Broken Trouble (Broken Storm #1) (2 page)

              Ironically, just like their barn.

              Everyone at the table turned towards me, and I could feel every single stare burning into me.

              Dylan was there again, a roll stuffed halfway into his mouth, frozen in place with the exception of his eyes, which flicked around the room, taking in everyone's expressions.

              An older man, who was about the same age as Polly, sat opposite of her at the head of the table, his hands forming a tent on the table, watching me through his glasses. He had leathery skin from being out in the sun all day, salt and peppery black hair and glasses that sat in front of his deep brown eyes.

              Another guy who sat at the table looked to be about eighteen with dark brown hair spiked up in the front and ocean blue eyes, a slight smirk tugging at his lips.

              So this was where all the hot guys were.

              "Take a seat, Honey. We were just about to say Grace,” Polly said with a smile.

              I sat down in an empty seat which ended up being directly across from ocean blue eyes and beside cold ones. How wonderful.

              Polly filled the awkward, tense silence by talking and I was grateful for her, "Wyatt and Jayden are out searching for a missing calf, so you'll have to wait to meet them. This is Gavin and Landon and my husband, Chili. Ah, and of course you've already met Dylan."

Polly motioned to each of the guys at the table in turn when she said their name, starting with the ice eyed guy, then to ocean blue eyes and the older man, before finally gesturing towards Dylan, "Boys, this is Nova."

              "We know her name. It's kind of hard to forget the bitch who burned down our barn,” Gavin growled, the hatred for me clear in his voice.

              Okay, so not everyone was going to be as nice as Polly. Not very surprising.

              "Don't start Gavin, we already discussed this,” Polly reprimanded and he shut his mouth.

I figured it wouldn't last long though; he didn't seem like the kind of guy to keep his mouth shut.

"Boys, pass the food down to Nova please."

Food was passed down in my direction, but no one spoke, the air holding a tension that it hadn't had before I walked into the room. I put a little bit of this or that on my plate, but not much, I didn't want to be down here with them for very long, especially not with Gavin sitting beside me.

              I just needed to eat enough to take the edge off my hunger.

              "Alright, let's hold hands for Grace. Chili, ya wanna do the honors?" Polly asked, smiling though I could see she was trying hard to keep dinner upbeat.

I felt Dylan grab my hand hesitantly on one side and I hoped he couldn't feel my palms sweating from the nervousness I was feeling.

              "I'm not touching her,” Gavin insisted, which didn't surprise me considering the vibes I was getting from the guy.

              "Just hold hands so we can say grace Gavin."

              "No."

              "It's okay, I don't really want to hold hands with him either,” I admitted quietly, hoping they'd just forget about it so I could eat and go back to being alone again.

I was ignored.

              "Chili,” Polly said with an exasperated sigh.

              "Gavin,” Chili finally spoke for the first time since I came into the room.

Gavin appeared to be in his early twenties, so he really didn't need to listen to them. He did though, grabbing my free hand and crushing it in his.

              My bones popped under his grip and I cringed away the pain. Who knew holding hands with a hot guy would be so painful?

              I prayed that Chili's prayer was short as Gavin turned his icy stare back to me and smirked, squeezing harder than before. I took a deep breath and glared right back. I was already past the point of being able to squeeze back, my fingers squished too tightly together to even be movable.

              I had suffered much worse pain before, so I did what I always did to block out the pain, shrink back into my own mind. Which meant by this point, I was probably giving him a dead look.

              "Amen,” Chili's voice broke through my thoughts, causing my eyes to snap to him.

Wow, had I missed him saying the entire prayer?

Immediately my hands were freed and I moved the hand Gavin had crushed into my lap, blood rushed back into it as I flexed it gently, holding back a grimace. I used my other hand to eat and drink with, trying to eat quickly.

              "So Nova, have you ever worked on a ranch before?" Polly asked with a smile.

Ah God, she wanted me to talk and eat at the same time, this was going to slow me down. I just need to keep my answers short.

              "I'm going to say no, beings she was stupid enough to smoke in a barn,” Gavin said.

              "Gavin, manners. Nova can answer for herself."

              All eyes turned to me and I shifted my potatoes around my plate. "No."

              "No, see? I was right."

              Polly ignored Gavin this time, "Well you're going to be learning a lot while you're here helping."

