She cuddled against his chest as he pulled the blanket up and wrapped it around her still shaking body. “You keep that up and there’s not going to be much left of me.”
As she tried to catch her breath, something buzzed from across the room. “That’s probably going to be Miah.” Her own voice surprised her—she sounded half-drunk and hoarse. What a time for Jeremiah to be checking on her.
Eric slid her off his lap, “Don’t move.”
As if I could.
He dug the phone out of her discarded clothes and handed it to her.
She tried to clear her throat before accepting the call. “Hey, Miah.” It hadn’t worked.
“Don’t give me ‘Hey, Miah’. Where the hell are you?”
“I’m fine. I’ll be home soon.”
“Uh huh. Avoiding the question?”
“I’m in a hotel room if you really have to know and no, I’m not discussing the specifics. I’ll see you in a bit.” As she hung up the phone, the strength of her own words hit her. “He’s going to have my ass when I get home.”
Eric scooped her up and sat her in his lap again. “You two are close? Didn’t he say something about being your brother?”
“It’s a long story. We’ve just known each other since we were kids. He’s done a lot to take care of me and help me out.”
“So, I don’t have to be jealous.”
Lena smiled. Jealous? Right. “No, are you prone to jealousy?”
“Is that a deal-breaker?”
“You are! We’ve technically only been on one date, buddy.”
“Are you planning on entertaining anyone else?”
“Probably not, but I need time before you stake a claim. I realize that I’m already in over my head, but this is a lot to absorb.”
“Hmm.” Eric laughed. “You know, I kind of like you feisty. Message is received, I’ll give you time.”
She relaxed and dropped her head against his neck. “You’re really into this whole cuddling thing.”
“I put you through a lot and now I’m making sure you’re okay.”
He plucked her phone out of her hand, but she didn’t react. It’s not like there was anything for him to find, and he wouldn’t just call some random person from her phone book… would he?
She tried to peek over the phone to see what he was doing, but he handed it back.
“My number is in your phone, so you can call me when you’ve had enough time. And you better not wait too long. Don’t make me track you down again.”
Lena
When Lena opened the front door, Jeremiah was standing just inside, arms on his hips and in his attack position. She was surprised he hadn’t charged out of the house and demanded a one-on-one with Eric in the middle of the street.
But then again, maybe it wasn’t Eric who bore the brunt of his anger.
The way he was scowling, he resembled a giant orc—although markedly better looking… most of the time. This afternoon, his glare was nearly enough to make her spin on her heels and retreat until he had a chance to calm down. Instead, she took a deep breath and another step.
“I’m home,” she said in a sing-song voice, hoping to break him out of his stare.
“I can see that.”
“Look, I told you I wouldn’t be home, so it’s not like I was out all night without your knowing that I was okay.”
“You’ve known that guy for a week.”
He did have a way of grinding her face in reality sometimes. “Yeah but I’m fine, in one piece, and quite happy, if you want me to be honest about it.”
“Are you going to see him again?” He still hadn’t broken out of his monotone and even speech pattern. The last time he’d taken that tone, Lena had secretly celebrated that it was aimed at Landon and not her.
“Probably,” she said, managing to sound confident.
“For more sex?”
“That’s my business.”
His mouth tightened until a fine white line outlined his lips. “My little sister isn’t a fuck toy.”
“It’s my decision. And I don’t think that he just wants a fuck toy.” She turned around as she spoke, heading into the kitchen to make a pot of coffee in hopes that it would help deflect some of Jeremiah’s attention if they weren’t standing in the hallway and staring each other down. At this rate, she certainly wasn’t going to be getting that nap she was looking forward to.
“Please tell me you used protection.”
“Every time,” she smirked, then turned to hide her face by opening a cabinet and pulling down a coffee mug.
“God, Lena.”
Out of the corner of her eye, she watched him rub his hands over his face.
“Before you go on lecturing me, you should also remember that you brought all of this on. You’re the one who dragged me to the sports bar last week.”
“I figured you’d hang out with me and our friends.”
“Your friends, Miah. And frankly, your sports talk bores me. Besides, let’s not forget that the last time I dated one of your friends it didn’t work out well. I don’t want to risk things getting awkward again.”
Jeremiah opened the refrigerator and handed Lena her favorite creamer. “I get that, but I worry about you.”
“I know. You haven’t stopped worrying since I moved in with you, but I’m all grown up, Miah.”
He leaned against the fridge and closed his eyes. “I know. I watched you grow up, too fast.”
“And I watched you do the same.” She’d been eleven when she met him. And while she had enough reasons to try to forget that time, she never wanted to forget where their connection began. He was three years older, and back then, he was unlike any fourteen-year-old she’d ever met. And since then, she’d spent more than one night crying on his shoulder over this or that—bullies, boys, probably a few cases of hormones.
“I admit that spending the night with him was a risk.” Lena rubbed her teeth against her bottom lip. “But, I’ve spent most of my life trying not to be noticed, weaving this tight amour against anyone who might see the real me. It doesn’t work on Eric. When I’m with him, I finally feel like I can breathe and be myself. Despite all of your ‘what if’s’ I had a damn good time, and he returned me home safe and sound.”
