Lost & Found (Possessed 3)

ere glad she finally knew the truth, which led to a tear dropping from her eye as she made up sandwiches for them for dinner.

Just once, Pepper wished she could be that girl—the one men fought to keep. The one other girls were jealous of because she had an amazing man or men. She just wanted to belong to someone.

Putting food in Roxie’s dish and refilling her water, she placed them on the floor for the beautiful animal. Deciding to try for an early sleep, she laid down on the floor and wrapped the blanket as tightly as she could around herself. Watching as the night sky began to creep in, the moon lightened the window just enough for her to see Nick and Ace chopping and stacking more wood in the bitter cold rather than coming inside where it was warm simply because she was there.

Pain sucked the air from her lungs. Tears fell fast and hard.

Hurt enveloped her into sleep.

Ace wanted to kick his own ass. Right across the country. He couldn’t believe he’d said that knowing she might hear it. He had only wanted Nick to confess to what was bothering him. The last thing he planned to do was hurt Pepper. She was the nicest person he’d ever met. Always thinking of others before herself even though she was the one with the biggest problem.

He needed her to be theirs, God did he ever. He was merely trying to point out to Nick that they could have found her sooner if only Nick hadn’t been such a stubborn ass. At least, he’d like to believe that.

Ace put his faith in fate. Everything happened for a reason. He trusted that they hadn’t found Pepper sooner because they hadn’t been together. Who knew where she was from and if it were even possible to have met her before.

To him, finding her when they did wasn’t an accident. Finally, they were both ready to settle down and become a family. Meeting the right woman wouldn’t have been easy, and he’d known that, so finding Pepper injured on that mountain was fate’s way of saying here she is, take care of her, give her everything and show her you’re worthy. Unfortunately, careless anger on his part might have ruined everything.

Maybe falling for her when they had no clue where she was from was a mistake, but it was one he was willing to make. There was nothing he wouldn’t do for Pepper. She mesmerized him. He was completely ensnared by her presence. He couldn’t picture his life without her in it anymore.

As they cut and stacked wood, preparing for the impending storm, he’d seen her moving about the house and regretted not going inside to explain what he’d meant when she walked out. Watching her sleep now, with tear stains down her cheeks, he really wished he had. She shouldn’t have gone to bed with the thought of him or Nick not wanting her. She was everything to them, even if Nick was hesitant in admitting it.

Noticing that she’d overstocked their beds with an abundance of blankets, and only had two for herself, made him feel even worse. After putting a couple more logs on the fire, he grabbed a blanket each from his and Nick’s piles then laid one over her and one beside her. He hoped she stayed warm overnight as the heavy winds and snowfall they had been expecting all day finally began.

“Come here, Roxie.” He patted the spot beside Pepper, hoping that even if it got cold in the middle of the night, maybe the dog’s body heat would keep both his favorite girl’s warm.

Sitting back against the sofa, he watched her sleep while Nick was making coffee, probably pondering the situation he had caused. If Ace could take it back, he would. He never wanted her to have a moment of self-doubt where they were concerned.

“I don’t want her to leave,” Nick whispered, sitting beside him with a tray of covered sandwiches and warm coffee.

“I know.” And he did. It was never in question.

“You were right, Ace,” Nick commented after a quiet moment. “I was scared. Am scared. If we fall for her and she remembers she’s got an entire life at home that she doesn’t want to leave, then we have to let her go, and that’s gonna leave us miserable in love.”

“And if she remembers and wants to stay? What then? What have we done to make her want to stay? I can’t imagine my life without her in it, Nick, I won’t.”

Nick seemed to ponder his words before answering. “Yeah man, I know. I don’t want her to leave either. I just don’t know how to do this. How to make her want to stay.”

That made two of them. “I hear ya.”

A ringing from Nick’s coat cut off anything else they would have said. Rushing to it, he took the call into his office so as not to wake their sleeping beauty.

Ace was glad they had talked, gotten their fears out into the open. Most men would shy away from sharing their feelings. Hell, he was guilty of it more often than not, but they also knew that if they wanted any type of lasting relationship with Pepper, they had to be honest about what was troubling them.

There was no working shit out on their own and taking a chance on alienating one of the trio. Neither he nor Nick would stand for it, and soon Pepper would learn she shouldn’t either. Come morning, he planned to talk over everything they wanted with her. Put their cards on the table so to speak. What she did with the hand they dealt her afterwards would be her choice. Ace just hoped she would choose the full house instead of the possibility of a lonely one.

They’d both been alone far too long to only get a taste of what a lasting attraction could be. He would do nearly anything to make them happen.

When Nick came rushing from his office, he figured he just might have to. “We’ve got a lead,” he told Ace excitedly.

Stepping into his office to take the call, Nick never expected to get what they’d been searching for. “Sheriff Kelly here.”

“Yeah. Hi Sheriff, it’s John from the Kicking Horse.”

Surprise didn’t begin to cover what he felt. “Hey, John, how you doing?”

“Good, good. Look, Jess went through the surveillance video liked you ask.” He sounded excited.

“Oh good. She find something?” A pool of dread landed in his gut.