Lies Beneath the Surface (Buried Secrets #2) (19 page)

I pepper delicate kisses across her forehead, breathin’
in that delectably sweet scent that I’ve missed so damn much. “Welcome home, darlin’. Welcome home.”

Home.

Hearing him say that word settles all of my doubts and fears. I haven’t felt at home since I left South Carolina. Coming home to Kentucky I’ve unveiled a mountain of secrets that I wish I could hide away. I’ve felt even more alone in the home I grew up in surrounded by the people that I’ve known all of my life. But the displacement and overwhelming sense of loneliness has made me stronger because I realized I could only rely on me to take care of myself. It wasn’t hard to find my strength, it’s been here all this time.

When Colton re-entered my l
ife I faltered briefly and let the weakness consume me because he breaks me down so easily. One simple touch and I’m putty in his hands. He knows the extent of his control over me and I pray to God that he handles me with care. If he leaves me again, I’ll be dust at his feet. My heart can’t shatter again and continue beating. 

Home is where the heart is
and my heart has always belonged to Colton. You can mask your fears and try to bury the pain, but it’s what lies beneath the surface that holds the truth. We have both ran in opposite directions trying to hide from the other, but the earth’s pull draws us back together every time. Whether it takes seven years or a couple of months, we always collide together.

I was
taken aback when Colton told me that he made amends with Luke. I don’t know why he always had so much hostility towards Luke, but I’m glad that he has put it behind him. Luke and I may have had one amazing night that was a huge mistake, but that doesn’t alter our friendship at all. We have a physical attraction to each other, but Luke knows that friendship is all I can offer him. He knows that my heart belongs to Colton.

I hope that IF Luke is the daddy of my baby, Colton holds true to his promise.
He said he won’t walk away from us, that he’ll be here holding my hand regardless. But he’s left me so many times before that it’s really hard to grasp any truth in his statement, although I really want to believe him. Two weeks…that’s how much longer I have to stand with my feet on the ledge of the cliff, waiting to know the results of the Paternity test. There’s a double edged sword to this situation. I have Colton back which is exactly what I want, what I need. I know he will have a hard time keeping his hands to himself over the next two weeks and I can’t erase the what-ifs from my mind. I guess I’ll just live in the moment, take each day as it comes and see what tomorrow holds.

After I’ve cleaned up our mess,
we crawl back into bed. Colton nestles me tight to his side wrapping one arm around my shoulder, hanging the other over my hip as our feet tangle together. I nuzzle my face against his shoulder and his scruffy unshaven face tickles my nose. A giggle escapes my lips because I’ve missed the sensation of his scruff tickling my face, the scent of his warm body encasing mine. I’ve just missed him.

“What’re ya gigglin’ ‘bout darlin’?” His husky voice vibrates in my ear.

“Your beard is scruffy and it tickles my face. Just thinking about how much I’ve missed this.”

“
We’ll make up for what we’ve lost, darlin’. I don’t want to think about the past anymore. We can’t change anything behind us, we can only pave a perfection for tomorrow. The world could be pulled out from beneath me, but as long as I have you, Heidi Jo and our baby all will be perfect.” He runs his fingers through my hair as he speaks and the softness of his touch sends tremors down my spine. “You just have to trust in me. I’m a changed man, darlin’. That much I can promise you."

“
I trust you, baby.” I whisper against his neck, getting comfortable as sleep tugs at me.

Considering the awkwardness between Colton and I over the last few weeks, I’m utterly amazed at how quickly we fall back into an ease of comfort with each other. Reluctantly, I’ve spent the last two weeks at his house, but he insisted that I begin adjusting to the life we hope to build together. Although I refuse to have sex with him until we are sure of the paternity of the baby, he’s surprisingly okay with just holding me close to him and talking at night. It’s bringing us closer together, sorta like getting to know each other all over again. We may have fallen in love as kids, but time and circumstances strained that love, although it was ever present lying dormant below the surface of our hearts. It’s nice getting to know the Colton that I know now; the mature man, the daddy, the superintendent.

After we drop Heidi Jo off at school, Colton and I make our way to Simon Energy. He scans his ID card at the front gate, then pulls to the front space labeled Carly Simon. After being attacked by Drew a few weeks ago, I had a high tech security system with key card entry only installed at all of the mines. Anyone else who wishes to enter the properties has to be verified by security at the front gate before entering.

“Hey,” I squeeze his arm lightly, “will you go to Lexington with me this weekend to pick out a new vehicle?”

He
shoots me a sideways glance before popping the latch on the door and climbing out. I slide to the edge of the seat where he helps from the cab. “You know I will.”

“So why do you look so shocke
d?” I bump my hip into his side and a low grumble boils up in his chest. Hey, I said I wasn’t screwing his eyeballs out yet. Flirting is fair game.

