Page 42 of When It Reins (Three Rivers Trevors Ranch #5)

juniper

So, apparently, I was lied to even more than I thought, just not by Mitch.

Finding out that David was an alias this entire time, and his true name is Aaron, should have been more surprising than I feel it is.

He was—is—a liar.

I’m grateful to be rid of him. Well…almost.

Mitch is pretty sure that’s who threw whatever contraption into the cabin and burned it down. Then he received a message that there had been a package waiting for me at my apartment with no note or anything on it.

I guess there was some moral compass in Aaron if he decided that setting an entire building on fire wasn’t the way to go.

After we were released from the hospital, we both had no safe place to go, which is how we ended up at my sister’s and his brother’s house.

I’m currently sitting on a couch, the rough leather cool against hot skin. I feel hot ever since the fire, and I don’t know if it’s a mental reaction or real, but after everything that has happened, it was hard to discern what was real versus what was anxiety.

My nephew toddles around the living room, bringing various toys to each person. Thea sits on the floor by the armchair Logan is sitting on the edge of, giving her baby boy excited faces every time he hands her something.

Luella is sitting by the couch, rapid-firing questions at Mitch, who, despite his normal disposition, is answering her thoroughly without fail. Seems Mitch has a favorite girl, after all, and it is his sixteen-year-old niece.

However, his hand is on the top of my foot, holding it gently while I sit here with an iced tea and listen to everyone talk.

I am tired.

I need to talk to Mitch privately, but I’m going to have to wait until that time comes, which might be a while.

Since he awoke in the hospital and found me there, he hasn’t stopped touching me.

There is a piece of his skin that is always touching a piece of mine.

Caressing my foot, rubbing his thumb over my hand, tucking hair behind my ear, holding onto the back of my neck.

Every single instance is initiated by him, and it is as if not touching me means I am going to disappear.

I don’t mind, obviously. There is just so much I want to say to him, so much that I want to clear away that I didn’t at the hospital. We’d both been too relieved that the other person was okay, that we are both alive to even talk, that we just blurted out our apologies and clung to each other.

That’s okay, though, for now.

I’m not going to complain about his need to be near me, because I’m feeling the exact same way.

“So do you think he’ll try to find you guys?” Lue’s question draws my attention, and I can see the worry on her face.

“No,” Mitch answers immediately, and I glance at him, seeing him give her a gentle look. “I have people out looking for him, and your dad and I are watching this house, so you don’t need to worry a bit.”

Lue seems to agree and nods her head, but I see her. She is a smart girl who knows that no matter how reassuring her uncle was being, there is still danger outside of these walls.

“Let’s have a camp out, you and me and Aunt Juniper,” Thea says suddenly, glancing around the living room. “We’ll kick all these boys out and lay out on the floor.” She glances at me. “You can stay on the couch since you nearly got blown up.”

I laugh at the way Thea says it and nod. “Oh gee. Thanks, sis.”

Mitch’s hand tightens on my foot, and I smile at him, my eyes connecting with his. There is something in that little squeeze that tells me he will be joining the girls’ campout.

After dinner with my sister’s family, and I realize my boyfriend’s family as well, we start to get ready for bed. I’m in the bathroom, staring at the bruise on my face from where I hit the floor.

My entire body has been sore since the moment I woke up in the hospital. Aches come with damn near every movement, and I am about two seconds away from a mental breakdown.

Eyes watering, I run the tap on the faucet and let the cool water run over my hands, moving my wrists underneath it and back down. The tears I’ve been holding back start to trace down my face, and I breathe deeply through my mouth.

I’ve been so consumed with the people around me, with knowing Mitch is safe and doesn’t hate me, with knowing that I am alive and okay after being nearly blown up, that the reality of what happened finally hits me.

David, or Aaron, or whatever his name actually is, is coming after us.

A man I had shared myself with, my body, my home, my secrets—not that there were a ton—but I had let him in, thinking that I was finally going to get over the man that I loved, and I made plans with him to move forward.

And really…it was all a lie.

Knocking on the bathroom door interrupts me, and I shut off the water quickly, swiping my eyes and sniffing, trying to compose myself.

The door starts to open before I can finish, and then Mitch is inside with me, shutting the door behind himself. His brows are furrowed in concern as he takes me in, noting my puffy eyes and still damp hands.

Then he presses me gently to his chest, wraps his arms around my body, and he holds me to him tightly. I burrow deeper into his body, like I always do when he holds me, and the tears come steadily until I’m sobbing in his arms.

He doesn’t say a word, just holds me firmly to his chest while I cry, letting out every bottled emotion I’ve got.

We move until he’s hoisted me up and settled me on the vanity. His hands cradle my face, and he swipes at tears that fall faster than he can catch them.

“I’m sorry,” I mumble, wiping at more liquid on my face, wondering how awful I must look. But I’m drained enough that mustering the energy to care is difficult right now.

