Wrapped in Lace

by Lane, Prescott

  Ellie’s eyes welled up, and she turned to leave without getting her pizza. “God, I’m so sorry.” I said to Piper, but she was looking down, her hands resting on her belly. “Nothing she said is true.”

  *

  PIPER

  I felt like I could be sick. I’m sure it’s not morning sickness—too early for that. It’s that Ellie was such a bitch, and I was letting her into my head. But she made a good point. Drew had just left her without a single word after four years together. Why did I think our few days together would turn out any differently? “She still loves you,” I repeated.

  “She married my brother. She doesn’t love me.”

  “Have you listened to her at all? She still wishes it was you she’d married. I bet she’d leave Rob for you.”

  “Now that’s just disgusting.”

  I almost laughed at the way his body shivered at the mere thought of it, his reaction so honest it lifted my mood. “Disgusting?”

  “Yeah, why would I want to be where my brother’s been?” He made a face like he just smelled poop. “Nasty, it would be like incest or something.”

  This time I laughed out loud. “Still doesn’t change the fact that she’s carrying a torch for you.”

  “That’s her problem. There’s not a single cell in my body that misses her, believe me!”

  I nodded that I did and picked a pepperoni off my pizza slice. “What about the other stuff she said? About me just being a distraction?”

  The flash of anger that went through his eyes scared me. “How can you ask me that after these past few days? You really think I’m using you?”

  “At Landon’s that night when we were dancing, you said you were trying to avoid your family and. . . .”

  “Look, in Hank’s that first night,” he said, taking my hand, “you were a distraction—a beautiful, wannabe ‘bad girl’ distraction. I won’t lie about that. And I’d planned on finding that girl and distracting myself the whole week.”

  “Then Ellie was right?”

  His eyes turned black, his fists clenched. I was waiting for his head to explode. “I also said I wanted you to come home to Raleigh with me. That I wanted to see where this goes. That we’d see each other every weekend. Have you heard none of that?”

  *

  I know I was acting like a complete basket case, an emotional mess. It was pretty obvious. I looked over at Drew in his pickup truck. He was still so pissed off. He certainly didn’t like me questioning his motives, and I wasn’t used to him taking such an angry tone with me. But I knew he was right. I was focusing on one piece and not the whole puzzle. I wasn’t giving him credit for all the wonderful things he’d said to me.

  He pulled his truck up to the workshop of his grandmother’s house, slamming his door as he got out. I felt myself jump slightly as he huffed around the truck to get my door. I could feel that our fight wasn’t over. He was just as worked up as he’d been at the pizza parlor. The drive home hadn’t helped to calm him down one bit.

  We trudged through the snow towards the workshop. He stayed a couple steps ahead of me the whole time, which wasn’t like him. He always held my hand as I walked beside him or smacked my ass when I walked in front of him. I could feel the tension rolling off of him as I walked in his wake. This wasn’t going to be good. I knew his motives weren’t contrived and that he wasn’t using me, but I’d let Ellie get in my head again. And I’d let the potential baby scare me to death. He slid open the workshop door, waiting until I walked through then slammed it shut.

  “Drew, I’m really sor. . . .”

  His mouth landed on mine hard, his hands pinning me to the door. This was unexpected. “Hush,” he growled. “I don’t want to hear you’re sorry.”

  “But. . . .” His eyes lifted, shutting me up. He didn’t need to pin me to the wall with his hands. His eyes could hold me there.

  “Didn’t I make love to you yesterday morning?” he asked, his voice pained.

  “Yes,” I answered softly.

  “How can you think I’m using you?”

  “I don’t,” I whispered.

  “How about when I’ve fucked you hard?” he asked. “Am I using you then?”

  “No, I like it hard sometimes.”

  His blue eyes sparked. “Good, because I really don’t want to be gentle right now.”

  My mouth dropped. “You want to have sex with me, right now?”

  “Piper, I want to fuck you, screw you, bang you, nail you, make love to you every second of every day.”

  “But you’re so angry?”

  “Fighting with you makes me want to fuck you. I can’t help it.” I didn’t mean to laugh, but I did. “Besides, I’m not really angry.” He released my wrists and rested his head on my shoulder. “I’m more hurt.” I pulled him close and caressed his hair, hating that I’d hurt him.