He
wraps his arm around my waist and thrust me backwards into his firm chest. His growing erection pulsates against my ass and a sly smile slips up my lips knowing that I can affect him so wildly. “You’re gonna kill me, you know this right?” He breathes against my ear, causing me to shudder in excitement. “I’m shocked you’re gettin’ rid of the Camaro. I thought she was your baby.” He says lacing our fingers together as he drags me up the stairs and out of the cold.

I twist around quickly shooting him a deadpan glare, “Hey, who the hell said I was gettin’ rid of my baby!” I snap at him. “I can promise you now
that shit ain’t happening. I just want an SUV because the Camaro is too small for when my little monkey makes her appearance into the real world. I really don’t know what to look for as far as safety standards, fuel economy, blah blah; so I thought you would help.” I mimic with my hand.

“Pipe down
, woman.” He barks at me playfully as we pass by Shelly who rolls her eyes at us. “We’ll drive down to Lexington, and find my darlin’ an SUV. Heidi Jo would love to go to Kangaroo Jack’s. Let’s make a weekend of it.”

I toss my messenger bag on the floor beside
the desk then fall back into the leather chair. “Sounds good, I’ll search for a hotel after I complete my reports. Do you have a very busy day?”

“Yep, up to my ass with MSHA violations to get straightened out.” He leans down for a kiss, but steals the breath right from me instead.

“Well move your ass, Weston. You’re costin’ me money! Scoot it, sexy.” I say swatting at his ass as he walks around the desk. He chuckles as he walks out of the office and it echoes through the hallway, filling my heart with happiness.

When he’s out of sight, I pull my focus to my morning tasks of checking emails, productivity and safety reports, etc. I power on the laptop and wait for it to boot up, then move over to the Keurig to brew a steaming cup of hot chocolate. Sitting back down, I see a pile of mail on the edge of the desk that I somehow overlooked. Sifting through it, I toss the junk mail to the side only opening the important mail. A large gold envelope is stu
ffed in the middle of the stack and neatly written across the front is my name, no addresses whatsoever. I toss everything aside, intrigued by this lone envelope and the contents that it holds.

Grabbing the letter opener I rip through the top of the envelope, pulling out a small sta
ck of documents. Sifting through the papers, I wonder why the hell someone would send me car title documents. Confused, I read through the documentation of the 2006 Ford Mustang in search of the owner and find only one name.  Neatly written in print then beneath is signed Kari White as the owner. Kari White? I search my memory bank quickly, but I don’t know a Kari White. I flip through the documents for more clues when a short slip falls from the stack, landing in my lap. Picking the slip up as I start to stuff it back into the pile, something on it catches my eye. I lay the documents down on the desk, gripping the slip in both hands. I read carefully over the check that paid for the 2006 Ford Mustang, and the salt to the wound singes my skin immediately. I pick up the phone calling down to Colton’s office telling him that I need him immediately. He comes bolting through the door moments later, with worry etching his face.

“Darlin’ what’s wrong?” He pants, as he drops to his knees in front of me.

“Lo-look at th-this.” I stammer as my lip quivers. Anger soars through my veins, as goose flesh prickles my skin, the hairs on my arms standing straight on end.

“What the hell is it?” He asks
taking the check from my hand. “So, Big John bought a car? Are you pissed that it was a Ford?” He jokes and I shove him back on his haunches.

“Okay, Einstein. If that ain’t clear enough for ya, how ‘bout this. Can you add two plus two?” I snap, shoving the file in his face. I’m not mad at him, I’m just seething pissed in general and he’s the one here catching my
wrath. He steps around the desk taking a seat in the chair as he begins to shift through the paperwork.

“Carly Jo, where the hell did you get this?”

“It was stuffed in the shuffle of mail.” I shrug, and the emotions that radiate from me are now heating the room like a damn sauna. Colton is seething mad, his face red with heat and anger.

“Kari drove
a Mustang.” Click, click, click; the puzzle pieces lock in place and yet another lie is revealed.

“Damn it!” He shouts bouncing to his feet and with one swift move he shoves his steel toe boot into the front of my desk, forming a splinter in the cherry woo
d.  “That son of a bitch set me up!” He paces the short space in front of my desk like a dog chasing its tail, a string of obscenities filtering from his mouth like water from a faucet. I can see this is going nowhere fast and what happened in the past is best left there. I walk around the desk and wrap my arms around his waist, stilling him instantly.

“Calm down.” I whisper softly agai
nst his back. “It’s in the past and they’re both in the grave.”