“I’m not so sure about that.” Jeremiah frowned.
Lena finished stirring her coffee and threw the spoon into the sink. “What’s that supposed to mean?”
“You weren’t as fiery before he got done with you.”
“Fiery?”
“Don’t like fiery? How about—”
“Stop.”
“See what I mean?” He flicked the back of her head, then jumped away before she could swat at him. Ducking behind the doorway, he put his hands up. “I concede.”
Lena rolled her eyes and took her coffee to the living room to plop on the couch. “You’re such a two-year-old.”
“And you’re a twerp.”
“Goober. Don’t you have plans for today? Please, say you have plans.”
“Well, I did until you went missing.”
Lena pulled one of the throw pillows out from under her head and tossed it across the room at him. He deflected it, but she still felt better. “Then reschedule. I want the quiet time you robbed me of last Friday.”
“Oh, so now you’re holding that against me. A few minutes ago, I thought you’d thank me.”
“We’ll see.”
***
After lunch, Jeremiah finally decided to go out with some of his friends, upon assurances that Lena wouldn’t do anything more insane than curl up with a book. But after reading only a few pages, Lena could barely keep her eyes open. Eric had sure done a number to tire her out and just thinking about it tied her gut in a knot. But even that sensation wasn’t enough to keep her from dropping her book on the floor and curling up for a nap.
A pounding at the front door shook Lena from her sleep. She plodded to the door just as another series of bangs rumbled the frame, and peeked th
rough the window. “Leslie?” she muttered to herself.
She rubbed a hand over her face and opened the door.
Her best friend, Leslie, stood on the doorstep with one hand on her hip, and the other propped against the doorframe. It had been nearly six months since Leslie had randomly showed up on the doorstep, except back then her hair had been flipped on her head in a messy bun, and she’d been wearing yoga clothes with a slobbering baby propped on her hip.
“It’s barely four o’clock and you’re…” Leslie shook her head. “Have you even changed clothes since yesterday?”
Lena glanced down. She hadn’t, but how the hell did Leslie know that? She raised a brow.
“I heard about your night.”
“Of course you did. Why wouldn’t Miah call you up and tell you the whole thing? I mean we grew up together, so absolutely no secrets, right?”
Leslie rolled her eyes. “Don’t be so uppity about it. He was worried about you last night, and now you’re not answering your phone.”
“What?” She scrunched her face and glanced around the room. “I didn’t even hear it.”
“Are you at least going to invite me in?”
All Lena wanted to do was curl up and go back to sleep but she opened the door wider and stepped out of the way. “How is your little bundle of snot?”
“Snotty as ever. We came down to visit James’ family, he and the snot-nose are there right now.”
“You’re still not speaking to the in-laws?”
Leslie shrugged, “We’re on speaking terms, I guess. Just not friendly ones.”
“And they’re not mad at James? He’s the one that took the out of town job that they fussed about.”
“Yeah but he took the out of town job because I had a kid, which of course was also more my fault than his. It’s in-law logic, don’t ask me.” Leslie flopped over the arm of the lounge chair, leaving her legs draped over the side. “So, tell me about your Mr. Mysterious.”
Lena shrugged, trying to pass it off as nonchalant as possible. “He works in IT and his nephew was in my art class last year.”
“Sounds fantastically interesting. He must’ve had a damn good pick-up line to get in your pants.”
“I’ve already gone through the inquisition with Miah, do we really have to do this?”
“You’re no fun.”
“Yeah, that’s what I’ve heard.”
“Apparently that’s not what you were hearing last night.”
“Oh lord, can I go back to being an only child?”
“Not likely, sweets. I have an hour before I have to go back and pick up James—“
“And Miah knew you were going to be in town and figured there might be a chance that I’d open up and tell you more about last night than I told him?”
“If you don’t want to talk about it, we don’t have to. As long as you’re okay with it—which you certainly seem to be—it’s none of my business. But, I still figured we could have some BFF time. We haven’t exactly talked much since I moved. Tell me all about the excitement of being a full-time teacher.”
***
Eric
“Planning on setting up a dungeon in your parent’s house?” Cade asked, opening the refrigerator and helping himself to a bottle of beer.
“That would be fun to explain, especially with a kid running around.”
“Locks, my man.” Cade tossed the bottle cap across the room, and it landed perfectly in the trashcan. “Although, I guess you should bring your little subbie to the club. I talked to Adrienne. All you have to do is fill out the paperwork, and it’ll be like you never left.”
“If I ever get another free night, I’ll keep that in mind. Although, I imagine a lot has changed at the club, last time I visited I barely knew half the people there.” Eric grabbed his own beer and nodded toward the living room. After spending the afternoon moving furniture, he was ready to kick back for a few hours before he got ready for dinner with his parents.
“Rose is back,” Cade said.
“I heard.” Eric kicked back a long swig of beer. “Lena talked to her last night.”
“Did she, now? What brought that on?”
