10. Keep Your Big Mouth Closed
Waking up the next morning, I didn’t open my eyes before trying to bury my head under a pillow. Rather than the soft, supportive comfort I sought, I smacked my forehead against a sharp edge.
“Ouch! Shit.” I grudgingly opened my eyes and sat up to see my head at the bottom of the bed and my feet aimed up at the diagonal corner. Rubbing my forehead, I pulled my hand away to see a hint of smeared blood on my fingertips. “Shit, shit, shit.”
Even though I wanted to stay in bed and ignore the memories for as long as possible, I also didn’t want to get blood on the sheets. Those stains were a pain in the ass to get out.
I hurried to the bathroom and cleaned myself up, my mind trying—and failing—to block out the night before.
My nightmare.
Everything I’d shared.
Clutching at Ash and not letting him go.
I can’t believe I did that.
Will he ask me to leave? Should I make it easier by offering to?
But I already knew the answer. I had to go.
There was no way around it.
Which meant I had to ask for a ride. It would’ve been easier to avoid the confrontation and sneak away… right up until I ended up stranded in the mountains.
And then there was his promise to chase me—a threat that made my stomach swirl in a way that was not right. Of course, after the night before, that was probably null and void.
I decided to take advantage of one last hot shower before getting dressed in my own clothes. That’d been the plan, but I had no clue where said clothes were. Instead, yet another set of loungewear waited for me.
I’ll have to ask Ash, but heavenly soft clothes will have to do.
For now.
I straightened up after myself and made the bed, saying silent goodbyes to the taste of luxury I’d likely never experience again.
When I couldn’t stall any longer, I pocketed my broken phone and put on my shoes before going downstairs.
I paused at the bottom when I realized I had no clue where to find Ash. In all my exploring the afternoon before, I hadn’t seen or heard him. He’d probably been in one of the closed rooms, but with the size of the house, that didn’t narrow it down as much as one would think.
I eyed the front door.
What’d he say about four-wheelers?
Never mind. If I tried to ride one of those, I’d end up lost and crashed somewhere.
In the silence, I heard the faint sounds of a rumbling voice coming from the kitchen.
No.
Voices.
I followed them before freezing.
Ash moved around the kitchen, going into the fridge to gather a stack of containers and place them on the counter next to a cutting board and a big bowl. He started slicing strawberries as if he wasn’t in a pair of tailored slacks and a deep blue dress shirt. Even untucked, it was clear it was perfectly tailored for him, too.
A blonde woman stood next to him, her voice soft as she spoke while he worked. Her athleisure outfit was more casual than his clothes but no less coordinated. I couldn’t see her face until she looked to the side to grab her coffee mug.
Well…
Good for him.
And her.
Good for both of them.
I wondered if the lovely, lithe blonde was Vera, the provider of comfort food. Or maybe the mysterious Juliet. She would certainly be able to run far with those long legs.
Wanting to get away unseen, I took a slow step back. Unfortunately, my stealth skills left a lot to be desired, and two sets of eyes snapped to me.
I braced, expecting Ash to look guilty. Or maybe to treat me being there as no big deal because I was no one. I wasn’t sure which would be worse.
It didn’t matter, though, because I got neither.
A wide grin split Ash’s face, his dimples showing through his beard. It faltered after a moment, and his brows lowered as he set down the knife before approaching. He caught my chin between his crooked index finger and thumb, using his hold to tilt my face up like he’d done the day before.
And, like the day before, it made my brain turn to goo.
He dropped his face closer to me, and I barely held back a sharp inhale at his closeness. “What happened to your face?”
Wow.
Okay.
Fuck you, too.
Sure, my bruises had looked worse in the mirror, but I didn’t think it was that bad.
I raised my hand to my cheek self-consciously, though I wasn’t sure exactly what my plan was. Short of stocking up on Halloween masks, I didn’t have a lot of options.
“Your forehead is bleeding,” he continued.
“Oh. Yeah.” I touched it and pulled away to see another light smear of blood. “Sorry, I thought it was done.”
He smirked, but it didn’t look right. His hazel eyes held no humor, like it was as forced as his soft tone. “Stop apologizing.”
“Sorry.”
He used his hold and size to shift me backward to inspect the small cut under a light. I would’ve let him because my brain was still goo at his nearness, but with the movement, I caught sight of the blonde in my peripheral and was reminded we weren’t alone.
I scurried away. Well, as far away as he would let me get, which wasn’t far. But at the change in my body language, Ash’s gaze dropped from my forehead to my eyes. They darted toward his… whoever she was and then back.
“Oh. Don’t mind me.” She lifted her mug. “I’m just watching.”
If she wants to jump me for being close to her man, she’s hiding it well. Or waiting until I heal from my last beating.
For all I knew, they were into that kind of thing. I’d been around a lot of different people in my life. I read books.
