Cade Creek 12 - Heart of a Mountain (11 page)

The weight of Jonah’s stare was heavy. Finally, after several moments of silence, Jonah sighed. “No, I suppose it wasn’t.”

“I don’t want your money, Jonah. I fell for you before I even knew about it, remember?”

Jonah’s sudden grin was almost blinding in its intensity. “Yeah.”

Aldrin blew out the breath he hadn’t known he was holding. Sure, money was nice, and a lot of money was very nice, but he didn’t want cold hard dollars to come between him and Jonah. He’d live on top of that mountain in a shack if it meant he got to stay with Jonah.

“When we get married,” Jonah said out of the blue, stealing the breath Aldrin had just regained, “half of it will be yours, so you’re going to have to get used to having it.”

“Jonah, no.” Aldrin reached over and grabbed the man’s arm. Not too hard. He was driving, after all. “I don’t want your money. Have your lawyer draw something up that says it’s not my money.”

“Nope,” Jonah said with an emphasis on the “
p.
”

“Jonah!”

The man just smiled.

Aldrin rolled his eyes. One way or another he was going to get Jonah to have something drawn up that said the money stayed with Jonah. He wanted no part of it.

Well, maybe a little part.

He wanted the house Jonah had promised him simply because he wanted that front porch to watch the sunrises. He’d be just as happy if they moved the present cabin up to that spot. He didn’t need the fancy house he was pretty sure Jonah had planned for them.

Aldrin was quiet the rest of the trip down the mountain, thinking. He wasn’t sure what he was going to do with Jonah. The man could be a stubborn mule at the best of times, a bastard at the worst. He had been nothing but wonderful to Aldrin, but that damn stubborn streak was starting to show through.

Aldrin wanted to laugh. Stubborn was a long way from recluse.

When they reached the town limits, Aldrin actually felt a bit of relief, and he didn’t understand that. He loved being up on the mountain with Jonah. He especially loved the view from the meadow and couldn’t wait to see it from the front porch of their new home once it was built. But he still felt some relief and he didn’t know why.

Aldrin chewed on his bottom lip as he shot Jonah a glance. Should he say anything or keep this to himself? Of course, it would help if he knew what “this” was. “Hey, Jonah, um…”

“We’re almost there, babe.” Jonah glanced at him. “Can you hold it? If not, I can stop at a gas station or something.”

“Can I… Oh, no, I don’t have to—” Aldrin’s face flamed. “I can hold it.”

He turned his head away so Jonah couldn’t see him and rolled his eyes. Good god, he couldn’t believe Jonah thought that he had to take a piss. Aldrin was too confused, and too embarrassed, to say anything more. Maybe he needed to see Jonah’s therapist?

“Well, we’re here anyway,” Jonah said as he pulled into the parking lot of the local clinic.

Once Jonah parked the truck, Aldrin climbed out, thankful to be in the cool refreshing air. It had been getting a little thick with tension in the cab of the truck. Aldrin turned and then squeaked when a dark shadow suddenly appeared in front of him.

“Hey, it’s just me,” Jonah said. The words were soothing, calm, but not as much as the arms that wrapped around him.

Aldrin’s heart beat so hard in his chest, he was afraid it would explode. He dropped his head down against Jonah’s chest, trying to calm his racing heart. His fingers curled into Jonah’s flannel shirt. He rested there for a moment before lifting his head.

“I need to tell you something.” Aldrin felt it in his soul. If he didn’t come clean with Jonah about what he had been feeling when they reached Cade Creek, he never would, and that felt wrong.

Jonah frowned as if confused by Aldrin’s statement, but said, “Okay.”

“Coming back to Cade Creek…” Aldrin swallowed tightly as he plucked at one of the buttons on Jonah’s shirt. “There was this sense of relief when we reached the town limits. I don’t know how to explain it except that—”

“Are you afraid of me?” The voice was even, without emotion…too without it.

Aldrin’s eyes flickered up. “Of course not,” Aldrin replied. “I could never be afraid of you.”

