“Ga-bri-el,” I repeated for my own ears. He was out cold.
I couldn’t call Meggie and I didn’t know where Caleb disappeared to, so I decided to take a quick shower before Gabe woke up. I unwound my ankle bandage and started the shower, but before I got in, I turned the lock.
I heard a commotion through the hollow door as I dried off. I wrapped myself in a faded SpongeBob towel and tied my hair back in a band. I cursed myself a second time for not grabbing a bathrobe.
Somebody knocked. The knob turned. I crossed my fingers that it was only Josh and that Gabe was still asleep.
“Avery, that you?” Caleb called through the door.
I rolled my eyes. Who else would it be? Couldn’t he let me finish?
“Yeah, gimme a minute. I’m not dressed,” I said without thinking.
Oh brother. I forgot who I was talking to.
I heard his wisecrack and rolled my eyes in another big circle. I checked myself in the full-length mirror to see if I was properly covered and opened the door.
I whispered, “Is it just you?”
Was I really going to step out in a towel again? My mother would have had a stroke. But then again, how was it any different than swimming at the Y?
Caleb slunk back into the shadow. Someone turned the lamp off. “Just me and dopey. What’s going on here?” he asked. His amused voice raised an octave.
I wanted to beam myself up two floors to my bedroom and avoid the inevitable innuendos. “Excuse me? What in the world is going on with you two?”
I hobbled out of the muggy bathroom. The cool air smacked me good.
He ran his gaze over me.
“Should I call you McDreamy or McSteamy?” I asked.
He grinned and replied, “And who lives in a pineapple under the sea? You taking advantage of my skunked baby brother?”
I twisted the ACE bandage around my wrist. “Caleb, what happened after you left the hospital?” I shot a tight gaze past his shoulder. Gabe hadn’t moved. “Why did you guys get in a fight?”
Caleb drew back and took a seat on the edge of the velour sofa. He crossed his legs at his ankles and tipped his chin so I couldn’t see his face.
“When I got to Gabe with the gasoline, I cussed him out for what happened to you. He took off like a bat outta hell, and I chased him all the way to one of the rigs we got set up on the 85. I saw the LOC trucks. Some of Hunt’s hoods were there fooling around. Gabe got out of the truck like he was brandishing a fistful of dynamite. He confronted the slugs and then it all got started. I tried to hold him off, but those dudes are bigger and meaner than us skinny Haldens. One of the guys took an iron pipe to Gabe’s taillights and mutilated the bumper. I took it to Lane’s to hide until he can get it fixed.”
Gabe stirred on the pool table. I wondered if he was listening.
“He was defending you, legs,” Caleb whispered.
I smelled something on his breath too. Did he down one of those little bottles? “Who are you hiding the truck from?”
“Your aunt,” he said.
The whole situation struck me as ironic. He sewed up Gabe’s bloody side on Meggie’s pool table, but he had the need to hide a dinged up truck?
“I’m lost.” I bit the inside of my lip and crossed my arms over the front of the towel. The longer I stood half-dressed, the less awkward I felt with Caleb’s eyes all over me.
“You can’t say anything. She’ll tell our dad. It’ll hit the fan. She can’t know about the truck or the bruises. Okay?”
“What about the family practice you started here?”
Caleb got slowly to his feet and leaned toward me. “You are a funny one, Avery. I’m betting that smart wit’s what got your forehead all marked up.”
I grunted. He moved away.
“He wouldn’t go to the hospital. I found the little whiskey bottles and got the dumbass plastered so I could sew his cut. Thirteen big ones. He cried like a baby.” Caleb’s arm floated to my bare shoulder. He tapped me with a forceful finger. “Sit down. I’ll wrap your foot.”
For some reason, I wanted to obey. I settled on the sofa and he got to work wrapping my ankle in the near dark.
I wasn’t convinced I’d heard the whole story.
“So Meggie knows your parents?” I craned my neck to get a look at his face. He was still avoiding me. Before he could answer, I prodded, “Caleb? What are you hiding?”
He cleared his throat. “Nothing. Shh.”
My shoulders stiffened.
