Whispers of You (Lost & Found #1)(100)

Rounding the side of the house, I smiled at the glint of silver in the moonlight. I still remembered when Nash had ordered the fire emergency ladder from some random website. He’d had to convince his oldest brother, Lawson, to buy it since he hadn’t had a credit card at the time.

He lowered it out his window every night, just in case. My heart squeezed at the tenderness of the action. And the fact that when I couldn’t count on almost anything in my life, I could count on this. On him.

I moved to the ladder and wrapped my hands around the rung. A breeze picked up, and I swallowed hard. I didn’t love heights, especially while hanging off the side of a building, but I’d do anything to get to Nash.

I could almost hear his voice in my head. “Don’t look down. Just at the next rung above you. One step at a time.”

Doing as he instructed, I climbed. When I reached the top, I tapped lightly on the windowpane. In a matter of seconds, it slid up, and a groggy Nash pulled me inside.

Something about his disheveled appearance was comforting. His blond hair stuck out in every direction as if he’d stuck his finger in a light socket. And his green eyes were just a bit bleary.

Nash slept like the dead. His three older brothers and younger sister teased him about it mercilessly. Yet, somehow, he always heard me when I tapped on his window.

Nash’s arms came around me, pulling me into a hug. His grip was tighter these days. Maybe it was all the training he did for football. Or working on the volunteer search and rescue team with the rest of his family. But his body was changing. And I couldn’t help but notice.

“You okay?” he asked, his voice gruff.

I nodded against his shoulder. “She was just wasted. I needed out of there.”

Nash’s arms tensed, and he pulled back. “She didn’t—?”

“No,” I cut him off quickly. “She just gets mean.”

A bit of the tension slid out of Nash, but I didn’t miss the shadows swirling in his green eyes. Shadows the incident with my father had put there. Guilt swirled in my belly. “I’m fine, really. I just…”

I wasn’t sure how to explain the pull I felt. “I just needed you.”

Nash’s green eyes sparked and blazed as he pulled me into his arms again. “I’ve got you, Mads.”

His words burned through me, bringing the best kind of pain.

We stood there for a few moments, and I let myself soak in the feel of Nash. I never felt safer than when I was in his arms. He finally released me, and I felt the loss of him instantly.



Nash guided me toward his bed and then motioned me in. Toeing off my shoes, I climbed under the covers. His sheets were so much softer than mine, his comforter thick and heavy.

Nash slid in next to me, his arms going around me and pulling me against him. “I wish you could just move in with us.”

“It doesn’t work like that, and you know it.”

“Maybe my parents could get approved as a foster placement—”

“And we would still have no control over where I got placed.”

After the incident with my dad, I’d been placed in a group home a town away. I shuddered at the memory.

Nash pulled me tighter against his body, my tank top riding up a bit with the movement. It was my favorite feeling in the world, being engulfed by Nash—his comfort, his protection, his care.

His fingers tangled in my hair. “What did she say this time?”

I tensed.

“That bad?”

I swallowed the sting in my throat. “That she hates me. That I ruined everything for her. Nothing new.”

A low growl rumbled in Nash’s throat. “She never deserved you. God, I’d like to—”

“Don’t.” I squeezed the arm he had wrapped around me. “She’s not worth it.”

Nash pressed his lips to my hair. “You’re not alone. You have me. Always.”

I let those words sink into my skin, reveling in the feel of them. But if I’d known they wouldn’t always be true, I would’ve held on to them a little tighter.





1





MADDIE





THIRTEEN YEARS LATER

My SUV hugged the familiar curve of the mountain road. As I passed the Welcome to Cedar Ridge sign, I expected to feel relief, but my fingers stayed locked around the wheel, knuckles bleached white.

I forced my hand to release its grip so I could lower my window. Breathing deeply, I pulled the familiar scent of pine into my lungs. I swore I even got a hint of lake water. The mixture of the two would always feel like home.

A home that I hadn’t been back to in over two years. I swallowed hard.

That length of time hadn’t entirely been my choice, but it had been for the best for all sorts of reasons. All of that had been shot to hell, though.

Now, I craved the familiarity of home. Knowing these roads like the back of my hand, being able to paint the landscape in my mind, and knowing at least half the residents of the small community by name brought a feeling of safety. I needed that now.

There was something else I needed, too. Something my soul craved with a ferocity that nearly stole my breath. But I couldn’t find it in myself to even speak his name.

Maybe that was why I hadn’t managed to text my best friend and tell him I was headed home. Because I was terrified that one text from him would be the thing that broke me—and I couldn’t afford to break.