Racked and Stacked

by Lorelei James

  “Yeah, good luck with that.” She rolled over and pulled the covers over her head.

  Chapter Fifteen

  “Riss, will you get a move on? We’re gonna be late.”

  “Yeah, I’d really hate to miss the doctor poking and prodding me.”

  “Let’s hope they’re done fast and I’ll take you out for tacos to celebrate.”

  But she wasn’t done complaining. “I don’t know why they scheduled an appointment. It’s not like they can see through the cast to check if my bones are healing.”

  Ike helped her into her coat. “A clinical follow-up visit is standard after any surgery.”

  “There oughta be a standard online questionnaire to fill out. If any of my answers are hinky then they can call me and see if an appointment is necessary.”

  “Hinky? Is that an official medical term?”

  “Bite me, ass-hat.”

  Lashing out, her tell for nerves. He let it slide.

  “Hold on to my arm and slip your boots on.”

  Grumble, grumble.

  “Besides, I think they’re just taking out your stitches today.”

  Riss lifted her head and glared at him. “Why do you know more about my medical treatment than I do?”

  “Someone has to pay attention, darlin’, because you obviously don’t.”

  Without a word, she turned and walked away.

  Fuck. He did not want to do this with her today, but the woman was a master at self-sabotage. Ike followed her into the guest bathroom.

  She’d upended her toiletry bag and was rifling through the items, tossing them into the sink one by one.

  “What in the hell are you doin’?”

  “Looking for my scissors.” She dropped a tube of lipstick into the sink.

  “I already said your hair looks great; there’s no need for you to follow through with your earlier threat to chop it all off right now,” he joked.

  Her eyes met his in the mirror. “The scissors are to take my stitches out.”

  “Riss, you are not takin’ out your own stitches.”

  “You’re right. I’m not. You are.”

  “Enough.” He spun her around and caged her against the countertop.

  “Move.”

  “Not until you tell me what’s goin’ on with you today. You’ve been in a shit mood since you woke up.”

  Something vulnerable flitted through her eyes and disappeared. “Don’t be nice, don’t be reasonable, just let me be.”

  Then it clicked. Their conversation last night. Riss didn’t know how to act around him, so she acted like she always did—came out swinging. “I meant what I said.”

  “I know. And it’s thrown everything off, okay? It’s thrown me off balance and I’m already struggling with one working arm, so back off.”

  His eyes narrowed. “Was that an attempt at a joke?”

  “A lame attempt, apparently.”

  “Baby, talk to me. Please.”

  “See, that? That right there is confusing me. Calling me baby when you’re so sweet and your concern for me so genuine that I get this melty sensation inside.”

  “Melty sensation is good, right?”

  “I want to believe it is.” Her eyes were troubled, but she didn’t look away from him. “Then you change completely. Bossing me around. Telling me how things are gonna be instead of asking. So half the time I get the sexy, flirty Ike I want to bang into next week, and then I get Ike the big brother, who mansplains everything. I’m confused and I just want some time alone, in my own damn house, to sort everything out.”

  Ike’s brain had gotten stuck on bang into next week.

  Oh hell yeah, and this counter was the perfect height for him to spread her thighs wide as he decided if he’d devour her with his mouth first or just drive his dick into her.

  “Then you get that look,” Riss said, bringing him back to reality. “And if you say what look? I will knee you in the ’nads.”

  Ike stepped back, and wily Riss slipped away and stormed out of the bathroom.

  When he tracked her to the foyer, she was attempting to put on her coat.

  “Goddammit, Riss. Stop. You’re gonna hurt yourself.”

  “Then it’s a lucky thing I’m goin’ to the doctor.”

  He grabbed the edges of her coat, using them to pull her closer. “So now you want to go to the doctor?”

  “Yes. Because I realized she can clear me to return home.”

