Rebound: Passion Book 2

by Silver, Jordan

  I got up and looked for my swim trunks, there was no point in denying him; he’d only nag my ass to death until he got his way anyway.

  “Fine get out of here let me get dressed.” My first thought was that it would be hours before I saw Kadyn again. I hadn’t even done my morning drive by; just to make sure she was okay mind you. Yeah right.

  Sometimes I parked across from the diner and watched her through the glass as she worked.

  Three days a week, she walked to Doc Graves office and I still didn’t know what that was about but I knew it couldn’t be good. Doc was a head shrinker or at least that’s what we call him around here. What could be wrong with her that she had to go see him? And did it have anything to do with her skittishness? Every time I thought of the reasons behind her behavior my guts hurt. If someone had hurt her I’d kill the fucker. And that was just crazy. If I turned into Josh I’d throw myself off the fucking roof, no way I wanted to be that gone over a chick.

  They were all waiting for me when I finally made it downstairs. “What the fuck is all that shit?” They had baskets and coolers and about a million blankets. “It’s a picnic caveman, let’s go.” Carrie came over and hooked my elbow dragging me out the door. I looked back at her husband to rescue me but he was pretending not to notice. Nessa and the douche were bringing up the rare, I was almost expecting to see the parents but they just came to see us off with big stupid smiles. I got the feeling everybody knew something I didn’t and I don’t like that one bit. Or maybe I was just being paranoid since no one mentioned anything suspicious.

  There was a lot of chatter and playing around as we headed for the beach about a half an hour away. I felt some of my tension ease a little as we got farther away from town. I think I’m a little afraid of Kadyn Daniels truth be known. The things she makes me feel can’t be right can they? How could someone else have so much power over you, someone you hardly even knew? If that damn kiss was anything to go by she was going to have me hopping.

  I looked at Josh and Carrie as I drove, taking covert peeks now and then. Is that what I would look like around Kadyn? That happy to be alive but I’ll slit your throat if you fuck with her look? I shook my head to clear the image. This is what I’m afraid of, you see, if Kadyn is the one, then there’s a whole lot she’s gonna have to put up with. Not only am I changed because of my last experience in the love game; I refuse to let anyone ever fuck me over like that again. But I have the feeling that with her I won’t be able to control myself. If she’s been hurt, what I have in me, the things she seems to draw out of me might be too much for her. But can I afford to let her go? That’s the question plaguing me, and the one that needed answering the most.

  You’re not going to solve this shit in one day Matt so just put it away. I pulled into the almost empty parking lot at the beach. The sun was barely out and there were just a few stragglers, older people it looked like. Probably had the same idea we did. Get there before the crowds and find a nice spot.

  I helped lug the million and one things down to the sand and the boys and I set up the umbrella while the girls spread the blankets and sorted the coolers. It had been a while since we’d been to the beach I was beginning to look forward to a nice swim. Throwing my shirt to the blanket and hopping out of my shorts I challenged Josh and Drew to a swim in what I was sure would be cool water.

  “Come on ladies let’s brave the wild.”

  “You’re fucked in the head bro, I’m not getting in there until noon, that shit’s cold.”

  “What do you plan on doing until then Cinderella?”

  He wiggled his brows at me and looked over at his wife while Drew laughed his ass off.

  “Come on Matt, I’ll go with you. Your brother’s a wimp.”

  “Wimp my ass just because I have better things to do with my time.”

  “You could’ve stayed home for that shit bro, now let’s go I’ll race you.” That ought to do it; he can’t resist a challenge from big brother.

  He mumbled and cussed a blue streak but in the end he got down to his trunks and the three of us gave the man howl as we ran down to the water and dove in. It wasn’t long before we were splashing each other and trying to drown one another. Carrie came to the edge of the water and with hands on hips scolded us to stop picking on her husband since Andrew and I had teamed up on his ass. That’s what he gets for always talking shit.

