He just nodded, holding his breath while he waited for her answer.
“If I get this money for you,”—though she already knew she would—“you’ll get a job and get your own place. Or you’ll leave town. I don’t care which one you choose, but you have to do one or the other.”
“Abby—“
She cut him off when she heard the tone in his voice that meant he was about to try to negotiate. “No, Aaron. That’s the deal. I get you the money, and you get out of Mom’s house. Either find a job and rent your own place if you want to stay here. Or go back to Arizona. Or try Texas. Or anywhere else in the whole world. I don’t give a shit. And if you ever get in this situation again, I will not help you.”
“But who’ll look after Mom if I’m not there?”
“Oh my God.” Laughter bubbled out of her at the absurdity of his question. “You can’t be serious.” She couldn’t hold it back. It kept coming until she was doubled over, gasping for air, holding herself up with her hand on a desk and tears in her eyes. Soon the laughter fell away, her gasps more like sobs, the tears still coming. Why did Aaron have to come back? Everything had been going fine. And now he was here ruining everything. First Christmas, now her birthday. What else would he wreck? Was he already stealing from Mom? Is that why he didn’t want to move out?
She collapsed into the attached seat of the desk, calming down, wiping the tears off her face. At least she’d worn her waterproof mascara today. Her brother looked at her warily, appearing unsure what to make of her outburst. Shaking her head at him, she met his eyes once more. “We’ve been fine without you around for years. I’ll look out for her like I’ve been doing. And you don’t have to worry about a thing. Just like you haven’t for a long time. We were fine without you. So just go.”
He stared at her, examining her face, and licked his lips once more. “So that means you’ll help me?”
She nodded once, stood, and left. God help her, she would give him the money, even though it would clean out her bank account, and she’d have to figure out a way to tell Lance she’d let him pay for pretty much everything for the rest of the semester. Without telling him about Aaron. She didn’t want to fight with him if he tried to stop her. And she didn’t want him to offer to pay Aaron’s debts. It was bad enough that Lance had already given him money. She wouldn’t let him do it again.
Chapter Seventeen
Lance sat on the couch, flipping through the channels, feeling restless. He glanced at the time on his phone. Abby should’ve been home by now. What was keeping her? Maybe she had to talk to her professor about something. She didn’t know that he’d left work early today to get home before her as a surprise to kick off her birthday weekend. He wanted to give her birthday present to her now. He’d gotten it last week—a pair of gold earrings made of a cascade of fine chains of different lengths with a delicate leaf attached to each one. They were beautiful, and he wanted to see them on her. She seemed to be getting more okay with his more ostentatious presents, so he was excited to see her reaction. Her present sat in a pretty gift bag on the coffee table.
But no Abby.
The sound of the key scraping in the lock had him on his feet and the TV off. He probably looked crazy just standing there staring at the door. She confirmed that when she walked in and saw him.
She froze, eyeing him to try to figure out what was up. After closing the door, she set down her keys and bag before taking off her coat. “What’s going on? Is everything okay? Why are you home?”
He smiled at her, trying to ease her obvious concern. “Everything’s fine.” He stepped toward her, taking her coat from her and tossing it over the back of the couch. They’d be leaving for dinner soon. He had the whole night planned. Pulling her into his arms, he kissed her, and some of the stiffness went out of her, but she didn’t melt into him like she usually did.
Pulling back, he looked down at her, noting the slight puffiness in her face like she’d been crying. “What’s wrong?”
She disentangled herself from him, moving further into the apartment. “That’s what I asked you.”
Stuffing his hands in his pockets so he didn’t reach for her again, he let her move away from him. Sometimes she wanted him to hold her when she was upset. Other times she wanted space. This seemed to be the latter. “I told you, everything’s fine. I took off early because I wanted to get a jump on your birthday weekend. We have dinner reservations tonight, I thought we could catch a movie if you want, or we can come home and hang out. Did something happen today?”
