Remington's Tower

by Katharine Sadler

  Worthy stared off into the dark night. “Your uncle.”

  “Well, then let’s walk.” We started off into the night and I did my best not to look at Worthy, but I could smell him and he smelled good, clean and minty, with just a light spattering of cologne underneath. I couldn’t help looking at him as we passed under a streetlight, his hair was damp and he’d changed into a light colored t-shirt and sweatpants that hung low on his hips. I wanted to ask him to stop and stand still so I could stare at him for a little while, but I thought that might be weird. Apparently, recently showered men really did it for me.

  The third time I checked out Worthy, he caught my eye and smiled, like he knew exactly what I was doing. After the way he hadn’t asked me out, I was in no mood to allow him to think I had the hots for him. Which I totally did not. I mean he might be adorable and outdoorsy and chivalrous, but he was still a big jerky Mcjerkerson. “You have a little something,” I said, pointing to my forehead.

  He just kept walking and smirking like he knew what I was doing.

  “Wow, you must have a lot confidence to walk around with a big spot of moisturizer on your forehead. I mean it looks a little bit like—”

  He spun and stepped so close to me that our noses were almost touching. I stared up into his eyes, gone melty amber in the dim light, and found it suddenly hard to breathe. “What does it look like?” he asked. His voice was all low and rough and it did things to me. It warmed me in places no man had ever touched.

  I swallowed hard. “It looks like…” I couldn’t say it. “Like moisturizer.” I reached up and pretended to wipe it off his forehead. His eyes closed at my touch and I swear he stopped breathing for a moment.

  Suddenly, all I could see was his lips, and all I could think about was kissing him.

  He stepped back and the spell broke, but I could still smell him, all around me. I wanted to drown in his scent.

  We walked the rest of the way back to my dorm in silence, and I didn’t look at him again until we’d stopped at my door. “Well, thanks,” I said. “I guess I’ll see you in class tomorrow.”

  He stopped me with a hand on my upper arm. “Remy,” he said, his voice all deep and warm and rumbly again. “Will you do me the honor of going out to dinner with me?”

  My heart stopped beating, and I found it suddenly hard to breathe. I thought I was ready for college and dating, but no one had warned me about the breathing problems. Unless that was just me. Maybe I had an undiagnosed heart and lung problem, or maybe it had been diagnosed and no one had told me. Maybe that’s why my uncle and cousins were so overprotective.

  “Remy,” Worthy said. He leaned in and ran a finger along my cheekbone, so gently it was like a whisper on my flesh, and I felt that touch through my whole body. “Are you okay?”

  I put a hand on my heart without thinking. I almost asked Worthy about the breathing thing, but I thought better of it when his mouth quirked up into a concerned smile. I didn’t need anyone else worrying about me. “Why?” I asked. I know it wasn’t the sophisticated, cool answer, but I was dying to know what had changed his mind.

  He studied me for a long moment, not put out in the least by my blunt question. “Because I’ve spent too long doing the smart, sensible thing. I should walk away, I should pretend I’ve never seen you, but there’s just something about you that makes it impossible for me to look away.”

  I wasn’t sure whether I should be insulted or complimented. “Um, so what you’re saying is that dating me is the dumb, irrational choice?”

  He grinned. “That’s exactly what I’m saying. Want to be dumb and irrational with me?”

  Irrationally, I found that I did want that. “Yes. I mean sure, that would be nice.”

  “When?”

  “What?”

  He leaned in closer, amusement dancing in his eyes. “It seems you have a packed schedule of dates for the next couple of weeks. When do you think you might be able to fit me in?”

  I pulled out my phone and checked my calendar, taking a couple of steps back from him while I did. It was easier to think with some space between us. “How about Sunday night? No one’s got Sunday night.”

  “I’ll pick you up at seven.”

  He touched my cheek again and then he left. I took a few moments to calm my breathing and went to ask Frankie if she thought I had a heart problem.

  CHAPTER FOUR

  “Get down, baby girl,” Daddy said. He pushed me down on the seat and kissed the top of my head. “I’ll be right back out.”

