Heart So Hollow (Dire Wolves Book 1), page 30
“Can you swim?” Hildy glances over her shoulder at me.
“Shouldn’t you have asked me that before you ran us into the middle of the creek?” I laugh.
Hildy rolls her eyes with a crooked smile, “Oops.”
The water runs up over the edge of the seat, soaking us from the waist down. At least it’s not strong enough to knock us off the quad entirely.
“Shit,” Hildy mutters when she catches sight of Jay and Bowen rolling down the hill in front of us.
When they come to a halt at the edge of the water, Jay lets out a whoop of laughter. Bowen pulls up behind him, grinning from ear to ear.
“Well, well, well…” Bowen dismounts his quad and saunters to the edge of the bank.
Jay stands next to him, arms crossed, staring at Hildy’s submerged vehicle wedged in the middle of the creek, “I told you,” he shrugs with a shake of his head.
“It didn’t look that deep!” Hildy yells, her excuses falling on deaf ears.
“Happy birthday to me…happy birthday to me…” Jay croons, kicking a stone into the water.
“Shut up and get us out!” Hildy hollers impatiently from our precarious perch.
Jay and Bowen turn to one another, probably discussing what to do. A minute later, Jay starts unwinding the cable from the winch on the front of his quad and hands the end of it to Bowen. Bowen pulls his grey t-shirt over his head and tosses it onto his seat before he starts wading into the creek with his boots and jeans still on. Jay continues unwinding the cable as Bowen makes his way toward us, the current breaking hard against his hips.
When he finally reaches us, he grabs onto the handle bars and bends down. By the time he gets low enough to hook the winch onto the front of Hildy’s quad, he’s fully submerged except for his head, the water lapping at his chin. Bowen stands back up, creek water dripping from every contour of his body, and eyes us with amusement.
“I told you,” he turns to me with a smug grin, “you should’ve ridden with me.”
“Whatever,” Hildy rolls her eyes, “just tow us out.”
“No,” Bowen shakes his head, “I don’t know what you’re caught on. If it flips when we start pulling, you’re toast. You have to come back with me.”
“Can we walk?” I dip my hand into the water to test the current, knowing full well it’s always stronger than it feels.
“No way,” Bowen shakes his head again, “it’s too strong for you.”
“Even if we hold onto each other?” Hildy hitches her leg up and swivels around on the seat.
Bowen glances around, surveying the situation. After a minute, he motions to us, “Come on,” he gives a nod and points to Hildy, “you, on my back, and you,” he points to me, “I’ll carry in front.”
“Are you fucking serious right now?” Hildy scoffs.
“Yes, I’m fucking serious right now,” Bowen asserts, “just get on my back. It’ll be easier walking back with the two of you weighing me down.”
Hildy and I look at each other and then at Bowen, standing waist deep in the water, waiting for us to do as he says. A minute later I’m clinging to Bowen around the shoulders while he grips me under my thighs. Hildy’s body is draped over his back with his waist clenched between her knees.
“Oh my god,” Jay laughs as he whips his phone out of his pocket, “I have to get a picture of this.”
I can’t believe we make it to the bank without tumbling over into the water and washing downstream. And even though the three of us are thoroughly soaked, I can feel my shorts starting to dry out by the time we emerge from the tree line in Hildy and Jay’s yard. This time, I’m riding behind Bowen on his quad. And by the time we trudge up the hill after parking them in the pole building, Leona is already at the patio table with towels, Hannah right behind her with another armload.
I groan to myself and consciously refrain from rolling my eyes back in my head. I knew this was coming. It’s Jay’s birthday, so of course Hildy’s best friend will be in attendance. But the last time I saw Hannah was just over a week ago at the Rickhouse, after narrowly escaping an attempted assault and exchanging sordid accusations with her in a public restroom. Not to mention all this happened while I was trying to evade my newly acquired stalker who’s already broken into my vehicle and is obviously the one who left garden bricks piled behind my car months ago. Seeing Hannah only reminds me of all the things I’m actively trying to avoid.
