“I’d do just fine at it.”
Franklin scoffs and takes a breath, stepping right in Garrett’s face. The two are staring each other down so tirelessly I start to feel out of place for all the testosterone coursing around the room. “You don’t even know your way around paperwork, asshole.”
“Guys, please,” I shout. Desperation is starting to set in as my father just stands there, unable to come to terms with what the hell is going on. “Can you both calm down, please?” I ask, sliding an arm between them in an attempt to separate them.
Neither of them pays me any attention, and Frank steals the last inch of space that lies between the tips of their shoes. Rising on the balls of his feet, he tries to match Garrett’s height. Lowering his voice to a terrifying, deadly growl, he speaks through his teeth. “You deserve whatever fresh hell you suffer out there on the golf course. Day in and day out. How many times did you turn this down? How many times did my dad offer you the damn business, and how many times did you say no? It’s over, jackass. You’re shit outta luck because it is not happening.”
Edging closer, I tug at Garrett’s arm to pull him away, but he shrugs me off while the muscles in his neck twitch.
“You’ve always been a piece of shit, you know that?” Garrett snaps at him in the worst move he can possibly make.
Frank laughs. “Not so much as you,” he spits. “Boning my sister while fucking whoever else you—”
And before I can quite comprehend what is happening, Garrett lurches at him with a swing of his arm. His waylaid fist sails past my brother’s head who, by the grace of God, lunges out of the way. My dad nearly tumbles to his right side to evade the fight and grabs the nearest chair for stability.
“Stop!” I scream, my plea falling desperately from trembling lips. But it’s too late. There’s no stopping the two of them.
Watching the madness, I can tell Franklin’s recoiled fist is going to make contact the moment it flies forward. What I hadn’t expected is the thunderous crack in which it collides with Garrett’s face. Stumbling backward, Garrett grunts, his boot catching on the edge of the fringed area rug in a perfect storm. He tumbles to the floor, grabbing at the dining room table, pulling the checkered table runner which sends the silverware and salad bowl flying. Two of the porcelain plates slide right off the table and shatter on the thin rug.
In that instant, my dad yanks Franklin’s shirt collar and grabs him around the chest to restrain him from another full-on attack.
“Frank! Stop!” I scream, trying to catch my breath.
Crouching down beside Garrett, I pull back his hand that crowds over the side of his cheek bone. The skin across his face has cracked open, and blood is seeping out onto his palm. Looking down at him, I see him cringe at the sight of his own blood.
“Really, Frank?” I’m on the violent edge of tears now, and one more tug at my emotions will send me careening into a full on meltdown. “You’re an idiot,” my voice cracks. “That was so fucking unnecessary!”
Franklin is breathing hard and examining his fist when he shakes himself out of dad’s restraint. “It wasn’t necessary for him to waltz his ass in here like some eager hero to save the day. Not after the goddamn mess has already been cleaned up.”
I grit my teeth so tight that my head begins to pound. “You’re an asshole, Frank. And thanks, dad. For breaking this up before it got out of hand.” I don’t make eye contact with my father, but can tell by his silence that he’s embarrassed.
Garrett winces and tries to stand. He refuses to let out a single sound of agony and makes his way to his feet without taking my aid. “Franklin. Mark.” He nods at both of them, his hand still covering his cheek. “Real gentlemen.”
My last glance over at Franklin shows him grinning, proud of what he’s done. And looking like he could pounce again, ready to rail on Garrett at any second.
“Get the hell out of here, man. You can’t fuck my baby sister and everyone else in town and expect me to respect you.”
My cheeks go five shades of red, and I grab Garrett’s arm. As we head for the door, my dad calls out to me.
“Rachel, dinner’s nearly ready. Why don’t you come back to eat?”
Garnering a sudden flash of darkness, I swing my sharpened gaze back at him. “I’m leaving, and no, I won’t be coming back. Not tonight,” I say, wanting to sound more final. “Not the way you’re both acting.”
