Noah (The Mitchell/Healy Family #1)(4)
Author: Jennifer Foor

I wasn’t the type of man to deal well with people ordering me around, especially my father. Just because my family thought I’d be the next person in line to run the ranch, didn’t mean it was going to happen. Sure, ever since I’d finished college, well the two years that I attended, I’d done nothing else but help run the ranch. There hadn’t been a single day that I didn’t wonder if there was something else out there that I’d enjoy more. For now I was stuck, and as long as I had my space I’d be all right with it.

“I ain’t goin’ to argue with you about this right now, Bells. I’m tired and I need to get up early.”

“Sorry. I didn’t know where else to go.”

While following her to the living room, I scratched my head. “Well, you’re always welcome to stay here. You know that. Out of anyone alive on this earth you’re the only person I’d be okay livin’ with.” Imagining living with a woman, who I was in a relationship with, was like hitting my own hand with a hammer. I’d avoid it at all costs.

She looked over at me with those big, bright green eyes that we both inherited from our parents. “I was hopin’ that you’d say that. I’m tired of North Carolina, Noah. I need to get away from everyone.”

“I feel ya. As big as our family is, sometimes they just need to mind their business.” I sat down next to my cousin and put my arm around her. “You know, my mom’s been tellin’ me to get a woman to clean up after me and wash my clothes. Now I don’t need to go lookin’.”

She shoved me away and finally gave me a hint of a snicker. “Shut up! I’ll never be your maid, Noah Mitchell.” She over-annunciated my name. “You need to find someone else that is willing to touch your dirty boxers. You keep forgettin’ that I know some of the shit you get yourself in to. There ain’t no way I’m messin’ around with your drawers.”

I chuckled. “Well then that might be a deal breaker, Isabella Mitchell.” She hated her full name being called out and rolled her eyes immediately.

I always got a kick out of picking on her. While we’d been around the same height as kids, she’d stop growing around the age of fourteen. Being that petite, she wasn’t exactly someone that I looked at as strong, both mentally and physically. Since I stood a strong six-four, I towered over her tiny frame.

“Oh shut up. You know you miss me like crazy.” The room got quiet for a second. “Now I just have to tell my parents.”

I hadn’t noticed that I wasn’t fully alert until she’d made that statement. “Don’t tell me you’re doin’ it this weekend. Bells, you can’t ruin my parent’s anniversary party. Please, just wait until the family heads home. Promise me.”

She let her head fall against my arm and sadly replied. “Okay. I promise.”

As she closed her eyes I stared out into the kitchen. My cousin Bells living with me wouldn’t be so bad. Dealing with her drama and my unhappiness with my own life was going to be the deal breaker. “If he shows up I’m kickin’ his ass. You know that right?”

“Yeah, I’m countin’ on it.”

I woke up later with a heavy feel to my arm. My cousin was sound asleep with her feet tucked up on the other end of the couch. I slid myself off of the furniture and covered her up before heading in my room and climbing on my bed, though sleep wouldn’t come.

My mind was filled with what ifs. My cousin showing up had only reminded me of how I’d been denying my own happiness. Something had to give. If I didn’t respect my parents so much I would have left a long time ago. They couldn’t hold me down forever and expect me to marry and raise my family on the farm without other options. Life felt forced. It wasn’t fair when I was a kid, and certainly not as an adult. Not one person had ever asked me what I wanted to do with my life.

Not one.

The older I got the more I knew I needed to have a talk with my parents. Obviously I wasn’t my father, and the sooner everyone realized that the better my life would become.

Noah

Being an early riser, I woke up before daylight and found my cousin on the couch, exactly where I’d left her only hours before. She’d kicked off the cover and was on her stomach appearing to have been trying to keep warm. After tapping on her back, and waiting for her to sit up, I picked her up and carried her to my bed. There were other rooms, but she’d need to be comfortable. The family would be coming into town, and I knew I could lock my bedroom door and keep them from bothering her, for at least a little while.

Bells smiled at me when I covered her up. “Your sheets better not be crusty, cuz.”

I snickered. “Like I would tell you.”

“You’re sick!” She nestled her head against my goose-down pillow and closed her eyes. “I still love you though.”

I grabbed my keys off the dresser and headed out of the room. “Sleep in, Bells. You know where to find us later on. And if I catch you callin’ that ass**le, I’m goin’ to beat you with a willow switch.”

“You wouldn’t!”

“You better not find out.” A pillow came flying toward me.

“Get out of here!”

I don’t know why, but I felt more protective of her sometimes than I did my own sisters. It was probably because Christian never needed me to be a big brother. She was sort of quiet, didn’t talk to boys, and spent most of her time buried in a book. Addy was the one that I was soon going to worry about. She’d just had her fifteenth birthday and was already giving our dad indigestion. She was constantly having her phone taken away, and most of the time she deserved a lot worse. A few weeks ago she’d come to me and asked if I could get her and her friends alcohol that they could keep hidden in the barn.

She was pissed at me for saying no, but I knew there would be hell to pay if I’d done it. The thing was, I think if Christian would have asked me, I probably would have been okay with it, as long as I could chaperone. Unlike Addy, she refused to party and socialize, putting all of her focus on education and some big picture.

Christian was the lucky one. She didn’t have my dad forcing her into a career that she didn’t want. In fact, they’d already gone and looked at colleges far away, in hopes of my sister enrolling in some kind of Marine Biology major. I would have given my left nut to go away to college and do something else with my future.

At least they could say one child made it somewhere big, if she succeeded, because Addy wasn’t going anywhere at the rate she was going. Just the weekend before our mom had found out that she’d spent the night where she wasn’t supposed to be. Instead of being at her friend’s house, she’d gone and stayed with a group of kids, including her boyfriend. My mom had found pictures she’d taken of herself on her computer and had to take that away, too. Then they had to put a password on the WIFI so that she couldn’t access the Internet. It was getting worse by the day. Bells and I had a fifty dollar bet going that she’d be pregnant by age sixteen and forced to live with my Grandma.