Darken (Siege #1) Read online

  “Lela loved coming here,” he said, his eyes scanning the coffee shop.

  “I remember.” She and Lela spent so much time there during college it became like a second home. “She’d bring her textbooks and sit for hours, studying and drinking her coffee.”

  “She had to. Her father wouldn’t let her drink it at home.”

  “I think that’s why she did it,” Cora said. “It was her little rebellion against her parents.”

  “You’re probably right. She could stand toe to toe with everyone else, but with her parents, she was too worried about their opinion.”

  Talking about Lela had always been painful—a mixture of grief and guilt. But at that moment, it felt natural. Like the both of them had reached a point where the mere mention of her name didn’t tear a piece of their soul from them.

  Cora wanted the moment to go on forever, yet as she started to say something else, the alarm on her cell phone went.

  “I better get going. I’m working the afternoon shift.”

  “Me too. I’ll walk with you.”

  Cora’s heart jumped at his offer then she mentally told herself to calm down. It was only a walk down the street. A walk that was done in silence.

  As the day wore on, the olive branch she hoped his offer was withered into a switch that lashed at her back with the cutting glances he kept throwing her way.

  By the end of her shift, she decided that she’d imagined the friendly exchange.

  “After you’ve finished scanning everything, file the packing slips here,” Noah said as he pulled out the drawing of the filing cabinet. “We clear them out after tax season.”

  “Doesn’t the computer keep track of everything?” Cora gestured to his laptop.

  “It does, but as much confidence as Caleb and Gavin have in technology, I don’t trust it.”

  He sank into the chair behind his desk, and she sat across from him, groaning as her feet pulsed from their new position. Five straight shifts left her drained. That day, she did seven hours on the floor before spending the last hour learning the receiving system.

  “I’m exhausted,” she said as Noah chuckled. “What happened to the six-hour shifts?”

  “Business has picked up since Dixon’s pub closed.” He sifted through some papers before tossing them back on the desk. “We’re hoping to hire at least two more girls for the floor and possibly another bartender. The options are pretty slim, though.”

  “Maybe you shouldn’t limit it to women,” she suggested.

  He held up his hands to stave off any further argument. “Hey, I have no problem with guys working the floor, but I know our clientele.”

  “Sexist?”

  “Men who like to look at pretty ladies.”

  “Sexist.”

  “Business is business, and even though my brothers manage to bring in some of the ladies, it’s not enough for me to forget who’s paying the bills.”

  “That’s only because you refuse to consider Keeley’s proposal.”

  Noah snorted. “There’s no way Gavin and Josh are going to work shirtless.”

  “I’m sure Josh would be up for it.”

  “Yeah, well, don’t give him any ideas. So, you still interested in learning the business side of this?” he asked.

  “Of course.”

  Her head nodded, but she couldn’t help thinking of the job she left in Denver. It had been an entry-level position but it had been a start—a path to becoming head curator of a museum or gallery. At least assistant managing Porter’s Pub would give her managerial experience.

  “You ever going to tell me why you’re really here?” Noah stared at her, a dark eyebrow lifted in warning that he wasn’t likely to buy any lie she gave him.

  “I decided I wanted to experience working in a bar.” Her response earned a snort of disbelief from Noah.

  “There’s no way in hell little Coraline Evans, world traveler, and art connoisseur actually wants to learn how to manage a bar in Thompson Creek.”

  Her lips tipped up. “So it’s not what I’d planned to do with my life, but it’s where I need to be.”

  “Anything to do with my brother?” He sighed when she didn’t say anything. “Cora …”

  “Don’t say it.”

  “Someone needs to say it. Gavin is lost. He’s buried in that grave with Lela and if you give him the chance, he will hurt you.” Noah held up his hand when she made a weak sound of protest. “Back in high school and college, it was pretty obvious you had a crush on him.”

