A Piece of Heaven (Allendale Four 1)

Not exactly. I’m home alone tonight. Mom’s working the night shift.

Lock the doors.

I’ll be okay.

I put down the phone and wrapped my towel closer around my body and willed the fear to go away.

*

I’d finally coaxed myself into a pair of soft cotton pajama pants and a heavy Oceanside sweatshirt when I heard the knock on the front door. I froze in the hallway, back pressed to a wall.

“Heaven!”

Stalkers didn’t usually announce themselves, I considered, and I went to the window to take a peek. Oliver stood on the porch.

The look of relief on his face said everything when I opened the door.

“What are you—” I started but he stepped forward and scooped me into a hug. His arms were huge and he lifted me like a feather. He smelled amazing and I inhaled, feeling safe for the first time since I saw the photos.

“I could tell you were freaked out,” he said, lowering me back to the floor. He brushed a strand of hair out of my face. “We wanted to check on you.”

“We?” I glanced over his shoulder. I was shocked to see Hayden standing behind him. The boy—well, he was eighteen and looked more man than boy—stood on the edge of my porch. His longish, black hair was tucked behind his ears and his brown eyes watched my every move. Hayden was elusive, quiet. Sexy—there was no doubt about that one.

And he was on my porch.

I gave him a small wave and he nodded back before I shifted my gaze back to Oliver. “Thank you for coming. Really, I’m okay.”

“You’re alone, Heaven. With everything going on, there’s no way we’re letting you stay by yourself tonight. Oh and we brought food.” He glanced down at the small table next to the door and I saw the pizza box.

It was obvious they had no intention of leaving, so despite the fact my mom had a pretty strict, “no visitors” rule, I opened the door and let them inside.

The two of them were huge in my small house; all broad shoulders and long legs. We lived in a small bungalow on the older side of town, perfect for me and my mom—walking distance to her job so we could share her little gray truck.

I couldn’t help but gape at their size and the general idea that they’d come to my house, so I just stood awkwardly staring at them until it dawned on me to get plates. “You want something to drink? Soda? Water?”

“Water is fine,” Oliver replied, looking over the house. He stopped at a photo of me around the age of three standing on the edge of the ocean in a mermaid bikini with same-aged Justin, his skin dark with a tan. “Is that your friend? The one that got you into all of this?”

I could hear the judgement in his voice. I filled two glasses with ice and water. “Justin didn’t make me do anything. I volunteered.”

Hayden peered at the photo and said, “I know him. We played football together when we were kids.”

“I thought you played soccer?”

“I play both.”

“Well, despite everything going on now, he’s a good friend.” My only friend, I wanted to tell them, but seeing them in my house like this made that seem less true. “Come on, we can eat in here.”

The box was barely open before they both dove in, grabbing two pieces each. I watched in fascination as they inhaled their food, only stopping once to push the box in my direction. I took a piece before they got it all and bit into the gooey cheese, groaning when I realized I was starving. Both guys stopped eating and stared at me.

“What?” I asked, tugging at a piece of cheese and dropping it in my mouth.

They glanced uneasily at one another. “Nothing,” Oliver said. “You’re just funny.”

“And hot,” Hayden admitted. Oliver shot him a look but he just shrugged. “She is. You are. Hot. And groaning like that over a piece of pizza? Only made you hotter.”

“Seriously?” I kept thinking I was being pranked. Was someone recording this right now? Anderson? But there was a glint in Hayden’s eyes—something I could only describe as hunger, and I knew his belly was full.

Oliver sighed. “Heaven, you know we’re not the kind of guys that really date around. The girls are school are a little…”