3. She doesn’t belong
3
SHE DOESN’T BELONG
ASHER
It’s been days since I saw Hunter’s sister out the front of his house after she disappeared for hours. Hunter said that she ended up down by Falls Creek, that she lost track of time, and didn’t mean to worry him. But I call bullshit.
My feet pound against the dewy track, and my breathing deepens. The air is crisp this early in the morning, filling my lungs as I continue to run down the trail that cuts through the creeks and parks. This is my favorite time to run, early in the morning when the town is still asleep. It’s quiet, and the world blurs as I run, my mind shutting down to find peace.
Frustration starts to seep its way in as I run faster, trying to find my quiet, but my mind keeps drifting back to her. Halle. I don’t fully trust her. She’s been a ghost all these years. She’s never visited in person, never called on the phone, emailed, or sent letters. My frustration bleeds into anger, and I clench my fists. She’s never checked in on her brother, not once since he’s been here, and that pisses me off. And yeah, I get it, she was just a kid when he left her, but he tried reaching out when she was younger. His phone calls went unanswered, and his letters were returned, so what was he supposed to do? It took us too long to get him to stop worrying about her, to just leave it be. Madison, Connor, and I—we became his family. I don’t think he ever did stop worrying, but he moved on. He stopped obsessing over trying to get to her.
So why is she here now? What’s changed? Halle stopped being a child years ago, so why didn’t she try contacting him sooner? Why did it take her this long?
Hunter’s gone through enough. He has his demons and his troubled past, just like the rest of us. I know because when I arrived at Sunlit Cove in need of a job and a place to get back on my feet, he was there to help me. He saw me and my baggage, my pain, my mistakes, and related to me. I wasn’t so forthcoming about the past I was running from at first. Hell, I’m still not. Even Madison and Connor don’t know my full story, the life I lived before I moved here and met them. I was a scrawny-looking dude back then and thought I was above everyone. I got high every day and drank all night to forget. I was rude and a nuisance to everyone in this town.
When Hunter opened up to me and told me about his home life and how he got out, it sparked something inside of me. I felt connected to him, like we got each other. So I did something I’d never done before: I accepted his help and his friendship, and told him everything. He never judged me, not then and not now. He took me in, gave me a job, and now we run the bar together. I mean, it’s his bar on paper, but we have an unspoken partnership and now share the workload.
We became brothers, and with Madison and Connor, and the few other friends that come and go, we have our own chosen family. This is our town. Sunlit Cove is home for us, and Halle being here completely changes everything. She’s going to distract him, pull him back into his past, and everything will go to hell. We haven’t worked this hard for this peaceful lifestyle for her to come here and uproot it all. To bring chaos back into our lives. How can we trust her? Who’s to say she isn’t here for everything Hunter has? His money, his bar, or his house. I won’t let her take it. I won’t let her ruin his life. No matter how fucking hot she is, or how much I felt drawn to those sad gray eyes.
I run faster, my vision narrowing, muscles tensing, trying to get rid of those thoughts, trying to shut it all down, but I keep going back to her.
When I looked her over out the front of Hunter’s, I couldn’t help but feel the heat spread through my body. She looked good, even in the state she was in. Long legs, curvy hips with a small waist, and the top she had on pushed her tits up, which made it hard to not gawk at them. Even though she looked like she hadn’t slept in days, I could tell she was stunning.
Fuck, I can’t believe I was looking at Hunter’s little sister like that. Not trusting her, and her being younger than me, should be enough to pull my head in. I’m twenty-nine for fucks sake, not a horny teenager who can’t keep it together.
I make my way toward Falls Creek, where the trail ends and Hunter’s street cuts through on the other side. I’ll stop in to say hey quickly. I live on the other side of town, but Hunter’s house is the house we all end up at, especially on weekends before our busy nights at work.
Rounding the corner, movement catches my eye ahead. Sitting on a log near the water’s edge is Halle. I stop, bending over with my hands on my knees to catch my breath, and glance over at her. Fuck, she’s pretty. She hasn’t noticed me yet. I’m still too far away, but I can tell even from here she looks defeated. Her shoulders are slumped, and she has this energy about her that makes me feel like I shouldn’t approach her. She looks so tired.
