by AJ Crowe
“Hey, don’t be like that. It’s not like a planned it.” Jess walked over to the kitchen counter and picked up her coffee. Ivy followed her. “He was actually incredibly sweet.”
“Yeah, he’s a sweet guy. But I also don’t think he’s cut out for a relationship, Ivy.”
“He seemed like he really wanted to see me tomorrow. I don’t think it was just a one night stand in his mind. Plus, he spent a lot of money on me. We went to an Indian place, and a gallery…”
Jess put down her coffee. “Wow, I’m impressed. He found stuff like that to do in Paisley?”
“I guess. I searched on my phone and it looks like there’s only one Indian restaurant here and two galleries. So he didn’t have many choices.”
“Hm. I don’t know, Ivy. Like I said, I don’t think he’s a bad guy, but… is he really what you want?”
Ivy blinked. She suddenly remembered just how intensely she had “wanted” him last night.
“Yeah,” she said. “He is what I want. He’s exactly what I want.”
“Are you sure? You’ve never dated anyone who didn’t pass your high standards of nice, responsible, and clear of mental illness, you know?”
“I think I need to stop putting calculating my love life so thoroughly. I think this will be good for me.”
“Okay.” Jess started down the hall toward Emma’s room. “Just don’t fuck it up, or it will incredibly awkward for you to bring Emma to school.”
Chapter Nine
The next morning Ivy walked Emma to school with a skip in her step.
For some reason she was really looking forward to seeing Lucas in his slick teacher getup when she knew about his tattoos and his decidedly wicked ways in bed. No, she knew the reason. The duality of him excited her.
They walked up to the kindergarten building. Kids were lined up in front of it and Lucas was outside, saying hello to parents and kids. When he saw her, he smiled.
“Hey,” he said, walking up to her.
Emma ran up to him. “Hi Mr. Fray!” Then she ran past Lucas to the line of kids by the door.
“Hi,” Ivy said softly.
Lucas’s hair was slightly damp, like he had got out of the shower less than an hour ago. His button up shirt clung to him deliciously and his slacks fit him snugly. Ivy wanted to kiss him. She wondered if he would let her, or if he didn’t want anyone to know.
“You look beautiful,” he said. He took her waist in his hands and kissed her on the forehead.
It wasn’t an inherently sexy thing to do, but the weight of his hands on her and the feel of his soft lips against her skin made her feel weak.
“Thank you,” she said but her voice sounded as weak as she felt. She would let him take her in the empty classroom before school started if he wanted.
He laughed, a low, knowing laugh that came with a smirk. It seemed he could tell what she was feeling by the timbre of her voice.
“I hope I can see you soon,” he said. “Are you coming to Emma’s parent teacher conference after school?”
“Hm?” Ivy thought back to the morning. She suddenly remembered why Jess had been complimenting her on the glow of her skin and how smooth her legs were. Jess had wanted a favor. She had asked Ivy to go to Emma’s parent teacher conference because she couldn’t make it. Ivy had been in too much of a daze thinking about seeing Lucas to remember what her sister had asked. “Yeah, I’ll be here. When is it again?”
“One. And there will be someone on the playground to watch the kids who have conferences, so you don’t need to worry about finding her a baby sitter or anything.”
“Got it.”
A bell rang.
“I have to go,” he said. “I’ll see you at one.”
Ivy shut her eyes and breathed in the scent of him. He smelled mostly like soap and water, but a tiny bit of that musky masculine smell remained.
“Bye,” she said as he let his hands fall from her and walked away. She glanced around. No concerned mothers were glaring at her. It looked like no one had even noticed the way Lucas had acted with her.
Ivy let out a sigh of relief. She walked back to her sister’s apartment without a spring in her step. Instead she had a delicious, warm, and undeniably happy feeling burning inside her. She couldn’t wait to see him again.
* * * *
When Ivy showed up with Emma later in the day, the kindergarten playground was empty and all the grade school kids were in class. No one was on campus except for a small group of about three parents outside the kindergarten.
