The 2014 R.L. Mathewson Chronicle Collection (2 page)

            “What about the rest of them?” Haley asked, struggling to keep her eyes open.

            “They’re downstairs talking about Danny,” Trevor said around a loud yawn as he settled back more comfortably against the pillow even as he pulled Zoe into his arms.

            “I feel so bad for him,” Zoe mumbled softly.

            “Me too,” Haley agreed softly, wishing that there was something that she could do for him.

            He was a really good guy, a decent guy and he hadn’t deserved the life that he’d been given. She’d agree that he’d screwed up big time, but he’d been a kid. Instead of helping him handle his mistake, his father, Jason and Trevor’s Uncle Ethan had let his anger and disappointment cloud his judgment. He’d stood by, determined to let his son face the consequences of his actions like a man, thinking that his son would figure out that he’d screwed up and try again, but he’d underestimated his son. Everyone had, otherwise they would have beaten some sense into him before he’d run away and joined the Marines.

            From everything that she’d heard about Danny at the time, he’d been cocky and too damn arrogant even for a Bradford. The ten years that he’d spent in the Marines had straightened him out, knocked some sense into him and turned him into an admirable man. It had also come damn close to killing him.

            A few months after Trevor and Zoe got married, Danny had been shipped home and placed in a VA Hospital where he’d been expected to die within the week. His father had brought down the wrath of God on the hospital and forced them to release Danny into his care. Within hours of arriving back in the States, Danny had been transferred to the hospital that his father worked in and placed in Intensive Care.

            His father watched over him day and night, making sure that his son got the best care, the surgeries that he needed without delay and did whatever it took to make sure that his son not only survived, but walked again. Then he’d made the second biggest mistake of his life and stepped back once Danny had regained consciousness. No matter what anyone did or said, Uncle Ethan hadn’t approached his son since.

            He’d made damn sure that Danny had everything that he needed while he’d recovered, food, money, medicine, rehabilitation services so that Danny could learn to walk again, but he hadn’t been able to give him what Danny really needed, his father. She could still remember the look on Danny’s face when he’d realized that his father wasn’t coming. It had been the saddest thing that she’d ever seen. It had been too much for her to handle and she’d been forced to leave his room and go find a ladies room before she did something foolish that would make things worse.

            “Uncle Ethan is a fucking idiot,” Jason bit out, sounding just as pissed as he had that night when Uncle Ethan had walked away from his own son.

            “No, he’s not,” Haley reminded him, pressing a kiss to his neck. “He’s terrified.”

            “Of what?” Trevor demanded.

            “Of saying or doing something to make Danny run away again,” Zoe answered and just like that, all of their anger evaporated.

            Haley didn’t agree with the way that Uncle Ethan was handling this, but she could certainly understand it. She’d be terrified of losing her child again if she was in his shoes. It wasn’t an easy situation for anyone, but especially not Danny.

            “He needs to stop hiding,” Trevor said with a tired sigh that she felt more than heard.

            “Dad wants to make him a foreman, but Danny’s fighting it. He doesn’t want to do anything more than show up, do his job and go home to that empty apartment every night,” Jason added as he pulled her closer.

            “We’ve been getting him to come to dinner twice a week,” Trevor said.

            “It’s something,” she agreed, but-

            “It isn’t much,” Zoe said, finishing her thought for her.

            “It’s fucking pathetic,” Jason said and as much as she wanted to argue with him, she couldn’t. It was-

            “What the hell are you doing?” Jared, her father-in-law suddenly demanded.

            As one, they all raised their heads so that they could see the intimidating man glaring down at them from where he stood at the foot of their bed. She opened her mouth to answer him, but of course, Jason couldn’t pass up a chance to aggravate his father.

            “Having an orgy.”

            With a shake of his head and a sound of disgust, Jared headed for the door, only pausing long enough to say, “Well, hurry the hell up! Your mother’s refusing to let any of us have any brownies until you come back down.”

            Zoe’s startled squeal matched her own as she suddenly found herself shoved aside. She watched as her large comfortable pillow shoved his cousin out of the way as he chased after his father.

            “Those are my brownies, you bastard!” Jason yelled seconds before the bedroom door was slammed shut and the room was once again enveloped in darkness. Her mind raced to grasp the fact that she’d once again been ditched for food and after a moment, she decided that she was okay with that.

            “Goodnight, Zoe,” she said, shifting onto her side and closing her eyes, already knowing that she wouldn’t sleep well without Jason in bed with her, but right now she’d take whatever she could get.

