by S. L. Adams
“Just thinking about the guy we rescued.”
“Blake said he’s alive,” he says as he leads me to the steps.
We sit side by side on the top step, our fingers wound tightly together. I gaze up at the sky. A black canvas with splatters of twinkling stars covers the mountains of Montana tonight.
Alex’s hand comes up to my jaw as he gently turns my head, his gorgeous emerald eyes sparkling in the reflection from the outside light. He draws me into his arms as he claims my mouth, sucking on my lower lip. A gentle nip prompts me to part my lips, and he slips his tongue inside as his hands glide under my shirt and up my back before finding my breasts. I moan into the kiss when he rolls one of my nipples between his thumb and index finger.
I’m panting by the time he breaks the kiss. Lifting my lids, I find him staring intently at me. Burning heat radiates from his eyes. I’ve never experienced that level of desire before. My high school boyfriend was always horny, but what I see in Alex’s eyes is completely different. It scares me and excites me at the same time.
“I want you, Shelby,” he whispers as he leans in close to my ear, his hot breath leaving a trail of moisture down my neck. “But I’m a patient man. We can go slow. You’re worth the wait.”
“I bet you say that to all the girls,” I reply with a nervous laugh.
A frown touches his lips as he shakes his head in protest. “No. I don’t. I’ve never met a sweet, wholesome girl like you before. You’re a refreshing change from the pathetic women that feel the need to wear heavy makeup and run around half-naked in hopes of getting a guy to fuck them.”
“How do I know that you aren’t feeding me a line of bullshit just to get me in bed?”
“Well, I guess you will have to decide whether you trust me or not. Not that I’m that type of guy, but if I was going to try and take advantage of an innocent girl, I wouldn’t pick a friend of Blake’s. His friendship is too important to me.”
“I should go in,” I say as I rise up from the step.
He pulls me into his arms, closing the distance between our lips with a passionate kiss.
“Good night, Alex,” I whisper breathlessly.
“See you tomorrow, baby doll.”
I watch him walk toward his cabin on the other side of the clearing before unlocking my door and going inside. The sound of Gretchen’s soft snoring prompts me to tiptoe to the bathroom.
Once I close the door quietly behind me, I smile at myself in the mirror. I can’t remember the last time I felt this happy. Alex is amazing. I’ve met the perfect guy and he wants me.
I sing softly while the hot water courses over my body. As I wash my breasts, I recall the sensations I experienced when Alex was sucking on my nipple. My high school boyfriend kissed my breasts a few times. But he never elicited the kind of arousal that Alex did. And he had my bare nipple with no clothing between his mouth and my tit. What will it be like when Alex kisses my bare body? Based on what happened earlier, I’m thinking I will probably implode fairly quickly. I shiver at the thought as I reach between my legs, imagining that it’s Alex’s fingers teasing my clit.
A knock on the bathroom door startles me from my fantasy. I turn the water off and step out of the shower. “Gretchen?” I dry off and wrap the towel around myself, tucking a tail between my breasts. “What’s wrong?”
“Your phone keeps ringing.” She doesn't attempt to disguise her grouchiness.
I open the door to her scowling face on the other side, my cell phone in her outstretched hand. “Sorry. I have no idea who would be calling me at this hour.” I take the phone from her and stare at the screen. Dread seeps into my gut. Three missed calls from the Missoula County Jail. My heart pounds in my ears as I listen to the voicemail.
“What’s wrong?” Gretchen asks, sitting next to me on my bed, her earlier annoyance forgotten.
“My mom’s in jail.” The words echo through the small room. I hear my own voice, cold and devoid of emotion. The truth is, I don’t give a shit. My mom has been arrested before. The difference is that this time I’m not there to hold down the fort. Not that she does a lot for the younger kids anyway. But she does the bare minimum to keep away Child Protective Services.
“Surely Mindy Sue can look after the kids until she gets out,” Gretchen says as she wraps her arm around my shoulder.
