Calamity Jena (Invertary Book 4) (32 page)

“No, he’s just a criminal who wants to hurt Jena.” Claire struggled to her feet. “I’m finished with this talk. I’m going home. Alone.”

She turned to stalk away from him, but the ground was moving and she wobbled on her heels. Grunt’s arm wound around her waist.

“You’re gonna get hurt. Let me take you home.”

“No.”

“Don’t be stubborn. I’m only taking you home. We’ll talk more tomorrow.”

“No. We really won’t.”

Grunt grunted and picked Claire up, as though she weighed no more than the preschoolers she taught.

“Put me down.”

“No.”

Fine, she fumed. Let him go all He-Man. She didn’t care. She sat stiffly in his arms as he carried her the short distance up the high street to her house. Exhaustion overcame Claire and she found she was rapidly past caring about his manhandling of her. Slowly, her muscles eased as his warmth overwhelmed her senses. It was his damn scent that undermined her anger. It made her want to curl into him and sleep.

She rested her cheek on his shoulder, tucking her face into his neck, and did what she needed to do. She went to sleep.

The doc arrived at the pub, took one look at the room and burst out laughing. Soon after he left in an ambulance with Kirsty’s mom. As they wheeled her away, Margaret was still reassuring everyone present that the break wouldn’t interfere with her knitting. Kirsty had been called and went to the hospital with her mom. Lake stuck around to ferry the other women home. Abby went to the castle to spend the night. She wanted to be near Katy and was in no state to take her daughter home. That left Jena, a room full of damaged furniture, a disgruntled business owner and the town’s only cop.

Dougal’s frown looked wrong on his face. It was like seeing Santa grumpy. It didn’t work. “Come in tomorrow; we’ll have a wee chat,” he told Jena.

Yeah, that was going to be a blast. She nodded solemnly and let Matt pull her to her feet. He wrapped a hand around her upper arm and led her to the door. People gave her cheery waves and called out, telling her they’d enjoyed her dancing. She smiled and waved back.

“Get in, princess.” Matt opened the passenger door of his car.

Jena did as she was told, mainly because she wanted to go home and this was the easiest way.

“Abby said I can teach dance classes in her barn,” she told Matt with a grin when he climbed in beside her.

He mumbled something that sounded suspiciously like, “God help us all.”

“The women are coming round to help clear out the house this week.” She bounced around on the spot at the thought of all that help. “Margaret said she has some furniture she doesn’t need. Shona’s got a fridge-freezer she doesn’t use. And Magenta’s mum has a cooker I can have. They’re all in good condition and way more modern than the stuff I’ve got.” She poked him in the arm as she grinned widely at him. “And they don’t want any money for them. How cool is that?”

“Very cool.” Matt’s lipped twitched, as though he didn’t know whether to smile or not.

“It’s amazing, Matt. People are treating me like I belong here.”

His eyes softened as he smiled at her. “You do belong here, princess.”

She relaxed back in her seat with a huge sigh. “Everything might just turn out okay. If I can teach dance in Abby’s barn then I can make some money. I’m already working for the materials to fix the house, so that’s covered. With you and the Knit or Die crew helping with the renovation, I should have somewhere decent to live in no time at all. What’s that saying? Everything’s coming up roses?” She thought about it. “You plant roses in manure, right? Because if that’s what it means, it’s dead on.”

Matt chuckled. His fingers wound through hers and he rested their joined hands on his thigh. “No more dancing on tables, though, okay?”

“Naw, the tables can’t handle it.”

It was warm in the car, and Jena felt her eyes begin to droop. “What’s happening with Frank?”

Matt squeezed her hand. “He’s gone, princess. He’s being escorted to Glasgow Airport as we speak.”

“Freaking roses all round,” Jena said.

And she fell asleep listening to Matt’s chuckle.

Claire woke up to find Grunt sitting in the armchair in the corner of her bedroom watching her. Well, that wasn’t creepy at all. She sat up, pulling the pink blanket up to her neck as she did so. Grunt just watched her. His expression serious. His eyes dark. Claire’s stomach flipped, but she put it down to having a hangover.

“Aspirin and water.” He pointed to the white table beside her bed.

“Why are you here, Grunt?” She didn’t move to fetch the aspirin. Although she probably should have. She felt like someone had taken her brain out of her head and played basketball with it before returning it.

Grunt cocked an eyebrow at her using his nickname instead of calling him Samuel. He ran a hand over his short hair and sighed heavily.

“I screwed this up.”

Claire felt the air in the room thicken. He trapped her in place with his gaze.

“I shoulda asked you out like a normal guy. Took you for a meal. Told you how pretty you are. Let you get to know me slow like.” He leaned forward until he rested his forearms on his knees. “See, it’s like this, Claire. I’m nowhere near normal. When I saw you, it hit me like a freight train. All I could think was I had to have you and I had to be fast about it, before someone else beat me to it.”

Blood pounded through Claire’s veins, making her head hurt even more.

“You’re right,” Grunt said. “We don’t know each other. Your experience of me isn’t how I am, usually. I don’t grab women off the streets shouting ‘mine’ like an idiot. I don’t kidnap women for guys who are skirting the law. I haven’t done anything normal since I met you.” His beautiful eyes were so sad. It made Claire ache. “Here’s the thing. I don’t know how to fix this without doing more of the same. I want to pick you up, run away with you and keep you locked up until you admit you’re mine.” He scoffed. “And yeah, I know a psychiatrist would have a field day with that.”

