She turned back to the stove and pretended to busy herself by preparing dinner. She really hoped he hadn’t heard the tail end of the conversation between Erin and her. Ian hung up his hat on a hook near the door as he leaned over and took his boots off. He set them neatly beside the door, being very conscientious she’d just cleaned the floors. He never used his feet to knock his boots off and dump them, or let them clatter to the floor while dislodging dirt and horse manure. She really appreciated that about him. After she cleaned, however, it was none of her business what any of the brothers, sons, or even Erin did to the house. Still, it was nice that Ian seemed to notice whatever she did and took special care not to ruin it.
“Your brothers are here.”
She was leaning into the oven, peeking at the cornbread. She straightened up. “My brothers? Oh. Are they staying for dinner?”
He shrugged. “Usually, when they show up at this hour.” They did so often and it annoyed the crap out of her. There, at the Rydell house, she cooked much better meals than she did at home, owing to the much larger food budget Jack provided for her. She could experiment a little more than she could at home. Then her lousy, lazy brothers had the nerve to follow her there and scrounge dinner off the Rydells. Of course, that also meant Shane would at least come in and eat. She could never predict with him. Jack and Ian were like clockwork, along with Ben and Charlie and Erin. But Shane? Whoever knew what that man was doing?
“You should stay too. You cooked it, after all.”
Ian was nicer than most of the other brothers. He often invited her to stay, although she never did. It felt too weird. She smiled with absent-minded politeness. “No, I’m meeting Drew in town.”
Ian made a sound that was something close to a grunt. “Sure.”
She grabbed her stuff before running into her brothers. She wasn’t in the mood for them. Or for Shane to see her, yet again, cooking and cleaning for him. She smiled as she passed by Ian. “See you later.”
“Yeah, see you.”
And that was it. The usual extent of their conversations. She rarely learned anything new about him, or him about her. They never discussed anything real. She never even knew what he did all day. It was some banal version of the same thing.
She met Drew at the tack store and waited for him to get off. They went out to an empty field where Drew shot one of his guns at a target before they ate some sandwiches. They made out for a while and he dropped her back at her house. She groaned inwardly when they pulled into her driveway. Another fire blazed against the night sky with her brothers and the Rydells lounging around it. Drinking and partying just the same as last night. Drew gritted his teeth. “Damn Rydells. Are they ever not here?”
She shrugged. “What difference does it make to you?”
“I don’t like how Ian looks at me.”
“Ian looks like that at everyone. It’s not a special look, exclusively for you.”
“He’s probably eyeing up my dick. He might want me. Creeps me out.” With that crude and homophobic slur, Drew shoved himself out of his car, apparently intending to come inside with her. She sighed, and hated when he talked like that. She might have had issues with Ian, but Drew talking that way was totally uncalled for. Ian’s business was his own, and he never regarded anyone with any particular expression on his face, so she knew Drew was full of crap. He was just still sour that Ian dared to lay down some kind of law about her.
She thought it was still weird he did that too.
Drew went straight through to her bedroom again. There was no one in the trailer, and her dad’s door was shut. She sighed and followed him. Again, he put the dusty, dirty boots on the bed. She sat down beside him, primly crossing her legs before putting her hands on them. She wasn’t in the mood tonight. Drew’s last remarks festered in her brain like a rotting fish. She felt a strange kind of offended sentimentality toward Ian. If he were gay, no one should have said stuff like that about him. They should have been respectful and nice, treating him no different than Shane or Jack. Was it any wonder Ian kept so quiet?
Drew leaned closer and pulled on her. “Forget about him. What do you say, Lynnie? Tonight? Come on. I’ve waited for you long enough, haven’t I? I mean, feel what you do to me.” He lifted her hand in his as he spoke before pressing her hand there. Right on his crotch between his legs. His jeans were stiff and hard. She didn’t press it, or even look. She bit her lip harder as the blush in her cheeks reddened rapidly with heat. He pressed on her hand and she felt hotter from her nerves and utter embarrassment. She wasn’t ready for that. She grew flustered, not from desire, but from shame and embarrassment to even be touching it. She wasn’t cool. She knew that. No twenty-three-year-old should be so shy about a penis. A jeans-covered one, at that. But she was. She could not force her eyes to even look into Drew’s, much less at where her hand was. She bit her lip and stared harder at her knee.