Okay, fine. I thought about reading books but was too tired to. Either way, I was inexperienced but not naive.
I was also very not interested.
The woman talking distracted Ash enough that I was able to dodge to the side and put the needed distance between us. Without his behemoth body blocking the way, I also saw that it was not just the three of us in the kitchen.
There was a fourth attendee at our party. A very tiny fourth attendee.
My stomach churned with guilt. I’d made him sleep in bed with me. I’d taken comfort from his body next to mine. All the while, he had a woman and a baby.
It was totally not a girl’s girl move.
Not that I shouldered all the blame. It was also on him and made him an absolute douchebag because there was only so much that could be chalked up to his hospitable kindness, but still. Men were stupid. That didn’t mean I wanted to be.
Holy shit, I’m turning into Veronica.
The swirling vortex of shame grew into a chasm of it when Ash let me go in order to move toward the woman. With flawless ease born of clear practice, he swooped the tiny human bundle from her arms and rested it against his broad chest.
The same chest I’d slept on.
Fuck it. I don’t care if I get lost or end up pinned under a crashed four-wheeler somewhere. I’m so out of here.
I hooked a thumb over my shoulder and inched back. “Well, I’ll just get out of your?—”
“Not so fast,” Ash cut in. “Vi is here to check you over.”
That gave me pause. “What?”
The blonde lifted her hand in a little wave. “I’m Violet. An introduction this bonehead should’ve made the moment you walked in, but my brother has never been great with manners.”
Brother.
As she moved to take the spot her freaking brother had just moved from—without the intense body crowding and face touching, of course—I saw it. The same hazel eyes. The light hair. Even the dimples.
I would’ve felt more relief that I hadn’t slept in her man’s arms had it not been for Vera and Juliet and whoever else there was. Maybe I’d spent the night in one of their man’s arms.
This is a disaster.
Her lips turned down at the inspection of my face, drawing my focus out of Ash’s bed and into the present. I shied away from her keen gaze. “Uhhh…”
“Vi is a nurse,” Ash filled in.
My eyes went wide, and although the swelling hurt less, the fresh cut on my forehead stung. “I feel better. I’m good.”
Ash gave me that damn charming smile. “Never said you weren’t, sunshine. But you went through hell. I just want to be sure you’re healing okay.”
Vi’s lips tipped, her dimples coming out to match her brother’s. “What he said, sunshine.”
My hackles rose. Not because of her teasing use of the nickname Ash insisted on using—though they could both shove that where there was no sunshine. My defensiveness was because he must’ve told her what I’d been through.
Did he include that it was my own mother who set me up?
I took a large step back.
“Sun—” Ash started, setting down the knife.
“Stop calling me that.”
He raised a single brow, and that slight movement was loaded with challenge. Or maybe just cockiness. “Whatever you say, little girl.”
For the sake of the sleeping baby, I fought to smother the frustrated groan that pushed out as a nonsensical noise. “You’re infuriating.”
“He always has been,” Violet said, like nothing was out of the ordinary. “But he’s also right.”
With a lot of practice, I blanked my expression and my tone. “I appreciate the concern, but I’m fine. I’d know if there was an issue.”
“Not necessarily. Car accident injuries can be sneaky buggers.”
My gaze shot to Ash to find his own soft one aimed at me. When he added a wink to it, my brain was back to goo.
Vi jerked her head toward the living room. “Let’s go?—”
Ash deposited the baby back in her arms and lifted me to sit on the counter.
“To the couch…” she finished. “Never mind.”
“Lighting is better in here,” he said, making her roll her eyes as he took the baby bundle again.
She grabbed a small bag from behind her and opened it, taking out latex gloves, wipes, a bottle of liquid, and the little eye light thingy. Pulling the gloves on, she started with the light, shining it into my eye as she stood close. She moved to my other eye just as the baby began to fuss, and I thought the exam would be cut short.
Saved by the scream.
But Violet didn’t even glance away from me as Ash shifted the baby in his hold. He rocked, and the fussing stopped almost instantly.
“You’re good at that,” I muttered. It didn’t seem like a guy Ash’s size should be capable of that kind of gentleness. But what did I know? My only experience with babies was hearing them scream from the other apartments in my building.
Violet gave a soft laugh. “He should be. He’s a funcle times eleven.”
“Funcle?”
“Fun uncle.”
“Oh.” The rest of what she said clicked in. “Wait. Eleven?”
Logically, I knew it was unlikely they were all hers, but that didn’t stop me from looking at the woman who was seemingly only in her mid-thirties.
She did a double take at my horrified expression before laughing. “No, no. Not me. Charlotte is my one and only right now.”
“I have three other older sisters,” Ash said. “Emily has three boys, Andrea has two of each, and Maggie has one boy and two girls.”
That explains the toy box.
“And Ash has zero,” Violet pointed out nonchalantly.
She opened her mouth like she was going to say something else, but Ash cut her off with a warning. “Vi.”
