Shriek: Legend of the Bean Sídhe

by Jennifer M. Barry

  “Hit what?”

  She squinted toward the cans and jugs, all still sitting upright on the table.

  “Anything, I guess.”

  “Oh, I’m sure you hit something. Just not anything you were aiming for. But that’s okay. Now that you know what to expect, you can be ready for it. Let’s go again.”

  She just thought she was ready, that she knew what to expect, but when he pressed himself against her again to guide her through the process, she flickered to life. Over and over, she squeezed the trigger, squinted at the table, nearly fell over after squeezing the trigger, and then shuddered as he touched her to correct her stance.

  When one bullet finally found its target, the big bleach bottle in the middle of the table, Sara squealed as all her excitement rushed out of her with the force of a shot. She whirled around and leapt toward him.

  He jumped away, arms waving. “Whoa, whoa. Slow down.”

  And her euphoria disappeared with a snap. “Shit. I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to throw myself at—”

  “Hey. Just put the safety back on, and then throw yourself at me.”

  Fingers trembling, she flipped the little switch and then glanced around for a place to set the gun. Ridley grabbed it, set it on the ground facing away from them, and seized her shoulders. Before she could breathe, or blink, or think, he crashed his lips against hers.

  10

  “Sara,” he whispered, his breath filling her open mouth. “Oh, Jesus. Sara…”

  If he said anything else, she didn’t hear it over the thrumming in her ears. Sara slid her hands over Ridley’s shoulders to the nape of his neck, where she tangled her fingers into his hair. The warmth, the wet, the sweet. It was finally hers. She wanted to remember every moment after he came to his senses and realized what he’d done.

  Remember the rumble of his chest with his groan. The rough caress from her shoulders to her waist before he pulled her even closer. The feel of his muscled thighs against her trembling legs. The whisper of his tongue over her bottom lip.

  Ridley pulled away, taking with him a whimper. Sara’s cheeks filled with heat when she realized the pathetic sound had come from her. She glanced up, and her heart leapt to her feet and back again when she saw his smile.

  “I couldn’t help myself,” he whispered. “I tried to wait.”

  “Why the hell would you want to wait to do that?” Sara huffed.

  Ridley’s smile stretched further, showing his straight, white teeth. “Well, maybe I didn’t wait as long as you did—”

  Sara gasped and pushed him away. She couldn’t stop the laugh that tumbled out. Of course he’d known about her crush longer than she’d thought.

  “Don’t go falling for me now,” she teased. “You have a rep to protect.”

  Ridley puffed out his chest and scowled. “Yeah and one of the ways I got this rep is by not letting people tell me what to do. I do what I want.”

  Sara swayed into him, legs weak—from his semi-declaration or from the aftermath of the kiss, she didn’t know. He caught her around the waist and kissed her again, short and sweet.

  “Want to go see Blue and meet Dobbins? He’ll probably want to get to know you some in case, you know, you come over some, or something.”

  Seeing Ridley trip over his words at the thought of her being some sort of fixture in his life made her heart flutter even more than the kiss had. Maybe she wasn’t someone to kiss now and again. Maybe he really did like her.

  “Yeah, let’s go.”

  Ridley marveled at how comfortable Sara seemed in the small space. She’d grown up in luxury, at least compared to Rick’s little shack. She’d walked straight to the grubby couch and plopped down on his sheets before reaching over to cuddle the dog.

  He tried not to think about using that same couch as his bed later that night. She was essentially in his bed. Elbow on his pillow. Sheets over her legs.

  “Sorry it’s a little messy.”

  Sara’s eyes widened as she looked around, almost as though she hadn’t really noticed that she wasn’t in her perfect white bedroom.

  She pursed her lips and shook her head. “It looks fine in here. Who do you think you’re entertaining, the Queen of England?”

  Ridley chuckled. “Well, I mean, I know you’re used to—”

  “Perfection?” Sara finished, her eyes narrowing. “Please. I live my life trying to be perfect for my mother, and nothing is ever good enough. I can’t even tell you how good it feels to sit on a comfortable couch without worrying that my shoes will get dirt on the carpet or my words will get dirt on her reputation.”

