Cade Creek 12 - Heart of a Mountain (7 page)

“So, you didn’t find any clues about who beat me up and ruined my belongings?” Aldrin asked. He didn’t want to know, but he did. It would probably be wise to know who was after him.

“Nothing substantial, but my men are working hard to find out more,” the sheriff said. “Just make sure you get plenty of rest and heal up.”

“He will,” Jonah said before the sheriff said his good-bye and left the room.

Aldrin pushed the wheeled tray away and curled on his side, his appetite gone. Not that he had one in the first place. He smiled and talked with Jonah, even laughed, but deep down, he was terrified. Who held such a grudge against him that they would break into his house to hurt him?

Aldrin had no clue, and the thought of going home made his stomach turn to ice. He didn’t want to impose on Jonah, either. The man was sweet, and kind, and thoughtful, but they were just getting to know each other. What if Jonah decided that Aldrin had too many problems and washed his hands of the whole mess? Aldrin couldn’t risk it.

“Maybe a motel would be better.” Aldrin didn’t even bother looking up when he spoke. He didn’t want to see Jonah’s reaction.

Jonah folded his large frame in half in order to meet Aldrin’s gaze. “Like hell you’ll stay at a motel. I have plenty of room at my cabin. You’ll stay with me.”

“I’m just your waiter,” Aldrin argued as he sat up. “And I think we’re becoming friends, but who asks someone they just met to shack up with them?”

Jonah scooted the chair closer to the bed before dropping his large frame into it. “First of all, you didn’t ask. I offered. Second, we are becoming friends. And I was taught that friends go out of their way to help one another, especially in a time of need.”

Aldrin wanted to believe Jonah, he really did, but there was a look in the man’s eyes that said he was only offering because he was just that kind of man. But what choice did Aldrin have? He couldn’t go home, sleep at the diner, or find a motel where he would feel safe enough to actually get some rest. He felt safest with Jonah, and even though he didn’t want to impose, he finally nodded.

“Good.” Jonah patted Aldrin’s hand even though he hadn’t said anything. “Then it’s settled. Just as soon as the doctors release you, I’ll take you home.”

Jonah’s gut was one big knot as he loaded Aldrin up in his truck a week later and then started driving him up the mountain. He knew taking Aldrin to his cabin was the best way to protect him, but did he really want someone invading his personal space?

He liked how things were up at his cabin. He had things set up a certain way for a reason, and the thought of someone messing with his stuff made his skin crawl.

Jonah was afraid Aldrin knew it, too. The man kept giving him covert looks that he probably thought Jonah couldn’t see. Jonah saw everything. Aldrin couldn’t take a breath without Jonah seeing it. And the nervousness coming off the man was almost tangible.

“You are safe, Aldrin,” Jonah tried to assure the guy. One thing Jonah was really good at was protecting people. He’d die before letting anyone harm a hair on Aldrin’s beautiful sandy blond head. “I will not let anything happen to you.”

He wasn’t so sure about himself. The term “pins and needles” came readily to mind. He felt as if he was holding his breath, waiting for something to happen. He just wasn’t sure what that magical something was.

“This is beautiful,” Aldrin mused as the town of Cade Creek fell away and the surrounding countryside became thickets of green trees separated by rolling farmland.

“It gets better.”

Aldrin turned to look at him. “Better?”

Jonah almost smiled. “The higher up the mountain that we go, the more forest land there is. In a few miles, there will be nothing but trees for as far as the eye can see.”

“Trees are good.”

“There’s a spot about half way up that is cleared off a bit. From there, you can see down into the entire valley.”

Aldrin’s excitement made his face flushed. “Can we stop and look?”

Jonah gave Aldrin the once over. He needed to insure the man wasn’t in any pain despite the mild pain meds the doctor had prescribed for him. “We can stop for a few minutes as long as you promise not to overdo it. The doctors only released you because you agreed to take it easy and get lots of rest.”

“I remember,” Aldrin said. “I’ll be good.”

Jonah gave a curt nod. “Then we’ll stop.”

Aldrin smiled and said, “Thank you.”

