Sophie Oak - Pure Bliss

The room went quiet, a weird, eerie silence that seemed to permeate the walls. He turned and looked at his brother who had gone stock-still. “What are you doing here?”

Noah turned his eyes up to him. “I lost everything. I wanted to come home.”

He stared, not knowing what to say.

The front screen squeaked. “Hello to the house!”

James sighed. Nate. That figured. Oh, well, saved by the bell. “We’re in the kitchen.”

Sheriff Nathan Wright walked in, dressed in casual clothes for once. He was in jeans and a T-shirt that looked worse for the wear. James’s eyes went to a large, nasty-looking spot on Nate’s shirt. He waved James off. “Spit-up. Charlie likes to vomit. A lot. It’s his little hobby.”

Charlie Hollister-Wright was one of Nate, Callie, and Zane’s newborn twins. “Can a two-week-old baby have a hobby?”

Nate nodded. “Yep. The twins’ hobbies are spitting up, hanging on their momma’s boobs just before spitting up, and doing this real cute thing with their legs that makes me not care that I’m covered in baby vomit. Now I heard Hope was murdered by a sand-dune monster.”

Despite the previous drama, James bit back a laugh. “It’s gone through Mel, then?”

“Yep. Apparently the aliens have taken to the dune. Now, before it got to Mel, Hope had passed out on the side of the road, been kidnapped in Del Norte, and will be sold for her body parts—someone’s been letting the Farley twins watch horror movies—and, my favorite, she’s pregnant with your secret love child. That’s why she passed out.”

“Oh, god, no.” People were talking about them? Of course people were talking about them. Everyone gossiped in Bliss. It was the town’s pastime. “The first one, Nate. She passed out. Doc is with her now. Uhm, my brother found her.”

Noah looked up. He looked a little like he might be the next human to vomit all over Nate Wright. “Her car broke down. I think she’s fine. Definitely no sand monsters.”

“I didn’t know you had a brother.” Nate’s eyes moved between them, assessing.

“Ask Callie. She’ll tell you the whole story.”

“Callie?” Noah asked. “Callie’s still in town?”

Noah had a lot of catching up to do. A lot had happened in the years Noah had been gone. James gestured to the sheriff. “You’re looking at her husband. Sheriff Nathan Wright, this is my brother, Noah Bennett. Different last name. Different fathers. Different mothers. Our dads shared our stepmom.”

Nate’s whole face broke open in a smile. “I love that we’re just carrying on Bliss traditions. I’ll have to have Callie tell the whole story to me and Zane. He’ll find it amusing, too. I’m going back to check on Hope.”

Nate walked away, and he was left alone with Noah again.

Noah looked out the big kitchen window into the backyard and out over the seemingly endless spread they had grown up on. “Everything’s changed.”

“Yes. That’s what happens.”

Everything changed. The people of the town had changed. The land had changed. Bliss had moved on without Noah in it. Bliss might not have missed Noah, but James had, even though his anger still burned bright. There was no way to stop the march of time or to really see mistakes coming before he made them. James stood beside his brother. Bliss had changed. James had changed. Noah had changed.

The question was, had they changed for the better?

Hope hissed a little as the doc took some blood. Some more blood. He was on his third vial. Hope was pretty certain Caleb Burke was a vampire.

And she was in such deep shit.

She lay back on James’s guest bed, closing her eyes. How had this happened? How was the man she’d met at AA James’s new partner? She’d tried so hard to keep this part of her past quiet. Quiet? Silent. She’d tried to make sure no one in Bliss knew anything about it. She and Nate had made a deal a long time ago on a lonely road, and she was happy with it.

Now she had to leave. No question about it. She had to get out of Bliss and fast.

“Well, you’re dehydrated at the very least.” Caleb held her hand in his, tracing the lines of her veins. “These should stand out. They’re sunken in. When was the last time you ate or had some water?”

“I had some coffee earlier in the day,” she admitted. She hadn’t felt like eating or drinking. All she could see was that glimpse of a man she thought she’d left behind long ago.

Caleb looked down on her, sympathy in his eyes. “You’re exhausted, Hope. And your blood pressure is high. Are you under some sort of stress?”

She felt those damn tears start again. Yeah, she had a little stress. “My car is dead. My apartment is unlivable.”

I’m seeing a ghost, and he’s not the happy, Casper-the-friendly kind. He’s a killer.

What she’d thought she’d seen the week before haunted her. She’d written it off, but the dreams had come again. He came to her each night, his hair golden and his lips turned up in a gorgeous smile. He’d had that charming smile on his face when he’d slit her best friend’s throat.

“I need you to calm down.” Caleb was looking at her, a serious expression on his ruggedly handsome face. “Your pulse just shot up. Maybe we should get you to a hospital.”

“Oh, god, no.” If she couldn’t afford to fix her car, she really couldn’t afford a hospital. But Caleb could be overly cautious. She’d overheard he was buying his own MRI so he could shove Holly or Alexei into it just to make sure they were okay. “I’m fine. Nothing a little rest and food can’t fix.”

And running. Lots of running.

Holly walked in the room, a glass of orange juice in her hand. “Here you go. This should help. And avoid the kitchen if you can. Those boys are staring at each other like two rattlesnakes waiting to strike.”

Noah. Noah was James’s brother. “I didn’t know James had a brother.”

Holly frowned, a sad look in her green eyes. “They haven’t talked in years. I moved to Bliss after they were grown, but before Noah moved away. They were very close. They had an odd family. Not odd for Bliss now, but at the time it was odd. They were the first threesome. Jamie’s dad and Noah’s dad were best friends. After Jamie’s mom died and Noah’s walked out, Noah’s dad moved them to the Circle G and helped out on the ranch. A couple of years later, they hired a housekeeper and both fell in love with her. Noah and Jamie were raised by their dads and a stepmom. They were raised as brothers, and just like their dads, they preferred to share a woman. Until Ally walked in.”

Hope sat up a little, really interested in this story. James Glen was everything she wanted in a man. He was loyal and kind. He worked so hard. Of course, he was also a ladies’ man. And he never noticed her. His brother…god, his brother…had her panting over him two minutes after he’d gotten out of his truck. She’d been attracted to the tall, dark, and handsome cowboy the minute she’d met him. Noah and James were dangerous, and her brain was already going to crazy places. “Did this Ally person only want one of them?”

Holly sighed and sat down on the bed. “Drink your juice and I keep talking.”

Caleb winked at her. “You’re a good nurse, baby.”

She smiled brightly. “Thanks. Maybe I’ll go back to school with Alexei. Now, Ally spent time with them both, but Jamie caught on to her. She was looking for a man with money. Jamie broke it off.”

“But Noah didn’t.” Hope drank her juice, the cool sweetness sinking into her veins. It was helping.

“Noah married her and left for New York.”

Caleb grimaced. “He’s the vet. He’s the one who was supposed to replace Doc Harris.”