Awaken Me (The Jaded Series Book 4) (46 page)

“It most certainly does exist,” I tell her, readying the snowball in my hand. “To become a champion of snowballing, you have to have good aim.” As soon as the words leave my mouth, I launch a snowball at her and hit right on target, the center of her chest right between her boobs.

She narrows her eyes at me. “You’re asking for it.”

I ignore her and pick up my next snowball. “You also have to be quick with making snowballs. The quicker you are, the more you can hit your target, and the more distracted they become from making their own snowballs because they are too busy trying to avoid yours.”

My next snowball hits her on the upper stomach. I laugh when she glares at me. I bend down to grab another snowball, and get hit on the top of my head. I look up at Chris’s expression of triumph. I slowly get back on my knees with three snowballs in my hands. When she sees them, the gloating look disappears. Her lips form an O and her brows rise with worry. I grin cheekily at her and throw my next snowball. It smacks her right in the pelvic area. She looks down at the white spot on her pants, then back up at me, determination glittering in her eyes.

“That’s it!” she cries and starts rapidly packing snowballs and throwing them my way. She’s doing it so fast she doesn’t have enough time to pack them tight enough, and most either miss me or fall apart before they make it to me. Being an expert, I make my snowballs fast and tight, and launch them at her one after the other.

We’re both back to laughing and having a good time. She’s got a ton of white spots on her where my snowballs have hit her. I only have a few. She turns her back to me to avoid getting hit in the front, but that’s okay, I just tag her ass over and over again.

Out of breath, we both fall back in the snow and look up at the gray sky. The snow is still coming down, but not as hard.

“It’s so beautiful out here. You see white everywhere you look.”

“Want to know a secret?” I ask her.

“What?” she says.

I look over at her when I say, “I hate the snow.”

“What?” she screeches and sits up quickly. “How can you hate the snow?”

I chuckle at her reaction.

“Because I’ve been around it my whole life. It sucks to drive in; because of it we have to salt the roads, which rusts cars; when it’s plowed it leaves behind dirty snow, and the plows also knock over mailboxes; it’s hard to walk in; and it leaves the ground nasty and soggy when it melts. Oh, and it’s cold as shit.”

“Well,” she huffs. “I love the snow.”

I chuckle at her. “You’ll learn to hate it too if you’re around it enough.”

She looks at me like I’ve lost my mind. “I’m never going to hate the snow.”

I shrug and look back up at the sky. “If you say so.”

“I do.”

She lies back down. We stay like that for a while before we get up and sled down the hill a few more times. We spend the rest of the afternoon making snow angels, snowmen, having snowball fights, and sledding down the hill. Overall, I’d say it was a damn productive day. It took her mind off things for a while and that’s what she needed. I’m not under the illusion that she’ll be miraculously better, but I hope she now realizes there is joy still to be had in life.

We pack up the sleds in the back of my truck and then climb inside. We sit for several minutes, waiting for the truck to warm up.

“Thank you for today,” she says quietly.

I look over and see her staring out the window, her breath puffing out white clouds.

“Anything for you, Sugar.”

She looks at me oddly, like she’s not sure if she wants to believe my words or not. I put that doubt on her face, and that’s another thing I hate myself for. The loss of Anna is still buried deep in my heart. I’ll always hurt over that loss. I’m not exactly sure what I’m feeling for Chris right now. I don’t know if my feelings run deeper or if I just have this need to get her through the loss of our baby. What I do know though is if she ever needs me for anything, I’ll always be there. I don’t know if we can ever be more than what we were before the baby, but I refuse to go back to the unpredictable and heartless prick I was.

I lift the middle console, reach over, grab her hand, and tug her to the middle of the seat. I pull the middle seat belt across her and buckle her in. After putting her hand that I’m still holding on my thigh, I put the truck in gear and pull away from our play spot.

Chris may not believe now that she can count on me, but over time she will. It may take me a while, but I’ll make it my life’s mission to ensure she does.