Jonah inhaled an unsteady breath as he watched Aldrin turn back to the window. Even bruised and swollen, the man’s face was beautiful when he smiled. Jonah had a sudden uneasy tug in the pit of his stomach. He wanted to see that smile again just a little too much. He was afraid of what he would be willing to do to see it again.

Jonah knew he had never met anyone who affected him quite like Aldrin did. Merely being in the man’s presence made butterflies flutter in Jonah’s stomach.

He was just afraid of what it all meant.

Jonah was a bad bet and he knew it. Aldrin was too beautiful, too full of life…too damn perfect, to become involved with a beat up old recluse like him. Jonah was as fucked up as a former soldier could get. Hell, his issues had issues.

His world consisted of spending Wednesday through Saturday gearing himself up to go into town for his Sunday errands, and then again on Mondays to see his therapist. Tuesday was spent recovering from his stressful trips into town. Depending on how they went, Wednesday could also be used to recover.

Jonah frowned as he glanced at Aldrin again. The realization that he had been in town a lot over the last couple of weeks, and hadn’t needed a single day to recover, was shocking. He had even started to look forward to going in on Sundays just to see Aldrin. He never thought to see that day. He also didn’t know if it was a fluke.

Aldrin gasped when they rounded a corner and Jonah slowed the truck, pulling to a small viewpoint off the side of the road. “Oh my god,” he whispered, “you can see all the way to the other side of the valley from here.”

“On a good day.” Today was a good day. A smattering of clouds hung in the sky. The rest was blue as far as the eye could see. “When it snows, the entire valley is blanketed in white like a giant cotton ball exploded.”

Aldrin laughed as he glanced back over his shoulder. “That would be really cool to see.”

“Maybe you will one day.” The words were out of Jonah’s mouth before he knew he was saying them. When Aldrin’s face lit up, he didn’t bother taking them back, even if he didn’t know whether that day would ever come.

Once Aldrin had gotten his fill of the view, Jonah started for the house again. Luckily, it was only a few more miles. In total, the spot where he had built his home was a mere twenty miles outside of Cade Creek. Due to the winding road going up the mountain, it seemed longer.

By the time they reached the plateau where Jonah lived, Aldrin was snoring softly, his head leaning against the window. Jonah pulled the truck to a stop in front of his cabin and turned the engine off before turning to look at Aldrin.

The bruises on his face were still vivid but did nothing to draw away from the man’s beauty. He was one of those types that should have been a model. People paid good money to look like Aldrin did, or paid good money to be seen with men that looked like Aldrin. And yet, the man seemed totally unaware of how alluring he was.

Despite all of that, Aldrin’s good looks weren’t what drew Jonah to him. Well, initially they were, simply because Jonah had never seen someone so beautiful before. But after that, it was Aldrin’s smile, his laugh, and the way his eyes sparkled when he was amused by something.

There was something in his deep blue eyes that Jonah had seen very few times in his life, a sense of honor and goodness. That drew him as nothing else had. Aldrin was beautiful to look at, but it was what was in his soul that Jonah was driven to discover.

With a sigh, Jonah climbed out of the truck and quietly shut his door. He walked up onto the porch that went the entire length of the front of the house and unlocked the door before going back for his sleeping beauty.

Carefully lifting Aldrin out of the truck, Jonah carried him inside and straight in to his bedroom. He didn’t relish sleeping on the couch for the next few days, but he’d do whatever was necessary to keep Aldrin not only safe, but comfortable. The poor man had already been through enough.

Stripping Aldrin down to his underwear and then tucking him under the covers without waking him was the easy part. Walking away took more control than Jonah knew he had. The urge to simply stand at the end of the large bed and stare down at Aldrin was overwhelming.

Jonah forced himself to turn away and leave the poor man sleeping. He walked out of the room, quietly shutting the door behind him and then headed for the kitchen.

He imagined that Aldrin was going to be pretty hungry when he eventually woke up. He also needed to have food in his stomach to take the medications that the doctors had prescribed for him. A nice soup and some sandwiches should be just the thing to whet Aldrin’s appetite, but not lay heavy on his stomach.

