Chapter Three
Trent sat at the kitchen table waiting for Jeremy to return. He’d been at his friend's home since they finished with the police. What a night—and a long morning.
He’d met Jade a few months ago and she’d quickly become someone he loved. It was like having another sister. Jade was feisty, small, and adorable. When Jeremy informed Trent he was marrying her, he couldn’t blame him. A girl like that deserved to be loved. And Jeremy, a man who never showed much interest in anything more than casual sex, had fallen ass over face in love with her.
The idea that they could have lost her last night…
Trent took a deep breath and dumped his coffee, if it could even be called that. Suffice it to say they were all grateful to have Jade safe at home again.
As he washed out his coffee mug, he considered how lucky they all were and wondered what Jeremy did to make his coffee taste so terrible. The man made the worst caffeinated sludge he’d ever tasted. Doing a favor to the rest of the world, he emptied the pot and made a fresh batch. As he hit brew, Jeremy’s heavy footsteps broke the silence.
Trent turned, resting his weight against the counter and folding his arms over his chest. “How is she?”
“Same. Her therapist just got here. I’m hoping she can at least get her talking.”
Trenton returned to the table and sat. Jeremy looked like shit. The man hadn’t slept in almost thirty hours. “Why don’t you grab a shower? Get out of those clothes?”
“I need to be vigilant.”
Trent gripped his shoulder and looked him in the eye. “I’ll stay. If she needs you, I’ll come get you.”
His friend nodded but apparently lacked the strength to move. Then, like a stronghold made of sand, his face crumbled as he broke into tears.
Trent rushed a comforting hand to the back of his neck, gripping him securely. “Hey. It’s all right. She’s safe. He’s dead. He can’t hurt her anymore.”
His friend’s broad shoulders quaked with the force of too many stressful days and nights. The sudden end to such a drawn-out nightmare no doubt overwhelmed him.
Jeremy wasn’t an emotional man. In most cases, he was the polar opposite. Trent had watched him haul a friend’s lifeless body back from combat without even shedding a tear, but this—nearly losing his wife to a psychopath—was gutting him.
He was glad to be the shoulder his friend cried on, knowing if things were reversed, Jeremy would do the same for him. Clearing his throat, Jeremy pulled himself together and blew out a hard breath. He rose. “I’m going to shower.”
Minutes later the tinkling of water rattled through the pipes in the walls.
Trent wasn’t a tidy guy. He hardly emptied the cups out of his truck until they started overflowing onto the floor. Still, he needed to do something, so he paced through the house with a trash bag, collecting disposable glasses and plates left over from the party.
The quiet opening and closing of doors on the second floor vaguely registered. He didn’t want to leave until he was sure everyone was okay and his friends didn’t need anything else. But he also wanted to allow them some privacy.
Setting the volume on the sound system in the living room to low, an old favorite by INXS filled the silence as he filled his bag with trash. Tying off the bag he headed out back to drop it in the garbage can but paused when he heard a sniffle.
Creeping around the side of the house, he hesitated, questioning if he should just go back inside and let whoever was there have their moment in peace. His mouth went slack as he glimpsed Chloe standing stiffly at the edge of the garage, mopping away tears.
What’s she doing here?
Clearing his throat, he stepped around the corner. “Chloe?”
She gasped and took a startled step back. “What … what are you doing here?” Her flushed, tear-streaked cheeks reddened another degree.
Approaching slowly, he kept his expression blank. “I’ve been here all morning.”
His fingers itched to brush a windblown tear from her cheek as his eye caught on a black smudge near her jaw. Registering her disheveled appearance he frowned.
“You’re shivering.” He closed the distance and pulled the lapels of her jacket together. Then his nose twitched, an unflattering odor catching in the air.
Must be the garbage.
Her brown eyes followed him as she scrubbed her hands over her face. “I didn’t think anyone else was out here.”
“Do they know you’re here? Jade isn’t seeing anyone right now.”
“I know. I just left them.”
Tipping his head curiously, he blinked in confusion. The only other person here was Jade’s therapist. “What is it you do, Chloe?” When she hesitated he asked, “Or is it Dr. Wolfe?”
She visibly hesitated, her lips parting but her words chosen carefully. “I’m a therapist.”
“Ah.” He placed his hands in his pockets and waited for her to say more, but she didn’t. “So, I suppose you’re well aware of what our girl’s been through.”
“I talked with Jeremy.” She took a steadying breath. “It’s terrible. Sometimes I wonder if there are any good men left in this world.”
The verbal backhand was hard to miss, but he didn’t take it personally. “I’m sure your sons disprove that theory every day.”