  His guts tightened into a knot and he might’ve yanked on her coat a little harder than he meant to. “You know what? You’re right. It’s sucked ass every day you’ve had to be stuck here with me. I told you if you hated it at the end of two weeks, and if the doctor cleared you, you could go.” He tugged the poncholike scarf down over her exposed cast. “So let’s go find out.”

  “Ike. It hasn’t sucked.”

  “Then why are you so fired up to leave?”

  “Because I’m confused about how things have changed between us.”

  That was when Ike let his gaze find hers. He’d wondered if she would acknowledge the shift in their relationship or if she’d ignore it.

  Question was, should he ignore it?

  The bigger question: was that shift situational?

  “You’ve already told me several times that nothin’ can happen between us while I’m staying with you.”

  “Do you want something to happen?”

  “If I did, I’m not sure I’d tell you,” she retorted.

  “Don’t start talkin’ in circles. Christ.” He grabbed on to her coat lapels again, stopping her retreat. “You’re the one person in my life who I can be fully honest with.”

  “Then what do you want, Ike?”

  “Fuck it. I want this.” He clamped one hand on the back of her head and slammed his mouth down on hers.

  The instant their tongues touched and their passion caught fire, her caution fled and she threw all her energy into the kiss. Driving him wild with her soft moans and sucking mouth.

  Ike hadn’t imagined he’d be a guy who got hard from control. But he loved that Riss couldn’t use her hands or that sinful body of hers to push him to the edge.

  And holy fuck, did the woman kiss his face off.

  His damn lips tingled.

  He forced himself to let go of her.

  They were both breathing hard and unable to look at each other.

  With the doctor’s visit looming, he shouldn’t have kissed her, because now they’d talk the damn kiss to death on the hour-long ride to Casper.

  “Riss—”

  “Don’t.”

  “Don’t what?”

  “Don’t apologize.”

  Shit. He’d been about to do just that. “Then don’t put those walls back up. I’m as confused by this as you are.”

  That was when the pounding on the door started.

  The glass panels allowed a glimpse of a hulking figure in a bulky coat peering in at them.

  “What in the world is he doin’ here?” Riss said, trying to distance herself from Ike.

  “How can you even tell who that is?”

  “I recognize my brother Lonnie’s coat.”

  Ike reached over, unlocked the dead bolt and opened the door.

  Then Riss stomped past him and got boot to boot with her brother. “Spying on me much?”

  He snorted. “I knocked. More than once.”

  “We were just—”

  “I saw what you were doin’. At least you had clothes on. Now come on. We gotta git.”

  She just stared up at him. “What?”

  “Your doctor’s appointment,” he prompted her. “I texted that I’d pick you up.”

  “All your text said was ‘DR @3 TUE.’”

  Lonnie pushed his hood back—likely t
o better glare at her.

  Ike forgot that Riss looked nothing like her brothers until they were side by side. Lonnie’s darker hair, skin, eyes and sharp, hawkish facial features showed more than a hint of his Native American ancestry.

  “Yeah, and here I am,” Lonnie said.

  “I was supposed to decipher that to mean you’d pick me up?”

  “What’d you think it meant?”

  “I thought it was a reminder!”

  “Jesus, Riss, it was a reminder that I was coming to pick you up. You can’t drive. How else are you gonna get there? Order a cab?”

  “I thought since I’m a grown woman, you’d assume I’d get to the doctor on my own. God. I’m not twelve. I’m perfectly capable—”

  “Of takin’ care of yourself, yeah, yeah, yeah, I’ve heard that before. But you can’t take care of yourself right now, can you? So I’m here to drag your stubborn ass to the doctor. Because we both know you’d blow it off if you could.”

  “You took time off from work to do this?” Riss demanded.

  “Yep. Now gimme your arm so I can help you into the truck because the walkway is slippery as shit.”

  Déjà vu hit Ike hard.

  You’ve acted like this dozens of times with your own sisters. And now you can see that you’ve been treating Riss the same way.

