Chapter 40
FORTY | COLTEN
Dropping the barbell, I swipe the sweat off my brow with my forearm, the cords in my arms pulled tight.
My tendons are ablaze, the fire spreading up my biceps, shoulders, and neck.
Reaching for the towel on the bench, I wander over to the fan propped in the corner of the room.
The movement of air washes over my skin, cooling the moisture seeping through my pores.
I heave a breath of exhaustion, dragging the towel down my face.
I’m overworking myself.
I’m painfully aware of how my body craves to sink into my soft mattress at the end of each day. But not before having my little ghost under me with my cock buried inside of her, where she can fully haul me to the depths where sleep is the next to consume me.
It’s dangerous.
I’m getting used to falling asleep beside her and waking up to kiss her forehead before I pet Rossco at the foot of the bed and sneak out of the room to begin my early days.
Even though the demons in my mind shake my sanity and scream at me that getting comfortable will inevitably destroy me in the long run, it feels natural.
She seems to be the most normal thing in the world.
I made the call—contacted my old principal and asked if he had any positions open at the elementary school. He did.
I was relieved and pissed off simultaneously when he informed me that their fifth-grade teacher is pregnant and due in a month.
They are looking to hire someone for the position temporarily.
When I told him Taryn might be interested in full-time teaching, he said there’s a possibility—if she fits with the students and staff—that they could hire her permanently, depending on what happens at the end of the school year.
So, I sent him everything she had sent me when she applied for our faux job listing.
I’m still on edge about the idea. But after hearing her talk about how much she loved teaching the night of her birthday, I didn’t want to be the one to stand in the way of something she’s so passionate about.
I would be taking her away from kids who could use her radiance.
Her warmth. And after seeing her with Elena and Tristan, I can’t keep her contained on the hill. I’m just not sure when I’ll tell her.
I peer out the gym windows. The sun sits on top of the trees on the horizon outside the shop, and the dark blue sky is painted with wisps of white clouds. I turn, and something gray in the corner of the windowsill catches my eye.
Tossing the towel over my shoulder, I walk over, grinning at the painted rock. A smile that quickly turns into a smirk. Taryn painted rocks with Elena and Tristan weeks ago, and yet every time I find one in a random spot, it brightens my day in the simplest way.
Picking it up, I rotate the smooth oval rock in my hand. But this specific one is unlike the others I’ve found because this is a masterpiece with a painting of perky breasts and rosy nipples.
Yeah. That was Taryn.
I laugh to myself, pulling my fingers through my damp hair matted from the sweat on my forehead, trying to ignore the ache in my cock.
Damn, I want to get home.
I place the rock back, deciding that whenever I’m working out, it will bring a smile to my face, knowing she put it in here. But I also pray to God, for her sake, that Elena and Tristan didn’t observe her paint that one.
Jesus. I don’t need Elena’s artwork turning into little erotic pictures at the age of five.
Snatching my water bottle off the bench, I turn off the fan and hit the lights before shutting the double barn doors and hopping in my truck. I round the major bend in the road that scales the cliffside, picking up speed when I hit the straight part leading to the hill.
When I get into the house, the sound of joyful laughter vibrates my bones.
“Can we make it bigger?” Tristan shouts from somewhere in the living room.
I freeze, my brain trying to process the mess in front of me that will be hell to clean up. Random dining room table chairs are propping up blankets, and the entire living room and part of the foyer are now a sea of covers, pillows, and sheets.
Even though I can’t see her, I hear Taryn shout, “I don’t think we can make this any bigger!” They must be in separate parts of this giant fortification.
“Bigger,” Elena seconds, taking Tristan’s side.
“I don’t think your brothers will be thrilled if we take the sheets off their beds,” Taryn replies.
A corner of my lips curls up, and I twirl my keys around my finger, the metal clanking and silencing their voices. “The brothers probably won’t be too happy anyway if we’re the ones that have to help clean up this mess.”
“Colten!” Elena shrieks. “Come find us!”
I raise a brow at the fort.” I don’t think I’ll ever be able to find you.”
“Well, good. Because it’s our fort anyway, and you’re not allowed inside,” Taryn answers straightforwardly.