  Huh. Deep down, Ridley had wondered if he was some kind of rebellion phase for Sara. Was that why she’d kept popping up wherever he was all over town? But, no. Maybe he was comfort. A place where she could be herself, even if just for a minute.

  Rick emerged from his bedroom, eyebrows raised in curiosity. He glanced toward the couch and then back at Ridley. If possible, his eyebrows raised even higher.

  “Hey, Dobbins. You know Sara, from the diner.”

  She stood and reached out a hand.

  “Sara, this is Rick. He’s been letting me stay here until I can find a new place.”

  “Or not,” Rick said as he grabbed Sara’s hand in his. “He can stay as long as he likes. The dog is good company.”

  Sara grinned. “That’s why I stick around, too.”

  Ridley put a hand to his chest and feigned hurt. “Hey, now. I didn’t even have Blue when you started chasing me all over town.”

  “Huh. So, this finally happened.” Rick sat down in an equally shabby recliner. “Welcome, Sara. I imagine I’ll see more of you in the future.”

  She sat back down and patted the cushion next to her. The invitation was clear, but Ridley still hesitated. A kiss was one thing. Cuddling meant more. Sara was worth more than anything he could give her.

  “It’s not a proposal,” Rick said. Annoying bastard could read his mind. “Just sit down.”

  “I was wondering what you meant by ‘this finally happened.’” Ridley deflected, but immediately realized he’d started something far bigger.

  He sat, already feeling the heat in his cheeks, next to a tense and silent Sara. Perfect. He’d hurt her feelings. Without allowing time for a second guess, he reached for her hand and laced his fingers through hers. He’d give her what he could, and maybe that would be enough.

  “I mean I saw this coming last month when you laid into old Garber for talking about her—”

  Ridley cut a glare in Rick’s direction.

  “Talking about her,” Rick finished. “Just…about her.”

  “Did you come to my defense?”

  Sara’s grip had relaxed some, but at the realization that Ridley had been watching out for her far longer than she’d realized, her fingers melted around his. Her tone was teasing, but he heard the unmistakable affection behind it.

  “Yeah, your boy’s been watching your back for a while.” Dobbins waggled his eyebrows, no doubt proud of his double entendre.

  “Well, that’s sweet.” Sara wiggled a little her seat, her legs brushing against Ridley’s thigh with each movement.

  The girl was going to kill him.

  Rick’s smirk said he figured she would, too. Rather than take a chance on embarrassing himself more, Ridley shut his mouth and pulled the dog into his lap. The three sat in comfortable silence while watching the last half of a western movie. And when Sara leaned over to put her head on his shoulder, Ridley didn’t move a muscle.

  “Sorry about earlier.”

  Ridley laced his fingers through Sara’s and tugged to stop her from getting into her car. When she turned, he leaned forward and pressed her into the driver’s side door.

  Little zaps of electricity started low in her belly and shot through her veins, speeding faster and faster, over and over, as Ridley reached up and cupped her jaw in his hand.

  “Wha— What do you mean?” Her breath stuttered.

  He ran a thumb
over her cheek and smiled. “That’s one reason I’m so crazy about you. You don’t give me shit when I mess up.”

  Sara loved the warmth of his thighs against hers, the solid comfort of his chest pressing into her. She never wanted to move. His thumb, still caressing her face in little circles, was going to drive her outside her mind. But she couldn’t let him think he’d messed up.

  “You didn’t do anything wrong, Ridley.”

  “Yeah. I did. When Rick was teasing us and I didn’t just sit down next to you. I should have. I shouldn’t make you wait or feel like I don’t want you. I do. Jesus, I shouldn’t, but I do.”

  Sara’s heart exploded into stars. She pulled in a deep breath, working to find words, but she just wanted to remember his forever. Ridley wanted her.

  “I just don’t know how to do this. Relationships, I mean. My parents weren’t the best model, obviously.”

