Page 3 of Love Me

“Hannah, youareenough. You’re more than enough. Levi is just a selfish bastard who can’t see past his own shit. Don’tyou dare think you and that little girl aren’t enough. You two are everything, do you hear me?”

Hannah cries herself to sleep in my arms as I lightly rub her back, my fingers trailing up the length of her spine and back down again. She gives off this tough girl, can’t-penetrate-her-defenses exterior, but those lucky enough to know her like I do get glimpses of her soft side too. She has never cared what anyone thinks and has always worn the confidence of a warrior, but when it comes to providing a life for her family, she is much more delicate.

I gently push her beautiful, lavender-colored hair out of her face and take a moment to watch her sleep. She’s going to survive this, and I’m going to make damn sure of it. There are moments when life shifts whether you’re ready for it or not. This is one of mine. I won’t let her parents take her from everything she loves. And I sure as shit won’t let Levi be what breaks her. He needs to get his goddamn priorities straight. This ends now. One way or another.

My fist connects with the solid wood door in three rapid knocks, purposefully louder than they should be. The night is chilly, but I don’t register the cold, anger and adrenaline pumping through my veins making my body feel hot. I pace for a moment on the stoop of the apartment in Downtown Seattle, removing my hat and running my hands through my hair as frustration courses through me. Putting my hat on backwards, I lift my fist to knock again just as it swings open. Levi stands in front of me, bleary-eyed from the sleep I just pulled him from, slightly shorter thanI am, and much thinner. He’s a lanky motherfucker and with his shaved head, he looks more like a propaganda poster for the U.S. Air Force than he does a Seattle fisherman.

“What the fuck do you want?”

Ahh. Good morning motherfucker, my old nemesis. Rise and fucking shine, asshole. You get to deal with me today.

“For you to stop fuckin’ around in Seattle and get your ass back to AR to take care of your family. Enough is enough, Levi,” I grind out.

“How about you mind your own goddamn business for a change, huh, Liam? Always gotta come to her rescue. She really that pathetic she’s gotta sic her bulldog on me? Get back in your fuckin’ truck and don’t come back here.”

“Levi? What’s going on, I can hear you yelling from the bedroom.”

Levi stiffens as a little blonde waltzes up behind him and tucks herself into his side. I’ve never thought Levi was faithful to Hannah, but it’s the swollen, pregnant belly that I can’t take my eyes off of and stuns me silent. Slowly, I turn my attention back on Levi, and I see the moment he registers how fucked he is, my face surely giving him the vibes that back that up. My hands ball into fists at my sides, and the petite female bristles, taking a step back to retreat farther into the apartment. Smart girl. She wouldn’t want to watch her man get pummeled to death in his doorway.

“It’s time for you to go,” the piece of shit says to me.

I lean forward into his space and whisper, “You ever show your fucking face back in AR, I’ll fucking kill you myself.”

“If I wanted to be there, I’d be there. But I’m here. Tell her to take a hint.”

My arm cocks back in an automatic response to punch this motherfucker right in the teeth—like I’ve done before—but I stop myself. He’s a sleazy asshole and it’ll only make thingsworse for Hannah. Turning on my heels and jogging down the steps, I pull myself into my truck and spin out—snow, dirt, and salt picked up and spraying—eager to get the fuck home to figure out how to deal with this disaster.

The drive back to Aspen Ridge is more than three hours, and given the time now, I’ll be lucky to get home in time to take a nap before showing up for work. Which means I’ve got the next few hours to figure out how the fuck I’m going to tell my best friend that her “boyfriend” and father of her daughter is a lying, two-timing, low-life piece of dogshit that shouldn’t have been allowed to breathe the same air as her from the beginning, let alone be inside her.

To add the cherry on her shit sundae, the ultimatum she received from her parents is contingent on her marrying that asshole. Her life is about to be blown to bits, and it fucking figures that I have to be the one who pulls the clip.

Hannah and I have known each other our entire lives, and in that time, I’ve never left her side. Through the fun elementary years, the awkwardness of middle school, to high school, when we both started to morph into mini adults, all the way to planning to go to college together. I was there through her unexpected pregnancy with Charlotte, and even caught that little girl as she rushed to enter the world on Hannah’s kitchen floor, and now I have to be the one to set off a massive fucking bomb in the center of her world. Being away from Hannah while I was in college was torture, now that Charlotte is in the mix? Fuck that. I will do anything to help Hannah keep Bean Haven, and her parents will have to pry both of them from my cold dead hands before they move to California. She has all the support she needs here. The two of them leaving Aspen Ridge isn’t even an option.

My palm connects with the steering wheel as I hit it repeatedly, pissed that anyone in this world could willingly hurt thetwo most perfect people in it. Hannah and Charlie are everything that is good, and they deserve someone who will put them first and show up for them. Levi has always been a deadbeat dad and an even worse boyfriend. He was all too satisfied to fuck Hannah, but the moment she got pregnant, he suddenly had better shit to do. He’s been dicking her around for years, and I’ll be damned if it continues after this.

Instead of going home, I turn onto the long dirt road that leads to the distillery and drive my truck around to the back parking lot. It’s about five in the morning, too late (or early) to have a drink, so I throw myself into the work that brings me peace. I head to the vats to try to focus on my new project but after a few hours, I can’t shake the anger that threatens to consume me. Picking up my phone, I call my brother, Dallas, only for it to go to voicemail after several rings. I’m one of five siblings, and most of the time it’s a madhouse of uncontrolled chaos, heavy banter, and fistfights with a whole lot of love and loyalty. But Dallas is the glue, and if I have a problem, he’s who I want to talk to.

“Marcus!” I snap at our intern as he pulls into his parking spot near where I’m pacing outside, the freezing winter air biting at my skin and keeping me awake.

“Yes, sir? What can I do for you?”

I sling my arm around his shoulders and pull him close. He tries to slink away, clearly intimidated by me. Good. He needs to listen and get my dumbass brother.

“This is what’s going to happen. You’re going to go into the office building and park your ass right outside Dallas’ door and you aren’t going to move until he gets there.”

“Of course. Consider it done,” he says as he starts to pull away.

“Oh, no. That’s not all. When you see him, I want you to tell him, verbatim, ‘get your ass to the fucking fermentingvats.’ Can you do that, Marcus?” I say as I squeeze his shoulder firmly.

“Yep. You got it. On my way . . . right . . . now,” he replies as he finally dislodges from my hold. I turn quickly and head back inside, irritated as fuck that the one time I actually need something important, the brother I want to talk to is busy doing God knows what.

My oldest brother, Sawyer, is without a doubt busy with his new wife, Ivy. Dallas is Sawyer’s twin and typically readily available to all of us. Carter is the youngest male and is always busy with either work, marketing, or his playboy lifestyle. Then there’s our little sister, Kinsey. She graduated from college a year early and started her first year teaching at Aspen Ridge Elementary School last September.

Unable to sit still, my footsteps echo through the room as I pace back and forth, running my hands, almost obsessively, through my thick hair, wondering when the hell Dallas will show up, when the door finally opens.

“Hey, man, you summoned me?”

“Yeah, I’m losing my shit and I need you to talk me off the ledge. You weren’t answering your damn phone.”

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