My heart lurched, that was what it came down to. My dad thought I was chasing after Buck Benson. He gave me a sweet compliment then demonstrated how much he didn’t know his own daughter. Buck Benson wouldn’t be caught dead with someone like me. But my father couldn’t see that.
“No,” I said as I lifted my chin. “I am thinking of doing it because the Huskie head coach …”
“Coach Stevenson,” Dad interjected with a surprised tilt to his eyebrow.
Sure, whatever. “Well, he offered to write a letter of recommendation for Buck’s tutor if they helped maintain his eligibility.”
Mom gasped.
Dad continued to frown. “I thought we agreed you would go to community college for two years and then transfer over.”
I fought to push down the rising sick feeling inside of me. Two more years meant two more years living in this house under his guidance and rules.
“George,” Mom interjected. “That was only if Rebecca couldn’t get scholarships. With a letter like that and her school work. There would be a lot of scholarships open to her.”
My Dad didn’t acknowledge her, instead, he focused on me. His eyes boring into me as if he was trying to read my mind.
Then he surprised me by nodding slowly. “Okay,” he said. “But Bobby will take you and pick you up.”
My heart soared until he said, “And Rebecca, you know the rules. No dating until you are Twenty-One. If I had my way, it would be after you turn forty-eight.”
“George!” Mom admonished. “We agreed eighteen.”
“That will be two months after I graduate,” I moaned. We had never really fought this out before. There really hadn’t ever been the need. I’d always just assumed maybe in college.
“I mean it,” my dad said with a small laugh. “I know what boys are like. Especially boys like Buck Benson. And while Rebecca lives under my roof, she will follow my rules.”
Mom gave me a sad look but I smiled back at her. He’d given me my chance to get out of there. What my archaic father failed to realize was that the chance of Buck Benson asking me on a date was less than zero.
.o0o.
Buck
As I pulled into the city library parking lot, I ground my teeth and tried to push down the rising anger inside of me. What a waste of a Saturday afternoon. I could have been doing any of a dozen different things. All of them more fun than studying. To make it worse, this was going to drag on into the night which meant I would be late to Tim’s party.
Grabbing my books, I slammed my door and marched into the library. As I pushed open the door, my right shoulder twinged. I’d tweaked it in last night’s game hitting their running back full force.
He was probably feeling worse today, I thought with a sense of self-satisfaction. Taking a calming breath, I scanned the room looking for Rebecca.
Coach hadn’t given me an option. It was, do this or sit out next week’s game. And he’d do it. Despite what it meant to the team. I knew him, the old goat insisted on getting his way.
Then I saw her sitting at a table in the far back, a book in front of her. Rebecca Montgomery. The kind of person who reads for fun.
As I walked towards her, I examined my new tutor. Hey, I am a guy, we just naturally look at women. It comes with the territory. After years of study, I had learned to classify girls into three categories. Beautiful, but that usually meant high maintenance, and in all honesty, wasn’t worth the effort. Cute, with the subcategories of sweet and not sweet. And finally, ex-girlfriends.
Rebecca fell into the cute and sweet category. With the potential for more, I realized as I took a good look.
It was almost as if she was trying to hide her prettiness. I mean, the girl was wearing a light blue dress that fell below her knees. No make-up, which said a lot. She could look pretty without it. A big plus.
That natural girl next door look that could be more if she put in the effort.
Suddenly, I remembered when she ran into me the week before and the way her body had felt next to mine. Okay, Cute +.
I shook my head. One thing I could not do was ruin this tutoring stuff. Deep down, I knew Coach was right. If I didn’t get my grades up. UW would never take me. No matter what I did on the field.
Besides, it would get my mom off my back. Always a plus.
“Rebecca?” I said when I got to her table.
She looked up from her book and blanched a little as she swallowed hard.
“You want me here?” I asked as I pulled out the chair next to her.
She nodded, then slammed her book shut and pulled her chair in tight. All business. Okay. I could deal with that.
“Thanks for doing this,” I began. “But I don’t really know if it is necessary.”
Her brow furrowed as she studied me for a moment then said, “Don’t you dare think about backing out. You’re my ticket out of this town.”
Wow, where did that come from? I wondered as her cheeks grew pink and she returned to studying her hands in her lap. Then she looked up and said, “I’m sorry. That was rude. Of course. If you don’t want to do this. I understand.”
“Well, in that case …,” I said as I started to push back my chair.
“But you would be an idiot. Which might be one of the reasons you’re in this situation.”
I froze. This was different on so many levels. A girl calling me an idiot. And she barely knew me. Usually, it took them a couple of weeks.
“What did you mean I’m your ticket out?” I asked. “Because I’ve got to be honest. A couple of tutoring sessions doesn’t lead to a marriage proposal.”
Her pink cheeks turned full red as she took in a big gulp of air. “Your college coach said he would write me a letter of recommendation if I helped you get your grades up enough.”
I sighed inside. Good. I could handle this. There was something in it for us both. I wasn’t putting her out.
Taking a deep breath, I nodded. “How do you want to do this?” I asked.
She frowned for a second, then pulled out a sheet of paper from a folder. “I’ve talked to your teachers…”
“Really?” I was surprised. She was taking this seriously.
