Carter's Treasure (21 page)

Molly shook her head no. “Brody, you don’t understand,” she whispered. She repeated herself a little louder the second time and a third. “Brody, you don’t understand” became a mantra of sorts, being said louder and louder each time. Trying to hear herself over the sound of Brody’s voice.

“Enough.” James’s voice was louder than both of theirs.

Even though he was just trying to get their attention, when the added volume combined with the yelling Brody was doing, plus her own, in the small space it was too much for Molly. She reached out for Karen, clinging to her tightly. Molly desperately tried to stay above the wave of the panic attack, but the yelling was just too similar to the voice she heard so many times as a young girl.

This time was different though. Molly could hear herself trying to talk back, but the sound of her crying muffled her arguments. She knew she was safe, she knew who was holding her. She just couldn’t get the pictures of her past from replaying through her mind. Suddenly, she was too tired to fight him anymore. Molly sagged against Karen, defeated.

“Oh my God, Molly, I’m so sorry,” Brody whispered beside her as his mother held her as tight as she could without making it worse.

“Damn it, Brody. You know you can’t yell at her like that.” Karen’s words were spoken no louder than a whisper for Molly’s sake, but they were sharp.

“I’m sorry, Mom, I didn’t think. I was just so worried.”

“You weren’t worried, you were pissed off. I know the difference,” Karen said as she glanced over at Brody and then turned her attention right back to Molly.

“Shh, Molly, it’s okay, baby.” Karen continued to stroke her hair and offer hushed words to soothe as Molly shook in her arms.

“You know, she hasn’t had an attack since the first night we were in California.” Erin said softly as she wet a cloth for Molly’s face.

“Thanks.” James took the washcloth from Erin. “Really?”

“Nope, and I’d bet money, it’s because of Carter.” Erin started to walk through the open motorhome door.

“Where are you going?” Brody asked over his shoulder.

“To get him.”

“Who?”

“Carter.”

“The hell you are. He started this. She shouldn’t have been with him. If she’d been in her own bed last night, this would never have happened.”

Brody’s voice had risen again, sending another uncontrollable series of sobs through Molly.

“Karen, smack your son for me.” Erin turned again. “I’ll be right back.”

Karen narrowed her glare on her son. “You know if you weren’t so hell-bent on controlling her every move, you’d realize how much she loves him.”

“Mom, she’s only known him for a week. She can’t love him.”

“She does though.”

The next thing Molly knew, she was being lifted. That smell, cologne? Carter’s cologne? She could feel the hard surface below her cheek, warm and pounding. She moved her hand along the soft plane. Carter had come for her. She let out a breath and relaxed completely against him, held tight in his arms, feeling his heartbeat under her cheek. The pictures in her head stopped playing immediately. She could tell the yelling was done, but fighting the attack, fighting to keep from being drug completely under had worn her to exhaustion. She left her eyes closed and let Carter’s soft whispers of love soothe her as she drifted off.

Carter had on his jeans from last night and nothing else. No socks, no shoes. He hadn’t even run his hands through his hair, let alone shower. When he’d convinced Molly to stay and eat breakfast with him, all he’d done was thrown on the jeans he’d left beside the bed. When he’d welcomed a flustered Erin in his door, he hadn’t even taken the time to grab his discarded t-shirt from last night before he ran to Molly.

After how wonderful last night and this morning had been for the two of them, it crushed him to see her so upset. Erin hadn’t explained anything, but it was only a matter of a few yards between their motorhomes. All he had let her get out were the two words. It’s Molly. At that point, he’d gone running.

Now as he held her to his chest, he took in the situation. He was in her motorhome, barely dressed, with Molly asleep on his lap. Not only did he have Brody to contend with, apparently today was the day he was meeting her parents. Talk about first impressions. Now that he had her completely calmed down, he let out a breath, and dropped another kiss on her head before looking up.