The last thing I hear is Franklin snickering as I slam the door behind us. Garrett makes a beeline for the driver’s side of his truck when we reach the driveway, but I’m not having it. His face is already starting to swell up to the size of a baseball mitt, and I can’t even trust his depth perception as he reaches for the door handle three times before successfully opening it.
“You’re not driving,” I tell him. And without a word, he drops the keys into my palm and slides all the way across the truck bench to the passenger side. Rolling the window down, he leans his arm and head out like a forlorn puppy.
Starting up the truck, I accidentally leave a little rubber in my dad’s driveway on our way back to Garrett’s. Neither of us say a word for the first five minutes until we pass the Southport water tower. All the energy I’d had earlier in the day is drained from me, and the tension in the air between is so palpable I feel like I could choke on it. “What were you thinking?”
Garrett doesn’t say anything for a long second. “Sorry. I wasn’t. But your brother, he’s a real asshole.”
“You think I don’t know that?”
The rest of the drive is quiet save for the rumbling of the engine and the spewing of gravel when I pull the truck into Garrett’s driveway. I jump out of the truck with thunderous steps that get me to his front door before he does. With his keys still in my hand, I unlock the door and rush straight to the kitchen. Rummaging through his freezer, there isn’t much to choose from. I grab a bag of frozen peas and head for the living room where he’s studying himself in the reflection of the television.
Marching toward him, I give him a sharp glare and nod for him to sit on the couch. He moves without challenging me, and I sit up on my knees beside him as I press the bag of peas to his bright red, swollen cheek. He winces at the sudden cold.
“It’s stopped bleeding for now,” I tell him, brushing away the dust that’d probably gathered in his hair from his fall.
“Should be using a steak. I hate peas,” he says, his voice wavering like he might break down at any moment.
Pulling the bag away, I look at him and can’t help but grow an important spot for him in my heart.
“Ow, hey,” he says, wincing. “Give that back.”
“Well, they’re your peas. I found them in the freezer,” I say, placing the icy bag back on his face. His hand falls on top of mine, guiding the frozen peas to the spot high on his cheek bone.
“Mom brought ‘em over. Probably right after I moved in.” The image of Julia walking through his door with a brown paper bag full of non-perishable groceries makes me smile.
“The peas are fine,” he says, glancing over at me. He rests a warm hand on my thigh. His green eyes are shining a shade of hazel in the light, and for a second, I think he might be crying.
“Did you mean what you said back there?”
He closes his eyes. “Which part?”
“The part about wanting the brewery because of me.”
Sighing, he licks his lips but doesn’t say anything for a minute. “I just. I want you to be proud of me.”
The thought of him thinking, even for a second, that I’m not proud of him puts a lump in my throat. Blinking away my onslaught of emotion, I caress the back of his neck. “I am so proud of you, Garrett. Why would you ever think I‘m not?”
He shrugs.
“At least you don’t have to give up what makes you happy.”
“Yeah. Sure.”
“Can I ask you a question?”
He shakes his head. “Already did.”
“Just one more.”
“What Franklin said about you sleeping with other people. Is that true?”
His jaw twitches, and turning his eyes from me, he stares at the stuffed fox on the coffee table without a word. My heart drops to my stomach. His stillness is tell of what I’d been thinking ever since Franklin accused him of it, maybe even since I’d suggested for Kate to reach out to him.
Ignoring his silent punch to my gut, I lay my head back while still holding the frozen pack to his cheek. “I mean, it’s okay if you are, I guess. I just wasn’t sure if what we’re doing is really...” My breath hitches at the thought. “What I mean is I get it. I understand that there’s nothing between us. And it’s okay.”
He doesn’t speak for what feels like two whole minutes. Then taking the peas from me, he leans over, kisses my temple, and snakes his left arm around the back of my waist. “There’s no one else, Gator. I promise.” He scratches his cheek and locks eyes with me. Shrugging, he pushes out a hard breath. “I guess that’d make you my girlfriend, wouldn’t it?”
The depth of his words draw an audible wave of relief from me, and smiling into the dark, I feel on the verge of tears again.
