by Zoe Dawson
His voice was full of emotion, and my whole being was riveted on what he was about to say.
He took a breath, and his eyes went moist. “But when I went to apply, the guy took one look at me and spit at me and told me to get lost. He didn’t need some thieving bastard’s offspring working for him.”
My arms tightened at the cruelty of people, thinking about Boone trying to just help out his momma.
“That hurt me really bad. I went home and just sat in my room for a long time. I might have shed some tears…in a manly way, only, though. My ma came in, and when she saw me, she made me some hot chocolate. I told her about the mean guy. She was so mad, but she brought out some paper and crayons and we drew and colored. I was fourteen years old, acting like I was five again. That was beautiful, too. That fall I started high school. And the memory of my dad leaving and what he had done to us hurt really badly, too. It didn’t take me long to get sucked into that I-don’t-give-a-damn-crowd. I figured if people thought I was a good-for-nothing, I might as well prove them right.”
“Oh, Boone. I’m so sorry. We’ve both been discounted in our lives. That’s something we have in common.”
He looked up at me, his eyes earnest. “Did I hurt you, Verity?”
“I thought you had, sugar, but I was wrong. So wrong. I’m very sorry.”
This was so unfair to him. Delirium made him say things he probably wouldn’t say normally, and right now I just didn’t want to be the kind of person who took advantage of his delirium.
“No. I don’t do terrible things,” he said. “Just to myself.”
My heart hitched, a cold wash of dread snaking through me, the realization hitting me hard. I had somehow misjudged Boone. Had given in to the same perniciousness as the town and judged him by the old gossip about his family reputation. God, what had I done?
My anger seemed to have dissolved. He was a tempting sweetheart. He was sarcastic and teasing, but I was pretty sure I had made a terrible, horrible mistake.
The knowledge of it churned in my gut.
“I didn’t drug you, Verity. I couldn’t. I wouldn’t. It’s just not me.”
“Shhh,” I said. “Rest, Boone.”
He closed his eyes and I held him as he continued to shiver on and off. I was relieved when his fever finally broke in the early morning. I got him out of the tub and wiped him down, towel drying his hair. Getting another two bottles of water into him, I led him back to his bed. He collapsed against the sheets, and this time he fell to sleep almost immediately.
I looked down at him, my arms locked around my midriff, standing in my damp underwear in Boone’s bedroom, shivering from reaction and an awful fear. Not sure my legs would continue to hold me, I left Boone’s room and went into his laundry room. I found a t-shirt and a pair of grey drawstring shorts on the dryer, so I unhooked my bra and pulled off my panties and shoved both in to dry. Slipping on the too-big shorts, I pulled the strings tight. When I put on Boone’s t-shirt, it came to mid-thigh, and the scent of him clung to the cotton. I leaned on the dryer, my vision blurring with remorseful tears.
For a full year, I had blamed Boone.
And now I had to reassess my assumptions and try to get my head around the truth.
He hadn’t been the one who had slipped X into my drink at the graduation party and ruined my life.
If it hadn’t been Boone, who had it been?
Chapter Six
Boone
I woke up slowly, something heavy against my face, something soft wrapped around me and smelling so damn good it enticed me to open my eyes.
And, for a minute, I thought I was dreaming. Verity’s face was close to mine, her lax hand, fingers buried in my hair, rested from my hairline to my jaw, her thumb right against my lips. It was as if she wanted to keep tabs on my fever in case it spiked again in the night.
Through the haze of my delirium, I remembered her exasperated, concerned, eyes-closed-turned-on, and guilty face.
The exasperation made me smile.
The concern turned me on.
The turned-on look—yeah, big surprise—turned me on, too.
The guilt made me forget about all the other stuff. And once again, I wanted to talk. So this wasn’t just a fever-induced dream.
As usual, my morning dick, which was always ready to go, grumbled WTF?
I was on top of her—again. My leg between hers, the cool air on my ass telling me I had part of me hanging out of the sheet, and she was just covered by my body, her hip not far away from my eager dick. My upper chest was snuggled right up against all that stuff that made Verity female, and enticing, and irresistible.
