Chapter 3
three
I’m already halfway out the door as soon as I hear her voice on the other end of my phone. Willow is like a fucking addiction to me. The more I want her, the more it hurts. But I can’t tell her no, no matter how many times she says the same to me.
“Yes, I’m sorry. The stupid breaker won’t reset, and something smells like it’s burning, and I’ve got Em and Eli’s kids over here. I’m sorry, I just…I didn’t know who else to call.” She says, sounding defeated. Great, I’m her last option. That really strokes a man’s ego.
“I’ll be right there.” I hang up without any pleasantries.
The day Willow started working for Grovewood Ink, Eli asked me to come in to add her to the payroll.
She had a wild look in her eyes, the kind of look someone has when they’re desperate.
She had perfected the fuck-off look, but that didn’t stop me from offering her everything I had to give.
If she needs a handyman, I’m there. Her son needed a tutor?
I was ready and willing. On the rarest occasion that she needed a shoulder to cry on when life got too heavy for her to carry on her own?
Mine was always available to her. She is the strongest woman I’ve ever met.
And the most guarded. She doesn’t want a damn thing from me, even though I’d give her the world.
Over the past four years, she’s managed to keep me at arm’s length while simultaneously becoming the one thing I desire most. I don’t date.
Shit, I don’t even let my friends get close to me.
But with Willow, even though I know there is still a lifetime of lies and secrets I haven’t uncovered about her, I crave that closeness.
For now, if all I can give her is my help, then that’s what I’ll do.
I kick my leg over the seat of my black Kawasaki Ninja as the bay door opens slowly.
I send a quick text to my gate security to let him know I’m coming down the mountain and I need the gate to be wide open when I do.
Sliding the visor of my helmet closed, I wonder if I'm making a mistake coming every time this woman calls. But I already know that won’t stop me.
I rev the engine, throwing gravel behind me as the back end of my bike catches traction, propelling me forward.
When I bought this estate just outside of Grovewood, I didn’t think I really needed the space.
But finding a property that had a hangar bigger than the main house wasn’t an easy feat to begin with.
I didn’t need a huge house for just me, but somewhere to park my growing collection of cars and bikes was a necessity. And most importantly, a helipad.
Over the years since I left the military, I’ve amassed a silent empire.
I don’t think anyone truly knows the depth of my wealth, but that’s how I prefer it.
When I started my private accounting firm, I expected to attract only the business of my closest friends.
To my surprise, my reputation quickly got around to some of North Carolina’s wealthiest business owners. Now, I’m one of them.
Is every facet of my business entirely legal? No. But would anyone be able to prove that? Also no.
The guard booth is barely a blur as I near 100 mph.
The road down my mountain is a mean bitch if you don’t know it as well as I do.
I don’t have to give the route to Willow’s house a second thought.
My bike carries me there the way it has a hundred times before.
I’ve spent hours parked in front of the shitty grey box she calls a house.
Whether it’s to answer her call or to stand watch when I felt the sick feeling in my gut like she needed a guardian, I can’t stay away.
A horn blares as I blow through a stop sign, knowing they aren’t moving nearly fast enough to hit me. A part of me wonders if somewhere deep down I’m still harboring the thoughts I did when I left the Corps.
Do I want to die? Yes. No. Fuck if I know.
It’s all I can do some days just to make it from point A to point B without eating a bullet. Until I see the one bright light in all the darkness.
Willow. Her darkness rivals my own. The shadows of her past hang around her like ghosts.
She may never reveal them to me. Honestly, if I really wanted to know that badly, I could’ve found out everything there was to know from the moment she was born.
That’s what having money will get you. But I want her to show me every broken piece of her soul willingly.
I skid to a stop in her driveway, killing the engine.
It’s quiet for a Friday night, and even though it’s early in the evening, Willow’s house is pitch black.
This is the third time this month I’ve replaced a breaker in this shithole.
Fuck, I hate that she lives here. Every muscle in my body screams at me to get her the hell out of here.
To take her back to my castle and lock her away in the tallest tower, where nothing else can ever hurt her again.
But this isn’t a fairytale, and I don’t even have a fucking tower.
My fist pounds against the door, as if it would really hold me back if I wanted to beat it down right now.
“It’s open,” her voice calls from somewhere inside, and I roll my eyes.
“Why the fuck is it open, Willow?” I say, wiping my boots and letting myself in. It may be a shithole, but it’s still her home, and I respect that.
“Not the time, Beck,” she says, bouncing Silas on one hip while she struggles to unbuckle Scarlett from her highchair with only a flashlight illuminating the small kitchen.
Beck
She’s the only person alive I have ever let call me by that name. Beckett is the name my parents gave me. But everyone in my life has called me Helo for so long, my own name sounds foreign.
“What tripped it this time? Toaster or microwave?” I ask, and she rolls her eyes.
“I’m sure it was the oven, but who knows in this place,” she replies. I think I see the faintest sign of tears gathering in her eyes, but she turns her head towards the darkness, shutting her emotions down. “Luckily, these two seem happy no matter what goes on around here, don’t you guys?”
Scarlett giggles, throwing a playdoh ball towards Silas and missing by a mile. The Harding twins live up to their legacy, that’s for sure.
“We love camping at Auntie Willow’s house, don’t we, sweeties?” She coos, a sweet smile spreading across her face as she makes the worst shadow puppets I’ve ever seen dance across the ceiling. The kids laugh, completely content sitting in the dark, watching her work her mama magic.
“I don’t think I have the parts to fix this, Will. I’m gonna have to go to the hardware store whenever it opens tomorrow.” I tell her, inspecting the singed metal and plastic. She's damn lucky this didn’t burn the entire house down.
Her shoulders sag, a look of defeat settling in her gaze for only a moment before she snaps out of it, plastering on a smile.
“Well, okay then. I guess we’re gonna have to call mama and daddy, aren’t we?
That’s okay, we can go home and play with all your toys!
” Despite the abyss I know lies beyond her deep brown eyes, she’s probably the most positive person I know.
Her cloud is always surrounded by a silver lining, no matter what storm rages around her.
“You guys could just come to my-” I start to offer my sanctuary up as a safe landing, but she cuts me off.
“No, it’s fine. I’ve got it. I already let Ember know I would be at their house.
She said that’s totally fine. I’m sorry I made you come all this way for nothing.
” She's already unbuckling Silas, slinging a backpack over one shoulder and propping him on her left hip as she tries to unbuckle Scarlett one-handed.
“Can you just let me…I can…let me help…” I say, pulling Scarlett from the high chair and into my arms. She snuggles into me, her hands clutching my shirt like they have dozens of times.
I’ve been friends with their dad since long before they were even a thought, and some days I still can’t believe this is the path Elijah’s life has taken. But I'm happy for him. He deserves this beautiful family.
“I can do it,” Willow says, her voice barely loud enough to hear.
“Yeah, I know you can. You can do anything. But I want to help you, Will,” I tell her.
It takes everything I have in me to keep from reaching out and brushing her hair out of her face.
She's not mine to touch, and she's made it perfectly clear over the years that a relationship is the last thing she’s looking for.
If I could, I would drag her kicking and screaming from this hellhole of a life she's barely living and lock her away in my mansion in the mountains.
I would shower her with every single thing her heart could ever desire, both her and Jaxon.
They deserve to be taken care of, to have a man show them what it really means to provide for them.
But the unwilling can’t be rescued. And Willow is the furthest thing from a damsel in distress.
“Can you…” she stutters, walking out to her car and strapping Scarlett into the car seat. “Can you follow me to Eli and Ember’s? My car was running a little rough this morning.”
Fuck, this woman will be the death of me.