AllFreeNovel
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They had a silent agreement.
The big suits have been trying to snatch a lot of this old land up but they’ve not been successful; not yet, anyway.
People seem to love the idea of building up the countryside and making it a tourist hot spot, but what they don’t see is the family lineage of everyone who has grown up here and made this their home.
I swallow hard when I pull into the winding drive of Maple Farm. The trees that line the dusty old driveway blowing softly in the winter breeze, the dark clouds rolling in and ready to eclipse the winter sunlight.
My mind wanders to the Rivera brothers.
One more than the others.
Riggs.
Riggs was the oldest Rivera brother followed by Tripp, then Pacey. Austin was the same age as Tripp, thirty-three. Riggs was thirty-five and Pacey was the same age as me, twenty-nine.
My favorite Rivera boy had dark brown curly hair, a little longer than average which travelled to the nape of his neck just enough for you to curl your fingers in. Light, beautiful, sage green eyes that consumed you completely and full, rosy lips that you silently begged to cover yours at every given moment and a smile that made you weak at the knees. His jaw was sharp, his cheek bones high.
He was beautiful.
He was rugged.
Dirty, rough, calloused hands, toned body and broad, heavy shoulders.
Everything about him screamedbig boy.
I crushed on him so hard growing up, I would like to think I kept my cool around him but thinking back, I doubt I did. He was always tall and a little heavier set than his brothers, his hair was always wild but he was baby-faced, we all were. Where now, he was a man.
Puffing my cheeks out, the noise of this car is not ideal on making a silent entrance.
My parents’ farmhouse comes into view, the front yard rolling into the fenced off fields as I approach. Their house is beautiful. Timber built in a teak stained wood; it’s impressive. Large windows that stream in the sun perfectly, a wrap-around porch with the perfect veranda. The views overlooking the snow tipped mountains makes my heart gallop like a wild horse.
My heart stutters in my chest when I see Austin leaning against the fence to the left of the house where the horses are turned out and Riggs is leaning next to him, his elbows resting on the wooden post.
Bang.
My heart thuds and my anxiety swirls in my chest.
I see Austin’s head turn in my direction when he hears the commotion of my car. The windows are tinted so I have no idea if he even knows it’s me. The blood pounds through my ears, my palms sweaty as I approach.
I crack the windows slightly for Butch and I hear Riggs growl, his voice low as he grumbles to my brother.
“What’s the betting it’s an outsider who took the wrong turn on their sat nav? We don’t get them sort of cars here,” he scoffs, shaking his head from side to side, tipping his face down slightly and running his gloved fingers over the rim of his black cowboy hat. I roll my eyes at his stupid statement.Ass.
Austin whistles through his teeth as he steps a little closer to no doubt admire the car and offer some friendly help but he doesn’t get a chance to even reach me. Opening my door, it swings up and I try with all my might to get out with some sort of dignity, pressing my knees together as I twist. My hair is a mess and tangled, my dress creased, and my feet are killing me. My heel slips on the pebbled drive as I try and balance myself. I feel the humiliation mark my cheeks as I feel Riggs’ eyes on me. This is not how I wanted to return.
“Penny?” Austin squints and I am doing everything to stop the tears from falling at the use of my nickname.
“Aussie,” I choke as he runs towards me and envelopes me in his arms and only then do I collapse into a heap. Eyes blurring as I finally give into the tears, the burn in my throat feels like I have swallowed lava but I let it erupt and flow, burning me as it does.
I hear a commotion of loud whispers and surprised gasps behind him and reluctantly lift my red rimmed eyes from his plaid shirt which is soaked in my tears, to see my pops standing on the veranda and my mom next to him, wide eyed and mouth a gape.
“Aspen!” she calls out as she begins running over to me, my pops standing guard on the front porch and Aussie doesn’t let me go, his arms still firmly wrapped around my small frame.
“Are you okay my sweet girl?” my mom says as she pulls me out of Austin’s grasp and clasps her cool, soft hands around my face, her eyes searching for something, anything to give reason as to why I am here. As to why I am in the state that I am, broken and wounded. Tears seep from my eyes once more and all I want to do is hide in a corner and lick my wounds.
“I’m fine,” I managed to muster the two words that I have felt myself repeating either out loud or in my head. My throat bobs, thickness catching at the back of my throat and I ignore the burn, my stomach knotted and twisted with anxiety. Nerves coat my skin in the form of goosebumps and the pressure builds behind my hazel eyes once more. “I just needed to see you guys,” I lie and I hate that it slipped off my tongue so easily. I didn’t want to tell them the truth. I didn’t want them to know that he kicked me out on the sidewalk and left me in the cold. I didn’t want them to know that he in fact had broken my already broken and battered heart. I didn’t want them to know that I needed them.
“Oh,” she drags me in for a hug, holding me tightly and I feel my body quiver in her motherly embrace. “Where is Luke?”
