Hidden Miles: The Miles Family Book 4 Read online

  Hidden Miles

  The Miles Family Book 4

  Claire Kingsley

  Copyright © 2019 by Claire Kingsley

  All rights reserved.

  No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

  This is a work of fiction. Any names, characters, places, or incidents are products of the author’s imagination and used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual people, places, or events is purely coincidental or fictionalized.

  Published by Always Have, LLC

  Edited by Elayne Morgan of Serenity Editing Services

  Cover by Cassy Roop of Pink Ink Designs

  www.clairekingsleybooks.com

  Created with Vellum

  To all those who have come home bearing wounds and scars-seen and unseen-after serving our country. Thank you to you and your families for your many sacrifices.

  Contents

  Keep in touch with CK

  About This Book

  1. Leo

  2. Hannah

  3. Leo

  4. Leo

  5. Hannah

  6. Leo

  7. Leo

  8. Hannah

  9. Hannah

  10. Leo

  11. Hannah

  12. Leo

  13. Hannah

  14. Leo

  15. Hannah

  16. Hannah

  17. Leo

  18. Leo

  19. Hannah

  20. Leo

  21. Hannah

  22. Leo

  23. Leo

  24. Hannah

  25. Hannah

  26. Leo

  27. Leo

  28. Hannah

  29. Hannah

  30. Leo

  31. Hannah

  32. Leo

  33. Hannah

  34. Leo

  35. Hannah

  36. Leo

  37. Leo

  38. Hannah

  39. Leo

  Epilogue

  Gaining Miles: Chapter 1

  Afterword

  Acknowledgments

  Also by Claire Kingsley

  About the Author

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  About This Book

  “I wasn’t ready for this. Hannah deserved a man who was whole, not a broken shell. But I couldn’t resist her. Couldn’t resist this. It felt too good.

  And would that be so bad? To have something that felt good for once?”

  My name is Leo Miles, and I’m not a hero.

  I came home broken—wounded and scarred. It’s been five years, and I haven’t left my family’s land. Not once. It’s not much of a life, but with the way I look now, I prefer to stay hidden.

  My only reprieve is her voice. I put on my headset, log in to my game, and she’s there. We talk while we play, sharing everything but our personal details. She’s my best friend—my happy place—even though I don’t know her real name.

  Until one day, I hear a voice I recognize. She’s here, at my family’s winery. Meeting Hannah Tate in person rocks my world. And discovering she’s in trouble—serious trouble—changes everything.

  Hannah is my every fantasy come true. And this badass gamer girl is determined to break through my defenses. But between the mess that is my life, and the threats to my family’s safety, I can’t be anyone’s hero, least of all hers.

  But maybe we both need saving.

  One

  Leo

  The terrain rose and fell in a series of hills, each one higher than the next. None of it looked familiar. Ankle high brown grass blew in the breeze. Every so often, a copse of trees popped up in the distance. I kept a steady pace, making sure to stay on the path. Veer too far in any direction and we were sure to encounter trouble.

  Of course, we were out there looking for trouble. We just didn’t want to walk into any surprises.

  “What do you think?” I asked.

  “This is boring as shit,” Gigz said. “Why are we out here again?”

  “Quit your whining,” I said. “It’ll get better up ahead.”

  “I swear to god, if you lured me out here just to mess with me, I’m going to kick your ass.”

  I laughed. “Right. I’d like to see you try.”

  She stopped long enough to make a rude gesture, then kept running.

  “You’re such an ass,” I said.

  “Nice manners, dick,” she said. “You talk to all the ladies like that?”

  “Just you, baby.”

  “Lucky me.”

  I laughed again. God, that felt good. I didn’t laugh very often, but Gigz had a way of bringing it out in me. Even when we were running through the most lackluster terrain I’d ever seen.

  She was right. It was boring as shit.

  “Okay, maybe we should—”

  The arrow came out of nowhere. I flinched as it whizzed by.

  “Down,” Gigz yelled.

  “Not so loud,” I said as I hit the dirt. “I can hear you just fine.”

  “Sorry. What was that?”

  I looked around from my terrible hiding place in the six-inch grass. “An arrow from up ahead.”

  “Oh, you think?” she asked. “I saw the arrow, too, dork. I know where it came from. Who was it, and why just one?”

  “Single archer?”

  “A lone archer is a sitting duck out here.”

  “He’s probably behind those trees over there.” I pointed ahead of us and to the left. “Ready for this? Cover me on three.”

  “Got it.”

  “One. Two. Three.”