A Pyte’s Tale

Rascal, New Hampshire

            “Oh, man the fuck up!”

            “I wasn’t doing anything!” the vampire that Chris had pinned against the cold brick wall argued as he tried to shove Chris back and make a run for it.

            “No?” Chris asked, giving the vampire another healthy shove against the wall.

            “No!” the vampire snapped, trying desperately again to get away, but he wasn’t going anywhere, not with Chris holding him against the wall with his body and not with Ephraim standing only a few feet away, waiting to tear the little bastard apart.

            “Then why were you following my child?” Ephraim asked in a deceptively calm tone as he allowed his eyes to bleed red and his fangs to slide down, noting the sharp scent of fear suddenly permeating the air around them even as he listened to make sure that Jill had safely arrived in her apartment above them, an apartment that she refused to give up.

            “Y-y-your child?” the vampire asked hoarsely as the realization of what he’d been caught doing sank in and when it did, he went wild.

            “Calm the fuck down!” Chris snapped, shoving the vampire back against the brick wall with enough force to crack the wall and several of the vampire’s ribs from the scent of bone marrow hitting the air.

            When the vampire didn’t stop struggling, Chris shoved him into the wall again and-

            “Shit!” Chris growled as he shoved away from the smoking body and let it drop to the ground where it burst into flames seconds later.

            “I want two more Sentinels moved into town to watch over her,” Ephraim said, not bothering to look away from the burning body to make sure that Jill hadn’t seen anything since he could hear her rummaging around in her tiny, windowless kitchen.

            “I’ll call Eric,” Chris said, rubbing his hands down his face and most likely berating himself for fucking up before they could get some answers.

            “It was an accident,” Ephraim said, hoping that it was enough to get Chris to let it go and forgive himself. Chris carried enough guilt to last several lifetimes and he didn’t need anymore, especially not over some fucking vampire tasked with the job of stalking, and most likely hurting, his sister.

            “I shouldn’t have slammed him against the wall again after I heard his ribs break,” Chris said, sighing heavily as they watched the fire die out, leaving behind a pile of soft grey ash that would be swept away in less than an hour thanks to the light breeze racing through the small alleyway.

            “No,” Ephraim said, knowing his son well enough to know that sprouting bullshit wouldn’t help him. One of the broken ribs had pierced the bastard’s heart and under normal circumstances that would have pissed him off, but not tonight. Not when he already knew the reason behind the vampire’s piss poor stalking. “But, we really didn’t need him alive so let it go.”

            With a reluctant nod, Chris stepped away from the body and faced him. “What do you think he wants with her?” Chris asked, obviously coming to the same conclusion.

            “I don’t know,” Ephraim said, taking a reluctant step towards the back parking lot, “but, until we figure it out I want her watched.”

            “Do you want her to know that she’s being watched?” Chris asked, thankfully not bothering to ask him to go with him to say hello to Jill since they both knew that he was the last person that she wanted to see right now.

            For a moment he thought about saying yes, but he knew his daughter well enough to know that it would just set off her stubborn streak. He didn’t want her to do anything foolish. It was better for everyone, especially Jill, if they just left her alone and let her live her life without the added danger that their world held. She deserved some peace, a truly happy life after everything that she’d been through and if he could give it to her….

            Then he would give it to her no matter how much it hurt.

            “No, keep her out of it,” Ephraim said, forcing himself to walk away, knowing that Chris would do everything that he could to make sure that she was safe. Hopefully this time he would be able to convince Jill to move back home with her Grandmother.

New Year's Eve

Special Edition

Of

The R.L. Mathewson Chronicles:

A Reclusive Heart New Year’s Eve

Heartwell Hotel

California

            “What can I get you?”

            It took a moment before Jamie realized that the bartender was talking to her, finally. She’d been waiting in the small crowd surrounding the bar for a good hour, mostly trying to hide the fact that she’d come to a New Year’s Eve party alone.  She should have just stayed home, but stupid her, she’d given her word that she’d come to this party.

            “Can I have a……..,” she started to reply only to let her words trail off with a small groan when she realized that she’d lost the bartender’s attention to a hot blonde with breasts bigger than her head.

            Deciding that she wasn’t really thirsty after all, she carefully made her way out of the small crowd and started to head back to the small table that she’d commandeered a couple of hours ago so that she could read in peace only to discover that her quiet, out of the way table had been swallowed up by a large group of guests.

