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Part One
Chapter One
Redwood Falls, Texas
Josh Turner leaned against the back fence under the school bleachers and watched all the movement around him. He knew that to the casual observer he appeared exceedingly bored, which was exactly the attitude he attempted to convey. And it was partially true. The Friday night high school football game was the most excitement he could find in this godforsaken town, and he knew he should’ve been relaxed as he hung out by the back fence and observed the crowd milling around the concession stand. But he wasn’t relaxed; he was on edge. He was always on edge, and he knew the reason that he couldn’t relax was because he had trust issues. He had trust issues with the entire human race. Hell, it was hard not to when he’d been physically and mentally abused for the first thirteen years of his life by his father, the one person who should have protected him at all costs.
As he leaned against the fence, Josh waited for the game to be over so he could meet up with Ty and Ethan. His buddies were on the football team and Josh knew they expected him to be around when the game ended so they could all hang out together. As he looked around, Josh could feel the invisible barrier that always seemed to stand between him and everyone else. As he glanced from one person to the next, he knew that his past home life had given him a type of notoriety among the people of Redwood Falls, not that he particularly cared for the distinction.
But there wasn’t a damn thing he could do about it.
About half of the adults in town looked at him as if he were about to steal something, primarily because they didn’t trust him not to take after his toxic waste of a father. That sucked, but it wasn’t as bad as the rest of the people who felt sorry for him, and looked at him with pity. They pitied him because of who his father was, and because he’d never really had a mother. But those were the adults, and the kids saw him differently. Josh knew that with the scars his father had inflicted on both his face and his body, he didn’t look like a normal teenager. And the kids seemed very aware of that fact. The boys looked at him with respect, and most of them gave him a wide berth. And the girls, well … the girls just looked.
Josh focused on the group of girls watching him now. Some of them blushed and looked away when his eyes fell on them, some of them boldly held his gaze. He looked them over, one by one, his eyes slowly tracking from one to the next.
He hadn’t screwed any of them yet. And he probably wouldn’t. He damn sure didn’t see anything he couldn’t live without.
He usually drove the farm truck to the next town on the weekends and made the strip up and down the main drag until he picked up a girl. His reputation, whether warranted or not, had spread, and although almost thirty miles away, there were several girls in the next town who were always willing to get in the truck with him. He didn’t have a favorite, he never kept track, but he knew he had banged most of them more than once. He was glad they were readily available because he wanted to stay away from the girls in Redwood Falls. He didn’t want any gossip to get back to his aunt that might upset her, and he damn sure didn’t want any of t
he girls picking on his cousin Katie because of something he might have done.
The girls he slept with meant nothing to him, and so far, they had been ridiculously easy to nail.
He may have been spawned from a bad seed, but evidently, from the reaction of the girls, it was a very good-looking seed. Josh was already over six feet tall, with dark, almost black hair and dark green eyes. The scars on his face that he fought to ignore only seemed to add to his allure, even though he didn’t understand why. He’d always been a skinny kid, but now, after helping his uncle on the farm for years, he was tall and lean and sported a six-pack that was often glistening and on display when he went running at night.
There was a track that looped around the high school football field, and the girls had started showing up in the evenings, two at a time, and he knew without conceit that he was the draw. He never had time for team sports or extracurricular activities like his friends. He was always too busy working, either at the feed store or side by side with his uncle in an attempt to carve out a decent living from the small farm that his uncle and father had inherited. And even though Josh didn’t have time for football, he was a conditioned athlete and he loved strength training, and running especially. It made him strong. It made him feel in control, and control was now a basic need that he couldn’t do without. Running gave him the endurance and the steely muscles that dared anyone to fuck with him, ever again.
And the girls were just an added bonus.
He looked them over now and wished he felt something other than boredom.
****
Hannah Smith-McIntyre looked around the crowded bleachers with a thrill of excitement. This was the first home game of her sophomore year. The first football game she was getting to attend without her parents in tow because she was finally in high school. Real high school. Nobody counted ninth grade as high school in Redwood Falls, because the school district kept the freshmen separated on a smaller campus. So now she was finally in tenth grade and it felt awesome, completely liberating. Her parents were ridiculously protective, and instead of dragging them everywhere with her, which had been the only option they’d given her up until now, Hannah had chosen to stay home most of the time. But now she was finally here, and the freedom felt amazing. Granted, she didn’t have a lot of friends to enjoy it with, but she really didn’t need very many; she had her best friend Ava, and that was enough.
Hannah’s braces had finally come off the week before, thank God, and tonight she had straightened her hair and experimented with more make-up than she usually used, because for once, she thought she had a shot at blending in with the older kids … maybe even being noticed. She felt like she looked reasonably good, now that the hated braces were gone. Maybe she would make some more friends or actually talk to a few of the guys from some of her classes.
She and Ava watched the first quarter of the game and then lightly ran down the steps to the concession stand. She looked around at all the older kids, milling about. Everybody knew who everyone was in this town, but she’d quickly learned that the kids were often too cool to acknowledge that fact.
Her eyes immediately zeroed in on Josh Turner as he leaned against the fence a small distance away from the crowd, and just as quickly her gaze skidded away. Her pulse accelerated, her heartbeat quickened immediately, just from being in his vicinity. He was the only person she knew who could make her start trembling simply from seeing him. It had always been that way. Ever since she’d been about thirteen, when she saw him, her knees would get weak, and her heart would start pounding away.
