by Lucy Ivey
My thumping heart stilled.
“I guess I should have told you about Justin.”
“You should have just told me you had a boyfriend,” he said nudging my side. Everything inside me wilted like a dying flower.
“I’m sorry, Ryan,” I whispered. He reached his hand toward me and gently lifted my chin so my eyes could meet his stare.
“Why are you apologizing, Karley? You like him and he likes you. That’s how it’s supposed to be, so don’t apologize.” Ryan always seemed to say the right thing to make me feel like I could tell him anything. Maybe it was because he was older and didn’t play games anymore with girls. Or maybe he did but he just wasn’t playing one with me.
“He’s a really lucky guy for having you.”
The sincerity in his words caused a smile to explode across my face.
“I know, right?” I laughed loudly. My happiness didn’t last long. Not when I saw Justin across the lobby staring at us. He wasn’t angry. He was intrigued.
“I gotta go,” I whispered turning back to face Ryan.
“Why?”
His glassy green eyes stared over his broad shoulder toward Justin.
“Karley, its fine.” A kind smile swept his cleanly shaven face. “I’ll see you tomorrow at work.”
He really was a great guy. It made me want to stay with him and not go to Justin. He saw that in my hesitation. The slow nod of his head encouraged my first step.
“Okay,” I mouthed silently.
As I walked over to Justin, his eyes never left Ryan.
When I was finally at his side, I had to reach my hand up to his face and pull his stare away.
“We were just talking.”
He released his face with a slow jerk of his head before staring back across the lobby.
“Justin?”
“Is there something I don’t know about between the two of you?”
“I told you, we’re friends.”
“Friends?”
“Yes, friends.”
His hardened eyes softened.
“Just friends?”
“Yes, just friends.”
“All right. Just friends.”
He put his hands on the sides of my face and kissed me. He remained motionless while I caressed the lobe of his ear with my lips, repeating my words. As he leaned his head away from me, his body relaxed allowing my lips to trace down the line of his square jaw.
He lifted his head up as I moved my lips to the other side.
“They have a restroom here,” I whispered giggling.
He pulled me to him with anxious eyes.
“Are you serious?”
“No!” I laughed.
He tilted his head back in disappointment and laughed.
“Girl, do not tease me like that!” he playfully warned.
He picked me up and threw me over his shoulder. “Wait until I get you home tonight, Miss Woods. Before I’m through with you, you’ll be begging me to stop.”
When we walked back into the theater, Ryan’s seat was empty. He must have left. The guilt of hurting him again punched my stomach. I followed Justin up the aisle toward our row. As we made our way back to our seats, Joe stared at us. Gray had her face near his shoulder. It was too dark to tell if she was whispering in his ear or kissing his neck. Either way, he seemed completely uninterested in her.
The weight of his heavy stare following me to my seat was suffocating.
“Fine!” Jessie shouted raising her hands up over her head at the pizza parlor. “We’ve been here for almost two hours and if nobody else is gonna ask, I will.” She faced me with a wide smile stretching across her face. “So how long have the two of you been dating?”
I blushed turning toward Justin, unsure of the answer he wanted me to give everyone.
“A couple of weeks I guess,” he confessed through his perfect smile.
“How?” she giggled. “I mean … how?” The animation in her face was completely exaggerated. He and I looked at each other and smiled. It was obviously a question all the girls wanted the answer to, except Sarah. She pretended to have no interest in the answer as she texted.
“We had a great time when I was home for Thanksgiving break. We texted and talked on the phone every night while we were back at our schools.”
I looked at him for encouragement after I spoke.
“Her Skyping skills are what really hooked me,” Justin said. My face blushed with heat remembering the night I spent hours in front of my laptop screen.
“Wow, you’re a lucky girl, Karley.”
I’d been staring at him, watching his lips drink from the cup of water through a barely broken flirtatious smile, so it took me a minute to realize Sarah was the one who spoke.
When I looked at her, she was looking at him and he was looking down at his drink in front of him.
“Yes, I know, Sarah. Thank you.” One of the guys I didn’t know very well made a meow noise. She locked her hazel on him before turning back toward me. Their beauty burned with envy as she stared.
“What do you think about it, Joe?” Sarah said. She whipped her thick black hair over her shoulder finally releasing her eyes off me.
“I don’t.” For the first time, I was glad to hear his typical abrasive style.
“I mean, don’t you think it’s a little weird?” she continued, now locking her eyes on Justin. “I mean, they’re brother and sister … your brother and sister. You should have a say in it, don’t you think?”
She was trying to embarrass us. She was trying to embarrass me. I hated her for it. I hated her because it was working. Her questions were the ones everyone wanted answers to, and her statements were on everyone’s mind.
“Stay out of it.” Justin’s warning to her was calm but sharp.
“Why?” she asked in a high-pitched condescending voice. “I mean, I think it’s a little weird and want to know if Joe does, too.”
“Our parents happen to be married,” he continued. “We didn’t grow up together.”
“But you’re still technically related,” she said emphasizing the word. “I’m pretty sure that’s illegal here.”