  “I’m sorry,” I whispered.

  “You don’t need to apologize, just stop letting her mess with what we have.” He lifted his head and took a few steps back, shoving his hands in his pockets.

  I wish it was just her messing with my head, but I wasn’t ready to tell him that. “I will.”

  “Good,” he said, but his face still looked tense.

  “What is it?”

  “You know, I’m always making love to you, right?” he asked. I wasn’t sure how to respond to that, and I’m sure my face gave away my confusion. “Whether it’s hard, soft, fast, or slow? Whether I call it fucking, screwing, nailing, or banging? With you, it’s always making love,” Drew said.

  Oh, my God, bury me now. I could die a happy, happy woman. He was so sweet, such a charmer, and I believed every single syllable he uttered. “Wow.”

  He took both my cheeks in his hands. “Please tell me you know that?” I couldn’t speak. My emotions had stolen my voice. A few warm tears rolled down my face, and he wiped them away. “You know?”

  I nodded, trying to hold in my tears. His lips softly brushed against mine, and I gripped his hair with both my hands. “I need you to make love to me,” I whispered through my tears. “I don’t care how you do it—slow, hard, fast, or soft.”

  *

  “God, I love making love to you,” Drew breathed out on my neck, his arms around my waist from behind. I was thankful for the support, unsure if my legs were working. “Are you all right?”

  I giggled. He’d just bent me over a workbench and screwed me into next week. All right didn’t begin to describe what I was feeling. “We might need to fight more often, if that’s how makeup sex is going to be.”

  His hand slid to my neck, and he turned my face to him, kissing me gently. I turned my body around, meeting his kiss. “I want to show you something.” He bent down, grabbing my panties, and held them out for me to step into. I think he loved dressing me as much as he loved undressing me. He lifted them up my legs, giving my butt cheeks a hearty squeeze. We finished dressing, and he walked me over to the sheet covering his work.

  He slowly removed the sheet and placed my hand on top of the furniture piece. “A baby cradle. What do you think?”

  I ran my hand across it, but my other hand landed on my own belly. “It’s beautiful.”

  “I thought you’d need something to practice on.”

  “This is too beautiful to practice on,” I said, bending down to examine it closer. It rocked back and forth, and there were little rosettes carved into the legs. It was absolutely perfect. “For a girl, I guess.”

  “I guess so.”

  “How did you come up with this?” I asked, trying to control my heartbeat. This was all too much.

  “I just envisioned what I’d want my own child to have,” he said. “I want you to love it.”

  Thank God, he wasn’t looking at me, because my mouth was on the floor. “I do. It’s exactly what I’d want for my daughter.” His hand found mine, and it seemed like he knew. Not consciously, of course, but somewhere it seemed like he knew.

  “I’ll bring it over to your studio for you to pract
ice on,” he said. “Unless, of course, you come back to Raleigh with me.”

  Oh, boy, here we go again. Our moment was over. I couldn’t decide about Raleigh without knowing if I was pregnant. I had to talk to him. I couldn’t wait any longer. “I think we need to talk.”

  CHAPTER SIXTEEN

  DREW

  It’s never good when a woman says we need to talk, and I braced myself for the worst. She obviously didn’t want to come to Raleigh. Maybe this whole thing was just a holiday fling to her? Maybe I’ve been seeing something that wasn’t really there? I took her hand, feeling her shaking. This was worse than I thought. She was actually trembling. I didn’t want to lose her. I couldn’t lose her. I sat down and pulled her into my lap. “Talk to me.”

  “Um,” she lowered her head into her hands. “This is so hard.”

  “Just talk to me. Tell me what’s got you so upset.”

  She took a deep breath. “I’m not sure about Raleigh.”

  I felt my heart sinking. “Ok, why?” I watched her mouth trying to form the words, but nothing was coming out. She started to fiddle with the charms on the bracelet I gave her for Christmas, her eyes watering.

  “I don’t want you to be mad,” she said softly. “I didn’t mean for any of this to happen. I want you to know that first.”

