13. Charleigh

THIRTEEN

CHARLEIGH

I'd changed my mind three times about coming here, wavering, the mental pros and cons list stacked so high against each other that it'd weighed me down. I'd changed my shoes just as many times, waffling between cute sandal wedges and comfy sneakers and the ultimate this is not a big deal pair of flip-flops to pair with the shorts that I'd pulled on.

Then I'd glimpsed that gorgeous bouquet on my table, and my spirit had squeezed with the truth that it would be rude if I didn't show. I'd figured I should put in some effort since Raven had for me, inviting me here, making me feel welcome, treating me as if I might mean something to someone.

And the truth was, I was lonely. So lonely that I ached. So lonely that I could feel the proof of it carved out in me.

A throbbing, misshapen hole.

Wearing a cute flowy blue floral top, I'd shoved my feet back into the wedges, buckled them, and stared at myself through the mirror and told myself I was going to march out the door and have a good time.

So, I'd walked the half mile to the park beneath the warm, caressing rays of the sun, convinced that I would. Still, I sucked in a shallow breath when I rounded the corner and saw the horde of people gathered at the park.

Rows of white-topped canopies lined the edges of the fields, and strains of country music floated on the breeze, laughter woven in between.

A rush of disquiet gusted, that tremor that warned me to slink away and hide.

The words on my inner arm blazed their reminder.

In grief we must live.

I forced the scatter of fear down, lifted my chin, and walked the rest of the way to the park.

I felt a little semblance of calm when I stepped into the mass and blended in with the crowd.

Becoming one with the families, the conversations and the smiling faces.

I wound through, peeking at the displays at each of the booths. There were crafts and organic vegetables, drinks and art, jewelry and handmade soaps and candles.

Each was donating a portion of their profits to the Moonlit Ridge Animal Shelter.

I kept moving, searching until I finally found the small booth with a banner claiming Moonflower across the top.

There was a small line wound around the display, but I could see Raven's black hair piled on her head with a bunch of flowers sticking out of it as she chatted with a customer.

I held back, browsing a display of hair clips and ribbons at the booth to the right of hers.

Once the last customer walked away with an armful of fresh flowers, she turned to rearrange the bucket of lilies behind her that was almost empty.

I eased up to the display table that separated us.

When she turned back around, she did a double-take when she saw me standing there before a screech of excitement flew from her tongue.

"Oh my God, you're finally here! I was beginning to think you weren't going to show and I was going to have to make good on that whole kidnapping threat." She waved her hands in the air as she hurried to squeeze through a small opening she'd left between her display tables to get to me.

She threw her arms around my neck, hugging me as if she'd known me her whole life.

A breath of surprise punched from my lungs as she tightened her arms, rigid in her hold as she rocked me back and forth. It took a second before I finally gave into the embrace, letting go of some of the fear I constantly held at being seen—terrified that one day someone would recognize me—and I hugged her back, trying to allow the tease to wind into my voice. "You warned me I didn't have another choice."

I exhaled at the warmth that rolled through me as she gave me one more fierce squeeze, like her spirit knew mine needed soothing, before she edged back and gripped me by the outside of the arms. "You're lucky you listened because five minutes more and you would have found yourself in the trunk of my car."

A teasing smile pranced across her lips that today she'd painted blood red. "Come on, you need to meet my brother and his friends."

I didn't have time to renounce the idea and tell her I was only swinging by to see her before she had me by the hand and was dragging me between the small section separating her booth and the enormous one next to it.

I struggled to keep up, my wedges sinking into the soft grass beneath me as she hauled me along the side and to the back where a circle of four chairs had been set up.

One was empty, and the other three were occupied.

Two men sat facing our direction, lost in conversation, emitting a vibe that nearly made me trip.

Each covered in ink and radiating a foreboding ferocity that I was sure had to steal every eye, no doubt garnering attention and scrutiny and curiosity in this small town.

So out of place they stood out like menacing beacons you couldn't look away from.

Brutally beautiful and screaming of trouble .