            “Damn,” she muttered pathetically as she gazed around the large ballroom for another table or a spot at the bar, not really looking all that hard.

            Hanging out at a party by herself on New Year’s Eve wasn’t really her thing and while she normally liked meeting new people, tonight she just felt like being alone when the clock struck twelve. Considering that she’d spent every New Year’s Eve up to this point alone, one more time shouldn’t bother her, but it did.

            This year was supposed to be different from all the rest, but a last minute trip to Boston had sentenced her to spend yet another New Year’s Eve alone. Instead of spending tonight with her husband, dancing the night away before they snuck upstairs to the suite that he’d reserved for them and making love for the rest of the night, she was killing time at a party that she didn’t want to go to and spending the night alone in a large luxurious bed in a hotel that…..

            Had twenty-four hour room service, she suddenly remembered with a small startled gasp. She was in a five star hotel, a hotel known for its rich, decadent dessert menu, and no Nick around to stop her from ordering two of everything, she realized with a small shiver of excitement. It might not sound like a very exciting night to anyone else, but to a sugar addict who’d been denied her drug of choice for months now, it was heaven.

            Of course she missed Nick, she told herself as she quickly hurried across the dance floor, weaving and ducking her way to the exit, but since spending the night with him wasn’t an option, well…….

            She’d just have to accept the fact that she had access to one of the largest dessert menus in California and her husband’s credit card.

            Ten minutes later, she was slamming the door shut to her suite, yanking off her shoes and tossing them over her shoulder as she stumbled her way towards the phone. Another twenty minutes after that she was hanging up the phone and practically dancing with excitement at the thought of all those delicious treats coming her way and no Nick to put a stop to it.

            Sure, he’d find out what she’d done, but she didn’t care. She’d deal with his homicidal glares, the silent treatment and him throwing out every last grain of sugar in their house, but it would be worth it, she’d make sure of it. Knowing that she’d go crazy waiting by the door for room service to arrive, she decided to take a hot bath and start the night off right.

            After her bath, she dried off and pulled on Nick’s favorite black shirt, the one that he’d packed to take with him to Boston and the one that she’d swiped out of his bag so that she wouldn’t have spend the night completely alone. Just as she was buttoning the shirt there was a quick and efficient knock at the door.

            “Room service,” a man announced, earning an excited squeal from Jamie as she quickly finished buttoning the rest of the shirt as she raced across the room to the door.

            Not even ten seconds later she was opening the door and smiling hugely. She was going to eat the desserts with ice cream first, followed by the hot chocolate, cookies, pies, puddings and then she was going to-

            Be lucky if the man standing in the doorway, glaring down at her didn’t throttle her.

            “Sorry, you have the wrong room!” she blurted as she grabbed the door and tried to shut it, hoping that it bought her some time to make an escape, but unfortunately for her, she hadn’t moved fast enough.

            “You can set my bags inside,” Nick said, his glare never leaving her as he pushed the door open and stepped inside, forcing her to move back so that the bellhop carrying his bags could step into the room. “And you can feel free to get your eyes off my wife’s legs,” he added, shifting his glare to the bellhop who she realized was taking an awfully long time to set two bags down.

            Thankful for the distraction, Jamie moved to take advantage of the moment and run like the coward that she was, but the glare that Nick shifted back to her kept her butt right where it was. Nick finding out after the fact about a sugar binge was one thing, but being caught seconds before she was about to partake of it was a completely different story. She watched nervously as he slowly looked away from her and glanced back at the three overflowing carts waiting in the hallway.

            “They’re not mine?” she said, well, really asked, worrying her bottom lip as she waited to see if he bought it.

            He glared at her, simply glared at her as she quickly went through the list of items that she’d ordered and said a silent goodbye to them, wishing them the best with promises that one day they’d be together again and-

            “Bring them in,” Nick said to the waiters waiting nervously in the hallway, taking her by surprise and letting her know that she was definitely in a lot of trouble here.

            “Um, no, there’s no need to do that,” she mumbled pathetically, unable to find the strength to do the right thing and send her precious sweets away for their own safety and hers.

            God, she was pathetic.

            “No?” Nick asked, cocking a brow in question as he accepted the order slip from one of the waiters and looked over the list of sweets that she’d been hoping to spend the night with.

