Betraying Innocence

by Phoenix, Airicka

  The guy — Rafe — he was another story. He was making no effort at all to cover the miles of golden flesh bare to the night. The button and fly of his jeans were undone, parted dangerously into shadows — no boxer band, Ana noted with a mild sort of hysterical amusement. She had this weird image of him doing up the zipper and catching himself in the process. Mean, but satisfying considering he nearly suffocated her. She was also wondering if that was all it took for a quick roll in the tall grasses. It certainly explained why the girl was wearing a skirt. Easy access. Yet it annoyed her. Why weren’t they doing the horizontal tango in a bed? Weren’t they afraid of inviting ants to the picnic? She shuddered at the thought of all the creepy crawlies making their way into the girl’s dark cave.

  A hand appeared in front of her face. Long fingers snapped inches from her nose. Ana started at the unwarranted intrusion.

  “What?” she snapped, following the hand up the arm to the amused eyes watching her.

  “Would you like me to drop them?”

  It took her a moment to decipher his meaning, which was emphasized by the thumbs he hooked into the waistband of his jeans. The realization smacked her so hard she didn’t know what to say for a moment as the stiff material was slowly drawn downward.

  “No! Stop!” she cried a little too quickly. “What … Why … I wasn’t … I didn’t see…”

  Shut up, Ana! her brain pleaded, already packing up to dessert her in her moment of utter humiliation.

  The hottest sounding chuckle she’d ever heard in her life spilled from the full, firm curves of his mouth. Fingers that belonged on an artist lifted and forked through waves of absolute ebony. Thick strands tumbled over eyes the gold of melted honey. They watched her with an intensity that made her stomach muscles flutter. He lowered his hand and rubbed the shadows darkening his jaw. Ana could hear the faint scratchy sound the bristles made under his palm. He placed his thumb on his bottom lip and grinned around it at her.

  God if it didn’t do strange and unacceptable things to her.

  “Easy, tigress,” he drawled in a tone dripping with dark, manly sexiness. “All that blushing can’t be good for circulation, or my self-control.”

  “Get off my property!” she blurted, furious with herself for having nothing wittier to throw back at him. “You shouldn’t be here, doing … that with her!” The second it was out, she wanted to suck it back in and then claw herself a hole to China.

  Her companion’s leer stretched into an incredibly smug expression. His teeth weren’t even, she noted stupidly. It was a strange sort of relief that something about him was flawed, because his face wasn’t and his body really wasn’t. His incisors were pushed out a little further than the others, overlapping the teeth between his incisors and his front teeth. It should have been weird, but it only managed to somehow up his sex factor. God was there nothing wrong with this guy?

  “Are you suggesting I should be doing that with you?”

  “I did not say that!” She gasped, horrified. Her gaze darted to the bored girl over his shoulder, hoping she wasn’t the type prone to fits of jealous rage at the thought of another girl homing in on her territory. Ana was pretty sure she would lose. She turned her attention back to the boy. “Okay, listen, you need to just get dressed and then go. Preferably in that order.”

  Rather than agree or make a move to do as she asked, his head cocked to the side and he squinted at her. “Are you usually this skittish or is it just me?”

  Heat prickled up the length of her neck and flooded her face. “I am not skittish! And if it seems like I am it’s because I have naked weirdoes lurking behind my bushes doing … doing what you were doing where you shouldn’t be doing it!” Her gaze lingered over his exposed torso, the depths of his shadowy eyes, the way his dark hair tumbled, long and bedraggled over his brow. Nope, the guy was definitely not hard to look at.

  He took a step back from her, hands up in front of him. Although there was no grin on his face, the gesture was complacent and mocking. A silver studded belt glinted in his grasp and she wondered if that was the silver thing she’d mistaken for a knife earlier, because this guy didn’t need a weapon to get what he wanted. He was dangerous enough without one.

  “There’s no need to get hysterical, sweetheart.”

  No… need… to… get … hysterical?