Here I was all over her, had been all over her last night. I’d just told her I wasn’t the type of guy to slip her X, and now I was manhandling her and not letting her go. But she’d taken care of me, handling both my fever and my fever-induced mauling.
I felt myself slip a little bit more into the essence of Holy Mary Verity Fairchild, looking so young and vulnerable in her sleep. Remnants of the night before tumbled around inside my still-pounding head. Floating in the bathtub. Man, I remembered that. I also remembered I was buck naked and she was in this hot, creamy, golden getup, the bra scooping and accentuating her full breasts, the scrap of lace that was supposed to be panties covering her lower region a complete joke.
I’m not sure what I said, but I remember pulling her under me before the bathtub thing, not wanting to let her go. Already freaking stark naked. Geezus. She had been cool and hot against me. I think I kissed her, too. Yup, and I was pretty sure I’d been naked.
Double fucking geezus!
I started to cough, and my chest felt congested.
She started awake, and I think for a moment she wondered if she was dreaming, too.
“Hey,” I rasped. “You look fucking beautiful in the morning.”
She blushed, and instead of removing her hand, she slipped it over my forehead, brushing back my hair gently. I loved the way she touched me.
“You are a pain in the ass Boone, sick or well, asleep or awake.”
I smiled. “Is that affection I hear in your voice?”
She snorted. “No. It’s exhaustion.”
I laughed, then started coughing again. She reached behind her and grabbed a bottle of water and the bottle of pills.
I ignored them for the time being. “Look, I’m sorry about all this. I just told you I wasn’t the guy who took away choices and there was a point where I wouldn’t let you go. Or, was that a hallucination?”
“No, it wasn’t a hallucination. You were pretty confident about what you wanted. But you were delirious, and I knew I could leave if I wanted to. You would have let me go.”
“But you didn’t go, even when I stripped down.”
“I couldn’t leave you alone. And seeing you…um…without clothes?” She blushed. “Just, wow, Boone.”
My heart swelled and my ego inflated…a lot. “Thank you, by the way, for staying with me all night and putting up with my shit.”
She nodded, her fingers slipping into my hair, her thumb rubbing at my hairline just above my temple.
“Is that the only reason you stayed? Because I was sick?”
She looked away. “Not exactly.” She fidgeted with the neckline of the t-shirt she wore, and I realized it was one of mine. I wondered if she had anything on under it.
My dick went yes. I told it to shut the fuck up.
“Boone, I want to explain my behavior since I got back—okay, for the whole year I was away. I’ve been so pissed at you.”
“I get it, Verity. You don’t have to explain.”
“But I do, Boone. The graduation party.”
“What does that have to do with anything? We didn’t even speak.”
“I wanted to talk to you. More than once.”
I held her gaze, so grateful that she was finally talking to me. “At the party? Why didn’t you? Was I a fucking jerk?”
She hesitated, then spoke voice thick with regret. “I thought y
ou were, but I was wrong.”
I exhaled heavily, a weight lifted. This was good. I felt really good about that. “About the X.”
“Yes.”
She took a hard breath, and I started to get a really bad feeling about this. “What happened, Verity?”
Her eyes welled up and my heart skipped. I moved closer to her. “What? You’re killing me here.”
“I judged you. Prematurely and unfairly.”
“What do you mean?”
There was stress in her eyes, in her soft mouth as it tightened. “I bought into your reputation, and I’m ashamed that I haven’t talked to you about this before. But I never even expected to have any contact with you at all. I planned to be here for the summer, then leave in the fall.”
That made my heart lurch. I didn’t want her to go anywhere. “I was wasted at that party. I don’t remember much of it after I downed some strong shit and drank myself into oblivion.”
“You passed out in the bed of your truck,” she whispered it, and there was that bruised look again. It drove me fucking nuts.
My stomach knotted. “How do you know that?”