Exactly like the man who sat with his back to us with his attention fully focused on his cup that he held between two tattooed hands. The one who made the oxygen punch out of me on a wheeze when I was slammed with the recognition of who was sitting there.

There was no missing the crop of black hair and the tattooed tendrils of what looked like smoke that rolled up the back of his neck and disappeared into his hairline at the back of his skull.

I could feel that intensity radiating from him. Tension gripped hold of his bulging muscles and bunched his wide shoulders as he slowly swiveled around to look at me.

A blister of darkness streaked across the afternoon air. Arrows that impaled as those storm-ridden eyes devoured me from across the space.

Couldn't get you off my mind…

His words from yesterday spun around me like a dream.

Raven only tugged at my hand when I faltered to a stop. "Come on, they're right over here."

She pulled me right up to where they were sitting.

"Hey guys, this is my new friend I've been telling you about, Charleigh Lowe."

She waved a hand over me like she was presenting them a prize. I could feel River's eyes penetrating me, so deep I thought they might cut through to the soul.

"Charleigh, these are a couple of my brother's friends. Kane..." She pointed first at a man with short-brown hair and a full but trimmed beard. Tall and muscular, arrogance came off him in waves.

Raven gestured at the man sitting next to him. "And this is Theo."

Theo jutted a sharp chin at me, his cheekbones harsh slashes that contoured his face in a way that promised he could likely seduce anyone into their destruction.

He was completely covered in tattoos, black ink that swirled and curled over his lean, packed muscle. My head dipped in a small hello.

"And this is my brother, River."

Of course.

River was her brother .

My heart hammered as I tried to figure out how I was going to get out of this. Because I didn't think I could handle being in his space. Not when he made me feel as if I was unraveling.

My mind twisted and my thoughts skewed.

Dangerous ideas slipping through.

Releasing my hand, Raven stepped up to River and ruffled her fingers over the super short black hair on his head, as if she was certain he wouldn't bite when he looked like a viper ready to strike.

Coiled and rattling.

She looked back at me with a sly wink and mouthed, told you , like she was doing me the favor of introducing me to her brother's friends when the only thing I wanted to do was turn and flee.

But no.

I was pinned.

Chained by those menacing eyes that ravaged me where he sat. So powerful that I had no defense.

No resistance.

"Good to meet you, Charleigh."

The scruff-laden voice knocked me out of the stupor, and I looked to where Kane sat. His long legs were stretched out in front of him and he had one arm draped around the back of the chair like he might be lounging on a throne.

"Nice to meet you, too." Somehow, I managed the sparse, shaken words, but my stupid regard was climbing right back to the pillar of a man whose tongue stroked over his plush bottom lip.

My stomach twisted, thoughts back to the words he'd whispered yesterday.

Temptation and a threat.

"Smart girl. Not the kind of guy a girl like you should go mixin' with."

A smart girl would run.

Run far and fast.

And there I stood as if my feet had grown roots.

"Welcome to Moonlit Ridge," Theo said, the man sitting low in the chair, his eyes appraising me as if he were searching to see if I should be trusted .

Which was kind of hysterical when he oozed nothing but sin.

"It's nice to meet you, Theo."

His attention snapped to River before it snapped back to me, and something amused lit at the edge of his mouth. "Oh, I think it's definitely going to be nice ."

I couldn't quite make sense of whatever sound rolled from River's throat, but I was looking that way again, unable to stop myself, then silently scolding myself for acting crazy.

This was stupid.

I didn't need to cower. Didn't need to let this guy affect me this way.

He'd given me a simple tattoo, for God's sake. It wasn't a big deal. Not at all. Except the problem was I couldn't seem to dodge him, whatever I did.

Not in my thoughts or my dreams or my actual days since he kept popping up everywhere I went.

I guess I should have known this would be a small-town problem when I'd come here, but it wasn't like Moonlit Ridge was that tiny. I'd thought it'd be the perfect size to both see fewer people and blend.

"Watch out for these two," Raven said with affection in her voice, pointing between Theo and Kane. "They might be pretty, but they'll have you out of your panties so fast, you won't know what hit you. Unless, of course, that's what you're looking for."