  We stayed in for a while before climbing out; I had a towel over my face rubbing the salt water away when I got a soft thump on my shoulder. “Heads up bro.” I removed the towel and turned to Josh who nodded his head in the opposite direction. And there she was. Fuck I knew they were up to something.

  She walked towards us at a snail’s pace with her head down and I stood still with the towel clutched tight in my hand. Last night came flooding back in minute detail, the taste the smell the feel of her. I could kill my brother and his meddling wife. She wore some sort of wrap around number and I could see the straps of a swimsuit beneath, my body, already going from memory couldn’t take much more. My trunks were already straining as it is. Thank heavens for the towel but I can’t stand there like a statue for the rest of the damn morning. I gave Josh a good glare as the girls ran to meet her the rest of the way.

  “What are you doing here?” Will there ever be a time when I’m not an asshole to this girl?

  “Matt.” That was Josh’s ‘get your head out your ass tone’.

  “Sorry.” I turned away under the pretense of drying my hair while trying to keep the bottom of the towel in strategic places. There was some chatter behind me as the girls talked her ear off and then I heard Josh’s softly spoken ‘oh shit’. I turned to see what the hell was his problem now and got blindsided.

  “Merciful fuck.” I dropped the towel and grabbed my discarded shirt and moved towards her before I could stop myself. She was…I can’t. “What the fuck?” She was fucking half naked, and that jewel in her navel had my head spinning with visions of my mouth on it, biting… I threw my shirt around her shoulders and pushed her arms through the sleeves. The others had gone from open mouth surprise to outright laughing at my ass. I gave a fuck. I looked around to make sure no one else had seen her like that. All this time she hadn’t said a word, not even to stop me from manhandling her.

  I grabbed her hand and threw a quick “we’ll be right back” over my shoulder before dragging her off down the beach. We’re gonna settle this shit once and for all. That question I had was now null and void. My head was finally catching up to my body and that shit was talking loud and clear.

  Chapter 11

  “What in the blue fuck are you wearing Kadyn?” I made sure we were far enough away from prying ears. The way I felt I wasn’t sure what the hell I was going to say or do next. She looked down at herself and then back up at me. “What’s wrong with what I’m wearing? In case you haven’t noticed, we’re at the beach. Besides, Carrie’s wearing almost the same exact thing.”

  “That’s Josh’s problem not mine.” I crowded her, towering over her, it’s a cheap trick I know, but I needed all the help I could get. The sight of her in that thing was burned into my fucking corneas and was making me stupid.

  “And neither is this.”

  “Think again, I don’t want you running around the beach half naked. You keep that shirt on or I’m taking you home right now.”

  “I can’t swim in this shirt.” She pulled on the tail of my shirt that dwarfed her tiny frame.

  “Figure it out, the shirt or home. What’s it gonna be?”

  “Why do you even think you have the right to tell me what I can or cannot do, Matthew Steele? You’ve barely said two words to me since we met and each time you did have something to say it was an insult.”

  “That maybe so, but last night changed things, now everything is different.”

  “I don’t see why, we hardly know each other and you don’t even like me, remember?”

  “Who the fuck says I don’t like you, why do you keep saying that? Look,
in a few hours this place is going to be crawling with people and I’d be fucked if I’m gonna have other men ogling your ass.” Yes I know I wasn’t making any sense, that she was one hundred percent right, we didn’t know each other. She might think we had no obligation to each other, but my mind had been made up for me and now she was fucked, because the shit that was going on inside me wasn’t good for anybody. Least of all the woman I now found myself wanting.

  “You…are you insane? What gives you the right? I’m my own person Matthew Steele and I can do whatever the hell I want.” See, I knew she was going to be a pain in my ass. She tried removing the shirt but I grabbed a fistful of it and pulled her in close. “Try it.” I stared into her eyes that were all but spitting fire at me.

  “You had to know what your body in that thing looks like, and that thing in your navel is a sure fucking invitation. What do you think people are gonna think? You think I want people looking at my woman thinking…”

  "Just because I have tattoos and a nice ass doesn't make me a freak.”