  Her face burst into flames. She always thought she’d done a good job of hiding her feelings. But if Noah—someone she rarely interacted with back then—figured it out, who else had?

  “Lela was my best friend. I would never have …”

  “I know. You were a good friend to Lela.”

  She could tell he was thinking of how Lela died. But long before she let Lela drown, trapped in the car, she had envied her friend and used her as an opportunity to see Gavin. Deep down, she always knew that if Lela and Gavin hadn’t been together, she wouldn’t have made such an effort to keep in touch with her friend, but her unhealthy need to torture herself pushed her to desperately hold onto a childhood friend who provided a connection with Gavin.

  In the end, Lela was more of a means to an end.

  “You’re wrong,” she said, the bitter taste of guilt turning her stomach sour. Before Noah could argue or offer her meaningless platitudes, she stood. “I better get going. I’m meeting a friend for drinks.”

  Her escape from the conversation with Noah seemed like the best plan until she walked into the change room and found a shirtless Gavin. He was digging in his locker, his back to her.

  The tribal tattoo spiraling over his shoulder and down one side of his back did only partially concealed the scars crisscrossing his back, forcing her to face the reality of what he must have gone through as a child. That morning, he’d said they’d been tortured, but something inside her hadn’t let her consider that it what that truly meant.

  The door clicked shut behind her, and Gavin glanced over his shoulder at her. She nodded her head curtly and opened her locker. From the corner of her eye, she watched him pull on a clean shirt.

  Life had not been fair to him.

  “I would have traded places with her,” she said, her words nothing more than a whisper.

  “I know.”

  “You hate me for what happened.”

  He rubbed a hand across his face. She pulled out her coat and shut the locker, staring down at her trembling hands.

  “Maybe,” he finally responded. “And I want to because hating you would be so much easier than this.”

  Only steps away from him, the sound of his deep breaths flowed around her, and then she sensed him moving behind her.

  He stopped within a breath of her, not touching her, but close enough for the heat of his body to warm her and send a rush of tingles through her, tightening her nerves in anticipation. His hand came up to press against the locker door in front of her and he leaned in, his lips skimming her ear.

  “Cora,” he said.

  His rough voice tugged her back and she sank into him, the hard ridges of his body keeping her from melting. His other hand slid across her ribs and settled low on her belly. The pressure of his hand held her in place as his hips pushed forward, rubbing his erection between the cheeks of her ass.

  She arched her back, nestling her head into the crook of his neck. Her hands grasped his forearms. His teeth nipped at her ear and a low moan escaped her.

  Then something hit the wall outside the room. They both froze, processing the sound. Cora squeezed her eyes shut as she committed the moment to memory. Even though she expected it, when he tore himself away from her, she gasped at the loss of contact.

  She turned around to look up at him, trying to figure out what he was thinking. But he was impossible to read, his face hardened into an emotionless mask.

  Grabbing her purse and coat, she walked to the door
where she paused, grasping the handle with a tight grip.

  “It’s okay to hate me.”

  In the silence following her words, she pulled open the door and left.

  Her apartment was only a few blocks away, but the walk felt like an eternity. Every step of the way, she kept thinking about Noah’s prediction about Gavin hurting her. She knew it would happen eventually, but she didn’t know how deep it would go.

  A car honked, stopping her in her tracks and she realized she’d nearly walked into traffic and past her place. The ground floor of her building housed commercial properties with a bookstore, antique shop, and a couple of clothing stores. Her apartment was on the second floor along with three other units. The front entrance, a battered old door between the bookstore and antique shop, consisted of a small foyer for their mailboxes and the stairwell.

  She reached her apartment and tossed her bag and jacket on the couch. The sparsely-furnished space was a far cry from the cozy rental she’d had in Denver. She spent almost over a year turning that apartment into a home, accumulating little knick knacks and making it hers. When she returned to Thompson Creek, she left almost everything behind, bringing only her clothes and what little she could cram into her Toyota Matrix.