“James, Karen.” He started to hold out one hand and Molly whimpered in her sleep. He instinctively wrapped his arm back around her, forgoing formalities. They were kind of past that anyway. “I wish we could have met under better circumstances.”

Karen sat on the edge of the couch and lightly rubbed Molly’s leg. “Me too, Carter, me too. Thank you for coming so quickly. It’s obvious how much she cares for you and trusts you. If anyone else would have tried to pick her up like that, she would have started swinging.”

A piece of Carter wanted to be proud of Karen’s compliment. He just couldn’t though, not when it came at a cost to Molly. “Can I ask what set this one off?”

He watched Karen and James look at each other then at Brody. It was Erin’s evil eye in Brody’s direction that clued him in.

“I see,” he said before anyone answered.

Heat briefly flared in James’s eyes, but Carter didn’t back down or lower his eyes from James’s gaze. Molly had warned him early on about her father-figure. He’d been bracing himself for an amplified version of Brody.

Ten years from now they would all laugh about this day. He’d remind them about the way the two men stood, both leaning against the captain’s chairs, legs out crossed at the ankles, arms crossed over their chests. The same penetrating gray eyes boring into him. He’d seen the same pose from Brody on more than one occasion in the short time they’d known each other. Carter was quite sure it pissed Brody off that the imposing stare-down didn’t work on him.

He was also confident, that even though it appeared he had Karen’s support and even Erin’s, that the two men staring at him were united. It was very apparent they were on the other side.

Turning his head just an inch let him meet Brody’s narrowed eyes. “Did you yell at her…about last night?”

Brody’s eyes went wide for just a flash before narrowing once again.

Bull’s-eye.

“You did this to her, didn’t you?” Carter’s voice was a hint over a whisper, not wanting to upset Molly all over again, but there was fire in his tone. “I’ve told you repeatedly, I won’t hurt her. I’ve told you I’m not going anywhere.” He dropped a cheek against Molly’s head for a moment, just needing that connection, before he continued. Carter took a deep breath and leveled his eyes on her brother once again.

“If you have a problem, then you need to take it up with me—in private. I will not allow you to upset her like this again. I know she’ll stand up to you, I’ve seen her do it. But make no mistake…you won’t do this to her again.”

James’s chin came up just a fraction of an inch, even though the man had yet to speak. From what he’d heard from Molly, this must be a special occasion. The stories Molly and Brody had shared, while humorous now, gave him a newfound respect for anyone on the receiving end of James. The man was intimidating for damned sure, but there were three men in that motorhome, and he was the only one holding Molly in his arms.

The soft touch of Karen’s hand on his arm broke both the tension and his eye contact with Brody. “She loves you, Carter.”

“Quit saying that, Mom. How can she—”

Carter cut Brody’s argument off before he could finish it. “I love her too, Karen, very much.”

James took a deep breath in. Carter was gearing up for another round when George came through the open doorway. James put his finger to his lips. “Not here, George. I don’t want to talk about this here. We haven’t said anything to her yet.” The hushed words were meant for George alone. Carter heard every word.

He waited for several long seconds, gauging the mood of the room and the sudden chill it just took. It was more than obvious that they didn’t want Carter there for the conversation, either.

“I’ll let you guys go. How about if I take her to my coach and lay her down, you all can talk here?”

Without looking at the men, Carter waited for Karen’s approval. When she nodded and whispered her thanks, he felt as if he’d won some sort of battle.

“Erin knows where my motorhome is, I’ll leave the door open. You’re welcome anytime, just come in.” Carter had found the golden ticket. Karen seemed genuine while thanking him and it was obvious how much she loved Molly. At least he had another ally. Poor Erin was starting to look worn down with all the fuss, and now he had someone fresh on his side ready to help defend him if need be.

Carter stood with Molly in his arms as if she weighed nothing. Slipping the two of them through the tiny motorhome doorway was something of a feat, but he did it without waking her or giving her a concussion. He grinned to himself as he pressed a kiss to her forehead and walked with a still sleeping Molly in his arms.