  "No but the shit I want to do to you might, and I repeat, I’d be fucked if I’m gonna have other men thinking the same thing."

  “This is crazy, you can’t just go around ordering complete strangers around like you’re their lord and master. And what do you mean your woman? I’m not your girlfriend or your wife for you to have any say…

  “Think again, if you didn’t want this then you shouldn’t have kissed me back the way you did. You shouldn’t have clung to me like you never wanted to let me go. I was there Kadyn. I know what I felt, or are you going to tell me you trembled in my arms because you were cold?”

  “No…I…I don’t know okay, I just know this is moving too fast, I need time to think.”

  “No.”

  “What do you mean no?” she was breathing fire again fuck; can my life never be easy?

  “I mean that there’s nothing to think about, I don’t need anymore time. I’ve thought this shit to death in the last few weeks and between last night and this morning the thinking stopped. You think I’ve been following your ass around town for the past few weeks because I’m bored?” She went pale as a sheet and pulled away from me. “You’ve been following me?” Her voice was a choked whisper as she looked around like a trapped rabbit.

  “What the hell is wrong now?” I reached for her but she evaded my arms and turning, fell to her knees and threw up in the sand. I stood over her feeling helpless and uncertain before kneeling next to her and holding her hair back. This was bad, whatever this is, it was really bad. What the hell had I said that could make her have this kind of reaction? She might think it was too soon, but for me, if we were going to move forward in anyway, we were going to have to deal with this shit.

  After she was through being sick, I picked her up and headed for the restrooms her state of undress forgotten for now. I made sure no one was in the lady’s room before pushing the door in with my foot and taking her inside. She’d gone limp and quiet in my arms and my gut was doing that sick churning thing again. That was something else that was coming to an end today, I couldn’t take much more of that feeling. There was definitely something going on with her and before my thoughts drove me insane she was going to tell me or I’ll set Josh on her ass. That fucker would know who her kindergarten teacher was by the time he was through digging.

  I cleaned her up and wiped her face before lifting her and taking her back outside into the fresh air. She hadn’t said a word the whole time I was tending to her, just laid limply against me. As if all the life had gone out of her. “What was that about Kadyn? And no more of your fucked up excuses. First you froze up on me that day in town and now this. Start talking and if I don’t like the answers I promise I will go to your father.” I probably shouldn’t be threatening her so soon after she’d been sick but what the fuck! This shit had danger written all over it.

  I sat on one of the benches on the boardwalk with her seated safely on my lap. My head was already coming up with its own conclusions but I wanted her to tell me that I was wrong, that what I was thinking was foolishness. She didn’t answer me and I squeezed her gently to get her attention. I wasn’t playing, if she didn’t tell me what I wanted to know I would go straight to her father and ask. With my mind made up about us I truly believe I now have every right, whether she accepts it or not. She was here, that had to mean something. Obviously that’s what Carrie had been up to last night, but she had to know I would be here and she wasn’t wearing that fucking suit for Joshua or Andrew, she better fucking not have been.

  She turned her face into my neck and breathed in deep. Her body was still tense but at least she wasn’t fighting to get away. “I can’t talk about it Matt, I just can’t, not yet please. And I’d appreciate it if you waited for me to tell you myself. I don’t want my dad to worry.” Her voice had gone soft and pleading.

  I took a deep breath and prayed for patience. I can’t force her if the shit was going to make her this ill but soon, one way or another I was going to have my answers.

  “I’ll give you some time to get comfortable with me, that means we’ll be spending a lot more time together from now on. By then maybe you’ll feel safe enough to tell me. But tell me this one thing and I’ll leave it alone for now. Did someone hurt you?” I gritted my teeth as I awaited her answer, please tell me no. It felt like forever before she finally answered me.

  “Not in the way you mean no, but…” her body shook hard enough to rattle her teeth and my gut tightened. “It’s okay, leave it for now.” I soothed her, running my hand over her hair and shushing her. “Look at me.” I turned her face myself and looked down at her, studying her.