Jonah’s relief was evident in the softening of his rigid features. “Then what was the problem? Why were you feeling so relieved to be down the hill?”

“That’s just it. I don’t know.” Aldrin started to feel a little panicked that he didn’t know. He gripped Jonah’s shirt tighter in his hands, his knuckles going white. “Jonah, something is wrong. I shouldn’t be feeling like this.”

“Breathe, baby.” Jonah’s arms held him safe and secure, and yet, Aldrin still felt unsettled. “I thought you were feeling relieved to be down the mountain.”

“I was, but…”

“But what?” Jonah asked.

“I was so happy up on the mountain with you, but I did feel this sort of relief to be back into town. Now, I feel as if I’m going to splinter into a thousand pieces.”

“I’ll hold you together,” Jonah promised. “Besides”—the man winked—“I know where there is a really big bottle of glue. If you splinter, I can always put you back together again.”

Aldrin sputtered with a small laugh. “You’re incorrigible.”

Jonah winked again before lifting one of his arms and settling it around Aldrin’s shoulders. “Let’s go see that doctor. We have a dinner date to get to.”

Jonah knew he didn’t breathe a single sigh of relief until they walked out of the clinic. The doctor had given Aldrin a clean bill of health for the most part. He still needed to take it easy for a few more days, but other than that the doctor said he was good to go.

As soon as he stepped out the double glass doors that led to the clinic, he scanned the immediate area surrounding them. When he perceived no threats, he pressed firmly in the low of Aldrin’s back to get him moving through the parking lot.

“All safe, Mountain Man?”

Jonah glanced at Aldrin in surprise before giving him a nod. “How did you know—”

Aldrin’s smile was intriguing. “Because you promised to keep me safe.”

Huh
.

Aldrin’s smile was all knowing. “I trust you to keep your promise.”

No sooner did the words leave Aldrin’s pretty lips when Jonah caught a glint of something on the rooftop of a building on the other side of the parking lot out of the corner of his eyes. He shoved Aldrin down to the cement between two parked cars just as a bullet flew past where Aldrin’s head would have been.

Every protective instinct Jonah had rushed to the front of his being as he covered Aldrin with his body. He waited to hear another shot, anything that might tell him the location of who might be shooting at them.

He heard nothing.

“Stay down,” he growled when Aldrin tried to lift his head. The shooter could be anywhere. Just because Jonah had seen a glint of something on the building across the parking lot did not mean the guy hadn’t moved. Jonah wasn’t taking any chances.

“What are you guys doing?”

Jonah tensed as he glanced over his shoulder to the cook from the diner standing near the front of one of the vehicles. “Get down,” he said as he waved his hand at Buck. “There’s a shooter out there.”

“Out where?” Buck said as he started looking around.

“Damn it, Buck,” Aldrin shouted from beneath Jonah. “Get the fuck down.”

Jonah was surprised when the man ambled over and squatted down beside them. He didn’t seem to be in any big hurry. He also still had his head up far enough to get it shot off as he peeked over the edge of the car hood.

“Would you get down?” Jonah snarled. It was less of a question and more of a demand.

Buck ducked back down behind the cover of the car. “Are you sure someone’s shooting at you? I don’t see anything.”

Jonah’s upper lip curled back. “I’m sure.”

The sound of a gun being fired and the bullet whizzing past his head to embed in one of the cars they were hiding between was one a man didn’t forget once he had been shot at. In the military, he had been shot at a lot.

“Maybe we should call the sheriff,” Buck said.

“Fantastic idea,” Jonah said. “Do you have a phone?”

He didn’t. Reception wasn’t all that spectacular up on the mountaintop so he had a satellite phone, but it didn’t do him a lot of good as he had left it in the truck.

Having a cell phone while living on a mountaintop was pointless. Not carrying his satellite phone while knowing Aldrin was in danger had been careless, but he had been so worried about Aldrin’s visit to the doctor and coming back into town that he had forgotten to grab the damn thing.

Buck pulled out his phone and handed it over. Jonah rolled his eyes as he dialed the sheriff’s office and then held the phone up to his ear.