  Ana followed his retreating step before she could stop herself, stopping short of trampling on his feet. She knocked her head back to glower up into his shadowed face and stabbed him in the chest with her index finger. The jab may have hurt her more than it hurt him, but it felt good and satisfying.

  “You’re creeping around my backyard, scaring the hell out of me, manhandling me and you’re telling me not to get hysterical?”

  “Ow! Ease up!” Jerk actually chuckled! “I bruise easily.” He laughed harder when she bared her teeth. “Chill. We’re going.”

  Wary at his easy compliance, Ana watched him as he stalked back to the clump of bushes. He swooped down at the waist and snatched something up off the ground. Ana guessed it was his shirt, because he tossed it carelessly over his shoulder and walked casually to his date. The blonde perked up now that she had his undivided attention once more. She snuggled like a lost puppy into his side when he slung an arm around her shoulders.

  “Oh, and for the record, tigress.” He turned his head back and smirked at her. “You’ll know when I manhandle you. Very few girls ever complain.” Then he was stepping over the fallen fence and moving towards the house on the other side.

  “My name isn’t tigress!” Ana flung at his retreating back in a pathetic attempt at having the last word. But he managed to win even that as his low, husky chuckle filled the air.

  By the time Ana trudged back to her room, crawled under the covers and urged herself to sleep, she’d already forgotten all about the mysterious figure by the pond. She couldn’t even remember why she’d been out there in the first place. The only thoughts dancing in her dreams were those of her new neighbor.

  “We have rats,” Ana said the next morning. “I heard them in the walls last night.”

  Mom and Dad were both sitting at the cluttered island, talking in low murmurs when Ana stumbled her way into the kitchen. Dad had one hand curled around a coffee mug, the other rested lightly on Mom’s. Both glanced up when she entered the room.

  “Rats?” her mother asked, horrified.

  “Are you sure?” Dad said. “These old houses just make noises sometimes.”

  “They were scurrying behind the walls.” Ana said, shuffling to the fridge before realizing there was nothing inside. She turned to her parents. “Is there anything to eat?” she asked, her stomach affirming her whine by grumbling loudly.

  Dad ruffled a hand through his thick, wavy cap of chocolate brown hair. “Well … no, but!” He rose out of his stool, stalked to the corner and nudged aside a stack of boxes concealing the counter behind them. He returned to the island with a can of chunky soup. He set it down with a flourish, looking triumphant as if he had gone out at the crack of dawn to hunt for that can in the middle of the Amazon forest. “Ta-da!”

  Ana stared at the offering. Then, she stared at her parents. “Seriously?”

  Still beaming, but not so brightly, Dad looked at her questioningly. “Why not? It’s healthy.”

  “It’s also in a can,” Ana said, picking up the can and shaking it. The contents inside sloshed against the metal sides. “Unless you know where the can opener is, a pot, a spoon and a bowl … this is kind of pointless.”

  Dad dropped back into his stool, mouth drawn down in a sulk. “It’s all here somewhere.”

  Ana rolled her eyes, putting the can down. “How is it you guys found all the stuff you need for coffee, but you couldn’t find a can opener?”

  Mom sighed, checking the silver watch around her wrist. “I have two hours before my flight leaves. I’ll take you into town and you can grab something really quick.”

  “Actually.” Dad dug into the pocket of
his jeans and returned with the keys to his truck. “There’s no point in us both taking our cars and paying for overnight parking,” he said to her mother. “You can drive me to the ferry and Ana can pick me up tomorrow morning.” He turned to Ana. “Think you can remember that?”

  “Yes! Oh my God, yes!” Ana squealed, doing a little hop on the spot. Getting the truck, or even her mom’s Mercedes Benz, was a big deal, especially since she was trying so desperately to earn points for a car of her own for her eighteenth birthday. “I will be there at the crack of dawn!”

  “And you will take good care of her?” Her father reached out with the keys in hand.

  “Yes! Yes! I swear! She’ll be better than new!” She lunged for the keys.

  Her dad yanked them back at the last second. “And you will drive responsibly? Obey the rules of the road and fill up the tank when you’re finished?”

  Putting one hand up and the other on her heart, Ana nodded vigorously. “I swear on my life!”

