Chapter Six
It was English class, last period and only ten minutes left before the bell. And it was Thursday, meaning there was one day and only three loser cruiser rides left before the weekend.
Tristen wondered if Eli would come home today. He didn’t know what was going on with Wyatt in Utah, but it had to be important, because Eli was pretty devoted to the ranch, and he wouldn’t leave Chase on his own without a reason.
Tristen had finished reading the assigned chapter. In fact he’d finished reading the entire book. He’d never considered himself smart, but it seemed he was a fast reader now, because he was constantly ahead and left bored during free reading time.
He’d practiced line dancing in his room again last night. There was a little over two weeks until the Halloween dance, and he didn’t want to be the only guy out of step. He found himself smiling as he realized the songs were stuck inside his head. He wouldn’t say he liked them, but they were catchy.
He felt a warning shiver go up his spine, and he glanced up to see Barry glaring at him. It took Tristen a split second to catch that Cissy was looking his way as well. She was smiling warmly at him, and he realized with a sinking feeling that it had looked like he was smiling at Cissy.
Barry turned his index finger and thumb to a gun symbol and pointed it at Tristen. Cissy caught it and smiled more broadly, obviously liking the idea of two boys fighting over her. Sean caught it too, as did Jon-Jon and Big Evan.
It looked like it wouldn’t matter how well Tristen learned the line dance steps. They would be hard to execute with broken legs.
The bell rang, and Tristen fatalistically gathered his books. He tried, but he couldn’t muster up any anger toward Barry. All he felt was gut-churning fear.
Sean caught up to him in the hall. “I’m telling the principal about this.”
“No!” Tristen would rather die than have the entire student body, never mind Eli, think he was a chicken who ran to the principal for help. “They’ll think it was me.”
“But—”
“I’m serious, Sean. Leave it alone.”
“You’re going to fight him?” There was a level of awe in Sean’s voice.
“I’m going to defend myself if I have to.” A ringing came up in Tristen’s ears. His heart was pounding and his palms were sweating.
Even if Eli was right, even if Tristen managed somehow to get in one good punch, the rest of it was going to hurt pretty bad. Tristen hoped he wouldn’t cower. Or worse, fall down. If he could just keep his feet, he’d be grateful.
Word spread like wildfire, and as Tristen left the school he could see a crowd had gathered around Barry.
Tristen handed Sean his backpack.
Sean didn’t say a word. There was nothing to say.
Tristen refused to let himself break stride. He walked up to Barry and stopped in front of him.
“Eyeballing my girlfriend again?” Barry taunted.
“No,” Tristen said honestly.
Barry balled up his fist and took a swing. Tristen jerked back out of the way, causing Barry to miss. He didn’t know who was more surprised, him or Barry.
Barry was definitely more enraged. He let out a growl and tried again, this time he hit the mark: Tristen’s mouth.
Pain shot through Tristen’s skull. He staggered back, but he kept his feet and he heard Eli’s stern voice ringing in his ears. He planted his back foot. He propelled himself forward. He doubled up his first and punched through Barry’s face.
Barry fell back. Then he roared and rushed forward.
Tristen hit him again, quickly sidestepping the bulk of Barry’s body. If Barry tackled him, he was doomed.
Apparently stunned, Barry fell to his hands and knees. He shook his head as if he needed to clear it.
For the first time, Tristen heard the cheers of the crowd. Some of them were calling his name.
He thought it might be over. He sure hoped it was over. But then Barry jumped to his feet. Before Tristen could react, Barry landed a punch to his eye. For a second, Tristen couldn’t see. He stumbled and almost fell. He wanted to raise his arms like a shield and protect himself from the next hit.
But he heard Eli again, and he didn’t.
He wouldn’t.
He’d come this far. He wasn’t going to fail.
He planted his back foot one more time. He surged forward. He threw a final punch knowing it was all he had in him. His fist connected with a thud. Barry dropped to the ground, and the crowd cheered wildly.
A sudden firm, strong hand grasped him by the back of the neck. “Enough!” the principal’s voice boomed out. “Both of you, to the office immediately.”
*
The word suspended still echoed in Piper’s ear when Tristen walked through the mud room door at dinnertime. His eye was black. His lip was split open. And his knuckles were skinned and bruised.
