Now it was morning. My Mofo brethren and their women sat staring at me as I came to in Drew and Raven’s living room. Even the mini Mofos gazed up at me like I had two heads.
I sat up and hunched over, waiting for the questions.
“So,” Denny began, “if you didn’t go to Chicago, where did you go?”
“I went to see my mom.”
“Holy shit,” Cody gasped, “I didn’t know you even had a mom.”
I gave him a screwy look. “How could I not have a mom, you dick?”
“You have never said a word about her,” Drew said in awe, handing me a steaming cup of coffee. “Not even to me. We all figured you were a fuckin’ orphan or something.”
“I sorta wished I was,” I shrugged. “Nothing good to tell about her, really.”
And as the sun began to warm the mountains around us, I came clean—completely clean—about everything.
About my mom and my dad’s fuckedupness and how I felt I could reasonably blame them for being such a screw up in my life. They all agreed.
About Cole and the role he played in everything. How betrayed he’d felt, causing him to strike out at Rain and me.
About Rain. How I’d tried like a motherfucker to do the right thing. How I’d ultimately failed. How running away from Ophir had seemed like my only option to save her.
“You love her,” Felicity murmured.
I rolled my eyes. “Fuck off.”
Eoghan looked up at me. “No-no wood,” he babbled.
Ilsa smiled as she leaned into Cody’s shoulder. “You do love her.”
“Holy shit,” Cody murmured, “it’s the apocalypse… Justin is in love.”
“Fuck off to you, too,” I grumbled.
Eoghan dropped his truck and came over to stand before me. “No-no wood,” he repeated. “No-no.”
“Gerr up ta fook ya bollix,” Denny grinned.
Everyone turned to stare at Denny. Even Felicity, who had actually gotten pretty good over the years at deciphering her husband’s irishisms, looked utterly mystified.
“What the fuck does that even mean?” Drew said, busting into laughter.
“Yeah,” I muttered. “Speak English, you fucker.”
At this point, Eoghan got a little fed up with me and climbed up on my lap, grabbing my face in his pudgy little hands. “No-no wood.”
What the fuck was he trying to say to me?
Max watched us silently, but also got up and toddled over, climbing up on the couch beside me. He sat there for a minute looking at Eoghan and then looking at me. Back and forth like he was trying to figure something out. Then he settled up against my side. Without even thinking about it, my arm came to rest around his little shape, and he gave me an adorable little smile.
I sorta had to smile back.
Looking back up to continue pleading my case, I realized that everyone had gone into complete shock.
“Oh my God,” Brannon gasped, disturbing his infant daughter as she lay sleeping in his arms.
“Does he realize they’re sitting on him?” Sophie whispered to her husband.
“What the fuck?” Felicity breathed.
“No-no wood,” Eoghan told his mother.
“You’re killing me, Justin,” Glenn said as he sat across from me in a booth at Jail House Coffee. “I got you the opportunity of a lifetime, and you’re pissing it away.”
“If Chicago is so great, why aren’t you there?” I retorted. “Why are you in Butte?”
“Because I wanted to teach. I’ve been out there and I didn’t care for it.”
“Well, I was out there, too.”
“For two months,” he said with a roll of his eyes. “You didn’t give it much of a chance.”
“Didn’t have to.”
“I thought you’d love the big city.”
“A year ago, I might have,” I conceded. “Now, though, it just seems so… big. You know, there’s twice as many people in Chicago alone than there are in the whole fuckin’ state of Montana?”
Glenn chuckled. “Yeah, more women for you to chase after.”
I didn’t want more women, just one.
So weird. For the gazillionth time, I wondered when I became this loser.
“So you’re coming back to Butte? What are you going to do? You know Dave won’t even think of giving you a second chance.”
“I don’t want to teach anyway. That’s your gig. I was thinking about consulting.”
“You being back wouldn’t have to do with a certain young woman from your class would it?”
I looked down into my cup, running my thumb over the handle.
