by Anne Conley
"Aren't you bothered?"
She shrugged. "Not as much as I should be, I suppose. But I'm honestly not."
His voice lowered, so she could barely hear him. "You want to get back at him?"
She looked at Rafe, and there was desire in his eyes, magnified by the shadow play from the fire.
"No. I don't play that way."
"No flirting with other guys because he's flirting with girls? At a party he came to with you?"
"No. I don't do that. If I wanted someone else, I would break up with him and be with the other person. There's no need to cheat."
"What if he cheats?"
She shrugged. "Same thing, I guess. We break up. I don't play those games."
"What if you loved him?"
Rafe's smile was contagious. This wasn't really a smiley conversation, but his ever present grin was there, splitting his face, and she couldn't help but smile back.
"But, I don't. So there's no issue. He knows that."
They sat in silence for a little while, before he broke it. "So, tell me about Grace. Are you going to lifeguard forever?"
She leaned back, welcoming the change in conversation. "No, I'm working on a degree in marine anthropology. But I can't afford school full-time all year. I'm taking a break for the summer, to work and save up."
"Marine anthropology? What do you do with that sort of degree?"
"Not sure. Write papers, teach, lifeguard?" She laughed.
"So you like it?" He seemed genuinely interested.
"The studies are fascinating. There's something so basic and predictable about man's ego when it comes to Mother Nature."
"So, no treasure hunting on the open-sea?"
"Maybe, but I'm more interested in ship-wrecks. Of course, there's not a lot of money out there for people looking to study sunken ships."
She watched Brad fill up his cup once again with beer, and stumble back into the crowd of girls. He put his arm around the shoulders of the one that had stroked his bicep earlier, and leaned toward her ear again. Disgusted, she turned away from him completely and faced Rafe.
Who was staring at her.
The intensity of his eyes made her stomach flutter with heat, and she wondered what it was about him that made her feel like this? Why didn't she just break up with Brad, instead of getting so frustrated with him, and starting something with Rafe, like she'd said? He looked like something with him would be interesting…
Except that she could tell he was intense, maybe too intense for her. Starting something with him wouldn't be a casual thing, no matter how carefree he seemed. The emotions he evoked in her were too powerful. She knew that a relationship with him would be extreme, passionate, life-changing. He didn't seem like the type to do anything half-way. Starting something with Rafe would be a mistake.
As she watched him, Rafe moved closer to her and lifted a hand to smooth her hair across her forehead. She saw heat in his eyes, tinged with desperation and it scared her. She knew that if she did anything with him, she could never come back from it. He would be her Carl.
She stood abruptly, dusting sand from her shorts. "I'm not feeling this party. You ready to go home?" Turning to Brad, she saw he had sat down in the sand, with the girl in his lap. Grace sighed. "I'll go get Brad."
Rafe followed her silently, for which she was glad. She didn't want to talk to him anymore right now. She was afraid of what she might say.
When she got to Brad, she saw he was drunk. He was probably sitting because he couldn't stand on his own anymore. She swallowed a snort, and pulled him up by the arm, dumping the girl out of his lap.
"Come on, Brad. We're taking you home." His gaze landed on her, and he smiled a goofy smile, before sinking back down to the sand.
"Grashe! So nishe of you to join ush." He patted the sand next to him, "Shit?"
She shook her head, "No we're going home. Come on." She tugged his arm again. Brad looked like he was trying to get up, but kept falling back into the sand. Rafe came and grabbed his arm.
"Come on, man. It's time to go." Brad grabbed Rafe's forearm, and Rafe grabbed back, pulling him to his feet. Rafe and Grace pulled and stumbled their way to Brad's car. Rafe wrestled the keys from him before stuffing Brad into the front passenger seat. Grace heard him mumble "fucking hero" before she got into the back.
Rafe was an incredibly careful driver, and Grace wondered if he was like that with everything. Did the guy never take chances? He didn't eat fried foods, didn't drink, drove like an old lady. What else did he do carefully?