Jonah went outside to the garden and gathered what he would need to make a hearty soup. Once back inside the cabin, he cleaned the fresh vegetables and started chopping them to add to the soup. He had learned in the military to get his nutrients where he could, and had become somewhat skillful at growing fruits and vegetables in odd places. He was quite proud of the plants he had growing in the garden out back behind his cabin and the greenhouse he had built.

Just as he was getting ready to put on a pot of water for boiling, a blood curdling scream came from the back of the other side of the house. Glad he hadn’t already turned on the stove, Jonah set the pot of water down on the counter and then took off running. The bedroom door slammed against the wall as he thrust it open and ran inside, ready to face whatever danger was present.

The sight of Aldrin sitting up screaming with tears flowing down his cheeks was not what he expected. He was just sitting there in the middle of the bed, the blankets clutched so tightly in his hands that his knuckles shown white.

“Aldrin, baby, it’s okay.” Jonah hurried over and sat on the side of the bed. Throwing caution to the wind, he gathered Aldrin in his arms and cradled the man against his chest. He murmured to Aldrin as he began rocking him, trying to reassure him he was safe. “Sshh, baby, you’re safe. I promise. I won’t let anyone hurt you.”

Aldrin’s heartrending cries tore at Jonah’s soul. They shook Aldrin’s body with their intensity. Jonah wanted to howl. The sweet man should never cry that hard or have such fear that he would cry that hard. It was just wrong.

Jonah pressed his lips to Aldrin’s hair as he rubbed gentle circles on the man’s back. “I’ve got you, baby. You’re safe. It was just a bad dream.” He prayed it was just a bad dream. Jonah was well acquainted with nightmares. He knew they couldn’t be pushed away by mere words.

Jonah didn’t count the minutes it took for Aldrin to calm down, but if felt like forever. When his sobs quieted to just the occasional sniffle, Jonah lifted him up to tuck him back under the covers and suddenly found himself with an armful of Aldrin, the man’s arms and legs wrapped around him like an octopus.

“No, don’t leave me.”

“Okay, baby, okay.” Jonah held the back of Aldrin’s head with his hand, pressing the man’s face into his neck. He used the other hand to rub more gentle circles on Aldrin’s back until he felt Aldrin relax against him.

Tilting his head back, he peered down at the man. Aldrin’s eyes were closed and Jonah prayed he had finally gone to sleep. Jonah turned to lay Aldrin on the bed but the man’s hands tightened on his shirt. Aldrin’s fingers were wrapped around the fabric with a death grip.

Resigned to the fact that he wasn’t getting away anytime soon—and not totally averse to the idea—Jonah toed off his boots and kicked them to the floor before scooting up the length of the bed. He fluffed up the pillows behind him and lay back. Grabbing the edge of the quilt, he pulled it up, making sure Aldrin was covered up to his neck.

Jonah pressed a kiss to Aldrin’s hair and then dropped his head back against the pillows, letting his eyelids fall closed. This wasn’t so bad. He could do this. Holding Aldrin in his arms actually felt kind of nice…Jonah let those thoughts comfort him as he faded off to sleep.

* * * *

Someone was watching him. Jonah could feel it. The hairs on his arms were standing on end. The presence was heavy, weighted. Cautiously opening his eyes, Jonah instantly realized why it felt heavy. Aldrin was on top of him like a blanket, his chin resting on his folded hands as he stared down at Jonah.

Aldrin’s grin was wavering, but there. “Morning.”

“Morning,” Jonah replied. “How are you feeling?”

It was an honest question. Aldrin’s eyes were still red and puffy around the edges, swollen and bruised beyond his eyelashes. Jonah reached up and carefully, tentatively, traced the pad of his thumb over the soft curve of Aldrin’s high cheekbones.

“I’ve been watching you sleep.” Aldrin’s voice was warm, drowsy.

“Have you?” Jonah couldn’t help but wonder how he hadn’t known that. Not only did he not sleep well with someone else in the room, but he always knew when he was being watched. It was an innate sense born of desperation.