“Upstairs.” She pointed.
Maddy had offered to make herself scarce and give them privacy, but Piper didn’t want Tristen’s behavior to impact on anyone else in the house.
He was at least smart enough to head upstairs without saying anything. He stalked into the sitting room then turned to face her.
“What did you do?” she demanded.
“He hit me first.”
“It doesn’t matter who started it. What part of a zero-tolerance policy did you not understand?”
“I wasn’t going to just stand there,” Tristen said, his voice getting louder.
“You don’t just stand there. You walk away. We talked about this, Tristen, and you agreed.”
“That was before—” He snapped his jaw shut.
“Before what?”
“Before he made my life intolerable. Before he attacked me a second time for nothing. He’s a bully. Somebody had to stand up to him.”
“Intolerable? You want to talk about intolerable? Intolerable is getting expelled.”
“I was suspended not expelled.”
Piper felt like her head was going to explode. “You’re going to stand there and argue semantics with me?”
“What’s going on?” Eli’s voice unexpectedly interrupted from behind her.
She hadn’t known he was back from Utah. She whirled to face him. Now that he was here, she expected his support.
“Look at him,” she cried, gesturing with a sweep of her arm. “Look at your son. He’s been suspended.”
“Barry again?” Eli asked, not sounding remotely perturbed.
“Yeah,” Tristen answered.
“Did you not hear me?” Piper asked Eli. “He’s been suspended.”
“He threw the first punch?” Eli asked Tristen.
“I ducked the first punch. Then he threw a second.” Tristen pointed to his split lip.
“We agreed he would walk away, that he wouldn’t escalate.” Piper felt like she was talking to a brick wall. Make that two brick walls.
“I told him to hit Barry back,” Eli said.
Piper didn’t believe she could have heard right. “You what?”
“You didn’t give me up?” Eli said to Tristen, looking proud.
“You undermined my direction to my son?” Piper asked Eli.
Tristen shook his head to Eli, and the two of them smiled at each other.
“You,” she said to Tristen. “To your room. You,” she said to Eli. “Outside.”
“Outside?” He looked confused.
“We’re taking a walk. We’re going to get a few things straight.”
“Sure. Okay.” He had the grace to look guilty. “How’d it end?” he asked Tristen.
“Barry went down.”
Eli’s grin stretched wide.
“No!” Piper shouted. “You do not get to encourage him. This is not a good thing.”
“Better go to your room,” Eli said.
“Yes, sir.”
Piper suddenly felt like a third wheel, excluded from her son’s life.
In a spurt of anger, she gave Eli a firm shove toward the door.
He started down the stairs.
She was afraid they’d run into Maddy or Chase. But they made it to the front door and outside without seeing anyone.
Piper marched across the yard. She didn’t know where she was going, and it didn’t matter. She was afraid to speak, afraid she’d rage at Eli and do more harm than good. She had to make him understand the seriousness of what he’d done, and she didn’t know the words to do it.
“Piper.” He touched her arm to slow her down. “Either talk to me or tell me where we’re going?”
She stopped. She turned. The sole remaining trailer now blocked them from the main house. She knew it would keep the sound from carrying as well. She also knew she was out of time to frame up her speech, whatever she was going to say to Eli, she had to say it now.
“You can’t let him do that,” she opened. “If you let Tristen divide and conquer, he’ll just go back and forth, play us off against each other until he gets what he wants. We’re not together, and he knows it, and he’s using that—”
“That’s not what happened.”
“It’s exactly what happened.”
“He was going to do it your way. He didn’t know what else to do. He didn’t have any other strategy.”
She was baffled. “Then what?”
“I gave him another strategy,” Eli said. “I gave him a better strategy, a strategy that would work.”
“My way would have worked. My way would have kept him from getting suspended.”
“How long is the suspension?”
“It’s three days.”
Eli seemed to contemplate. “That’s not so bad. We’ll keep him busy on the ranch.”
“Not so bad? Your assessment is that a three-day suspension not so bad?”
“Tristen stood up for himself.”
“Eli, he used violence to solve a problem. Do you know what that teaches him?”
“To stand up for himself.”
“Eli.”
“No.” His tone was implacable. “It’s your turn to listen to me.”
She was surprised into silence.