I take slow steps forward, my breathing steadying out now. I’ll just sneak right by her and head to her brother’s. She won’t even know I saw her. I don’t think she’s aware of her surroundings. My feet snap on a twig, and her head snaps up.
Shit! So much for sneaking by, you idiot.
She looks at me and scowls. Damn, she’s got fucking attitude too, that’s for sure. I raise my hands as if she’s a frightened animal and will run off at any sudden movement, which probably annoys her even more, but for some reason, I can’t help but laugh at the thought of her running off like a scared animal.
“What the fuck do you want?”
Woah, why the hostility, Halle?
I shake my head, not wanting to deal with her. I walk toward the track that leads out to Hunter’s street, but I can’t help myself. A part of me wants to be near her, in her space, and all around her.
I look her over as I walk by. She’s wearing leggings and an oversized tee, and she has black Chucks on. She’s got her head back down, focusing on what’s in front of her. My feet move on their own, and before I can register what I’m doing, I’m peeking over her shoulder, looking down at what has her attention. Huh, she can draw.
Her hand freezes, her shoulders tense, and she snaps her sketchbook closed. She doesn’t turn to look at me or make any movement. The water rushing from the falls is the only sound around us, and the air feels wired, like any movement either of us makes next will set the tone.
Without moving, her voice cracks like she hasn’t spoken in a long while. “You know it’s rude to snoop at what people are doing, especially people you don’t know.”
My lips curve. She’s got sass. “But Halle,” I say in a mocking tone, “I do know you. You’re Hunter’s baby sister.”
She still hasn’t made a move to turn and acknowledge me or stand to move away, so I bend down, my chin just above her shoulder. I turn my head just slightly, my nose grazing her ear. She smells like caramel and coffee, like comfort and sweetness, like home. Being this close to her rocks through me, and I clench my jaw to keep a hold of myself.
“I know you better than you think I do, Halle, and I’ll have you packing your bags before you know it.”
Feeling more irritated after being so close to her, I take a step back and narrow my eyes at her. “You don’t fucking belong here.”
She jumps up so suddenly, and anger radiates off her. I can feel it. I can see her mind tick over, processing everything she’s thinking and feeling.
Come on, Halle, what is it you want here?
Picking her pens up from the log she was sitting on, she scoffs and starts walking toward Hunter’s. Just when I thought she was going to leave it be, she turns her head slightly, looking back at me. Those sad gray eyes roam over me and make me shift on my feet.
“You have no clue about me or my life. You don’t know what I’ve been through. You don’t know what I’ve seen or have had to deal with. Screw you and your assumptions. I don’t even know who you are.” The quiet anger in her voice hits me like she yelled at me. Well shit, I pissed her off.
She storms off, and I start to second-guess everything I thought I knew. Do I have it all wrong?
Holding my hands to my head, I stretch back and let out a loud sigh. Fuck. Hunter’s gonna be pissed at me if he finds out I was being rude to his sister.
“ASHER… MY NAME’S ASHER!” I yell out to her just before she passes through the trees.
Without turning around to look at me, she raises her hand above her head and flips me off as she keeps on walking.
I let out a low chuckle. Well, this is going to be an interesting summer with her around.
The sun breaks through the trees, and I decide to turn around and make my way back toward my place, but before I take off, my phone pings, and I pause to check it.
Connor: YO dude, family breakfast at Hunter’s, get your ass here stat.
Looks like I won’t be avoiding another run-in with Halle after all. I reply to Connor, knowing that if I don’t, he’ll keep blowing up my phone until I answer him.
Me: On a run, be there soon.
Not having time to run home to shower and change, I head straight to Hunter’s. Making my way inside, I’m hit with the scent of bacon and pancakes. Damn, they’re going all out for this family breakfast. I hear Ace bark, and Madison’s laughter follows, bringing a smile to my face. This is what home feels like: walking into a house surrounded by people who truly see you and feeling so comfortable with them that you don’t have to keep your guard up. You can just be yourself.
I walk into the kitchen and spot Hunter cooking at the stove. Connor and Madison are sitting at the kitchen table drinking coffee while Ace is zooming around the house .