“Don’t say that.” Mitch’s rough voice vibrates against my temple where he’s still half-holding me against the vanity. “You have every right to be upset.”

Something in his tone has me pulling back and gazing up at him. His face tells me he’s found out more information, but his gaze looks concerned, like he doesn’t want to tell me what he knows.

“What is it?”

For a moment, I’m not sure if he’s going to tell me, and I start to get irritated. I deserve to know the truth. I’m a grown ass woman, this is my relationship too, and if he keeps things from me?—

“Cheat and Loki took the package from your house to a field and used a drone to open it.” His brows dip, and he shakes his head, worry evident on his face. “It exploded when they did.”

My heart drops, and my skin goes cold. Numbness fills the tips of my fingertips as I stare at him. “What?”

He nods, his expression severe. “He tried to kill us.”

“Oh my god.” I reach out unsteadily, my hands gripping his forearms and clenching tightly. Mitch seems to be feeling similar when his hands reach out to my hips and hold me to him. “He…why?”

“He’s desperate,” Mitch answers, looking down at me with both love and fury.

I know which is for me. “Cheat got ahold of his financials. He’s dead broke.

He put everything he had into the last six months, thinking he was going to get a huge payday leading up the investment in the properties when they took over the Four Foxes area.

He also had a contract with a big box store that was going to be put there, and their deposit was spent, by him likely, before they pulled out. ”

“So he owes money?”

“More than likely.”

“How does blowing us up get him money?” I ask, wondering what he was thinking right now.

“He’s desperate right now. He’s also pissed that we messed it all up for him.”

A horrible thought occurs to me, and I gasp, starting to move from the counter. “Rosemary! What if he knows?—”

“Loki and Atlas are over there with her now. They’re not leaving her until we find him.”

I calm myself down and nod in relief. “So the police are looking for him?”

Mitch shrugs. “Maybe. I have no idea what the hell they’re doing.”

I frown. “What do you mean?”

“They might be out looking. They haven’t notified me,” Mitch answers, reaching up to swipe away hair from my face.

He keeps his thumb rubbing over my cheekbone as I puzzle together what he means. “So when you say find him, you mean?—”

“I mean, when my club finds him. Because we will, and then he is going to pay for what he did to you.”

My hands grip Mitch tighter, and I stare at him, wondering what I want to say, what I need to say to keep him safe.

“I don’t want you doing anything that could jeopardize your safety.”

Mitch looks at me then, and his expression would almost frighten me if I didn’t know the man inside and out.

“Juniper Weaver, someone came after my woman, nearly killed her, and tried to, twice. You are my priority.” His hand grips my jaw tightly, and his eyes search mine.

The desperation in his gaze has me gripping his wrist tighter.

“If someone hurts you, they have to deal with me. I take care of what’s mine. ”

“I know you do,” I say quickly, understanding where he is coming from. “But that doesn’t mean you go off all half-cocked and loaded, ruining your future over this!”

He must have been able to tell I was starting to panic because he brings us closer together, holding my forehead to his own, and kisses my lips gently. Enough to stop the conversation for a moment and calm us both down.

Emotions are heightened. We’ve been through so much in the last two days, having been nearly broken up and blown up and hospitalized, to now having to stay with his brother and my sister because we don’t have a place we can go.

I try closing my eyes, kissing him back, and breathing deeply. The inhale brings me his scent, and I’m able to chill out long enough to get myself under control.

“I will not let him get by with this, Starling.” His words worry me, but he takes my chin, tilting my face up to him, and looks at me with the more confident look.

“When I find him, and it will be me, I’m going to protect my family from him.

I won’t be alone when I do it,” he says, probably guessing what I was about to accuse.

“But I’m going to be the one that takes care of it. ”

“Mitch,” I mumble, feeling about thirty seconds away from crumbling.

Without another word, he steps back and strips off his shirt, then his pants, before he marches over to the tub and starts the shower, letting the water run over his hand before pulling the curtain closed.

I say nothing as he comes back over to me, standing there in only his boxers, and takes off my shirt, letting it slide over my head as my hair falls all around me. He reaches for my hips and pulls me down, and I let him take full control.

Before long, he’s got us both undressed and under the warm spray of the water. Something about being surrounded by him, with the calming sound of the shower, seems to slow everything down. I breathe deeply as he turns me, using shampoo to wash my hair.

He thoroughly scrubs every inch of my body, not lingering for too long in any one place. For a moment, I wonder if he wants to go further, but he keeps washing me, taking the handheld sprayer off of its mount to wash me clean. He is taking care of me.

It is that complicated and that simple all at the same time.

It is something I never even realized I wanted or needed, and yet, he is able to give it to me without question.

Mitch knows me, probably better than I know myself anymore, and I’m ready to be taken care of.

Then, when we’re finally clean, he lets the water spray down on us and just holds me in his arms until the water goes cold.