Sophie Oak: Once Upon a Time in Bliss

She hugged him without reservation, throwing her whole body into it because Rye Harper was a wonderful man and he should know it every second of the day. “You’re not weird. You’re wonderful and Max is wonderful.” Max was a crabby man but someday some amazing woman would fix that. “You’re going to get married and be so happy. It can happen, Rye. I believe it.”

Because the universe was what a person made it. Positive thoughts brought about a positive outcome.

“I hope so, sweetheart. I sincerely do.” Rye returned the hug and then pulled away. “Now, I’m going to look into this, but I think it would be best if you stayed up at the commune.”

“I need to clean this place up.” She really couldn’t leave. She couldn’t let anyone trash her house again. She needed to be here. “I have to watch our house. Mom and I sank everything we had into this place and our insurance kind of sucks.”

He frowned. “I don’t think that’s a good idea. Look, I’ll send someone out here to stay with you.”

She didn’t want someone. She wanted Henry. “I think I can manage that on my own.”

“Okay, but if he isn’t interested in protecting you, I’ll send someone out here. We can take turns until this guy is caught. I think Seth and Logan can take first watch. They’re prepared to take out whoever comes your way with a Ping-Pong paddle and a couple of rolled-up comic books.”

She laughed and let Rye leave as Logan and Seth walked back in the house. They were sweet kids. Seth was a little older, but he was Logan’s best friend. He’d spent every summer of his life in Bliss since he was five. Nell envied him finding this place at such a young age.

“Rye said we needed to stay here tonight,” Seth said with a smile as he walked in. “I think we should grab some burgers and watch Star Trek . They didn’t get your DVD player. It still works. I rewired it so we’re good. Do you want fries?”

Logan looked out the window. “We should hurry. Dark thirty comes early this time of year. I’ll have to call my moms.”

Seth rolled his eyes as Logan walked away. His lips curled up. “I’ll take care of you, Nell. My granddad won’t mind. He expects me to stay out all night. I’m in college, you know. I’m working on a software system that will change the way we use operating systems, so my parents don’t fight me too much on staying out.”

How did she put this? “I appreciate it, but I think Henry can take care of me.”

She walked to the window looking for where he’d gone.

Seth frowned. “He left. He went to Hell on Wheels and told me to take care of you. It’s all right, Nell. Logan and I can handle it. I promise I won’t let him come at some stalker with a Ping-Pong paddle.”

He’d left? “When did he go?”

“A while back. He kind of shrugged and said you didn’t need him and left. It’s cool, Nell, because Logan and I can totally take care of you. I’ll get you some free cable, and we can just hang out.”

He’d left. He’d just walked away, and he hadn’t said good-bye. He’d kissed her like there was no tomorrow and she was the only woman in the whole world, and then he’d just decided a shot of liquor was more important than saying good-bye to her? He’d put his hands on her breasts and taken her to completely different places and he’d promised to take care of her, and this was how he did it? He went to a nasty bar with a bad reputation?

Did he think that would scare her off? He didn’t know her at all. Tears threatened and that really made her mad. She wasn’t the kind of girl who just sat back and accepted the unfairness of the world. She protested. She let people know when they were being douchebags of the highest order because some of them just didn’t understand.

Henry was about to understand.

She grabbed her coat and then opened the closet and found a knit hat. She had several but selected blue because it would go with Henry’s eyes and he didn’t have a hat. All he’d had was a leather jacket and that wasn’t the warmest thing in the world. She picked some gloves, too. Even if he was a complete ass, she wasn’t going to let him go cold.

Logan walked back in the cabin. “I talked to my moms. I can stay but I have to call in, and I can’t have sex with Nell.”

“Ewww.” Nell sent him her patented look, and it had the proper effect on Logan, who shrank back.

“They kind of laughed when I said I wouldn’t sleep with you and then I got that whole sympathetic tone,” Logan admitted, his hands up in a defensive position.

She sighed. “It’s okay, guys. I’m going to be fine. Y’all go on back home.”

Seth frowned. He was so young, but there was a deeply defined sense of responsibility about him. “That’s not going to happen. I talked to both Rye and Henry. I promised them both I wouldn’t leave you alone here. I can take you up to Mountain and Valley, but I won’t leave you here.”

She looked to Logan. He would be the voice of reason.

“Rye said he’d kick my ass if I left you alone.” Logan grimaced. “I kind of believe him.”

“We’re not leaving her alone.” Seth sent his best friend a nasty look. “Come on, man, we’re over eighteen. It’s time we manned up. We have to protect our woman.”

“I’m not your woman.” Even as she said the words, she winced inwardly. She apparently wasn’t Henry’s woman either. He’d walked out. He’d walked out after he’d kissed her like she was the air he needed to breathe. He’d walked out after he’d promised to take care of her.

They had two completely different versions of taking care of her.

A slow anger started. She should let it go. He didn’t like her. She got that. So why had he touched her? Why had he put his lips on hers and shoved her on a bed? Why had she felt that hard part of him when he rubbed against her pelvis?

He really should have thought about all of that before he’d done it. He should have thought about that before he’d made her think he’d liked her. It wasn’t fair to pretend.

He should know that.

Nell took a deep breath. She was naïve when it came to men. She knew that. She was kind of a dork. She spent too much time on intellectual things, but she’d learned long ago that it cost her more to fit in than it did to be herself. She sniffled, willing herself not to cry. She was weird. But she was a good person and she didn’t just lie down and take anything. She was deserving. She had a lot to give. She wasn’t willing to just sit back. Not for him.

He was going to get her speech. He was going to understand exactly what he was missing and then she would move on knowing she’d spoken her mind.

“I’m going to Hell on Wheels.”

Seth frowned. “Why? He left, Nell. He walked out.”

Nell shrugged. “I’m going.”

Seth took a long breath. “All right. I have fake IDs for me and Logan.”

“Dude, my moms will kill us both.” Logan went a little white. “Seriously, they consider you their second son, so death will come swiftly.”

Seth rolled his perfect blue eyes. He was skinny, but it was easy to see he would be a lovely man someday. “What they don’t know won’t hurt them.”

“They know everything,” Logan whispered.

“Ignore him,” Seth said. “I’ll take you up there if that’s what you want, but this Henry guy seems like an asshole if you ask me.”

She didn’t care. He’d made her feel more in a few hours than she’d ever felt before. “I’m going.”

Seth opened the door, and she followed him out trying not to think about the fact she was seriously contributing to the delinquency of minors.

Bishop looked across the bar at the pretty redhead and just knew he’d made a really big mistake. She was lovely. She was soft and feminine. She was obviously needy.