“Don’t shush me.” I hated when people did that. “Lemme see your face.”
He didn’t make a move, so I grabbed at his chin.
“Hey there.” He pushed away my fingers. “You just met me.”
This Halden was so full of himself. I clutched the side of his neck and held him still. His chiseled jaw locked. His intense stare burned at me.
“You got hurt too,” I said softly. “C’mon. Lemme look.”
“Lane gave me a looking at. I got a split lip is all. And a bump on my forehead. It’s nothing compared to Gabe getting stabbed.”
My breath shot out.
“Gabe got stabbed? In his stomach? That’s what that is? Holy cow!” I shouted at full volume.
Gabe moaned from across the room. He only mentioned he had a cut. If my parents knew they sent me to the land of The Outsiders, I would be back in New York by midnight. The last thing I wanted to do was go home.
“It’s just superficial. The knife didn’t go in far,” Caleb said coolly.
The knife didn’t go in far? “Oh god.” I needed a minute to process.
“Whatcha cussin’ for, Av’ry?” Gabe slurred.
“He’s calling for you. Go.” Caleb shooed me off. “Make the kid some coffee, would ya?”
I wasn’t going to get any more out of Caleb. What Hunt’s guys did was despicable. Gabe was a kid for crying out loud. Caleb really wasn’t much older. But my aunt didn’t need any undue stress with a baby on the way. She’d probably kick them both out. I couldn’t stomach the rest of the summer if Gabe left.
“Hey,” I said to the patient. He had his hand in one of the corner pockets.
My ankle smarted from the short haul across the rug.
“You’re awake?”
Gabe tried to grin, but his features fell flat. “Yup. Where’s my book?” He was rubbing his good eye with his free hand.
I adjusted my towel before it slid off. “I don’t think you can read in the dark. Or with one eye. Do you want to get on the couch? This isn’t exactly soft.” I tapped my knuckles on the felt-covered slate.
“Okay. Help me,” he said. “Ow.” He flattened his palm against the side of his face. The cords on his neck pushed out angrily. “Hurts like a son of a gun.”
Caleb approached. I felt his presence when he brushed up against my hip, giving me a chill, an awkward chill.
Could he not see me?
“Move over. I’ll get him down. That was worse than puttin’ a sock on a rooster. I don’t wanna have to stitch him again. He’s tougher to fight than he looks,” he said over my shoulder. His warm breath tickled my skin. He did it on purpose.
I flicked on the light.
“Turn the damn light off,” Gabe barked.
I had to laugh. He was a real pill under the influence. I turned it off and focused my gaze on Gabe’s tall shadow as Caleb swung his brother’s legs off the table and pushed a shoulder under his arm. They were equally tall boys with almost identical builds in the dark.
“Bend,” ordered Caleb. “You ain’t knee-walking drunk yet.”
Gabe fell into the sofa. We all heaved a sigh of relief as he tossed his head back against the cushion.
“Gonna flash me again,” he said half awake. “I’ll open my eyes. Warn me.”
His southern drawl made me quiver.
Caleb chuckled. “What’s he talking about?” He turned an inquisitive eye on me.
“He’s drunk. End of story.”
It was a subject worth letti
ng go. Only Caleb didn’t.
“Bro, what do you mean?” he prodded his injured brother. “She flashed you?”
He snorted as Gabe leaned sideways and fell over like a doll.
Gabe lifted his legs one by one and piled them on a pillow. He was as long as the sofa. I tipped my gaze to the bright white bandage as his shirt fell all the way open.
Making a last ditch effort to derail the questioning, I asked with genuine concern, “What if he gets infected or has internal bleeding or something?”
“I was born at night, Avery, but not last night,” Caleb gibed. “I think I took care of it. I stitched a guy up on site a few weeks ago and he was worse off.”
Gabe lifted his head. “C’mon, whatcha hiding?” He opened his eyes and pointed to my towel. Then he tugged on the towel. He was a totally different person than the moody boy I’d spent the day with. The same boy who wasn’t interested in a girlfriend or flirting.
