Hell Hath No Fury

by M. J. Schiller

  “The radio station?”

  “Yeah. He’s in broadcasting.”

  He raised his eyebrows. “Cool.”

  “Well, right now he’s just doing some technical stuff and fetching people’s coffee, but someday he’ll have his own show. He’s good.”

  “I don’t doubt it. I can’t wait to meet him, I think.”

  “You think?”

  “Well, you told me Kyle was a sweetheart….”

  “Yeah. I know. I don’t know what got into him.”

  He stopped and pivoted to me. “Don’t be too hard on him. He’s only trying to protect you. It’s obvious you mean a lot to him.”

  “Yeah…I guess.”

  “Do you want to sit here?”

  “Sure.”

  He spread the towels out side by side and we sat. It was one of those perfect nights. Not too hot, not too cool. A gentle breeze caressed our skin as it passed and the stars had turned out like it was a red carpet event.

  “It’s beautiful.”

  “It is.” He sighed. “So, Ryan, older, cool. Other brother, younger?”

  “No. Jake’s older, too. He’s twenty-two going on twelve.” I chuckled. “Jake is…so not Ryan. Ryan got good grades and was friends with all the teachers. Jake coasted along, getting by with as little work as possible. But he was my cohort in crime when I was younger. We had all kinds of fun doing things we shouldn’t do. But he also likes to torture me at times. It’s just a brother thing.”

  “Ahh. I wouldn’t know.”

  I peered at him. “What’s your sister like?”

  He leaned back, lacing his fingers behind his head, reminding me of Kyle. He smiled broadly. “Bossy. Snotty. Uhh…she’s not much of a rule follower, and seems to have some…rather loose morals, if you know what I mean.”

  “Uhh, not really?”

  He sat forward again, his arms on top of his legs, playing with a leaf he found on the towel, running it through his hands. “Well…there’s no polite way to say this…she indiscriminately sticks her tongue down guys’ throats. Lots of guys. And, she likely does more than that, but I don’t want to know.” He looked off. I could tell he was genuinely concerned for her.

  “Oh.” How do you follow that up? “What was she like when you were kids?”

  “Pretty much the same. Not the throwing herself around thing, but the bossy, self-absorbed thing.” Then he gazed at me and shrugged. “But she’s my sister, so….” He paused. “So, anyway. Explain why you said Jake was like a twelve-year-old.”

  “I don’t know. My mom calls him her man-child. He seems highly resistant to maturing. His main pastime is playing video games.”

  “A lot of guys do. I’ve never gotten it myself. I mean, I like to play and all, if someone asks me, but it is not my go-to form of entertainment.”

  I laid on the towel, as did he, and we spun onto our sides so we could face each other. “What is your go-to form of entertainment?”

  “Well…I’m a collector. I collect album artwork. I have them lining my walls.”

  The thought came without asking. Ahh. He’s into music. He’ll fit right into our family. But I quickly came to my senses. Which, of course, he’ll have no need to do, since this is merely a summer thing for him.

  “That’s cool. I’d like to see it sometime.” Whoops, too forward again. “Like, do you have any pictures?”

  “No, I don’t. I’ll have to show it to you.”

  I couldn’t help but be excited by that a tiny bit.

  “And I’m into photography and filmmaking.”

  I stabbed my finger in the air at him. “I knew it. I knew it.”

  He kind of jumped, but smiled. “You knew what?”

  “I knew you had to have some sort of creative outlet, if you were truly like me.”

  “Okay, so what’s your creative outlet?”

  Ooh. He turned it back on me. Damn. “My violin, kind of….”

  “Aah. So it’s not simply a hobby, it’s more of a passion?”

  I didn’t let people know about my violin playing, not even my family understood the depths of my love for it.

  “I guess.”

  He tore off a blade of grass and played with it. “You know…I think I may end up having a new form of go-to entertainment.” He smiled slyly.

  “Oh, yeah. What’s that?”

  He put his palm on the side of my face. “This.” Leaning forward he kissed me again.

  “Mmm.” I spoke against his lips. “I could get into that form of entertainment, too.”

  “Really?”

