Coming Home (Whiskey Men), page 1
Coming Home
Whiskey Men
Book 3
Hope Ford
Contents
1. Hudson
2. Elle
3. Hudson
4. Elle
5. Hudson
6. Elle
7. Hudson
8. Elle
9. Hudson
10. Elle
11. Hudson
12. Elle
13. Hudson
14. Elle
15. Hudson
16. Elle
17. Hudson
18. Elle
19. Hudson
20. Elle
21. Hudson
22. Elle
23. Hudson
24. Elle
25. Hudson
Epilogue
Also by Hope Ford
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About the Author
Coming Home © 2023 by Hope Ford
Editor: Kasi Alexander
Proofreader: Nicole Graf
Cover Design: Lori Jackson
Cover Model: Jeff Burton
Image Photographer: Wander Aguiar Photography
All rights reserved.
No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.
Chapter 1
Hudson
I look around the barren house and sit down in the lone chair placed in the center of my living room. From where I’m sitting, I can see into the bedroom and the pad on the floor I’ve been using as a bed for the last week.
I take in a deep breath and let it out slowly. I have enough money to furnish this house three times over, but I just haven’t felt the desire to do it. I knew when I left the Army after twenty years, it would take some time to adjust to civilian life, but so far, I’m doing a really shitty job of it.
I never dreamed I would be on edge and unable to sleep through the night, and it seems as if the lack of sleep is catching up with me.
I push myself off the chair and stretch my arms over my head. I’m mid-stretch when my doorbell rings, and I let my hands fall to my sides. I don’t rush to the door. I know it’s one of my four brothers, and I also know that they will not leave until they see me. I walk to the bedroom and shut the door. No sense in giving them something else to worry about. They won’t understand why I haven’t furnished the place. Hell, at least have a bed to sleep in.
The doorbell rings again. I shove my hand through my hair and walk to the front door, buttoning my jeans as I go.
I jerk the door open so fast that my brother Austin jumps back. I hold back my smirk. “Oh, it’s you.”
He rolls his eyes and points at my bare chest. “What the fuck, dude? Put a shirt on, will ya?”
I turn, leaving the door open. “You do know this is my house, right? You’re lucky I have any clothes on at all.”
Austin slams the door and follows behind me. “Yeah, thank fuck for that. I’m pretty sure that image would traumatize me for life.”
“Whatever, little brother.” I grab the shirt off the kitchen counter and pull it over my head. The material stretches across my chest, and I sit down at the bar stool. “So what? Did you draw the short straw or what? You do know I’m on to you guys, right? Every day for the last week, one of you has shown up here.”
I’m not sure what they’re up to, but I know they’re all worried about me. I don’t know if they think I’m losing my shit or what, but they’re all keeping a close eye on me.
“Believe it or not, we’ve missed you, brother. And let’s be honest, today is your lucky day. You get me, your favorite brother.”
I smile and shake my head.
Austin raises his hands with a shrug of his shoulders. “What? Who would you have preferred? Ford would instantly come in and tell you that you need to get your shit together. Lucas is out of control since he found out he’s going to be a dad and is losing his shit. Beau would throw some kind of spreadsheets at you or something. At least with me, I’m not going to give you any shit about anything.”
I’ve never been one for small talk, but the truth is, Austin is pretty entertaining to talk to at least. I plant my feet and lean back against the counter. “So you’re the lesser of four evils, is that what you’re saying?”
“Absolutely.” He stands in the center of the room and does a three-sixty. I know he’s going to give me shit before he even opens his mouth. “What the fuck, Huddy? If you’re going for the minimalist look, you aced it.” He rolls his eyes as he walks past me into the kitchen. I don’t have to turn to know he’s going for the fridge. Even when we were little, Austin was a big eater. Not that you could tell by looking at him. He’s going to be disappointed, though. I’m about to warn him when he jerks open the fridge. “What. The. Fuck? Okay, maybe I should have let Ford come. No food, no furniture, you look like shit. This is probably way above my paygrade.”
“Keep talking shit and I’m going to make you go grocery shopping for me, asshole.”
He holds his hands up. “Forget it. You wanna go have a beer, you need a wingman or to go grab a pizza, I’m your guy. I’m out on grocery shopping.”
I blow out a breath and sit taller. “What are you even doing here?”
“I’m your driver today.”
I cross my arms over my chest. “Oh yeah, where are you driving me?”
He walks back into the living room. “The truck you ordered is in, and they’re delivering it to Blaze. While we’re there, you may as well sit in on the weekly meeting.”
I roll my eyes. “You guys have this meeting every week, I’m not sure what you think I can contribute at this point. I’ve been back a week. Hell, less than a week.”
He throws his hands up in the air in frustration. “I don’t know. Shit man, can’t you just come and sit in? We’ve all been waiting years for you to come home, and now you’re here. I don’t care if you just sit there and stare off into space.”
I slowly stand up and tower over my brother. “Fine.”
