Page 12 of Nave (Henchmen MC: Next Generation #14)

Nave

“You alright?” I asked, my hand automatically lifting, wanting to reach out to her. But I caught myself before I could touch her, forcing my arm to drop back down again. “You went really pale. Are you dizzy?”

When she didn’t answer right away, my hand went to the small of her back, wanting to catch her if she started to wobble. She wouldn’t just be hurting herself if she went down.

The touch shocked her out of her daze, making her head whip over to me.

“Sorry, just… had a bit of a flashback, I guess,” she admitted, shaking her head at herself like that was ridiculous.

Meanwhile, I couldn’t help but think it was really likely that she would be dealing with a lot of PTSD from what she’d been through.

“You’ve had a crazy couple of days. I think it makes sense if you’re feeling a little overwhelmed.”

“Yeah,” she agreed, sucking in a deep breath. “Oh, hi!” she cooed.

Following her gaze, I saw one of Kit’s Great Pyrenees dogs ambling over toward us, tail swishing because he knew me.

“This is Ash. He’s as friendly as a dog can get. Unless you try to eat his livestock. Then he’s a beast.”

Ash whacked his body into my legs until I reached down to pet him, then continued the motion with Lolly.

“You’re a sweet boy,” she cooed. “Yes, you’re right. There’s a doggy in there.” Ash sniffed at the bag. When she didn’t hear any growling from Edith, she reached in to pull her out.

It was all sniffs and tail wags after that.

“Ash, where the hell did you—oh,” Kit said, appearing out of a break in the line of almond trees. “Hi,” she said, shooting Lolly a bright smile.

Kit, even in full-on farmer-girl mode, clung tightly to her goth-like roots.

She had on a pair of cut-off black jean shorts, a black tank top, and a pair of black gardening clogs that featured cute skeletal animals.

Her lilac hair was pulled up into two space buns, and her sharp-featured face was a little more tan than I’d ever seen her before.

Even sunblock only did so much when you were out in the sun all day long, it seemed.

She raised her hand to shield her blue eyes as she came up to stand in front of us.

“I’m Kit. Katherine, but please don’t call me that,” she said. Looking down at Edith, her smile stretched wider. “And who are you ?”

“This is Edith.”

“Edith! I love it.” Kit took a solid three minutes to baby-talk and pet the clearly confused but intrigued Edith.

A dog who likely only ever knew two people her entire life.

Until a week ago. “We got a little fence set up for you, so your mom can throw you outside if she’s tripping over you.

Trust me,” she said, looking up at Lolly.

“The motorhome is plenty roomy enough for you guys. I mean, it was enough for two grown women. But even so, when you’re trying to cook or clean, even a small dog can get your blood pressure up. ”

“Thanks so much for the fence. She’s never been off-leash, so I wouldn’t trust her like you do Ash.”

The dog in question had taken off to go sniff the tires of Lolly’s new crossover. With an emphasis on ‘new.’ Would a lightly used car have worked? Sure. But she was going to have a baby to worry about in under a year. She needed something safe and reliable.

I hadn’t even traded in Lolly’s clunker.

I’d driven that piece of crap right to the scrapyard to be crushed. Not necessarily because it was unsafe (it was), but because if there was any chance that Ben spotted her in the car, I wanted to make sure there were no traces of it anymore.

“Nox is hanging around here too. You can tell her apart from Ash because she has black fur around one of her eyes. Oh, and Ariah has two Anatolian Shepherds. Great Pyrenees and Anatolians are livestock guardian dogs. We could never leave them outside all night in the extreme weather—and we make sure our babies live predator-proof lives—but they definitely alert us if there are any predators around the property. Plus, big dogs with scary barks are always a good idea when you’re women living alone, y’know? ”

“Edith will do her best to bite ankles if it comes to that,” Lolly said, making Kit smile.

“Where is Ariah?” I asked, glancing around.

“Putting the mantises in the fruit trees.”

“Come again?”

“The orchard is being attacked by caterpillars and beetles. Nothing is working. So we ordered mantises.”

“Mantises. As in praying?”