Chris

I drop the phone on the bed and scramble up to get dressed, worry and anxiety making my attempts clumsy. I ignore the pain in my stomach as I slip my jeans up my legs. Noah, my troubled student from school, just called. He wouldn’t tell me what was going on, but asked me to please come to his house quickly to get him and his little sister. His voice sounded muffled and frantic, like he was trying to be quiet so no one would hear him talking to me. I gave him my number a couple months ago and told him to call me if ever needed anything or to talk.

I look at the clock on the nightstand. Nick has only been gone thirty minutes. He had to go to the next town over because, ironically, a pipe burst in the kitchen. The memory of Jaxon’s and my fib to Nick about a false burst pipe in my bathroom comes to mind and it almost makes me chuckle.

I’m out of food here, so he was going to pick up some groceries while he got the things he needed to fix the pipe as well. I was supposed to go with him, but I woke up this morning not feeling well and running a slight fever. Cramps still plague me and the bleeding hasn’t stopped. I have an appointment tomorrow with my doctor for a follow-up. I’m secretly glad I wasn’t able to go with him to town. I’m still not quite ready to face the world. Going out with Nick a couple days ago helped some, but I’m just not there yet. It’s already bad enough I’m going back to work Monday. I’m not looking forward to pitying glances and whispered words. The pain of losing the baby is still too fresh and leaves me gasping for air at times.

There’s no way I can wait until he gets back so he can go with me. I promised him I wouldn’t go alone, but sometimes you have to do what you have to do. The urgency in Noah’s voice says he can’t wait.

So I don’t totally go against his wishes, I pick up my phone once I’m dressed and call Jase to see if he can go with me. It rings until it hits voice mail, and I throw the phone back on the bed with a growl.

“Damn it!”

I bite my nail, deciding on what I should do. The longer I wait, the longer Noah and his sister are at home with God only knows what going on. I can’t just leave them there. Picking up my phone again, I try Mac. Something tells me he may be needed. Again, I get voice mail. I leave him a message to let him know where I’m going. Hopefully he’ll get it fairly soon and will be right behind me. I don’t want to call the sheriff’s office until I know what’s going on.

I sit on the edge of the bed and slip on my boots. The snow has mostly melted outside already. That’s living in Ohio for you. One day you have a foot of snow and will be below freezing and the next day it’s in the fifties.

I get up too fast from the bed and have to steady myself for a minute until the wave of dizziness passes. I regret not eating like I should have over the past two weeks. It’s made me weak.

I dig through my purse to make sure I still have my pepper spray that Jase gave me after Damien held me at gunpoint. I don’t really think I’ll need it, but I’d like to have it just in case. With all the shit that happened with Bailey, Anna, then Mac and Mia, and what happened with Jase and me, I’ve learned you can never be too careful.

I find my pepper spray and throw my phone in beside it. Grabbing my keys from the table and with my purse over my shoulder, I bolt for the door.

Noah lives on the outskirts of Jaded Hollow. It doesn’t take me long to get there. The place doesn’t look to be in bad shape. It’s a one-story brick house on a large piece of land. I spot a blue Corolla in the yard with a red Ford truck beside it. I park and take a deep breath before grabbing the pepper spray out of my purse, slipping it into my jacket pocket, and getting out of my car.

There’s no noise coming from inside the house. I don’t know if that’s good or bad. I walk up the porch steps, open the screen door, and knock. It takes several minutes for someone to answer.

I’ve never seen the scowling man in front of me. First impressions more often correct and the vibe I get off this guy is not a good one. He eyes me up and down with his nearly black eyes before settling on my face. He’s not a bad looking guy, except for the nasty look he’s currently giving me. His dark blond hair is neatly trimmed with not a piece out of place. His face is clean of any scruff and his white dress shirt with the sleeves rolled up and creased slacks are in impeccable shape.

His deep rough voice startles me when he asks, “Who the fuck are you?”