  I jumped up, drawing my weapon, and ran. The archer revealed himself, stepping around the trunk of a tree to shoot at me. Gigz was faster. Her arrow shot past, sinking into the trunk. The archer disappeared just as another arrow flew by.

  “There might be more of them up there,” Gigz said.

  “I’m counting on it.”

  I rounded the trunk and came face to face with a drawn bow, the arrow aimed at my chest. Archers were fast, but I was faster. My sword came down, knocking the weapon out of his hands before he could get off his shot.

  It was then that I noticed the rest of them.

  “Gigz, get your ass up here.” I ducked around the tree.

  “How many?”

  “Ten.”

  “Awesome.”

  Knowing Gigz was just behind me, I jumped out, sword ready. I charged into the group, swinging for all I was worth. One went down on my right. A giant hammer raced toward my head but an arrow to the warrior’s neck stopped him short. I hacked and sliced, killing with abandon. Another foe went down. Then a third.

  “Shit,” Gigz said. “That one almost hit me.”

  “Careful back there.”

  “You do your job, Badger, and let me do mine.”

  I laughed again, slicing through a chest that already had two arrows sticking out of it. The warrior went down at my feet, but I was already on to the next one.

  Adrenaline surged through me. My heart beat furiously as we cut through the group of outlaws. I watched them go down, feeling a rush of energy. A
lmost euphoria.

  “Yeah, baby,” Gigz said. “You got the last one?”

  “I got him.”

  Three swings and he was down. I let out a long breath.

  “Nice work,” she said. “You made that look easy.”

  “That was just the beginning,” I said. “There’s a ton of random shit out here and it gets harder the closer you get to those mountains.”

  “Good loot, though,” she said.

  “Exactly.”

  “Okay, I take it back. This isn’t boring as shit.” She paused, her end suddenly silent. “Damn it. Badger, I gotta go.”

  “Now?”

  “Yeah, now. Sorry.”

  Gigz disappeared, winking out of existence as if she’d never been there at all.

  A wave of emptiness washed over me so hard it almost knocked the breath from my lungs. I took off my headset and tossed it on my desk. I needed to log off—I’d get killed if I left my character standing there out in the open—but suddenly, it was very hard to care.

  After all, it was just a game.

  I scrubbed my hand through my hair and stretched my neck, wincing at the pull of scar tissue. It still hurt. Probably always would. I was twenty-nine, but sometimes I felt like I was ninety.

  The loss of Gigz’s voice in my ear left me feeling hollow—almost numb. It happened every time she logged off, but it was worse when it was abrupt. Usually she’d let me know how long she’d be on and I could keep one eye on the clock. Be prepared for the sense of loss when she was gone.

  I leaned back in my chair, wondering what the hell was wrong with me. That was a long list, but this struggle seemed particularly stupid. Gigz was just a gamer friend. I had lots of those, male and female. When I played with anyone else, it was just a game. When it was over, I logged off, took off my headset, went about my business.

  But Gigz was different. When we were online together, I tended to forget. The weight I carried lifted, and it was just us. Just her voice in my ear, making me smile. Making me laugh.

  I lived for those hours we spent online. And when they were over, it was hard to recover. Hard to bear the weight that once again sat so heavily on my shoulders.

  Gigz—my cat, not my elusive online friend—jumped up onto my desk. I ran my hand down her white fur while she purred. “Hey, kitty.”

  My cat wasn’t bad, as cats went. My mom had adopted her for me a few years ago. She liked to knock shit off my desk, but she was nice to have around.

  Before I logged out, I checked to make sure Gigz was still offline, just in case. Of course, it was three in the morning. I should get some sleep, not spend another few hours gaming. Not that I slept a lot in general. But I needed some. I’d wind up as nuts as my brother Cooper if I didn’t fall into bed for at least a few hours every night.

  Although all-nighters with Gigz were always worth it.

  For now, I left the mess on my desk and shuffled into my bedroom to get some rest.

  Two

  Hannah

  I tore off my headset and slammed my laptop closed. My heart raced and my hands shook as I lay down on the couch and drew the quilt up to my shoulder. I tried to slow my breathing, hoping it would look like I’d fallen asleep while working. There’d be no reason for him to get mad about that.

  Not that Jace needed a reason to get mad.

  His shoes clicked against the stairs as he walked up to our apartment. I’d lost track of time. Again. I did that all too often when I played with Badger. Iron Badger was kind of a silly gamertag. I’d started using it as a joke, and he’d eventually adopted it. But the guy was a badass. Hard like iron, and like a badger, he didn’t give a fuck. I loved that about him.

  Jace’s keys jingled as he opened the door. Deep breaths, Hannah. I forced my face to relax in case I looked tense. I didn’t want to give him any reason to think I was awake. Best case scenario, he’d assume I’d fallen asleep working again and go to bed. By himself.