He turns around drawing my face to his chest, kissing
the top of my head. “They’d better thank God. Because of them, I lost so much of you. We lost our baby, damn it; because your stubborn ass Daddy was too scared to let you go.” He grumbles. I grip him tighter trying to calm the shakes that control his body, but he’s too big, too strong.

Cradling his face in my palms, I tilt his head down to meet my eyes.
“They did, baby, but it only made us stronger. Eight years later and look where we are. Don’t you see, Colton? We can be dragged through Hell’s flames and as long as we have faith in our love, ain’t a damn one of ‘em can break us.” I feather my lips delicately across his and that simple kiss just about burns the damn office down. Colton twists his fingers through my hair at the nape of my neck, and devours my kiss like a stark raging mad man. Stealing my breath, I pull away slowly dazed and drunk by his swollen red lips.

He presses his forehead to mine, rubbing his thumbs across my cheeks he whispers, “I love you, baby. They may have stripped us of so much, but the fact that we’re still standin’ hand and h
and through all of Hell’s fury tells me more and more that you’re forever mine.”

After we both stow our ange
r, Colton goes back to his work leaving me to mine. The galling stack of documents lay on the opposite side of my desk just where Colton left them, and the longer I glare at the stack, the further my intrigue grows. Big John paid Kari off to seduce Colton and it worked. But how the hell did he get connected with an eighteen year old woman? Bells and whistles ding loudly in my head. I grab the phone, dialing the numbers as quickly as my fingers can dial.

“Jodie, this is Carly Simon. I need to leave a message for Tiffani, please.” I wait for her prompt to go ahead with the message. “Ask her to look into Kari White,
deceased as of January 21, 2007. From the Lexington, KY area. See if there is any connection with White to Drew Varney or Josh Moore.”

“
You sure you don’t wanna trade off the Camaro?” Colton ribs me as we load the suitcases into the back of his truck. I shoot him a piercing glare, but before I can speak Heidi Jo saves the day.

“Heck no, she ai
n’t gettin’ rid of that muscle. Are you crazy old man?” She quirks an eyebrow up at Colton, seriously considering whether he has lost his mind. My little Punky Brewster loves my Camaro almost as much as I do.

“Okay, the Camaro stays parked. Let’s get on the road.” C
olton announces slamming the tail gate. We drive west for over an hour into Lexington, Kentucky. We pull into Man-O-War Chevrolet just in time for our scheduled appointment with Claude, the sales manager. Colton called yesterday and explained what I was looking for and Claude agreed to have a few options pulled for my selection. The vehicles he has on showcase for me range from crossover to full size SUV. Immediately without even having to look at any of the other vehicles, I’m drawn to the 2015 Tahoe LTZ 4WD. Tungsten Metallic in color, it screams luxurious while the size alone will make me feel safe, looking down on all of the other vehicles on the road. After being nearly ran off the road TWICE, I refuse to take any chances with my new family.

“Write it up.” I tell Claude
.

“Carly Jo, wait.” Colton calls from behind me as I make my way inside to sign whatever paperwork necessary. “Don’t you want to at least drive a few SUVs? The Equinox is just as nice, just smaller.”

“Nope, I want the Tahoe. I like the color, the size, the luxuriously rich interior. It’s what I want.”

“Your vehicle. As long as you’re happy. But that bitch is gonna chug the hell o
utta the Shell station.” He replies following behind me with Heidi Jo in tow.

Colton talks numbers shortly with Claude, wh
ile I wait with the pen in hand ready to write a hefty check for my new ride. An hour later, I shake Claude’s hand, telling him I’ll be back tomorrow evening to pick up the Tahoe. He promises to have it fully detailed and clean from the salt and snow that has been littering the lot all winter long.

“Let’s go Daddy, I wanna go jump at Kangaroo Jack’s!” Heidi Jo stomps, pulling Colton with all of her small might.

“Alright, Princess settle down. We gotta get checked into the hotel first, so mind your manners and find some patience.” Colton says lifting her into the back seat, strapping the seat belt snuggly around her lap and chest. Crossing her arms over her chest, she pushes out her lip pouting.

“
Bu-but Daddy,” she whines, stopping short of what she wants to say in defeat.

“Hey sweets, it won’t be long now, promise.” I wink back at her.

Keeping true to my promise, we check into the hotel rather quickly, then head downtown to Kangaroo Jack’s. Until today, I had no idea what this place was, but I can promise you this…if I never see this damn place again, it’ll be too frickin’ soon. And that jackass Colton Weston will pay dearly for ambushing me with this atrocity of a
restaurant
…trust me, that’s just a front for this damn glorified playground. The acoustics of this building echo piercing, shrilling voices loudly about the room, and my head throbs with a pending migraine. I bury myself into the corner farthest away from the over-sized inflatables and arcade as Heidi Jo and Colton race over the inflatable slide.