  “We don’t have to do this, Piper. I get it.” I stood up, forcing her off my lap. I couldn’t believe I was getting dumped again at Christmas. McAdenville was a curse—a curse to my love life.

  “I don’t think you do, Drew.”

  “I’ve had my heart broken before.”

  “Drew,” she reached for my hand as the workshop door flew open.

  “Drew!” Rob blasted in, yelling. “You bastard!”

  My mother, father, and Nana all rushed in behind Rob, trying to hold him back. On instinct, I pushed Piper behind me. She might be gearing up to break my heart, but I still didn’t want her caught in the crossfire.

  Rob was in my face before I could even blink. “What the hell did you say to Ellie?”

  “Not a damn thing. She came up to us. She asked to talk to me.”

  His eyes turned to Piper. “What about you? Heard you had some things to say to my wife.”

  I stepped to the side, blocking Rob’s glare on Piper. “Consider this your warning. Don’t so much as look at Piper again.”

  “Boys, calm down.” Our dad stepped in between us. “Rob, let’s go into the house.”

  “Dad, what happened?” I asked, unsure why I cared.

  Rob pushed me hard in the chest, forcing me to bump into Piper slightly. “Ellie was so upset, she started vomiting all over the damn place again. She couldn’t even talk she was crying so hard.”

  “Ellie’s fine, though,” my mother said. “Right, Rob? She’s fine.”

  “For now,” Rob huffed. “What kind of man attacks a pregnant woman?”

  “Fuck you! I didn’t say a damn word to her.” I pushed back against him. “What kind of man bangs his brother’s girlfriend?”

  Piper stepped to my side, which felt odd considering she was in the process of dumping me. She placed a hand on my chest. “The babies?” she asked.

  “They’re all fine,” my mother said. “But Ellie will be on bed rest until she delivers. The doctor thinks that’s best.”

  “And somehow this is my fault?” I asked, glaring at Rob. “Because it’s never your fault, is it, Rob?” Rob and I stared at each other, both of us breathing heavily. We’d never actually gotten into a physical fight. We both stood there, waiting to see if the other would throw the first punch.

  “What happened with Ellie six years ago was my fault,” Rob said with a firmness to his voice. “Does that make you happy to hear? Feel better now?”

  Everyone was staring at me now. “No, it doesn’t make me feel better. There is nothing you could say to make anything better between us.”

  “I loved her,” Rob said. “I loved my baby brother’s girlfriend. Do you know how much that sucked? Ate me up?”

  “If you loved her, you wouldn’t have given her beer and taken advantage of her.”

  “Are you pissed because I had sex with her or because you never got the chance?” Rob asked.

  I laughed. “I had the chance many times, Rob. You got my leftovers. Ever think about that? Ever wonder if she’s thinking about me when she’s on her knees. . . .”

  “Drew!” my grandmother yelled, stopping me.

  Rob was so close to my face now. I could feel his warm breath. My dad was useless in trying to push us apart. “Don’t fucking talk about my wife like that,” Rob yelled. “You’ll respect her.”

  I couldn’t help the laugh that escaped. “Respect? That’s the thing, Rob. I did respect her.”

  He chuckled and looked over at Piper. “Given what happened on my bar the other night, I guess he doesn’t respect you, Piper.”

  My fist struck his nose, and I pushed him to the ground, pounding his face over and over again, feeling his bones crush under the weight of my blows. “I fucking warned you.” I was aware of my mom and Piper screaming as every bit of my anger poured out of my fists. I’d been able to hold in my anger about Ellie all these years, but how dare he bring Piper into this. My dad pulled me off Rob, who was now lying on the ground with his hands over his face. He didn’t get one lick on me. I sat on the floor, breathing heavily, and Piper kneeled down beside me. She went to put her arms around me but stopped. I shrugged her off and got to my feet, ready to throw more punches. My dad pushed me back again.

  “Let them finish, Carl,” Nana said. “They should’ve done this years ago.”

  Rob stumbled to his feet, wiping some blood from the gash over his eye. “Better be thankful you surprised me.”

