Eyre House

by Caitlin Greer

  “He’s not worth it, Ginny!”

  “Fucking bastard!”

  “Easy, easy.” I kept walking her back, working her farther away from him. I could see her hands shaking, even though she had them clenched.

  “Thank you, cabana boy.” Brandon’s usual condescending tone had turned up a few notches, like he was doing me a favor, thanking me.

  I shut my eyes and just kept walking Ginny away.

  “He’s. Not. Worth it,” I said again, focusing her eyes on mine. Maybe if I said it again, I’d believe it, too.

  “You two really are just unbelievable. I’d even say you deserve each other. Enjoy it while it lasts. When we demolish Eyre House, a lot of things will change. You’ll lose everything, Virginia!”

  I took a deep breath and kept my eyes on Ginny’s until Brandon’s car drove away. Then I pulled her to me and held her while she swore.

  “You should’ve let me hit him.”

  “I almost did. The idea of you beating the shit out of him was a very hard one to turn down.”

  She kept glaring down the drive.

  “He’s just a privileged asshat, Ginny. Don’t let him get to you.”

  “Don’t let him get to me? God, you’re just as bad as Rafe. I don’t need your help, and I don’t need to be protected. I thought we were having fun?”

  “We are having fun. But I don’t want you or anyone else getting hurt, and I don’t think you do either. Let me help.”

  Her eyes flashed as her mask slammed back into place. Her hands stopped shaking, and when she spoke, the emotion was gone. Her voice didn’t even tremble.

  “Look, sugar. You’re sweet and hot and so much fun when you let yourself be. But I don’t need another mama or a bodyguard, or any of that shit. I don’t need yours or anyone else’s help, got it? All I need from you is that pretty face and the body attached to it.”

  Before I could protest, she pushed away. I shook my head and watched her go, trying to get a grip on the knife she’d just driven into my chest. A minute later, her Jeep flew past me down the drive, into the lingering fog.

  I turned off the shower and sighed at the steam that still floated through the bathroom. The heat had felt so good on my sore muscles after spending all day with the yard crew. I jumped at a small creak and thump in the house and then cursed at myself. Tomorrow I’d check the rattraps in the attic and go through the secret passage Ginny’d shown me on her birthday. Just to make sure. I was starting to feel paranoid, and I didn’t like it. Besides, I wouldn’t put it past the Ingrams to be behind whatever was going on.

  I paused and thought through that one for a bit. It was a good theory, actually. One that could maybe use a little investigating.

  I sighed and grabbed my towel, running it over me before wrapping it around my waist and walking into my room.

  “Damn. And to think, if I’d come in just a little sooner, I could’ve joined you.”

  “Fuck’s sake, Ginny!” I barked, leaning back against the wall I’d almost jumped through trying to calm my thudding heart. “What are you doing in here?”

  “I thought I’d come collect you for dinner. And then I stayed in the hopes of catching you in your towel,” she added with a wink, before letting herself get a little serious. “Actually, I wanted to apologize. For earlier.”

  I took a deep breath and looked at her. Ginny took my breath away on a good day. But the way she leaned back on my bed, her eyes so clearly de-toweling me, it was all I could do to hold onto the wall for dear life and attempt to keep my sanity. I still really wanted to talk to her about whatever was going on. And maybe the way she was treating me.

  “So does that mean you’re actually going to talk to me?”

  She stuck her tongue out. “I told you. There’s nothing to talk about.”

  “Ginny, I’m not letting this go.”

  She ignored me, leaning back to stretch, arms sweeping up high across my bed so her tank top rode up. What little blood was left in my head fled as I watched the way her stomach tightened. I looked away, trying to calm the ache that was building. She knew just how to use her body, just how to push me. Standing here in my towel wasn’t the best position for resisting her, but I couldn’t convince my feet to move. When looking away didn’t work, I closed my eyes. Locked my jaw and breathed deep.

  That didn’t work either. It might have, except Ginny took advantage of the moment. My eyes flew open at the touch of her lips in the hollow of my neck and her fingers on my chest.

