River's End (River's End Series, #1)(9)

“Hard to believe someone as pretty as you is related to that cowpoke.”

She smiled. Shane’s voice was amused, and his tone kidding. She didn’t take any malice from it, like she would have if Jack had said it.

Joey nodded towards the other man in the room. “That’s Ian.”

Ian stood up then and nodded solemnly at her, but his eyes lacked the heated resentment Jack’s gaze held. Ian had a hard time meeting her eyes. He was as shy as his brother, Shane, was a big, loud flirt, who didn’t mean anything he said. Ian was tall and skinny, with dark red hair and pale blue eyes.

Erin almost stepped back in dismay. They were all gorgeous. Every one of the Rydell brothers was like a different version of a catalogue model. There was the lanky, shy one; the muscle-bound, cocky one; the movie star-pretty Joey; and of course, the rugged, reserved Jack. It was disconcerting to her. They were not what she expected.

She turned then and looked at the pretty woman in the kitchen who shut the oven door and wiped her hands on a dishtowel. The woman averted her eyes, almost acting as if Erin wasn’t there.

Erin’s eyes lifted when she heard a sound beyond the group. Jack was standing there. He’d been watching, listening, and judging her. He came forward and handed her a vacuum. She was so surprised he got it for her, she forgot to reach out to take it.

“Your wife doesn’t mind?”

One of his eyebrows lifted. “My wife is dead.”

Her mouth opened and she looked towards the brothers and the kids. The tension in the room was thick and unpleasant. She shook her head. “I’m sorry. Chance didn’t mention that.”

Jack turned from her. He ambled over to an oversized chair and sprawled out in it.

Joey put a hand on her arm. “These are Jack’s boys.”

At this, the boys jumped up. The older one came over with a silly grin on his face. Erin groaned inwardly. She’d recognize that look anywhere. The young teen couldn’t get past ogling her chest. Not that she regarded it as any kind of compliment. He probably thought any woman who had a pulse also had interesting breasts.

“This is Ben.”

Ben came forward and shook her hand with a polite “Hello.” She glanced at their father in shock. He sat in the chair, his legs sprawled before him, hands locked behind his head as he stared at her with smirk on his face. He could have learned something from his son’s polite behavior.

“And that’s Charlie.” Charlie looked about eight or nine. He was ducking his head and staring at the table. Erin sighed. He seemed like the spitting image of his father in both his demeanor and looks. She wouldn’t have pegged Jack as having kids. Or that his wife was dead. Erin turned to include the young woman behind her, and the obvious question: who was she?

“Oh Erin, this is Kailynn Hayes. She does everything around here. Lynnie, this is Chance’s sister, Erin.”

Kailynn glanced at Erin and said with a dismissive shrug, “Hi.”

“Hello.”

Joey glanced at the vacuum. “Cleaning up after Chance?”

She smiled back. “Yes.”

“Need anything else?”

She looked up with hopeful eyes. “Mousetraps? I think the trailer has some.”

Joey frowned. “I told Chance to set some. He doesn’t care?”

“No. But I do.”

“No kidding. I’ll come over in a few minutes and set them.”

Erin relaxed her shoulders. Help. Kindness. How long since anyone had offered her that? She smiled with genuine warmth at Joey. He was so nice. So refreshingly trusting and nice. “Thanks. I would really appreciate that,” she said as she looked back towards the Rydell men who were now all watching her. She felt like a cat caught in a pack of coyotes. It was so odd. Kailynn, who seemed reluctant to talk, was what? The housekeeper? Wasn’t there a mother? Another wife? A girlfriend?

“Nice to meet you all.”

They all responded with smiles and waves. Except Jack. He didn’t respond to her at all, but his eyes tracked her as she walked out the front door.





Chapter Four


There was a stupid amount of pride invested in what she’d done to the trailer. It was kind of pretty underneath her brother’s neglect and scum. By morning, she had it clean, sanitized, and sprayed to get rid of the fouler scents. With a half dozen mousetraps set up, she was able to sleep without thinking an errant critter might scurry over her.

Chance returned late and was stinking like sex and beer. He slept in his clothes. He only left in the morning to go to work because someone banged hard on the trailer door. She sat up, confused and terrified by the sound, only to realize that someone was waking her brother. Jack, most likely.

She scrounged around the trailer, but found nothing to eat. Her stomach rumbled in protest. She hadn’t eaten more than a couple of candy bars from a gas station. She was starving. And her brother didn’t have any food. Neither did she. She leaned her head into the cabinet. Someday… Someday, she would have all she wanted to eat. Healthy things, like expensive fruits and fattening pastries. She’d wake up each morning and never think about how to fill the kitchen with groceries. She straightened up. In the meantime, she had to survive. As she always did. As she intended to do today.

She dressed in another t-shirt and her lightweight sweater. She put on another skirt and wore the same sandals. She had two thousand dollars stuffed into her duffel bag, but it was all she had left in the world. It was all she had to start over with. She could buy new clothes, but she didn’t dare spend too much from the last of her money.