              I nodded and focused on my plate, hoping the subject would change. It didn't, not with Gavin there.

              "Yes, she'll be learning things like how to not burn down a barn,” Gavin laughed, but it held no humor, "You know, maybe next time you could go ahead and burn down the house and the entire ranch! Just wipe out everything we have here."

              "Gavin!" Polly yelled, dropping her fork.

              "No! I don't know why you're being nice to her. She has no respect for anything or anyone. She burned down our fucking barn, almost killing our animals and you all don't give a shit at all!"

              "She's going to help us rebuild one, that old thing was about to fall down by itself anyway, she was doing us a favor."

              "Doing us a favor?" Gavin screamed, now standing up.

I cringed away, knowing this was the point where people normally started throwing punches and it was always at me.

"I don't want her here! Can't you see this is the kind of person she is? Look at her; she's a freak! What the hell is going on with her hair? Is she Cruella De Ville or something? She probably doesn't even know how to use a hammer, let alone rebuild a barn. It would be best if she just left to rot in prison where she belongs."

              The room was silent, tension so thick in the air it was suffocating me and the only sound was Gavin's heavy breathing. I stood up slowly from my chair, looking up straight into his cold eyes.

He was a jerk who wasn't worth spending another second thinking about, but that didn't stop my mouth from opening and words spilling out, "Maybe you're right, but I don't want to be here any more than you want me to be. I am here though, so I'm going to help you all build the barn and then I'm going to leave and we'll never have to see each other again,” I paused, glancing around the table, "I'm sorry for causing you all so much trouble. Thank you for dinner."

Then I turned and walked away, going back to my room and barricading my door. Shoving a pillow over my head I fought back years worth of unshed tears, cursing myself for being so naive as to think that things wouldn't be so bad here.

              I was a fool to believe they wouldn't hate me, and it was painfully obvious that things wouldn't be any different here.

              A knock on the door woke me from my slumber sometime later. I jerked upright, yanking the ear-buds out of my ears so I could hear better.

              "Honey, I brought ya a piece of pie from supper,” Polly's voice was muffled through the door.

              I contemplated ignoring her, not really feeling like talking to anyone anymore today, but my stomach felt like it had been attempting to eat itself for hours now and the pie was calling to it. I swear I could smell it through my door. I got up and removed the chair from in front of the door, slowly opening it a smidgen and peeking out.

              Polly stood with her usual smile, holding the pie. Peach pie with ice cream on top, slowly melting from the heat.

"Can I come in for a second Honey?"

              Shoot, this wasn't going to be a drop and run of food, she wanted to talk. I couldn't exactly refuse without being extremely rude and I didn't want the pie to go to waste, so I opened the door the rest of the way and Polly stepped through the door frame, handing me the pie.

              Thank God, finally food for my hungry belly! I crammed a fork full of pie into my mouth, the sweet peaches, calming ice cream and soft pie crust melted in my mouth. It wasn't surprising that Polly had made the pie; it held the same characteristics as her.

              I felt the bed beside me shift as Polly sat down beside me, "Honey, I wanted to talk to you a bit about supper. I'm so sorry about what Gavin said this evening."

The way she spoke told me she had more to say on the subject, so I stayed quiet and listened.

"Gavin is our son, but he wasn't always. He's had such a hard life, both him and Wyatt, and he's just feeling insecure about everything. He's gotten comfortable with things how they are here and he's afraid of things changing. When the barn burned down, he panicked and is still working through his feelings,” Polly paused and smiled, "He's just being silly; he'll get used to the way things are now."

              Gavin's their son, but he wasn't always? Did that mean he was adopted? It made me realize he hadn’t had the perfect life of living here his entire life, and I wondered what all he had been through to get here. I didn't voice any of my questions though, I respected people's privacy too much, which was probably a result of wanting so much of my own. She was opening up to me and I didn't feel like I was part of their lives enough to ask for more details.

              "It's okay. It's my fault. I deserved it,” I said, cramming the last bite of pie into my mouth. This was really good pie and a great distraction from my thoughts.

              "Ah Honey, don't say that! It was an accident,” She gripped my shoulders, staring into my eyes, "None of this is your fault. Do ya hear me?"

              I had already stood in front of the judge and told him what had happened that night. Polly must have been there too; I just hadn't noticed her. How else would she have known it was an accident?