I grip the pepper spray in my jacket pocket and reply shakily, “I’m Chris, Noah’s teacher from school. I’m looking for him.”

His lip curls up in disgust, making him look more sinister. Something isn’t right here and now I’m wondering if I shouldn’t have waited for Nick after all. I wipe the thought away. It doesn’t matter. I couldn’t just ignore Noah’s call.

“He’s busy right now. You can see him at school tomorrow,” he growls at me, before trying to close the door.

I hold my hand up to keep the door from closing in my face. “That’s just it, Mr…” I wait for him to supply his name. When he doesn’t, I continue. “He hasn’t been to school in almost a week. I came by to make sure everything was okay. If I could just speak with him for a moment, or maybe his mother, I will be on my way.”

I spoke with Mary, the receptionist at school, a couple days ago. I called to confirm I would be back on Monday and she updated me on Noah not being in school lately. It worried me and I had plans to talk with Nick this afternoon about making a visit out here, before Noah called.

When the man sees my hand on the door, the menacing look morphs into rage. Inconspicuously, I pull out the pepper spray and hold it to my side.

“Look, bitch,” he snarls, taking a step towards me. “I already told you he’s busy. And so is his mother. You need to leave, before I fucking make you.”

I try to look around him into the house to see if I can spot Noah, his sister, or mother, but he steps to block me. If it’s even possible, the look in his eyes turns even more sinister.

I’m just about to turn around to leave and call the Sheriff’s office when a slender hand lands on the man’s arm. A second later a small blonde woman appears at his side. Except for her short frame, Noah is the spitting image of her. I barely hold back my cry of alarm when my eyes flicker over her face. Her lip is cut and her eye is starting to swell and bruise. Her white button-up shirt is torn on one side and there’re blood splatters on the front.

“Danny? What’s going on?” she asks when she sees me standing there.

Against my better judgment, I take a step toward her. “Ms. Taylor, my name is Chris. I’m Noah’s teacher. Can I speak with you for just a moment?”

She tries to smile at me and winces, presumably from the pain of her split lip. “Hi, Chris. We’re busy at the moment. I’ll give you a call tomorrow.”

I can tell she’s just trying to get me to leave. There will be no phone call tomorrow. She’s scared and wants me gone. There is no way I can leave her and the kids here. There’s no telling what this man will do, especially since I’ve seen her in the condition she’s in. I need to get them out of here. I need to make a call to the sheriff’s office.

I try to stall for time and hope Mac has already gotten my message and is on his way. “Are Noah and your daughter in there? Can I see them please?”

I guess the man named Danny has tired of my interference. He slings Ms. Taylor’s hand off his arm and snarls, “Get back to what you were doing, woman! I told you I’ll take care of this.” He then turns to me and grits out between pristine white teeth, “This is your last warning, lady. Get off this property now before I do something you’ll regret.”

I hear a whimpering inside and my head jerks to the side once again to try to look around him. The blow comes before I even realize Danny moved. I stagger back from the backhanded hit and bump into the porch railing porch. The pepper spray in my hand flies through the air and lands on the ground. I shake my head, trying to clear away the dizziness and pain from the hit. My lips throb, and I run my tongue over it and taste blood. The asshole busted my lip. Danny stalks my way.

“I fucking told you, bitch,” he growls, and slaps me again. This one is harder than the last, and I fall to my knees. I bring my hand to my stinging cheek and feel heat radiating off it.

I cry out when I watch him bring his booted foot back to kick me. He’s not given the chance to make contact though. I hear a roar from behind him and see a blur of movement. Noah launches himself at Danny and tackles him off the porch and onto the ground. Through my fuzzy head, I watch as Noah lands on top of Danny and starts whaling on him. His blond hair is sweaty from exertion. At closer inspection his jaw looks red and he has a cut on his upper cheek. Noah isn’t a small boy, so the punches he’s landing on Danny are doing damage fast.