Lost & Found (Possessed 3)

Stacking wood in crates as Ace lined them against the wall on the porch for when they’d need them, he was so lost in thought he didn’t hear his cousin calling to him repeatedly. “Nick!”

“Yeah?” he finally answered.

“Where’s your head at, dude?”

Rubbing a hand down his face in frustration, he wasn’t positive he could answer that. “I don’t fucking know, man. I just keep thinking about everything she must be going through and if she’s ready for what we want?”

He watched as a dejected look crossed his cousin’s face. He knew how much Ace wanted to settle down, but he had to wonder if she was the right person. Having no idea who she was made it difficult.

“What are you afraid of, Nick?” Ace finally asked him.

“What?”

“You were all for going slow with her. I know you feel the connection, you know things are different with her. What’s scaring you?”

“You don’t know what you’re talking about, Ace,” Nick told him, lying through his teeth.

The other man knew exactly what he was talking about because he was right. Nick was scared. He was afraid she would regain her memory and have this whole other life she wanted to go back to.

Fighting his attraction wasn’t helping how he felt about her regaining her memory, either. He wanted Pepper with a ferocity he’d never experienced before. She was the last thing he thought about at night and the first in the morning. When she’d crawled into bed with him a few nights ago to wake him from a nightmare, he’d never felt quite so whole in his life. She completed a piece of himself he hadn’t known was missing.

“Let it go, Ace,” he said, not wanting to analyze his fucked-up emotions yet.

“No, Nick.” He had to push. “You’re going to ruin this for me as well, and I want that fucking woman with me. I won’t let you push her away. You’re either in this for the long haul, or you need to back the fuck off and let me have her.”

Speechless, shocked, pissed the fuck off. Nick felt it all. “Fuck you, Ace,” he snapped. “You left. I’ve had to deal with shit on my own, so you have no right telling me to back off.”

Dropping the crate of wood he was holding, Ace stormed towards him. Shoving him, he yelled at Nick. “Don’t put that on me. You wanted to stay, not me. I asked you to come along. You refused. We could have found her by now, been settled down, had a family. I didn’t ruin anything.” A sharp intake of breath halted any reply he’d have had as they looked at the porch and saw Pepper standing there, sadness plain to see on her face.

“Fuck,” he muttered as she grabbed a crate of wood and rushed into the house.

“I didn’t mean to do that,” Ace whispered brokenly.

Cutting his cousin some slack, he assured him. “I know, Ace.”

“I was literally talking about her, I mean it’s possible, right?”

“Yeah, I guess.”

They were both quiet after that, stacking and hauling wood until it was near dark. Nick had no clue how to fix what their argument had done. Neither were clueless to her attraction to them. If she’d come out just a minute sooner, she’d have known they were talking about her. That it wasn’t Ace that fucked up, but him.

It shouldn’t hurt so bad. So why did it? Pepper had no hold on either man. Just because she was attracted to them both didn’t mean they were to her. She was just some strange amnesiac they were helping.

She was a nobody to everyone.

So why does this hurt so much? she kept questioning herself. Keeping her distance was imperative, so she didn’t get any more attached to either of them than she already had.

Placing the crate of wood beside the fireplace, she worked on getting a flame started as Roxie watched from her position on the floor. The animal surveyed her every move when in her company. Always ready to cuddle the minute Pepper sat down to rest or stopped moving for more than three and a half seconds.

It was kind of sweet. To have someone wanting to spend time with her. To enjoy her company. Guess man’s best friend wasn’t the joke she thought it to be.

Finally happy with the strength of the burning wood, she got to work making three beds. Being sure that hers was away from theirs had her heart cramping and her breath stalling in her chest. She’d thought tonight would be a good time to get to know one another. She could find out more about them, their likes and dislikes, even though she couldn’t even confirm if she were a vegetarian or not. The idea had been to discover if and how well they were compatible. Now she hoped she could be asleep before they came inside.

Deciding she’d like to be able to see the storm as it happened, she made a small bed by the window for herself. Looking up to the stars quelled the sadness she constantly felt about not knowing her identity. Maybe it would take away the pain of not being wanted as well.

She could be overreacting. After all, she hadn’t heard the entire conversation, only enough to know that Ace had hoped to find “the one” years ago. That he wished they had children with that perfect woman.

Letting it go, she continued making their beds, ensuring they had plush bedding beneath them. Once finished, they still hadn’t come inside. She figured they w