  Last night in the moonlight I hadn’t noticed the specks of light in her eyes, or the different shades of grey, from slate to almost silver. “You’re fucking gorgeous Kadyn damn.” I hadn’t meant to say that dammit. She was falling apart in my arms and I was fighting my body’s reaction. I hadn’t lost my hard all throughout this whole ordeal. I don’t know what that says about me, or more to the point the hold she had on me.

  “Matt, I’m not who you think I am, I have…there are some things about me that you may not like.” She hid her face once more and I let her. What did she mean by that cryptic remark, and did it even matter?

  “Are you a criminal or something, are you running from the law?” Funny, I could care less if the other one got the needle but her I was willing to hide if it came to that. I am truly and totally fucked.

  “No of course not but…let me just think about it first okay, I have to decide if this is something that I want, you’re moving so fast…”

  “Don’t worry about that it’s a Steele thing, as to you needing time to think I already told you when it comes to us your time has run out. You’ve found your future and I’ve found mine. Just a few short hours ago I wasn’t sure, I too had questions. But I do know you’re the last thing I see before I close my eyes at night and the first thing I see each morning when I awake. I don’t see that changing anytime soon if ever so that’s pretty much a done deal. But I’ll give you time to tell me whatever it is that’s bothering you. So take the time you need, not too much though. Somehow I don’t think I’ll have too much patience where you’re concerned, not with something like this, something that obviously caused you great pain.”

  “You feel that?” I pressed her ass down on my hardness that still had yet to go down, it seemed nothing would make the shit go away short of getting inside her. The truth is, nothing had ever kept me this excited for this long except maybe tinkering with my cars. That’s another sign that I’d been about to make the biggest mistake of my life with the other one. She never had me tied up in knots the way Kadyn did; never made me feel like I was losing my damn mind.

  Huh, thinking of her didn’t bring with it that feeling of lost. I didn’t feel that ripping hopelessness that had been tearing at my gut for so long and I had no doubt it was thanks to the girl in my arms. Whatever her problem was we’d deal with it s
o I could get on with the business of claiming her. I hope I have the patience to wait for her to come around on her own and not go home and fire up Josh’s comp and find shit out for myself. Shit, dad had said be a Steele, I guess we were all about to see just how much of one I was because this shit was wild. No wonder Joshua had lost his damn mind.

  Chapter 12

  We walked back down the beach to the blankets and sat watching while the others frolicked in the water. I kept her hand in mine more so because I couldn’t bear to release it just yet than because she still needed my support. She seemed to be relaxing a little bit more, though I could still sense some tension in her. “Whatever it is, whatever secrets you’re keeping Kadyn won’t change the outcome of us. I don’t know how I know that I just do. I too have some things in my past that aren’t pretty; I’m only now learning to let them go. Our past cannot control us unless we let it.”

  “But Matthew we don’t even know each other, who’s to say that you will want to deal with my baggage? How can you know unless you’ve heard what it is? This all seems too crazy for me. You have to understand before I came here, I’d made up my mind that I wouldn’t have that sort of life that it just isn’t in the works for me. I’d made peace with it, I can’t go through another heartbreak…”

  “Somebody broke your heart? Who?” I didn’t like the sounds of that, that maybe she’d once been in love so deeply that she had given up on life when that love failed. And that’s just fucked Matt, you were in a relationship too remember? Somehow that didn’t placate me one bit and I found myself biting back the anger.

  “No it’s nothing like that; you promised to give me time remember?” I ran my finger down her cheek as she held her face up to me. Why was it I wonder that at this moment I felt none of the angst and uncertainty that had plagued me for so long now? Why did sitting here with her like this suddenly feel so right? This growing up shit was a pain in the ass, what I had before felt like child’s play compared to what I felt now. Did all men fall this hard this fast? Was it even natural, or was it a Steele trait? Josh had been the first person I’d seen react in this way, at the time I’d thought he’d lost his shit but this…this was beyond me.