“My house, my rules, Little Ghost,” I remind, unable to help the arrogance in my tone. I bite back a laugh. “And last I checked, this fort is in my living room.”
I practically feel the breath in her lungs cease, my body soaking in the effect I have on her across the room like it’s ecstasy. The heavy air sits on my shoulders, the weight pushing my feet forward as if the only relief is to see her.
Placing the keys in my pocket, I walk to the part of the floor designed to be the opening—two dining room chairs making a tunnel—that leads into one part of the fort that begins in the foyer.
My tired and sore muscles protest when I crouch down and start crawling on the sheets, but the giggling from somewhere in the fortress shoots determination through my bloodstream.
Tristan hurries toward me on his hands and knees, startling me with the brightest smile on his face.
The sight is enough to smash into me with the power of a freight train, nearly knocking me out and leaving me breathless.
He should’ve had this kind of smile on his face for the past five years, and I hate that I couldn’t be the one to put it there, but I am grateful that Taryn did.
He just needed more—more than his siblings doing everything they could to bring him out of the thick shell that was almost impossible to pierce through.
But he didn’t need us.
He needed someone else who’d willingly decide to be a constant in his life. He needed to know that there was another person out there who cared about his happiness.
On all fours, he closes the distance and sits before me, crossing his legs. “I can’t let you through, brother.”
I snicker. He recently picked up “brother” from Cameron and Brennan. My panic meter buried behind my sternum wobbles. I wonder what else he’s picked up from them. If the twins are more cautious around Elena, I assume Tristan knows a lot more than he leads on.
I raise a brow. “Where are the girls?”
He shakes his head.
“Do I need to bribe you to take my side instead?”
His eyes narrow into slits, challenging me. “What does bribe mean?”
“It means I give you something you want so you can give me what I want.”
His face twists in thought as he taps his finger on his chin in a steady rhythm. “Can you teach me to use the bow?”
That is not what I was expecting. I anticipated him asking for a later bedtime or something he usually whines about, like wanting more dessert.
But this? The unexpected demand warms my face, catching me off guard. Years ago, I told him he would have to wait until he was eight, and the twins and I would take him.
When he was around five or so, Jess would walk him and Elena down to the shop, and they would watch us set up a target.
His intrigued eyes always followed, his quaint voice whispering to Jessica if he could try.
I wanted to let him. I did. Because it was one of the few times he showed interest in something.
But he was still too small to use the first bow my dad bought me when I was eight.
But there are no hesitations. I don’t see why he couldn’t learn now.
“Deal,” I say, reaching out my hand instantly.
He shakes it, that optimistic smile returning. “I’ll go get Elena. Taryn is by the windows in the back corner of the living room.”
Spinning away from me and crawling through the tunnel, he darts farther into the fortress as if it’s swallowing him whole. Tiny bursts of laughter drift through from the left side near the sectional, and the cackle of laughter, followed by a scream, tells me that Tristan has found Elena.
Turning right, I head deeper into the back corner of the living room. The room lights filter through the shades of white and gray fabric as I worm my way through, trying to ignore the painful ache seizing my muscles from my workout not even thirty minutes ago.
I get to a small, tented room and take another right. Damn, this fort is massive. It must have taken them all afternoon to set this up.
“Little Ghost,” I singsong.
The hairs on my arms stand on end, keeping me alert.
She’s close.
I don’t have to look at her to know she took that swift intake of air that she does when she’s startled. But on this side of the fortress, there’s silence. On the other side, I hear lots of giggling and hands and knees thumping on the floor.
My blood is pumping in my ears, the pounding as loud as the first night when I chased Taryn through the orchard and she figured out who I was.
Rounding the coffee table, my eyes land on a flap of sheet that subtly peeks into the corner of the living room.
A sliver of movement through the opening shoots adrenaline through my heated veins.
Wasting no time, I flip open the flap of sheets and crawl through, my eye trained on hers as she stares at me with wide eyes.
She crosses her arms furiously, shifting on the pillow she’s sitting on. “Tristan is a traitor! He told me he was on my side and wouldn’t let you in.”
I tilt my head, an impish smile playing on my lips. “Blood comes before beauty, Little Ghost.”