  I stepped towards him again, but my dad stopped me. “Fuck you, Rob. You took everything from me—my girl, my future plans, even Mom and Dad, to some extent. You took everything!” I felt myself starting to shake. “My hometown. My brother.” I turned to my parents and Nana. “You see why I didn’t want to come back here? Why I can’t be here? There’s nothing here for me. Nothing!”

  I pushed Rob aside and headed for my old pickup truck, the one that carried me out of town six years ago and would do the same thing tonight.

  *

  PIPER

  Drew’s words ripped right through me. Nothing here for me. I’m nothing. I was nothing. I stared at the door he disappeared through, aware that everyone was staring at me despite Rob bleeding all over the place. I saw the tail lights of Drew’s truck speed down the driveway. Someone was saying my name, but I couldn’t focus on who it was. He left me, just like Ellie said he would. Just like my mother did.

  “Piper, he’s upset. He’ll calm down.” His grandmother’s hand was on my cheek, and I realized I was crying.

  “He just left,” I whispered.

  “Gwyneth, help me. Carl, get Rob cleaned up before Jack sees him like that,” his grandmother said, patting my back gently. “She looks like she could be sick.”

  Gwyneth wrapped her arms around me so tightly. “It’s all right, dear. He didn’t mean what he said. I know he loves you.”

  I broke down sobbing, causing Carl to come over as well. “Sit her down. She looks white as a ghost,” his father said then tossed a dirty rag at Rob. “Clean yourself up.”

  I looked up at Rob, his face a complete disaster—gashes above both eyes, his lip cut, his nose bleeding. But he wasn’t looking at me at all, his eyes focused on a handcrafted piece of wood. “Is that a baby cradle?” Rob asked, wiping some blood off his face. Everyone stopped fussing over me and turned to the furniture piece. “Please tell me he wasn’t making that for us?” Rob asked, swallowing hard.

  I hesitated before I opened my mouth. Part of me wanted to let him think that. Maybe then he’d feel bad for what he’d done. I wanted him to hurt as bad as I did, and something told me that the beating he took wasn’t even close to the pain I was feeling right now. “It’s not for you,” I whispered.
r />   “Then why was Drew making a cradle?” his mother asked.

  Everyone was staring at me again. “For heaven’s sake, not again,” his grandmother cried. “Carl and Gwyneth, did you not teach these boys about condoms?”

  The last thing I needed was for his family to think I was pregnant. I didn’t need that, and I didn’t need Drew coming back for that reason. “No,” I said, trying to sound confident. “Drew’s thinking of a children’s line. He wanted me to do some custom painting with him, that’s all.” I held my breath, hoping they bought it. It was the truth, and my voice hadn’t betrayed me too much. They all seemed to breathe a collective sigh of relief. I needed to get out of here before I broke down again. Walking over to the cradle, I struggled to lift it. I knew it was crazy to want it—to want any reminders of him, but I did. If I was pregnant, I wanted our baby to have this—to sleep in something his or her father made with his bare hands. I wiped some tears off my cheeks and tried again to lift it.

  “Let me,” Carl said, picking it up for me. “I’ll load it in your car.” I tried to thank him but couldn’t get any words out. I followed him towards the door.

  “Piper?” Rob touched my arm as I passed him. “I’m sorry. I provoked him. I knew you were his weak spot, and I took advantage of that.”

  “Maybe it’s time you stop taking advantage of your brother’s weak spots.” I glared at him. He looked down at his feet, and I continued out of the workshop.

  Carl loaded the cradle into the back of my car. I managed a “Thank you,” but couldn’t get any other words out. Checking my phone, I found that Drew hadn’t called. Why would he? I got into the front seat and started to drive with no idea where I was going. The sunlight reflected off the charm bracelet Drew gave me. I hadn’t taken it off since he put it on my wrist. Unhooking it, I rolled down my window and threw it as hard as I could.

  CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

  DREW

  I was driving way too fast, but I didn’t care. I didn’t want to think about how wrong things had gone. I wasn’t going to stop until I got back to Raleigh. Turning on the radio as I rolled down the window, I tried to drown out the noise in my head—nothing ahead of me but the open highway. I looked over at my cell phone on the passenger seat, which was buzzing every couple of minutes. I fought back tears, telling myself not to turn around. There was nothing for me back there.