“Come on, Lynnie. What more do I have to do?”
She finally pressed on her fingers so they pushed against his jeans and quickly pulled them back out. She sensed how hot he was under his jeans. She didn’t know how she felt about that, except her own body felt cold and taut with nerves.
Pushing his hips into her hand, he groaned and pushed harder on her hand. “Harder,” he grunted and she did as he said. He closed his eyes and she stole a glance at him. Her hand sat on him, almost innocent-looking. She was nervous; but this was good, wasn’t it? She was supposed to do this. She was supposed to want to do this. He seemed to like it. She pressed again. He brought his hand up to the snap of his jeans. No. Crap. He was going for the button. He was going to undo it. He got it undone and started to peel the jeans down. It reminded her of peeling a banana. She mentally laughed at the comparison before… she found him putting her hand inside his jeans. He had no underwear on. She closed her eyes and just let her hand lie there. It was warm. Smooth. Hard. It was definitely up, not down. Sure. She knew it did that. But it felt different than she pictured. She let out a long breath. She wasn’t sure about this. Did she want to be doing it? Just this? She should at least do this, shouldn’t she?
It twitched under her fingers and she suddenly snatched her hand back. No. She didn’t want this. Not with Drew. Not like this. It seemed like maybe she’d never want it.
“Oh, come on, Lynnie. You can’t just stop. You’re killing me.”
She knew it was a mistake to touch him. She didn’t want to do anything beyond that. Maybe it was wrong of her to stop, but she just could not force herself to do it. She suddenly stood up. Drew grabbed her hand and pulled her towards him. “You’ve been teasing me for months. Just finish it this time.”
She twisted and turned, trying to dislodge his grip on her. He was close to setting her hand back on him. She tried to yank her hand from his grasp. Still nothing. She finally had to lean down and bite his hand when he refused to let her go, having no other choice. He suddenly stood up with a screech of shock. “You bitch! You bit me!”
Holding his hurt hand, his jeans now forgotten and still undone, flopped down onto his thighs. His penis was quickly losing its hard on. She averted her eyes. Nope. Still didn’t want to see a penis. Her vague recollection of it was it was purplish and veiny and looking kind of like an uncooked sausage.
She recoiled from him. He grew really angry. His eyes flashed and he stepped towards her. “You wouldn’t let go of me,” she explained finally, her voice losing all its volume when faced with his anger.
“Well, you don’t freaking go off and bite a dude, just because he wants you to finish the hand job you started.”
“I didn’t start it,” she added, her tone still almost a whisper.
“Y-Y—”
Her bedroom door opened and smacked hard into the wall. There was no doorstop to slow its momentum. A picture rattled, and she whipped around, horrified at being caught. Drew’s pants were down. But what shocked her even more was who she saw standing there. Her dad was leaning against the doorjamb while glowering at her.
“What the Sam Hell is going on in here? And why is this shithead’s penis hanging out of his pants?”
She closed her eyes when her father’s rough-hewn voice roared into her bedroom. Barely a half second later, the door was filled with Ian. She turned away, her humiliation causing her to blush from her neck to her face.
“Close the door!” she screeched. Drew had the decency to turn around, still favoring his injured hand while grasping for his pants.
“I will not. I heard him call you a bitch. You dare call my daughter that?”
She turned slightly, shocked to see her father raising his chest and kind of peacocking around. She had been inviting boys to her room since she was sixteen. No one ever said a word. Never. Not her father. Nor her older brothers. No one asked what she did, or didn’t do, and no one seemed to worry if she had sex, or not.
“She bit me!” Drew exclaimed as if that excused and explained everything.
“Why? ‘Cause you were flapping your junk at her? ‘Course she bit you. Get your sorry ass out of my house and don’t ever go near my daughter again.”