Because that’s what I do.
Leona’s shrill voice cuts through the air, turning my attention away from another awkward encounter with Hannah.
“Girl, what is wrong with you—you drove into the creek?” Leona chides from the other side of the table, “You could’ve died!”
“You told my mom on me?” Hildy whips around to Jay.
“Hey, all I said was that we got held up down by the creek…” he averts his eyes, “and that you might need a change of clothes.”
Hildy swipes a towel off the table with an irritated growl and starts drying off.
“And where were the two of you when your wife and your sister were driving off to their death?” Leona turns her ire to Jay and Bowen.
“Towing their asses out!” Bowen tosses his balled-up shirt onto the table, “Well, Jay towed the quad. I towed them.”
Jay holds out his phone to Leona, unable to speak as he’s overcome with laughter again. She squints and cranes her neck to look at the ridiculous picture of Bowen carrying Hildy and I across the creek.
Her eyes fly open, “Brett was stuck in the creek, too?” Leona reels back and smacks Bowen across the shoulder, giving him a start.
“She was riding with Hildy!” Bowen draws his shoulders up, his eyes darting back and forth with bewilderment.
“Boy…” Leona points her finger up at him with a warning look, “you’re her older brother, you need to be a role model,” then she points a finger at me, still glaring up at him, “and that’s your future wife, use your head!”
Hildy’s mouth stretches into a grin that extends from one ear to the other, relishing her brother getting lambasted by their mom. Leona is over a foot shorter than Bowen, but she still gives him the business like she’s going to knock him from here to next Tuesday. And she’s not done.
She whips around and shoots Jay a look, “And don’t even get me started on you,” she scowls before starting back toward the house, leaving Bowen stunned and with eyes wide.
“We’re the same age and she’s a grown-ass woman,” Bowen calls after her, “with a husband!”
Leona waves him off, not even turning around.
Bowen’s eyes shift to Hildy, “Next time, I’ll leave your ass out there,” he hisses at her, grabbing a towel off the pile.
“Would you leave me out there, too?” I smirk as I take a seat and start running a towel across my legs to soak up any remaining creek water.
“Nah,” Bowen flashes me a smile, “I’d save you, no matter what. Then kick her in so Jay can fish her out when she washes out downstream.”
“Hater, tsk, tsk…” Hildy gives him a smug look and a shake of her head.
“What happened to you guys?” Hannah asks Hildy from across the table.
“Small problem with the quad,” she utters nonchalantly, dismissing the event.
I collapse back in my chair, laughing uncontrollably, “Jack Sparrow over here almost sunk us,” I gasp, wiping the tears from my eyes.
“It didn’t look that deep, OK?” Hildy whips around, pointing a finger at me, “Don’t act like you’re not complicit in this!”
“What was I supposed to do,” I shoot back, “grab the handlebars from you?”
Bowen steps behind the edge of the truck bed, out of view, and starts unbuckling his belt, “Like old times, huh?” Bowen says to Hildy as he drops his jeans and kicks them off his feet. Then he looks at me, “Like you’ve always been here.”
He throws his drenched jeans and boxer briefs over the edge of the truck and starts wrapping the towel around his waist. I watch Hannah steal a glance at him, but when he catches her, her eyes dart back down to the ground. She starts picking at her nails, avoiding eye contact with anyone until he comes out from behind the truck. Good thing, because if she looks my way, I’ll burn holes in her with my eyes.
Suddenly, I feel a pair of arms wrap around my shoulders and Hildy leans over my chair and presses her cheek to mine. I pause at the unexpected gesture and reach up to squeeze her arm. She remains there for a few moments, holding me in a tight embrace.
“I’m so glad you’re here,” she murmurs before loosening her arms.
I momentarily forget my animosity toward Hannah, “Me too.”
And I am. She and her family are the closest thing I have to one that doesn’t require a round-trip airline ticket. Their love comes with a type of acceptance and security no one else has ever been able to offer and every time I’m around all of them, I feel like I’m home. Which is why when I look at Hannah, I feel nothing but disdain. Whenever she’s around, it throws a damper on that security and I start to feel like I’m an unsuspecting mouse waiting to be ambushed by a viper in the weeds.
