“Of course, I came,” Trace said, reaching for her only to find her stepping back out of his reach. “Mary, what’s wrong?” he asked, taking another step towards her.
“Nothing,” she said, smiling brightly.
“Are you hurt?” he asked, running his eyes over her face, her well-worn brown dress, hands, and bare feet and sighed with relief when he didn’t find any bruises or cuts marring her beautiful pale skin.
“Why would I be hurt?” Mary asked, stepping away from him as she toyed with her apron strings.
He reached out and gently took her hands in his, refusing to allow her to pull away again. “Mary,” Trace said, looking into her eyes, “I saw him strike you.”
She shrugged it away as if it were nothing. “I broke a Pack rule.”
“What rule?” he asked, frowning when she pulled her hands free.
“Mary, what-oomph!” The air rushed out of his lungs as he dropped to the ground, barely able to register Mary’s pleased smile as he watched the large wooden mallet race towards his head, again.
Chapter 1
Westdrom, Maine
Present Day
“Charlie! Oh my god, don’t pee on that!” Samantha pleaded as Charlie raised a dark furry leg and gave her a pointed look that could only be taken as a threat.
Samantha pulled on her old fluffy pink bunny slippers as she eyed her brother’s pain in the ass German Sheppard that he’d left with her when his unit was deployed two months ago. She pointed a finger at him, trying to look stern as she said, “If so much as a drop hits that staircase, you will never have another slice of pepperoni pizza.”
The dog eyed her for a moment before shifting his attention to the two-story colonial house’s original staircase that she’d spent last weekend sanding. The wood was bone dry and would happily absorb every drop Charlie gave it and then Samantha would have to come up with the ten thousand dollars needed to replace the staircase, something that she’d been hoping to avoid.
Slowly, ever so slowly, Charlie lowered his leg, his eyes never leaving hers as he looked for a reason to go through with the threat. Samantha stood up, putting her hands on her hips and said, “That’s right, buddy. You better remember who controls the pizza in this house.”
Charlie huffed as he padded past her to the front door. Samantha was just about to run upstairs and grab her flannel bathrobe, but then shrugged and followed the horrible dog that hated her outside. It wasn’t as if anyone was going to see her in her brother’s old Superman pajamas out here. They were ten miles from town and their nearest neighbor was eight miles away and was only here during the summer. She could walk around naked all day and never have to worry about another soul seeing her, except maybe for the deer that liked to walk around the small clearing in the backyard.
She didn’t bother grabbing Charlie’s leash since the dog would take that as a challenge and drag her out back through thorns, weeds, and over the rocks in the stream before he happily dunked her ass in the mud, again. He seemed to really enjoy making her life a living hell, something that she’d reminded Nathan of numerous times before he’d left. Each and every time, he’d sigh heavily and tell her that it was all in her head and that Charlie loved her.
Her eyes narrowed on the dog as he showed the tire on her SUV a lot of love. The entire time he stared at her, daring her to say something about it. She narrowed her eyes on him as she bent down and picked up the old slimy tennis ball on the front porch. Standing up slowly, she held it up.
“Uh-oh, does Charlie want his ball?” Samantha asked in a syrupy sweet voice, as she moved the ball from side to side, smiling as the little bastard’s eyes narrowed on his favorite ball. Just when he put his leg down and crouched to spring at her, she pulled her arm back and let the ball go flying through the trees and thick brush. “Go get it!”
The dog threw her one last dirty look that promised all sorts of retaliation before he took off through the brush where she hoped he finished his business. He had a nasty habit of leaving his little “packages” as her Grandmother Powers used to call them, around her truck. She didn’t care what Nathan said. She wasn’t paranoid.
That dog was out to get her.
Wiping her hands off on her pajama pants, Samantha walked back into the house, untangling the necklace that Nathan had given her when they were kids from her hair as she decided this would be the perfect opportunity to enjoy a hassle-free breakfast. It was something she hadn’t had since she moved in with Nathan after she’d left Craig.
It was funny how four months ago her biggest problem was Craig throwing the newspaper away before she had a chance to read it. Their mornings together had been quiet, relaxing, and comfortable. The only thing that interrupted their quiet routine had been talk of the wedding. The wedding that should have happened two months ago but didn’t thanks to Craig and the cashier at Anne Marie’s Bakery.
Apparently, Craig liked his coffee with a little something extra and Beth provided it. Of course, their breakup probably wouldn’t have been so bad if the two of them hadn’t stumbled out of the employee bathroom with their pants down around their ankles for everyone to see, including Samantha. Then again, she probably would have survived that humiliating moment if Craig hadn’t taken the opportunity to announce to one and all that she was horrible in bed. That had also led to him pointing out that she was too damn fat to turn any man on.
Instead of yelling at him, or at the very least bitch slapping him, Samantha had been left speechless. Later, of course, she’d thought of a hundred different things that she should have said to him. That always happened to her. She was really horrible at handling confrontation, which was probably why her high school debate teacher handed her a library pass the second week of school with a pitying look and told her that she could skip class for the rest of the year. It had been humiliating, but at least she didn’t have to worry about passing out and hitting her head on the podium, again.
Nathan, “the gifted one” as she liked to call him, never had to worry about trying to figure out the right thing to say at the right time. He was smooth, confident, funny, and if anyone was stupid enough to piss him off, he usually just beat the hell out of them.
The only good thing about the news of her humiliation spreading through the small town like wildfire was that it brought Nathan to the bakery where Samantha hadn’t been able to do anything more than sputter and pray that she didn’t add to her humiliation by passing out. Her brother simply strolled into the bakery, nodded in greeting to a few friends before coming to stand next to her. He’d looked from her red face to Craig’s lipstick smeared mouth and wrinkled clothes and smiled like it was Christmas morning. Although Nathan had been disappointed that it had only taken one punch to knock Craig out, she’d honestly never seen him happier.
He’d actually whistled a jaunty tune as he’d put his arm around her shoulders and led her out the door, but not before he’d drop-kicked Craig in the stomach for good measure. That really seemed to make his day. Not even the four hours they’d spent packing up her junk and moving it out of the small house she’d shared with Craig during one of the hottest days of the summer had dampened his mood. For weeks later, she’d look over at him when he sighed dreamily and found him once again smiling fondly.
Samantha flicked on the kitchen light as she walked into the dark room. Why anyone would build the kitchen on the south side of the house, she would never know. Granted, whoever built this house probably hadn’t foreseen two generations of Powers ignoring the upkeep of the property.
She walked over to the large porcelain sink and yanked open the yellowed curtains, revealing what should have been a beautiful sight. Instead, all she saw was a large ratted nest of briars, old leaves, and twigs with just a hint of sunlight peeking through. She groaned as she reached over and turned on the coffeepot that she’d been forced to buy after the old one caught fire thanks to faulty wiring. It was just another sad reminder of all the work that was waiting for her.