Chapter 26
JEREMIAH
“Jeremiah Ezekial Bell!” Lennon’s voice boomed from the office doorway, startling Mateo and making my spine snap straight like a guilty child.
“That’s not my middle name,” I said automatically, but I was more concerned with Lennon looking like something my dog had dragged through the mud.
She was soaked through and filthy. Next to me, Mateo slapped a palm over his mouth and nose, whether to hide his laughter or ward off the stench, I didn’t know.
“Then what’s your middle name?” she demanded.
“I don’t have one.”
“Well, you do now. Congratulations.” She stared at me, fuming. “Aren’t you going to ask?”
“Honestly, I’m a little afraid to.” I eyed her warily.
“I’ll ask,” Mateo cut in. “Lennon, what the fuck is that smell?”
Lennon stormed forward like a furious hurricane.
Mateo and I pushed our chairs back in a hurry.
She slammed her hands on my desk and leaned in.
“That is the smell of an innocent woman who was hit with raw eggs, pushed into a horse trough, and then somehow found herself in a wheelbarrow full of horse dung. That is what you smell, Mateo. You smell me.”
Mateo vibrated next to me, covering his cough with a laugh. I glared at him, sending a silent message with my eyes. Are you trying to get us killed?
“What happened, honey?” I sensed more than saw Mateo’s head whip toward me at the endearment. Shit. I had told them about Lennon’s stalker because that was necessary for everyone’s safety. But I had left my feelings out of it.
“Holly happened to me,” Lennon gritted out.
Goddammit.
Mateo shook his head. “You left her with Holly? Jesus, Jay.”
“I left her with Liam,” I said defensively. “I would never leave her with Holly.”
“And Liam assigned Holly to shadow me,” Lennon said.
“Seriously?” Mateo pushed his glasses up on his nose and cocked his head. “Did you do something to piss him off?”
Lennon threw up her hands. “How the hell should I know? I’ve barely talked to him since I got here. He’s not exactly a stimulating conversationalist, you know. All he does is grunt.”
“It’s all right.” I tried to soothe her with my voice because I sure as fuck wasn’t going to actually touch her. “Tell me what happened.”
“I don’t know what happened.” Frustration laced her voice.
“I don’t know how I managed to smash an entire carton of eggs on myself.
I don’t know how I fell into the water trough.
I don’t know how I tripped on nothing and ended up in the wheelbarrow of horse manure.
But every time, Holly was right there. And I know I didn’t do it to myself. ”
I exchanged a look with Mateo. Yeah, that was Holly, all right. No one ever saw her coming. She was like a fucking ghost assassin.
I pushed to my feet. “How about I take you upstairs so you can shower?” I ignored Mateo’s knowing smirk as I rounded the desk. “And, um…” I looked around frantically. What would make Lennon happy again?
“Ice cream.” Mateo snapped his fingers. “You want some ice cream, Lennon?”
Her eyes narrowed. “Don’t try to handle me, Mateo. I will have my revenge.” But then she cocked her head. “Skittles and Diet Coke. That’s what I want.”
“Fine,” I agreed immediately. “But we’ll have to go to town. We don’t keep Skittles on hand. No one’s ever requested them before.”
“So we’ll go to town,” she snapped, like I had put up a fight.
“I’ll drive.” I gave her a wide berth as I made for the door.
“And a hug.”
The words stopped me in my tracks. I pivoted slowly. “Give the woman a hug, Mateo.”
Mateo shook his head rapidly, his gaze pingponging between us.
“From you, Jeremiah,” Lennon clarified. Her eyes glittered with evil joy. “I want a hug from you. It’s the only thing that will make me feel better about being assaulted by one of your staff.”
“Holly didn’t touch you,” I protested.
“I know what she did, and so do you.” The only thing wider than her open arms was her shit-eating grin. “Come here, cowboy.”
With a grimace, I stepped into her embrace. Her arms banded around me and her low laugh tickled my ear. Suddenly I didn’t care that she was filthy and smelly. Lennon was in my arms. I had everything I wanted. I held her tighter and nuzzled her neck, searching for a clean spot to lay my lips.
“You’re enjoying this.” She smacked my arm with an annoyed huff. “You’re not supposed to enjoy it.”
“Interesting,” Mateo said thoughtfully behind us.
I knew I would have to explain myself sooner or later, but not yet. For now, I ignored him and dragged my girl upstairs to get clean.
“Skittles and Diet Coke, huh?” I watched her shake out a palmful, then carefully select one of each color and pop them into her mouth in one go.
“It’s my comfort meal.”
After we’d showered—separately, despite her altruistic plea to save water, because I didn’t trust myself having Lennon naked and wet within arm’s reach of me—I’d driven her to Sunday’s Sundries on Main Street.