I started coughing again and she pushed the bottle and pills at me. After I dutifully drank and swallowed the pills. Something struck me.
“You seem awfully nonchalant about my buff body for a preacher’s daughter,” I said and she looked away.
She finally met my gaze, her face drawn, a disturbing expression in her eyes. “It’s not the first time I’ve seen you naked, Boone. And you have a preconceived notion of who I am, too. Just like I fell into that same trap with you. I’m not that pure.” She stared at me for a moment, then looked down.
My brain froze on those words and the dream slammed into me full force. There was a reason it had seemed so real.
That’s when everything went to hell. I heard someone at the front door and then the door opened.
“Boone! Fucking A! I’m going to kick your ass, unless you’re in a ditch somewhere. Then I’m going to pull you out of it and kick it anyway!”
“Brax, stop shouting,” Aubree said.
“Yeah, chill your jets,” Booker growled.
Braxton’s voice, followed by Aubree’s and Booker’s, made the revelation that Verity had just dropped on me swirl in me like Armageddon.
“Shit.” Verity said.
“Fuck.” I said at exactly the same time.
We didn’t even have a second to move or cover up. Part of my ass, leg and lower back were showing. I had Verity beneath me and plastered against me like a second skin. Braxton appeared in the doorway and stopped dead when he saw us, all snuggled up on my bed. His anger vanished and his jaw dropped open, his eyes widening. I’ve never seen him look so shocked.
Booker slammed into Braxton and Aubree into him. “What the hell….” Booker said. Then he saw us, too. His face went slack, his eyes more stricken with both fear and immediate anxiety.
Then Aubree, and she gasped loudly and said into the stunned silence, “Verity?!”
All three of them stood there like fucking idiots. All three of them just stared like we were the main attraction at a freak show.
Then Verity swore again, her voice catching, and scrambled away from me. She rushed into the bathroom and came out a few seconds later with her clothes.
“Verity, wait,” I shouted, then started coughing again. Damn.
Aubree dashed after her, and my brothers stalked into the room, both of them talking at once.
“Why don’t you answer your fucking phone?” Booker said.
“Are you out of your fucking mind, huckleberry?” Brax yelled.
“I knew something was going on with that girl.” Booker said, sounding sick.
Braxton shook his head like he still couldn’t believe it. “The preacher’s daughter! Are you stupid?”
I totally ignored them and jumped out of bed. Okay, I went to jump out of bed, but I actually crawled on my hands and knees because I was so weak. I snatched my jeans and fumbled into them, barely managing to zip them. Stumbling out of the room, I staggered to the kitchen and I caught Verity coming out of the laundry room fully dressed with Aubree.
“Verity, wait.”
“Boone,” she said, her face full of embarrassment. “I’ve got to go.”
“But we need to talk.” I glanced at Aubree, but she didn’t budge. She would be on Booker’s side, I guess, not really sure what she thought about all this. Verity was one of her best friends. “You can’t just say what you said and leave now!”
Her eyes knotted me up inside.
I needed a chance to talk to her. It wasn’t because I wanted her, although I did want her. I was tied up inside and a little frantic. This was something else. I didn’t know what, couldn’t put a name to it, but whatever I’d seen in her face this morning had been profound. It had compelled me. It still compelled me. She pressed her hand to my chest, right over my heart. “Later,” she whispered and turned away, practically running out of my house.
“Oh, God, Boone, you really are the reckless one,” Aubree said, and she followed Verity out. I watched them get into Booker’s Mustang and drive away.
I turned around. “Fuuuccckkk!” I said, low and broken.
Both of my brothers stood there looking like they were going to kick the shit outta me.
Booker had such disappointment in his eyes that my stomach knotted and I shifted.
“I really thought you put this behind you, Boone. Verity Fairchild is nothing but trouble. Have you forgotten who we are in this town? There’s no way anyone is going to accept you hanging out with the preacher’s daughter, least of all the preacher,” Braxton said, and here I expected my lecture to come from Booker.
I met Booker’s eyes. The disappointment still there and it really hit me hard, but I just couldn’t give him what he wanted.