“If he’d walked away a second time, if he’d let me, you, or a teacher intervene, then Barry or anybody else who felt like it would have intimidated Tristen for the rest of high school. A three-day suspension isn’t a good thing. I’m not saying it’s a good thing. I’m saying it was a necessary thing. Barry started this. Tristen finished it. It’s over. Nobody’s going to bother him again, at least not at that school.”
“Because he’s the bully now.”
“No. He’s not the bully. There’s a huge difference.”
“I don’t see it. You hit somebody, you’re a bully.”
Eli drew a deep breath. He seemed to be trying to slow himself down. “Piper, you’ve done a lot for Tristen. You’ve nurtured him, loved him, and taught him good values. But you need me for this. You need to trust me on this. I can help him become a good man.”
She felt on the verge of tears. “Good men don’t fight.”
Eli gently touched her shoulders. “Good men defend themselves and then they defend others. Good men stand up to bullies, Piper. Because if we don’t no one does.”
Eli made it sound noble. He made it sound logical. Deep down, she knew he was wrong, but she didn’t know how to argue against him.
“Can you trust me, Piper? Will you trust me?”
“Did you see him?” Apart from her anger, Piper’s heart had all but broken at the sight of Tristen’s battered face. “He’s hurt.”
“He’ll heal.”
“He shouldn’t have to heal.”
“Maybe not. But he does.” Eli moved his hands to cradle her face. “Be his mother, Piper. Love him and be gentle with him and protect him when you can. But let me be his father.”
“And make a man out of him?” Her whisper was pained. She resented the inference that she didn’t know how to help Tristen become a good man.
“Growing up isn’t easy for anyone.”
She felt the fight go out of her.
Eli seemed to sense it too. He drew her to him, lending her his strength. “Please trust me,” he said. “Tristen needs both of us.”
She nodded against his chest, and his grip tightened.
*
Eli knew he was right about Tristen. But he also understood Piper’s anger.
He’d hurt and upset her, and now she was seeking comfort in his arms. And he was the world’s biggest jerk, because all he wanted to do was strip off her clothes and ravish her.
He wanted to make hard, fast love to her. He didn’t care where. He didn’t care how.
It was growing dark, and they were screened from the house here. But they were still in the ranch yard. And it was fall. It was cold out here—not that he could feel it.
He was hot. Piper was hot in his arms. He could feel her breasts pressed against his chest, her thighs mingling with his, her breath, her heartbeat.
When he made up his mind to speak, his voice strained with the effort. “Tell me to back off.”
She didn’t say anything.
He tried again. “For God’s sake, push me away.”
Her voice was small. “I can’t.”
Eli’s heart stuttered. For a second it stopped.
He was afraid to ask. He pulled back to look at her. Her eyes were soft jade. They were wide with passion. Her cheeks were flushed. Her lips were dark red, full, slightly parted.
“You can’t what?” he asked. He had to know for sure.
“I can’t tell you to stop. Eli, don’t stop.”
“Piper,” he groaned. But he was done fighting.
He kissed her hard and deep. His hands slid to the back of her neck, into her hair, releasing its fragrance to the night air. He pressed his thighs against her, pushing her flush against the trailer wall.
His passion, pent up for days and weeks, burst from his lips, from his hands, from his very pores.
In response, her arms wound around his neck. She gave a little moan, her lips vibrating with the sound as she kissed him. Her tongue tangled with his. Her soft body molded to him, around him, and she clung so tight.
He stroked down her sides, slipping his fingers under her jacket, finding the seam between her jeans and her shirt, touching the soft skin at her waist before stroking upward to her silky bra. She felt familiar, yet brand-new.
His memory of making love to her was sharp. It had stayed vivid all these years. But now he questioned that memory. Because this was better. It was so very much better.
She parted his open jacket, sliding into the warmth. Her hands moved under his shirt, smoothing his abs, his chest, taking his breath away and stoking his passion. He kissed her neck, then her shoulder. He pushed her bra out of the way and cupped her breast, feeling the satin skin and her nipple that hardened to a peak against his palm.
She fumbled with the snap of his jeans, her knuckles grazing him through the fabric.
He sucked in a hard breath. “Not out here.”
She looked up at him, obviously hazed by passion and puzzled by his words.