  His lips and tongue were incredible. Without being totally conscious of it, I scooted closer to him and rolled onto my back. Since he was on his side, he was almost on top of me. I let my hands wander under his T-shirt and the sensation of touching his skin was so enticing. In response, he ran a hand behind my thigh and under my shorts a little. I lifted my hips so he could go farther. I wanted to share all of myself with him and I wanted him to share all of himself with me. He accepted the invitation and glided his hand until he was cupping my ass. He took the kisses deeper. Then his pinkie finger crept nearer the front…and he suddenly withdrew his hand and pulled away.

  “Youuuu never told me about your dad.”

  I blinked, coming out of my lustful haze a bit slower than he did. “What? My dad?” I closed my eyes. “I don’t really want to think about him at a time like this.”

  “Elise…. I keep seeing Kyle’s face. He’d kill me if he knew I went against his wishes—”

  “What about my wishes, Hunter?”

  He took a deep breath. “I’ve just won his respect. I don’t want to lose that.”

  I exhaled and looked to the side, finding myself fighting tears.

  “Give it a little time, Elise.”

  I still didn’t face him, afraid he’d see how emotional I was. I don’t know where the tears came from, only that they rushed in to fill the void when my ache for him crashed.

  “Elise.” He touched my chin and turned my head to center. “Give it time.” He lowered his lips to mine in a long, lingering kiss, making my blood burn again. “Trust me.” His voice was husky. He continued to kiss me, soft teasing kisses, where he would pull away, barely out of my reach, and then come in again. Things heated up and he slid on top of me. The weight of his body on top of me was so right. He kissed along my jaw to my ear and whispered, “I will fulfill those wishes of yours in time.”

  “O-oh,” I moaned, gliding my hands over his tight ass. Then I laughed, and he laughed, too, rolling off me. “You’re right. You’re right. We should cool it”. I gazed into his eyes. “But I don’t want to.”

  I wasn’t sure if I said it or thought it until he responded. “Believe me, I don’t want to either. But I don’t want to rush this. It means too much to me.”

  We peered at each other for a moment. I’m not sure what he was thinking, but I was thinking about how heavenly going all the way with him would be. Here. Now. I sighed. “Okay. We should walk.”

  “Damn fine idea.” He stood and offered to help me to my feet, which he did. Then he yanked me into his arms and we went at it again, even harder this time. He walked forward and I stumbled back until we were against a tree. He brought his hands underneath my shirt at the waist and cruised along my skin to near my bra, lingering a bit. Then he circled behind me and moved inside my jeans. He squeezed and lifted me, and I wrapped my legs around him. As he held me, his lips left mine and trailed down my neck, across my upper chest, and stopped. He panted and lifted his head again to gaze into my eyes. I could see the ache in them and could sense he needed me to be the one to stop it this time.

  “Walk?”

  He nodded in an exaggerated way. “Walk.”

  My legs released one at a time and he lowered me to the ground. That’s when I discovered I lost one of my sandals. We found it underneath one of the towels. We set off, swinging our hands between us.

  “This will be hard.”

  I turned to
study his face. “What is?”

  “Respecting your stepdad’s wishes. Respecting you.”

  “Well, as far as I’m concerned, you can disrespect me all you want.” I grinned and he picked me up and swung me in a circle, whooping.

  In the hush afterward, a concerned voice rose from the pool area. “Who is that?”

  We laughed quietly and ran along, keeping low to the ground. I was giddy. When we got back to his sedan, he twirled me like we were dancing then pressed me against the car, caging me with his arms. “I may not get another chance to be with you for a while. I better make this good.”

  And he did. Way good.

  When we arrived at the house he moved to open his car door but I put a hand on his arm to stop him. “Can I ask you a question?”

  “Of course.”

  “Uhh…” I couldn’t look at him. This was embarrassing, but I needed to know. “Are you seeing anyone else?” I lifted my head to watch his face when he answered.

  “No. Wait. Are you? You are, aren’t you?”

  “No.”

  “Okay. Good.” He cast his eyes down before asking, “Will I see you tomorrow at the pool?”

  I smiled. “Maybe.”

  “You better come,” he growled.

  I laughed. “I will.”

