Page 16 of The Mountain Man's Siren

10

OWEN

If this isone of my brothers, then I will kill the fucker for interrupting me when I was with my woman. I’m already on borrowed time with her as it is. It’s only a matter of days before she’ll be leaving.

When I open the door, there’s a well-dressed older man with a full head of silver hair standing on my front porch. He scowls when he sees me. “Who the fuck are you?”

“Who the fuck areyou? You showed up on my property,” I point out. I cross my arms over my chest.

“Uncle Micah!” The cry from my sweet girl has my heart sinking. Someone finally got it together enough to realize there was a mix up.

Micah grimaces when he sees Everly, and I turn to glance at her. She’s dressed in my t-shirt which hangs down to her knees with no pants on underneath. Her hair is a mess of tangles, and her lips are swollen from where I was nipping at her only moments ago. She looks exactly like a woman who has been well fucked.

He clears his throat. “I got your text this morning.”

“Oh,” she says softly then looks to me, as if she wants understanding. “I sent my uncle a text when I first got here. I lethim know there was a mistake with the rental. I guess it didn’t go through until just now.”

Micah looks me up and down and it doesn’t take a genius to know what he’s thinking. He’s thinking that this is the man who has spent the past week fucking his precious niece in every dirty way possible. “I came here to pick you up. Your father is asking to see you.”

It’s probably my imagination but she seems to slump with the pronouncement that it’s time to leave. “Let me just grab my things.”

Micah’s gaze softens when he looks at her. It’s obvious he loves her deeply. “That’s probably a good idea.”

She leaves for the bedroom, and I follow her. I don’t have anything to say to her uncle and besides, I want these last moments with my lamb. But standing in the middle of the room as she bustles around, I can’t figure out what it is I’m supposed to say.

I know what I want to say. I want to hit my knees and beg her to stay. I want to promise her the world if she’ll only be mine. But she deserves so much better than a bastard like me. So instead, I grind my molars together until it feels like my teeth are going to break.

She zips her suitcase then looks down and seems to realize she’s still in my shirt. She opens the luggage back and begins pawing through it again. When she’s finally dressed, she turns to me. There’s hope shining in her gaze. “Well, I guess this is it.”

“Have a good trip.”

That hope on her face flickers before it disappears altogether. She nods and leaves my room.

I listen to the sound of her footsteps against my hardwood floors then the soft click as my front door closes. Just like that, my sunshine is gone, and I’m plunged back into the familiar darkness.

“You got it?”I bark as I answer my phone. I had an old buddy look up the case with the senator. Reading through the reports, it didn’t take me long to realize the charges of fraud were falsified. Probably one of his opponents who wants to sully his reputation and destroy his career.

It took my buddy about six weeks, but we’ve finally managed to compile the evidence that proves Everly’s father is innocent. “You know if we send this in, it’ll probably be buried.”

My friend is right. Whoever is framing her father has deep connections. “Redact what needs to be redacted and release it publicly.”

He clicks his tongue against his teeth. “That’ll create more heat for me and raise my rates considerably.”

I could give a shit about the money involved. I just want to make life better for Everly. I stopped in at my brother’s bar last night and caught a glimpse of the TV.

Journalists and reporters are stalking her every move. They’re always shoving microphones in her face and demanding to know how she feels. I want to kill the fuckin’ lot of them for making my lamb’s life so hard.

“Do what you have to do,” I growl before ending the call.

“You look like shit,”my brother Aiden pronounces as he gets out of his truck. I mainly avoid my brothers and they usually respect that. But for some reason, Aiden is showing up to bug me. He’s my youngest brother and he found the love of his lifeduring the snowstorm. Just like my other two brothers. Lucky fuckers.

I don’t bother with a greeting, just keep hauling the firewood I’ve been chopping. It’s a hell of a way to work off a hangover.

“You want to tell me what’s going on with you?” He asks. The question is softer, gentler than any tone he would have used with me in the past. This is why I fuckin’ hate being around them now. They treat me different. Like I deserve fuckin’ compassion or something.

He tries to grab an armload of wood but I glare at him. He’s not supposed to be lifting things right now. “You tore up Amos’s place last night. Broke his TV from what I heard. Now, you’ve done some stupid shit over your life, but you’ve never had a destructive bent.”

I ignore him and continue working.

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