“They’re good boys, but you have no idea how much I worry over what kind of men they’ll become.”
She was confessing more than ordinary parental concerns, but neither of them were thinking clearly at the moment. Still, he understood how a woman who’d been married to a tyrant might fear of nature versus nurture.
“Hey.” He waited for her to look at him. “They aren’t their father.”
She stared at him, her expression momentarily confused. Shit, had he said too much? It was difficult to remember everything she’d said in his truck six years ago, but he was certain she’d made it clear Hunt was abusing her. He quickly changed the subject. “Do you smell something?”
Her eyes jumped from questioning to mortified as she hastily took a step downwind of him. With that step, the odor lessened. “I, uh… No.” Her focus darted to the street. “I have to go. Please tell Jeremy I’ll be back in a few hours.”
Without even returning to the house, she fled to a little, yellow car, taking the smell of rotten eggs with her. Once again she’d slipped by him. That made three times. First, the day they met. Then last night and now this. Shaking his head, he laughed and headed back to the house. She sure had a way of leaving him wanting more.
Once he had the house straightened up, he ordered some food for everyone. Tyson and Kat stopped by, which made Trent comfortable with leaving Jeremy for a while. Kat was Jade’s best friend and no doubt she’d be at her friend’s side for most of the day. Ty had become a good friend to Jeremy as well. The four of them, Jade, Jeremy, Tyson, and Kat formed a modern-day blended family, centered on Kat and Jeremy’s biological daughter, Mia.
After returning to Jeremy’s with some sandwiches from the local deli, he spotted Chloe’s yellow car at the curb. It wasn’t a sexy car by any means, but the sight of it got his blood pumping.
He casually hung by the counter as Ty and Jeremy talked at the table. Kat returned downstairs, rubbing her slightly pregnant stomach and looking exhausted. They were all beat.
It was selfish having ulterior motives for hanging around when he should’ve been thinking only of them. Still, he couldn’t stop his thoughts from returning to Chloe, wanting to run into her again, maybe talk some more.
He was still digesting the fact that his little runaway had gone and become a therapist. Interesting. Six years ago she was dealing with her own traumatic situation and now she was offering others emotional advice. The irony of her success tempted an inexplicable sense of pride, making it difficult not to smile in the morose house. But he was happy for her—happy she found her happiness and somehow turned a terrible experience into a reason to help others.
“What’s that goofy ass grin for?”
Trent cut off his line of thinking and scowled at Tyson, who retrieved a beer from the fridge. “What grin?”
“The one you’re wearing. The one that says you’re thinking about unicorns and rainbows or some such shit.”
Unicorns and rainbows? Then he felt the corny grin on his face and forced his expression to blank. “I have no idea what you’re talking about.”
Ty rolled his eyes, tossing the beer cap in the trash. “Sure you don’t.” He chuckled, his words full of sarcasm.
Trent changed the subject, keeping his voice low enough so only Ty could hear him. “What does Kat have to say?”
“She said Jade’s doing a little better the more they get her to talk. I should be taking my wife home and forcing her to rest, but there’s no way she’ll leave Jade.”
This was Kat’s second pregnancy. “Where’s the sprout?”
Mia, Kat’s first daughter, also happened to be Jeremy’s daughter. The kid might be the result of a hasty decision back in high school, but the blended family thing really seemed to work in their case.
“She’s with my in-laws. I don’t want to bring her here with Jade still so upset. Mia wouldn’t understand any of this.”
At the mention of their daughter’s name both Kat and Jeremy turned. “What are we going to tell her?” Jeremy asked.
Ty’s brow pinched. “We don’t tell her anything. She doesn’t need to know any of this and we’ll wait it out until things get back to normal. Maybe you’d be better off coming to our house on Wednesday instead of bringing Mia here.”
“I’m not leaving Jade alone that soon.”
“I can come sit with her,” Kat suggested. “I can tell Mia that Jade and I are having a grown-up day. So long as she doesn’t see Jade, she won’t suspect anything’s up.”
“What about this weekend? It’s my weekend with Mia,” Jeremy reminded everyone.
This really wasn’t Trent’s business so he occupied himself with peeling back the label on his beer.
“Hey.”
They all turned toward the door and Trent’s heart jumped into double time. There she was. A vision of beauty compared to her earlier appearance, but he sort of liked seeing her undone as much as he enjoyed looking at her put together.
Jeremy stood. “Is she all right?”
“Sleeping.” Chloe smiled, as the room collectively breathed a sigh of relief and Jeremy sat back down. “She’s exhausted. I think she’ll be out for a few hours. I suggest you all try to get some rest if you want to be awake for her later.”