I sigh heavily. Mindy Sue is my sixteen year old sister. She isn’t capable of looking after a goldfish, let alone a house full of kids. And my mom knows it. She screamed that fact in my face before I left, blaming me because she was going to have to hire a babysitter for the evenings while she went to work. And she promised to send me the bill.
“She won’t. And it’s different this time. It’s not a DUI. She got picked up for possession of cocaine and apparently she assaulted a cop. They aren’t going to let her out in the morning. She has a bail hearing.”
“Hmm. And she obviously won’t be able to pay the bail.” Gretchen chews on her lower lip as she squeezes my hand.
“Nope. Which means she’ll be in jail until her hearing.” I stare at my phone. “I guess I better call her.”
“Do you want some privacy?”
“No.” I dial the number and wait while the guard brings my mother to the phone.
“Shelby Lynn?” Her harsh, high-pitched voice screeches through the phone like tires on wet pavement.
“Yes. It’s me, Mom.”
“Oh, thank God,” she says, pausing briefly before forging ahead with her demand. “Shelby, I’m gonna be in the clink for a few days, maybe longer. So I need ya to go home and look after the kids. And if those cunts from CPS come around, you tell em’ to fuck off. Tell em my boyfriend will be there until I get out.”
“If Clint is going to be there, then why do you need me?” Clint had lasted longer than most. He’s been coming around for months, which is a record for my mother.
“Cause I can't count on him. Haven’t ya learned a thing I tried ta teach ya? You can’t never count on no man. Eva! Ya hear me, Shelby Lynn?”
“Mom, I can’t come home. I’m working.”
“Listen to me, ya selfish little bitch! I don’t give a fuck bout yer high and mighty job. I told ya to get yer ass home! Now! You want yer sistas to end up in foster care?”
“I’ll be there in the morning. But I’m not staying.” I hang up before she can say anything else.
“What are you going to do?” Gretchen asks softly.
“I’m going to do what’s best for my sisters.”
Chapter 8
Shelby
My head is pounding. Maybe if I keep my eyes closed, I can avoid the day ahead. Just hide under the covers and my problems will disappear. Wouldn’t that be nice? The steady drum of rain on the roof promises to make the day even shittier. If that’s possible.
Despite a strong desire not to, my eyelids flutter open, burning from lack of sleep. I tossed and turned all night, trying to come up with a way to avoid going home today. Gretchen offered to drive me. I don’t have a license. Or a car. Blake offered to loan us one of his vehicles, not to mention a day off work. I guess there are advantages to having a friend that's sleeping with the boss’s son.
The alarm on my cell phone goes off, prompting me to pull myself upright with a loud grumble. If I want to be on the road by seven, I better get my ass moving. I glance over at my friend’s bed. She’s dead to the world, a happy grin plastered across her face. Gretchen lives a charmed life. Nice family, no real worries. And now Barbie has a rich Ken to take care of her. Must be nice. I’m not the jealous type, but sometimes I get pissed off when life isn’t fair. I just have to keep reminding myself that I’m going to Columbia on a full scholarship and I get to leave Montana and never return.
“You getting up, Gretchen?” I know how long it takes her to get ready in the morning. She doesn’t budge, so I throw a pillow at her. “Gretchen!”
“What?” she mumbles before turning away from me.
“We need to be on the road by seven
. Its six-fifteen.”
She mumbles something that is mostly incoherent.
“What?” I stand up and wander to the far side of her bed and turn on her bedside lamp.
She pulls the covers over her head. “Shelby! Go away. Alex is taking you instead of me.”
“Pardon me?” I certainly hope I heard her wrong. There is no way I’m taking Alex to my house.
“Blake talked to Alex and they decided that it wasn’t safe for the two of us to go alone. So Alex offered to take you.”
“They think it isn’t safe for us to go to my house?!”
“Blake didn’t want me driving you to the county lock up, and he thinks the situation at your house is unstable. He's concerned about your mom’s boyfriend and that things might get ugly when you call Child Protective Services.”
“I don’t want Alex to come. He doesn’t need to see that.”
“Well, Shelby. That's your only option. Blake has the car and he’s the boss. What do you want me to do?”