Brad turned in his seat so he was facing Grace, and she was surprised to see tears in his eyes.
"I'm shorry, Grashe. Nothing happened."
"I know, Brad. You're drunk. We'll talk about it tomorrow. Okay?"
"I wazh trying to make you jealoush, Grace."
She sighed, "I know, Brad."
"Cuz of him."
She rolled her eyes. He was talking as if Rafe wasn't sitting right next to him.
"You're being rude."
Brad turned to Rafe. "Shorry man, but she's my girl."
Rafe kept his eyes on the road and continued driving carefully. "I know, man. I'm not trying to horn in on your girl."
"Why not? She's fucking gorgeous."
Grace saw Rafe's knuckles whiten on the steering wheel. "Yes, she is." Rafe said quietly.
"And she'sh awesome. And she'sh mine." Brad practically growled this last part.
"I know that, man. I'm not trying anything with her. I was just sitting next to her, while you went off and left her alone."
Grace was getting pissed. "And she's right back here; you guys can quit talking like I can't hear you."
Rafe's eyes met hers briefly in the rear-view mirror while Brad mumbled a quick apology.
"I did, didn't I? I left you alone sho that Mr. Hero here could work his mojo on you."
"Brad, stop. We'll talk about it tomorrow."
"I want to talk now."
She sighed. This was not a conversation she wanted to have in front of Rafe. At all. "Okay. Talk."
Brad's eyes were watery, and Grace wasn't sure if it was from drinking so much or because he was getting ready to cry.
"I don't like him living with you, Grace."
"Then give me three hundred and fifty dollars a month and he's out of here."
Rafe looked thunderstruck. "What?" His eyes in the mirror were wide, and the green irises blazed so brightly that Grace had to look away.
"You know I can't do that. Mom doeshn't give me that much money every month, Grace."
"Then Rafe stays. Get over it, Brad."
He looked over at Rafe, whose jaw was tight, his eyes back on the road.
"She mine, mushcle man."
"I got it, Brad. She's yours." Rafe practically growled the words at Brad.
Grace was done. "Pull over, Rafe."
"Why?"
"Because I'm through sitting here listening to this shit. I don't belong to you Brad, and I'm tired of you acting like I'm your prized dog that somebody else is petting. I can walk from here."
"Don't Grace." Rafe's voice slipped through her angry haze, and she looked at him in the mirror again. "We're almost to Brad's place, I'll walk you home."
"Perfect." Brad mumbled.
"What did you expect, Brad? You left me with Rafe while you went off to flirt with that girl, and then got so shit-faced you can't drive me home? Would you rather I walk alone, so that he doesn't spend any more time with me than necessary?"
"No." He sounded sullen.
“Then shut up and let us get you home.”
"Okay." They were silent the rest of the way, and when they got to Brad's apartment, Rafe handed him his keys, and turned to Grace.
"Do you think he needs help getting to his place from here?"
“Yeah, I got him. Will you wait here?”
Rafe nodded, “You need help?”
She shook her head, concentrating on getting Brad up the stairs.
At his apar
tment door, she leaned him on the wall and stood across from him.
“This was embarrassing, Brad.”
His glazed eyes looked at her. “What?”
“You know. This whole night. You’ve been attacking Rafe all night long, and it’s not fair to him. There was no need for you to feel so threatened, and I am not some bone for you to fight over.”
“I’m shorry Grashe…”
“I am too. This is over, Brad.”
He looked up at her, his eyes pleading, and Grace felt nothing. Yup. It was time.
“What do you mean?”
“We’re done. No more. You screwed up, tonight.” She turned to walk back down the stairs.
“Wait!”
“If I need to explain everything tomorrow, when you’re sober, you can call me, but I won’t change my mind. You don’t treat people like that and expect to get away with it. Not with me, anyways.” She walked down the stairs to see Rafe waiting patiently at the bottom, a question in his eyes.
“Did you get him all tucked in?”
"I don't care if he sleeps in the hallway. I'm sick of looking at him."
