Zack catches up to me just as I reach the front doors and punches one of my meaty arms.
“Dial it the fuck back, beast! She’s clearly afraid of men so you barking, grunting, and growling at her isn’t helping. I don’t know where the hell East found them but if he wants them here, he’ll be royally pissed if you scare her away.”
I frown and grunt softly in response. He’s right. I need to try and be less…me…when I’m around her. We both take a back seat door and pull them open and then just stand there staring at the setup before our eyes lift and meet over the roof of the car in disbelief. Zack whips out his cell and taps out a call putting it on speaker and holding it out in my direction.
Easton answers abruptly, “What? I have a fucking meeting!”
Zack rolls his eyes and launches in. “What the actual fuck, man? They were living in her car? Do you know how fucking cold it was last night?”
We hear him sigh heavily through the speakers.
“Yes, I know how cold it was because she helped me push my car out of the fucking ditch from where it skidded off on my way home. And no, I didn’t know they were living in it at the time. It was only when I drove past this morning and saw it still in the parking lot that I stopped to check on why she was still there.” He snaps out at us before his voice goes low and hesitant. “I couldn’t just leave them there. I didn’t know what to do but when she said it was just until she could find a job, I just hired her on the spot. Guys, she’s on the run from whoever put those marks on her. She needs help.”
Zack balks at that. “And you thought putting her in a house with three damaged male soldiers was what would help her? Are you insane?”
He grunts through the phone at us, “Just get her fucking settled! We’ll talk about it when I get home,” and then he disconnects leaving us to glare at each other.
“Fuck it, grab some of this shit,” Zack mutters my way and then ducks down to grab a handful of his own.
As I gather up blankets and pillows and snag the handle of a small cooler my expression hardens.
Beaten, scared, homeless, and on the run? Yeah, this is exactly where they need to be.
Avery
Iclutch Chloe’s crayons and coloring book against my chest as we walk down the long hall to get to the kitchen and try to stop my head from spinning from everything that has happened since Easton pounded on my window early this morning. It feels a little like a dream how fast everything moved. We went from being destitute, living in our car and freezing to having a warm, beautiful set of rooms and a job that pays a huge amount of money each week. Living in this huge, massive house intimidates the heck out of me but not as much as the three large men I now work for.
Kanga leans into my leg as we walk like he can sense my anxiety so I ruffle his fur as we go. Chloe skips ahead, completely confident of her place here. Ryker and Zack had made multiple trips out to my car to bring everything in and I was immensely grateful that neither one said anything about how we were clearly living in the car. They just left me to unpack and an hour later came back to show us around the place. Room after beautiful room, my nerves tightened. Everything was so polished and expensive and I’m terrified of what will happen if Chloe or I break something. Thank goodness for her. She chattered almost nonstop about her likes and dislikes and what she’s learning in kindergarten as we toured through the house, filling all the empty silences.
Her chatter turned into squeals of excitement when they showed us the indoor pool and she immediately started to beg for a swim. Sadly, I had to say no. As long as she has that cast on her arm, the pool is a no-go for her.
The only thing that kept me from bolting with her out of this huge place was remembering Easton’s words that I wouldn’t be expected to clean the whole place. They dropped us back at our rooms so I could catch my breath and feed Chloe some lunch from the food I had brought with me and unpacked into the small kitchen. I killed another hour just wandering around the space while Chloe watched some cartoons trying to wrap my head around everything. But I was brought here for a job and I’m going to get started right now.
I get Chloe set up on the island with her coloring book and crayons and then turn to tackle the overflowing sinks but find them empty of the dishes I had seen earlier. I frown and turn to where I saw a stack of empty pizza boxes and find them gone as well. Frowning, I spin slowly around the kitchen looking for something to clean and come up empty. With a shrug, I decide to get to work on what Easton said was the most important thing to him, food. I pull open the huge double doors of the built-in subzero refrigerator and what I see causes my shoulders to slump. Most of the shelves are empty except for the lowest one which is well stocked with beer bottles. A tremor runs through me at the sight of all that beer as memories of drunken rants and hard fists lashed out.
“It’s pretty bare bones, right?”
I jerk away from the voice so hard that I crash into the edge of the island right where my ribs hurt the most and gasp in a harsh breath as the pain almost whites out my vision.
“Whoa! Sorry! Didn’t mean to startle you.” Wide icy blue eyes filled with concern hit me and Ryker’s gaze goes straight down to where I’m clutching at my side. “Hey, are you okay?” He asks as he takes a step toward me with a hand held out.
I throw up my free hand to stop him and nodding quickly, I suck in a steadying breath.
“Yeah, I’m, I’m good! You just caught me by surprise is all.” I can’t stand the pity I think I see in his eyes so I swing mine back to the open fridge. “Um, yeah, there’s not much to work with in there.” I try for a smile but it barely lifts my lips as I shift slightly to try and ease the pain in my side.
One of his big hands comes up and rubs at his face as he looks over the bare shelves and then down at the heavy tactical watch on his arm with a frown.
“Shit, too late to place a grocery order today. How about we make some lists and I’ll run us over to the store tomorrow morning? We can stock this place up properly.”
I glance over to Chloe but she’s focused on her coloring and not paying us any attention. I grab a washcloth and start scrubbing at the counter to keep my hands busy as I answer him.
“Um, it’s okay, I can do that. I mean, you don’t have to take me. Mr. Easton hired me to take care of that kind of stuff so you all wouldn’t be bothered.”
He chokes out a muffled laugh that has me darting a glance his way
“Hmm, sure but let’s do the first big shop together so I can show you all the brands we like to have on hand. After that, we can set up a regular delivery if you want.”
I chew on my lip too hard, causing me to slam my eyes closed in impatience at the stupid split lip when it protests, and then swipe my tongue against it to check if I broke it open again. Thankfully, I don’t taste blood. I lift my gaze back up to meet his and see anger flash through his eyes as he stares at my mouth. Damn it! I can’t lose this job so I nod quickly and force a chipper tone.