“Inside,” he rasped, nodding to the trailer. It was his trailer. It would still be cold inside, but it was private and there was a bed.
She nodded, and he scooped her into his arms, taking the short staircase, throwing open the door and stepping inside.
The blazing yard lights filtered through the small windows. The various pieces of furniture were gray shapes in the dim light.
“It’s cold in here,” she said.
“I know.” He set her down and stripped off his jacket. Then he quickly pulled her back in his arms.
He couldn’t stop kissing her. He couldn’t get close enough. As he kissed her, he propelled her backward, through the small kitchen, toward his old bedroom. Then he realized it was too far. He was too impatient. He lifted her again and carried her swiftly to the bed, setting her on her feet beside it.
This time, she stripped off her jacket, then her T-shirt. He immediately followed suit. He flicked the catch on her bra, baring her breasts and taking her back into his arms, their bare skin connecting.
He groaned in stark and absolute pleasure.
She whispered his name, and they fell onto the bed wrapped in each other’s arms. He kissed his way down her neck, savoring his way to her breasts.
There he pulled her nipple into his mouth, laving it with his tongue. Her grip tightened on his shoulders, and her fingernails dug in. He turned to the other breast, rewarded when she arched her back, stretching her neck, pushing her head back into the pillow.
He kissed his way down her stomach, popping the snap on her jeans, sliding down the zipper, inhaling the sweet scent of her skin. He dragged the jeans over her hips, stripping them off. Then he took his sweet time kissing her silk panties. He stroked her inner thighs, moving his thumbs upward in unison while his lips made their way down.
“Eli,” she rasped. “Please.”
He didn’t know what she meant, so he ignored the plea. He figured if whatever she wanted became urgent, she’d get more specific. In the meantime, he was exactly where he wanted to be.
He stripped off her panties and let his kisses become more and more intimate. She tasted like heaven. He truly was in heaven.
Her hands moved to his hair, and her thighs parted. Her breath rate increased, and her moans were music to his ears. He could feel her breaking free, slipping over the edge.
She squirmed. She tried to move, to wiggle away. He clamped his hands around her thighs, holding her fast, bringing her determinedly and deliberately to a climax that left her shuddering around him.
“Eli,” she gasped, breathless. “Why?”
He moved up the length of her, turning her question into a kiss. “Trust me.” He drew back to look into her eyes.
She nodded.
He kissed her and caressed her until she was breathing hard all over again. And then he lifted her hips, pushing the length of himself inside. As her heat closed around him, he groaned in pleasure.
He’d planned to take it slow. He wanted desperately to take it slow. But he found he couldn’t. Instinct took over, and he thrust hard and deep, his speed increasing on its own.
His rational brain shouted at him to slow down. But he was lost. He was lost in the magic of Piper.
She was wrapped around him, her body pliable, hot and slick. Her scent engulfed him, and the sight of her closed eyes, her dewy flushed face, and those luscious lips…he kissed her lips, delving deep.
He was losing control. The crest of his passion rose up like a tsunami inside him. There was no stopping him.
“Piper,” he cried out. He hoped she was with him, because he was lost.
“Yes!” she cried, and a molten cascade flowed like fire between them.
His pleasure was deep and unending.
Then it took him long minutes to catch his breath. His heart beat deep in his chest, and his muscles felt like he’d run ten miles.
Piper moved, and he realized he had to be crushing her. He quickly took his weight from her, moving to his side. “I don’t want to hurt you.”
“Huh?”
“I’m heavy.”
She smiled, her eyes dreamy in the glow from the window. “I didn’t notice.”
He smoothed her hair back from her face. She was so incredibly beautiful.
A vehicle sounded in the yard, and her expression shifted to concern. The engine died and a door slammed shut.
She sat abruptly up. “Who’s out there?”
“It could be anyone.” Eli wasn’t remotely worried about it. He ran his fingertips over the curve of her slender shoulder.
She hopped off the bed and began hunting around the floor. “How long have we been here?” She located her panties.
“Come back.” He pulled back the covers to welcome her in. They could warm each other up against the chill.
“They think we’re out here fighting,” she said.
“Nobody knows what we’re doing,” he said.
It wasn’t like anyone would come looking for them. He doubted Tristen would leave his room. And Chase and Maddy would respect their privacy.