  “Go back to work, Lonnie. Ike is takin’ me. We were just on our way there.”

  Lonnie finally acknowledged Ike’s presence with a scathing look. “I got this.”

  “Since she’s stayin’ with me, I’m driving her.”

  “Nope. That’s why I’m takin’ her. I need to hear from the doctor that she’s healing. Just because she’s in your house don’t guarantee she’s getting any rest.”

  Riss smacked him on the shoulder. “Lonnie, you asshole.”

  Now Ike understood Riss’s automatic response to come out swinging, because he wanted to punch her brother. “At least since she’s been stayin’ with me—in her own private room, with a private bath—she’s been rested, bathed, fed and clothed.”

  “Omigod, you two. Shut the fuck up. Gimme the damn keys. I’m driving myself to the doctor.”

  Both Lonnie and Ike snapped, “No,” at the same time.

  “Then figure it out now,” Riss huffed. “It’s fuckin’ freezin’ out here.”

  Lonnie said, “My truck’s already warmed up. Let’s go.”

  Ike glanced over to see Lonnie had parked his dirty dually sideways across the cement slab, completely blocking the garage door so Ike couldn’t get out.

  Jesus, this family was belligerent.

  But so was he.

  He slipped his arm around Riss’s waist. “Looks like Lonnie is drivin’ us to Casper.”

  “Us?” Lonnie repeated. “There’s no room for you, bud.”

  “You have a quad cab, bud—there’s plenty of room.”

  Lonnie looked between Ike and Riss. “Whatever. But he sits in the back.”

  Ike let go of Riss for one second to shut and lock the front door and Lonnie was right there, herding her to the passenger’s side.

  The hour-long drive to Casper oughta be real fun.

  * * *

  But the ride was eerily quiet.

  After Lonnie pulled into the doctor’s office parking lot, he said to Riss, “You’ve got your insurance card?”

  “No. Dammit, I left my purse in Ike’s foyer.”

  “So you can’t pay the co-pay either?”

  “I was a little distracted by—”

  “Yeah, I saw firsthand what was distracting you.”

  “Shut up. The two of you fuckers arguing while I stood there and froze is what distracted me. Besides, they can bill me for the office visit.”

  Ike said, “No big deal. I’ll cover it.”

  Lonnie scowled at him. “Riss is on the shop’s insurance plan. I’ll handle the paperwork and the payment.”

  Surprisingly, Riss didn’t argue. Because, not surprisingly, she followed her own agenda at the patient check-in desk.

  “Hey there”—she squinted at the receptionist’s name—“Wanda. I hope you’re havin’ a better day than I am.”

  “Is there a problem?” the bored-looking woman said.

  “With this damn cast I’m more helpless than I’m used to. So the two angry-looking dudes behind me decided the best way to ‘help’ me today—when we were already running late—was getting into a testosterone-fueled argument about who was the most qualified to drive me to my appointment. Which means, while playin’ referee between them, I left my purse with my insurance card and my credit card at home.”

  Wanda angled her head to look around Riss’s shoulder. “I can see where they’d both be distracting.”

  “I’m pissed off at both of them, so I do not want either of them coming into the exam with me. I’m pretty sure if you took my blood pressure right now it’d be off the charts.”

  Ike said, “Hey, that’s not—”

  The receptionist held up her hand, stopping his interruption.

  “Can you help me out? Please?”

  Wanda said, “Of course. Our patients’ welfare is our priority.” Then she picked up the phone and started punching buttons.

  “Who are you calling?” Lonnie demanded.

  Riss whirled around. “I hope it’s security and they toss you both outside in the snowbank to cool off.”

  “Riss, darlin’—”

  “Don’t. I mean it. Back the hell off.”

  “You heard her,” Lonnie said.

  “That includes you, dumb-ass.”

