Page 16 of Comforted By The Mountain Man
"Me!" Ryder shouts, his enthusiasm breaking the awkward moment.
"Sierra, would you mind helping me clear?" Grace asks. "Ryder, want to watch some cartoons while the grown-ups finish talking?"
As Grace efficiently removes Sierra from the interrogation zone, I make a mental note to thank my sister-in-law later. But I also file away every inconsistency in Sierra's story, every careful deflection and nervous tell.
Whatever brought Sierra Martinez to Eden Ridge, it's bigger and more complicated than she's letting on. And despite every instinct telling me to keep my distance, I find myself wanting to know all her secrets.
Even if they destroy the careful peace I've built in my life.
5
SIERRA
Ihate Oscar for conditioning me to be watchful and distrustful of kindness from potentially good people. I also hate myself for trusting his charm at nineteen and believing him when he placed his hand on my still flat pregnant stomach and smiled in that park, under moonlight, after my father kicked me out. Excited, he promised me the world.
He promised to take me somewhere safe, with his brothers who would die to protect Oscar’s woman. Only, arriving to the MC clubhouse that weekend, I was Oscar’s bitch who he knocked up.
Oscar played it off as MC talk.
Looking around, in this small cabin, filled with seven beastly, tall mountain men, how they engage my son with such gentleness, his little face in heaven, surrounded by what he keeps calling, The Avengers, and Grace’s smile that looks genuine and not like the conniving but confusing acts of ‘kindness’ I grew used to from Club Whores.
Can I trust this?
It’s eight o’clock and we should head back. We’ve taken up a lot of this family’s time.
“Ryder, baby. Time to go,” I kneel down and whisper.
He gasps. “But Mama! Hulk hasn’t smashed Abominable Man yet.” He means Abomination. His lower lip sticks out.
“Ryder,” I brush his curls off his face. “These people have been very nice to us but it’s getting late. You need a bath and bed.”
“No Mama. I wanna see Hulk smash,” he demands with that stubborn face I want to laugh at every time but can’t because he’s being serious.
I sigh, preparing my maternal firm tone when Asher bends next to me, facing Ryder.
“There’s about thirty minutes left. He can finish the movie. Grace is still cleaning up dessert and my brothers are having whiskey around the back porch.”
“Yes,” Grace chimes in. “If it’s okay with you, of course, it’s okay with me that he finishes it. There’s a beautiful path leading to the creek if you’d like to walk off dinner in the meantime?”
Asher’s eyes focus on Grace before returning to me. “We could go for a walk, if you’re cool with it.”
Not paying us any attention anymore, Ryder’s hand waves me off. “Yeah, Mama. Go walk. I’ll be here.”
Asher’s unexpected, barely audible deep chuckle warms me more due to the look he’s giving my son. I should grab Ryder and run away; far, far away from all this. It’s too wonderful. It feels too good.
But I’m an idiot and a glutton for punishment because my mouth releases an, “Okay,” before standing and letting Asher lead the way.
In companionable silence, we walk along a rough, natural path mostly lit by moonlight and tiny solar lights Asher explains Grace set up around the property. I’ve never been to themountains before. Never been this far north. The trailer parks in Southern California and then the MC clubhouse is all I’ve known.
The air up here is thinner but crisper. My lungs feel as though they fully expand for the first time ever. The peace of night sounds as we approach the running creek lulls me into safety. Still, a nugget of fear distrusts the serene feeling while at the same time, danger feels a million miles away.
“So, I spoke to Ezra and the others,” Asher breaks the silence when we reach the creek. Picking up a few small rocks, he starts chucking them causing a skipping across the water.
“The job is yours if you still want it. You can even start as early as tomorrow.”
Stunned, I stare up at him.
So tall. Long, strong neck, sharp jawline surrounded by a short beard. Deep, soulful green eyes that say so much even though he tries to hide as well.