She smirked back at me, eyes widening with the innuendo.

Her brother grunted again.

I was pretty sure it wasn't going to be these two who were the problem.

"Hey, wait, I know you!" A little voice suddenly cut through the tension, and I looked up to find Nolan racing through the backside of the tent, his arms in the air as he came, that sweet, adorable smile on his dimpled, freckled face.

It lanced through me again.

Javelins of pain and adoration.

Adoration that shouldn't be mine, but there was something about the little boy that had made an impact .

"What are you doin' here, Miss Charleigh? You got a doctor's tent?"

There was no stopping the affectionate giggle that rippled out with my words. "No. I came to say hi to your aunt Raven."

His brows jumped toward the sky. "You know my auntie?"

"That's right, she does. Charleigh lives in the apartment above my store, and she's my new bestie."

Raven hooked her elbow with mine, and my nerves fluttered, both in a thrill of gratitude and a dose of worry. I wasn't sure how I was supposed to be her friend when River was her brother. Wasn't sure I could handle being in his vicinity.

But I didn't know how to move from the spot, either, when Nolan kept bouncing my way. "It's really good you got a new best friend and she's my auntie because she's AWESOME!"

He jumped and punched for the sky when he said the last.

I choked over his sweetness.

"She is awesome." I sent her a soft smile before I turned back to him. "How's your mouth today?"

"It doesn't even hurt a bit! And look it!" He came right up to me, clenching his jaw and twisting his mouth in what appeared close to a grimace though it was anything but, and he used his finger to pull down his bottom lip to show off the gap where his tooth had been. "I got a big boy toof right there, so it wasn't even nothin' that I knocked the little one out. And I can eat and everything."

My chest squeezed.

"Well, that's really good news."

"Yup, I always got the good news, and my uncle Otto said things always work out for the best, so I don't got nothin' to worry about. And we got a bunch of puppies right over there." He pointed to the big canopy on the opposite side that was closed in by a short fence. "I'm thinkin' I'm gonna keep four or five if my Daddy-O says yes, but he keeps sayin' no because gettin' a puppy is a really way big responsibility."

A giggle rolled up my throat, and I attempted to ignore the way his father ran a flustered hand down his face.

I couldn't do anything but reach out and run my fingers through the baby soft curls of brown on the little boy's head. He beamed up at me and leaned into my touch.

That vacancy inside me moaned. But it was different this time. It was as if looking at him and a piece of myself was soothed.

"And this one is Otto." Raven's voice lowered when she said that, and I looked up to see a giant of a man strolling up with a confident kind of casualness. His messy brown hair glinted in the sunlight, and a massive grin played on his handsome face.

"Hey, Ravi Girl. This your new friend?" The man's startling blue gaze flitted between us. I was pretty sure my new best friend was shaking.

"Yup, this is her. Charleigh. She lives right upstairs from the store."

The man's grin deepened. "Good to meet you, Charleigh. This one won't stop talking about the new resident of Moonlit Ridge she met. Welcome to town."

He waved a flourished hand, and it was the first time I realized all four of the men had the same tattoo on the backs of their left hands.

Two stacked Ss with an eye in the middle. Though I'd noticed each varied a bit.

River's had a knife that cut through the middle.

"I'm glad to be here." I wasn't sure right then if I was being honest or not. If it was the ultimate lie or if the truth of it would be my demise.

I'd been running for years.

Hiding.

Putting one foot in front of the other because it was the only thing I knew how to do.

But coming here, I'd thought…I'd thought I'd try to lay down roots. It was hard to grow when you were simply moving.

Surviving.

Five years was a long time to be stuck in the same agonizing moment.

And I thought maybe…maybe I was ready.

In grief we must live.

I could feel the burn of the words that had been imprinted on my arm .

Molten black eyes flamed as River stared at me, and I wondered if he could feel them, too.

Raven took my hand again and swung it between us. She glanced over at me with a wistful expression on her face. "The only one who isn't here is Cash because he doesn't come around much, but this? This is my family. And I'm really excited for you to get to know them."