  We got out and as we were walking by my car on the driveway, I remembered I left my suit and towel in the car, and they needed to be put in the laundry, so I got them out.

  “Is that your violin?”

  “What?” I peered in at the back seat. “Oh, yeah. I should bring that in, too.” I grabbed it and turned around.

  “Play it for me.”

  “You mean, like now?”

  “Yes. I want to get to know you, and this is part of you, so….”

  “Okay.” I set everything down and got my instrument out of its case. “Kind of weird playing on my driveway, but….” I raised it to my chin. “I may be a tiny bit rusty. I haven’t practiced since we got out of school.”

  “I’ll keep that in mind.”

  I tuned it then played a piece I’d secretly worked on.

  “Evanescence, ‘My Immortal,’” he said before I even got through the first bar.

  I smiled and nodded. When I had first considered the sheet music, I’d wondered if my instrument could possibly sound as beautiful as Amy Lee’s voice. It was a haunting melody. A breakup song of epic proportions. And…it was different on the violin, but still a beautiful piece. It was strange at first playing for Hunter, but he sat so quietly and attentively...and as often happened when I played a piece, especially one I liked as much as this one, I got lost in the music. When I played, it was part music, part dance. It was the only way someone could really bring a violin to life, it required…movement, flow. I would sometimes get pretty carried away. Covering a lot of territory in a room, if I had it. So at first I was watching his reaction, but as I got into the piece, I sort of forgot he was there. The flow of the piece was so exquisite, the way it captured both the writer’s sorrow, and her strength, I don’t think I could play it without pouring myself into it. It wasn’t until the last note faded away in the air that I woke out of a sort of trance. I actually sort of jumped to discover him at my feet. He took a seat on the driveway at some point. He stared at me. Self-conscious, I turned to put my instrument away.

  “You have to imagine it with the keyboard and the drums. It—”

  He grabbed me by the hips. “That was amazing! I…I don’t even know what to say.”

  I shrugged. “Well, like I said, it would be different with some accompaniment.”

  “No. I mean, yeah. I’m sure it would, but…. I’ve always liked that song, but, you know, it wasn’t on my top twenty-five. But now, man. I mean, you realize how talented you are, right?”

  “Well…uh…I mean, it needs work. My instructor’s been pretty pleased with it, I guess.” I turned away from him to finish closing my case.

  “So, you play this for the school orchestra as a solo piece, or how does that work?”

  I picked my stuff up and scanned the ground to make sure I had everything. “Oh, I don’t belong to the orchestra.”

  “Why not?”

  “What? I don’t know. I mean, I did when I was in fourth grade, but since then it’s been pretty much only my instructor and I.”

  “Huh. Well, that’s a shame. That should be played for more people.”

  “Well, anyway. Thanks so much for dinner. It was delicious.”

  He frowned. “You’re changing the subject.”

  “Yes, I am. What time is it?”

  He walked with me to the door, pulling out his phone to check the time. “Ha. Nine-forty-five. Early even.” I set my stuff on the porch and spun to face him and he took both my hands.

  “It was an awesome night, Hunter. Thank you.”

  He glanced to his right. “I’d give you a kiss good night if your stepdad wasn’t watching.”

  I whipped around and got a glimpse of Kyle before the curtain fell back into place. A loud crash was followed by Kyle’s “Damn.”

  We laughed. “He was watching for you.”

  “I know.”

  Hunter stepped forward and brushed my cheek with a kiss, whispering in my ear, “Go easy on him.”

  I nodded.

  “Now, go in. I don’t want to jeopardize being late.” He watched me to the door and didn’t turn until I was inside. One man making me safe outside, one man making me safe in. Kyle was nowhere to be seen, nor was my mother. I slowly walked upstairs, a grin a mile wide on my face, reflecting on our evening. I was lighter than I had been in a long time. My phone buzzed. I hurried to my room and threw my stuff on the bed. I entered my number into Hunter’s phone in the car. It was a text.

  I HOPE YOU KNOW I’LL BE DISRESPECTING YOU IN MY SLEEP TONIGHT.

  I bit my bottom lip trying to figure out what to say.

  DISRESPECT AWAY, BABY!!!