“Yeah. They’re carnivorous, so they will eat the pests but leave the trees and plants alone. It’s a win-win. And the orchard is far enough away from the milkweed field that they likely won’t get our monarchs.”

“They can be hard to follow sometimes,” I told Lolly.

“What’s hard to follow? Monarchs only eat milkweed. And they’re super endangered, so you don’t want the mantises to eat them.”

“See? I knew we were going to get along. Okay, I would offer to give you a tour of your new home, but it won’t be big enough for all three of us. So, why don’t you two check it out, then come meet me at my place for something to drink?”

With that, she handed Lolly the keys and wandered off.

“She’s really sweet.”

“Yeah, she is. Ria is too. Come on. Let’s check your new place out.”

“You’ve never been inside?”

“Nah. When I’ve been here, the girls put me to work—hard, manual labor work.”

“Did they build everything here?”

“They did.”

“They obviously needed the hands then. They’re lucky to have you.”

I pulled open the gate for her, and she set Edith down to sniff around as she unlocked the door.

“Oh, wow. It didn’t seem this roomy from the outside.”

It was far from roomy, but it was a workable space.

Toward the front were the two bucket seats for driving.

Directly behind that was a little living room space with a compact two-seater couch, followed by the kitchen with a small dining set for two.

Behind that was the bathroom with a minuscule shower stall that made me feel claustrophobic just looking at it.

Then, at the back, sitting across from each other with only a tiny table between them, were the two beds.

You could still see the previous owners’ influences all around.

Kit’s bed was all black, as was the wall behind it.

Ariah’s bed was set in brighter, neutral shades with a brushed copper bed and pictures of her family and travels tacked to a material board above it.

“I figure that when the time comes, you can pull out one of the beds and put in a crib—at least until it is safe to move somewhere bigger.”

Lolly’s back was to me, staring at the back of her new home. I couldn’t tell what she was thinking until I heard one big hiccuping cry.

“Hey,” I said, my voice soft. “It’s going to be okay.” I reached out, touching her shoulder. “I know it’s not ideal, but it will—”

With another whimper, she turned and walked into my arms, crying against my chest, her hands grabbing the front of my shirt as I slid my arms around her.

“It’s going to be okay,” I told her, my lips against her hair.

“I’m not… sad,” she sniffled.

“Well, that’s a relief,” I said, squeezing her a little tighter. “Just overwhelmed?”

“Yeah.” Her face pressed against my chest as her arms slid around me.

We could stand there for fucking ever if that was what she needed. I wasn’t going to be the one to let go first.

“This is so much better than I’d been thinking.”

“Honestly, it’s better than I’d been thinking too. And I’m kind of impressed the girls were able to drive this damn thing all around the country.”

“I could never.”

“Hey, you never know.”

“Oh, no. I do. I’m, uh, not a fantastic driver. Or at least, I’m not right now. It’s been so long.”

“You’ll get the hang of it again. If we need to, we can practice in a school parking lot like we’re sixteen again. But I promise not to slam on the invisible brake and yell at you for hitting the accelerator too hard.”

“My parents didn’t teach me to drive.”

“No? Who did?”

“Some guy who lived in the same trailer park. I think he took pity on me. Took me out in his ancient pickup and taught me the basics.”

There was more of a story there. About her family. About why some stranger would pity her situation. But she was already fragile. I didn’t want to cause any more fractures.

I knew she was going to pull away as she stiffened in my arms. But that didn’t mean I didn’t feel a rush of disappointment nonetheless.

“Sorry for crying all over you. Again.”

I reached out, using my thumbs to wipe the tears from her cheeks.

“Stop apologizing. You’ve got a lot going on. And this is a big deal. A place of your own. No locks, except the ones you want, and no fucking cameras. Or bleach, lemon cleaners, HEPA filters, intercoms… should I go on?”

“It’s going to be so strange. Just… living alone. Not having to obey someone else’s rules. Except the ones made by Kit and Ariah, of course.”

“They don’t have many rules. And what they do have will likely be about animal care and not killing the pollinators.”

“I think I can manage that.”

She moved past me, opening the door for Edith, who struggled a bit with the stairs but managed to figure it out. She spent a minute sniffing around before moving down by the beds.

“I guess it’s up to her where we sleep.”

