by Mj Fields
“Aw, thank you,” she says as she puts them on.
“That wasn’t a freaking compliment.”
“I’ll take all the love I can get,” she says, pushing her arms in the black, cropped Fendi hoodie.
“The fuck, ladies?” comes from the hallway.
“Tobias, get out of here!” Gabrielle yells.
“Then let’s go!” he yells back.
I grab her hand and pull her behind me as I hop, run and, yeah, nearly fall down the hall.
“You’re fucking painful to watch,” Tobias grumbles as he grabs me and hefts me over his shoulder.
“Listen, you big oaf, I’m capable of—”
“Shutting the fuck up?” he snaps. “Good, let’s see it.”
Squirming to get down, I growl at him, “You better—”
A heavy hand grabs my ass. “I said see, not hear.”
I look behind me at Gabrielle, who smiles as she wipes a tear away. “You’re cute together, you know.”
Tobias’s steps falter.
“You drop me, you’ll be cute with the fishes, asshat.”
Halfway down the stairs, the pounding on the door begins.
“Fuck,” Tobias says as he whips left then right, with me still over his shoulder.
“Wow, this place cleans up pretty good.”
Gabrielle sniffs. “They do good work.”
“Can you two exchange information on the hired help at a different time, for fuck’s sake?” Tobias snaps.
A loud banging on the door is followed by, “Gabrielle Morales-Ortez, open up or we’re coming in.”
“Fuck,” she huffs then looks at us. “Go.”
“Door’s already sealed,” Tobias tells her.
“Then get in the fucking closet or something, Tobias. You have less than three months until this is no longer your life! Why you chose tonight to step off the wagon is beyond me,” she whisper-snaps at him.
My phone pings in my pocket, and I pull it out to quickly type back:
- Cops are here. Going to be hiding in a closet or some shit. I’m fine. See you soon. DON’T message me. I’ll message you all.
“You done?” Tobias asks.
“Well, yeah, but you don’t have to be such an asshole. I’m trying to help.”
“Truth, I don’t deserve this, but could you please handle him?”
“Handle me?” he asks as I again try to wiggle free, and again, he grips my ass harder.
“You keep handling my ass like that, and my dad’s gonna make you wife it.” I knee him in the chest hard enough that he loses his grip, and then I shimmy down his big, hard body and ignore every snap, crackle, and pop going on inside mine.
Chapter Fifteen
Idiom
Love Begets Love.
Truth
I call bull.
“How the hell does a house this big have such a small closet?” I ask myself out loud.
“The others are bigger,” Tobias whispers.
“Lovely.”
“That’s not what I—” He stops talking and huffs, “I don’t have to explain myself to you.”
“Not thinking I asked you to.”
“Maybe not in words, but your fucking eyes are constantly questioning everything—every move, every intention, every—”
“I’m going to save you some embarrassment, stop you right there, and remind you that it’s dark in here, pitch dark, as a matter of fact, and neither of us can see a thing.”
“You know damn well what I’m talking about.”
I turn my body, knowing full well I’m going to be face to chest with him. And he’s right; it doesn’t matter how dark it is in here. It makes things more … intense.
I can tell he’s holding his breath, and for some reason, I like that I make him feel as on edge as he makes me.
“I need something from you.”
He doesn’t respond, and he still hasn’t let out a breath, so I do something … extremely immature, and I poke him in the belly.
A burst of hot, sweet-smelling mix of cinnamon and whiskey hits my face, and he lets out a low chuckle then asks, “Did you just doughboy me?”
I like his laugh as much as I like his smiles that always fade too quickly.
I poke him again, and he chuckles … again.
“Do that again and you’ll regret it,” he warns.
So, I don’t doughboy him; I spread my fingers wide, lay my palm flat on his incredibly ripped abs, and kind of, sort of tickle him.
“The fuck,” he says, trying not to laugh.
I don’t move my hand away from him, and every time he starts to say something, I dig my nails into his belly, but just for a second, because I can now hear the cops inside the house.
“Can’t let her do this shit alone, Tiny T,” he whispers.
Tiny T?
He grips my hips gently. “Gotta move so I can—”
“Oh, no, you don’t,” I grumble as I turn and push my back against him to stop him from moving forward.
“Shit.” He somehow stumbles and grabs me as he goes down.
“Oh my God, is that your phone in your pock—” I smash my hand over my own damn mouth when I realize exactly what it is.
“Been drinking, you got your paws all over me; what do you expect?” he hisses.
I try to move, but he flattens his hand against my belly now to keep me in place. And that one touch releases a swarm of butterflies whose wings are fluttering beneath the surface of my most private parts.
“Where’s your nanny this time, Gabrielle?”
“I’m steps from eighteen; I don’t require a full-time babysitter. She does get time off. And how the hell should I know? She’s an adult and can do whatever she wants.”
A different cop asks, “And how long will she be gone this time?”
“Do you really think I’m going to tell you two when I’ll be alone?”
“Heard from your parents, Gabrielle?” one asks.
“Fuckers,” Tobias grumbles.