She turned back around. Her father was kicking Drew out? She didn’t know whether to be mad at him, or to hug him for showing he cared.
Ian stepped back from the door. After quickly assessing the small entourage in her doorway, she stared down at the floor before her. This was undeniably the worst moment she ever endured.
“I think she’s the kind of girl who invites men into her room. What did you think we were doing in here, old man?” Drew said after fully clothing himself and turning back to glare at her dad. He was a sad sight. Smaller now that his posture had shrunk and his muscles were atrophied from spending too much time in bed. His hair was extra long and white, and it kind of fell around his head like a mad scientist. Still, he was defending her. She never dreamed he cared about what she did in the room.
“You ain’t no man. Now get out of here, boy. Ian, assist this asshole to the door. He don’t seem to know proper English.”
Ian stepped forward, grabbing Drew by the forearm and escorting him unceremoniously out the door. Drew snarled as he yanked his hand away. “Don’t touch me, fucking faggot.”
Ian didn’t say a word, and his facial expression didn’t change. He simply lifted his hands off Drew and nodded as if to say, go. Drew passed him and her dad with a snarl.
She fell down onto the side of her bed, her legs suddenly trembling. She never experienced an incident like this. Did she come close to being kind of, or almost, assaulted? No. It couldn’t have been that bad. But it was a little bad. A little frightening. She never expected to find her dad coming to her defense. Could he always hear her through the walls?
“I’m sorry, Dad.”
Her dad snorted. “Why the hell are you sorry? You call yourself names?”
“No. I just… I didn’t think you cared if I had my boyfriends in here.”
“I don’t. So long as nothing is going on. I know my daughter. I don’t have to set the rules for these boys, you do. But when he refused to take no for an answer? That’s not okay. Not your fault. Biting him? Now, that’s my girl.”
She glanced up and tried to swallow the lump of tears in her throat that threatened to fall from her eyes. “Please don’t tell Caleb and Jordan. They’d…”
“Beat the shit out of him. Listen, girl, we might not be all hearts and flowers and all, but no one messes with you, got that?”
The tears escaped. Just a few. “Thank you, Dad.”
He teetered on one leg. “Well, that’s more than I’ve done all week. I think I’m going to rest now. Glad you’re okay.” He patted her leg and exited. Ian let him past. Then, to her surprise and shock, Ian didn’t follow him out, but stepped into her room. Her room! Ian never came inside her room before.
“Are you?”
She glanced up. “Am I what?”
“Okay?”
She quickly dropped her gaze and kept it firmly down. “Yes, just a little shaken.”
He didn’t say anything more or ask what happened. He didn’t ask how Drew’s pants came to be undone. She could feel his gaze running over her so she kept her hair over her face and made it cover her breasts. He finally started for the door. What must he think? Of her? And what he witnessed? His total lack of reaction, and presence to still remain there was enough to spark her anger.
“Where are you going?”
He stopped dead and quirked an eyebrow up. “To keep my promise.”
Promise? What? She waited a second after he walked down the hall. Did he mean… the whole warning thing about Drew not bothering her? What did he mean? No way. There was no way that Ian was going after Drew, or was there? That would have been crazy. Nothing really happened. It was over now. Done. But still… that quiet, lethal strangeness of Ian’s. And Drew did call Ian a faggot. She suddenly jumped to her feet and started towards the door.
Drew’s taillights were fishtailing down the road as he sped away. Ian was just stepping into his truck so she ran after him. She grabbed his arm just as he began to sit, and yanked him around until he had to step back on the ground and face her.
“Wait. What does that mean? To keep your promise?”
“I told him to keep his hands to himself.”
Technically, he did keep his hands to himself, he just tried to use her hand to do the work. “You don’t even know what you walked in on.”
“Don’t I?” he asked softly. “It wasn’t a hand job you didn’t want to give? When you either stopped, or refused, he called you a bitch?”
His voice was soft and silky. He had never spoken about anything personal with her before. Hearing him talk about her giving a hand job was so, so wrong. And awful. She dropped her head again in shame.