A small smile tugged at the corners of Rafe's mouth, as he walked next to Grace on the way home. They didn't live far from Brad's place, it was directly across the island. It was a walk, but not too bad, and she needed the fresh air after the testosterone riddled car ride.
She could feel his furtive glances, could sense the satisfied smirk, and could only imagine what he was thinking. His hand kept grazing against hers as they walked home, side by side, sending warm tingles up to her elbow with each brief point of contact.
Finally, she couldn't take it anymore. Grace stopped walking and turned to him.
"Don't start thinking that just because I broke up with Brad, you have a chance."
He threw up his hands in an innocent gesture, eyes wide. "I'm not thinking anything like that Grace." For once, his smile was gone. "Well, maybe I am a little…but I would never try anything now, for heaven's sake. I don't like you all angry and stuff." The smile came back, teasing Grace, and she couldn't do anything but huff at him, annoyed with his easy-going attitude. She tried not to think about his words.
They walked along in silence, until Rafe broke it. “You broke up with him? Really?”
She nodded, but didn’t say anything out loud. She didn’t really want to tell Rafe that the main reason she’d gotten so mad at Brad tonight was because he’d been so nasty about Rafe. And Grace didn’t want to encourage him.
Grace was pretty sure she didn't have many defenses against this guy, if he tried something she would be putty in his enormous, tanned, gorgeous hands.
They walked along in silence, Grace lost in her thoughts of Brad and his inadequacies. She had initially agreed to date him because he was okay looking and nice most of the time. She really didn't like beautiful men. Her mom's boyfriend was beautiful, and look where her mom was. Still working two jobs to make sure he had enough beer for his buddies.
Tonight though, Brad had really surprised her. He'd never done anything like that before, and she wasn't sure what to make of it. He was so transparent. He was jealous of Rafe, but there wasn't really anything to be jealous of, was there?
She turned her head and looked up at his profile in the moonlight. His hair was pulled back into his ponytail, but there were a few wisps that she wished she could finger. Strong jaw, prominent Adam's apple that for some reason was fascinating to her, biceps bigger around than her calves, tapered waist, and those eyes. She noticed those last, as he turned and caught her staring.
The green of his eyes reminded her of safety and peace. She couldn't put her finger on what it was, exactly. But every time she sank into the depth of his eyes, she felt a serenity that she didn't want to abandon.
Maybe Brad should be jealous, she thought to herself as Rafe's eyes took on a predatory gleam. He crooked his arm out to her, and reluctantly, she gripped the inside of his elbow, allowing herself the pleasant tingle associated with touching him. He rested his other hand on top of hers, and Grace couldn't stop the rush of heat flowing through her body, stealing the air in her lungs. Suddenly it was difficult to breathe.
She looked down at his hand resting on hers and noticed the veins running just under the skin. His fingers were long and thick, making her wonder about other parts of his anatomy. Yeah, she knew that doing anything with Rafe would be anything but casual. It would be wild, full of frenetic energy that she wasn't sure she could handle. Grace shook her head to clear the suddenly erotic images.
"Nice night out, isn't it?" There was a chuckle in his voice, as if he had seen her thoughts, and she blushed furiously.
"Uh…yeah. It is." She forced her gaze upwards to look at the rare vision of stars in the sky. "We don't usually see this many stars. That's kind of odd."
The air around them crackled as they walked home, and Grace could only attribute it to this man next to her. She felt pulled to him in a way she didn't understand. She only knew that it meant he would change her.
Irrevocably.
She quickened her steps in an effort to get home faster and go to her room and snuggle under the covers behind her closed door. Away from Rafe. She wished she hadn't invited him to come tonight. If he hadn't have come, Brad wouldn't have been such an asshole. If Brad hadn't been such an asshole, they wouldn't be here together. Alone. Alone together.
Shit.
She was panting and out of breath by the time they'd gotten home, but she dislodged herself from Rafe's arm and rushed up the steps to the front door anyway. Rafe was at her heels.
"Grace. Wait a minute."
She turned to him and saw his eyes blaze a trail across her face. "I'm sorry."