She nodded as if it was an obvious move. “I’ve got what you need to work on, your weaknesses. And a list of projects you can do for extra credit.”
My stomach dropped at the way she said weaknesses. That was not the word I wanted a cute girl to use when describing me.
“Honestly,” she continued, “they all said that you were smart enough to do the work.”
“You say that as if you’re surprised. What? Did that misalign with your concept of the dumb jock?”
She looked at me then slowly shook her head. “No, it just confirmed it. They said your grades were down because you didn’t put in the effort. Too many missed assignments. Not enough studying for tests. And congratulations on using a word like misaligned correctly.”
I sighed inside because I knew she was right. I hadn’t put in the effort. I never had when it came to school stuff. It was all just so boring. I was going to have to buckle down and do this. Of course, one benefit would be that I got to work with Rebecca. At least she was something new. A girl who didn’t bat her eyelashes and play with her hair.
No, not Miss Rebecca Montgomery. To her, I was her way out. Something to be used to achieve a goal. Good, I could admire that. But that didn’t mean I couldn’t also admire the female form hidden under all those ancient clothes.
Chapter Three
Rebecca
My heart continued to race. It hadn’t stopped since he said my name. Now, sitting there like a Greek God, my heart threatened to never stop racing again. I mean the man was just so big. So … so male. It took every bit of control to keep focused and not make a fool of myself by batting my eyelashes and flipping my hair.
He, being Buck Benson, was completely unaware of the impact he was having. What must it be like? I wondered. To walk through life with everything going right.
; “So which subject do you want to start with?” I asked.
He shrugged those massive shoulders of his and looked at me as if he wished he was anywhere but there. I could see it in his eyes. The last thing he wanted was to be sitting with Rebecca Montgomery talking about school work.
There had to be a dozen girls who were hovering over their phone waiting for his call. Either that, or there was some pickup football game with his name on it.
“Let’s start with English Lit, that seems to be where you are having the biggest problems.”
“It’s stupid,” he said with a shake of his head. “Who cares about what some guy wrote a hundred years ago?”
I froze as I slowly turned to him. “That guy was Shakespeare, and it was five hundred years ago, and what he said is some of the most beautiful, well-written words in the English language. Things that will make you understand life at a very basic level.”
He snorted as if my opinion didn’t matter. He knew what he knew. I continued to stare him down until he pulled out his book and opened it to the stuff we were working on in class.
As we started talking about the material. Which really meant me explaining what The Bard was trying to get across. I couldn’t help but imagine Buck as a Shakespearian hero. He had all the qualities. Physical courage, strength of character, and was oblivious to the things that could really hurt him.
But, surprisingly, he understood what I was saying and was able to piece things together. By the end, I really believe he understood what it was all about. Like the teachers had said, he just needed to apply himself.
While he was pulling out his Calculus book, he looked out over at the Library, then down at me and frowned.
“Don’t look now, but there is a guy over in the self-help section staring at us.”
I looked over and felt the blood drain from my face, to be instantly replaced by a hot flash of shame.
“That’s my brother,” I said, unable to look at Buck.
There was a long silence and I finally had to glance up to see what he was thinking. His brow was furrowed in confusion as he glanced at me then over at my brother then back to me.
“What gives?” he asked. “Why is your brother watching us?”
My stomach clenched up as I silently cursed my brother and every other male member of my family.
“My dad sent him,” I said, unable to stop myself. The thought of lying just seemed wrong and would lead to worse things later on.
Buck continued to stare at me.
“I’m not allowed to be alone with boys,” I added as my stomach twisted itself into knots.
His frown grew even deeper, then he said, “What? Do they go with you when you go on a date?”
This was it. I was going to die right here in this chair.
“I don’t date,” I managed to say as I looked down at my hands. “I’m not allowed to.”
The silence was deafening. Holding my breath, I snuck a peak from under my brow.
His mouth was open. I mean really, his jaw had dropped, as if he had never met someone of my species. Finally, he closed it but continued to frown. Then his eyes softened.
“I’m sorry, I didn’t know your family was religious. I mean, lots …”
“No, no,” I quickly interjected. “It’s not a religious thing. It’s a dad thing. He’s sort of old fashioned. He doesn’t trust boys.”
Buck pondered that for a moment then nodded. “Okay, I get that. But what happens when you go to college? Is your brother going to go also?”
I laughed. “Bobby in college? Um, no way is that ever happening.”
He smiled.
“No,” I continued, “we sort of just pretend that I will remain locked in my room when I am not in classes. But, really, we just haven’t discussed the matter. I sort of think he hopes I will change my mind and stay at home until he dies in his late eighties.”
Buck continued to nod as he glanced over at my brother. “Should we invite him over?”
“No,” I hissed. That was not happening.
Buck sighed then shrugged his shoulders and finished finding his spot in the calculus book.
I paused for a second and studied him. It was surprising, I realized. There hadn’t been any negative judgment. No teasing or snide comments. He had accepted the way things were without making me feel like an idiot. A few questions to establish the boundaries. Then move on to the next task.