“I heard she’s graduating,” I softly said.
“Yeah, she is. The investigation wasn’t easy on her. Dave was kind of on a witch hunt, but you really did a good job at keeping your relationship separate from class. In the end, it was quite evident that, if anything, you made her work a little harder. Her degree is safe.”
“Thank you.”
He gave a nonchalant shrug. “I didn’t really do anything.”
But he had. I knew he had. “You kept an eye on her. You became her advocate when she didn’t have one.”
“She needed one… and I could tell she was important to you.” He took the last sip of his coffee and toyed with the mug. “When you asked for my help, I saw a humanity in you that I never knew existed. I was starting to think you were going to float around aimlessly forever. No goals. Nothing to drive you. Nothing to fulfill you. I’m guessing you found something.”
“Yeah, I did.” I paused thoughtfully before continuing. “For the first time in my life, I want something. I really, really want something. I want it so bad I can taste it.”
Glenn smiled. “She’s gotten a couple offers from some of the same companies that were recruiting you, BP being one of them.” He eyed me with a knowing look. “She may very well end up in Chicago. If you stayed there…” His voice trailed off.
I tried to picture Rain working for BP. She would be good. Hell, she’d be awesome. I just wasn’t so sure she’d be happy. I know I wasn’t, but I also knew it wasn’t the place as much as it was the person I missed.
“So are you going to commencement?”
“What, so Dave can have me arrested?”
“He said he didn’t want you at Tech. On campus. The ceremony is at the Civic Center.”
Shit… he was right. I could go. I could see her.
Except she hated me.
Fuck.
“Besides, I’m pretty sure it was his threats towards Rain that really made you leave. The investigation is done. She’s in the clear.”
I sat there, my mind whirling, as he stood and threw a few bills down on the table for a tip.
“Just saying… It’s the day after tomorrow. Saturday morning. Ten o’clock.”
There she sat. Sixth row, ninth from the end.
It was almost poetic.
I stood back by the entrance and watched her like a stalker. She’d cut her hair, about shoulder length in the front and shorter in the back. It lay smooth and straight, framing her face. At first, I felt almost bereft at the loss of her long, soft waves. How it had felt to tangle them in my fingers and pull. The way she’d tighten around my dick. Then she tipped her head slightly to look down, revealing the back of her neck, and my thoughts shifted to running my tongue up the delicate curve, placing soft kisses there as I took it to her from behind.
Okay, maybe it wasn’t so bad after all. It was actually kinda sexy the more I thought about it.
Throughout the ceremony, she smiled at all the appropriate times, albeit a bit sadly. She walked across the stage to receive her diploma cover and her masters hood. She tossed her mortarboard in the air with the rest of the grads.
When it was over, she searched the crowd for a moment, then headed towards a middle-aged couple. The man had a long gray ponytail and wore a flannel shirt and khakis. Oddly enough, at an engineering school, especially one like Tech, this didn’t seem terribl
y out of place. The woman had some sort of drifty, flowing dress and a wide-brimmed hat with a massive flower tucked into the band. I saw a little tiny bit of a resemblance as the woman smiled at Rain, looking at her with pride.
With love.
It hit me square in the gut right there, almost making me double over.
I’d seen that exact look in Rain’s eyes before…
…when she’d looked at me.
My breath caught. I suddenly knew what I had to do. I’d thought about it all day yesterday, wavering and thinking she’d be better off without me. Yet I’d still gone to check out the rental and signed the lease. I’d still had the cards printed. I’d still talked to the bank.
This morning after a sleepless night full of self-doubt, I’d come to commencement having completely talked myself out of approaching her. I had just wanted to see her once more before I went back to Chicago, once again leaving my band—my family—because I simply couldn’t be here and be a part of their lives. Not knowing I’d come so close to something so beautiful, only to lose it.
But that tender look on the face of a woman I’d never met kept me there by the door as the crowd began to filter out. My pulse raced as Rain and her parents came closer.