  She could have rented a moving truck, but she opted to save her money. The job market in town was scarce, and she ended up dipping into her savings before she was hired on at the bar.

  A life in Thompson Creek had never been in her plans. During college, she lived at home to save money. After … Well, she had more than enough reason to leave.

  She’d enjoyed Denver, but coming back home only made her realize how much she missed small town life. When she ran into Eve, an old high school friend, at the grocery store, she been hesitant to meet at the bar. But the more she thought about it, rehashing high school might not be so terrible.

  After her shower, she pulled on her favorite skinny jeans and a white, chain strap, halter top. The top had a hi-low cut, so the front skimmed the top of her low-cut jeans, giving an occasional peek of her tummy.

  She pulled out her phone to text Eve, letting the other woman know she’d meet her at the pub. Taking her car didn’t make much sense when she lived so close by; besides, driving meant not drinking and she was in the mood for something stronger than soda.

  She entered the bar, finding it busy for mid-week, but nothing Keeley and the other two girls couldn’t handle. Noah and his girlfriend, Alicia, sat at a table by the window with Merrick and another woman she didn’t know. She gave a small wave and then headed to the bar. She considered Noah a friend as well as her boss, but Alicia never seemed that friendly. While Merrick seemed like a good guy, other than knowing he owned TanTech and that he’d recently divorced, she knew little else about him.

  She finished her scan of the room and found Gavin precisely where she expected him to be—at the pool table, cue in one hand, beer in the other, and Hailey hanging from his arm.

  Instant irritation swept through her. It was hard not to hate Hailey. She was loud, mouthy, and catty. Oh, sure they were similar qualities to those of Keeley, but with a few massive differences. Hailey was a bitch and she had Gavin.

  “Cora, my love.” Josh appeared behind the bar. “Whatcha doing here? I thought you were off?”

  “I am.” She glanced down at her clothes. “Do I look like I’m working?”

  Josh laughed and wisely didn’t answer.

  “What can I get you?”

  “Something fruity.”

  “Fruity and fun, huh?” Josh winked, and she might have bought into his flirting if she wasn’t aware of the thing he had for a girl in his philosophy class. “You hanging solo?”

  “No, waiting on an old friend from high school.”

  He filled a tall cocktail glass with ice, added the shots of light, dark, and spiced rum, then poured in orange and pineapple juice and a dash of grenadine. He placed a cherry on top and slid the glass over to her.

  “One Bahama Mama. Just watch out; these fruity things are deadly.”

  “I have in fact had a drink before.” She smiled at his warning—it was the same one he gave her every time she asked for a fruity drink and he gave her a Bahama Mama.

  She took her drink and found an empty table where she could watch the door for Eve. The fact that it also gave her a clear view of Gavin was a nice side benefit. Well, nice wasn’t exactly how she would describe watching Hailey draping herself all over him. She took a long sip from her drink.

  A few minutes later, Eve appeared in the entrance. Cora half-rose from her chair and waved to catch Eve’s attention. They hugged briefly before sitting just as Keeley came over. Eve ordered a beer while Cora asked for another Bahama Mama. Somehow, she’d nearly drained her glass while waiting those few minutes for Eve.

  “Sorry I’m late. I had to run my little brother, Jamie, to his dad’s place.” Eve pushed the loose strands of light brown hair behind her ears.

  They chatted until Keeley came back with their drinks.

  Eve took a long drag from her bottle then licked a drop from her lip.

  “That’s so good,” she said.

  “I take it you haven’t been out in a while?” Cora said with a chuckle.

  “Not since I took in Jamie. I love the little guy, but paying for a sitter—heck, finding a sitter—makes it hard. I lucked out that his dad was able to take him tonight.”

  “How long has he been with you?”

  “Since our mom split a couple years ago.”

  Cora nodded. She remembered how Eve had always kept quiet about her family, though most people were aware that her mom was an addict. Secrets in a small town like Thompson Creek never lasted long. Even if you didn’t know someone personally, chances were you heard of them and their life story.