Proud to be challenged with the task, Edith glanced between the beds before jumping up on Ariah’s old one.

“I’m sure the girls will have all the bedding and such hidden in here somewhere.”

With that, we began the search. Only to learn that the girls had painstakingly put everything away in either vacuum-sealed bags (the linens, towels, pillows, etc.) or plastic containers (all the cooking and eating supplies).

“I have a kitchen,” Lolly mused, a small smile tugging at her lips. “That I can actually use. Wait. How can I use it?”

“Looks like the oven is electric, so the solar panels should handle it.”

“I don’t have to worry about conserving energy?”

“I mean, maybe don’t turn every light on during the night and bake all day long, but you should be fine. The girls used to run the air and charge all their electronics on the panels on top of cooking.”

“I guess I will learn one way or another.”

“If you run out of juice, I’m sure Kit or Ria would be happy to have you over. And if you feel weird about that, you can come see me. Oh, speaking of, I have this for you.”

I reached in my pocket for the folded-up sheets of paper and handed them to her.

“What’s this?”

“Directions from here to the clubhouse. Printed. Like the olden days,” I said, getting a little laugh out of her.

“Thank you. This is perfect.”

So as not to lose it, she carefully placed it in one of the kitchen drawers and stashed her keys on top of it.

“Wanna go see Kit’s place? It’s a goth paradise, I’m sure.”

“Sure,” she agreed, reaching for Edith, then pausing.

“Bring her. Trust me, everywhere here is animal-friendly. My cousin Layna told me that she visited once and there was a chick brooder on the kitchen counter and a little pool full of pullets in the living room.”

“Well, in that case,” she said, smiling as she scooped up her dog.

“Get back here, you little devil,” a voice said as we stepped outside.

Then we were treated to the sight of Ria—wearing baby pink overalls with only a black sports bra beneath and big, rubber boots—chasing after a massive, wide-breasted white male turkey who was making those warbling noises as he ran away, looking like he was having the time of his life.

“Trouble with the locals?” I asked, making Ria stop, hands on hips, sucking in greedy breaths, her head thrown back for a moment.

Like with Kit, it was obvious when you looked at Ariah why her travel content went viral.

She was gorgeous. She had soft curves, rich dark skin, an oval face, golden-brown eyes, and her long hair in twists, though she had a scarf wrapped around her head to keep the twists back and, likely, keep the sweat out of her face as she worked outside.

“He keeps breaking into the goat pen and eating their food,” she explained, sighing. “And he knows I want to catch him to stick him in his own pen for being such a menace.”

The turkey in question stopped near the trees to pick at something on the ground.

“He’s a pig,” she added. “You must be Lolly. I would shake your hand, but, well,” she said, waving down toward where her hands had left dirt marks on her hips. “I’m Ria. And who is that?” she asked, her voice going into a coo as she looked at Edith.

“Edith.”

“Edith! Love that,” Ria said, beaming. “My girls are currently guarding the ducklings with their lives as they play in the pond. But I will introduce you guys later, so you’re not afraid and they know you’re our people now.”

“Thank you,” Lolly said, her eyes going misty again.

“Of course. Welcome to the homestead,” Ria said, her tone light and chipper right before she leapt at the turkey, wrapping her arms around him as he kicked his feet and warbled.

“I’ve never seen someone carry a turkey around like a misbehaving child.”

“Shit gets wild around here.”

“They don’t… you know… process the turkey, do they?”

“Nah. Don’t worry. Everyone here gets to live a long, happy life.

They do collect eggs for eating, selling, and baking, but Kit and Ria could never slaughter.

That’s not their thing. Actually, Kit wouldn’t eat turkey at Thanksgiving last year, saying that now that she had pet turkeys, she couldn’t. ”

“You guys coming? I have mint lemonade!” Kit called.

“Coming,” I called back, but caught Lolly looking at me. “What is it?”

“I think I’m really going to like it here.”

That should have made me happy.

Yet all I could think was how unfair it was that Kit and Ria would get to see her every day and I wouldn’t. When she came all the way to Navesink Bank for me.

But that was crazy fucking thinking.

So I pushed those thoughts aside.