90 Days (Prairie Town Book 2) (12 page)

     “Get it, girl!” Agnes yelled through cupped hands.  “Get you some Benji sugar. Owwoo!”

     “Ooh la la.” Lydia teased with a laugh.

     The only one who didn’t seem to be teasing them was Jeb, who was too busy staring back and forth between them in confusion.

     Glancing back at Benji apologetically, she tucked some hair behind her ear nervously and smiled.  “Sorry about that…”

     “No way.  Don’t apologize.  I’m the one who kissed you.” He grinned and her eyes immediately fell to his lips. 

     She wanted to kiss him again…

     “I wanted you to.” She mumbled.

     He must not have heard her over the music because he cocked his head to the side and smiled.  “What?”

     “N-nothing.” She stammered, a fit of giggles overcoming her as she slowly backed away from him and headed back to retrieve her ball. 

     In all honesty she should have been paying attention to her walking instead of looking at him, because the next thing she knew her ass was hitting the floor and she wanted to shrink down to the size of an ant.  She’d tripped over her own feet.

     “Oh my god! Laney! Are you okay?” Lydia asked as she jumped up from her seat.

     Everyone was trying to rush to her rescue and all she wanted to do was hide.

     “I’m fine.” She lied.  Her tailbone was going to pay for that mistake, but it didn’t hurt nearly as much as her ego.  “I’m clumsy.  My bad.”

     It was Benji’s hands that grabbed her first and he hoisted her up with surprising strength.  It was then—and only then—that she noticed the muscles he possessed.  God, when had he gotten such muscles?

     “You okay?” He rested a hand against the small of her back.  “That was a nasty fall.”

     “I’m fine, honest.” Her breathing was shallow, but that was probably due to the fact he’d just kissed the life out of her.  “Thank you.”

     “No problem.” He released her once again and she
carefully
moved to her seat.

     The game continued on and their kiss was seemingly forgotten.

     Or at least she thought so until she caught Jeb staring at her.  His expression was hard to read.

     Was he mad at her?

     Offering him a small smile, she hoped that wasn’t the case.  He knew the truth about Benji’s past—was he judging her for the kiss?

     She opened her mouth to say something, anything, when his phone began chirping.  It must have been a pretty important message because he immediately got up from his seat and hurried towards the door. 

     Who was he talking to?

     Being a McIntosh meant she was a naturally curious creature.  Of course she got up to follow him outside because for all she knew it was a text from their parents.  Maybe something was wrong with their father.

    
Oh god, I hope not!

     Panic seized her as she picked up the pace, practically running out the front door and coming to an abrupt halt when she realized Jeb was nowhere in sight.

     Where the hell did he go that fast?

     “Jeb?”

     No reply.

     Aside from a few teenagers hanging out at the end of the sidewalk, there wasn’t another soul to be seen.  Where could he have taken off to so fast? And why?

     As the chilly spring air nipped at her naked arms, she wrapped them around herself and hurried down the sidewalk.  Bypassing the chattering teenagers, she cut around the building and spotted the silhouette of a man standing near the dumpster.

    
Ah ha!

     “Jeb, what are you doing back here? Are you okay?”

     She struggled to see him in the darkness.  The street light hardly covered five feet of the parking lot, let alone where her brother was standing.

     What if something terrible had happened to their father and he was trying to hide his grief?

     That was so typical Jeb; trying to protect her feelings, as always.

     “Jebson!” She shouted.

     How could he not hear her?

     Huffing in annoyance, she took quick steps to get to him.  Oh, he was going to get a piece of her mind.  Hiding away to talk on the phone about their father’s health issues was not okay.  He needed to learn to include his sisters in these sorts of things.  He needed—

     She skidded to a halt when ‘her brother’ stepped into the light and she quickly realized it wasn’t him at all.

     “Oh, I’m sorry.  I thought you were someone else.” Taking a few steps back, a nervous laugh escaped her.  “I’ll just let you get back to your phone call.”

     The only problem was, the guy wasn’t on a phone in the first place.

     He lifted a cigarette to his lips and took a drag, allowing the smoke to billow through his nostrils like a dragon.  His dark eyes remained on her as he approached her.

     “Hey there.” He said in a deep, gruff voice.  “What are you doing out here, baby doll?”

    
Baby doll?  Yuck.
  Swallowing her nerves into place, Laney laughed it off and turned on her heels, walking as quickly—but also calmly—as she could back towards the front of the building.

     “Where are you going in such a hurry, sweetie?  We could have some fun.”

     “I don’t think so.” She muttered, glancing back to make sure he wasn’t too close.

    
God, this is just my luck.  I get kissed by the hot guy, only to be killed by the creepy one.  Way to go, Laney.

     A million scenarios began to play through her mind as she zipped around the corner and crashed into a rock hard body.  Releasing a cry of both surprise and pain, her ass hit the pavement.

     “Really?” She cried, wincing from the pain shooting through her tailbone.

     “Laney?  What the hell?” Jeb asked, pulling her up like she weighed nothing.  “Are you okay?”

     “I’m f-fine.” She said through clenched teeth, glancing over her shoulder just in time to see the man round the corner.

     He froze in place and she felt Jeb’s fingers dig into her upper arm.

     “What the hell are you looking at?” He asked, his tone dangerous and low.

     “Nothing, man.  Nothing.” The guy said, turning around and disappearing around the corner.

     A wave of relief washed over her as she peered up at her brother again.  “Thanks.”