  The world snapped back into focus with his admission. Sara placed her hand over his and pulled his palm to her lips.

  “I get it,” she whispered.

  He groaned when she kissed him again and pressed his hips into hers. Sara whimpered and tossed her head back.

  “Wait,” she gasped as he slipped his fingers into her hair and pulled her toward him. “Just let me finish this thought.”

  He paused, his eyes filled with fire, urging her to hurry.

  “There is no perfect. We can figure it out together, okay?”

  He nodded once before finally crashing his mouth against hers.

  “Girl, where have you been?” Kristen announced her arrival at the diner with her usual dramatic flair.

  Audrey followed behind with a wave.

  Sara didn’t answer at first, thinking back to the night before, when Ridley had held her hand all the way back to his bike and kissed her before donning his helmet and kicking the motor to life.

  “I’ll tell you more when I get done, but I’ve, uh, started seeing someone.”

  Audrey gasped in delight, but Kristen put her hands to her hips and frowned. She slapped her bag onto the bar and sat on one of the stools with a huff of air.

  “You can’t hold out on us now!”

  “I can and I will,” Sara said with a laugh as she took the check from a customer at the cash register.

  “How was your lunch?” She turned her attention to Mr. and Mrs. Gardner, delighting in Kristen’s glare as she made small talk with the older couple.

  After closing the register, she heard her dad call from the kitchen. With a waggle of fingers in her friends’ direction, she flounced off to see what he needed.

  “Kate just came in the back door to take over for dinner, so you can go if you want.” He waved through the cook’s window at Kris and Audrey with a grin.

  “You better not be talking about Nick,” Kris called.

  Sara had never been glad that Ridley wasn’t around until that moment. They hadn’t yet broached the subject of past romances, or whatever Nick had been. She wasn’t sure she’d want to hear about any of the people Ridley had dated. She surely paled in comparison when it came to kissing experience. Or any other kind of experience.

  Maybe he’d been right when he said three years apart in age was too many.

  “You might never know.” She pulled in a breath and tried to arrange her face in a grin. It felt more like a grimace, but then she remembered his mouth on hers, and her lips found the right direction to move.

  Her friends would know, of course. As soon as possible. She really needed to talk out her thoughts, especially those surrounding her lack of experience in bed.

  When her last table finished up and headed to the counter to pay, Sara untied her apron and tossed it into the linen basket for washing. Her friends watched her from one side of the diner to the other, twirling on their stools to follow her to the cash register.

  By the time they made it out the front door of the diner, Kristen was dancing from foot to foot in anticipation.

  “I’ve been running through all the available guys in Cedar City, and I can’t think of anyone.”

  “Oh, you’ll never guess,” Sara said. She glanced at her car and then tossed her bag into Kristen’s instead.

  “Austin.”

  “Nope.”

  “Alex.”

  “Nuh-uh.”

  Audrey threw out a guess. “Ryan?”

  “Which one?” Sara teased a glance over her shoulder, like it could be any one of the three Ryans they knew.

  “Carter?”

  “No, no, and no.”

  As she threw her head back and laughed at her friends’ petulant and confused expressions, the roar of a motorcycle drowned out the sound of her giggles. She clamped her mouth shut as her insides turned to quivered.

  Her friends had been distracted by the noise, and they all watched as Ridley turned off the motor and took off his helmet. When he dismounted, Kristen let out a whimper.

  “Holy…”

  She had to have been eyeing the tight muscles under the worn denim of his jeans. Or maybe the thick arms under dirty white shirtsleeves that had been rolled up to combat the July heat. Or possibly his blue eyes, which had lit up at the sight of Sara.

  As he strolled the few steps from his bike toward the little group, Ridley’s eyes flickered first from hers and then to each of her friends. Realization that he was about to be introduced set in, and the corner of his mouth quirked in amusement.

  “Hey,” he murmured when she was close enough to hear.

  As Kristen and Audrey watched with mouths agape, he leaned over and pressed a soft kiss to her cheek.

  “We were just talking about you,” Sara answered.