She was trying to hold back the laughter in her voice but it was obvious to everyone what she was doing. Some of the others were trying to hide the smiles forming on their faces, too.
“What’s your fucking problem?” he yelled across the table at her.
Her petite body jumped at the harsh words. She didn’t expect him to lose his temper. I didn’t either. No one did except Joe. The corner of his lip curled in approval at the loss of his brother’s control. She implored Joe with hopeful eyes expecting him to say something—anything—to agree with her. He didn’t. Tears filled her eyes making his crooked smile spread wider. He enjoyed seeing her hurt. Finally, he came to her rescue with a calm but wounding response.
“Even though it feels good to do bad things … you know it’s still wrong, Justin.”
I wanted to throw my soda at him.
“Why?” Justin asked obviously taking offense at his brother’s words.
Joe didn’t respond. He took another drink of beer and looked away. Everyone else was still waiting for an answer.
I wanted him to answer his brother. I knew he wouldn’t. He’d planted the seed. Now, he would sit back and let it grow.
“I don’t think it’s wrong,” Gray said smiling. “I mean think about it. You guys didn’t know each other and like Justin said, your parents are married, that’s it. You’re not related by blood. So what’s so wrong about it?”
Joe gave her an icy stare and right away she wished she hadn’t said anything in fear of losing any chance she thought she might have had with him.
“I don’t think its gross either.” Jessie giggled. “Honestly, I think it’s kinda hot! I know you guys get off on sneaking around the house with your parents there. Or do they know? No, they don’t know, do they? Do they? Oh, my God … do they?”
This time, neither of us found humor in her
animation.
“No,” Joe said. “They don’t know.”
“Oh, that’s hot!” She giggled again looking at Beth as she nodded in agreement.
I was furious with him. Sarah started the fire but Joe kept it burning.
“I’m gonna tell Dad,” Justin told his brother, “after things cool off with that dead girl.”
My attention shifted toward him. His words were surprisingly insensitive. That dead girl? Why would he say such a thing? It wasn’t who he was—that was more his brother’s style. But I couldn’t think about that now. I was too angry at Joe.
This time, he curled his lip in disgust.
“Don’t,” he threatened.
“Why not?”
“You know why. It would be stupid and it would fuck up everything else you’re wanting to do.”
The sound of his condescending voice irritated me. I wanted to tell him I thought their father would be okay with knowing at least one of his sons wasn’t completely fucked in the head! I didn’t.
Instead I said, “You’re a fucking asshole!”
Everyone stared at me, more surprised at my emotional outburst than Justin’s a few minutes ago. I wanted what I said to hurt him. It didn’t. He remained solid in his stare. Unaffected by my words. He had complete control over the situation. I was the one losing it.
“Wow, Karley.” His snarl was almost hidden behind his perfect smile. “Maybe I was wrong about you. Maybe you do have a little fight in you.”
I fucking hate you.
I wanted to say it out loud to him in front of everyone so they would all know how I felt about him. No matter how many times I repeated it over and over in my head, the words would not escape my mouth.
“You are such a fucking egotistical asshole,” I said with a sneer. “What do you hate about me so much? What did I ever do to you?”
Feeling victorious, Sarah spoke up.
“Again, it is not you, sweetie, so don’t think you’re special.”
“Oh, shut up, Sarah!”
I hated her more than I hated him.
She told me to piss off and left the table. No one cared where she went. Too much was going on for her disappearance to be noticed.
Joe took a long drink before responding to my accusation.
“I don’t hate you, Karley. In fact, I’ve loved lots of stupid, little naive girls like you before, but unlike Justin, I get bored a lot easier and move onto the next one a lot quicker.”
A chill raced down my spine staring into the hollow, cool blue of his irises. His spiteful stare could easily have been mistaken for lust.
“I hate you,” I whispered.
A perfect, crooked, maleficent smile broke across his handsome face.
“No … no, you don’t,” he said smirking quickly.
I wanted to tell him I hated him again, but I couldn’t. His confident stare was making me second-guess myself.
“Karley, let’s go,” Justin interrupted.
I stood up and took his reaching hand.
“Justin! Come on, man.” Joe laughed, taking his last drink of his fourth or fifth beer. “I was kidding! Come back.”
I followed Justin’s footsteps refusing to look back at Joe.
“Wait here, Karley!” Justin demanded.
“Justin, no!” I begged grabbing his arm as he jerked it away from me and walked back over to his brother.
“What’s your problem?” he yelled throwing the chair that separated him and his brother out of the way.
“I’m not that drunk tonight,” Joe warned standing up slowly. “If you come at me, bring all you’ve got.”
Gray was holding Joe’s arm until he jerked away from her. The force of his jerk caused the beer in his glass to spill on Justin’s coat. He didn’t notice. His focus was on Gray, silently warning her with a look not to touch him again. She stepped away from the table, following all of the others to the other side. I ran up to Justin and stepped in front of him.
“Please, don’t do this,” I begged.
His eyes were focused on Joe. He wasn’t going to back down. His mind was made up. There was nothing I could do to stop him.
I had to convince Joe to stop this whole thing. Justin was too far gone.