“Stand up to him?” I attempt to pull the blanket off her head but she hangs on tight. “C’mon, Gretchen.”
Gretchen emerges from under the blanket with an exasperated sigh and reaches over to turn off the lamp. “I happen to agree with Blake. And Alex wants to go. He cares about you, Shelby.”
“Well, I’m so glad the three of you made all these decisions without me.” I turn on my heel and storm into the bathroom.
“You better hurry up,” she yells. “He's picking you up at six-thirty!”
Seriously!
I jump in the shower and quickly hose myself off, cursing the entire time. I’m just about to head out into the room to get my clothes when I hear a knock. Shit!
“Hey, Alex,” I hear Gretchen say. “She’s just getting out of the shower. My bad. I forgot to change her alarm time when you said you were coming at six-thirty.”
How the hell am I supposed to get my clothes now? I wrap a towel around my body and open the door a crack. “Hey, Gretchen?”
“Yes?”
“Would you be able to grab me some clothes, please?”
“I don’t know what you want to wear. Just come out here and get them yourself,” she snaps grumpily. She is really not a morning person.
“I would have, except you let Alex in,” I hiss.
“I’ll just wait on the porch,” he says, sneaking a glance toward the bathroom door. I close it and wait until I hear him leave.
“Sometimes you’re so immature, Shelby. Didn’t I catch him kissing your tits yesterday? But you don’t want him to see you in a towel?” Gretchen stares at me in disbelief as I rummage through my drawer for some panties and a bra.
“Yes. But he’s never seen me naked.”
She mutters something under her breath and heads into the bathroom.
“I wasn’t done in there!” I yell through the door.
She emerges a minute later. “Sorry. I had to pee. Somebody woke me up.”
I throw on a rose-coloured tank top and denim shorts and blow dry my hair. When I come out of the bathroom, Alex is sitting on the end of my bed.
“Hey, baby doll. You look good.”
“Thanks, Alex,” I say. “I really appreciate this, but I think it would be better if Gretchen went with me.”
“Come here,” he says, patting his lap.
I glance over at Gretchen. She’s back in bed with the covers pulled over her head, no doubt listening to our conversation.
Alex pulls me down on his lap and wraps his arm around my waist. “I want to go. And If I don’t take you, I’ll go crazy with worry. That’s how much I care about you, Shelby. I realize that we’ve only known each other for a couple weeks, but I like you. A lot. You have nothing to be ashamed about. I know your family is poor. Seeing where you grew up is not going to diminish my feelings for you in any way, shape or form.”
I swallow a hard lump in my throat as those mesmerizing emerald eyes of his delve into mine. He cups my jaw with his free hand before placing a soft kiss on my lips. I don’t know what comes over me, but I forget that Gretchen is in the room as I kiss him back with a hunger I didn’t know I possessed. He responds with gusto, a growl erupting from his throat as our tongues tangle.
“We should get going,” I whisper breaking the kiss.
He groans and buries his face in my neck, sucking gently on sensitive flesh and sending tingles straight to my core. “We could rent a hotel room tonight. Come back tomorrow.”
“Alex!”
“What?” He sticks out his lower lip. “We could just snuggle all night. Keep it very pg.”
I laugh. “Yeah right.”
I study the interior of Blake’s BMW as I fasten my seat belt. The car is spotless. The smell of leather and woodsy cologne invades my nostrils. I recognize the scent. Alex’s cologne. I remember it from the day we went to the creek and the night of the bonfire. He’s wearing a tight black t-shirt that hugs every muscle of his torso. His shorts are beige cargos that fall just above his sexy, tanned knees. I can’t believe how horny I am today. My subconscious is likely seeking a distraction from the impending nightmare I’m about to descend upon in good old Missoula.
We drive in silence for the first few miles. The rain eases off, the sun peeking out from behind a cloud every once in a while. Alex glances at the built in GPS. “It’s only two hours to the city?”
“Two hours and change.” I stare out the window at the rock cut blanketed in tall pines, the mountain tops peeking over the towering trees.