And then she saw me.
She went totally pale. Her fingertips splayed across her chest, fine and stark against the black of her gown. She suddenly seemed very faint.
She did faint, actually. Amid gasps and various other sounds of shock, she went down like a ton of bricks.
I’d seen her pass out before. Fuck, I’d made her pass out before. While it scared the bejeezus out of me the first couple times, she’d begged me to do it again and again over the time we’d spent together, and she was really fuckin’ hard to say no to, especially when she was working my cock. Eventually, we’d perfected the technique of getting her to that high and bringing her around after. I could feel it building up when I was deep inside her body.
And Jesus fucking Christ… as much as it scared me, it kinda turned me on.
Even now—here in the middle of a crowd of people—seeing her eyes roll back and watching her go limp actually gave me one hell of a boner.
Seriously, Cody was right. I was a sick motherfucker.
As she went down, I went on autopilot, rushing forward to the floor and pulling her into my arms, completely oblivious of the pure astonishment of her parents and everyone else standing around us. I cradled her close to my chest, brushing my thumb up against her cheek.
“Rain,” I whispered, “Rain, baby.”
She turned into my touch just a bit, and her thick lashes fluttered open to reveal the hazy warmth of her deep brown eyes. She licked her lips, so soft and full, and I started to lower my head to taste them.
Until I heard someone standing over me clearing their throat.
Oh fuck.
Rain’s eyes widened at the sound, as well. We stared at each other, then slowly looked up to find we’d become the center of attention. Students, faculty, family… Rain’s parents. They all gawked at us. Even Dave, the provost, was completely stupefied.
And pissed. He looked totally pissed.
“Oh fuck,” Rain whispered in a shaky breath.
Jesus, even that quiet whisper made me think of so many past whispers. Whispers she breathed into my mouth and against my skin while I fucked her senseless.
Fuck, I had to focus.
I helped her stand, inadvertently giving her curvy ass a nudge as her dad pulled her up with an extended arm. She jumped a little at that touch, flying forward into her mom as she quickly turned to look back at me.
This was becoming incredibly awkward incredibly fast.
Another student from Transient Pressure Analysis class broke through the shocked silence.
“Professor Dorsey?”
If it was even possible, Rain’s dad looked even more flabbergasted. “Professor…” he muttered.
Rain looked up at him, then to her mom, and back at me. “Mom…” she murmured, “Dad… this is Justin.”
“But… a Professor?” her dad repeated.
“Yeah, sorry about that,” I said with a sheepish grin. “I know it looks bad, but I’m kinda in love with your daughter.”
Rain looked like she might faint again.
“Oh my goodness,” her mother gasped, seeming to go a bit pale herself.
Dave stepped forward from the crowd with a menacing glare. “You’re making a big mistake, Dorsey,” he snarled.
“You can threaten me all you want,” I shot back, “but you have no teeth now. That shit is final, and you can’t keep me away from her anymore.”
“Awe,” Rain’s mother softly sighed. “How romantic.” She wrapped her arm around Rain’s shoulder, giving her a quick hug.
Rain’s mom seemed really sweet.
“But Margie, he’s a professor,” her dad repeated… again.
Okay, I might have a problem with him, I thought. I started to wonder if I should run. He was older, but his shock was beginning to give way to a father’s protectiveness, and that shit was lethal.
Through all of this, Dave was kinda turning purple with rage. Comically so. I’d have laughed if this whole situation wasn’t so vital to my entire world at the moment.
Then, I saw Glenn. The guy had a huge smile on his face.
“He’s right,” he told Dave as he stepped up beside him and began to steer him away. “Time to let it go.”
With a huff and a glare, Dave allowed Glenn to ease him back as they merged off into the crowd.
Now it was just Rain and I.
And her parents.
And the hundreds of graduates and their families.
But I sensed a sudden wave of support. Looking behind me, I saw Brannon and Sophie with Gracie, Denny and Felicity with Eoghan, Cody and Ilsa with Max, and Drew and Raven (who had sorta taken on her own pear shape at this point).