The whole conversation felt far too intimate, so I used that pause to change the subject. “So you’re a nurse?”
“I’m on maternity leave for another few weeks, but yup.”
I tried to scoot back. “Shouldn’t you be resting or something?”
She gave me a smirk so similar to her brother’s, it could’ve been copied and pasted. “Trust me. I’ve rested. I’ve relaxed. I’ve binged so much TV, my brain is rotting. I’m happy to get out of the house for a break that involves adult conversation. Even once I get back to work, it’ll be mostly cartoons and fart jokes.” At my lowered brows, she explained, “I work in a pediatrician’s office.”
“Does that mean I get a sucker once this is finished?”
I’d meant it as a joke, but Ash moved to open a cabinet near the fridge. He pulled out a large jar packed with lollipops and handed me a pink one. “Why wait until you’re done?”
“See?” Violet shook her head. “This is why the kids call him their funcle.”
I didn’t open the package as Violet moved my head around to gingerly clean my face. When she swiped my cheek, I hissed, and tears filled my eyes.
“Hmm,” she murmured.
Ash rapid fired questions. “What’s wrong? Is it the bone? Should I bring her back to the hospital?”
“No,” I snapped.
At the same time, Violet said, “Give me a second.”
She reached into her Mary Poppins bag of medical supplies and pulled out something that looked like a headlamp. Once she put it on, a bright light burned my eyes as she inspected my cheek. She ran her gloved finger across it, watching for my wince each time. After a moment, she grabbed something else and warned, “This might hurt.”
Ash reached his arm across to offer me his hand, but I didn’t take it. I didn’t want to accidentally jostle the baby. Plus, after what I’d been through, how much more pain could she really cause?
A lot.
The answer was a lot.
Using the world’s largest and sharpest tweezers, Violet stabbed into my face and wiggled. I was pretty sure she’d somehow managed to fit the entire length of the tweezers under my skin.
I clutched my hands in my lap and forced myself to stay still so I wouldn’t make it worse. The tears were harder to keep in, but I did my best with that, too.
After an eternity, Violet pulled away. She touched the spot on my cheek, and thanks to her digging, it was raw and tender. But it didn’t have the same sting. “Better?”
“Yes.”
She held up the tweezers to show a tiny piece of brick squeezed in the tip. “The initial swelling must’ve hidden it. Do you have ointment?”
“Yes,” Ash answered for me since he’d been the one dealing with it.
“Good. Make sure that spot gets some.” She removed the light and went back to work looking me over before asking me some basic questions and giving me a few easy commands to follow. “Everything looks good.” She offered me a sympathetic smile. “Though I’m sure it doesn’t feel good.” She shot her brother a quick glare, then returned her gaze to me. “None of this is medical advice or clearance.”
“Got it,” I muttered.
“I don’t have X-ray or MRI vision. I can’t say there’s no issue brewing below the surface. If your pain gets worse or even if you feel like something is off, you need to see Dr. Pierce.”
Her knowledge of which doctor I had seen reaffirmed my guess that he was a family friend. Ash clearly had some connection since he was able to make the doctor come to Moonlight and then make my hospital visit so quick.
Well, quick for a hospital.
Ash and Violet spoke for a few minutes while she went over the same list of things to watch out for that the doctor had. Once she was done, she gathered her belongings—including her baby.
Who I probably wasn’t supposed to refer to as a belonging, even in my own head, but I did.
“Now if you’ll excuse us,” Violet said, “my girlie and I are going to grab some Starbucks and spend an hour or five casually strolling through Target.”
Before common sense could smack me over the head, my mouth opened, and words spilled out. “Do you want us to watch her so you can have some alone time?”
I had no clue why the hell I offered that. I had no clue what to do with a baby. I didn’t know what they ate, when they ate it, or how much. I didn’t know how to change a diaper. I didn’t even know how to hold a baby.
I’d basically volunteered Ash to baby duty without consulting him. As if he wasn’t already generous enough to be on Mila duty.
Relief flowed through me when Violet gave me a dimpled smile while shaking her head. “That’s sweet of you, but Charlotte loves Target. She’s besties with all the bright lights. Just don’t tell the ceiling fan.”
I had no clue what that meant, so I just risked a peek at Ash. My relief grew when I saw he wasn’t pissed about my blurted mistake. Instead, he looked at me with an unreadable expression. A mix of softness and something more.
Something that made me feel like I had to squeeze my thighs.
When I wiggled in my spot on the counter, the softness left his gaze, leaving only intensity.
He probably thinks I’m trying to hide some pain.
I gave him a smile that I hoped was reassuring just as Violet spoke again. Her voice was light and happy. “Come on, Charlie. Time to get out of your uncle’s way.”
I was about to again blurt that there was no rush, and I would go, but Ash spoke first. “I’ll walk you out.”
That was… interesting.