Excerpt from Haven
 ~ Mackenzie ~
“Where’s my brother?” I tilt my face up to ask the titan of a man. He’s more than a foot taller than me and about three times as wide. Ward is the size of an oak tree, which makes me feel smaller than his shadow.  
“Dunno,” he answers, combining two words into one.  
“You’re his guard. Why aren’t you guarding him?” I ask in confusion.  
“He’s no longer my responsibility. You are.”
“What? Alex is out there in the world all alone with no one watching his back?” I question him.
“Yep.”
“What if…what if someone robs him or he has a wreck?”
“Mr. Stiles seems to think he’ll be fine on his own.”
“Wow, and aren’t you super concerned for him?” I mutter.  
“I just do what they tell me,” Ward replies with a shrug, his hands slipping into the front pockets of his black pants. His dark suit must have been tailor made to fit his massive chest and tree-trunk thighs since there are no oak sizes in men’s clothing stores. At least not that I know of. All my shopping is done online.
“You don’t give a shit about what happens to him, do you?” I shout up at the giant.    
“He’ll be back, either in a year or sooner,” he tells me calmly. “Until then, you’re stuck with me, munchkin.”
My jaw drops at the unfortunate nickname.
“I am a normal height at five-four. You are not!” I yell at him before I go back into my room and slam the door like a sullen teenager because I’m angry and sad and…lonely.  
God, I’m so damn lonely.
The sinking black hole inside of me grows a little deeper and wider each day. Teasing Alex could usually beat it back some, but without him…I don’t know what the fuck I’ll do.
My fists clench by my sides and my fingernails dig into the flesh of my palms as I rest my back against the closed door. The pain feels good, like I’m taking control of my body and my life and finding some relief.
My relief is shattered when I’m suddenly shoved forward, nearly falling on my face before my hand reaches out to catch myself on the foot of my mattress.
“Hey! What the hell?” I exclaim when I turn around and see Ward ducking his head under my doorway and squeezing through the opening. “What are you doing in here?” I ask.
“Room inspection,” he says before he walks past me and starts opening the drawers on my dresser.
“You have no right!” I yell at him since it’s impossible to try and stop him when all he has to do is flick me away with his fingers like I’m nothing but a bothersome fly.
“Take it up with daddy,” the jerk says while he continues riffling through my bras and panties before moving on to my socks.
I don’t know which is more embarrassing, having him see all my underwear or the fact that I’m only allowed to have sports bras and granny panties with no strings.
After he’s finished with my dresser, he peels the sheets back from my bed, the place where I sleep and do other very personal, private things.
When he starts to lift my mattress, I panic.
“No!” I tell him as I hop on top of it, bouncing a few times when my butt hits it so hard. “There’s nothing to see under here,” I say with my palms pressed down by my sides like I’m capable of holding the thing in place.   
“Up,” the annoying ogre instructs. Although, ogre probably isn’t the right word since Ward is enormous but not hideous. He’s actually the opposite, with jet-black hair and thin beard, long, almost girly dark lashes drawing attention to his denim blue eyes. I would climb him like the tree he is if given the chance, not that he would ever want a silly little inexperienced girl like me.
The point is, he’s hot and he’s already seen my unflattering bras and panties. I can’t let him see what’s hiding underneath my mattress.
“Up,” he says again, his thick eyebrows meeting and voice deepening so that the one word is an order while the first time it sounded like a request.
I shake my head in refusal, which does nothing to stop him. He lifts the right side of the mattress with me on it, sending me sliding right off onto the other side of the floor where I wish I could liquify and seep into the carpet.
“What the…oh!” Ward says from behind the raised mattress. And when I peek over, he’s holding my bright pink Lelo in his big mitt.
Kill me now.  
 
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