  Worst case? He’d wake up the neighbors yelling at me. Again.

  The door shut and his feet moved across the floor. A few tense seconds later, I heard the bump of his holster hitting the dining table.

  I swore, he did that on purpose. Just to see if I’d jump. Or to remind me he carried a gun. I was all too aware of that fact. His profession was never far from my mind.

  Jace was a cop. And that made my life infinitely more complicated.

  My back tightened as he walked slowly through the apartment. What was he doing? Was he going to leave me alone? Wake me up? Was he testing me? For all I knew he was staring right at me, waiting to see if I’d crack an eyelid open.

  Stay calm, Hannah. He’ll go to bed. It’ll be fine.

  Jace moved around the apartment for another minute—I still didn’t know what he was doing—then the bathroom door shut.

  I breathed out a long breath. My back ached from the tension knotting my muscles. I tried to relax. It was late; I needed sleep.

  Several minutes later, the bathroom door opened. Through my closed eyes, I could see the light go out. Jace’s footsteps faded. He’d gone into the bedroom.

  Thank god.

  I turned over, adjusting the quilt, and my thoughts strayed to Badger. Had he gone on toward those mountains in the game? Maybe teamed up with someone else? It was silly how much I hated the thought of him playing with someone other than me. I had no claim on him. He was just a guy I gamed with sometimes.

  Of course, that wasn’t true. Badger was much more than some guy I gamed with. He was my friend. Maybe my best friend—which was a little sad, considering I didn’t even know his real name.

  There was a lot I didn’t know. How old he was. Where he lived. I suspected he lived in Washington, like me, based on a few things he’d said. He certainly seemed to be in my time zone. Once in a while, I indulged in the fantasy that he lived in my apartment complex. We’d meet and realize we knew each other. And of course, in my dreams he was devastatingly handsome. Tall, muscular, maybe with a sexy beard and piercing blue eyes. Naturally, he was single, and found me as attractive as I found him.

  Those were nice fantasies.

  The reality was, I didn’t know his name, but I did know a lot about him. I knew what his voice sounded like when he was tired. Or frustrated. Or happy. I knew he liked to charge into battle first. He liked to tank so he’d be the one taking the big risks. I knew he had strong protective instincts—which had a tendency to piss me off. All too often, he tried to keep me out of melees because he didn’t want me to get hurt.

  Virtual me, of course. Gigz. He’d started calling me that a few years ago. Short for giggles. He’d said he liked the way I laughed. Called me Gigz, and the name had stuck.

  I had a little bit of a crush on Badger, which was ridiculous and stupid. We’d never met. We probably never would. The few times I’d tried to get him to open up about who he was in the real world, he’d shut me out so fast it had felt like whiplash. He’d made it abundantly clear he didn’t want to connect with me outside the games we played.

  He was probably married. The thought made me sick to my stomach, but it was a real possibility. It could explain why he was so intent on anonymity. And a man like him… it was hard to believe he was single.

  Of course, technically neither was I. Although I’d been sleeping on the couch for months.

  I turned over and stared at the ceiling, still too hopped up on adrenaline to sleep. I needed to get out of here. I’d known it for a long time. But knowing Jace was bad for me and leaving him were two very different things.

  What I needed was a plan. But every time I tried to map out an exit strategy, I came up short. My parents lived in Phoenix, and I hadn’t spoken to them in months. My friends had all drifted away. My only friends now were gamers, and they all might as well have lived in Narnia. They were either like Badger—totally anonymous, so I didn’t know where they lived—or scattered around the world.

  No one close. Nowhere I could go in a pinch.

  I even worked from h
ome. I was a graphic designer, and Jace had encouraged me to go freelance. Being my own boss had its advantages, and at the time, I’d preened at the thought that Jace believed in me. But it also meant I had clients, but no coworkers. And I didn’t have a lot of reasons to leave the apartment. Jace preferred it that way.

  Twenty-seven years old, and my life was a mess.

  Turning over again, I closed my eyes. It might be a while before I could sleep, but I needed to try. I had a lot of work to do tomorrow.

  * * *

  I woke with a start, gasping as I sat up. My eyes were gritty and my neck hurt from the way I’d slept.

  “Morning, sleepyhead,” Jace said, glancing over his shoulder. He stood in the kitchen, dressed in a t-shirt and pajama pants. “Work late again last night?”

  “Yeah.” I brushed my tangled hair back from my face.

  He came over with a steaming cup of coffee and set it on the table next to my laptop. “I made coffee.”

  “Thanks.”