To Professor, With Love (28 page)

“Well, I’ve changed.” Eva huffed out a sound of aggravation and tugged at the grip he had on her arm. “People can change, you know. Now...let me go.”

“Not until you agree to get rid of it.”

“Never!”

“Then you leave me no other choice.”

Everything happened at once. Alec shoved her against a wall with enough force that I lurched forward right along with Pick to help her out. Eva’s pained gasp haunted my ears as her douchebag baby daddy braced one forearm across her throat to choke her into place while he reared back his other fist and punched her in the stomach. Repeatedly.

She screamed, and screamed, and screamed. It echoed through my ears, telling me I’d remember that scream in my dreams for years to come.

Christ, the crazy bastard was serious when he said he wasn’t going to let her keep her baby.

Pick roared out an animalistic sound of denial and lunged past me, beating me to the bastard. Surprising Eva’s attacker with his shout, he ripped Alec away from her and spun him around.

“What the—” Alec stumbled, off balance.

Pick didn’t bother to introduce himself. He snatched up a wrench that had been sitting on a nearby table and wound his arm back before swinging and catching Alec square in the face with the business end of his steel.

Now it was the douchebag’s turn to scream. He grabbed his nose, and blood flew. Pick kicked him in the knee, making him stumble back into the wall of the garage not too far down from where Eva had crumpled to the floor, cradling her stomach. Then he pressed the flat side of the wrench hard against Alec’s throat with both hands. Face immediately turning twenty shades of purple, Alec clawed at Pick’s fingers, seeking oxygen.

“You just messed with the wrong girl, pal.” Pick kneed him in the stomach, right where Alec had hit Eva in hers.

I grabbed his shoulder to pull him off. But he wasn’t coming off.

“Doesn’t feel so good when it’s done to you, does it, fuck face?” Pick kneed him again, this time in the balls.

“
Enough
!” I had to use everything I had to yank him back, and I still barely managed to pull him away, wrapping both of my arms around his torso and giving a good, hard heave. But, Jesus, Pick was a hell of a lot stronger than I took him for. He might not have my mass, but there was a fuck-load of pissed-off muscle packed into his lean frame. I could only drag him a yard or two away before he absolutely resisted and tried to go back for more.

Alec choked out a sound and his eyes rolled into the back of his head. He doubled over and folded to the ground.

“Touch her again, and I’ll kill you,” Pick roared, struggling against me. “Got it? I will fuck you up beyond all recognition.”

“Jesus,” I muttered, yanking on him harder to shake some sense into him. “Stop.”

That’s when Lowe finally decided to show his lazy ass up, opening the garage door from his house and shouting, “What the hell?”

“A little help,” I shouted back, still struggling to hold on to Pick.

When Pick spit at Alec, a wad of phlegm landed on the guy’s arms he was using to shield his face.

“Damn,” a struggling Lowe panted from beside me when he took one of Pick’s free arms to help propel him backward. “What the hell just happened?”

Pick pointed at the bleeding pile of wasted space cowering on the garage flood. “He hit her. In the stomach. He fucking hit her baby.”

Stunned silent for a good two seconds, Lowe finally said, “Eva?”

Remembering her, we all three turned to where I’d last seen Eva clutching her belly with her legs folded like broken table legs.

Crouching in front of her, Lowe’s woman grasped Eva’s shoulders. “E?” Reese’s voice trembled. “What happened? Are you okay? Oh, my God. Mason. She’s hurt bad.”

“I…I think I’m bleeding.” Breathing erratically, Eva removed her hand from her stomach to look down.

I looked down too and almost passed out when I saw the red drops splatted onto the concrete under her.

“Shit.” If the bastard had succeeded in killing her kid, Pick really would destroy him.

“
No!
No, no, no.” Shoving away from us, Pick nudged Reese aside and squatted in front of Eva. “Tinker Bell?” he said as gently as I’d ever heard him speak to anyone.

Eva lifted her face and stared at him from large, water-stained blue eyes. She looked so frightened and full of pain, I gulped down my own rising panic.

“Pick?” she whimpered his name in confusion as he slid his arms under her.