“What are you guys doing here?”
“Thought you might need a little backup,” Drew shrugged.
“We did,” Denny agreed with a grin, “though it looks like that right bastard fecked off pretty well on his own.”
“What did he say?” Rain’s mom asked quietly.
“Was that English?” her dad wondered aloud.
I just raised my eyebrow at Denny in implication. I figured I probably shouldn’t say it just now. Instead, I turned back to Rain who had regained a little of the color in her cheeks. She looked a touch flushed now, actually. I opened my mouth and said the first thing that came to my mind.
“I went and saw my mom.”
Why the fuck I started out with that, I had no clue, but it wasn’t like I could undo it. It was out there… flailing around like a little turtle on its back trying to flip over.
Yet Rain stepped away from her parents and towards me. “Seriously?” she whispered through tearful eyes. She was shaking visibly. She knew what a big deal that was for me.
“No shit,” I said, gazing down at my hands. “We had a long talk. We’re hardly Cody’s family—”
“What the fuck?” Cody laughed in mock indignation.
“No-no wood,” Eoghan chastised him.
“—but it’s something,” I continued on, strengthened by Rain’s tremulous smile. “My, um… my youngest brother is on the verge of graduating from high school, if he graduates. He’s a bit of a wild one, so that’s a little questionable. My sister is in her second year of college. She plays the bass.”
“Oh my God,” she whispered, bringing her fingertips up to her lips.
“I know, right?”
“Well,” she said softly with a sad smile, “they are related.”
“Yeah,” I shrugged, “they are.”
Rain’s parents kind of watched our floundering conversation, looking somehow uncomfortable and bewildered and delighted all at once. Her dad not so much delighted as kinda pissed, but sorta like he didn’t know if that was how he should feel or not. As did the Mofos and pretty much everyone else standing the
re scratching their asses trying to figure out just exactly what the fuck was going on.
“Can I talk to you alone for a minute?” I finally asked. I needed to get her away from the audience. I didn’t want everyone to see me go all fuckin’ mushy.
She nodded and I gestured towards the front door, following her outside and along the exterior of the building until we had reached a quiet area out on the grass. The light breeze brushed her hair off to the side, exposing the back of her neck again. I pushed the dirty thoughts down deep inside. I needed to be serious.
But when I opened my mouth to talk, I almost couldn’t get the words out.
“I have a job for you.”
Okay, so again, not really what I should have started with. I figured that wasn’t what she was really expecting to hear either when she narrowed her gaze in puzzlement, so I continued before it all went to hell.
“Glenn told me that you got an offer from BP, but I want you to come to JR Associates.”
She cocked her head. “To where?”
“It’s a new engineering firm in need of an environmental consultant. You’d be perfect.”
“So,” she carefully began, “you want me to come work for you. Instead of fucking my professor, I’d be fucking my boss.”
“That’s not entirely accurate.”
“You don’t want to fuck me.” It wasn’t a question. More like wary hesitation. Clear confusion. Not distrustful, but also not convinced.
“No,” I corrected her firmly, “I definitely want to fuck you. Definitely. And really, really bad. It’s the other part that’s not accurate.”
“So you don’t want me to work for you? I am so confused.”
“It’s not a job for me,” I took a step closer, emboldened when she didn’t move away. If anything, she leaned into my presence. “It’s a job with me. You wouldn’t be my employee. You’d be my partner. My… associate.”
“Why?” she whispered.
“Because I love you.”
My voice had gone rough with emotion. I may have already said something along these lines to her folks, but this was the shit I hadn’t wanted to do in front of an audience. This was only for her.
It stopped her cold in her tracks. She opened her mouth to say something, but nothing came out. Her gaze fixed on mine and I saw a tiny tremble wrack through her body. Her eyes welled up, luminous and a rich coffee color in the midday sun.
Hot Dirty Love (Copperline #5) Page 16
