Hammered (Blue Bay Crew #3)- Cathryn Fox Page 0,36
but again, I’m sure he’d want me to be watching over her like any good friend would do, but sleeping with her, not so much. Nevertheless, she’s a grown woman who can make her own choices.
“I wouldn’t go anywhere near his motorcycle. I’m pretty sure he has a death wish,” she says with a laugh.
Rock is reckless, that’s for sure. “Do you trust me enough to ride with me?”
“I don’t know you, remember?”
“True, how about we give it some time. I can tell you I’m trustworthy, but you should decide for yourself.”
“I trust you, Tyler,” she says quickly, blinking up at me with eyes so full of vulnerability—so lost—I could fucking sob.
“Okay, good,” I say, for lack of anything else. “Where we’re going, we can’t take the motorcycle.”
She arches a brow. “Oh, are you taking me to some dark back road, or something?”
“No, we’re going straight to the fishing cabin,” I tell her. “I promised you a place where you could find peace and quiet, didn’t I?”
“I’m not quite sure you promised me that, exactly. I said I’d give anything for privacy, and you said something about holding me to it.”
I grin. “Yeah, I did say that.” A wave of need careens through me as I think about the ways of holding her to that, as I hold her against me.
“Do you really think we should go to the cabin, though?”
Beneath the streetlamp, I catch the worry in her blue eyes. A few more steps takes us to my truck and I open the door. “Sure, why not?” I ask, but there is a part of me that freezes up at the thought of stepping over the threshold. But I’m a damn grown man now, and I haven’t been there since I was a kid. Surely, I can walk into the place without old hurts bombarding me, and I’m not sure why, but the thought of facing the place with Haven by my side seems just a little bit easier.
She gives an easy shrug, but her shoulders are tight. “I just…Summer seemed worried about it.” She slides into the cab of the truck. “It’s not like that movie, Cabin in the Woods or anything, is it?” she asks, half laughing, half frowning.
I laugh at that. “You watch too many movies.”
“It just seemed like Summer was worried about you going back there. Did something bad happen?” she asks in a soft voice.
I circle the truck, a goddamn lump climbing into my throat as I slide in. “I’d never put you in a dangerous situation, and you don’t have to worry about me.”
She frowns at that. “I’m allowed to worry about you, Tyler.”
Warmth moves through me at the conviction in her voice. I put my hand on her thigh and give a little squeeze. “I’m fine,” I say, even though that might not be entirely true. My whole life I was taught to be tough, taught to hide my emotions because real men never cry, never show fear. I might have taken that advice to heart in the cage, but it’s a whole different game when you’re a kid in the woods.
Beside me, Haven stifles a yawn, and I shift the conversation, no longer wanting to talk about me. “You guys have long days on the set, huh?”
“Early starts and late endings.” She gives a heavy sigh, a weariness about her, like exhaustion is seeping into her bones, or maybe it’s more than that.
I cast her a quick glance as I maneuver down the winding road, passing a few of Blue Bay’s summer vacationers. They wave as I pass, and I wave back in return. “Do you enjoy it?”
She goes quiet, too quiet, and when I glance at her again, she smiles but it’s strained.
“Most days,” she says.
I nod, and sense she doesn’t want to talk about it. We both sit in comfortable silence, lost in our own thoughts until I come across the long dirt road leading to our secluded oasis. Grandad bought up this land years ago. Dad once talked about parceling it off and selling lots around the lake. Maybe that’s something my brother Jacob might want to do in the future. He dabbled in the real estate market when he was in Florida, although I wouldn’t like to see the land go to anyone other than the Owens family. I drive deeper into the woods, until the road narrows and the trees close in on us.
“If we’re going overnight, I probably should have stopped to get clothes.” She