I rolled my eyes like a bad habit. I felt my cue to excuse myself and get dressed. I hoped Gabe wouldn’t remember anything.
I limped up the carpeted stairs and tried my hardest not to let the towel slide off. Before I was halfway up, Caleb was tailing me. I stopped to give him a piece of my mind or a swinging elbow, but he folded me in his arms and lunged into the kitchen before I could locate my voice.
“Hey!” I protested, all flustered.
He set me on a chair. Anger flared in my belly. “I don’t need you doing that anymore. Okay?”
I lowered my gaze and caught sight of him sliding his back down the doorframe. He settled on the floor and stared up with vacant eyes. His expression was wounded, tired. The split lip and the welt on the side of his head were more prominent than I thought, but he was still as attractive as before. I cursed my thoughts, wished them away.
I wasn’t interested in Caleb.
“Okay,” he agreed. “How about you make some coffee and get dressed. I’m having a mighty hard time here with you not being decent and all.”
I almost choked. Weren’t we in my house? Did he ever let up? He had a girlfriend. Did I need to remind him?
I didn’t respond. Instead, I filled the tea kettle and turned on the stove. The house was noiseless. I pulled out three mugs from Meggie’s mismatched selection and set them on the tablecloth, all the while averting my gaze from Caleb. I limped from one end of the kitchen to the next, opening cupboards, closing cupboards.
“I don’t know how to make coffee. I think Meggie has instant somewhere. It’s in a jar, right?”
I wanted to get upstairs and change before the water boiled.
Caleb surged to his feet, reaching ten feet over my head to search through the open boxes of tea and cocoa. He inhaled against my wet hair and then leaned into my shoulder. The hairs on my neck stood straight up. I pushed against the counter and turned in place.
He didn’t pull back. His throat dipped when he swallowed. His hands slid up my arms and landed on my shoulders, causing me to tremble.
“What are you doing?”
I was silenced.
Caleb’s bloodstained lips pressed forcefully into mine. He caught my words as I spoke them. His fingers crept up to my neck and held my jaw in place.
His kiss paralyzed me, stilled me.
He deepened the kiss and all of my muscles crumbled to dust. Nobody had ever managed to do that to me. He massaged behind my ears and fire burned through my cheeks. His lips continued assaulting me, fighting for more.
My knees shook, my brain shut down.
I let it.
Then the warning light flickered angrily inside. The flame lit up and stung me. I became aware of my surroundings and my will. I kicked his bare shin with all of my might. He released my head, but didn’t step back. I gasped and hammered his toes with the same good foot. When he finally retreated, pain registered on his face in spite of his amusement.
“What was that for?” he asked melodramatically.
“You’ve got a lot of nerve, Caleb!” I pushed my hands into his chest, hard. My breathing was shallow, my lips sore and tender and tingly. “You can’t just do that. You’ve got no right.”
I crossed my arms over my chest, conscious of how underdressed I was. My eyes searched his face again. I expected smugness.
His expression was void. “What did I do that was so bad?”
Was he serious? What about Molly Taylor? And what about Gabe? What about Gabe? Was there anything there? I so wanted there to be.
“I see you looking at me. The first time I saw you at the bonfire. You know there was something between us. And now you’re walking around me like this.” He motioned to my towel.
He was right. I was always looking at him. But only because he looked so much like Gabe.
“You have a girlfriend. God, Caleb,” I scolded. My shaky hand skated over the back of a chair and I hitched myself over to the table.
“We’re not serious, Molly and me. I mean, we just mess around,” he said. “A kiss is nothing.”
I wanted to throw up and I wasn’t sure why. His kiss was something all right. It nearly brought me to my knees.
“Don’t ever touch me again,” I said under my breath. I was utterly confused and ashamed, and only ninety-nine point nine percent sure that was truly what I wanted.
The kettle began to whistle. Caleb turned toward the stove. I stole out of my chair and hobbled away as fast as I could manage. I disappeared behind the wall and readjusted my towel. Then I took each step as quietly as I could and managed not to unravel until I concealed myself behind my bedroom door. I pulled myself together long enough to get dressed and comb out my knotted hair. Then I collapsed face-first on the bed.