Hildy gives me another squeeze before letting her hands fall from my shoulders, “Are we going out right after dinner?” she asks Bowen. “I still have to shower.”
“Yeah,” he glances at his watch, “I’ll take one now.”
Not only do I have to spend another evening with Hannah, but I’m not sure whether it’s better to be intoxicated or not. I search the patio for the cooler sitting in the shade by the back door and decide that, between being stuck on a quad in the middle of a creek and spending the rest of the evening with a woman who doesn’t hide the fact she hates me, I could use a beer.
And, of course, when I get halfway across the patio, I realize Hannah is already crouching down to dig through the cooler. As much as I’d like to avoid her, I decide it’s more awkward to do an about-face back to the table for no reason. When I arrive at the cooler, she glances up at me briefly before returning her focus to the cans buried in the ice.
I crouch down next to her, “Is it all the same?” For some inexplicable reason, I’m still trying to make small talk even though I definitely called her a salty bitch only a week ago.
I assume there’s more than one kind of drink because Hannah doesn’t answer me and continues digging through the ice. I roll my eyes and wait for her to finish tossing cans around, also deciding that this will be the extent of my congeniality today.
As Hannah bends over the cooler, her shirt rides up, exposing two large, dark bruises along her waist and back. The one on her back is oblong and dark purple in the middle, bordering on black, and changes from purple to brown as it fades back into her normal skin tone. The one on her waist is slightly smaller, rounder, and purple with dark speckles throughout.
“Oh my god,” I peer around her back at the splotches radiating across her skin, “are you OK?”
Startled, Hannah glances down at her exposed skin and immediately gives her shirt a tug, covering the bruises and abrasions, “You’ve made your point,” she hisses, “now leave me the fuck alone.”
I stare at her, oblivious as to what she’s referring to. I don’t get a chance to respond before she sees Bowen sauntering across the concrete toward us. A second later, she grabs the first can she sees and slams the cooler hastily, nearly smashing my fingers. She slinks past him and even though I’m looking at the back of her head, I know from the way Bowen’s eyes move that he’s made eye contact with her. When he does, she puts her head down and cracks her can open.
They have the weirdest relationship I’ve ever seen. One minute, Hannah’s fawning over Bowen and talking about him like he’s Adonis, and a day later she’s a nervous wreck who can’t even look him in the eye. Granted, right now he kind of looks like Adonis with his white towel slung around his hips and the blithe way he ambles across the patio. In a strange way, he seems to be enjoying Hannah’s uneasiness by the subtle way he smirks at her when she walks by. It’s similar to how he and Hildy treat each other, except Hildy would’ve hurled some insult at him or punched him in the gut.
I open the cooler again as Bowen comes to a halt next to me. He reaches in and pulls out the first can he sees. I finally choose one and stand back up, still watching Hannah as she takes a seat next to Hildy at the table.
“What’s up?” Bowen notices me staring across the patio.
“Hannah has some really bad bruises on her back. She wouldn’t tell me what they’re from.”
He cracks open his can, “Maybe she finally mouthed off to the wrong person. Maybe one of her simps turned out not to be such a simp.”
Bowen’s flippant response catches me off-guard. I don’t know how to take his nonchalance that Hannah might’ve been beaten up by another man. He seems surprisingly unconcerned for someone who claims to be watching out for her emotional state. Or maybe he’s finally gotten tired of her antics, too—not that it’s an excuse.
I look down at the concrete and don’t respond.
“Hey, I need to ask you something,” Bowen changes the subject, and I’m kind of glad he does, “what do you think about August 24th?”
“For what?”
“For marrying me.”
In an instant, I forget all about Hannah and her suspicious bruises, “That’s, like—” I stammer, visualizing the calendar in my head, “three months away!”
He’s unfazed, “How much time you need?”