She shook her head. “Nothing important.”
This time he wasn’t going to let her have that space. Not when she wasn’t being honest with him. He stepped closer to her, sliding his hands up and down her arms that she held crossed over her chest, then pulling her in. She let him, laying her head on his chest, but keeping her arms crossed, not returning the hug. At least she wasn’t pulling away. He’d take it for now. “What happened, Abby? I can tell something’s upset you.”
She sighed deeply against him, and he felt moisture seeping through the fabric of his shirt. He squeezed her tighter against him, rubbing her back. “Abby? Please tell me what’s wrong.”
“Aaron came by today.”
He stiffened at her words. Her voice was muffled from her face pressing into his chest, but he heard her. Forcing himself to relax, he kept rubbing her back. “Came by where?”
“Work. He was waiting in the foreign language office when I got done teaching my last lab.”
Lance pulled back and looked down at her, but she kept her face turned away from him. “What did he want?”
“Money. What else?”
He let her bury her face in his chest again, since that’s all she seemed to want to do. “From you?”
She shrugged.
“Or he wanted you to ask me?”
No response. Huh.
“What does he want money for?”
She didn’t say anything for a long time. But he waited. “He said Mom needs some tests. I don’t know all the details. He wasn’t very clear about what the problem was.”
Pulling back again, he tried to get her to look at him. She still wouldn’t meet his eyes. That seemed … odd. But she was upset, so he let it go. “How much does she need? Did you talk to your mom?”
She shook her head, pulling out of his arms and heading for the kitchen. “No. Um, she wouldn’t answer when I tried calling.”
Crossing his arms and propping a shoulder in the kitchen doorway, he watched her fill a glass of water and drink half of it. He supposed that crying would make you dehydrated. “How much did he say she needs?”
She finally looked at him, a wary look in her eyes. “Uh, a few thousand dollars at least.”
He let out a low whistle. With how much he didn’t have to pay for rent, he had a good amount in savings. He’d planned on using it as a down payment for a house someday. That was the only reason he hadn’t pushed Abby harder on letting him pay all of the rent, or at least a higher percentage. He could dip into that to help out her mom.
“Okay. I can swing that.”
“No.” Her answer came automatically, almost before he finished talking.
“What?”
She shook her head. “I said no. I’m not letting you give my br—my mom money. Not happening, so don’t even think about it.”
“Why not?”
“Because she’s my mom, not yours.” She looked away, her eyes unfocused, her hand coming up to play with her lower lip like she always did when she was stressed or thinking about something. Right now, both things were obviously the case.
He stepped closer and pulled her hand away. “I don’t mind helping, Abby. Really, I don’t.”
Her gaze softened when she looked at him. “I know. I know you don’t. And that’s one of the reasons I love you. But I don’t feel right about letting you do this. I’ll—I’ll figure something out.”
He pulled her close again by his grip on her wrist, and she let
him, setting her glass down on the counter as she went. “How, Abby? How will you help her pay for this? You’ve already told me her budget is pretty much maxed out. And I know that you sometimes use your own money to help her pay for groceries.” He kept his voice soft and the questions curious rather than accusatory, not wanting to upset her more than she already was.
One shoulder lifted in a shrug. “I have the rest of my loan disbursement still.”
His mouth tightened a fraction at that, remembering the fight they’d had at the beginning of the semester about her getting the payout instead of letting him pay for rent and only taking what she needed to cover the cost of school. But he let it go. “I thought that money was to pay for your half of the rent.”
She winced at that. “Yeah. It was. But …”
When she trailed off, he waited for her to finish, but she didn’t. He spoke her unfinished thought. “But … you’re okay with me paying for rent so you can help your mom, but not okay with me helping her directly?”
Another one shoulder shrug. “Something like that.”