I walk over and grab my boots before sitting down, putting them on, and lacing them up. It’s not until I stand up that I notice Austin's smirk.
I look down at myself and back at him. Fuck, I haven’t gone shopping for clothes either. “You think Ford’s going to lose his shit if I show up at the office in jeans and a T-shirt?”
“Probably, but hell, dude needs to relax anyway.”
I laugh and slap my little brother on the back. “You still fucking with him all the time?”
He pulls his keys from his pocket. “He wouldn’t know how to react if I didn’t.”
I follow behind him and jump into the passenger side of his truck. I pull the lever to move the seat back a few inches and then grab the other lever to lean the seat back. “All right, so what about you? What have you been up to?”
He backs out of my driveway. “Uh, honestly? I work… a lot. But I do my best to stay out of the Blaze offices. I go in once a week, and that’s one time too many. All my time is spent at the distillery.”
“Why? Something I need to know about?”
He smirks and looks at my jeans and T-shirt before looking at the exposed tattoos on my arms. “No, but there’s a dress code at the office. Khakis and button-ups at the minimal. Of course, they all wear suits and ties.”
My head turns to look at him, and he’s pointing at the back seat where he has a pair of khakis and a button-up shirt hanging. “Uh, you think you should have mentioned that before we left the house?”
He shrugs as he presses on the gas. “Really? You have dress clothes back there or something?” Before I can answer, he continues, “Yeah, I figured not. And you’re sure as shit not going to fit into my clothes.”
I cross my arms over my chest. I try to relax as I’m being driven around by my brother, but I can’t seem to let myself go. I’m used to being the one in control. Even on missions and even though I was higher rank, I still drove. “I know you, Austin, and you don’t work all the time. You’re always getting into some shit. How’s your girl? How’s Ally?”
Austin tenses at the mention of his best friend's name. Interesting.
He clears his throat. “She’s good,” he answers before changing the subject. “So have you thought about what you’re going to do now that you’re back?”
I look out the window. That seems to be the main topic of conversation since I got back. The truth is I retired because I was feeling my age when I was out on missions. I knew it was time for me to either take on a desk job in the military or retire. I thought about it for a while and knew that I wanted to come home, but now I’m not so sure what I want to do with my life. I’m not one that can just sit around idle either. “Nope. But I’ll figure something out.”
He opens his mouth to say something but must change his mind. He points up ahead. “Check it out. Still pretty cool, right?”
I look at the offices of Blaze Whiskey ahead of us. Behind that, higher up, is the distillery. The smile comes naturally to my face. Even though I haven’t had a lot to do with it in the last twenty years, a sense of pride comes over me. “Yep, still pretty cool.”
Austin parks, and we get a few feet away from the truck when I stop. “You going to change?”
He keeps going but gestures to his own jeans and T-shirt. “Nope. I’m going to tell Ford I didn’t want you to feel out of place.”
I laugh. “You fucker.”
As we walk into the building, he’s busting my balls about any and everything. A few people wave and say hello to Austin and look at me curiously. I give them each a nod of my head. We don’t stop until we’re standing at a desk with Ford’s fiancée Lilian sitting behind it.
As soon as she sees us, she comes around the desk and hugs me. It’s awkward, but I hug her back. I only met her a week ago, but it’s obvious that she makes both Ford and my nephew Ollie happy.
Austin opens his arms for a hug, and Lilian smacks him on the chest. “Stop. I see you every day, and Ford is just so happy to have Hudson home.”
Austin laughs. “What the hell? I’m home too.”
I’m ignoring their banter because my eyes are on the woman standing frozen not five feet from me. She has long brown hair that curls over her shoulders. She has her arms crossed over her middle, and she’s looking at me as if I may pounce on her at any minute. Her clothes are big on her, hiding her figure. She looks as if she may be in her early thirties. Something sparks inside of me. There’s real fear on her face, and I want to pull her to the side and have her tell me why. I soften my stance and try to appear smaller, but at six foot four inches, that’s a hard feat.
Lilian moves, putting herself between me and Austin and the woman. “Oh, Hudson, this is Elle. She’s Lucas’ assistant. Elle, this is Hudson. I’m sure you’ve heard about him coming home. He’s the second oldest Blaze brother.”
Elle’s face is white, and the fear doesn’t fade, but she does force a tight smile onto her lips.
Every protective instinct I have kicks in, and I want to make sure she’s okay. I take a step toward her, and she shrinks back with a flinch.
I put my hands up to show her I’m not a threat, but she moves behind her chair, holding it out between us.
Lilian goes to stand beside her and puts an arm around her shoulder. She points down the hall and waves for us to go. “The guys are probably already in the conference room. Go on, Austin, you know where it is.”
I don’t want to leave, but Austin forces me out of the room and down the hall. It’s not until I’m a safe distance away that I turn to look at Elle. She’s still standing there listening to Lilian talk, but her eyes are on me. There’s a reason she reacted to me the way she did. I should ignore it. Lord knows I’ve got enough shit to deal with, but even as I pass through the door of the conference room, I can’t get the image of her blue eyes filled with fear out of my head.