“It felt a lot longer when I arrived,” he comments with a brief chuckle. “It’s really beautiful here. I can’t imagine growing up in a place surrounded by all this beautiful nature.”
“I wouldn’t know,” I snort. “My first time to the mountains was last summer when I came up here to work.”
Alex glances over at me, his expression a mixture of surprise and sympathy. “Really?”
“Yep.” I return my gaze to the window.
Reaching across the centre console, his fingers find my bare thigh, caressing me softly. I glance toward him with a shy smile. He grins widely and winks. Heat floods my veins and courses right down through my centre. Alex is such a sweet guy. And sooo hot. And he wants me. We’ll see how he feels after he meets my family.
“So, tell me about your family,” Alex says. “I know you have seven siblings. How many boys and girls? How old are they?”
“All girls.”
“Holy shit.”
“Yep. They range from five right up to sixteen.”
“What about your mom?” he asks with a cautious glance.
I don’t really want to tell him about my mom. But since he insisted on coming on this trip, I might as well be truthful. “What do you want to know?”
“Well, what is her name for starters?”
“Betty.”
“What’s she like?”
I frown at him, my brow wrinkled. What does he think she is like? He knows she got arrested for possession of cocaine.
“She can’t be all bad,” he says.
“Oh, she is.”
“Do you have grandparents? Aunts and uncles?”
“No.” Might as well just bite the bullet and tell him all the sordid details of my white trash existence. “My parents were both raised in foster homes. Both abandoned by their birth mother and raised in the system. They were living in the same foster home when my mom got pregnant with me. She was fourteen and my dad was seventeen.”
After a lengthy silence he clears his throat. “That’s terrible. Isn’t that statutory rape?”
I shrug. “Who knows? I’m guessing nobody really cared. They moved in together and collected social assistance. Neither of them had a job. My dad kept on fucking her and making kids until one day when he decided he’d had enough, and he bolted. The day after my youngest sister was born. That was five years ago, and we haven’t heard from him once since he walked out the door.”
“Wow. I’m really sorry, Shelby.”
&
nbsp; “Sorry that I had a shitty childhood or sorry that you got involved with a girl from the wrong side of the tracks?”
We’re approaching the intersection of Highway 93 at Lolo. Alex pulls into the parking lot of the Lolo Creek Steakhouse and turns off the car.
“What are you doing?” I ask.
“Taking a break.” He unfastens his seatbelt and turns to face me. “I don’t care where you came from. It doesn’t matter to me one bit. In fact, knowing what I do about your upbringing actually makes me like you even more. You've overcome incredible odds. I happen to think you’re pretty awesome. And I didn’t exactly spring from royalty myself. I have no idea who my dad is. I’ve never met him. He doesn’t even know I exist. My mom said it was better that way. I have no choice but to trust her judgment.”
I take in the handsome man sitting next to me. The first man to ever care about me. My high school boyfriend was nice to me. But I don’t think he was ever in the same league as Alex. He was too immature. I lean toward him, cupping his jaw as my thumb grazes his stubble. His eyes are locked on mine, burning with desire when I bring my lips up to his. Shuttering my eyelids, I indulge in the taste of his luscious, minty fresh lips.
He pulls me into his arms, drawing me as close as the gear shift will allow. I bring my hands up to his head, running my fingers through his thick hair. He angles his head, deepening the kiss as his hands graze the sides of my breasts. I may have initiated the kiss, but Alex is in control now. A low growl erupts from his throat as our tongues tangle with hungry ambition. The ache between my legs builds as his hand massages my inner thigh, his fingers creeping close to my hot, moist juncture.
“Come over here,” he whispers as nips at my earlobe.
I climb over the gear shift and straddle his lap, my crotch settling on his belly. His fingers dig into my hips as he kisses me hard, plunging his tongue into my mouth.
“Slide back,” he says, his voice hoarse as he shifts underneath me.
I open my eyes to find him staring at me, his emeralds darkening with unmistakable desire. My pulse quickens. I move back slightly, lining myself up with his hard cock, pressing impatiently against the zipper of his shorts.