And, the truth is, I don’t know. I’ve always wanted to get married, eventually, but I was never the little girl who dreamed up her wedding day and had every detail figured out by the time she turned 10.
“I guess not much,” I admit with a smile. “What kind of wedding should we have?” I’m so unprepared. I’ve been so focused on getting my book written and sent off to agents, I haven’t even thought about what kind of wedding I want.
“That’s all you, baby girl,” Bowen reaches up and brushes his thumb down my jawline, “I picked the date. Just tell me where and when to show up.”
“Great,” I scoff, “maybe I just won’t tell you anything and you can just hitch a ride with Hildy and Jay the day of.”
“My favorite kind of plans,” he says with a wink, “now, since that’s out of the way, join me?” he nods to the house.
“Yeah,” I jerk my head up with a laugh, “because I really want everyone out here to think about me showering with you.”
“I don’t know how to tell you this,” Bowen reaches up and tips my chin up with the edge of his can before giving me a soft kiss, “but they already know what I do to you in the shower.”
I consider it for a brief moment; after getting drenched and hauled out of the muddy creek, taking a steamy shower with Bowen sounds like an absolute fucking dream.
“Valid,” I nod, “but that doesn’t mean I want to deal with all the shit-talking afterward.”
Bowen looks over my shoulder at the table, where Rick and Leona have joined the others, “I guess you know them pretty well by now,” he smirks. “It’s fine, I’ll just get my pound of flesh later.”
I shoot him a sultry smile, loving the tremors that ripple through my stomach every time he looks at me like that, “Are you going to be nice?”
Bowen gives me a once-over before starting for the house, “Joke’s on you, sweetheart,” he calls over his shoulder, “I’m never nice.” When he gets to the back door, he stops and turns halfway around, “Hey!” he shouts past me, drawing the attention of everyone seated at the table, “August 24th—we’re getting married.”
A moment later, there’s an eruption of stunned gasps and excited shouts from Hildy and Leona. When I turn around, Bowen’s grinning at me with a smug look on his face, knowing full well the onslaught that’s waiting for me at the table. I shoot him a tight-lipped smile and then, in a split-second decision, turn to follow him inside the house.
He gives me a sharp smack on my ass as I slip past him, “I know you’re not one for big scenes,” he whispers with satisfaction, letting the door swing shut behind us.
●●●
I return to the backyard about an hour later, hair fixed, make-up done, and wearing a much cuter outfit that doesn’t smell like muddy creek water. The dust has settled, more or less, since Bowen made his announcement from the back door.
Jay’s voice booms above all else as I arrive at the table, “How the hell could you keep your big-ass mouth shut for that long?” he calls to Bowen, who’s sitting on the edge of his tailgate, freshly showered, wearing a clean t-shirt tucked into a new pair of jeans.
“It’s not difficult,” Bowen grins as he swings his legs back and forth.
“Why?” Leona glances back and forth between Jay and Bowen, “What’s he done now?”
Jay cocks his head at Leona, “You seriously never knew?”
“What?” she narrows her eyes at them, getting more excited by the second and glancing over at Rick, who’s watching the exchange with amusement.
I pull out the remaining chair and take a seat as Jay begins telling his story.
“So, this happened a while ago…” Jay pauses to collect himself, “we’re all sitting out here and Waylon and Brody come tearing out of the woods. Brody’s chasing Waylon because he’s got ahold of something and he’s running like he has a fucking T-bone steak in his mouth. Except—” Jay pauses for dramatic effect, “it was not a T-bone steak.”
I glance at Bowen, who turns away with a laugh.
“I don’t know what it was—a dead possum, part of a deer carcass—but it was foul,” Jay gives a shake of his head, “all mangled and rotten, and Waylon was tearing around like he was having the time of his life. Well,” he squeezes his eyes shut, giggling uncontrollably, “Bo sees him, freaks out, takes a flying leap off the deck, and chases that dog all over creation. So then both Bo and Brody are chasing Waylon, who still has God-knows-what hanging out of his mouth.”