Piper was pulling on her jeans now, hooking her bra and stretching her T-shirt over her head. She ran her fingers through her hair.
“Piper, stop.”
They couldn’t simply rush out of here. They’d just made love. It was a pretty big deal. They needed to talk about it. They needed to figure out what it meant.
She looked at him as she pulled on her boots. “This never happened.”
Oh, no. He wasn’t going along with that. “I happened, Piper. We can’t—”
“Oh, yes, we can,” she said, her tone implacable. “This was a mistake.”
Eli couldn’t accept that. Making love with her hadn’t been a mistake. It had been the right thing, the only thing. They’d been building up to this moment for weeks.
“We have to talk,” he said sitting up, feeling every bit as determined as she looked.
But she rushed out the bedroom door. “I’ll see you back inside.”
“Piper,” he called.
The front door of the trailer banged shut.
Eli blew out a breath and dropped his head back down to the pillow.
He took a minute to get his bearings.
They were absolutely going to talk about this. Maybe not this very second, but they lived in the same house. They saw each other every day. He wasn’t letting her pretend this never happened.
He rose, dressed and left the trailer, returning to the house through the mud room.
There he heard voices in the living room. He walked the short hallway, and there he stopped dead.
Lucas.
His brother had come home. Lucas was here, and he was hugging Piper. The embrace lasted three, four, six seconds.
When they finally drew apart, their smiles for each other were warm.
Lucas gave her arm a rub, and said something that made her laugh.
Jealousy roared through Eli, and he gripped the doorjamb. He was catapulted back to high school, when Piper was Lucas’s girlfriend and he’d watched their displays of affection from afar.
Eli might have been the one to make love with her back then, but it was Lucas who had been her boyfriend. It was Lucas she’d acknowledged publicly. Lucas she’d dated, talked to, laughed with, and cuddled. Eli was on the outside, always on the outside looking in.
Piper caught Eli’s eye, and she quickly looked away in obvious embarrassment.
Stark reality hit him like a hammer. Making love didn’t mean anything to her beyond the moment. All they had, all they’d ever had together, was sexual chemistry.
Before anyone else noticed him, he crossed to the stairs, taking them two at a time, going to Tristen’s door and hearing country music coming from inside the room.
Eli knocked and then pushed the door open, surprised to see Tristen practicing line dancing.
Tristen stopped dancing and gave Eli a hesitant, self-conscious smile. “Is she really mad?”
It took Eli a moment to switch gears.
He wasn’t sure how to describe Piper’s emotional state. “She was pretty mad. She’s mostly mad at me now. But she’ll get over it.”
“Thanks.” Tristen went back into step on the line dance.
“You don’t have to thank me.” Eli remembered what he’d heard when he walked in on their argument. “Why didn’t you tell her I’d told you to fight back?”
Tristen pirouetted to the music. “You mean rat you out?”
“I didn’t mean for you to keep a secret from your mother. I don’t ever want you to do that.” Eli knew he had to get this straight. “I was hoping it might not come up again.”
“It came up again.”
“Next time, be honest with her.”
“Okay.”
“Do you want to talk about the fight?”
Tristen stopped dancing again. “Barry was looking for a fight, and he found a stupid excuse, and I did what you said.”
Eli waited, wondering if Tristen had been afraid. But Tristen didn’t elaborate on his emotional state.
Eli wasn’t going to pry. “He went down?”
Tristen gave a ghost of a smile, and his fingers went to his split lip. “The expression on his face was worth this.”
“That should be the end of it,” Eli said. He didn’t want Tristen to get in the habit of settling things with his fists.
“I sure hope so. I might have won, but it wasn’t much fun.”
Eli waited again, giving Tristen an opening in case he wanted to share anything else.
“You good?” Eli asked.
“I’m great.”
Eli couldn’t help but smile at that. One adolescent problem solved.
He wished his own problems could be solved with a solid right cross. But they couldn’t. He couldn’t hit Lucas. Lucas hadn’t done anything wrong.
The problem was on Eli’s side. When he walked into the house and saw Piper with Lucas, he’d been insanely jealous of his brother. And that meant what he felt for Piper went way beyond sexual chemistry.
But she didn’t return his feelings. She’d rushed out of his bed like it was on fire. And now she wanted to forget it had ever happened—just like she had all those years ago.