  It was dark and I was so tired. I wanted to be in my own bed, but daddy was never right back out, so I curled up on the back seat of the car and tried to sleep. My toes were cold in my favorite pink cowboy boots, so I wrapped my arms around my knees and tried to snuggle myself all warm. I didn’t like to be alone in the car in the dark and I wanted my daddy back, but I knew it wouldn’t do any good to cry or yell for him. It would only make him mad and bring a bunch of men with angry faces out of the building.

  I was drifting off to sleep when I heard men yelling and doors slamming. Something banged against the door my head lay against and the whole car shook. I tried to make myself smaller, to become invisible, because daddy had told me not to let anyone see me. Not to make a sound, no matter what happened. There were a couple more thumps against the car and then the men started laughing and stomped away. Silence reigned again in the dark night and I peeped out the window to see if I was truly alone again.

  At first, I didn’t understand what I saw. His face was so swollen and bloody he didn’t look like my daddy. Why was that man lying on the cold concrete and not moving? When I realized it was Daddy and he was hurt, I wanted to scream and cry, but I was afraid of the men with their angry voices and grating laughter. I eased the door open and crawled out next to my father. “Daddy,” I whispered. My eyes burned, but I didn’t cry. Daddy didn’t like it when I cried. I had to be strong. “Daddy?”

  He groaned and rolled his head toward me. “Hey, darlin’. I’m fine, okay. I just need a minute to catch my breath and then I’ll get in the car. I’m going to need you to drive, sugar.”

  “I can’t reach the pedals,” I said. The concrete was hard and cold beneath my knees and the smell of blood and beer made my stomach hurt. I wanted to go home and crawl into bed. I wanted to wake up and have a daddy who wasn’t hurt, who didn’t do bad things.

  “I’ll control the pedals,” he said, his words slurring a bit. “You just need to keep a watch and steer us home, okay.”

  “Okay, daddy. Okay.” He’d shown me how to drive like that before. He’d said it was just for fun, but Daddy never did anything just for fun. He was always training me. Always teaching me to be tough and strong and self-something. I had to be, since Mommy had gone away and left us. I waited for the bloody man who looked nothing like my daddy to pull himself into the driver’s seat and then I scrambled in and sat on his lap, trying not to think about the blood that was now dripping from him onto my favorite Hello Kitty sweatshirt.

  “Remy.” Someone was shaking me, but I couldn’t let them distract me from what I needed to do. I needed to get Daddy home. “Remy. Wake up.”

  I cracked open my eyes to see Frankie peering down at me. “I’m sorry to wake you, but you were crying in your sleep, and since you have class in twenty minutes anyway, I thought…”

  It took me a moment to pull myself out of the dream. “No, that’s good. Thank you.”

  Frankie nodded, but she still looked worried. “Is everything okay?”

  “Yeah. Just a weird dream about my dad,” I said. “I don’t know why I was crying. I wasn’t crying in the dream.”

  Frankie sat on my bed and curled her feet under her. “Do you remember your dad?” she asked, then she slapped a hand over her mouth. “I’m sorry that was nosy.”

  “No,” I said. “It’s okay. I was eight when I moved in with my uncle so I should remember my dad, but I don’t.” I pushed the blanket off my legs and stood. “I haven’t had a d
ream about him since I first moved in with Uncle Leon. I used to have dreams about him all the time back then, all bizarre and horrible like the one I just had, but Uncle Leon always told me they couldn’t possibly be real, because my father was a good man, an accountant.” I stood and stretched, trying to shake off the fear and loss the dream had conjured.

  “And what is he in your dreams?” Frankie asked.

  “A bad man,” I said, meeting her gaze and not flinching. It felt good to talk to someone else about the dream, like I could talk it away. “A very bad man.”

  ***

  I was still feeling creeped out and saddened by the dream when I got to biology class that morning. I sat next to Harrison, who gave me a big smile. “Well, well,” he said. “If it isn’t freak-out girl.”

  My stomach roiled, but subsided just as quickly. I always preferred teasing to sympathy or worry. “Really?” I asked. “You’ve had four days and that’s the best you could come up with?”