“I don’t know,” I say with a smirk. “Depends on if you really want that.”
I expect some kind of sarcastic response. But without any snark or attitude, he answers me simply. “I do. I want that with you, Rach.”
Sitting next to him, the rise and fall of his breaths comfort me as we share the same balmy air in his living room. My eyelids grow heavy from the overwhelm of the evening, and I can’t help but drift off into the warmth of him next to me.
Chapter Twelve
I wake to the bag of peas having thawed and fallen onto Garrett’s shoulder. The room has grown dark, and he’s still asleep at my side, so I return the lukewarm bag to the freezer. Gathering my car keys from the table, I’m sure to be quiet. Bending down, I examine his cheek as best I can in the absence of light and kiss his forehead while trying not to wake him.
“You don’t have to go,” he says, stirring from rest.
“How’s your cheek feel?”
“Fine.” Reaching up, he traces the cut on his face with his fingers, having forgotten the pain. Wincing, he clears his throat. “Still sore.”
I can’t help but notice how roughed up he looks in the dim light of his living room, that heart wrenching shade of ache in him. “Do you want something for the pain?”
“Nah.” Standing, he wraps his arms around me and shakes his head. “Well, I do know one thing that would make me feel better,” he purrs into my ear.
A shiver runs down my spine, and I can’t help but smile. I catch sight of the clock on the wall above his shoulder. It’s 10:52, and the dark has long been seeping through the blinds. As much as I want to stay, I don’t have any extra clothes. Not to mention Kate would be wondering where I am. I can’t stay with him again until I confess to her my feelings. I can’t live with myself going behind her back any longer. “I need to get home, Garrett. I have work in the morning.”
“Yeah. That’s not why you won’t stay.”
Furrowing my brow at him, I shake my head. “Of course it is.”
“When you gonna tell her?”
“What?”
He runs a hand down his face, and I can tell he’s teetering on losing his shit with me. “When are you telling Kate that you and I— we’ve been seeing each other?”
“I don’t know.”
Garrett sighs into my neck and slides his hands down over my rear. Feeling something in my skirt pocket, he fingers it. “What’s that?”
Pulling away from him, I head to the front door. “Nothing, it’s just the key to the lake house.”
Following me out to my car with his hands tucked deep into the pockets of his khakis, he kicks at the gravel. “That’s not nothing. Are you going there or something?”
Turning to him, I figure since he’s inquiring, I might as well commit to the question. “Kate is throwing some kind of a memorial party honoring your sister in a few days. She has your name on the invitation list, but I’m sure you don’t check your email any—.”
“No.” He shakes his head. “I’m not going.”
His sharp response catches me off-guard. “I know, it’s awful, but just hear me out. Kate wanted to—
“Fuck Kate. Why would she want to dig that shit up for people?”
His question silences me and is something I’ve wondered for weeks now. But what am I supposed to say to her? I can’t put a stop to the memorial myself. She’d already planned everything, had her entire mind made up that it’s happening.
When I speak, my voice is sheepish. My cheeks feel hot with the embarrassment of thinking it’s okay to bring the topic up here in the dark of his driveway. But still, I press him. Aside from the party, I want answers to vulnerable questions I’ve asked him for years now. “Ten years, Garrett. We can’t ignore the fact that it’s been—”
“I’m not.” He scowls at me. “I’m not fucking ignoring it. How about we just not talk about it. I ain’t in the mood to deal with it tonight.”
Something inside me snaps, and my entire body feels rampant with anger. “Yeah? Really, Garrett? Well, I wasn’t in the mood to deal with your shit tonight at my dad’s house, but that didn’t stop you, did it?” I open my car door, lob the keys in the seat, and slam the door shut. I know better than to leave a situation this angry even though the thought tempts me. “You know, you’re gonna have to deal with the fact that Lydia’s gone. Eventually it’s gonna have to happen. You can’t keep living your life in the past. She’s not here anymore, and there’s nothing either of us can do about it.”