With a forced smile, he nodded. “Hey, beautiful. You want to take a ride with me? I got a real fast car, and we can get you taken care of in no time.”

She sobbed and moaned, then buried her face in his shirt as her fingers clutched fistfuls of his sleeve. “It hurts.”

“I know, baby. I know.” Crooning, he pulled her a little closer and scooped her into his arms before standing up and turning toward me. “Well?” he demanded when no one moved. “Let’s get her to the hospital.”

“But…” I shook my head and glanced at the possibly unconscious guy slumped on Lowe’s garage floor. “What about him?”

“Fuck him.” Pick glared at Alec. “He can rot there and die for all I care. Did you not see him punch her
in the stomach
?”

“Yeah, but…shit.” I ran my hands through my hair, not used to dealing with this kind of mess. “Shouldn’t we call the police or something?”

“Someone can call them on the way to the hospital. Now let’s go. She’s
bleeding
.”

That seemed to startle Lowe into action. “Come on.” He grabbed Reese’s arm, and they dashed toward Pick’s car. “Jesus, I can’t believe this is happening.”

That made two of us. I hurried along behind them, abandoning the half-dead baby daddy.

Reese rushed ahead to open the door for Pick and Eva. Gnawing on her lip, she glanced back toward the garage. “What if he’s gone by the time the police show up?”

Pick glanced at her before he ducked his head and slid into the backseat with Eva. “Then I guess I won’t have to go to jail for beating the shit out of him, will I?”

Reese swerved her attention back to me, her blue eyes wide with fear. “Will he really go to jail? For
defending
her?”

“Umm...” I winced and scratched the side of my neck. “He
is
on parole.”

“Shit,” Lowe muttered. “Fine. I’ll stay here and clean this up.” Grasping Reese’s shoulders, he spun her to face him. “I assume you’re going with Eva?”

She nodded and rose up on her toes to give him a quick kiss on the cheek. “I love you. Be careful.”

Seeing them like that immediately made me think of Aspen. The crack in my chest broke open a little wider. Slapping the roof of the car as I opened the driver’s side door, I called, “Let’s go. Time’s wasting.”

Reese hurried into the front passenger seat, and I turned the key. When the engine roared to life under me, I met Pick’s gaze in the rearview mirror.

He nodded in silent permission. “She’ll go as fast as you tell her to.”

So I put the pedal to the floor, and we screamed down the street in the direction of the nearest hospital.

Across the bucket seat from me, Lowe’s woman was silent, chewing on her fingernails as Pick murmured something every once in a while from the back to the girl curled in the fetal ball on his lap.

“What is he on parole for?” Reese finally asked me a quiet voice.

I shrugged. “Beats the hell out of me.”

She nodded and went back to biting her nails.

We made it to Ellamore General in record time. I pulled up to the emergency room entrance, and a couple orderlies came out with a wheelchair when they saw Pick drag a bloody Eva from the backseat. They swept her off, and the three of us left to wait loitered helplessly in the entrance.

Reese paced the floor, sending text after text on her phone, while Pick—his shirt and jeans a bloodstained mess—slumped in a chair and closed his eyes, his face pale and mouth drawn taut. I camped out against a nearby wall and crossed my arms over my chest.

And we waited.

CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO

“Whatever it is you're seeking won't come in the form you're expecting.” - Haruki Murakami

~NOEL~

I opened the door of my apartment, weary and defeated. The place was quiet and made me feel extra lonely.

Reese’s cousin, Eva, had gone through an emergency C-section at the hospital, giving birth six weeks early to a four-pound, six-ounce baby girl. Mason had shown up only minutes before to report he and the baby daddy had made a deal: we wouldn’t turn Alec in for what he’d done to Eva if he didn’t turn Pick in for what Pick had done to him.

Apparently, that had worked for Alec, because Lowe said he was on his way back to Florida.

When a nurse had come out to tell Reese she could go back and see the new momma or the new baby through the window in the incubator where they’d put her, I decided it was time for me to head home. Since Pick didn’t seem willing to budge from the hospital, I made the trip on foot.