  Even before I had it in my pocket it buzzed again.

  GOODNIGHT, ELISE.

  He added a heart emoji at the end. I melted before responding.

  GOODNIGHT, HUNTER.

  I added my heart, then:

  SWEET DREAMS!

  With the lipstick mark emoji. I chuckled.

  YOU’RE KILLING ME! SEE YOU TOMORROW.

  With a smiley face. I wore that smile to bed.

  Chapter 14

  Samantha

  I dropped my two weighty volumes on the coffee table in front of me.

  “Well. You took your homework seriously. Out of curiosity, whose is the bigger one, your father or the ex?” Bill’s was three times bigger than my dad’s.

  “The ex.”

  “Wonderful. We’re going on a field trip today.” She rose from her seat and grabbed her purse.

  I blinked. “A field trip?’

  “Yes. Come on. And bring your papers.”

  She motioned for me to stand and then moved toward the door. I hurriedly snatched up my letters. “Should I bring my purse?”

  “Yep. Bring everything.”

  I rushed after her. “Where are we going?”

  “You’ll find out,” she chirped.

  “That sounds like something Kyle would say,” I grumbled, but she ignored me.

  She marched past Kathy’s desk. “Field trip today?” the secretary asked.

  Doc bobbed her head once. “Field trip.”

  I raised my eyebrows and mouthed, “Where is she taking me?”

  The uptight old broad mouthed back, with a loud whisper, Have a good time.

  Once in the elevator, we pressed the button for the lobby.

  “Oh. You’re getting me a coffee at that donut shop.”

  She watched the numbers above the door. “You wish.” The doors opened like a theater curtain and she marched right out, past the donut shop, and out the lobby’s revolving door.

  “Okay. Guess we’ll go outside, then.” I followed like her little lapdog. She turned to the right, walked a couple of
yards away, and opened a latch on a gate I never noticed before, in a wall connecting her business to the next. She shooed me through and it was like walking into a freaking secret garden. We were, in fact, doing that. Tucked behind a decrepit wooden gate, in the middle of downtown Lincoln, Nebraska, was a beautiful courtyard. In the middle stood a huge, three-tiered fountain, and from there perpendicular sidewalks branched off. Low-growing flowers lined the walkways, and flowering bushes rose to hide the fences on either end. But one odd thing stuck out. Near the brick building we walked out of was a blackened trashcan and a fire extinguisher hung from a nearby pole. It seemed like rather a strange addition. At the end of each sidewalk, except where we entered, stood an ornate concrete bench.

  “Wow. This is cool. Do you own this place?”

  Dr. Downing slowed her walk some. “Co-own. It’s a commons area shared by all the businesses in these two buildings.” She looked around. “Strangely enough, no one’s ever here when I come.”

  We came to the fountain and I trailed my hand in the water. “Pretty fountain.”

  “Thanks. That’s my addition. Along with the benches and a few other things. Kathy planted the flowers.”

  “Really?” I couldn’t see her getting her nails dirty.

  “Yes. She’s a whiz with that stuff. I couldn’t grow a plant if a million dollar prize was riding on it.”

  I laughed and jostled her with my elbow. “You and I both, Doc.”

  She headed down the sidewalk to our right. “Well, come on. I don’t want to waste your therapy time.”

  “Oh. I thought this was the therapy. A touch of sunshine and fresh air….”

  “Well, I’m sure that doesn’t hurt. But no. We’re here for this.” She waved her hand dramatically in front of the burnt out trash can. She opened her purse and plucked out a box of matches.

  “Are we making s’mores?”

  She gave me the matches. “No. Now, I’ll sit over there.” She pointed to the opposite end of the sidewalk we were on. “I’ll give you some time to reread what you wrote and then say goodbye to your pain and leave it in the past. Say a few words if you want to first, but I want you to release your past so you can have a bright future with Kyle. Say the words out loud. It will seem odd at first, but the more senses you get into it, hearing the words, for example, the more power it has. I’ll be listening to a book I have on tape, and won’t be able to hear a word you say. But I’ll be keeping an eye out, and if you need me, you can always wave me down. Take as much time as you need.”