I turned my body to face Joe.
His instigating smile wanted this fight between the two of them.
“Joe, please!” I begged putting my hands on his chest. “Please.”
His piercing blue eyes glared down at me under creased brows. His jaw was locked hard into place as it had been the night I saw him arguing with his father. There were times before that I had been frightened of Joe, but at this moment I was terrified.
“Please,” I whispered. “Please.”
He continued to search my eyes. I saw nothing but him. Finally, his eyes softened staring into mine. Under my hands, his chest relaxed. He held his head down in surrender. He wasn’t going to hurt his brother.
“Thank you,” I whispered. His heart still raced under his shirt.
“Let’s go!” Justin said from behind me. “Now.”
He said nothing as we walked to the parking lot. After I climbed inside the truck, he told me he would be right back. I didn’t have time to say anything before he slammed the door shut.
Sarah was sitting on the curb near the entrance. They talked for a few minutes. She was still obviously shaken by how he’d spoken to her as she wiped tears away from her eyes. Although I couldn’t hear what he was saying, it looked like he was apologizing to her. I didn’t like the smile he was giving her or the smile she was giving him. I turned away in time to see Ryan’s car pull into the parking lot. I watched him get out of the car and walk toward the pizza parlor. Justin was already walking toward the truck when Ryan reached Sarah’s side. With a few nods of her head and a quick smile, she wiped her eyes again and they walked inside together.
After climbing into the truck with an empty face, Justin put his head down on the steering wheel.
“I’m going to take you home, Karley.”
“What were you saying to Sarah?” I asked not even trying to hide the annoyance in my tone. He looked over at me quickly before starting the truck.
“I can’t face my brother right now.” He was agitated with insinuation. “I asked her to tell him I’ll be back for him in a little bit.”
I had misjudged who he was and what he was doing with her.
“Justin, I can wait with you until you both calm down,” I said putting my hand on his shoulder. “We shouldn’t leave him here alone.”
He looked back over at me. The smile he gave was childlike.
“Trust me. He wouldn’t be alone long.”
My thoughts went back to seeing him with the three girls the first night we went to dinner and my stomach flipped at the thought of his leaving with someone else tonight.
“Besides, I wanna talk to him alone. This tension between us needs to go away. This isn’t how we treat each other.”
I was the tension between them. I hated it, too. They were brothers. They needed to stick together. I held tightly to his arm the entire ride home. He dropped me off at the house, asking me to wait up for him until he got back from talking to his brother. I promised. Watching him drive away, I wanted to be with him.
Inside, someone was still awake. I peeked around the corner and saw Bill sitting at the table finishing the last slice of lemon meringue pie. When he saw me, he grinned.
“Don’t tell your mother!” he joked holding the fork close to his mouth. “I’m supposed to be watching my calories!”
Although his body was perfect, I understood. My mother was a health nut.
“Around the holidays? She’s being a little tough, isn’t she?”
I poured myself a glass of water but hesitated before walking over to the table and sitting in the chair beside him. He didn’t notice my hesitation. At least, he pretended not to notice. Not much got by him.
He pointed to the pie on his plate with the fork.
“No,
thanks,” I declined. “I ate two slices of pizza.”
“From the Blue Moose?” Happiness filled his face.
“Yeah.”
“I love their pizza,” he said taking another bite of pie. “You know, when your mom first moved here, we ate at that place two or three times a week. It surprised me because she is such a health nut, but she loved it! She always ordered the same thing, pepperoni with pineapple.”
I could have told him she was cheater—on her healthy eating habits and my father. I didn’t. I didn’t want to. I was enjoying my conversation with him. Instead I said, “It’s her favorite.”
But that was a silly statement. He already knew.
“So what did you get on your slices?”
The rush of warmth hit my cheeks. I stared down at my glass. “Pepperoni and pineapple.”
When I looked back up at him, he was looking at me the same way he did the day I walked into his office with my new hair style and we both smiled.
“You are so much like your mother,” he said quietly.
I welcomed his compliment and his soft blue eyes continued to stare into mine. They held charm. Intelligence. Sincerity.
“I’m glad you’re here.”
His speckled brown-and-gray hair gave him a certain look of sophistication but his smile was still youthful. Still handsome. It was easy to see how she was instantly attracted to him. If given his attention, any girl would be. Like his sons.
I took a deep breath.
“I’m sorry for the way I acted before.”
He put his hand up to silence me.
“Karley, no need to explain,” he said. “I have two boys, remember? I know it’s been tough on all of you kids. God, I know my boys aren’t perfect but I love them anyway regardless of their actions.”
He was referring to Joe.
“It’s been tough on your mom, too,” he continued. “She’s waited a long time for you to love her again.”
His words stung.
“I’ve always loved her,” I whispered looking at him in confusion.
He sighed heavily.
“I know that and I didn’t mean it that way, and she knows that. She likes that you’re showing her now.”
He needed to understand.
“I hated seeing her happy with you instead of my dad.”
His smile was soft and understanding. He already knew. For the first time, I felt close to him. Closer than ever. I let my guard down.