  The Walker family, or at least the boys, were a rare exception. The most anyone had ever known were sensationalized rumors.

  “We were down in Boulder, but Jamie’s dad is here and offered to help out taking care of him.” Eve tipped her beer bottle to the side, letting it roll along the rim. “He’s mentioned going for custody, but frankly, the guy can hardly handle overnight visits.”

  “Any word from your mom?”

  “Not since Christmas. Enough about me. Last I heard you were living in Denver running some museum. What the hell are you doing back here?” Eve asked her.

  “I wish I ran it. I only did inventory, but things didn’t work out,” she hedged. “I loved my job, but I left Thompson Creek for all the wrong reasons.”

  Eve nodded. “You left after Lela died.”

  “It … It was hard to be here and face what I did.”

  “What happened to Lela was not your fault.”

  If only guilt could be vanquished by those simple words. Not your fault. Cora chugged the last bit of her first drink and started on her second.

  The sudden touch of hands on her shoulders caused her to jump in her seat. A glance up revealed Josh’s smiling face.

  “Cora, my love, you didn’t tell me you were meeting the Evie Fray,” he said.

  “Evie?” Cora’s eyebrows lifted and she looked to Eve, who shrugged.

  “Evie Fray, breaker of my heart. Rejected my most sincere invitation to attend the Valentine’s dance during my freshman year. Why did you so callously reject me?”

  Eve laughed. “Possibly because you called me Evie?”

  Cora relaxed back in her seat as she dragged her thoughts from Lela and Gavin and into the present. That was what she needed. No more moping. For the night, she was going to forget about martyrdom.

  Chapter Five

  HE SENSED CORA’S PRESENCE before he saw her, though describing the sensation was impossible. It was more of a mental perception than a physical one, yet his mind’s ability to pick up on subtle details and changes to the environment was one he never doubted.

  She was at the bar, talking with Josh. Apparently, his brother was turning on the charm because Cora smiled and gave a soft laugh. Gavin’s lip
s compressed as he realized how rare a sound that soft wispy laugh was.

  Her head tipped to the side, and her long blond curls swayed from side to side. He could almost smell the gentle vanilla scent of it that hovered in his memory. The soft tangle of those curls brushing along his jaw had stayed with him in the hours since he’d been pressed against her.

  He still didn’t know what the hell had possessed him to touch her. He couldn’t say what he’d been thinking, probably because he hadn’t been. He wanted to hate her. Hell, she told him to hate her. But he didn’t.

  What happened to Lela—

  A stinging slap on his ass jarred him from his thoughts. Hailey cackled loudly as she rested her chin on his shoulder. He barely kept himself from coughing at the overpowering odor of her floral perfume.

  “You’re up, sugar,” she said and slid her hands around to his chest, letting them sink low.

  Not one for public displays, he grabbed them before they could reach their goal. He stepped to the side and placed his beer on the ledge running the length of the wall before grabbing his pool cue from where it rested against his stool.

  Lining up his shot, he called it then sunk the ball. He repeated the process, one after another, until only the eight ball remained. Playing pool always relaxed him. It was a game that came naturally to him. Well, not naturally so much as it was skill courtesy of the side effects from Sinclair’s experiments. When Gavin studied the table, he could almost see the angle lines floating there like a grid spread across the table.

  After he made the final shot, he scooped the balls from the pockets and rolled them to the end of the table. He was racking them again when he noticed Hailey standing with her arms crossed over her chest. The stance pushed her breasts up enough they threatened to burst free.

  “You hoping to distract me?” he asked.

  “Just wondering if you’re here to play, or if you’re here to play pool?”

  He almost asked what she meant, but while he could be oblivious sometimes, he wasn’t stupid. He flashed a cocky half-smile and gestured to the perfect triangle of balls.

  “Your break.”