Chapter 2
Elle
I watch Hudson as he walks down the long hallway. Before he goes through the door, he turns to look at me. He is not smiling. His look is more curious than anything.
Lilian is talking to me, but it’s like I’m in a tunnel. Hudson’s eyes never leave mine until Austin forcibly pushes him through the conference room door. What just happened?
I thought I was doing better about being around men I don’t know, but obviously not. Not that he’s an ordinary man. Heck, there’s nothing ordinary about him. He’s tall, so tall, and at five foot four inches, I know I’d have to rest my head all the way back to look up at him. Plus, that beard, those tattoos and uh, that body. He’s just a lot of man. I groan as I think about the way I reacted to him. He’s an owner in the company—hell, he’s probably going to have me fired. And I’m not sure I can blame him because who wants someone working for them when she can’t even appear normal around someone new?
I take in a deep breath and let it out slowly, all while counting to ten. Lilian is still patting me on the back.
Finally, I snap out of it and turn to Lilian, my mouth falling open. “Oh my God!”
Lilian is rubbing my arm. “It’s okay. You’re okay.”
I walk around my seat and fall down into it. “He’s going to think I’m a lunatic. Oh my God, Lilian, I acted like he was breaking in and trying to rob the place or something. He’s going to have me fired, isn’t he?”
“No!” she says and then gives me a worried look. “I mean, I don’t think so.”
My mouth drops. “You don’t think so?”
She shakes her head. “No, he’s not going to have you fired. I only met him this week, but from what everyone says about him, no, there’s no way he’s going to want you fired. I’m sure someone will explain…”
Her voice trails off, and I know exactly what she’s thinking. Someone will explain to him that I’m nuts. That I have no chill about me. That I jump at loud noises and freeze up when strange men come around. All of it.
I put my face in my hands and hunch over my desk. Why can’t I be normal? I know I’ve been through some shit, but I’m working through it. Having a semi-panic attack when I meet one of my new bosses is not ideal.
“Is it all men… or just men his size?”
I feel bad that I’ve never explained it to her. My therapist says I need to talk about it, and if there’s anyone I trust, it’s Lilian.
“Normally just bigger men, really. I mean, anyone that I don’t know, I sort of freak out a little bit, but Hudson’s build is a little more intimidating than most.”
Lilian nods her head, and her forehead creases. “It’s understandable. He’s a giant.”
I bite my lip, automatically wanting to defend him. He’s not weird or anything, but I don’t say anything because Hudson is her family, at least he will be when she and Ford marry. “I owe him an apology. I saw him and just got all up in my head. Usually, I can control it, but I wasn’t able to today. I’ll do better.”
I turn to look down the empty hallway. Should I go in there and apologize now? Or wait until he comes out? I know they’re having a meeting, but the need to make sure everything is okay is overwhelming.
Lilian pats me on the back. “You worry too much, Elle. It’s not that big of a deal. I’m sure the guys have already forgotten it.”
I nod my head and force a smile to my face. I know she’s wrong. Hell, they’re probably in there talking about it right now.
“I’m fine. Thank you… and I’m sorry for being so…”
My voice trails off before I say all the things I want to say. I’m sorry for being so fucked in the head. I’m sorry for being a freak. I’m sorry that sometimes I just can’t control myself. I let out a deep sigh. I didn’t sleep well last night. Since I’ve been in Whiskey Run, my nightmares have almost completely disappeared. But last night was another story. I just couldn’t sleep, and I think a part of it was I was afraid if I did fall asleep, I would have a nightmare. I ended up watching the sunrise over Whiskey Mountain this morning.
Lilian walks over to her desk and sits down. “Quit apologizing. You have nothing to apologize for, you know that, right? It’s obvious you have some stuff to work through, Elle, and I’m here if you ever need to talk.”
Lilian is beautiful inside and out. She was a little intimidating when I first met her. Honestly, I felt like a fat frump standing next to her, but it’s impossible not to like her. She’s been a really good friend to me. “Thank you, Lilian. I know if it wasn’t for you, I wouldn’t have this job. Lucas pretty much said so. So thank you for that, and you’re right. I am working through some things, but I want you to know that I’m working really hard to not let it affect my job. I know the way I reacted to Hudson today says the opposite, but I promise I am working on it.”
Lilian’s nodding her head. “No one, I mean absolutely no one can complain about the job you’ve been doing here. And heck, what you can do with a spreadsheet is amazing. You’re saving lots of time for everyone. We are all happy with the work you do. Don’t even think twice about what just happened. It’s going to be fine.’
I let out a breath and nod my head. It’s on the tip of my tongue to tell her exactly what happened to me a month ago, but I don’t. I’m just not ready yet. “Thank you, Lilian. For everything.”