That was Buck Benson I realized. He was a little deeper than I had thought. Maybe it wasn’t just violent football. There was an actual person in there behind the Greek God thing he had going.
Of course, a part of me, the girl part, wished that he had been upset to find out I couldn’t date. A deep sadness filled me when I realized that he couldn’t care less if I dated or not. Even if nothing could ever happen. It would have been nice if he had been disappointed.
Taking a deep breath, I forced myself to ignore my idiot brother and returned to helping Buck.
When we were done with all of his classes, we discussed what he would do over the next week and agreed to meet back there at the library next Saturday.
“Thanks for your help, Rebecca. I mean it. Thanks.”
I smiled and got my purse. I believed I really had made progress. He knew more than when we started.
“I’d offer you a ride,” he said as he gathered all of his books then glanced to where my brother was standing. “But it looks like you have your own chauffeur.”
I laughed. He smiled, gave me a quick head nod then turned to leave. I noticed that as he passed my brother, he gave him a quick smile and one of those head nods also. My brother just stared back as if he were watching a snake slither through the grass.
I watched Buck leave and a little part of me felt empty. As if something was missing. Then my brother joined me and I put that away as I slapped him in the arm.
“You were supposed to wait for me in the car.”
He rubbed his arm and shrugged. “I wanted a book.”
My eyes rolled up into my head before I could stop them. “The last book you read was Green Eggs and Ham. Don’t give me that. You were spying on us.”
He shrugged. “Hey, don’t give me a hard time. Now I can tell dad that there is nothing going on between you guys and he’ll let you keep doing this. So, you owe me.”
My heart fell as the reality of his words sank in. On the ride home, I went over the evening in my mind and mapped out the future.
How would Buck treat me at school in front of his friends? Was I allowed to talk to him? I mean, would that be crossing some social barricade or something? And what if he ignored me completely? What then?
After all. I was in this for a letter of recommendation. There was no requirement for Buck to be nice to me away from the tutoring sessions. There wasn’t any need for him to even acknowledge my existence.
A cold dread trickled down my spine as I dreaded the first time he turned away from me in the hall. I could imagine the fear in his eyes at the thought of mousy Rebecca approaching him in public.
No, that wasn’t going to happen, I swore to myself. I didn’t ever want to see that look. No, I would ignore him. Keep it professional. That was the way. The only way this would work.
So, of course. On Monday at school. My insides kept tumbling over themselves as I worried about what would happen. Hanna didn’t help by asking a dozen questions. Finally, I told her that a tutoring session was sort of private and I couldn’t talk about it.
She stared at me like I’d grown a second head. “Who are you kidding? It’s a session with his tutor, not his lawyer. What happened? After all, I’m living vicariously through you. So, you’ve got to tell me every detail.”
I sighed. “Nothing. Bobby was there. Watching us. Buck and I went over his courses for a couple of hours.”
Hanna frowned. “That’s it? You spend a couple of hours with the hottest guy within three states of here and if it wasn’t for Chris Hemsworth in LA, I’d say six states.”
That
was so Hanna. She did love to use hyperbole, and even Buck Benson couldn’t knock Chris Hemsworth off his pedestal.
“What did you think was going to happen?” I asked as I turned to her and stopped her for a moment. “That Buck was going to be so overwhelmed by my glasses and frumpy dress that he had to take me in his arms and kiss me or he would die? That he was going to push me against the wall while I rubbed my hands all over his chest, the two of us back behind the phycology shelves?”
Hanna’s face grew very still and very white as she glanced over my shoulder.
“Hi Rebecca,” a melted chocolate voice said behind me as my stomach fell to the floor and my cheeks flashed into full flames. I slowly turned to find Buck looking at me with a raised eyebrow.
“I wonder,” he said as if he hadn’t just overheard me talking about how I wanted him to ravish me.
“Can we push back next week’s session by an hour,” he continued, “I’ve got a chance to pick up some work with Mike Schmitt’s construction company on the houses over at Picard. I can meet you at the library at five?”
All I could do was nod slowly as I tried to remember how to breathe.
“Okay,” he said then added with a small shrug of those massive shoulders of his, “See you later, you too, Hanna.”
At least she waited until his back was turned before she grabbed my arm in a two-handed vice-grip. Her eyes were as big as the moon and I swear she was speechless. A first for her. I didn’t know if she was shocked that he had heard me, or that he knew her name. Either way, it was groundbreaking.
“Do you think he heard?” she whispered even though by that time he was twenty feet away.
I tilted my head and looked at her. “Of course, he heard. My life wouldn’t be right unless he did. Isn’t that the way the universe works. Whatever is the worst possible scenario for me. Bet on it.”
She gave me a comforting smile then said, “Don’t worry. You’re not the first girl to make a fool of herself over Buck Benson. And you won’t be the last.”
“Thanks,” I said sarcastically. My world had just crashed but I wasn’t falling apart because at least I now knew the new rules. We were allowed to talk to each other in public. I wasn’t allowed to abuse it, of course. This was Buck Benson we were talking about. But I wasn’t an unknown entity that he would ignore in the hopes I would quickly disappear.
Deception (The Benson Brothers Book 3) Page 2