Walking helped clear my head. Hell, the entire night had cleared my head. When a catastrophe like this happened, it made a person realize what was truly important. Opening my phone, I sent another quote off to Aspen. It was one I’d had for a while, but had been saving for the right moment. Well, that moment might never come if I didn’t make it happen.

After I pushed
Send
, I blew out a breath and collapsed on the couch. I wanted to call and leave a voice message, just to tell her all the crazy shit that had happened tonight. I needed someone to share my day with. But I decided to wait until I could see her again. So I started to dial home and check in on Caroline, Colton, and Brandt. But I stopped myself. It was late, even in their time zone; I didn’t want to wake them for no reason.

Lying there, I stared up at the water-stained ceiling of my broken-down apartment, wondering what the hell I was doing. My family was hundreds of miles away. The woman I loved was God knew where. I felt scattered. And trapped. My goals for a college diploma and an NFL draft no longer seemed relevant. But I couldn’t leave. Not unless I wanted to destroy Aspen’s reputation.

Scrubbing my hand over my face, I felt decades older than I was.

When the door open, a spark lurched through my chest, hoping it might be her. But it was only Ten.

He paused when he saw me. His gaze uncertain and leery. “’Sup?” he hedged. “Pick already leave?”

“Yep.” I glanced at the ugly walls again. Someone seriously needed to paint this place. “How was work?”

“Fine.” He remained wedged in the doorway, watching me cautiously. “Hey...I brought you something.”

I lulled my face his way, wondering why he was acting so weird. But then he stepped into the room, leading someone else inside with him by the hand.

My gaze followed a feminine hand up a feminine arm, and hope sparked in my chest. But a mass of red hair killed it just as quickly as it had started.

Not Aspen.

“Hey, Noel,” Marci said, sending me a shy smile as she continued to hold Ten’s hand.

I rolled my eyes to my roommate, unimpressed, unmoved, and completely uninterested. “No thanks.”

He growled. “Damn it. This has to stop. You’re beginning to freak me out.”

I narrowed my eyes. “Why don’t you let me take care of myself? And hold the babysitters from here on out, too. A night out with Pick isn’t exactly my speed.”

“Well, maybe
I’d
be more your speed.” Marci finally left Ten’s side and strolled toward the couch, swinging her hips with a bit too much enthusiasm. She was wearing high heels, a short skirt, and low top.

I should’ve felt something. I was a guy. But I just sighed and rubbed my forehead. “No,” I groaned. “No, no, no. I’m sorry I made you think I wanted something from you back in March. But I’ve changed my mind. I’m not interested anymore.”

Jarring to a startled stop, Marci set her hands on her hips and scowled. “This isn’t still about that ugly bitch teacher, is it?”

My mouth fell open. “Excuse me?”

“Oh...shit,” Ten muttered from behind her. “You’re the blackmailer, aren’t you? I knew it was a chick, but...damn.”

I was slow on the uptake because my brain didn’t want to admit it. But if Marci had been the one to blackmail and then get Aspen fired, then it was because of me. It was my fault this had happened. I’d been the one to push Marci away and make her retaliate.

Deliberately, I sat up and pushed to my feet. “
You
got her fired?” Creeping around the coffee table, I started toward her.

Reading my face, Marci’s eyes bugged. She skipped a step back and bumped into Ten. He grabbed her arm and shoved her toward the door. “Go,” he commanded.

But she didn’t move fast enough. I leapt, and the only thing that kept me from reaching a handful of pretty red hair and pulling it out by the roots was my roommate who jumped between us. She just gaped at me, her mouth fallen slack.

“You fucking spoiled brat.” I pointed an accusing finger over Ten’s shoulder. “If you weren’t a girl, I’d mess you up right now. Got that? Don’t you ever talk to me, or look at me, or think about me again. I want nothing to do with you.”

“But...” Tears filled her eyes as she pressed a hand against her chest. “I protected you, Noel. I didn’t give them a picture with your face in it. I didn’t tell anyone it was
you
. I freed you from her.”

“Like it fucking matters,” I roared. “They goddamn know it’s me, Marci. I
told
them it was me.”