A man and a woman, probably the parents of a little boy they had in tow, said goodbye to the man they were talking to and walked toward the parking lot.
Ivy still had about fifteen minutes before Emma's parent teacher conference. She went looking for the child care Lucas had said was available. After glancing around she saw it was in the room next to the kindergarten that usually functioned as a library for the younger grades. A brightly colored flyer let parents know that child care for parent teacher conferences was available within.
"Bye, Emma! I think we'll be done in around half an hour. Do you see any of your friends in there?"
Emma nodded and ran into the room while Ivy signed her in.
"Thanks," she said to the young brunette woman watching over the kids.
"Just come back and sign her out when you're ready," the woman said.
"Got it."
Ivy went to wait outside in front of the kindergarten classroom. The man from before was still waiting there.
He looked almost like the frat boys she had avoided in college. He had buzzed blond hair, a strong jaw, and was wearing jeans and a loose t shirt. He looked a year or two younger than her. He also looked a little drunk, exactly like the frat boys had always looked.
"Hi," she said, just trying to be friendly. He looked up at her. "Are you here for parent teacher conferences?"
"Yeah," he said. "My wife's inside."
She noticed that his gaze spent a little too long on her bare legs -just long enough to make her feel uncomfortable. It was different than the way Lucas had looked at her when she first met him. He had looked at her like he couldn't help it; like she was the most visually pleasing thing he'd ever laid eyes on and he wanted to look at her for as long as possible.
This guy was just looking at her like he wanted to fuck her.
"Do you have a little boy or a little girl?" Ivy asked the first question that came to mind in order to fill a silence that had become somewhat awkward, at least to her.
"A girl."
"Do you know if she's friends with Emma?" The guy shrugged. "Emma's my niece," Ivy explained. "I'm visiting my sister to help take care of her. I'm Ivy by the way."
"Jake," he said.
Ivy leaned forward to shake his hand. Instead of politely shaking her hand again like she had expected, he grasped it and yanked her forward toward him.
"Um," she said, her heart starting to beat fast -and not in a romantic way.
He leaned forward and began to talk to her in a low voice. "Look, my wife's a controlling bitch and barely leaves me alone for an hour. She'll be in there for a few more minutes and I am sick of her bullshit." He gave her a meaningful look.
Ivy blinked. What the hell? She pulled away from him. He didn't let go of her hand. Ivy glanced over his gym enhanced body. This guy was strong. She wasn't getting away from him if he didn't want her to.
"Please let me go," she said, her throat tight.
"Come on," he said, his tone sleazy. "You know you want to." He moved the hand he wasn't using to keep her against him and put it on her breast, cupping it roughly.
She knew she should call for help but she felt paralyzed.
Just as the man started to push her against the wall of the building, the door to the kindergarten room opened and Lucas and a short blonde woman walked out.
The guy let go of Ivy and stepped backwards.
"Jake? What was that?" The woman grabbed his hand and started to pull him away fro
m the building toward the parking lot. "I'm so, so sorry," she said looking back at Ivy's stunned face. "My husband is an impulsive alcoholic asshole who can't keep his hands off the nearest skinny blonde. He's not even supposed to be at our daughter's school."
The man broke free of his wife's hold and walked back toward Ivy and Lucas by the doorway, his gait loose and staggering.
"Hey, I want your number," he said to Ivy, grinning a lopsided grin that made her feel a little nauseous. "So I can have someone to go to when my fat wife isn't around."
"No thanks," Ivy said, unconsciously taking a step toward Lucas. "I think you should go with her right now." Ivy didn't really want to wish this man upon his wife—the woman honestly seemed pretty nice—but more than anything she wanted the guy to leave her alone.
Suddenly, Lucas spoke up for the first time. He took one step toward Jake. Ivy noticed his hands were clenched into fists.
"Leave," he said in a low voice. "Or I will fuck you up."