  Dad chuckled, tossing her the keys. “I’ll hold you to that.”

  With another little squeal, she snatched them out of midair and clutched them to her chest. “Thank you!”

  Mom checked her watch again. “All right, all right, we need to leave now if I’m to drive you to the ferry first.”

  The breakfast party promptly ended with kisses and hugs shared all around. There were routine instructions given —lock the doors; check the windows before bed; let no one in; talk to no one; don’t wreck the truck. Things she already knew, but listened half-mindedly, because the sooner they left, the sooner she could get behind the wheel. Her mom stuffed a twenty-dollar bill into her hand before walking out the front door. Dad waited until her mom was out of eye and ear shot before passing her another forty.

  “See if you can’t find a good Chinese place that delivers around here.” He gave her a wink and followed her mom out the door.

  Ana watched her parents climb into the Mercedes and bump out of the driveway, taillights fading away in a cloud of billowing dust.

  Eager to begin a whole day of absolute freedom, Ana ran back inside the moment they were out of sight and slammed the door behind her. She bolted upstairs for a quick shower and a change of clothes. She took her time selecting a pair of white shorts and a mint-green top that matched her eyes. She brushed out her hair and applied a small coat of make up before bounding downstairs.

  She got all the way to the truck before remembering she hadn’t checked the coffee machine. She ran back inside, turned the machine off, locked and double-checked the back door, locked the front door, checked it, then bolted into the driver’s seat.

  The leather was warm beneath her bare thighs. The wheel felt both familiar and unfamiliar under her grasp. When she turned the key in the ignition, it roared with power. She was grinning by the time she eased onto the road.

  There were only six houses on her block in a neat rectangle. They were the only houses away from town, surrounded by towering trees and untamed forest. Closer toward town, the trees became more distant, more evenly spaced. The gravel melted into smooth asphalt and grassy hills. The saltbox houses became quaint little townhomes and colonial houses. But before she could get there, she had to take care not to hit any moose, deer, or the speeding black Firebird that zipped right through a stop sign.

  “Son of a…!” Ana slammed down on the brakes. “Maniac!” she screamed through her open window. She had half a mind to chase the asshat down and maybe run him over a few times, just to teach him a lesson. Instead she took a deep, calming breath, regained her composure and reminded herself that she was a mature adult now and some jerkwad wasn’t worth the risk of putting a dent in her father’s truck. Simultaneously, she pondered if that rule applied to blood smears on the tires. But as tempting as the thought was, she eased back to her calm place.

  In town she parked in front of the only grocery store, slash pharmacy, slash post office and law office, and killed the engine. She climbed out and actually meant the smile she offered those passing by. Suddenly the cheery faces weren’t as creepy as they had been the day before, because it was a beautiful day, the town looked like something out of a TV show and she had twenty-four hours to play pretend. There was a skip in her step as she strolled into the shop. She grabbed a little yellow basket from the stack next to the door, slung the plastic straps over the crook of her arm and began her stroll through the aisles.

  Along the way she picked up a loaf of bread, some lettuce and cheese. She headed towards the back to the deli. Passing by the makeshift law office, she paused at the raised voices that seemed to fracture the peace blanketing the rest of the store.

  Two men stood on either side of a metal desk, heads close as they argued over a mountain of papers. Both looked to be about the same age—late forties, early fifties—but one, the lawyer, Ana assumed, was neatly groomed, dark hair slicked back, face freshly shaven. The other was rumpled with a full decade’s worth of beard darkening his haggard face and gray streaking through his greasy, dark mane. In one hand, a half-empty bottle of whiskey sloshed with every unsteady sway, spilling amber liquid across the laminate. The untidy one seemed to be saying something that had the lawyer turning a pasty white, edged with gray, like he was about to puke. The other man’s reaction must have been what his companion was hoping for, because he kept jabbing a finger at the man and talking in a gruff voice scratched with time and alcohol abuse.

  “I’ma gonna do it, Peter!” he was saying, hitting the desktop with every angry blow of his bottle. Ana was surprised the bottle didn’t shatter.