  Kristen snorted. “We just didn’t know we were talking about you.”

  “These are my best friends, Kristen and Audrey.” Sara pointed to each girl as she said their names. “I was just about to tell them why I haven’t seen much of them this past week.”

  He turned to her friends again. “Apologies, ladies.”

  Audrey swooned. Kristen scowled.

  “Yeah, we apparently have a lot to talk about.”

  If Ridley was taken aback by Kris’s irritation, he didn’t show it. Instead, he gave Sara another quick kiss, this time a short brush of mouth against hers, and stepped back.

  “Just getting a quick lunch before my afternoon shift. I’ll give you a call tonight, okay?”

  Sara nodded, fighting the urge to run her fingers over still tingling lips. She waited until he was inside to open the door of Kristen’s car and slide into the front seat. Audrey climbed into the back while Kristen marched around the front of the car, frown deepening as she moved.

  With a slam of the door, she turned to Sara and barked, “I cannot believe you. What the hell are you thinking?”

  Sara blinked, the euphoria of Ridley’s kiss dropping away like a stone. Before she could fathom what Kristen was talking about, her friend barreled on.

  “If you’re just with him for some experience before college, fine; go for it. But I saw the way you looked at him. That guy is going to eat you alive.”

  Audrey giggled from the back seat. “What a way to go.”

  “It’s not funny!” Kristen railed on. “He may be fun to look at, but Ridley O’Neill is the worst kind of bad news. His dad killed his mother, for Christ’s sake!”

  Sara whipped around in her seat and spat, “Stop it, Mom. You don’t know anything about him.”

  She grabbed her bag and reached for the door handle. Kristen grabbed her wrist, but Sara shook it off with a grunt.

  “Your dad may be blind, but wait until your mom finds out. Seriously, Sara. Watch your back.”

  Sara pulled the door handle so hard, she thought it might break off in her hand. The door flew open, and she stumbled out onto the cracked pavement. When she was clear of the door, she slammed it just as hard as she’d opened it.

  Audrey’s wide eyes studied her with concern through the back window.

  “Sorry.” Sara mouthed the word,
then turned on her heel to her own car.

  As she opened the door and slid behind the wheel, she heard the muffled sounds of an argument next to her. Sara refused to give Kristen any satisfaction, so she kept her gaze straight forward as she started the car.

  Before she could put the car in gear, she saw a flash of blue. Audrey ran around the back of her Honda and pulled open the door. Her friend leaned over and gave a sad smile.

  “I’d rather come with you,” Audrey said.

  Sara paused long enough to let Audrey climb into the front seat and fasten her seatbelt. Then she threw the car in reverse and pressed the gas with more force than she should have.

  Fortunately, the tires didn’t squeal against the ancient blacktop, but they should have. Audrey grabbed the armrest with a squeak but didn’t dare say a word. The girls were almost to Sara’s house before Audrey spoke.

  “It’s because of her father.”

  Sara hit the brakes without thinking, swinging her head to stare at Audrey and realization bloomed in her chest. Audrey nodded toward the road, reminding Sara to drive first, and talk second. Sara turned back to the steering wheel but slowed the car considerably.

  “I didn’t even think…” She pulled in a bracing breath.

  Of course, Kristen would be sensitive to another product of domestic violence. Whether she wanted to or not, Kristen would wonder if Ridley would go down the same path as his father. Lots of kids from abusive homes became abusers. But then, Kristen wouldn’t. And she had no right to believe Ridley would, either.

  “I guess that makes sense, but it’s not really fair to Ridley. He’s really great. And very gentle.”

  “I think it’s awesome.”

  The words hung there between them for a few moments before Sara cracked a grin.

  “You have no idea.”

  “Well, I have to know how it happened,” Audrey said. “Kristen’s right about one thing: You and Ridley are from different worlds. No one could have seen them colliding like this.”

  The mention of Kristen dashed a little cold water on the warmth that thoughts of Ridley brought, but Sara shook it off. Kristen had been right about some things. Like the fact that her mother would kill her and Ridley if she ever found out.