He couldn’t help the low chuckle that escaped, and she started to push back. But he tightened his arms around her. “I’m sorry, Abby. I—you have to see why that’s kind of funny.” She didn’t say anything. “Okay. Fine. Maybe not. I get that it’s important to you to pay for your own things. If you’re okay with me taking care of you so you can take care of your mom, I’m okay with that, too.”
She sighed, her arms finally winding around him, squeezing him close. “Thank you.”
“Of course.” He kissed the top of her head, and she lifted her face to his, kissing him back, seeming to go back to her normal self. The kiss deepened, turning hotter, and he found his hands slipping under her top, caressing her skin. He stopped himself before undoing her bra, gentling the kiss and pulling back. He grinned down at her, her lips pink and swollen from his kiss, her eyes glazed, her cheeks flushed. “We have reservations soon, so we’ll have to pick that up later.”
She smiled back, the tension gone now that the money question was resolved. Good. Now they could get back to the fun weekend they had planned. It was her twenty-first birthday tomorrow. She should be drinking and partying and living it up, not worrying about how to pay for her mom’s medical problems. So he made it his goal for the weekend to ramp up his distraction, showering her with gifts, plying her with delicious food and drink, and most importantly, worshipping her body and keeping her sated with pleasure. He looked forward to that part the most. And he planned on starting on it as soon as they were home again.
Lance’s hands slipped around Abby’s waist as she stood in front of the mirror swiping gloss over her lips before heading out to her birthday party at Megan’s house. He nuzzled her neck and nipped at her earlobe, sending a shiver down her spine followed by a zing of arousal.
She ducked her head, reaching for the earrings he’d given her the night before. “Stop that. We need to leave soon. And if you’re going to be nibbling on my ears, I won’t be able to wear the earrings you gave me last night.”
He held her in place with his hands on her hips, still nuzzling that spot below her ear. Almost unconsciously she tipped her head to the side, her eyelids sliding closed, enjoying his attention.
“And was that your favorite part of last night?” His low voice rasping in her ear sent another round of shivers down her spine, the combination of his lips on her neck and his hands roaming her body ratcheting her arousal higher. Sense memories from the night before played over her skin.
He’d grabbed a little gift bag off the coffee table before leading her out the door to drive to the restaurant. His plan to have her open the present before leaving had been thrown off by her getting home later than normal and their discussion afterward. She’d hated lying to him about why her brother wanted the money. But she couldn’t bring herself to tell him it was to pay off a gambling debt. It was too embarrassing. She couldn’t predict how Lance would react to that news. He already didn’t like her brother, and for good reason. She wasn’t particularly fond of him anymore either, but he was still family. Letting him get hurt or worse, killed, by some lowlife bookies or whatever when she could prevent it was impossible. Even if he had abandoned them. She hoped he’d take her money and leave. Go somewhere else. Leave them alone again. Maybe stay gone for good.
Unless he got his life together. Maybe she’d be okay with some contact then.
But with the way things stood, no way in hell did she want him around. And she definitely didn’t want him at her mom’s house. She knew that if he didn’t get the money from her, he’d steal it from their mom. And her mom could barely pay for everything she needed as it was. She hadn’t realized that Lance knew that she helped pay for her mom’s groceries, but it didn’t really surprise her. He paid attention.
On the way to dinner he’d gone back and forth on whether she should open her gift in the car. She’d laughed at his giddy excitement. He was like a little kid on Christmas morning, except she was the one getting the present. She’d finally opened it after they were seated and ordered drinks. Inside the bag was tucked a little velvet jewelry box. She’d been nervous to open it, especially in a restaurant full of people, but Lance’s smile and watchful eyes had spurred her on. Relief and disappointment had washed through her when she opened the box to reveal a pair of earrings. They hadn’t really talked about getting engaged, so she pushed both feelings aside as quickly as they came.
“Lance, they’re beautiful.” And they were, she ran her fingers over the delicate chains and leaves, causing a light tinkling sound. “I love them.”
His eyes had glowed with pleasure that she liked them. “I was worried you might think they were too much.”