Silhouetted by the porch light, I see his jaw set and his fists ball at his sides.
“And I’m sorry that Lydia died all those years ago, but her death didn’t just affect you,” I say, pushing a finger into his chest. “You don’t get to keep the whole pain of it for yourself.” I feel myself slide into a sinking wave of emotion. “It affected you in horrible ways. But it also affected your parents and all of Lydia’s friends. It affected me. And it affected Kate. And if Kate wants to throw a fucking memorial party for her friend, she should be allowed to do that. And maybe—just maybe— you should be a decent human being and consider showing up for her.”
He sighs and looks out at something on the street. Though I can’t see his expression in the dark, I hear the shuffle of gravel beneath him followed by a faint chuckle.
“What are you laughing at?” I ask, my voice still full of anger.
“I don’t know. You, I guess.” He sidles up next to me at the car with a sigh. “You’re pretty sexy when you’re being wild at me. Turns out you and Dudley have that in common.”
His words confound me, and I’m not sure that I even hear him correctly. “What are you—”
“You and Dudley. You both share those,” he shrugs. “Those wild ways.” He snakes his arms around me and rests them atop the roof of my car, pinning me there. “Except you sure do like throwing that fuck word around at me. He’d never do me like that.”
Looking up at him, my irritation melts at his humor. I straighten the collar on his shirt and smirk. “It’s because of you. I can’t help it.”
Grinning, he creeps closer until the length of his body is pressed against me. “What else can’t you help,” he whispers huskily against my ear.
The sound of his voice cracks me right down the center. Before I can even formulate an answer, I plunge my fingers into his hair and pull him to me, his lips crashing down over mine with a desperate fury.
Bending down, he slips his hands behind my knees and lifts me from the ground, causing me to squeal in excitement. I latch my legs around his waist as he lays me down on top of the hood of my dusty car that’s still warm from the afternoon sun having set only a few hours ago. Garrett’s weight on top of me floods me with bliss. “You’
re my girlfriend now. Means we can do this whenever we want, right?” he asks in a playfully menacing tone.
He tugs at the hem of my blouse, and I feel his palm slide up my tummy which sets something inside me on fire. Sitting up, I drive my shoulder into his chest causing him to back off of me.
“What was—”
Rather forcibly, I slam my fingers to his lips to silence him. Sitting there on the hood of the car, I take my own blouse off in a hurry and toss it on the windshield behind us. My cravings at an all time high, I pull him to me. Opening my legs wider, he slides himself in between my bare legs with a moan until I can feel him rising through his pants. His hardness presses into my thigh, and he traces me up and down with eager fingers. Wanting his pants off, I grab at the button of his khakis. I need him inside me, and I can’t wait any longer.
As he shoves his pants and boxer briefs down, I slide myself off of the car and drop to my feet. Standing on tiptoes, I urge his lips to crash back over mine. Wrapping my fingers around the warmth of his growing erection, I want him to come for me, and the second moan of satisfaction he lets out is tell that it won’t take long tonight.
Up and down my neck, he kisses me, sucking on tiny spots of skin leaving indelible marks across me. “God,” he says into my collarbone. “You’re unbelievable.”
Not in the mood to draw things out, I pull my hand over his shaft, a rhythm he’s not used to from me, and his breath is ragged against my open mouth. It’s not long before I feel his hands roam, pulling up at the hem of my denim skirt. At his desire, I push my panties down and step out of them, my wetness nearly having soaked them through. He reaches down between my legs, his warm fingers plunge inside me, and he immediately feels how slick I already am. “Jesus, Rach. All that for me?”
I nod as we stand there in the darkness of his driveway, nearly clothed, but bare to each other. I can hear cars passing down the street at the edge of his road, and the cicadas have long given up their song for the night in exchange for a round of croaking frogs back in the forest. A car drifts by, its headlights glaring, and while the thought of being out in the open with Garrett terrifies me, the only thing I can think about is wanting to feel the length of him inside of me.
All the Wild Ways: A Friends to Lovers Romance Page 9