“You guys don’t understand. I have to talk to Verity. It’s too important.”
“You need to break all ties with her, Boone,” Booker said. “This has all the makings of a disaster, and there’s going to be a lot of fallout if anyone finds out about you two.”
Everything in me stiffened. “Don’t tell me what I can and cannot do, Booker. You’re my brother, not my daddy. The only person who can tell me to back off right now is Verity. We have something going on. Plus I’m already pledged to do the landscaping at the church, and I’m following through with that. I’m not going to back out on my word to the reverend.”
“This town is going to stone you, if the revver doesn’t draw and quarter you first.”
“Boone,” Booker said. “What’s going on that you have Verity here? In your fucking bed.”
“I was sick. I had a fever. Nothing happened.”
“No?” Brax said. “It’s just a matter of time, huckleberry. I saw the way you were looking at her, and it wasn’t like she was any Florence Nightingale. Maybe you should fuck her and get her outta your system?”
I don’t know what came over me, but instantaneous anger surged through me. I lunged at Braxton and hit him so hard in the jaw that he crashed into my guitar stand and broke my acoustic guitar into tiny wooden bits.
He came up off the floor and smashed into me. Elbowed my mouth, and smashed my lip against my teeth, splitting it. Blood filled my mouth. He wrestled me to the floor and started whaling on me. I didn’t even fight back. I don’t know why.
Booker pulled him off, but I just lay there.
“What the fuck, Boone? This isn’t like you,” Booker said.
“You son of a bitch,” Braxton said, pacing, his fists clenched. “Why did you do that?”
Breathing hard, I looked him firmly in his wounded eyes. “Don’t. Talk. About. Verity. Like. That. Again.”
“Geezus,” Booker said. He put his hand on Brax’s shoulder and squeezed. “Brax. Why don’t you head on out?”
Brax walked over to the fridge and got an ice pack out of the freezer. He tossed it to me as I sat up, his eyes going over my face. I must have looked
like a complete mess.
“Dammit, Boone. Fucking A.” He looked towards the dining room and my smashed, guitar and his mouth tightened. Giving me one more emotion-packed look, he left.
Booker offered his hand and pulled me up. My head was pounding again, and as soon as I was on my feet, I bent over and coughed like my lungs were coming up. My stomach lurched and I said, “Oh, shit.” Then I ran for the bathroom.
Once inside, I collapsed to the floor and emptied my stomach into the bowl. With a groan, I dropped back against the wall, totally wrung out. Booker loomed in the bathroom doorframe.
“Boone, what is really going on with Verity?”
“I don’t fucking know everything. That’s why I need to talk to her. But something happened.” I swallowed the bile that rose in my throat. “I need to talk to her and get it out in the open.”
“This is about last year at the graduation party?”
“Yes, according to her.”
“What happened at the party?”
“Fuck me. I’m not sure. I passed out, blacked out. You remember what I was like back then. Fucking screw-up. And, now it’s come back to haunt me.”
Booker came into the bathroom and squatted down. “Boone, no matter what happens, no matter what Verity says or does or didn’t do. Whatever. Brax and I will have your back. Don’t ignore my phone calls again. You fucking idiot. I was worried. Brax was worried. Aubree was worried. Our radar had been going off all damn day.” He swallowed, hard.
“And then you didn’t show up to bartend. I know you’re not that same guy you were last year. Brax and I know that. You’re our brother, and nothing you do will ever be bad enough that we wouldn’t stand by you. Clear, you asshole?”
I closed my eyes. “I feel like shit, Book. I’m sorry I made you worry, but you know what it’s like to have a girl mess you up. Like really mess you up.”
“Yes,” Aubree said, from the doorframe. “He does.”
I met her eyes. “Is she okay? Tell me she’s okay, Breebree.”
“She’s freaked. She refused to talk to me. Told me to leave her the hell alone and rushed into the house, where her parents then descended on her like a load of bricks. So Verity has her hands full right now. Her daddy was livid.”