We’d taken her candy and my vanilla cone to the picnic tables out back, where Mercy River snaked through the town.
I shook my head. “Skittles and Diet Coke isn’t a meal, honey. It’s a snack.”
She was quiet for a moment as she uncapped her soda and took a sip.
After wiping her mouth with the back of her hand, she said, “My mom promised me my twelfth birthday would be special. We’d go out for pizza and she’d bake me a cake herself.
Normally, I’d know better than to believe her.
She made a lot of promises she never kept.
But this time, I figured she’d actually follow through.
Her boyfriend had dumped her two weeks before, so she was in that short window where she was done crying about it and in her I don’t need a man phase before she inevitably decided she did, in fact, need a man.
” She squinted at the river. “When I came home from school, she was getting dressed to go out. Not for me.” Her tone turned sardonic.
“She’d met someone. He was so sweet”—Lennon rolled her eyes—“and he wanted to take her to dinner.”
“She left you alone on your birthday?” We didn’t celebrate birthdays at the compound. There were too many kids to give anyone special attention for a day. Being an only child, that probably hit different, having your mom choose to spend time with someone else.
Lennon nodded. “She had completely forgotten about the cake, but she told me to order myself pizza for dinner. Only…” Lennon rolled her lips, then shrugged like it didn’t matter. “She hadn’t left any money. Your ice cream is melting.”
I blinked through my fury and realized a stream of melted ice cream was making its way to my hand. Feeling ridiculous, I licked it up.
“I scrounged around for loose change. I searched her drawers, the couch cushions, all that. Got sixty cents for my trouble. So I searched the neighborhood. I checked near cars and front steps and along the road to the gas station. I ended up with a few dollars. It wasn’t enough for a whole pizza, but I could buy something to eat.
A hotdog probably would have been more filling, but gas station hotdogs are disgusting.
” She wrinkled her nose at me, her lips tipped up in a genuine smile.
“Anyway, it was my birthday. I wanted something yummy. So I bought my favorite candy and a Diet Coke because the regular Coke wasn’t on sale. ”
“Lennon,” I rasped. My chest hurt. “I’m so sorry, honey.”
She frowned at me. “No. Don’t do that. This isn’t a sob story, okay? When I’m feeling down about something, I have Skittles and Diet Coke because it reminds me of my twelfth birthday and it makes me feel better. It’s a good memory, Jeremiah.”
“How? Your mother—” Anger choked the words in my throat. I hated that Lennon had been treated as disposable by the person who should have loved her the most.
“Because I proved I didn’t need anyone else.
I could take care of myself. And I do. Maybe not in a way you approve of, but I’m happy and healthy.
” She made a silly face and popped another handful of Skittles in her mouth.
“That stalker thing isn’t my fault, you know.
You can’t hold me responsible for him. But I’m going to figure it out and I’m going to fix it. I promise.”
“Lennon. I approve of you. I more than approve of you.” How could she doubt that? “You’re smart and so fucking strong. So fucking beautiful.”
She stared at me in surprise. Then her gaze faltered and dipped to my cone. “Eat your ice cream, Jeremiah.”
I kept looking at her, waiting for her to give me her eyes again. She didn’t. My girl was a coward about the strangest things. I shook my head. “I’ve never known anyone as scared of compliments as you are.”
“I’m not scared. I just don’t believe them.”
I cocked my head, genuinely perplexed. “How’s that? You’re the most confident woman I’ve ever met.”
“Well, sure. My taste is impeccable.” She smirked as she tilted her soda to her lips. “I think I’m great. But I find it impossible to believe that anyone else does.”
I hated everyone who had given her a reason to doubt me. Her mother was at the top of that list.
But I was going to rectify that. Before Lennon Graves left Mercy River Ranch, she would know down to her bones exactly how wonderful I found her.
“You know I’m going to have to do something about Holly, right?” Lennon sounded almost apologetic. “It’s part of that whole taking care of myself thing. If I let it slide, how will I ever trust myself again?”
Oh, fuck. “I need you to listen to me very carefully, honey. Leave Holly alone.”
“I know, I know. You were a team of some kind of special forces.” She flicked her wrist. “Holly’s not going to actually kill me—”
“Holly wasn’t special forces,” I interrupted. “She was a contractor assigned to a special forces team. She did jobs that—never mind. Just trust me on this, okay? She has different rules.”
She gave my thigh a reassuring pat. “I know you’re worried. You think I’m punching above my weight class—”
“I don’t think that,” I interrupted. “Holly has trained skills, but you’re creative. It’s like watching two super powers with nuclear weapons duke it out. I’m scared one of you will hit that red button and vaporize us all.”