Untouchable (Haven Falls 1)

When dad finally jumps down from the truck, I crash into him, throwing my arms around his waist as he catches me in a massive bear hug. “Hey, Squish,” dad murmurs with affection as he pulls me in tight and practically crushes my head into his chest.

I brace my hands against him and give a hard push, freeing my head from the confines of his strong arms. “Missed you,” I grin.

“I know you did,” he tells me with his too sure attitude as he throws his arm over my shoulder and drags me towards the front door. “What’s been going on? Any news? Bills?”

“Nope. All taken care of,” I tell him. “Though, Mr. Morrison from two doors down came and accused me of stealing his cat.”

“His cat?” dad grunts.

“Yup,” I laugh. “Big…no, massive misunderstanding.”

“Henley,” dad scolds.

“What?” I shrug. “It’s not my fault the cat likes me better than that old fu-”

“Hey, watch it,” dad cuts me off before the insult can fly from my lips. He looks back over his shoulder to where his old pick up is sitting out the front. “How’s the truck? Did you get her fixed?”

We make our way inside the house and dad instantly drops down into his favorite recliner, leaving me to close the door behind us. “Yeah,” I tell him. “A friend helped me out so I didn’t have to pay for a mechanic.”

Dad’s head whips around at the word ‘friend.’ “Friend?” he questions with exaggerated curiosity, assuming this so-called ‘friend’ is a dude, seeing as though I said this ‘friend’ fixed the truck. I mean, I don’t see many chicks being able to do that shit, but if they can, hats off to them.

“Yes, dad,” I groan, dropping down into the opposite couch. “A friend.”

“Who is this friend?”

“He’s just a guy from school. We’ve been hanging out this week.”

His eyes widen in horror. “Here?” he gaps. “Tell me you haven’t been having boys over? I’m cool with you finally making friends, but I’m not ready to have no kids running ‘round me ankles.”

“Chill out,” I laugh, trying to hide my unease at what the idea of having kids with Noah does to me. Shit, I cannot go there. “He’s just a friend. It’s not like that. He has a twin sister who’s pretty cool and.… I don’t know, I guess they make me forget that the world sucks.”

Dad watches me with pride swirling in the depths his eyes; though he’ll never actually admit it. It’s more than enough for me to see it. “Well then,” he says. “I suppose I’ll have to get to know them.”

“Let’s take it one step at a time,” I laugh. “We don’t want to scare them away.”

Dad rolls his eyes before kicking off his boots and leaving them right by the foot of the recliner where I know they’ll stay until I can be bothered to put them away, either that or dad gets sick of tripping over them every time he walks through the living room. I have to admit, watching him stumble over them has had me in laughing fits, bent over at the waist, holding my stomach while trying to gain control of myself.

“Alright, Squish,” dad says, pulling the lever for his recliner and putting his feet up. “What else has been going on?”

A few hours later, I wash up the dishes after dinner and grin as I peek around the corner, taking in dad fast asleep on the couch. I chuckle to myself as I tiptoe through the living room, making sure not to wake dad as he would be exhausted after driving halfway across the country and back over the past few days. I head down the hallway and into my bedroom before silently closing the door behind me.

It’s too early to sleep so I drop down onto my bed and grab Tully’s Kindle off my bedside table before rolling onto my stomach and unlocking the screen.

“What?” I murmur to myself in deep confusion as my brows draw down. Why the hell is this all in… is that Chinese? Hell, I have no idea, all I know is that I can’t understand a single word on the screen, including how to find the setting to change the language options.

I fiddle around with it for a while and end up pressing a few things that just seem to make everything worse.

Damn it.

I let out a frustrated groan as I drop the Kindle beside me on my bed. I guess there will be no Mr. Grey tonight. I’ll have to settle for good old Netflix.

Now my only issue is actually picking something.

I flick through my endless options when my phone buzzing on my bedside table grabs my attention. I reach over and unplug it from the charger while keeping my eyes locked on my Netflix options.