He was hands-down the best-looking guy Hannah had ever seen, even on television, or at the movies. He was tall and his body was packed with muscles that drew her eyes to him time and time again. He didn’t have an ounce of fat on him; she knew because she’d been lucky enough to see him on his uncle’s tractor without his shirt on. His skin was always tanned, his hair was a dark, dark brown and his eyes were brilliant dark green, a piercing green.
He could almost be called beautiful, except he had scars on his face. They weren’t acne scars. No, these were puzzling marks that for some reason shouldn’t be there. One of his eyebrows had a jagged line that ran through it, separating it and dragging down half of it, close to his eyelid, giving him a permanently menacing look that he just couldn’t help. His top lip was scarred as well with a pale discoloration that never seemed to go away. His nose had probably been broken before, because it sat just a little crooked on his face. He had several other marks as well, marks that Hannah couldn’t identify.
None of that deterred from his beauty, however. In Hannah’s mind, the scars only enhanced it, making him the person he was, not that she really knew him. No, the scars didn’t take away from his good looks and for some reason, they made Hannah want to put her arms around him and hug him. The marks were incredibly compelling. They made her feel things for him she couldn’t explain to herself. She felt a need to hold him, a need to be his friend.
He was a couple of years older than she was. He was quiet and minded his own business, but at the same time, she got the idea that he saw everything that went on around him. His family’s small section of land butted up against part of her parents’ north acreage. She had seen him around all her life, but had never spoken to him. Not that she hadn’t wanted to. She just never had a reason, and besides, he was way out of her league. It was no secret at school that every girl wanted to go out with him.
As Hannah looked around, she saw a group of popular girls, mostly eleventh and twelfth graders, standing on the other side of the concession stand. The girls stood as close to Josh as they could manage without seeming as if they were trying to attract his attention, which they so very obviously were.
Ava was on a sugar high and wanted another Coke, so she and Hannah moved closer to the older kids and got in line behind a bunch of junior high schoolers. While they waited, Hannah noticed the older girls looking at them and openly snickering. Her stomach clenched with apprehension and panic. Why did everyone hate her? What had she ever done to them?
Ava paid for her Coke and when they turned to leave, Rebecca Sutty, who was the tallest and prettiest girl in the group, looked at Hannah with contempt and then called over, “Ava, why don’t you come hang out with us tonight?”
Hannah’s nerves tightened and she felt a sickness in her stomach. Crap. Was Ava about to walk off and leave her standing alone? For whatever reason, Rebecca had been trying to make Hannah’s life miserable for the last couple of years. Hannah knew the older girl would continue to antagonize her until she graduated. Maybe then Hannah would be left in peace. Rebecca was spiteful and jealous and Hannah had no clue what to do about it, other than endure and try to ignore her.
Hannah knew Rebecca came from a broken home, and she probably thought that Hannah had everything going for her. Hannah had two loving parents, an older brother who doted on her, and more family land and money than she would ever need. It didn’t matter that her father was only her adoptive father, and her brother wasn’t related to her by blood. Even if the townspeople still remembered Hannah’s mom as the young, single mother who came to the area with her six-month old baby daughter and promptly caught the eye of the young, rich, eligible widower, it didn’t matter anymore, because too many years had gone by. Hannah and her mother had been in Redwood Falls for so many years that they were fully entrenched in the McIntyre family now. And from the outside looking in, Hannah knew it must look like she did have everything. When the time came for college, with her grades and her family’s money, she would probably get to pick the university she wanted to attend. Yes, Rebecca Sutty was spiteful and Hannah knew with a sinking sensation that she was about to be hurt and humiliated where she stood.
Hannah saw the wistful expression on Ava’s face and she didn’t blame her friend for wanting to hang out with the popular girls. Hannah refused to blame Ava for this. Ava was Hannah’s only true friend and she’d been there for Hannah when she’d wanted to talk about anything and everyt
hing. Hannah decided right then and there that she’d forgive Ava if she walked away from her now.
Hannah just wanted the humiliation she was about to experience to be behind her, so she turned and whispered, “Go on, Ava. I’ll be okay.” Ava gave Hannah a questioning look and hesitated a moment. Her expression was torn as she looked between Hannah and the other girls. Hannah wanted Ava to have fun; she really did, and said again, “It’s okay.” Ava gave Hannah one last, concerned look but then slowly turned and walked away.
All alone now, with a sinking feeling in the pit of her stomach, Hannah glanced away from the group of girls and her gaze clashed violently with Josh Turner’s.
****
Josh vaguely recognized the blonde girl but he couldn’t place her. He knew the girl who had just walked away from her was Ava Anderson, Ty’s little sister. He’d seen her at Ty’s house over the years, gotten to know her some, and he was more that a little surprised that she’d just walked away from her friend like that. It didn’t gel with the Ava he knew. Granted, he’d mostly ignored the younger girl so he didn’t know her very well.
But he couldn’t place where he’d seen the blonde girl, other than school … maybe. But that wasn’t it. He knew her from somewhere else. She stood alone now, and held herself awkwardly, even though she was exceptionally pretty. His mind ticked through the people from town as he tried to figure out who she was.
He kept coming up blank until abruptly, a memory of a tiny girl with pigtails jumping from the back of her dad’s truck to get the mail out of the mailbox slammed his brain. Hannah McIntyre. Crap! Even though she was technically his neighbor, more than a mile separated their houses and he hadn’t seen her in years. He was surprised that she was already in high school; she’d always been so tiny that she seemed even younger than she was. Hannah McIntyre was the little town princess who had everything.