“Cade Creek Sheriff Station, Deputy Walker speaking.”

“Deputy Walker, this is Jonah Cade. Aldrin, Buck, and I are pinned down in the clinic parking lot. Someone is shooting at us.”

“Shooting at you?” the deputy asked. “Like, with a gun?”

“Yes, with a gun!” Jonah snapped. What kind of deputies did they hire in this damn town?

“Okay, stay down. The sheriff and I are on our way.”

“Be careful. I saw a flash of something on the rooftop of the building across the parking lot from the clinic right before someone started shooting at us.”

“We’ll take care of it,” the deputy replied. “You just stay hidden.”

Like he planned to do anything else. Jonah hung up and handed the phone back to Buck. “Thanks.”

“Sheriff coming?” Buck asked.

Jonah nodded. “We’re supposed to wait here for them.”

Jonah would have preferred going after whoever was shooting at them, but Aldrin’s safety came first. Once Aldrin was safely tucked away somewhere he couldn’t be hurt, Jonah would go hunting.

“Can I get up now?” Aldrin asked.

“No!”

“Jonah,” Aldrin wailed, but not loudly. It was more a sound of complaint.

Jonah moved back enough for Aldrin to flip over onto his back. He refused to get off the man. Besides the fact that he needed to protect Aldrin, he really liked being stretched out on top of him. Of course, now was probably not the time to be getting a hard on, but he couldn’t help it. Aldrin was just that sexy.

“You ever coming back to the diner, Aldrin?” Buck asked. “That new guy Trudy hired to fill in for you don’t know his ass from a hole in the wall.”

Aldrin chuckled. “The doctor wants me to take a few more days before I go back to work.”

Jonah got a sick feeling in the pit of his stomach as he stared down at Aldrin with the realization that the man had a life in Cade Creek. He couldn’t spend the rest of his life on top of a mountain.

Maybe that was why Aldrin had felt such relief when they reached the outer limits of Cade Creek? He needed people, excitement, and some friends to hang with. He needed a life.

Jonah stroked his finger down Aldrin’s cheek. “You might get a permanent customer when you go back to work.” Because he had no intention of leaving Aldrin on his own. Ever.

Aldrin’s grin was delighted. “Only if you tip well.”

Buck’s phone rang. Jonah glanced over at the man when he tapped him on the shoulder and held it out. “It’s for you.”

Eyebrows peaked high, Jonah took the phone and held it to his ear. “Hello?”

“Jonah, this is Sheriff Riley. Has there been anything since Deputy Walker talked to you?”

“No, nothing since that first shot.”

“And you’re sure it was a gunshot?” the sheriff asked. “It couldn’t have been a car backfire or something?”

“I’m sure.” He’d bet his life on it.

“All right, someone should be to you in about ten minutes. We’re going to check the surrounding buildings first to make sure there still isn’t an active shooter in the area, and then we’ll come for you.”

“Thank you, Sheriff.” Jonah handed the phone back to Buck before glancing down at Aldrin. “Just a few more minutes, baby.”

Aldrin’s eyes rolled dramatically. “By the time we get done here, the diner is going to be closed and we’ll never get our dinner.”

“I’ll cook you up something, Aldrin,” Buck said as he held up a key ring. “I have the keys.”

“I couldn’t ask you to do that,” Aldrin insisted.

A little flush filled Buck’s cheeks. “I don’t mind. You’d do the same for me.”

Jonah was pretty sure Aldrin would, but he still didn’t like the look Buck gave Aldrin. It was heated, but it didn’t exactly feel sexual. Of course, Jonah knew he could be wrong. He had a paranoid personality with PTSD issues. He was used to seeing things where they weren’t.

Then again, why anyone breathing wouldn’t look at Aldrin as if he wasn’t the sexiest guy ever to exist, Jonah would never know.

Jonah stiffened for a breath of time when he heard footsteps before pressing Aldrin more firmly beneath him. Whoever was coming would have to go through him before they got to Aldrin.

“It’s all clear, Jonah.”