Tore Up (Mississippi Smoke Series Book 1)

My heart was racing when the sound of the door crashing open sent me bolting up in bed, gasping for air. I looked around helplessly for a weapon. Anything. There wasn’t even a phone in here. I couldn’t get to the kitchen.

Bane stalked into the room. I quickly checked his hands for a knife or gun. He wasn’t holding one.

Why had he broken in like that? Linc had said there were security cameras on the cabin.

“What the fuck is wrong?” he barked at me.

I blinked, confused by that question. I glanced down at the bed, and the sheet and quilt were twisted around my legs. I was covered in sweat again and breathing hard. This had been happening every time I slept lately.

“I must have fallen asleep,” I replied.

I’d done this last night twice, then given up and stayed awake. Today, I had been exhausted. Waking up to him breaking into the cabin hadn’t been helpful.

“Why did you barge in like that?”

He glared at me. “Because you were screaming like someone was in here, murdering you. I had to break the damn lock.”

I looked back down at the covers. I’d been having the same nightmare, but I hadn’t realized I had been screaming. I was always running. It was dark. Then, there was Nicco, lying there, dead. His eyes staring off at nothing. But his face morphed into Crosby’s, and I ran to him, screaming. Then, my eyes would open, and my heart would be racing while I tried to catch my breath.

I lifted my eyes back to Bane. “Bad dream,” I told him, wanting to wipe that from my brain.

He looked completely annoyed with me. “Please tell me you don’t do that shit a lot.”

I started to shake my head because for as long as I could remember, I’d never woken up like this until I saw death. And I’d been the cause of death. It was happening every time I went to sleep now.

“I don’t know.”

His angry gaze dropped to my chest, and then his jaw tightened before he snapped it back up to me. “Get up. Put on a fucking bra and come on. I’ll load your stuff in the truck,” he said before turning to stalk out of the room.

What? I stood up and crossed my arms over my chest, then walked to the door.

“Where are you taking me?” I asked him, thinking I might need to call Linc.

“To my house,” he clipped out, like the words pissed him off.

Oh, heck no. I was fine right here. I’d wait on Linc, thank you very much.

“I don’t want to go to your house.”

He turned and leveled his annoyed gaze on me. “You don’t have a house to live in. You don’t have any family that likes you. So, you’re going to my goddamn house.”

I winced at the harsh truth to his words. “You hate me. Excuse me if I don’t think going to your house is the best idea. I think I’d be better off in a homeless shelter.”

He picked up one of the boxes that Linc had brought here yesterday evening. “I’m not gonna kill you,” he said. “The baby is Crosby’s.”

The results were in.

“What, you’re not surprised to find out the daddy?” he asked sardonically.

I didn’t turn from his hateful stare. I took it because I knew I deserved it. “I always knew who it was.”

He turned and headed for the door with my things.

I went back to the bedroom and found my bra, then stepped behind the curtain to put it on. Grabbing my toiletries, I put them back in my duffel bag and headed back out to take it to his truck. He had already loaded everything, but one of the black trash bags I had used to pack my clothes in.

“Is that it?” he asked me, taking the bag from me.

“I can carry it.”

He jerked it from me. “You’re pregnant.”

Right. Well, the bag wasn’t that heavy, but I didn’t argue with him. The sound of my voice seemed to annoy him, like my father. I’d lived with a man who didn’t like me before. I was good at being invisible. I could do that. It wasn’t like I was staying forever. He wouldn’t want me there long. It had to be some temporary thing. The cops still hadn’t shown up, and I was starting to wonder if they would. There was a good chance the deaths would be considered gang-related with the needles in the apartment and drugs I was sure they’d found.

That left me with this family. Was I just supposed to wait until they decided what to do with me?

I glanced back at the cabin. It wasn’t like I’d enjoyed staying there. I had been alone with my thoughts, and that wasn’t good. But at least I’d had the things I needed, thanks to Linc.

“Oh, wait. The food that Linc brought,” I said, remembering I’d left it inside.

He opened the driver’s door of the truck. “Don’t need it.”

I opened the door a crack and peered at him. “Won’t it go bad?”

“He will send someone to get it if he wants it.”Published by Nôv'elD/rama.Org.

“I will need to eat at your house.”

He rolled his eyes as he cranked the truck. “Get in the fucking truck, Haley. I’ve got food at my house.”

Haley?

I climbed inside and clasped my hands in my lap. “My name is Halo.”

He said nothing, backing up, then pulling out onto the dirt road. We rode in silence. I watched out the window, wanting to ask him several things but afraid to. I’d just ask Linc, but when would I see him next?

What about Crosby’s parents? They were going to be upset about this. Did I have to meet them?

While I began to grow more anxious as he drove, I didn’t realize he had turned until we stopped at a gate, and he pressed a number into a box. The iron gate slowly swung open, and he pulled on through. We drove between rows of trees until a two-story—or was it three?—brick home with tall white columns came into view. It was huge.

I glanced at him, but his tense jawline kept me from saying anything. He drove toward the far left, and one of five garage doors opened.

Why did he have so many vehicles and a house this big? Crosby had never mentioned that his brother was rich. He was so young. What the heck did he do for a living?

Crosby had worked at a stable with horses and driven an older model farm truck. If he had a brother with this kind of money, you’d think he would’ve mentioned it. Money wasn’t something we’d ever talked about really. Except when he said we’d move in together if I was pregnant. I’d pointed out we didn’t make that much money and I might need to get another job. But he had said not to worry about that right then, so I hadn’t.

Bane parked the truck and opened his door. He still hadn’t spoken to me, so I kept my mouth shut and followed suit.

He grabbed the two black trash bags from the back of the truck. “This way,” he said, then headed toward the door.