“Are you about done here, or should I call my guardian or my lawyers this time?” she snaps.
“You gonna send an anonymous noise complaint later just to get some attention?”
“Get! Out!” she screams.
“We’re gonna take a look around a bit more. For your safety, of course,” one says.
“I’m done,” Tobias says, and I scramble to ensure he stays put.
Straddling him was not the intention, but it seems to do the trick.
He expels a breath in a slow, steady hiss as his fingers flex on my hips, as if he’s trying to decide whether to toss me off him or keep me in place.
“This can’t happen,” he groans.
“It’s not like we have a choice,” I say, gripping his shoulders—his freaking hard, strong shoulders—to brace myself above him.
“She needs my help,” he says, squeezing my hips tighter.
“No, Tobias, she needs you to stay right where you are.”
Needy, so needy, I scold myself.
“It’s not a good idea. This can’t happen.”
“What if it’s the only chance for it to happen?”
His pause makes me realize what I said and how it, too, could have dual meaning. Honestly, I need them to have dual meanings.
To save face, I quickly add, “What if you open that door, and it causes more problems than she already seems to have?”
His breath seems to be closer and, in the darkness, so close to him, all other senses heightened, those feelings from just a touch soar.
“Making that move would make things harder, without a doubt.”
I find myself pinching a lock of his hair between my fingers and rubbing them together, enjoying the silky softness of it as I ponder his words and wonder if he’s talking about me or Gabrielle. But right now, I desperately want it to be me.
“And what about you?”
“What about me?” His words are heavier, breathier, deeper.
“What do you really want
, Tobias?”
He shifts, and I drop, and then I freaking moan at the feel of his hardness against the thin material of my panties. It immediately makes my stomach flip and my head spin.
“I want her to be happy. I want her to have a great life. I want her to never look at me and think I did her wrong.”
I lean my forehead against his chest and can literally feel his heart rate accelerate, and his breaths grow harder.
I inhale his scent—clean, manly, earth, so fucking sexy.
“Truth,” he groans, gripping my hips, and only then do I realize I’ve been rocking against him.
How embarrassing. How fucking embarrassing.
“Sorry,” I whisper.
“Yeah, me, too.” He runs his hand up my back, causing it to arch and my hips to rock. His chest rumbles in a silent, not so happy laugh as he moves his hand to the back of my neck and pulls my head against his chest. “Me, too.”
I swear I feel his lips against the top of my head, but then I think it may be my wayward desires making my life, the one that seemed to only really getting to the good parts, kind of suck.
Thoughts swarm like angry bees inside my head, and holding them inside stings. It stings like nothing ever has, and nothing else ever will.
“Tobias, I—”
“Please don’t make this any harder on yourself than it already is.”
Guess I was wrong … Ouch.
I pull my head off his chest and force myself to recoil slowly, very slowly.
Sitting to the side of him in the dark, embarrassed and angry at myself, his hushed voice still inside my head saying, Tiny T, the first nickname from a boy that wasn’t mean, makes me happy and sad all at the same time.
I hear a door slam and cringe at the thought of how the embarrassment I’ve been able to keep hidden in this darkened closet will soon be brought to life.
“Where are you?” Gabby whisper-hisses.
I jump up and blindly reach for the door handle but get his hand instead. I pull it back quickly.
“Don’t be like that,” he whispers as he opens the door.
I hurry out and feel him tug on the back of my dress.
I glare back at him.
“Your skirt was folded up.”
I huff, “Great, just freaking great.”
I hurry in the direction of Gabrielle’s voice and, when I see her, I immediately stop.
“Go. Now.” Her voice does not mirror her demeanor.
“Gabrielle, chill.”
“Go.” Her voice breaks. “Now.”
“Jesus,” I sigh exaggeratedly as I walk to her. “I hated you hours ago, and now, here I am, ready to fight with your bitchy ass.”
“Just leave me alone.”
“Not gonna happen.”
“Just leave!” she cries.
“Only if you go with me. If not, my very angry father is going to show up with my Hello Kitty sleeping bag and retainer, and you and I—”
“Oh my God, shut up.” She’s half-serious and half-laughing.
“Gotta go out the back way,” Tobias says from behind us. “Good news is you’re less than a mile with a straight shot down the beach to Truth’s place. Should be easy.”
“She’s a fucking gimp,” Gabby snaps at him.
“Gonna warn you; that’s my second to last nerve,” I say.
“Still have the dune buggy?” Tobias smiles at her, but hardly ever at me.
She nods. “I’m driving.”
“You take your bedtime pills?” he asks her.
She gasps and nods toward me. “Really?”
“Then Tiny T’s got the wheel.”
I shoot Patrick and the crew a text, telling them I’ll be heading home. I find out that all of them are already at their perspective homes. Justice picked them up and was waiting for my text to come get me. I shoot him back a text to tell him to stay put, that I’m fine.
We use the access road next to the house to pull up the driveway, killing the engine and coasting in. As always, it’s lit up.
“Jesus,” Tobias says, covering his eyes from the blinding security lights.
“That’s Dad’s way of saying welcome home.”