“Well, they are. But I love them anyway.”
“Good.”
Now, the earrings slipped from her fingers, distracted by Lance, kissing and nibbling his way around her neck and collarbone from behind, landing on the tile floor of the bathroom with a tiny crash. The sound brought her back to herself and the realization that they didn’t have time for another round of lovemaking before going to her birthday party.
She tried to disentangle herself, to retrieve the earrings. “Lance, my earrings.”
“They’re fine. I promise I won’t step on them.”
A gasp escaped her lips as he nipped at her neck, grinding his hardness against her ass. “We’ll be late if you don’t stop.”
“Mmm.” His lips never left her, and now his hand was working its way down the front of her pants.
“Lance.” His name came out more sigh than protest.
He stroked her, his hand sliding down further, two fingers slipping inside, finding her already slick and ready for him. When he lifted his head to look down at her, his dark eyes had grown even darker with lust, and she knew there was no turning back. “We’ll be quick. I promise.”
With that, he stripped her pants and panties down her legs, encouraging her to step out of them. While he was crouched down, he scooped up her earrings and deposited them safely on the bathroom counter. Then lifted her onto the counter, bottles and toiletries clattering as her ass pushed them out of the way. He undid his jeans and freed himself before wrapping her legs around his waist. With his hands on her ass, he pulled her against him as he thrust forward, filling her deeply at this angle.
Quickies on the bathroom counter were not their usual, but Lance couldn’t seem to keep his hands off her today. Abby found it so hot that, combined with the angle of his thrusts, she quickly spiraled closer and closer to the edge. She clutched at his shoulders as he pounded into her, her head thrown back, eyes closed, her thighs straining as she gripped him with her legs. In her precarious position on the edge of the counter, all she could do was hold on.
“Come on, Abby. Are you there? Please tell me you’re close.”
She opened her eyes to find him staring down at her, lust and strain in his face as he picked up the pace, unable to hold back any longer. He pushed into
her hard once and again, grinding against her, his climax triggering her own. They shuddered together, hanging onto each other until they both relaxed in the afterglow, sharing a leisurely kiss before cleaning themselves up and putting themselves back together. Abby couldn’t suppress her grin as they finished getting ready, not even caring anymore that they’d be late.
Everyone else was at the house when she and Lance arrived, rushing into the house from where they’d parked on the street to get out of the cold February drizzle as quickly as possible. The scent of dinner cooking greeted them when they walked in.
Chris got up and came to the door, slapping Lance on the shoulder by way of greeting and leaning in to give Abby a quick kiss on the cheek. “Happy birthday, Abs.”
“Thanks, Chris.” Since he spent so much time with Lance and Megan, Chris had adopted the nickname that she only let those closest to her call her. Matt didn’t even call her Abs, though she’d be okay with it if he did.
They moved into the living room, Abby and Lance shedding their coats, when Megan came out to greet them. She grabbed Abby in a fierce hug. “Happy birthday! You’re twenty-one! Now we can go to bars and you can buy your own drinks! I’m so excited!”
Abby laughed. “Because you’ve had to buy me sooo many drinks in the last few months since you turned twenty-one.”
Megan pulled back with a grin and a shrug. “Well I would’ve if you’d have ever come out with me.”
“Yeah, right. You’d have made me get Lance to buy my drinks, and you know it.”
Megan poked out her lower lip in a faux pout. “Not if it was a girls’ night.”
Before Abby could respond, Matt came forward, his arm around a blonde, her hair more wheat colored than Abby’s own strawberry blonde. The new girl took them in, trying to hang back a little, chewing her lip and fiddling with her fingers like she was nervous, a slight pinkness to her cheeks that could be explained away as heat from working in the kitchen, where she’d just come from, but Abby guessed she might be blushing. She sympathized, being a chronic blusher herself. The curse of fair skin and light hair.
Unsaid Things (Players of Marycliff University #4) Page 13