Jeremy scrubbed a hand over his face. “I’m too tired to sleep. This whole episode’s made me squirrelly. Did you eat, Chloe? Trent picked up sandwiches.”
She spotted him in the corner of the room and her breath noticeably hitched and held. It was no easy task being his size and going unnoticed, but funny that she almost missed him. He smiled as her face turned a lovely shade of pink.
She cut the eye contact and turned back to Jeremy. “No, I haven’t, but I’m fine. Thank you.”
“Don’t be silly,” Trent said, moving from the counter. “I got enough for everyone.”
* * * *
Trenton hacked off a humongous portion of hoagie and carried it to the table. She certainly wouldn’t be eating that in front of him.
He pulled out a chair. “Sit. Eat.”
Paralyzed, she stared, unable to take her eyes off of him. His size was so intimidating he somehow managed to make Tyson and Jeremy, two large men, somehow appear miniature. Thick, corded muscles bulged under the sleeves of his worn T-shirt, drawing her eyes to his broad chest and tapered waist. He was a mountain of man, chiseled to perfection, with a rugged edge that was only emphasized by the jagged scar carved across his jaw. But it was his eyes, the way they playfully danced and seemed to assess her every move, which disarmed her most.
Did the others know they knew each other? What had he told them? She made a point to leave her past in the past and she didn’t want him informing anyone of that shameful time in her life—not that he had all the details. But he’d seen her at her worse and these were people she tried to only show her best. She should leave.
“I should really be go—”
He took hold of her wrists, unleashing a swarm of butterflies in her stomach, and pulled her to the table. “You have to eat, doll.”
Doll? “Honestly, I’m not hungry.”
The weight of his strong hands rested on her shoulders, pressing her into the chair. Her eyes widened as he kept them there, massaging lightly and giving her no way of escape.
“I … I can’t eat all this.”
“Sure you can. This deli bakes homemade rolls. They’re fresh and soft. I guarantee you never tasted anything like it.” His head dropped lower as he leaned just over her shoulder, wisps of his dark hair touching her cheek like some sort of tantric massage.
She glanced at the others who were all frowning at Trenton. Everyone was still and no one seemed to blink.
Trenton’s warm breath teased her ear as the rich timbre of his voice dropped to a rasp. “Take a bite. Tell me it isn’t one of the best things you’ve ever put in your mouth.”
He was referencing the fresh baked roll, yet she blushed. There seemed some hidden innuendo to his words, or perhaps it was the mere sound of him whispering in her ear about putting something in her mouth.
Tearing a piece of bread so he’d stop focusing on her, she tasted it and nodded her approval. If the bread was good, she had no idea. Her tongue was too dry to taste anything at the moment.
“Melts in your mouth, doesn’t it?” His large fingers kneaded her shoulder and her nipples instantly hardened. She was grateful for choosing such a concealing sweater when she went home to change and shower off that horrid fart stench.
“It’s very good,” she rasped.
“Atta girl, now eat up.”
Chloe forced herself not to slump in her chair when his touch disappeared. The others still stared wordlessly.
“What?” he asked, dragging a chair back from the table. As he straddled the wood her gaze dropped to the shape of his thighs molded by the dark denim of his jeans.
Tyson smiled. “Unicorns and rainbows, buddy, unicorns, and rainbows.”
Whatever that meant, it caused Trenton to scowl. “Bite me, Ty.”
Chloe reluctantly picked at the sandwich but didn’t pick it up to take a bite. The thing was cartoon sized. However, the meager tastes she allowed herself were delicious.
Eventually, Jeremy excused himself to go check on Jade. When he didn’t return, Tyson suggested that he and Kat head home to pick up Mia.
Chloe should be going, too, but when the time came to actually leave she hesitated. Who knew if she’d ever see Trenton again?
He hadn’t said anything to her since Tyson’s odd comment, but still, being in his presence filled her with a strange sort of awareness. She wondered if he was feeling it, too.
As Trenton followed Kat and Tyson to the door, Chloe carried the plates to the sink. The house was still a mess from the party though someone had picked up most of the trash. Without wanting to snoop, she quickly peeked under the sink for something to clean the counters.
Running warm water over a soapy sponge she wiped down surfaces. By the time she heard the front door shut she was more than halfway through the kitchen.
“You don’t have to do that, doll.”
She jumped and gasped, her busy hands stilling as he stood directly behind her. Too close. She turned to put some space between them, but that was a mistake. Those riveting blue eyes studied her, and while he wasn’t touching her, his size had a way of boxing her in.
Her breath hitched as her heart beat out of rhythm. When he looked at her like that her brains turned into mush. “I…”
“You?”