“Best option I found for cracking through her little shell.”
“That poor girl. From what I saw you had her red-faced a couple of times in the bar, I can’t imagine what she looked like after that one.”
Eric smiled, but his gaze was set on the beer bottle that he rolled between his fingers.
“How long have you been out of the game now?”
With barely a sideways glance, Eric leaned back and thumped his bottle onto a side table. “Over a year.”
“A year? You’ve been vanilla for a year?”
“I haven’t really been anything for a year. I worked, I went to the gym. The nearest club was over an hour away, and it wasn’t worth the drive.” Eric closed his eyes and rubbed the back of his neck. “I’ve told you all of this before.”
“You told me you left because you lost your temper. You lose your temper when people lie, or when someone close to you gets hurt.”
“Exactly.”
“Stubborn fucker.” Cade leaned forward, and his face hardened. Eric knew that face too well. Cade had been the one to drag him to a club in the first place. He was only a few years older—about to hit thirty-five—but he made it seem natural. Eric figured it was his bartending experience that gave him experience reading people. Cade could strike up a conversation with anyone, and at the end, he’d probably know everything from their shoe size to the number of points on their license. And he’d remember every detail five years later. “You had a sub who lied to you.”
“She wasn’t straight with me about her boundaries, and she kept pushing me, so I pushed back. It turned into a cluster fuck. I found out that I wasn’t the first she’d pulled it with, but no one had ever cared to mention that until I left the club. Then the response was more like, ‘oh, she does that all the time, no big deal’. Luckily, it just ended with a lot of yelling, it could have been much worse. ”
“And Lena?” Cade asked. “You didn’t meet her in a club. She doesn’t’ know anything about the lifestyle. How are you faring with her boundaries?”
“She might know more than you think.” Eric chuckled and rubbed a hand over his face. He hadn’t shaved in two days, and he could just imagine the squawking his mother would do if he showed up to dinner ungroomed. But there were other things to attend to while they were on the topic. “Do you know anything about her ex.”
Cade stretched out on the couch, propping up one leg and stretching his arm over the back. “I don’t really know about Lena’s ex. He’s friends with her roommate. They still come to Diggers together fairly regularly.”
Eric grimaced and leaned forward against his knees. That didn’t make much sense. “She’s not too eager to talk about the guy. I guess it could be weird if they have mutual friends, but,” he took a breath, “someone has hurt her.”
“I can tell you this much. A few years ago, they all came into the bar fairly regularly. She never talked to anyone outside their group, but a year ago, she and the boyfriend stopped coming. I figured he got wise and started taking her somewhere she’d enjoy, then a few weeks later, he returned. I didn’t see her again until last week. And no, I don’t know the boyfriend’s name, he was also fairly quiet.”
“Ex-boyfriend.”
“Excuse my negligence. If you’re going to drill me for information, you could at least provide more beer.”
Eric shook his head, but was happy to oblige, one more beer might make the upcoming dinner with his parents tolerable. He grabbed two more beers from the fridge, and popped off the lids before returning to the living room.
Cade accepted his drink with a nod. “What, if you don’t mind my asking, threw up the red flag?”
“A few things. I’d expected her to be hesitant, but she wants to be pushed, and when she opens up to it, I can’t get enough. But I get the feeling she can shut down and c
rumple just as easily.”
“You don’t think she’ll safeword? My advice, bring her to the club.”
“I intend to, but it isn’t going to be an easy feat. Even if my parents will take Charlie for an evening—” He closed his eyes and leaned back, sitting the beer on his knee, where the condensation formed a cold ring. “I really shouldn’t be chasing a girl right now.”
“Charlie needs you, but you need your sanity.”
“Is that supposed to be encouraging?” Lena brought him anything but sanity.
“She drives you crazy, and you feed on it. Let her go, and you’ll go stir-crazy. Which is the better option?”
Lena
Lena passed through the crowded cafeteria, filled with chattering kids waiting to be released to their classrooms. A lone child in the corner of the room caught her eye, Charlie. He had his back to the wall, knees pulled up to his chest with his chin resting on top.
Leave it alone, you’re banging his uncle for goodness sake, and you’ll just make things more complicated. But she couldn’t leave it alone, the desire to help kids outweighed any of her other sensibilities.
“Hi, Charlie.”
He lifted his head to acknowledge her, but otherwise didn’t move or make a sound.
“How’s your new art teacher?”
His little shoulders jerked in a shrug, but he kept his gaze on the floor.
“I miss teaching art. Maybe you can draw me a new picture to decorate my room.”
Another shrug.
Okay, so how the hell do you get through to a seven-year-old who just lost his parents? She settled back and leaned against the wall. “Everyone wants something from you right now, don’t they? They want you to talk, or draw, or play games, but none of that sounds appealing when you’re tucked away inside where it’s safe.”
This time, when he lifted his head, he met her eyes.
“Just remember that sometimes us adults are more afraid, that’s why we get so needy.” With a play out of Eric’s book, she winked and finally managed to elicit something resembling a smile. “If you need anything, come find me, okay?”
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