He stood up, filling the room with his presence. Making her pink and white décor seem childish. Making her feel like she didn’t belong.

“I can’t give up on you.” He gave her a little smile. It broke her heart. “I can’t walk away. I know we’d be great together. I don’t know how I know this, but I do. I’m gonna work hard at not throwing myself at you, but I am sticking around. I want there to be an us. I want you. Only you.” He stepped towards the door. “Call if you need me. The ball’s in your court.”

Claire couldn’t take her eyes from him. The beautiful, overwhelming man. In another time, another age, he would have been a warrior. A man who
did
grab women from the street and hide them in his castle. A man who would take because he didn’t know how to ask. But they weren’t living in that time. And Claire didn’t know if she had the strength to deal with a man like that. A man who could swallow a person whole with the force of his will.

“I can change. For you, I can change.” His words were a whisper.

He opened the door, stepped out and closed it quietly behind him. Leaving Claire achingly alone in her childish room.
 

33

The phone call Matt had spent eight years dreading came the following morning as he was making Jena breakfast in bed. She’d been so wiped out the night before she’d slept through Matt carrying her to bed. She’d been out cold since then. After a night holding her tight and listening to her snore, Matt had plans for breakfast, and a shower with Jena before he headed to work. Instead, he answered his phone and his life changed forever.

“Hey, Mum,” Matt said. He was standing shirtless in the kitchen, frying bacon and making toast.

“Matt, sweetheart.” There were tears in her voice. “I’m at the hospital. I need you to come get me. I have bad news, son.”

Matt turned off the cooker without another thought for breakfast. Everything within him stilled. He knew what she had to say. He knew she didn’t want to tell him over the phone, but it was too late. He knew. His throat tightened.

“It’s happened, hasn’t it?”

“Aye.” Her sob broke free, the sound ripping through his soul. “He got a post-op infection.” She couldn’t say any more, but the words were there—his dad hadn’t recovered from it.

“Have you called the twins?”

“Not yet.” Her voice broke. Matt felt tears well in his eyes. He blinked them away. There were things to do. He didn’t have time to get upset. He had to be practical.

“I’ll do it. I’ll get them. We’ll be there soon. Hold tight, okay?”

He hung up and stood in the middle of the room unable to move. It had happened. The day he’d known was coming for eight years. And yet it was still a shock. How was that possible? Part of him wished for one more day, while another part of him knew it was long overdue. So fast. It had been so fast in the end. A broken bone. An infection his body didn’t have the strength to fight. Matt didn’t think it would happen like this. He scrunched his eyes tight against the pain. There was a lot to do. He had to remember there was a lot to do. His family needed him to be strong. To stand for them. To help them get through. There would be time for feelings later. Much later—if he could face them.

“Matt?” Jena’s soft, hesitant voice made him open his eyes.

She looked at him questioningly as she walked towards him. He’d put her into bed naked, but she was dressed in her yellow pyjamas now. Her hair was a sexy, tousled mess and there were dark circles under her eyes. She ran her hand up his chest.

“I heard the phone.” She wrapped her arms around him.

He fought to get the words past his throat. The words part of him didn’t even believe. Words he would have to say to his sisters. His breath hitched at the thought.
It’s fine. It’s all fine.

“I need to go to Fort William,” he said at last.

“Okay, honey.”

He became aware he was clenching his phone tight enough to break it. He let it fall to the kitchen table as he wrapped his arms around Jena. He could take a minute before he spoke to the twins. He just needed a minute. A second for the news to sink in. For his brain to reboot.

He buried his face in Jena’s hair and breathed deeply. “Dad died.” The words barely made it out of his mouth.

“I figured.”

She kept holding him as the shock of it eased. It had happened. The man who defined him was gone. Matt felt a numbness creep over him.

Jena stroked his back in an easy rhythm. The feel of it comforting him. She was so much stronger than she thought she was. So much more courageous than she knew. And he needed that strength now.

He needed her.

But he couldn’t put her through the hospital visit. His mum would want privacy. He knew Jena would understand. “I’ll go on my own, but when I get back…”

“I’ll be here. Whatever you need. Don’t worry about it, okay?”

“Okay.” He held her tight.

And in that moment, he knew he never wanted to let her go.

The twins clung to each other and sobbed all the way to Fort William. They found their mother waiting in the family room off the intensive care unit. She was sitting in the corner, staring into space. She had a stunned, lost appearance. A tiny woman, alone not only physically in the large, bright room, but now emotionally too. The twins ran to her, almost crushing her in their embrace, and the three of them cried together.

Their sobs tore at Matt. He swallowed hard at the sight, turned on his heels and went to speak to the staff. It didn’t take long to pick up his father’s meagre belongings and a copy of the death certificate. For a long time he stood in the hallway outside the family room, staring at the piece of paper that told him his dad was gone. It didn’t seem real. None of it seemed real. Before he even realised what he was doing, he pulled out his phone and dialled Jena.

“Hey, honey, how you holding up?” she said as soon as she answered.

The sound of her voice made something settle deep inside Matt. This was a new thing for him—to have someone in his corner. Someone who gave him their strength and support. “I’m doing okay. I just picked up the death certificate.” He took a deep breath. “They asked if we wanted to see him—he’s been taken down to the morgue—but I said no. We’d talked about it in the car and none of us need to do that.”

“There’s nothing wrong with that. You do what is best for you, not what other people think you should do.”