Madison spots me first and pinches her nose. “Asher, you did not just come straight here after going on a run without showering first.”
She sits back like she’s trying to get away from me. Laughing, I go over and wrap an arm around her, making sure my sweaty armpit gets all over her.
“You know full well that when Connor says stat, he means stat .”
I laugh harder as she tries to push my arm away, only making it worse for herself.
“Plus, I was just down at Falls Creek. It didn’t make sense to go all the way home to shower and come back,” I add as I move away from her.
I lift my armpit to my nose and take a whiff. Shit, I do stink. I look down at Madi sheepishly and say, “Sorry.”
“You were down at Falls Creek? Did you see Halle down there, man?” Hunter asks.
I look over at him, watching him stack pancakes on a plate, and shake my head.
“Nah, didn’t see her.” Shifting my eyes back to the table, I hope Halle kept her mouth shut.
Hunter shrugs. “’kay, I’m worried about her. If you see her around, be nice, dude. She needs people in her corner, not a broody asshole.”
I look at Hunter with innocent eyes, and place my hand over my heart. “I’m not an asshole,” I say.
That, for some reason, makes everyone laugh at me.
I nod to Connor and make a move toward the hallway as I call out, “Gonna take a quick shower. Be right back.”
The best part about Hunter’s house—and how everyone ends up here after nights out, long shifts, or just to hang out—is that he has a spare room for us. Some nights, I don’t want to go home and be alone. The weeks when my nightmares catch up to me and life seems a little harder, I’ll crash here instead. It’s like a second home. I stay here so often that I’ve left clothes and other things in the spare room. It’s convenient for moments like these.
Grabbing some sweats and a black tee, I shower in record time. Leaving the steaming bathroom and walking back to the kitchen, I pass Halle’s room and stop at the door. I think back to our encounter earlier this morning. Is she packing her bags now and giving up on why she’s here because I’ve made it clear that she’s not welcome? I move forward, but I hear her fumbling around in her room. The sound of a bottle shaking reaches my ears, and my mind pulls me back to my past.
The room is dark, the glow of the TV in front of me on the couch the only light around. It smells musty and old. I’m high, my arms feel heavy, and my mind is all over the place. I bring the joint to my mouth and take another drag. I know I need to get up to go with my cousin to make the deal. If we don’t, we risk losing too much money, and then we’ll owe money instead. Money we don’t have. We need this deal. My cousin walks out of the bedroom and tosses a bottle at me. I shake it and hear the pills inside. They better all be there, I think to myself. I look at my cousin, raising an eyebrow at him.
“They’re all there, counted them myself.” He nods to the door. “Let’s do this. I have shit to do later.”
I come back to the present, the memory crashing over me, and I shudder, not wanting to think of what happened next. I haven’t gone back to those memories in a long time. I haven’t been triggered like that in a while. That’s a life I left behind. I’m ashamed of my past and everything that went down, and I try not to think about it. The nightmares I have are enough. Annoyance rips through me at being dragged back to those moments, and all I can think about is catching her out doing something she shouldn’t. The more I have on her, the easier it’ll be to get her out.
The door swings open before I have a chance to barge through myself and my eyes collide with hers. They’re glassy, sleepy-like, as if she’s a bit spaced out.
I look over her shoulder, trying to catch anything that shouldn’t be there, but she blocks my view. She steps forward, making me step back, and closes her door, looking me up and down with a distant expression on her face.
I get more irritated and ask, “Does Hunter know you’re taking something?”
Her eyes narrow at me, and the air between us crackles with the same wired tension I felt at Falls Creek. Like there’s a current running through the both of us.
“It’s not his business or yours. Stay out of it.”
As she walks past me, I grab her by the hand and pull her back. She isn’t expecting it and crashes into my chest. She’s tall for a girl, five-eight maybe, but since I’m six-three, I’m taller.
Moving my mouth to her ear, I linger there for a second, feeling the tension. “This is my family, our home. If you cause any shit or bring anything here you shouldn’t, then it is my business.”
I let her go and storm off toward the kitchen, conflicted with every fucking feeling that just rushed through me.