            His lips twitched as he looked over the receipt, but other than that he gave no reaction as he signed the slip, added a tip and waited for the waiters to leave the room. For a moment, she actually considered following after them with the hopes that he wouldn’t notice, but she knew that her luck had never been all that good and really, did she want witnesses when he started in on her about her unholy addiction to sweets and the sugar hangover that would inevitably follow in the morning? Or the fact that she’d promised him that she wouldn’t go on another sugar binge after what happened at Hershey Park? Once the door closed with an ominous
click
the inane chatter began.

            “You’re back early,” she said, shifting nervously as she pointed out the obvious. “What happened in Boston? Did you have a good trip? Did you manage to get her to sign with Rerum? Are you hungry? Tired? You look tired. Maybe I should get dressed and leave, let you get some sleep,” she rambled on nervously as Nick took his time lifting the covers off every plate and making note of just how much sugar she’d planned on consuming in one night.

            When he raised the cover off the large bowl of hot fudge, she nearly cried. She’d had plans for that fudge, wonderfully delicious plans, she thought with a reluctant sigh as she said an extra special prayer for the hot fudge.

            “Did you miss me, sweetheart?” Nick asked in an offhand tone as he picked up the bowl of hot fudge and set it on the small dinning table by the door.

            “Yes,” she answered, because she had missed him, more than she really thought was possible.

            “And this food?” he asked, gesturing towards the food with one hand even as he reached out and took her hand into his.

            “Was to console myself?” she offered, hopefully.

            Nick pulled her closer as he nodded, looking thoughtful. “You must have really missed me then,” he said, giving her the out that she needed.

            “I really did,” she said with obvious relief that he seemed to be buying it and not pointing out that she’d been setting herself up for a night of discomfort and pain while she prayed for death, something that she was ninety-nine percent sure would have been worth it.

            “Well,” he said softly as he leaned in and brushed his lips against hers, “I missed you, too.”

            “You did?” she asked, trying to bite back a pleased smile, because it still amazed her that a man as handsome and wonderful as Nick loved someone like her.

            “Mmmhmm,” he murmured, giving her another kiss as he gently picked her up and placed her bottom on the edge of the table. “I couldn’t stop thinking about you,” he added as he stepped between her legs and pressed the large erection hiding behind his fly that she’d somehow missed, against her.

            “You know that we could have taken care of that with a phone call,” she practically moaned, all the delicious sweets in the room forgotten as Nick offered her something that her body craved more than sugar, him.

            He chuckled softly against her lips as ran his hands over her bare thighs. “Trying to get me in trouble again?” he asked, his voice taking on that husky tone that was usually reserved for phone sex, the voice that did wicked things to her imagination and made her lose control.

            “You’re still trying to blame me for that?” she asked, her breath catching when he pushed her legs further apart and used the movement to glide his thumb over her slit.

            “Oh, I’m definitely blaming you for that,” he said, rubbing his thumb with a little more pressure over her slit, just barely touching her clit and making her cry out against his mouth.

            “You’re the one that started it,” she absently pointed out, panting slightly as she reached between them and pulled down his zipper. She licked her lips hungrily as she reached inside his pants and pulled out his hard length, loving the way that it felt in her hand.

            “Because I love the way you moan my name,” he whispered next to her ear as he slowly pulled back, running his length in her hand before he slowly pushed forward, using her hold on him to tease her with the tip.

            He kept slowly thrusting in her hand, unbuttoning her shirt as he kissed her neck. She wrapped her free arm around his shoulders, holding on as her body quivered with the need for more.

            “Did you go to the party?” he asked as he pushed her legs open further, never ceasing in the slow, torturous thrust that ended with a tease that was driving her out of her mind.

            “Y-yes,” she managed to answer as she shifted forward, hoping for more and he gave it, hissing in a breath when the tip shifted down between her wet folds and briefly pressed inside her.

            “Why did you leave?” he asked, cupping her breasts as he kissed his way back to her mouth.

            “I missed you too much,” she admitted, knowing that at any other time she would have felt foolish admitting just how badly she’d missed him, but as he gently teased her nipples and pushed inside her, she lost her ability to care about anything else but him.

            “Good,” he growled against her lips, sounding pleased as he slid inside her until he couldn’t go any further. “Because I was fucking useless without you,” he admitted as her mind registered something warm and smooth rubbed across her right breast.

            “Hot fudge?” she asked in a daze as the scent of the delicious treat teased her.

            “Hot fudge,” he answered, grinning against her lips as she felt him spread some of the hot fudge across her other breast.

            “And what exactly are you planning on doing with all that fudge?” she asked with a slight gasp and a moan as he pulled back until only the tip was left inside her.

            “To make this New Year’s Eve as memorable as possible.”