We even talked a bit about salary and he said I could come by the school tomorrow to see my potential classroom. The secretary was in the office and could show me around.
“That would be great,” I told him.
“Listen.” He leaned in closer to me. “Obviously, we have to work out final details on an offer, but you’ll be getting one to fill our science vacancy. We don’t woo a lot of teachers to come here. They see these kids as lost causes. Getting new blood like you and Laney is going to be huge for our district. The kids are good. We don’t have much problem in the way of violence. They just need to the right people to inspire them. I’m trying to get rid of the ones who don’t and bring in some who will.”
“I’d love to be one of those people,” I told him.
We shook hands again and I left that coffee shop with a vision of what my future would look like for the first time all summer.
Chapter Twenty-Four
Two days later, I received an official offer in my email, which I accepted without hesitation. I’d gone in to tour the school with Laney and everything was falling into place. Porter was still staying with me at Laney’s, but I knew that was about to come to an end. He was going back to work. He wanted to be back in his own home. Sure, I might’ve stayed with him most nights when he did and he’d stay here sometimes, but once in a while, we’d also be on our own.
Two weeks after Porter’s accident, the four of us were in Laney’s backyard, with a fire in the pit, burgers on the grill, and laughter in the air when we heard a female voice call out from the front porch. That voice could’ve carried to Egypt. I’d heard it all my life, but this time it came through the house.
“Why is she here?” Laney asked with her eyes wide, clearly just as surprised as I was.
“No idea.” I headed up the back steps with Laney right behind me. When I went through the door, I heard two more sets of footfalls, so I guessed the guys were coming with me. Then I saw my mom with my dad on the other side of the front screen door.
My eyebrows pulled together. “What are you guys doing here?” I asked.
“We came to see you,” my dad answered for them both.
Without any other choice, I unlatched the lock and let them inside. Never in my wildest dreams did I think they’d ever come to East Branch.
“You remember Laney, Zac, and Porter.” I pointed each of them out because while they knew Laney, they’d never remember which was which when it came to the guys.
“It’s nice to see you all again,” my mother said.
Lies, I screamed in my head. But I held it in because why wouldn’t I?
“I got a job,” I blurted out to them in case that was why they were here. I’d told Tegan right away and figured he might have told them. But he might have waited for me to tell them.
“Where?” Dad asked.
“East Branch High School.” They both flinched as if I’d slapped them in the face. Hey, it was teaching. They didn’t get to be choosy about where I taught.
“That’s a start,” Mom said, as if it physically caused her pain not to say what she was really thinking.
“Thanks. So why are you here?” I asked again.
“We wanted to know why you ran out on your own birthday party without saying a word,” Mom finally answered.
“You could’ve called.”
Her jaw tensed and her lips pursed. “You don’t answer my calls. And Tegan said if I wanted to know I’d have to ask you.”
Right. I definitely didn’t if I could help it. But I’d have to ask Tegan about the last bit.
“So why did you leave?” Dad asked. Of the two, he was warmer, but he wasn’t around enough to counteract what she was.
“Because Porter needed me and I’m in love with him. That’s what you do when someone you love needs you,” I said. Porter settled his hand on my lower back just enough so I’d know he was there with me. “And this is where I live now. I’m making my life here. He’s here. Laney’s here.” I turned a little, giving Zac a side eye. “And I guess Zac’s here too.” He snorted from behind me. “This is where I want to be, but hey, be happy. I’m going to teach. Are we done here?”
“This isn’t exactly what we hoped for,” Mom said.
“Yeah, I know. It sucks to be disappointed.” I folded my arms over my chest. It was her move.
“We’re staying at a hotel in Detroit for a couple of nights. Going to have dinner with friends tonight,” Dad told me. “It’d be nice if we could take you all out to lunch tomorrow.”
“We’ll talk about it,” I answered for the group of us.
They left after that and we were all speechless.
Zac finally broke the silence. “You love this idiot?”
“It’s the name,” Porter answered. “I warned her that if I told her my real name, it’d be all over.”
“You told her your name?” Zac asked.
“I did.”
“Wow. So now you have to stay together so she won’t tell anyone else.”
“That was my entire plan.”
These guys were ridiculous, but they were also my family.
Once we ate, Zac and Porter left to check out a car that he said sounded good in the ad. I gave him my keys so he could take mine, even though Zac had offered to drive.
They were only gone an hour before coming back. Zac pulled Laney toward his house and I knew it wouldn’t be long before I lost my housemate altogether.
“I need a shower,” Porter said as he yawned.
“Need help?” I asked.
“Need? No. I’m fully capable of showering myself. But you should come with me anyway. To reach the places I can’t.”
I laughed out loud but followed him to the bathroom.
