Noah (The Mitchell/Healy Family #1)(18)
Author: Jennifer Foor

It was reassuring knowing he was there with me. I felt sleep finally coming. There I was, alone in a tiny camper with this stranger, and yet I couldn’t remember a time where I felt so protected. It was either a gift from my mother, or a reminder of how pathetic my life was. Whichever it was would have to wait until the morning for me to figure out.

Noah

This bitch was crazy with a capital C. I couldn’t wait for daylight to come so I could get the hell away from her. I think she thought I hadn’t noticed that she’d stolen a car and drove it into a body of water. I suppose it was my stupid fault for offering to give her a ride. Before I knew what I was doing, I was lying down in a tiny-ass camper right across from her.

Sleep came easy for me, as it always did when I drank whiskey. It never failed either. The moment that liquor hit my tongue it got to me. I could drink beer after beer and never feel a buzz.

The sound of birds let me know that the sun was getting ready to rise. Since I was used to getting up before daylight, I sat up and looked around. The shitty conditions made me cringe and realize how afraid this girl must have been last night. I turned and looked at her, seeing her for the first time without a hat. Her eyes were still closed, but the smooth skin of her face was more desirable than I could have imagined. Her lips weren’t small, but they weren’t too big either. Brown wavy hair covered her pillow. Her eyelashes were long and dark, and the sound of a car coming down the lane cause her to open her blue eyes. She rushed to the window, peeking out to see who was coming. “Shit!”

I sat up and looked out too. “Who is it?”

“My uncle. Just sit there and be quiet. I’ll get rid of him.”

She walked over and opened the door. The first thing I noticed was that sometime in the middle of the night she’d removed her jeans. Her legs were short, but sexy, especially the shape of her thighs. I couldn’t see much from the extra large t-shirt hanging down, but I knew they led to her ass, which I could only imagine was just as pleasing to look at.

“Uncle Paul. What brings you out here?” She held the door opened enough to where he couldn’t see me inside.

“Cut the shit, Shalan. What the hell happened last night? The police came to the house lookin for you around two. I’ve been trying to call since then.”

She began to stutter, possibly from the fear of what the police wanted. As fast as I could move I stood up and removed my pants and my shirt. Standing in just my boxers, I walked over to the door where she stood and opened it all the way. “That’s probably my fault. We left our phones in the truck last night.”

I don’t know what shocked her more, the fact that I was covering for her, or me standing behind her almost naked. I avoided eye contact with her in case the older man came at me for sleeping with his niece, or at least thinking I did.

It wasn’t like the man was any match for me. I could take him down easily if I needed to.

He looked at his niece, and then back to me. “This is my friend Mitch. Sorry I didn’t tell you about him. We dated in high school and he stopped back in town to see me last night.”

He still didn’t seem convinced, so I reached my arms around her waist and kissed the inside of her neck. Part of me wanted to laugh, because I knew she was going to kick my ass once the man left. In my defense I was only trying to help.

“What time did you close the bar?” he asked.

“Midnight. I closed up a little after midnight. My car wouldn’t start, so Mitch gave me a ride back here, why are you asking?”

He looked up at me, disgusted and concerned. “Is that the truth? She was with you all night?”

This was where I should have walked away. I knew I was involving myself in a crime. My father would have killed me for doing it, and maybe that’s why I did, but I decided that I didn’t care. I had nothing to lose. “Yes, sir. We were together since nine or ten in the evenin’.”

“Where are you from, kid?”

It was funny that he called me kid. According to everyone else, I looked much older than I was. “Kentucky.”

“And you say you know my niece?”

I scratched my head and laughed. After this was all over I WAS going to know her better. She owed it to me. “Yes, I most certainly do.”

He turned and looked outside. “The police came by saying that you stole Rex’s car and drove it into the Perkins Pond. When I saw your car at the bar, I swore it was true.”

She looked at me and shot a fake smile. “Well, as you can see, he’s lying. He’s probably just mad that we broke up. Obviously, I found someone much better to spend my time with.”

“Get yourself dressed and come home, Shalan. I don’t want to find you out here again. This ain’t a place for you to come to sleep with men. You hear me?”

“Yes, sir. I hear you.”

He didn’t say goodbye to me, not that I expected him to. As soon as his tires started moving she turned around and shoved me. “Don’t ever touch me again!”

I put my hands up. “He believed me, didn’t he?”

“Just put your pants back on. I’m going to need a ride back to my car.”

She leaned forward to grab her pants off the bed and I got a straight view of her perfect ass. It was almost enough to make my dick hard just looking at it. “I get why you hide behind all those clothes.”

She turned and discovered that I’d been checking her out. “You weren’t so creepy last night. I think I like you better drunk.”

“Hey, at least you admit you like me. We did just spend the whole night in bed together.” I pulled my jeans up and started to fasten them. A pillow hit me in the head and I couldn’t help but laugh. “A simple thanks will be good.”

“Thanks for helping me last night, Mitch.”

“Why do you keep callin’ me that?”

“It’s your name, right? It’s on your arm.” She pointed to my Mitchell tattoo. For some reason, I’d been stupid and followed the lead of my father and uncle and had our last name tattooed on my arm.

A smiled formed at the corner of my mouth. “Sort of.”

“What’s that mean?” She was getting annoyed and I enjoyed watching the way her expressions kept changing. Plus I kept thinking about when I’d just been close to her and got a whiff of her hair products. “It’s either your name or it’s not.”

“Well, Miss Shalan, it’s easy. Mitchell is my last name, not my first. Some would call it my sir name.”