              I nodded to her and she smiled back before taking my empty plate and standing, kissing the top of my head, "Goodnight Honey."

              How could she be so understanding and kind? I didn't think it was possible for anyone to be more kindhearted than she was. I swallowed back a small smile, I didn't want to get too attached to anyone here.

              My future was still uncertain.

♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥

              The next knock on my door came way before dawn, followed by a mumbled, "Breakfast," from an unknown person.

              Wait, what?

              Who in their right mind would have breakfast before the sun had even risen? The sun notifies you when it is a reasonable time to wake up, no one needed to get up before the sun did!

              I groaned and looked at my watch, sitting up on my elbow. Blurry darkness met my eyes before they shut themselves again. My head drooped as I started to doze back off.

              Another knock snapped me back awake, "Nova?"

              Oops, "Okay, I'll be down in a minute."

              I heard footsteps walk off as I rolled out of bed, my muscles still stiff from sleep.

              I hated mornings.

              I flipped on the switch and covered my eyes as they teared up from the blinding light. Why did they make lights so freakishly bright? Snatching some clothes from my drawer, I headed to the bathroom, finding it empty again and taking a quick shower.

              Ten minutes later I was heading down the stairs in worn black shorts, a black skull lace-topped shirt that covered my chest better than the corset top I had worn yesterday, and my boots. Spiked wristbands hung from my wrists and I had my make-up re-applied.

              Hopefully breakfast would go better than dinner.

              I found my way to the kitchen where Polly stood, making eggs and pancakes. Landon was beside her at the stove, frying bacon while the other guys were grouped together on the other side of the kitchen, talking amongst themselves.

              I had no doubts about what, or more likely who, they were talking about.

              Landon spotted me first, his eyes traveling down my body to my legs, where his eyes scintillated and a small smile spread across his face before traveling their way slowly back up to my face. His eyes sparkled with intensity as he opened his mouth to say something, only to flinch to the side when the bacon popped in the skillet, hitting him with sizzling grease. He quickly turned the temperature of the burner down with a frown, the words he was about to say forgotten.

              Bacon can fight back, in the form of popping you in the face with it’s hot sizzling grease.

              "Good morning Honey, you look nice,” Polly complimented with a smile as she added several more pancakes to the platter.

              "Yes, she does,”  Landon wiggled his eyebrows as he spoke, making it obvious he was complimenting me for completely different reasons than Polly. Polly gave him a disapproving look, but a smile still pulled her lips back up.

              "Looks can be deceiving. She's a she-devil. You all should remember that,” Gavin grumbled from the other side of the kitchen, his brows furrowing in aggravation.

              Polly's words from last night echoed in my mind and I stared at him, trying to see past the jerk outer layer to see what she had been talking about. The jerk layer was pretty thick though, and it was going to take awhile to see the mushy innards that Polly believed were there.

              "I don't think she's a she-devil. What do you think Dylan?" Landon asked, throwing his arm around his brother’s shoulders with a smirk.

              Dylan's eyes got bigger and he swallowed hard, a rosy blush coloring his cheeks. It was kinda cute. "Uh, I guess she's all right,” Dylan spoke low, seeming extremely uncomfortable.

A couple of the guys chuckled and Landon ruffled his hair. It was very obvious he was the youngest of all of them.

              Their laughter, however, drew my attention to a new guy in the room, who closely resembled Gavin. His face was softer than Gavin's, with less rough edges, and his body was slightly lighter in build. His hair was a paler shade of blonde, poking out from underneath the cowboy hat he wore on his head. His sky blue eyes flicked over me before focusing back on Gavin. They weren't identical twins, but they carried too many similarities to not be related, making it easy to see that they were twins. However, he seemed to have a more relaxed personality than Gavin's aggressive one, polar opposites personality wise, or at least that's how it seemed.

I had just met them both, so nothing was for certain yet.

              "Ya haven't met Wyatt yet, Honey. He breaks in a lot of the new horses for us, does a fine job of it too. You should see him at the rodeo, riding those broncs. He's won several belt buckles too,” Polly turned to Wyatt, "Wyatt, you should show her your belt buckles sometime,” Polly rattled on, handing Gavin a plate of food before shooing him into the dining room.