Ivy's heart almost stopped beating. Lucas's voice was smooth, calm, and sincere. He pronounced each word carefully and slowly. Even so, the words even terrified her, though they were meant to make her safer.
The guy stopped moving toward them.
"Jake," his wife yelled. "Do I need to call the police again?"
Jake tilted his head. He seemed to be trying to figure out if he could win against Lucas in a fight. Sure, Jake was bigger and had more muscle, but something about Lucas's tone and his tight physique seemed to put Jake off. He started to leave, then turned back.
"Is this your slut?" he said, seemingly unable to resist pushing the buttons of everyone around him. "Is that why you care?"
Lucas took another step forward. “You need to leave,” he said.
The man lunged at Lucas, clumsily trying to start a fight.
Lucas smoothly let his weight fall onto his back foot and swung his fist squarely into the guy's face.
Ivy let out a gasp. "Lucas!" Jake stumbled to the ground, holding his nose. Blood seeped out between his fingers. "Jesus Christ, Lucas, what was that?"
Lucas didn't move, his back to her. Ivy ran up to him.
Lucas still didn't move or look at Ivy while Jake made his way to his wife and yelled at her to drive him home in the parking lot. The unfortunate couple drove away.
"Lucas, you didn't need to do that. He would have left. He was just trying to piss you off."
He finally looked at her. He was very pale and his lips were pressed tightly together. "Are you okay?"
"What do you mean am I okay? I'm fine. A little shook up but I'm fine. I'm mostly worried about you. Are you okay?"
He shut his eyes and took a slow breath in through his nose and let it out through his lips. He opened his eyes and nodded. "I'm fine. I'm just a little worried about my career." He looked around. "It doesn't look like anyone saw, and I doubt that wife is going to report anything. I think I'm good." Lucas started to walk back toward the classroom. "Are you ready to talk about Emma?"
Shocked and confused, Ivy followed Lucas into the classroom.
Lucas sat down at his desk and folded his hands in front of him. For the first time, he looked out of place. There was blood on his knuckles and the first button of his shirt had come undone.
Ivy sat in the tiny, kindergartner sized chair that was in front of Lucas's desk.
"Were you defending my honor?" She asked it in an almost lighthearted tone.
Lucas looked up at her, his expression soft. He looked a little relieved. "Yeah," he said. "I guess I was."
There was silence for a few moments. The big white and black clock above the whiteboard ticked loudly.
"Are you still scared of me?" Lucas didn't ask this question in a lighthearted way. He sounded more serious than he had ever before. The tone of his voice reminded her of the threatening way he had told the man he would "fuck him up" just a few minutes ago.
Ivy didn't know how to answer, honestly. On one hand, she was scared of Lucas. But on the other hand, she was starting to realize she didn't have to be. He wasn't dangerous in the way that alcoholic deadbeat husband was. He wouldn't abuse her or treat her like something that was only good for sex.
But there was still something about him. Something not quite right.
That punch he had thrown had been so final. He had gone into it knowing exactly how to break the man's nose.
Ivy stood and leaned over the desk, her palms flat on the varnished wood. She looked into Lucas's eyes.
"I'm not afraid of you," she lied sweetly.
Lucas took her face in his hands and pressed his lips to hers, the strength and passion in the way he kissed assuring Ivy she would never have to be afraid of anyone ever again.
Anyone but him.
Chapter Ten
Two weeks passed. Ivy saw Lucas a few more times. They went out to eat and spent evenings wandering around tiny Paisley. They talked about how different small town life was from the city. Ivy talked about her childhood and her days in college and Lucas offered little tidbits about his life before Paisley.
She learned that Lucas grew up with a single father because his mother had left his father a few months after Lucas was born. Lucas's father had died from alcohol poisoning the summer after Lucas graduated high school. They had been very close and though he drank too much and too often, Lucas's father was a good guy.