He kissed me as we stood naked under the water. He touched me in all the places that usually would’ve gotten the result he wanted, but I stood fast. No shower sex until he was one hundred perfect healed and we could chance a fall. Maybe not even then because in my opinion, shower sex sucked.
It was hard… lots of things were hard. But I persevered. No shower sex happened that night.
“You know the rule,” I said as my breath caught in my chest at the work his hand was doing between my legs.
“No shower sex until I’m healed,” he said in his best whiny voice.
“Exactly.”
“You’re lucky I love you, woman.” He pulled his hand away from me. “Because you’re fucking killing me.”
“I am lucky.” I kissed him sweetly. “And I don’t mean to kill you. I don’t want you to get hurt and prolong all these rules.”
“I guess that’s a good reason,” he reluctantly agreed.
“After that, we can do anything you want.”
He raised an eyebrow. “Anything?”
Oh, god. What had I just agreed to?
The next morning I woke up next to Porter and I knew those days were coming to an end. He was going home today and depending on everything I had to do, I’d stay with him some nights. But tomorrow I had to go into the school early to fill out paperwork and he had to work. So there was really no reason to stay with him tonight.
Zac and Laney came over midmorning and I didn’t like the look on her face. It was happy, which I did like, but there was a nervousness underneath. Zac sat in the chair near the couch, where Porter and I were, with Laney perched on the arm.
“What’s going on?” I asked them, my stomach tight with anticipation.
“We’re moving in together,” Laney said.
“You and me?” I asked. “We already live together.”
She rolled her eyes. “Me and Zac.”
“Oh, yeah. That makes more sense.”
“We talked a lot about it last night and it’s what makes sense. Our life is together and we already discussed it with Maddie. She’s fine with Dylan coming to a house with a sinful unmarried couple.”
“Good,” I said honestly, though I’d known what she was saying all along. “How long do I have?” I asked.
Laney cocked her head to the side. “What do you mean?”
“I mean how long do I have before I have to be out?” I asked. “I assume you’ll move in here.”
“Yeah,” she said, but she looked a little lost. “Why would you move?”
“Laney.” Zac snorted.
“Dude, I hear enough weird things out of you two that you don’t need me here twenty-four seven,” I explained. “I’ll move. Of course I’ll move. I’d like to stay in the area, so I need to know when I have to be out.”
“I’m not evicting you,” Laney said defensively.
“I have an idea,” Zac said with a hand raised. She turned sideways to look at him. “I’m moving in here, so why don’t you”—he pointed at me—“sublet my house. It comes with a bunch of furniture that I’m not taking with me. You can keep whatever you want, then toss it when you upgrade.”
I shot up to a fully sitting position. “That’s a fantastic idea.” I swallowed hard. “Except I don’t start getting paid until September.”
“I already paid July,” he said. “I’ll pay August like I’d originally planned. Then you can take over in September.”
I shook my head. “I can’t let you do that.”
“Yeah, you can,” he said. “We won’t be paying rent over here.”
“If you’re sure… and I can pay you back.” I wasn’t exactly excited about the idea of him paying for me, but it was for him too. So he could have his time with Laney now and not have to wait.
“Fuck all the way off with that,” he told me, brushing his hand through the air.
“When do I move?” I asked them.
Turned out it was the next day. After I went to the school and did some shopping for appropriate clothing to wear to my new job. After I packed up my things from Laney’s house, we moved it over to Zac’s and he took his stuff over to Laney’s. We waited until Saturday to move Dylan’s room. After that, it was mine to do with as I pleased. He handed over the keys and went back to his house. Porter helped as much as he could, given his arm was still in a sling.
It was weird being in the house alone. My house. It had all happened so quickly that I knew I needed to call my brother.
“Sister,” he said as a greeting.
“I have news,” I told him. “I’m not living at Laney’s anymore.”
“Fuck.” He sighed. “What happened?”
“Well, Mom and Dad showed up here, but that has nothing to do with it.” I went on to tell him about their visit and the fact that I did not make time for them to take us to lunch. Too risky. Then I explained the living situation. That we’d basically flipped houses.
“Can you afford it?” he asked.
“Yeah. Once I start getting paid, that is. Zac is going to continue paying for it until then. Which I hate, by the way,” I added.
“I have another idea,” he told me. “How about I come and share it with you? I’ll pay the rent.”
“I don’t really want to be kept by anyone.”
“But I’m your brother. How much is it?”
I told him, and he laughed.
“Rhian, that’s legit a quarter of what I’m paying here.”
“But you live in a higher-class area that East Branch will never be.”
“Right,” he agreed. “I need to get the fuck out of here.”
I thought about it for a moment then smiled. Living with my brother would bring back a lot of memories and I knew it wouldn’t last too long.
“That sounds fantastic,” I told him. “Wait, what about your job?”
“I may have already been looking for jobs in Detroit and had a few interviews. Three offers. What about Porter?”
