The shower steam had seeped beneath the bathroom door, and the familiar smell of Rebecca's shampoo followed it. I'd held her in my lap until we both dozed off into a long nap. The entire time she was in my arms, all I could do was think about how scared she must have been as a young girl in a new house with a new family and a predatory stepbrother. There were times, when she didn't realize I was watching her, when I saw a sort of unexplained sadness drift over her pretty face, but I'd always just passed it off as teenage angst. I guess I'd been too damn wound up in my own shit to notice that she was going through something horrible.

The shower turned off, and I waited for Rebecca to come out. She hadn't wanted to talk about anything. I couldn't blame her. But it seemed there was a lot to say, a lot to untangle. The bathroom door opened and she came around the corner with her wet hair combed back off her face. Her green eyes were still slightly puffy from all the tears. She was wearing the infamous Iron Maiden t-shirt and nothing else. The worn fabric clung to her still moist skin outlining her breasts and nipples.

She knelt on the bed and brought her lips right up to mine. "Joshua," she said softly. It was all I needed to hear.

I took her in my arms and rolled her down on the mattress. My mouth clamped down over hers as my hands pushed the shirt up to expose her breasts. She pushed up my shirt, and I pulled it off and slid my shorts off next.

I lowered myself down over her so that every inch of our naked skin could touch. She mewled softly as my bare chest rubbed against her taut nipples. I placed my hand against her face and gazed down at her as I pushed my cock inside of her.

Her head pushed back into the pillow as she took in all of me.

"Fuck, baby," I growled against her lips. "You were made for me."

"No," she whispered, "You were made for me."

I scooped her ass up with my hand and held her so that I could penetrate her deeply. I swept into her, making sure to rub against her pussy, bringing heat and friction to her clit. While I held her ass, I slipped a finger into the tight hole. She moaned in appreciation, and I pushed it a little deeper.

She squeezed her legs around me as I penetrated her everywhere. She responded by clamping her pussy tightly, so tightly she brought me close to the edge.

She dropped her hands from me and clutched at the sheets as I dug into her. Her body blushed with pink heat and her thighs trembled as she came. Her pussy pulsed around my cock and milked me to orgasm.

I rested down on my elbows and held her face in my hands as I kissed her lightly on the lips. "I love you, Rebel. Always have. Always will. Just thought I should put that out there."

She stared up at me with a look that I could easily read.

"You're going to live on the vineyard," I said, not as a question.

She didn't answer. I rolled off of her.

She turned to face me. "I have no job, no money. I'm sorry." She picked up a strand of my hair and curled it around her finger. "You should come with me."

I huffed a short laugh. "Right." I turned on my back and she climbed on top of me.

She smoothed her hands over my chest. "I'm serious. My dad needs a pair of strong arms to help out. And so do I." She trailed her fingers along my arms. "And only these will do."

"Shit, Rebel, I've got the business and the house and Portugal is a long ways away."

She rested down on top of me, folded her hands across my chest and rested her chin on them. "Just thought you might consider it. Besides, if you don't, you'll never see this t-shirt again."

"Sounds vaguely like rock t-shirt blackmail." I reached up and pushed her hair behind her ears. "I know you don't want to talk about it but what about Dylan?"

She scooted off of me and sat on the bed next to me. I took hold of her hand. The topic had drained some of the color from her face.

"There's nothing to do. Michelle has no one left but Dylan. And I just can't go back to that time and relive things. It was only three times. Then I grew up enough to figure out ways to avoid ever being alone with him. And I booby trapped my room with a big cinderblock so he couldn't open the door without making a lot of noise."

"I was always so damn busy protecting you from the boys around the neighborhood, I never realized what was happening inside the house. I'll never forgive myself for that."

"No, you can't blame yourself. Shit, Josh, there were times when I thought you were the only person keeping me from falling apart. I could be in the worst mood and then I'd see you and I'd think you were like this magical piece of my world, the piece where nothing bad could happen."

I sat up against the cushions. "I should have paid better attention to you. And if it's true that Emily knew, then everything I have stored in my head and my heart about her is tainted."

"No, don't say that. Emily was young and scared. I'm sure it was impossible for her to think anything bad about her brother. Don't ever let this change your opinion of her. She was so crazy about you. Always. Even when she complained about tattered rock and roll t-shirts she was still nuts about you."

Rebecca looked so weary and upset from everything, I couldn't stop myself from pulling her onto my lap. "You're right. I'm just having such a hard time absorbing all this. And shit, the biggest ball breaker of all is that I actually grew closer with Dylan. Started a fucking business with him. What a clueless idiot I've been."

"How could you have known? Dylan was a popular guy in town. People always admired him. His mom had him up on a damn pedestal, and she even knew something wasn't quite right with him."

"A pedestal. Just like the one my dad had set my mom upon. And she so didn't deserve to be there." I stroked her back. "I went back to talk to Dylan, I messed him up good." I showed her my swollen knuckles. "Almost messed up the lousy ass surgery the doctor did on my fingers too. I told Dylan he would either have to buy me out or we needed to sell the place because the partnership was over. He was nursing his broken nose with ice packs and aspirin. He couldn't even look at me. He knew he deserved it. The fact that he didn't even try to fight back or clobber me, which he could have easily done, assured me of that. I told him he needed to find someone, a psychologist or someone to talk to. He just nodded. All I know is, I don't even want to be in the same fucking room with him."

"I really unleashed a shit storm." Rebecca rested her head against my shoulder.

"No, you opened my eyes, Rebel. And now you're leaving me, and you're taking my heart with you."

"That's all right. I'm leaving mine here with you to take its place." She lifted her head and looked at me. "And I'll keep yours safe until you come to your senses and realize you can't live without me."