Big Man’s Claim by Wylder, Penny (new ebook reader TXT) 📕

If I can know that about her in just two weeks, where the hell has he been?

Driving home, my hands are gripping the steering wheel so tight my knuckles are white. I can't stop thinking about what Ryder said.

I am older than her. Her life is just beginning. We might have hopped onto the same path, but we're not walking the same walk.

Am I any better than. . .

I think back to a girl from my past. A friend who needed help and nothing more, and I was there for her. There was a guy twice my friend's age stalking her. He wouldn't leave her alone, and the police wouldn't do anything to protect her.

This situation isn't exactly the same, but what makes me any different than that guy? I'm older than her by a decade. She's only eighteen, a single foot into adulthood. I might not be stalking her, but I'll be holding her back from experiencing life.

Just like the stalker stopped my friend Sadie from living, I'll be stopping Melody. I've already been her age. I've been stupid and reckless. I made mistakes and grew into the man I am today.

I'll be stripping her of all those experiences, holding her back. She might regret it later. Having not gone out to party with her friends. Not going on random road trips. Not being free to follow the wind wherever it takes her.

Melody deserves the chance to figure out her life without an older man tying her down to a place she might not want to be. It isn't fair for her to have to settle for anything because of me.

My head is trying to do the right thing. It wants to be rational, to recognize the truth of what this is. It’s just a fling. We're having fun right now, but in the end, we can never be together. Ten years is a big difference.

But my heart, my heart is speaking a different language. It isn’t using logic. My heart only feels. It feels her. It wants her. It needs her. And right now, it's so heavy at the thought of ever letting her go.

I'm in too deep, and the idea of becoming the man she'll grow to resent pains me. I won't become her big mistake. I have to do the right thing.

And it's not what I want. Except, this isn't about me at all. This is for her. No matter how much I hate the idea of this, there's no avoiding it.

I have to let her go.

11

Melody

'Your call has been forwarded—'

Hanging up, I send Bran another text. Not just another text, but the millionth message in the past two days. He probably thinks I'm crazy for texting him so much, but this is driving me nuts.

Where are you? Call me. Hitting send, I toss the phone on my bed.

I haven't heard from him since the day at the waterfall, and that was four days ago. My mind has been running wild. I knew it was risky opening up to him and telling him the one thing I absolutely know I want one day.

I shouldn't have said anything to him about wanting a family.

Dropping onto the mattress, I tuck my hands under my legs and hang my head. Ryder told me he was a loner, he warned me Bran wasn't a good guy. He left his family, abandoned them as if they meant nothing to him.

And I didn't listen.

I let myself fall for a guy who will never love me back.

Flopping back, I throw my arms over my head and let out a sigh. There's a weight on my chest. The anxiety is starting to move up from my stomach and hit me where it really hurts. My heart.

I wasn't sure what he was thinking after I told him about wanting a family, he didn't say anything. Deep down I guess I was just hoping he was listening with no judgment. I certainly didn't mean to scare him away.

Is it really fear?

Or is he just a coward?

I want answers. I deserve that, at least.

Picking up my phone, I try to call him one more time, but again it goes unanswered.

“That's it,” I say out loud, sitting up quickly.

Buttercup picks up his head and looks at me with sleepy eyes.

“I'm going to find out for myself,” I say to my dog. He doesn't seem to care, dropping his head back down.

I'm not just going to sit here and wait for answers that might never come. I'm going to go get them for myself.

If he's the man I think he is, then he's going to tell me what's going on to my face. I've been annoyed as hell that he's ignoring me, but now I'm taking control of this. He needs to talk to me.

Running down the stairs, Jenna is wobbling herself into the kitchen. “Hey, Mel, you headed to work?”

I don't even stop as I say, “Uh, yeah, and I'm running late.” Shoving the storm door open, it slams shut behind me.

I'm not explaining anything to her. Jenna cries on a dime lately, for good things and bad things. It doesn't matter. If I tell her I'm going to get answers from the man I'm falling for, she'll either burst out in tears because she'll think it's sweet, or she'll rage cry because she and my brother warned me about him already.

I don't have time for either scenario right now.

Pulling up his driveway, I see his truck right where it normally is outside. Parking, I look up at his house, but it's dark.

He's here. I know he's here.

Standing at his door, I hit the wood with the back of my knuckles lightly. Cupping my hands against the big window, I try to look inside, but I can't see shit.

Taking a step back, I glance around the property in case he's outside chopping wood or in his garden. He's not.

Knocking on the door harder, I call out, “Bran! Open up