“You wha...
what
?” She frowned, still not getting it. “Why would you do that?”

“You hurt the woman I love,” I told her, making it as clear as possible. “I will never forgive you for this.”

I began to shake as she called me a bastard and ran from the apartment, bawling. I pushed away from Ten and ran my hands through my hair, tempted to chase Marci down so I could wrap my fingers around her neck and squeeze.

Behind me, Ten let out a breath. “Man, I swear to God. I didn’t know—”

“Just shut up,” I snapped. Then I cursed as my cell phone rang. Aspen
would
pick this moment to finally call me back, wouldn’t she? Just when I’d learned exactly how much involvement I’d had in getting her thrown out of Ellamore. Just when I was feeling so shitty and guilty I wanted to curl into a ball and die.

But when I glanced at the screen and saw it was home, not her, I closed my eyes, not ready to take any more bad news from Caroline. But hell, whatever. It couldn’t be worse than what I was already dealing with, so bring it.

“Hey,” I answered, expecting my sister’s voice.

Instead my middle brother, Brandt, sobbed in my ear, his voice shaking like crazy. “Noel. Something’s wrong with Caroline. We need you.”

***

The sun was beginning to rise over the horizon when we entered Bluebird Heights trailer park. I’d been driving for the past four hours while Ten had slumped passed out in the passenger’s seat.

I owed him for this, big time. He didn’t have to let me borrow his truck when I’d asked, and he certainly hadn’t needed to volunteer to come along, but here he was. The annoying pain-in-my-ass roommate I’d had last week was gone, and this Oren Tenning seemed to be a completely improved edition.

Tapping his knee, I said, “Hey. We’re here.” Home, sweet trailer park, home.

He grumbled in his sleep before finally sitting up and rubbing his eyes. After stretching, he glanced out the window at the place where I’d grown up. “Shit, man. I had no idea.”

I didn’t answer, just parked and cut the engine. A torn dingy curtain had been sucked through a piece of cardboard covering one window. It fluttered in the breeze as if waving hello to us, while the scent of the nearby sewage plant had already seeped into the interior of the truck. I sat there a second, soaking in the feelings that always came with this place. The shame and anger and frustration of being Daisy Gamble’s son.

With a soft curse under my breath, I opened my door and stepped out. Ten followed without a word. I almost wished he’d pop out with some dumbass sarcastic comment, but he said nothing.

There were no steps leading up to the front door, so I just turned the handle and vaulted inside. My brothers were camped out in the dim front room, Colt sleeping on the couch and Brandt on the floor. Though it seemed too early in the year for them, a swarm of fruit flies danced around the dirty dishes piled in the kitchen.

I nudged Brandt’s leg with my shoe until he jerked awake and sat up.

He stared at me a moment before blinking and saying, “Noel?” When his voice cracked with emotion, I hauled him off the floor and into me for a bone-cracking hug. It took him a second, but he finally hugged me back, and when he did, he buried his face in my neck to let out one short sob. Jesus, but he’d gotten tall.

“How’s Caroline?” I asked, pulling away to see he still had a bruise on his face, a fresh reddish purple one.

He shook his head. “She’s bad. Real bad.”

I reached out to touch his discolored jaw, but stopped myself at the last second. “Shouldn’t that have healed by now?”

With a half shrug, he glanced away. “It’s a new one.”

New one. No one had told me he’d gotten beat up again. Hell, no one had told me much of anything in the last few weeks.

On the couch, Colton stirred. When he sat up, yawning and scratching his head, the holey blanket that had been covering him slipped down to reveal pale, boney arms. Shit, how much food did the kid eat? Looked like he only got fed once a week.

“Hey, kiddo,” I greeted, my throat closing over, as I reached out to ruffle his grease-matted hair.

He’d been five when I’d moved away. So when he stared up at me with leery, untrusting sunken-in eyes, I realized I was akin to a stranger, his absent big brother who’d deserted him.

“Where is she?” I asked, turning to Brandt and unable to look at Colt without begging for his forgiveness.