  “Ginny…” I gasped. “Lord, Ginny. Stop, please…” I needed her to stop. I needed to remind her where this would end if she didn’t stop. And dammit, I really needed to talk to her.

  I felt her smile against my skin, and then her teeth nipped at my chest.

  Oh good Lord in heaven.

  I definitely needed her to stop. Or maybe I didn’t. Maybe I needed to just let her get it out of her system and prove I was still going to be here after.

  And it wasn’t like we hadn’t already been down that road. Not like I didn’t her see her every time I closed my eyes, wet and naked and me buried in her as the hot water poured over us, or my bike rumbled under us.

  While I argued with myself, her hand slid down my chest and grabbed the towel at my waist, dragging me away from my safe wall. And pulling me to the very, very dangerous bed behind her.

  “Lord, Ginny… We need… I can’t…”

  “Shh.” She kissed my shoulder, and swung me around. “Just hush,” she whispered, and pushed me back onto the bed. I sprawled backwards, thinking I really needed to get away before I lost control completely. I wanted to lose control. I wanted to strip her here on my bed and cover every inch of her with kisses and then fuck her until neither of us could breathe. And then maybe do it again for good measure.

  I realized I’d spent too much time arguing with myself when Ginny’s knee landed on my chest, and her fingers stroked my lips.

  “I wanted to do something special for you, after everything you’ve done for me these last few days.” Her fingers continued to play with my lips and chin. It was all I could do to not throw her to the side and climb on top of her.

  “I know you’re worried about Mom. Even though I told you not to be.”

  Her honey-warm eyes bored into mine, hypnotizing me. I couldn’t move now if I wanted to. Not with the way her free hand clenched the edge of her cutoffs or her finger pushed between my lips, wetting them. I think I moaned. I’m not sure.

  Ginny slid her fingers out of my mouth and down to my chest and then leaned over. “Don’t move.” Her lips brushed mine, and I was drowning, already so far beyond hope of rescue.

  And then her hand slipped under the towel and around me.

  My body bucked underneath her knee, and she laughed. “I said not to move, Evan.”

  I gasped her name and grabbed her thigh. Her hand slid up and down, pulling me into the undertow. I couldn’t move, couldn’t take my eyes off her. All I could do was surrender my soul and drown in her touch as her hand drew me out and pulled me under.

  She leaned in and kissed me lightly. “Should I tell you how beautiful you are? How hard? How I can barely fit my hand around you? Or should I just keep doing this?” Her hand pulled up me in a slow, tight draw. I know I moaned then. God, did I moan.

  I wanted to tell her she was amazing. A goddess. I wanted to beg her not to stop. Instead, I stretched my hand across her thigh and groaned as the pressure mounted. Ginny gasped as my fingers slid beneath her cutoffs, against the soft skin there. I made myself concentrate on that, on her skin, on the feel of her. At least, I tried. It didn’t work. I was too far gone.

  Ginny slid her hand down me again, and I bit my tongue as wave after wave crashed through me and my body bucked with the pleasure she’d inspired.

  Eventually I regained my breath, and Ginny slid her knee off my chest to kiss me. “Thanks for being there for me.”

  A laugh bubbled up inside me. “I should be thanking you.”

  �
��You still can later,” she said with a wink. “In fact, I was hoping you would.”

  After what she’d just done, I wasn’t sure I ever wanted to say no to her again. At this point, I couldn’t think of a good reason anyway. And she was clearly determined to get me in her bed and keep me there.

  Why did I keep fighting this again?

  “You’re so cute when you’re happy. But Evan, I need you to be clear on something. ”

  “Mmm?” Words were too much effort.

  “This isn’t going to go anywhere. I like you and all, but you’re just a distraction. I’m back to UNC in the fall, and you’re the help.”

  Wow. Her words hit me like a punch to the gut. And here I had been hoping to get her vulnerable. But my suspicion had been right. There wasn’t really a her-and-me. Or there was a her-and-me, just no us.

  I sat up and looked away. I’d been warned plenty. But damn, it hurt. I already cared too much.

  I forced myself to man up and brush it off. I’d been here before. I’d be here again. Really, I was just an idiot for thinking she’d be any different.