              Wyatt seemed to be a man of few words, only nodding to me and tipped his hat, murmuring a, "Yes ma'am" to Polly.

Polly directed everyone to grab the food and head to the table with it, so I picked up a plate of bacon before following everyone.

              As I walked into the dining room, I froze when I noticed a new guy at the table. He must be the other guy Polly had mentioned last night at dinner, though I hadn't been paying attention enough to remember his name. I did however, feel immediately drawn to him.

His black hair hung around his handsome face, his biceps flexing as he reached across the table to grab a couple pancakes off a platter. He was freakishly hot with a model body and breathtaking in a dark and broody way, but that wasn't what drew me to him. It was his intense steel eyes, calculating everyone's movements as if he was waiting for the perfect moment to strike. It was obvious he was the black sheep, the odd one out, just like me.

              I finally got my legs working again and headed towards the table, this time finding a spot away from Gavin, hoping that if I wasn't right in his line of sight he wouldn't target me again. Somehow though, I knew it wouldn't make any difference where I sat.

              "Hey, Bacon Girl, pass some of your hot and scrumptious stuff over here,” Mr. Dark and Broody demanded, and I paused.

Wait, was he talking to me? He had to be, I was, after all, still holding the plate of bacon.

              I blushed and started to pass it over to him, but a hand stopped my movement, "You better grab some of that while you can,” Landon remarked from his seat beside me.

Was he talking about Mr. Dark and Broody? Because I wouldn't mind that one bit. "Once you pass the plate then there's no guarantee you'll get it back with anything on it."

Ah right, he was talking about bacon, not his brother.

              I felt my cheeks burn hotter as I nodded silently and grabbed a couple pieces of the bacon before passing it over.

Mr. Dark and Broody grabbed the plate, making sure to brush his fingers against mine as he took it, giving me a wink. "Thank you Sweetheart. I'm Jayden, but you can call me whatever you want," he said with a cocky smirk.

              "I'm Nova."

              "I know." Jayden, the previously-named Mr. Dark and Broody, said with a wink.

              I could have sworn I heard Gavin choke on his orange juice, but I couldn't really hear well over the pounding of blood rushing through my ears and into my cheeks.

              Is it hot in here or is it just all these guys?

              When everyone finished dishing out food onto their plates, Chili said Grace and again, I found my hands in the grasps of two hot guys. I was starting to like this saying Grace thing, as long as I didn't have Gavin crushing my hand in his. Everyone started eating and fell into comfortable conversation, talking about the cows or something, I wasn't really sure though. What did I know about cows other than they make milk and hamburgers?

              Absolutely nothing.

              "This morning we need to fix the fence in the North Pasture and then move the cattle there, they need the better grazing with them in calf now. The rest of you are with Nova at the barn,” Chili spoke, command clear in his voice.

              "You can take Landon and Jayden with you. I want to keep an eye on the..." Gavin paused, swallowing his next words as Polly sent him a warning look, "...on Nova."

              Chili straightened in his seat, exchanging a glance with Polly before speaking to Gavin. It was obvious they had already talked about this; either that or they had mastered talking through silent looks. "I want you on fencing with me Gavin."

              I could feel the tension in the air and everyone waiting for Gavin to argue or explode. His attitude problems must be a normal occurrence.

              "I'll go with you too, Chili,” Wyatt spoke up, stopping Gavin from saying whatever he was going to say.

              "It's settled then,” Chili nodded, his decision made.

              "May I be excused?" Gavin growled, stating it more than asking as he got up. He picked up his dishes and headed towards the kitchen, bumping my chair with his hip as he passed.

              Ooh, a hip chair bump, how evil!

              Everyone exchanged glances before going back to eating and I stayed quiet. At least I wouldn't have to be around Gavin very much today. I hoped the other guys would stay as nice as they were right now, though I'm sure once we got to working on the barn that it will be a different story.

              I didn't look forward to a barn raising one bit.

♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥

              After breakfast, everyone, with the exception of Polly, went outside and gathered on the porch. I had offered to help, but she insisted she had it covered and shooed me outside with the guys. Chili, Gavin and Wyatt headed off to work on the fencing right away, not hanging around for long. Chili drove the truck toward what I assumed was the North Pasture while Gavin and Wyatt rode behind on horseback, an extra horse for Chili trailing behind.