Stopping, he tapped in another code. There was a lot of security just to get inside. Perhaps all rich people did this kind of thing. When you had stuff worth stealing, you had to protect it.

He went inside, and I headed in behind him, closing the door. We walked down a hallway that opened up to a gym, complete with weights of all kinds, machines that did things I had no clue about, a treadmill, and a punching bag.

The next room we came to consisted of a pool table, a bar stocked with all kinds of alcohol, a television screen that covered most of the wall, and lots of seating. Sectional sofas, plush chairs, and smaller sofas. It was a mix of brown and burgundy leather.

I didn’t have time to see it all before we were moving down another hallway. When we turned, we came to what I guessed was a living room. It had a black leather sofa shaped like a U with a rustic-looking coffee table, another flat screen, windows overlooking the backyard, where I could see a patio and a pool.

“Hey,” a male voice said, causing me to spin around toward the sound of the voice. “Who do we have here?” he asked as his gaze traveled down my body with a slow grin.

When Bane said nothing but kept walking, I swung my gaze to his retreating form, then back to the attractive guy, standing shirtless with a pair of swim trunks hanging on his hips. He was muscular, but not to the extent that Bane was. He seemed younger than Bane too. There weren’t as many tattoos on his tanned body either. The curious gleam in his eyes appeared friendly, and I didn’t want to be rude, even if Bane was going to be.

“Um, hi. I’m—”

“Come on, Hazel,” Bane barked at me.

I looked back at him with a frown. He’d called me by the wrong name again. “It’s Ha—”

“I said, come on,” he interrupted me again.

“Bane, dude, I know rude is your thing, but you’ve brought a gorgeous female into our house; at least let her tell me what her name is since it seems you got it wrong,” the guy said, giving me an apologetic smile.

“It’s Halo,” I told him before Bane could respond.

The guy’s smile vanished. His eyes widened, and he swallowed hard before looking from me to Bane.

Bane dropped my bags, looking furious with me.

“Who is she?” the guy asked with slow, precise pronunciation, looking at Bane.

Bane swung his eyes toward the guy. His entire body was tense. “She’s pregnant with Crosby’s baby.”

“What?” he asked incredulously as his gaze snapped back to me. The horrified expression on his face was unexpected.

Was it that hard for them all to believe Crosby would be in a relationship with someone like me?

“How … are you sure?”

Bane grunted, “Yeah. Doc did a paternity test.”

The guy continued to stare at me. “But how—I mean …” He looked back at Bane. “Saylor.”

There was that name again. Bane only nodded, looking grim. Why were they all so worried about her? Didn’t they need to tell me that so I’d be prepared when I met her?

“Who is Saylor?” I asked Bane.

He shifted his gaze to me. “Saylor was Crosby’s fiancée. They’d been together for eight years. Grown up together.”

My head felt light, and I needed to grab something to steady myself. That couldn’t be right. I’d heard that wrong. Fiancée? Crosby hadn’t been engaged. He had talked about us living together.

“Whoa,” the other guy said as he rushed toward me and grabbed my arms. “Easy,” he said gently.

I nodded and realized I needed to breathe. I sucked in some oxygen and then let it out.

“I take it, you didn’t know about … that? Or her?” he said to me, looking into my eyes.

Bane hadn’t been lying. This guy looked sincere. He didn’t seem like someone who hated me and was trying to hurt me.

“She’s fine. Just dramatic,” Bane said.

The guy shot him a disappointed look, then turned back to me. “I’m Than, and I am real sorry you found out this way. I didn’t know, or I wouldn’t have said anything.”

I opened my mouth, then closed it. I had no words.

Crosby had been engaged. In a relationship with someone since he had been thirteen years old. Oh my God. This was why his parents were going to be upset. Not only was I the reason that he had been killed, but I was also the other woman.

“I’m going to be sick,” I said, covering my mouth.

“Shit,” Than said, taking my hand and pulling me through the room to a door he pushed open.

I saw the toilet and rushed past him, grabbing the seat just as I heaved into the bowl. A hand pulled my hair back as my body jerked again, and more came up. I closed my eyes.

Crosby had been cheating with me.

“Are you good?” The concern in Than’s voice made my eyes fill with tears.

No. I was never going to be good. Every day I was alive seemed to just build on the nightmare my life had become.

I heard the water being turned on in the faucet, and then Than handed me a damp cloth. “Here.”

I reached for it. “Thank you,” I said in a hoarse whisper.

He let my hair go, and I straightened back up, then flushed the toilet. After I wiped my face off and managed to get myself under control, I turned around to see Than still standing behind me. He had given me some space, but he hadn’t left.

“Crosby was my best friend,” he told me. “I’m sorry I reacted the way I did. I know that wasn’t what you needed right now.”

I didn’t blame him. Who could? He had been Crosby’s best friend and had no idea I existed. I’d been Crosby’s secret life. The one he never intended to share with the people important to him.

“It’s okay,” I finally said. “I’m a twist no one saw coming, it seems.”

“Are you done in there?” Bane called out. “I’d like to get this shit to your room so I can get on with my day.”

Than winced. “I’m sorry about him,” he said quietly. “He’s never nice, but since Crosby’s …” He paused. “Well, since … he’s been on edge. Worse than usual.”

He’d been on edge since his brother had been killed and he hated me for it. Than would, too, once he knew it was all my fault Crosby had been killed. I was going to have to get prepared for all of his friends and family to hate me.

“I’d better go,” I said as I stepped past him and into the other room.

Bane was standing with his arms crossed over his chest, staring out the floor-to-ceiling windows. He turned to me, and his gaze dropped to the cloth still clutched in my hands. “I’ll show you the laundry room on our way up.”

Then, he headed back toward the bags of my clothing and grabbed them.

I didn’t look back at Than as I hurried to keep up.