Brandt pointed toward a narrow hall. “The bathroom, I bet. She’s been in there all night.”

I nodded and made my way to my little sister. The bathroom was dark, but the morning sunrise coming in through the window showed a human-sized lump on the floor, draped over the toilet seat. Reaching inside, I tried to flip on the light switch, but nothing happened.

“Light’s broken,” my sister’s frail voice came from inside.

“Shit.” I crouched down and scooped her into my arms. “Caroline?”

She slumped against me, so frail and limp I stopped short from pulling her in tight, afraid I might hurt her.

“I’m so glad you’re here.” Curling in close, she shivered and cuddled her face against my collar.

I kissed her hair and tried to keep it together, but fuck, my little sister. When I spotted dark splotches splashed around the rim of the toilet, I choked. “Is that...Jesus, is that blood?”

Made me think of Eva Mercer and the way she’d bled after getting punched in the stomach.

Caroline didn’t even lift her face. “Probably.”

“Oh, hell. Did you have a miscarriage?”

She wiped her nose with the back of her hand and sniffed. Wetness soaked through my shirt, telling me she was crying. “No. I...I...Sander’s parents offered me money to get rid of it...so...I did.” The last three words were whispered and clogged with tears.

The breath whooshed from my lungs. “You...I...” I shook my head, not sure what to say. My fingers trembled as I brushed the hair out of her face and kissed her temple. “Is this what you wanted?”

“I don’t know,” she croaked.

Squeezing my eyes closed, I ground my teeth together. “Fuck, Caroline. If you’d wanted to keep the baby, I would’ve helped you. You realize that, right? I know I lost it when I found out, but I was mad, and disappointed, and scared shitless.”

“Well, what do you think
I
was?” She pushed back to glare up at me. “I was scared too, Noel. And you weren’t here. What was I supposed to do?” Burying her face into her hands, she wept openly, her shoulders trembling from the force of her sobs.

Fisting my hand against my mouth, I watched her fall apart. This was my fault. I’d failed my family. I’d failed Aspen.

I’d failed, period.

“I’m sorry,” Crawling the few feet she’d scooted away from me, I pulled her back into my arms. But she remained stiff, and it broke me. I buried my face in her hair. “I’m so sorry.”

It took her a while to finally ease back against me, but when she did, I could finally suck in a relieved breath. I stroked her back as if that could somehow repay her for all the times I hadn’t been here for her. With a gulp, I glanced over her shoulder, trying to pull myself back together, when I spotted more blood. Fuck, that was a lot of blood.

“Do we need to get you to a hospital?”

She shook her head. “No, I think...I think it’s over now. They said I’d bleed. I just didn’t expect so much.” When her voice broke, I kissed her temple again.

“Does it still hurt?”

Her nod was all I needed to see. “Okay.” I shifted with her until she was sitting on my knees. Then I rose to my feet. “Let’s get you somewhere comfortable, and we’ll see about finding something for the pain.”

I didn’t even bother taking her to one of the two bedrooms. If the boys had been sleeping in the living rooms, I already knew I didn’t want to go back there.

Ten met us at the end of the hall. “Hey, I’m—”

His words broke off abruptly when he saw Caroline.

She looked up at the new voice, and her eyes bugged. “Oh, my God!” Yelping, she clutched me hard and buried her face back into my chest. “Who is
he
?”

Snuggling my cheek against her hair in reassurance, I said, “That’s just my roommate. Oren Tenning.”

“Hey,” Ten greeted, his voice hoarse. “How you doing?” When I saw the direction of his gaze, fixated on my little sister’s bare legs, I scowled at him. Her oversized T-shirt didn’t fall much past her thighs, giving him an eyeful.

Clearing my throat, I finally got him to tear his attention away from her. When he caught my death-glare, he spun away, putting his back to us. “Uh...the uh...I’m starving, so I was going to take the boys to the closest McDonalds for breakfast. Did you two want anything?”

“Yeah.” I sighed. “Get us some biscuits and gravy, and breakfast burritos, and sandwiches, and shit like that. Let me put her on the couch, and I’ll dig some money out of my wallet to pay.”