     “No problem.  But what were you doing back there?”

     “I was looking for you.”

     He seemed surprised.  “Why?”

     “Because you took off when you got that text and I thought it was about Dad.  I thought maybe something had happened…  It was stupid, okay?  I’m sorry.”

     “Dad? What?  Laney, no.” His large hands fell against her shoulders and he slowly shook his head.  “It wasn’t about Dad, okay? It was… Never mind.  That’s not important.  Are you really all right? You’re shaking like a leaf.”

     “I’m really okay, Jeb.  I swear.” She reassured him.  “You don’t need to worry about me.”

     “Yet I do because it’s my job.” He wrapped an arm around her shoulders and guided her back towards the entrance.  “So, uh, you and Benji, huh?”

     “Don’t start.” She groaned.  “It was just a kiss.  It was reflex, you know?  I finally knocked down some pins.”

     “Uh huh.” He chortled.  “Just a reflex.”

     She knew he didn’t believe her and that made her worry even more.  What if he told their parents?  What if her mom flipped her lid over it?  Accepting Lydia was one thing, but being able to wrap her head around the fact her daughter was extremely attracted to a trans man?

     “Don’t tell Mom and Dad.  Please?”

     “Hey, that’s your business.  I reckon if you want to tell them, you will.  It’s not my place.”

     “Thanks.”

     He opened the door for her and she stepped in, quickly turning to face him.

     “Are you going to tell me what that text was about?”

     His smile disappeared and his demeanor changed.  How odd.

     “Let’s not worry about that, okay?  It wasn’t even important.”

     “Okay…”

     She didn’t believe him, not in the slightest.

     Whoever it was, whatever it was about, Laney wasn’t sure she liked it very much.  Anyone who could steal her brother’s smile away was definitely, most certainly, without a doubt, bad news.

Chapter 7

Laney

     She awoke to the sound of chaos.  There was muffled screaming, shouting, and lots of thumping.  It sounded like someone was being murdered.

     Sitting up as straight as an arrow, she turned her head in the direction of her door and tried to decipher what was being said.

     “Turn it off! It’s going to flood the place!”

     Was that her brother shrieking like a little girl?

     “What the hell.” She threw her covers off her legs and got out of bed, stumbling over her own feet as she pulled the door open and poked her head outside. 

     The last thing she expected to see was a small river of water flowing down the hallway.

     “Oh my god!” She cried.  “What the hell happened?”

     An enraged Lydia appeared, drenched from head to toe, with a terrifying look of fury on her face.  “The stupid dishwasher just exploded and I can’t get the water turned off.”

     “Holy shit.” Carefully treading through the water, Laney hurried past her fuming sister and peered into the kitchen.

     Sure enough, water and soapy suds were gushing all over the floor, soaking into the carpet and rushing beneath the doors.

     “It’s not my fault!” Jeb, red-faced and bulgy-veined, insisted.  “I just turned the damn thing on like she asked me to.”

     “You must have stuck something in there to make it do that, Jeb!” Lydia pointed an accusatory finger at him.

    “I did not!” He shouted back.

    Laney suddenly felt six years old again, and her siblings were just having another screaming match over toys.  All she could do was stare back and forth as they glared at one another.

    “Well, I didn’t put anything in there to break it. Did you, Laney?”

    “No.” Her eyes bulged.  Angry Lydia was terrifying.

    “Well then it had to be you, Jeb. Ugh!” Lydia stomped her foot and did an about face, disappearing into the bathroom.

    “Crazy heffer.” Jeb muttered, kicking the toe of his boot against the wall.  “I didn’t break anything.”

     “Well, I think we should all take a deep breath and—”

    She was cut off by Lydia’s blood curdling scream. No matter how mad Jeb may have been a few seconds beforehand, he bolted down the hallway and slid towards the bathroom door, nearly falling a few times.

    “Lydia! What’s wrong?” He grabbed the doorknob and put his body against the door, forcing it open.

    “Call the damn landlord!” Lydia screeched.

    Laney watched as a waterfall sprouted out the door, hitting the walls and splashing against the floor.  It was complete and total insanity.

    “What the hell is going on?” She repeated again, watching as Jeb fell to the floor and Lydia tried to climb over him.

    “Call the landlord!” Lydia boomed. “Get him on the phone right now! RIGHT NOW!”

     A loud hissing sound reached her ears and Laney quickly turned to see the faucet in the kitchen spewing water everywhere.  It was like a scene directly out of a cartoon and she didn’t find it a damn bit funny.

    “Okay.  I’m on it.” Laney replied as she tried to avoid falling on the slippery surface.  If she could just get to her phone…

     Someone started knocking on the door and it was a fast, hard knock, too.  They wanted in, whoever it was.

     “Now what?” She wailed, pausing briefly to debate on which direction she really needed to go.

    “I got it.” Jeb announced as he walked past her.  His back was soaked and his t-shirt clung to his skin as he yanked the door open to reveal a drenched Aggie.  Her red hair clung to her face as she stared at him, and then her eyes wandered around the living room.

    “Ah. So you guys have a leak, too?”

----------

Benji

     His morning had started out so peacefully.  He wasn’t sure exactly what had happened, or how, but the day was quickly turning into a nightmare for everyone in their apartment complex as they were evacuated.

     “Ruined!” Lydia sobbed as she shoved a duffle bag into the trunk of her car.  “All of my wedding invitations—ruined!”