I didn’t know why I was so frustrated. Nothing bad had happened, exactly. I had never been disturbed by a kiss. And I had never shed a single tear over a boy for that matter.
I waited for the answers to emerge and replace my angst. My life had been turned upside down and inside out in less time than it took to travel to this dysfunctional place. I allowed my thoughts to wander to Meggie and the baby and the hospital. She had warned me that things weren’t as they seemed.
But how did she know?
I thought about the cougar and the red pickup truck and the man with the diamond watch. Then Gabriel Halden’s face invaded my mind. I tried to crush the image of Caleb stitching Gabe’s silky skin. Gabe was almost killed. I wanted to spit. I wanted to hurt Caleb for going behind his back and touching me first. Hadn’t he aired his disgust about Jordan Halverson going after Eli? How could he do the same thing to his own brother?
I needed to erase the last ten minutes. Yet the intense feeling, the prevailing sensation, the exhilaration of being wanted, wouldn’t leave me. Caleb was messing with me in every way possible. His audacity was endless. He knew exactly what he was doing.
I needed to sleep.
* * *
A light rap on my door woke me sometime later.
“Avery? It’s me.” Josh’s voice was welcome. “Open up.”
I rolled onto my back to see the clock turned toward the wall. I had no idea how long I’d slept.
“Hi.” I ran my fingers through my hair. “How’s your mother? She okay?”
Josh sat on the edge of the bed. “Yeah. She’s fine. What happened to you? You been crying?”
“Homesick,” I lied. “Girl stuff.”
I slipped in beside him. He gave a worried look and raised an eyebrow. “I don’t know about girl stuff. I only hang out with guys. What’s gonna happen if I get a sister? I’m gonna be no good for her.” He dropped his head into his hands.
I slapped a palm on his shoulder. “You’ll be an awesome brother. I thought the same thing about Brianna. When she came, it all clicked. Really. You know they don’t talk or move or do anything for like months.”
He seemed satisfied with my answer and got up to leave. “Did you know Gabe’s passed out cold in the basement? He’s got a terrific shiner and he drank all the little bottles I had stashed down
there. What’s with that?”
I swallowed hard. “I don’t know. Is he alone?”
“Yep. You think you could do me something?” he asked, standing tall. “If I go out and maybe stay at Max’s or something, can you not tell my mom?”
My eyes lightened and I offered a sleepy grin. “Yeah. Go on. I won’t tell her if you don’t say anything about Gabe, or him being in the house, okay?”
“Thanks, Avery. It’s cool you’re here. We can help each other get away with stuff.”
I hopped down the stairs into the dark hallway after I watched Josh drive away in Meggie’s pickup. A bunch of guys were hanging out in the front yard making racket, lighting firecrackers. I scanned the line of trucks outside the front window. Caleb’s was still there. I turned my attention to the kitchen and hopped a few more steps before peering in to see if it was empty.
My lungs stopped working when Caleb hooked his arm through mine and frightened me. I knew it was him. Gabe would have smelled like a truck stop.
I glared at his face silhouetted in the doorway. If it wasn’t for my ankle, I would have tried to escape. I was afraid of the tug in my belly, my nervy mood.
“Can we talk a minute? Can I say something?”
I granted him a minute and sat on a stool near the dinner table.
“What?” I avoided eye contact. I feared what he would do to me. I was leery of what I would see if our eyes met.
He slouched down. “I’m sorry. I know you like Gabe. I do stupid stuff. I get all mad about things and then I do stupid stuff. Forgive me, legs?”
Out of the corner of my eye, I saw his lashes fluttering. How did he know I liked Gabe? I hadn’t even admitted it to myself.
His thumb grazed the top of my knee and I pulled back. His fleeting touch made that mood rush back. The mood I had just spent the last hour trying to obliterate.
He lifted my chin with his long fingers. “I promise to never say a word. Okay?”
I jerked my head to the side. Why did he have to keep touching me?
“C’mon. Say something.” The southern twang seemed deliberately strong. His head tilted toward mine. He was hard to stay mad at. But I didn’t believe him.
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