  “That’s great, babe. I don’t fit in your Richie world, and I have no desire to. So we’ll just have a fun summer and call it good.”

  A flash of something that looked suspiciously like hurt flickered in her eyes and was gone. Unfortunately, it still felt like a stab to the chest.

  “Exactly what I wanted to hear, sugar.”

  She turned around and leaned forward, changing the subject. “Is this the letter from the other day? You never did tell me what it was about.”

  I struggled to process her quick gear change. “Read it if you want.” I stood up to dress as she settled in on my bed with a rustle of paper.

  “What is this?”

  I pulled on a shirt with a grunt and tried to remember what she was talking about.

  “Evan, oh my Lord. Why didn’t you tell me about this?”

  “Tell you about what?”

  “Have you called them? You need to call them!”

  I zipped my shorts and tossed the towel in the bathroom before turning around to see what she meant.

  “Oh, that. It’s just a request for information.”

  “Evan.” Her eyes pinned me down again. “This says familial claim. That means family. Your family.”

  I rolled my eyes and tried not to think about it. It wasn’t like she had any idea what it had been like with no family. “All it means is that somebody wants to talk to me, because they might be family. That’s still a hell of a lot of if.”

  Ginny stood up and walked back over to me, her hand cupping the back of my neck to run her fingers through the short hair at the base.

  “I can’t imagine how scary that must be.”

  I looked at her, searching her eyes as her hand slid across to my jaw, and then I pushed away. “It’s fine. I don’t see why you give a shit, anyway.”

  I didn’t want to tell her she’d hit the heart of the matter with a single short sentence. I was terrified to admit that there was even a small chance this familial claim could mean something. But after the way she’d just used me and then shut me down, I had no desire to share. I had my own walls, and I could put them up just as easy as her mask.

  She laughed, a soft, quiet laugh that bubbled up her throat. “Sure it is. Now, you’re calling them first thing in the morning, got it?”

  I cleared my throat. “We should go down. Before we miss dinner altogether.”

  She gave an over-exaggerated sigh. “I suppose.”

  I gave her a hard look. “I don’t know that your mother would appreciate it if we spent supper in my room.”

  “Mmm. She might not, but I certainly would.”

  I shook my head and looked around for my sandals. “Yes, but getting caught in a compromising position with you during supper? Then our summer fun would be over. And we wouldn’t want that now, would we?”

  Ginny had turned to replace the letter. It wasn’t until she didn’t answer that I realized something was wrong.

  “Ginny? What is it?”

  She shook her head, reluctantly turning towards me. “Evan, where did you get this?”

  “Get what? What are you talk—” I stopped short as she held out her hand. In it was the dirt-crusted tin soldier.

  Her voice shook, sounding angry and scared, and not at all like the masked Ginny of just a moment ago. “Evan, don’t fuck with me. Where the hell did you get this?”

  I hadn’t ever heard her sound like that before. I ran a hand through my hair. “I found it shoved inside my showerhead the other night.” I didn’t mention what else I’d found. She didn’t need to hear about it.

  “Why didn’t you tell me?” Her voice hit high and shrill, with a panicked edge to it.

  “It’s just a random old toy. It’s weird and all, but I didn’t see why—”

  “This was my brother’s, dammit! You shouldn’t have it! It shouldn’t be here at all!”

  “Ginny, I didn’t take it—”

  “It was in my room, Evan!”

  I stared at her, watched as the angry fear suddenly disappeared from her face. Watched her stuff it away, as efficiently as she stuffed the toy in her pocket.

  “It’s fine. It’s nothing. I’m sorry I yelled. Come on, let’s go down before Mama sends someone looking for us.” She grabbed my hand and pulled me out of the room.

  Still, as I shut off the light and dragged the door closed behind us, I wondered just how much Ginny was hiding.

  Chapter Twelve

  Ms. Catherine looked like someone had shot her dog in front of her. I mean, she put on a good front, greeting the guests, chatting with them, working the room to pair up the new group of singles that had come in. But the makeup-covered dark circles under her eyes, and the way her smile no longer reached anywhere spoke volumes.