“You suck,” I told him. “Of course you don’t really, which is how you got the offers. I didn’t ask Porter about moving in because I don’t want to rush things faster than we already have.”
“Listen.” Something rustled against the phone. “If living near family matters and to me it does, I’d rather be by you. Not our parents. Plus, with us in the same place, we have each other’s backs when it comes to them.”
“Even better,” I told him and I felt the best I had yet about the future with so much coming together at once.
Chapter Twenty-Five
Two weeks later, we had both houses settled, Dylan’s things moved over to Laney’s, and Tegan and taken a job that made almost as much money as the one in Pittsburgh. He’d given his notice, arranged for another PA to take all his patients, and was set to arrive any day. He’d come last weekend to bring some of his things, which were going in the smaller room at his insistence. Since I was a woman, he rationalized that I needed the space.
I don’t know that I did, but I took it anyway.
He’d be coming permanently any day now and I couldn’t have been more excited.
“Should I have asked you to move in with me instead?” Porter asked as we watched TV in the living room.
“No. I don’t think we’re ready for that yet, ya know. We shouldn’t rush it.”
“True.”
Plus, this way, I had my best ally when it came to my parents in the same house as me.
“You know, we still have the kitchen,” he said.
“Still have the kitchen. What?” I asked. His arm remained in the brace, but the doctor said it was healing nicely. One more week and he’d be able to ditch it.
“I told you we were going to christen every room before your brother gets here.”
I scrunched my face up. “I thought you were joking.”
“Definitely wasn’t joking.” He pulled me up and took me to the kitchen.
At his insistence, I hopped up on the counter and he fit himself in between my knees, kissing me with such intensity that I felt it over every inch on skin.
This wasn’t one of those occasions where we’d take our time. This was quick and with purpose and I wanted it that way. He worked me up until I was panting unattractively with my eyes closed. When I opened them, he was sliding a condom on; he’d gotten really good at doing that one-handed. Porter pulled me off the counter and turned me around so my hands rested on it.
There were still limitations due to his collar bone, but him behind me was one of the ways we’d found worked the best. Then he slid inside me.
His hand was everywhere. His lips touching any of the skin he could reach, driving me to release with him following behind.
We stood there. Catching our breaths, letting ourselves come down from the high we’d just attained. He slowly pulled out just as everything happened at once.
The front door opened then shut.
Someone dropped something at the door with a thud.
Then my brother called out, “Rhian?”
“Shit,” I muttered as I scrambled for my pants. Porter did the same. “In the kitchen. Don’t come in here.”
Porter had just gotten his pants on, but not buttoned, and I was in a similar state of undress when Tegan came through the kitchen entryway.
“Fucking Christ,” he muttered when he saw us half-dressed, and what we did have on utterly disheveled. “Seriously.”
“I didn’t know you’d be here so quickly,” I said from behind Porter. We were both shirtless, but it was better for my brother to see him than me.
“I made good time,” he said.
“So did I,” Porter said under his breath, to which I slapped him on the back. The sound reverberated through the room. “Hey. I have a broken collarbone.”
I rolled my eyes, though he couldn’t have seen it as I pulled my shirt over my head, but my bra and panties remained on the floor. Once I stepped out, Porter leaned over and snatched them up then handed them to me.
“I’m sorry, but if you’re going to live here, you’re going to need to get used to the fact that I have sex. Lots of sex.”
“Lots and lots of sex,” Porter said again. So I slapped him again.
“You’re not helping,” I told him to his utter joy and he laughed at me.
&
nbsp; “Look.” Tegan stepped farther in now that I was mostly dressed. “I don’t have a problem with the… ” He swallowed hard. “Sex. But can you not do it in the kitchen?”
“Promise,” I said back immediately.
“And you’re cleaning this.” He asked pointing at the counter where I’d just had my ass.
“Of course,” I agreed because yeah. That was the least I could’ve done.
Tegan left the room and Porter burst out into a loud laugh that I was sure my brother could hear.
“You’re a bad influence,” I told him.
“Is that such a bad thing?” he asked as he pulled me close to him.
I chewed on the side of my lip for a minute as if I needed to think about it.
“No,” I finally said.
Porter leaned down and kissed me again. This kiss was softer. It was more about feeling than anything else. I’d let him keep me there as long as he liked except that I still had to clean the fucking kitchen.
If you enjoyed this book, book 3 in the Fallout Series, Hard to Say Yes, is available for preorder!
About the Author
Heather Young-Nichols is a multi-published YA and contemporary romance author and a native of the great and often very cold state of Michigan. She is better known at home and to her friends as the Snarker-in-Chief, a job she excels at beyond anything she could have imagined. She loves many things, but especially cold coffee, hot books, and baseball. But not necessarily in that order.
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A Little More Touch Me (The Fallout Series Book 2) Page 21