Ivy spent a lot of time thinking about this. She imagined Lucas as a scrappy preteen with a shock of wild black hair and very few people in the world that loved him. She wished she could have known him then. If so, he wouldn't have been such a mystery to her.
They didn't sleep together again for those two weeks. Ivy sensed that some part of both of them wanted to make this connection last. Though the physical attraction was undeniable, Ivy felt that delaying another intimate experience would make it all the sweeter when it happened. She guessed that Lucas felt the same, though when they kissed he always had a look on his face like he wanted to push her down wherever they were and ravish her.
Her sister stopped complaining about their relationship about a week later. She gave Ivy a reluctant blessing. “If he hasn’t fucked you over yet,” she had said over a glass of wine one evening. “Then he probably won’t. Plus, you’re leaving in a few weeks so he doesn’t have much time to do it.”
Ivy had a dream where all these thoughts and memories ran through her mind over and over, like a recording on repeat.
She saw her and Lucas holding hands and walking through the park by the lake with Kimbo. She saw them leaning against a tree trunk and kissing. She heard Lucas’s voice talking about his father and childhood with little emotion. “He died after I graduated from high school,” she heard him say, but she couldn’t see his face. He was talking to her but there was no one there. “We were close.”
There was a clinking of glass against glass and she saw her sister pouring two glasses of wine. “He hasn’t fucked you over yet,” her sister said. “But there’s still time.”
The taste of wine filled her dream and she was at the Indian restaurant of their first date, sipping the expensive champagne Lucas had ordered. “I’m going to sleep with you tonight,” she heard him say. “And it’s going to be unlike anything you’ve had before.”
The scene darkened and she saw a scrawny teenage version of Lucas sitting by a bed in a shadowed room. In the bed was a middle-aged man, not breathing. The floor of the room was littered with bottles. The room smelled bitter.
Lucas turned from the body and looked straight at Ivy. This time she could see his face. Instead of the male model stare she was used to, Ivy saw fear in his dark eyes. She saw someone young and weak, not strong and confident like today.
A deep threatening purr came from the shadowy corner opposite the bed. A panther slunk from the shadows and curled itself around Lucas. The teenage Lucas put his arms around the cat. The panther’s glowing eyes didn’t move from Ivy.
Ivy took a step forward. She wanted to put her arms around this t
eenage Lucas. He looked like he needed her. Actually, he looked like he needed anyone.
The cat hissed but Ivy kept walking toward them. It seemed to take longer to reach them than it looked like it should. Each step moved her forward an agonizingly small amount.
The jungle cat jumped toward her and arched its back. It began to hiss louder and its fur stood up on its back. Even teenage Lucas started to back away from it.
“It’s okay,” Ivy heard herself say. “I don’t want to hurt him.”
She took another step.
In a blur of darkness, the panther leapt at her, its claws out. A paw scraped across her chest, leaving burning wounds.
She screamed.
The sound of her own scream woke her up.
Ivy lay there on the fold out couch, breathing heavily. She was covered in a sheen of sweat. She checked her phone. It was six in the morning. She easily had another hour she could sleep before having to get ready to bring Emma to school, but she knew she wasn’t going to sleep after a nightmare like that.
She decided to run herself a bath. She squeezed some scented bubble bath soap into the steaming water and let herself relax.
She told herself not to worry about the dream. She was having normal concerns about a man that she still didn’t know particularly well. That was absolutely to be expected.
Jess woke up about half an hour later. There was a knock on the bathroom door.
“You in there? I need to do my makeup.”
“Yep,” Ivy said. She let the water start to drain and turned on the shower. “Let me rinse off and I’ll be out in a sec.”
She spent the rest of her free time in the morning cuddled on the couch in her bathrobe with her laptop. She watched an episode of sitcom from her childhood that greatly improved her mood.
Jess was about to leave for work when she stopped by the door. “Hey, you should go check and see if Emma’s all right. Usually she’s up and ready to go by now. There’s not a huge hurry, but you should probably wake her up.”