"For what?"
"For coming tonight. If I hadn't come along, Brad wouldn't have gotten jealous. I should have bowed out when the girls did. Tonight being so horrible was all my fault."
He looked seriously chagrined, and she felt bad for thinking those same thoughts before.
"It's okay, Rafe. It's not your fault. We weren’t going anywhere, anyway."
"I know that, but I still feel bad about it."
Her finger reached for him, but stopped short of touching his chest. Grace wanted to. She wanted to feel it again. Memories of bumping into him earlier in the night wafted through her mind, the feel of his chest against her…
"Don't." She simply said, and turned to go inside the quiet house to bed. She heard him sigh heavily and follow to his room.
In bed that night, she heard him bump around next door to her room and imagined him getting ready for bed. She imagined him stripping off his shirt to reveal the rock hard muscles she had felt. Her hand caressed her breast as she pictured him taking off his shorts, divulging…what kind of underwear would he have on? Boxer briefs, thin jersey material clinging and draping in interesting shapes. In her mind, he tossed his body on the bed, next to the wall against hers, and propped his head on his arm, thinking of her. Her hand continued caressing her breast, rubbing the nipple between two fingers, until it was erect, pointing towards heaven. She closed her eyes as her other hand stroked down her belly, slipping inside her panties. Inside her mind, Rafe was doing something similar. She lost herself to her sweet fantasies.
Chapter Nine
With reports of a storm in the Gulf, Galveston was stocking up for hurricane season. This was the first one of the summer, even though hurricane season had been in effect for a couple of months already, but since this was the only one with the possibility of hitting the island, people were getting prepared. There were lines at the gas pumps and grocery stores.
Grocery stores were running low on basic supplies, while gas stations were raising prices to make more money off the panic of residents. The weather was still hot and sunny, but the underlying storm current had people on edge and tempers were short. Rafe alleviated confrontation in his own way, when he could, but for the most part, he just watched in wonder.
Back at the house, things were
awkward with Grace. Rafe couldn't tell if it was things left unsaid the night before, what he'd actually said, or what they'd done in the privacy of their own rooms after they'd parted ways.
He had to admit to himself, something snapped inside him when he'd realized Grace was pleasuring herself while thinking of him. As soon as he'd lain down in his bed, his head against the same wall as hers, he'd reached out to find her thinking of him. The warm pleasure he'd felt had turned to pure need when he'd seen where her thoughts were. He hadn't been able to control the sudden urge to do the same.
And it had been lovely.
Now, though, she wouldn't look him in the eyes.
This morning, he'd purposefully timed his exit from his room to coincide with hers, and she'd mumbled an apology, before squirming around him to escape. He'd chuckled to himself, granting her the mortification she seemed to feel entitled to.
Later, in the kitchen, Grace had been sitting on the counter top, eating her cereal, when Rafe walked in. He reached behind her for a bowl and managed to subtly linger, inhaling her scent, clean sunshine. When he'd retreated, he saw her flush, and grinned at her.
"What?"
She stared at him, "What do you mean, what?"
"Why are you blushing?"
She blushed further, a deeper crimson, and her eyes darted to the floor. "Um…No reason." She hopped of the counter and fled to her bedroom with her cereal. He decided to let her off the hook and didn't try anything else when she emerged from her room later to go to work.
He managed to see her that afternoon, though. He just couldn't seem to stop himself. On his afternoon walk about the island, he went past the lifeguard station and looked in the windows to see her running the switchboard. She raised her eyes and met his gaze briefly, before flushing again and looking down with a wave.
Rafe had her. He knew this. How would he get her to figure it out?
He couldn't stifle his jubilation at her words last night. She’d broken up with Brad. That had to be what this feeling was. His chest felt swelled, and his stomach fluttered, and he couldn't stop the smile that crashed across his face. That made him incredibly happy, and he remembered what she'd said at the party. She's said she didn’t cheat, if she found somebody she liked better than the one she was with, she'd break up with who she was with and be with the one she wanted. Did that mean she wanted Rafe?