“I…” She couldn’t think. “They have enough on their plate.”
The scent of cold winter air clung to his now familiar scent. A shadow of dark stubble shadowed his throat, partially concealing the scar that climbed his neck to his jaw. How far did it travel below his collar?
His hair reminded her of a horsetail, so thick and dark, tied at the base of his skull. One lonely strand had escaped the knot and lay sexily over his temple. He was so imperfect, yet so stunning at the same time.
He didn’t allow her much personal space, which seemed to be a thing with him. The longer that cerulean stare bored into her, the more she found it impossible to hold his gaze, so she dropped her focus to his chest.
With slow, measured movement his large fingers gently tipped up her chin and her eyes closed. She attempted to regulate her breathing so she didn’t pass out.
“Look at me, doll.”
Forcing her gaze to meet his she panted softly. Men didn’t deserve such full eyelashes.
The corner of his mouth hooked in a lopsided grin. “You got nothin’ to be afraid of with me.”
He leaned closer and her breath held, but he didn’t kiss her. He reached behind her and took the sponge. A mix of confusion and disappointment crept through her, throwing her more off balance. She didn’t like expecting things she wasn’t sure she wanted—and then being disappointed when her expectations were unfulfilled.
She stepped away, numb and mute, as he finished wiping the counters.
This was ridiculous. No one touched her, yet he’d kissed her and put his hands on her several times in the past twenty-four hours. Stranger still, she let him.
He acted as though this familiarity between them was normal. Maybe she was imagining all this electricity, which seemed to short-circuit her brain every time he was near. Or maybe he was like this with all women. She frowned.
Confused images of their kiss floated through her mind, multiplying, each one a little different until she couldn’t decipher which one was the real memory.
“You okay?”
She stared at him blankly, but he wasn’t looking back. He was wiping the table and not doing a very thorough job. She attempted to speak, but nothing came out. Clearing her throat, she tried again. “I should go.”
Still not looking at her, he said, “I’ll tell Jade and Jeremy to call you if they need anything.”
His words pinched. Didn’t he care she was leaving? Obviously not.
Disappointment flooded through her veins like ice, cold enough to sever her fantasies from her reality. She was definitely reading too much into things. His indifference was clear. Her presence was trivial to him.
“Well… Maybe we’ll run into each other again sometime. It was nice seeing you.” Her words, though polite, sounded clumsy and stupid. She turned and walked into the hall to retrieve her scarf, gloves, and purse.
Trenton’s presence was a distraction. Her sole concern should have been Jade, but every time he looked at her or spoke to her, Chloe turned into a bumbling idiot. She resented the jolts of excitement pinging around her stomach. She didn’t need his swarthy glances that hit her like distant caresses. And she certainly had no interest in bantering with him—flirting—if that’s what it was. She wasn’t sure. Her life revolved around her sons, clients, and her gay neighbors—all people who never spoke to her in a flirtatious manner.
Trenton Cole was simply too complicated and too … masculine for her to be around. Even if he was interested in her, she knew better than to get involved with a man like him. The man’s pores seeped testosterone and his size could annihilate a woman. She had no business even letting him into her private thoughts and didn’t want to worry what he might think of her.
Once the downward spiral of her insecurities grabbed hold there was no getting back to level ground. Marcus’s words resurfaced in her mind, sharp as ever and cutting through layers of hard- earned confidence.
No one’s ever going to want a woman with thighs that size.
You’re nothing but a fat cow, past her prime, ready to be put out to pasture.
The echo of her husband’s cruel words played like fresh cuts as the record of self-doubt spun round and round in her head. Jade’s home absolutely was not the place for her to have a vulnerable breakdown.
Though she appeared a put together, professional woman—and on most days she was—there was good reason for that. Her life wasn’t complicated. It was simple and she was single by choice. Interacting with men, trusting them on any sort of personal level, seemed a daunting task she’d never be ready to take on. After trusting Marcus, suffering through his cruelty and risking her life to escape, she accepted she sucked at reading men.
Her world revolved around her boys. Her profession was her sanity, that little escape of self-made success that added additional value to her life. She preferred privacy and didn’t trust easily. Of course, it got lonely, but Tommy and Adam were like family and they distracted her from everything she was missing. Trenton Cole seemed to shine a spotlight on the empty areas of her life, though she doubted he realized the effect he was having on her.
She wanted to go back in time to yesterday when Trenton Cole seemed as intangible as a guardian angel and so embedded in her past he’d never dig himself out and find his way to her present. He’d always been someone safe to fantasize about, but now that he was real every thought became more dangerous than the last.
Glancing one last time into the kitchen she saw Trent still cleaning. She left without another word.