  Ike’s glee at Lonnie’s smackdown was short-lived. If neither of them went into the exam room with her, they’d have to take Riss’s interpretation of the doctor’s advice, which, knowing her, could be a total fucking lie.

  The concerned look Lonnie gave Ike indicated he’d just realized that too.

  “Seriously, sis. I need—”

  “Your ass kicked,” she hissed. “Both of you. So why don’t you settle this like real men and beat the fuck out of each other in the parking lot. Because obviously the guy with the least amount of bruises when it’s over is the one who cares about me the most.”

  “Ya don’t gotta be so sarcastic,” Lonnie drawled.

  A door opened and a female voice called out, “Riss Thorpe?”

  “Go on, honey,” Wanda said. “They’ll take care of you back there and I’ll take care of them.”

  “Thank you so much.”

  Then he and Lonnie were left alone with Wanda. Her bored expression? Gone. She had a glint in her eye that meant they were totally fucked.

  “Dr. Frost is running behind today. You have two hours until Miss Thorpe is finished. There’s a coffee shop across the street.”

  “We can’t wait here?” Lonnie said, gesturing to the empty waiting room.

  “Absolutely not. I suggest you ignore Miss Thorpe’s advice to settle your differences in the parking lot because if I see one fist flying I will call the police.”

  Definitely mean.

  “If you are determined to pound the snot out of each other, there’s a boxing club two blocks off Main Street.”

  “Where’s the closest bar?” Ike asked.

  Her eyes narrowed. “As you are Miss Thorpe’s caretakers, I strongly advise neither one of you return here with booze on your breath. Is that clear?”

  “Yes, ma’am. Thanks for your help,” Ike said, tacking on his most charming grin.

  “I’m familiar with that smarmy salesman smile and it won’t work. Now. Get. Out.”

  Lonnie snickered. But he was the first one out the door.

  The icy wind had Ike hustling to climb in the passenger’s side of Lonnie’s truck. “I’ll be glad when this cold snap is done.”

  Lonnie cranked the engi
ne. “Where to?”

  “Not in the mood for coffee.”

  “Me neither. The boxing club is a good option.”

  “You really wanna fight me, Thorpe?”

  “Fuck no. I work out there, so the owner wouldn’t care if we killed time watching practice. It’s loud so we don’t gotta worry about our conversation bein’ overheard. And it’s always warm.”

  Humid and reeking of sweat, Ike thought. But it beat sitting in the truck. “Let’s go.”

  * * *

  There was one sign—a cheap plastic one from the 1970s—with a stylized boxer outlined in black that marked the entrance to the club. The building itself was a warehouse; metal siding scratched and dented, rusted in spots. Weeds lined the chain-link fence that disappeared down the left side. The high windows above the door were dirty on the outside and looked to be covered in moisture on the inside. The only other indication this space wasn’t abandoned was the security camera above them and the fancy keypad beside the door handle.

  Lonnie punched in a code and the lock popped open.

  That familiar gym funk—sweat, vinyl and dampness—filled the air. Ike stomped his boots on the rug and looked around the waiting area.

  Off to the left side were wooden benches, long lines of wall hooks above them, and a few metal lockers anchored the corners and part of another wall.

  “No outerwear inside the gym,” Lonnie said. “Club rules. Pick any spot out here to hang your stuff.”

  “Boots come off too?”

  He shook his head. “We’ll be in the bleachers, not walking across the mats.”

  An attractive brunette with fake tits spilling out of her sports bra manned the check-in desk. Her eyes lit up when Lonnie approached. “Hey, stranger. Haven’t seen you in a while.”

  “Because I avoid the newbies during Gym-uary. I’ll be back when their New Year’s resolutions fail.”

  “Cynical. But you’re still cute.”

  “Back atcha, Brandi. Look, I brought a guest to get a feel for the place. We’ll just hang in the bleachers, cool?”

  “Sure. He’s gotta sign in, though.”

  Ike scrawled his name in an oversized ledger as thick as two telephone books.