  Harrison laughed. “How about zone-out girl?”

  I shook my head. “And I thought you were smart. You wouldn’t be calling me anything but Remy, or maybe hot girl, if your creepy friend hadn’t tackled me.”

  Harrison smirked. “He’s not my creepy friend, he’s his.” He inclined his head past me and I saw Worthy moving down the aisle. He sat next to me and took in both of our expressions.

  “What?” he asked.

  I had to suppress a little flutter of happiness at his choosing to sit next to me. It was our second biology class of the week, but I’d been late on Tuesday and had to sneak in and sit all alone in the back. “Decided to brave my cousin’s wrath?” Yes, he’d asked me out on a date, but so had half of his fraternity brothers, choosing to sit with me felt like he was crossing a new line.

  Worthy shrugged, a smile tugging his lips. “Maybe I’ve just decided you’re scarier than he is.” He leaned over me to talk to Harrison, his forearm brushing my thigh. “You should have seen her tackle Byron the other day.”

  Harrison laughed. “I would pay money to see that.”

  “Is this backwards day?” I asked. “You aren’t afraid of Byron anymore, and you and Harrison are chummy?”

  Worthy sat up and stretched, his big thigh pressing into mine and shooting millions of little happy sparks through my body. When he’d settled, his thigh still pressed against mine, he looked at me. “For the record, I was never afraid of Byron, I was respectful of his wishes. And Harrison and I are chummy now because we’ve finally found one thing we have in common.”

  His words raised so many questions I wasn’t sure where to begin. I opened my mouth and the professor started speaking. Damn it. Worthy chuckled at my expression and started taking notes as the professor spoke. Unlike most of the other students, myself included, Worthy took notes the old-fashioned way, with a notebook and pen. I leaned over and tried to scribble a note on his paper, but he scowled and pushed my hand away.

  I looked to Harrison, but he ignored me, staring straight ahead. I opened the IM function on my laptop, but realized I didn’t actually have Harrison’s contact information, a horrible oversight on my part. I tapped him on the arm until he looked at me and raised my eyebrows. “Later” he mouthed.

  Left with no other options, I leaned back in my seat and paid attention to the professor. The lecture was about cell structure and the metabolic processes, and was all stuff I’d learned in high school, but fascinating none the less. I never minded a refresher and the professor had a lot of energy and a clear love for the subject. I loved the terminology and imagining all the activity going on in my own body at the cellular level. Yeah, I’m a total nerd, big deal.

  After class, I walked out with Worthy and Harrison, my brain so full of biology I almost forgot my questions. Harrison waved and started to head off, but I grabbed his arm. “Wait, just a second,” I said. “What is this common ground you two have found?”

  Harrison looked at me like I was an idiot. “You, Remy. Will you let go of my arm now?”

  I let go of him and he smiled and took off to parts unknown. I turned my attention to Worthy. “What does that mean?”

  He gave me a teasing smile. “It’s pretty straightforward, just think about it.”

  So I did, and he was right, it was pretty straightforward. “You both want to be friends with me, so you’ve declared a truce?”

  He laughed. “Harrison and I were never fighting, we just weren’t BFFs as the tween girls say.”

  I punched him in the shoulder for that comment and he laughed again.

  “And what about my cousin? You no longer respect his wishes?”

  “Byron and I have also reached an agreement.”

  I eyed him. “What? That you’re my new bodyguard?”

  Worthy stopped walking and looked at me. His gaze was serious and heated, and I had to force myself not to look away. “Bodyguard isn’t the role I’m looking to fill.”

  I couldn’t help it, I burst out laughing.

  Worthy laughed with me, and looked a bit sheepish. “That came out sounding a lot dirtier than I’d intended.”

  I wiped tears of laughter from my eyes and smiled at him. “So you did intend for it to sound dirty?”

  He scowled. “No, I meant it to sound flirtatious. Sweet.”

  His sincerity stopped my breath. “You were trying to flirt with me?”

  He gave me a small smile. “Not very well, but yeah. Is it working?”