“Wasn’t it?” he pressed.
“It kind of was. I just didn’t want to right now.”
“And I told you he wouldn’t take no easily. But he should have.”
Ian turned again, set on getting into his truck. She nearly threw her hands up. Was he for real? What was he planning to do?
“You can’t go… do whatever you’re thinking of. That would be assault or something. I mean, stop. This is crazy we’re even talking about this.”
“I don’t tolerate guys who don’t take no for an answer.”
“I don’t either. But this time, it’s over. Nothing happened.”
He held her gaze. “Everything happened.”
She swallowed. “Okay, it wasn’t my favorite evening of all time. He was a little pushy, and things kind of got out of control. But it’s over now. Please, Ian. I just want it to be done. If you do anything, it will soon be all over the valley. That would humiliate me. As it stands now, we can bet Drew will tell no one. I mean, I bit him. How proud of that could he be?”
The side of Ian’s mouth twitched. “Biting was good.”
“Please. Quit talking about him. Just let me forget him.”
Ian tapped his fingers on his steering wheel for several long moments. How did he do that? So thoroughly prolonging a moment? Finally, he gave a short nod, and she blew out a sigh of relief. Thank God. She just wanted to go to bed and pretend this never happened.
She started to turn away to leave when Ian’s voice stopped her dead.
“Hey, Lynnie?”
Slowly lifting her gaze to him, she waited expectantly. He also rarely, but quite purposely, tried to talk to her after the end of any conversation. “Choose better. Your last few boyfriends have been complete assholes. Pick smarter next time.”
With that, he set the gear shift into reverse and turned around, tearing out of there almost as aggressively fast as Drew. That was so not like Ian. She watched his taillights fade, thinking this had to be the worst night she could remember. Worse even than the homecoming dance, when her date ditched her before dancing with another girl right in front of her.
She shook her head, anxious to burrow under her bed covers and pretend this never happened.
Chapter Fi
ve
DREW WAS LUCKY. APPARENTLY, it meant a lot to Kailynn that the whole incident remain between them. A few more seconds and Ian would have been after Drew, who might have found himself in the hospital that morning. It kept playing in his mind. Ian heard the rising voices in her room, and knew they were in there. Didn’t he always know? But the bitch slur had him instantly striding down the hall, only to be shocked at seeing her dad hobbling out of his door. Senior Hayes rarely showed his face. Ian hung back only out of respect, since he was about a fraction of a second from pounding down the door before pounding Drew’s face. Stupid prick. Standing there with his pants down to his knees. Nursing his slightly bitten hand. That was the only part of the entire incident that made Ian think about smiling. The bitten hand. She managed to take care of herself rather well. He didn’t like seeing Drew’s ensuing flaccid dick dangling below his t-shirt either. He really didn’t need to picture what led up to what he was happily spared from witnessing.
Awkward didn’t begin to describe how Kailynn then acted with Ian after that. She was always kind of standoffish to him. Was she just shy? Reserved? Intimidated? Or did she think he was a moron? He really didn’t know the source of her attitude with him; but she definitely had one. Now? She didn’t raise her gaze to meet his, and slunk around the house, working all the more diligently if he encountered her. She refused to even say hello or goodbye to him, which he really hated.
He stayed away from her brothers for a few weeks, but missed seeing her. He had nothing better to do really. Shane and Caleb drove him nuts, but they were better than being alone. Jack spent all of his spare time with Erin nowadays, so he figured he’d already lost his best friend to a girl, in a way.
When he entered their trailer, one random Friday night, she dropped her gaze from his and focused only on cooking dinner. It bugged the crap out of him. She worked the equivalent of fifty hours a week before returning to the trailer and cooking and cleaning for her dad and brothers. Dad, he could understand; the man had all but given up on life. But Jordan and Caleb? He couldn’t figure out why she bothered with them. Why didn’t she just insist they do their own chores? Especially, since their appreciation of her was less than zero.
River's Escape (River's End Series, #2) Page 6