“Sup?” Dad says, stepping out of the shadows, shirtless and in sweats, nearly giving me a heart attack.
“Jesus, Dad!” I gasp.
Ignoring me completely, he walks around the dune buggy and asks, “This a Meyers Manx?”
I walk around him as he leans in. “I don’t know.”
Still ignoring me, Dad lifts his chin to Gabrielle. “This yours?”
She nods as she looks down.
He sticks his head in farther and looks in the back, seeing Tobias. “You wear tights?”
“Oh my freaking God, Dad!” I try to slide between him and the buggy, and he freaking blocks me.
“No, sir.”
“You have a license?”
“Yes, sir,” Tobias answers.
“You not driving because you’ve been drinking?” Dad asks.
“Dad, what the hell?” I try to hip-check him and basically bounce off him.
“Yes, sir,” Tobias answers.
He nods and looks at Gabrielle. “You been drinking?”
“Dad, this is why I only invite family over.”
She swallows hard and answers, “No, Mr. Steel.”
“So, why aren’t you driving?”
I try to push him again, to no avail. “And also why some kids don’t tell their parents when they’ve been drinking, end up driving, and wrapped around a pole.”
“You lose your voice?” he asks her.
“Gabrielle, you do not have to answer him.” I grab his shoulders and yank on him.
“I took a sleeping pill.”
“You tired?”
“Dad!” I jump on his back now, and Gabrielle starts laughing.
“Too tired to get out of the ride?”
“Um, no, but”—she points at me—“your daughter is really trying to get your attention.”
He stands up, and I nearly fall off but quickly wrap my legs around Dad’s back.
“And I’m ignoring her like she did my text a few minutes ago.”
“I was driving. And just so I don’t have to repeat myself, rewind to the whole drinking and driving spiel I just gave—same dangers.”
“Next time, have one of them reply, then.”
“Why didn’t you just ask Justice?”
He reaches behind him and swings me around. Then he sets me on my feet and bends down so we’re eyeball to eyeball. “In case you forgot, I’m your father.”
I lean in and blow a breath of air at him.
He smirks.
I lean back. “You’re so predictable.”
“Love you, little bird.” He kisses my nose then steps back. “You two, come inside. Tara’s got snacks.”
“Gabrielle is spending the night,” I call behind him.
“Cool,” he says as he walks to the door.
Tobias then says, “Thank you for the invitation, Mr. Steel, but I’m going to head home.”
He stops, turns around, and cocks his head to the side.
Inside my head, I am pleading with my father to just let him leave.
“How you getting home?”
“I live just a few minutes away,” Tobias tells him.
Dad crosses his arms. “Great. So how you getting home?”
Tobias looks at me.
“Gabrielle and I can take him home.”
“I can walk,” he whispers.
Dad looks at Gabrielle. “Trust me to take it for a spin?”
She nods.
“Jesus,” I whisper.
“He serious, Truth?” Tobias whisper-hisses as he slides out of the buggy.
“Dad, he can take a Lyft or Uber.”
Dad walks up and pats Tobias on the back. “Thinking about getting one of these. How fast does she go?”
“The speed limit,” Tobias answers, trying to hide his annoyance.
�
��I bet we can do better than that.” Dad grins.
Tobias sighs and turns to walk away. I grab his elbow, and he turns back to me. “Remember our deal.”
He lifts his chin. “Any notes or tips you wanna share?”
I shake my head. “Protect your face.”
He squints his eyes and nods, looking at me intently. “Will do.” Then he walks to the passenger side and opens the door.
Dad revs the engine. “Buckle up, Buck.”
“Where’s Dad going?” comes from behind me.
Fuck, I think.
Before I turn to look at Justice, I see an apology in Tobias’s eyes. I don’t know if it’s for the closet, the fact that he’s at the home of the guy he’s fighting tomorrow, or something to come.
When I turn around and see Justice, his face is hard, eyes narrowed, as he watches Dad peel out and speed down the road. He turns and looks at me, shakes his head, and starts to turn away.
“Justice,” I call after him, and he turns back. “He was drinking, the cops came, I—”
“You think that pisses me off, T?”
Confused, I shake my head. “What?”
“That ain’t shit. He’s basically a good dude, but the girl who’s fucked with you and Kiki since go—Gabrielle Morales-fucking-Ortez—is sitting in our kitchen with Mom.”
“Shh …” I hush him.
He shakes his head and whispers, although loudly, “Self-respect, T, self-fucking-respect.”
“How about compassion?” I whisper back.
He shakes his head in disappointment and walks inside.
Chapter Sixteen
Idiom
A friend in need is a friend indeed.
Truth
And some only act the part when necessary.
Walking up the stairs, I smell pizza and hear Gabrielle’s nervous, “Thank you, Mrs. Steel.”
“Please call me Tara,” Mom says, a smile in her voice.
“She’s showing you some respect, Mom.” Justice’s voice vibrates, clearly trying to keep control of his anger.
“Which is appreciated,” Mom says as I crest the stairs, “but as a guest of Truth’s, I would hope she’d feel more comfortable calling me by my name. I know I would be.”