  I couldn’t help smiling back at him, and nodding. “Maybe. You made me laugh and that’s more important than good flirting.”

  He grinned and we started walking again.

  “I am curious, though,” I said. “I mean you’re how old? Twenty? Twenty-one? How did you not get better at flirting?”

  “I—”

  “You were a barbarian when I met you. Was your preferred method of picking up girls more along the lines of dragging them back to your room by their hair?”

  I hadn’t forgotten what he’d said about him not having to drag any girls back to his room, because they came to him, but I couldn’t help teasing him. It was in my DNA.

  “You know,” he said, pretending to look at his watch. “I’ve really got to get to class. My embarrassment quota for the day has been met.”

  I grabbed his arm and dragged him back. “Wait, I have one more question.”

  He pulled away. “I don’t think I can handle another one of your questions.”

  I yanked him back and he must not have been resisting very much, because he was suddenly slam against me, his mouth inches from mine.

  “What?” he said, his voice a bit rough.

  “Is Worthy your real name?”

  “No,” he said. “My name is Lawrence Hayworth. My friends call me Worthy.”

  I was having trouble breathing, but I managed to get out one more question. “And what do your enemies call you?”

  He smiled with his eyes, but his mouth was serious, and I couldn’t stop looking at his mouth and wishing…

  Then his mouth was on mine, and his lips were firm and soft, warm and masculine. I was marveling at the feel of those amazing lips, when he ran his tongue along my lips and I shivered. I opened my mouth in a gasp at the sensation, and he took the opportunity to push into my mouth. I let him take the lead for a few moments, but when he tried to end the kiss before I was ready, I nipped his top lip. He moaned and kissed me again, a bit more desperately.

  Some idiot walking by wolf-whistled and I jumped away from Worthy, startled by the sound. Worthy laughed. His eyes were warm and he took my hand as we started walking again. “I was going to wait to do that until after our date, in the spirit of respecting your cousin and all that.”

  “I’m glad you didn’t wait,” I said. “I can’t imagine a more perfect first kiss.” The words slipped out without thought, but I wasn’t sorry I’d said them. I wanted Worthy to know me.

  “So that was the best first kiss you’ve had?” he asked.

  “That was the first first ki
ss I’ve ever had.”

  He stopped and stared at me, stunned. “How is that possible?”

  I chewed on my lower lip for a moment, considering my answer. “I was homeschooled.”

  “You were homeschooled,” he echoed, looking a bit dazed. “And you weren’t allowed to date?”

  I started walking again. “Hey,” I said, looking around for something, anything to distract Worthy. “Did you see that red car that just went by? That was a really, um, red car.” Really, I knew a lot about cars, but there was nothing interesting to say about the car that went by.

  “Remy,” Worthy said. “You weren’t allowed to date?”

  “It, um, it never really came up.”

  Worthy’s eyes widened, which I only knew because I caught sight of them as I was swinging my head around wildly, looking for more distractions. “It never really came up,” he said.

  “Is there an echo out here?” I tried to laugh, but it came out as more of a grunt. I really didn’t want to be having this conversation with Worthy. I didn’t want him to know how socially inexperienced I was and I didn’t want him to question my uncle’s judgment. I might not have met other kids, but I read books and watched T.V., so it’s not as though I was kept completely hidden away from the rest of the world. I knew my upbringing was unusual, but I wasn’t abused and I’d never want anyone to think I was.

  Worthy faced me. “I don’t mean to make you uncomfortable, Remy. It’s just that you’re gorgeous and you’re fun and you’re funny. I think it’s one of the worst ideas I’ve ever had to date Byron’s little cousin of whom he is extremely overprotective, and I couldn’t not ask you out. I couldn’t not kiss you. You are irresistible. So, I’m just having a hard time understanding how you’ve never dated before.”

  “I didn’t go out much.” I couldn’t tell Worthy the whole truth, I just couldn’t. “I was home-schooled and we lived way up in the mountains, pretty far from everyone else. So, I didn’t get close to anyone except my cousins. It’s not a big deal, it’s just the way it was.”