  So did the way Ginny stiffened when she saw her.

  “Evan—”

  I didn’t even hesitate. “Go.”

  I watched as Ginny hugged her mother and pulled her out of the dining hall to talk. I didn’t stay to see more. Eating with the guests never felt right, so I was more than happy to skip it and go straight to the kitchen. Following Ginny and her mother just didn’t seem right, either. It was almost painful watching them, seeing how close they were. The little kind touches, the looks, the smiles. The way two people who would do anything for each other behaved. Family stuff. It hurt because I’d always wanted it.

  It hurt even more after everything Ginny’d said to me today. Because even with Ginny’s weird behavior, she and Ms. Catherine had been better than any of the other fosters I’d had.

  But there wasn’t anything I could do to help, and I didn’t even belong there. Ginny’d reminded me of that—and hard. Eyre House was just a stop on my way to freedom from the system. Getting out of Charleston was the goal.

  I shouldn’t have forgotten it.

  With Ginny busy trying to help her mother, I decided I needed a chance to clear my head. Time to think. The wind had turned cool outside, and it felt like another storm was blowing in from the ocean. I closed my eyes, leaning into the wind as the first bit of thunder echoed in the distance.

  It was true that I didn’t really fit in here, but standing there outside Eyre House, watching the storm move in, I didn’t really care. I wanted to help. I wanted Ginny to trust me.

  I wanted a place here, not some vague dream of freedom that was only half formed. It was stupid, anyway. It wasn’t freedom I was looking for. It was the family I’d never had.

  And Ginny… Everything Tom had said about her, everything she did was a defense mechanism. Everything she’d done tonight. She wanted to feel close but couldn’t bear to lose anyone. I’d seen it before now but gotten too caught up in myself.

  Well, I just wasn’t going to let her keep me away anymore.

  The wind picked up, gusting hard, and I saw I’d wandered farther from the house than I had intended. Past the pool and the yards and into the far ends of the
property. The lights from Eyre House were small in the distance, made smaller by the wall of rain that swept towards me. A flash of light and an answering echo of thunder brought the rain to me. In seconds, water was dripping down my neck and soaking my shirt.

  Around me, the tall grass blew low in the wind and the rain, and the Spanish moss dripped heavy in the trees. The next round of lightning lit up the remains of an old stone wall. And I suddenly knew where I was.

  This was where Jaime Eyre had died. The small stone marker almost hidden by the ruins confirmed it.

  I shivered, a lot colder than I’d been moments ago.

  I didn’t want to be here. The wind howled around me, and I couldn’t be sure if it was just the wind or if a dog howled along with it. I didn’t want to find out. I couldn’t hear anything else besides the storm. No crickets, no tree frog symphony. Nothing but the screaming wind and maybe a ghostly dog. Turning on my heel, I started running back to the very small lights of the house.

  The storm seemed to have other ideas.

  Lightning stabbed out less than twenty feet from me, hitting one of three lone trees scattered around Jaime’s ruins. It shattered with a bone-deep explosion. The shock of it was way worse than it had been on my motorcycle, the day I arrived. With no helmet to protect me this time, my ears felt traumatized by the sound. The bolt seared my eyes and left an afterimage that split my vision almost as badly as the lightning had ruptured the tree ahead of me. The electricity in the air beat through me, throbbing under my skin.

  When the light faded, I found myself ass-down in a puddle on the ground and the tree in front of me rent wide into pieces.

  Thunder rumbled again as I picked myself up. My ears hurt, my skin stung, and the way the lightning had burned into my retinas made looking at everything weird. I felt disoriented, confused. I turned and looked behind me at Jaime’s ruins, trying to find my balance. Logically, I knew where I was, but with the storm screaming through the ringing in my ears, it took me longer than I liked to regain my bearings.

  I shook my head, winced, and turned back to the house. All I wanted was to get out of this storm before my luck went completely south. Still, I couldn’t help but turn one more time to look at the tree. A solid third had been torn off, split to the ground. The other two thirds looked unbalanced and ready to fall apart. The way the wind was blowing, I almost expected it to.