always the plan? To come to the funeral and bring me back here? You figured I was young and vulnerable, so the perfect victim to hand over to your two fucked up sons?”
“That’s not true. I just came to the funeral to see how you were. I never planned this.”
“Liar!”
“I’m not lying. I honestly just wanted to pay my respects and see how you were.
But then I saw you standing up at the pulpit at the church, and you took my fucking breath away.
I was obsessed immediately. It was like someone had reached into my chest and punched me in the heart.
I never imagined you’d grow up like this.
” I gesture to her, and she turns her face in disgust.
I continue, desperate to talk my way out of this. “And then you said you were homeless. Fuck, Pen, what was I supposed to do?”
“Not bring me back here for your sons to fuck?” Her voice is laced with sarcasm.
“I knew you’d be perfect for us, and you are.”
“No, I’m not.” Her lips pinch. “Have you done this before?”
I close my eyes. “Pen, please…”
“Answer me. Have you done this before—brought women back here to keep you all company through the winter.”
“Yes,” I admit, but I can’t meet her eye. “It’s different with you, though. You’re family, Pen.”
“No, I’m fucking not. And what happened to these women after you’d all fucked them senseless for months? Where are they now?”
I shrug. “I don’t know. They just left.”
She arches her eyebrows. “They just left?” she echoes. “You trapped some poor woman here for months, and fucked her brains out, and then at the end of that, when the snow melted, she just decided to leave again? Never made any further contact?”
Is it me, or does she sound jealous?
“I don’t know what you expect me to say?”
“I expect you to say that someone in that position would be more likely to call the cops on you than anything else, unless you or your sons did something to prevent that from happening. Did you deal with the women in the same way you ‘dealt’ with Tobias? By making them vanish?”
We’re on shaky ground.
“We haven’t dealt with anyone. We wanted to protect you. That’s all I’ve ever wanted.” The lie tastes sour on my tongue. Part of me wants to protect her, which is why I’ve held off, but she’s right. I’ve manipulated her and lied to her.
“Bullshit!” She covers her face with her hands and barks out a sob. “I can’t believe you’ve done this. You’ve ruined everything. I thought I had a home here. I thought I loved you!”
My heart clenches at her admission. She loves me? The thought fractures my heart into a million pieces. I don’t deserve her love.
“You do, sweet girl. You have a home here. Always.” In this moment, I mean it.
“No, I’m nothing to you. Nothing.”
“That’s not true.”
I take another step closer, desperate to touch her. All I want to do is pull her into my arms and press my nose to the top of her head and inhale the scent of her. I want to make her feel better, even though I’m the one who has caused her pain.
But it feels like I’ve lost her.