  “Take it easy, Randy,” the lawyer said, hands up pleadingly. “We can talk about this!”

  Crack! The bottle hit the table with a force that made Ana’s eyeballs rattle. “I don’ wanna talk about it no more! Thirty years this Halloween—”

  The lawyer took that moment to look up and catch Ana watching. His eyes widened. He straightened up quickly, smoothing his hands down the front of his suit. He offered Ana what he probably thought was a charming smile, but only looked forced and sickly in her opinion.

  “Can I help you?” he said.

  Ana shook her head. “No, thanks.”

  Neither man stopped her when she hurried away, basket bumping into her thigh. She glanced back only once as she rounded an aisle, just to see if they were still watching. They were. A chill shot down her spine and she quickened her pace, only to slam headfirst into another moving figure. Her basket toppled out of her grasp, hitting the top of her feet and spilling its contents across the ground. Firm, warm hands grabbed her upper arms, steadying her and keeping her from following the basket to the floor.

  “Easy there.”

  Oddly breathless, Ana untangled herself from the hold. Her gaze shot over her shoulder at the two standing by the desk, still watching.

  “Hey.” A hand grabbed her elbow and shook her, jolting her back into reality and the person in front of her, the basket at her feet and the people rushing around her, trying to get by.

  “Oh!” She swooped down to gather her things. “I’m sorry. I wasn’t…” she trailed off as her companion knelt down with her, turning her basket over. “You!”

  Rafe gave her his most devastating grin. His tawny eyes danced, a multitude of different hues of brown twinkling beneath the florescent light. He raised a hand and swished back the rich, dark fringes off his brow. They fluttered back into place the moment his hand fell away. Ana balled her fists to keep from brushing them aside herself.

  “What are you doing here?” she snapped instead.

  “Well, hello to you, too,” he returned smoothly. “Fancy running into you here … at a grocery store.”

  Ana ignored the jab, pinching her lips against the fiery retort burning on her tongue.

  But he didn’t seem to mind that she was shooting fiery daggers at him with her eyes, continuing on easily. “I was kind of hoping to see you again. I’ve thought of nothing else since our … talk last night.” How did he make talk sound so dirt
y?

  Ana snatched the packet of cheese from his helping hands. “Didn’t I tell you to leave me alone?”

  He ran a pink tongue over his teeth, very poorly concealing his enjoyment at her discomfort. “You know, I don’t quite recall that. I do however recall how shamelessly you were asking me to drop my pants.”

  Ana gasped, but not nearly as loudly or as outragedly as the two biddies squeezing by with their little baskets full of bananas and prune juice. Ana was horrified speechless. She couldn’t even find the sense to shut her mouth, which was hanging somewhere down to the ground as they eyed her with clear disapproval.

  “I can’t believe you just did that!” She whipped her head around to gape at him. “What is wrong with you?”

  He scrunched up his face and scratched his chin thoughtfully. “Wasn’t that you? I could have sworn it was.”

  “No!” she hissed, pitching the loaf of bread into her basket with a little more force than was necessary. “That was not me! That was probably your … your friend. Now everyone in town is going to think I tried to … to get into your pants!”

  “Two old busybodies do not a town make,” he recited. “Besides, I saw the look in your eyes last night. You were secretly hoping they would drop.”

  She stared at him. “There is something wrong with you.”

  He shrugged. “You’ve got no one to blame but yourself. You compromised my virtue, ogling me so seductively in my most vulnerable state.”

  Ana snorted, dumping the lettuce back into her basket and climbing to her feet. “I think you managed to do that just fine before I came along, and I wasn’t ogling. You shouldn’t have been naked in my backyard in the middle of the night.”

  His smirk was frightening, sinful and dangerous. It was the leer of a wolf when he knows he’s got his next meal cornered. Slowly, a beautiful work of art unfolding, he rose until he loomed over her, a dark figure radiating seduction. He towered over her, a solid six feet that forced her head back. His golden eyes, dark with something that zapped all the moisture from her mouth, bore into hers hungrily.