As he laid her back down in his bed, he couldn’t help but feel conflicted. On one hand, he had Molly right where she belonged, in his bed. On the other hand though, her parents were acting very suspicious. He couldn’t help the nagging feeling in his gut that told him something was very, very wrong.

Molly stretched. Something about the bed she was in and the way it smelled just like Carter, and the sheets were so soft and cozy. She felt around her and let her eyes open.
Carter’s bed, how did I get here?

She shut her eyes again for a long minute, the screwed up morning coming back to her. One minute she was in Karen’s arms, dying to get her alone and talk. The next she was curled up in a ball crying. She shuttered again at the replay of Brody’s voice, tone and words in her mind. He’d never done that to her before. Neither James, nor Karen had ever yelled at her like that. Only one man had. There was something so hauntingly similar in Brody’s voice, the flashbacks had swept her away before she could even focus on reality.

She looked around the empty bedroom. “Carter?”

“Hi, Gorgeous. You’re awake,” he said, coming out of the bathroom.

Molly watched him zip his pants on the way. She breathed in the sight of the man standing freshly showered and in riding gear before her. “Hi,” she replied, smiling. Damn, the man was sexy as sin.

Carter winked as he leaned down, bracketing her with his arms to kiss her. He sat beside her on the bed, lovingly brushing the hair from her forehead. “Are you okay? Do you want to talk about it? You have me worried, sweetheart.”

“It was just…Brody. I don’t know. He just triggered something. I don’t even remember what he said now.”

“Well, I don’t know what all was said either. Erin came and grabbed me, and when I got to your coach, your mom had you in a pile of tears on the floor. I picked you up and you fell asleep in my arms. I suspected Brody had something to do with it, but we didn’t get into. I didn’t want to wake you up.”

When Carter cupped her cheek in his palm, Molly grabbed it with both hands and held it to her tight. Things were falling back into place. Molly took a deep breath. These panic attacks were old, but now that she’d had two in front of Carter, not to mention the other night, she was starting worry he was going to freak out.

“I’m so sorry, Carter.”

“What are you sorry for, Mol? You’ve done nothing.”

“It’s so embarrassing. I don’t always know the triggers until it’s too late. You’re going to think I’m an absolute train wreck. Add to that my psychotic brother, and you have no reason to want to be with me.”

“Yes. I do. I love you.” Carter leaned down and placed a feather soft kiss on her lips, then another on her nose. “I’m not going anywhere, I promise.” His face lit up. “Hey, you know what? Come with me.”

Molly couldn’t help but laugh at the excited man as he pulled her arms trying to get her out of the bed faster. Whatever he was up to, it couldn’t be as good as staying in his warm bed, preferably beside him.

“I have to do sound testing here in a little while, but I want to give you something. I meant to as soon as I saw you last night, but I got so excited to see you again—I forgot.”

He sat her on his couch and she tucked her legs up underneath her, trying to calm herself. She was the world’s biggest child when it came to surprises and holidays. She watched as he crossed to the kitchen counter. When he turned, he held out the small green velvet box tied with a satin bow.

“You didn’t have to get me anything, Carter.”

“It will make me feel better.”

She tried not to grin nervously at what that meant. Reaching up a timid hand, she took the box from him and waited until he sat back down beside her.

“Come on, open it.” He smiled.

Molly slowly pulled the end of the ribbon and the bow fell apart. With the box still in her hand, Carter opened it for her. She tried to see the beautiful necklace, but looking through the tears made it hard to see the little platinum and diamond cross pendant.

“It’s beautiful, Carter. Thank you.”

Carter took the box and removed the necklace himself. Molly held her hair up and turned so he could put it on for her. “Na, it’s selfish on my part, really. I don’t like the thought of you doing what you do on a bike without a little piece of me with you.”