Just Her Luck (17 page)

Much to my advantage.

I’ll use any I’ve got.

"Let her go, Reeve," Ten said when he realized Reeve had no intention to.

"She and I have to have us a little
talk
first. Don't we,
Genevieve
?" he said knowingly, making me want to slap him, cover my bottom up-
just in case
- and at the same time turn around and wave it at him like a flag
- the latter part just to be a butt.

The way he said my name made it sound like a dirty, dirty word, and I shivered a little.

He doesn't deserve that sexy of a voice
, I thought petulantly.

"Nope, I'm good." I glanced over and smiled at Ten sweetly, pretending nothing was amiss.

He frowned as he watched the byplay between us.

"Why do I feel like I'm missin' somethin' here?" Ten asked into the silence that followed.

"Because you are," Ephraim managed to get out from his bent over position, making me want to flick his ear.

"Keep a hold on her!" Thatcher yelled, limping towards us, his balls cupped in his hand.

Reeve watched Thatcher making his way over and choked down a laugh at the sight of him.

Thatcher looked like a green, slime covered mud monster.

He must have fallen right into the sludgy part of the pond.

I grinned and giggled at Thatch, waiting for him to come closer, ready for whatever he tried to dish out.

"She," he bellowed, pointing at me, hollering out loudly, "was kissin' Sawyer! I saw it with my own two eyes!
And then
she slapped me in the balls!"

I rescind my last statement.

I wasn't ready for that.

Blunt, smarmy bastard!

I tried, really I tried, not to do anything, but I couldn't help it when he told Reeve everything, blabbing it all out and then some in front of god and every one, embarrassing the shit outta me; exaggerating the whole thing as I flushed and scowled, seething quietly, getting more and more angry by the minute as he proceeded to yammer on and whine about it.

He knew exactly what he was doing too, watching my expression morph slowly into Hagatha the raging witch as he kept on.

Being a relatively private person, him airing my dirty laundry just made it all that much more damning for me.

If anyone asks, I'll just let them know that technically he did it to himself
, I thought, feeling absolved of any blame when I finally made my move.

Having had enough, I shrieked and launched myself at him, ripping the bottom of my shirt in the process as Reeve still held it captive.

"Thatcher!" I growled, shrieking out angrily when Reeve picked me up and pinned me to his chest, stopping me from murdering his younger brother.

"What the hell is wrong with you, Thatch? You don't blurt that kind of stuff out," Ten called out from behind me, disapproval deep in his voice.

I
think
he was behind me, can't be too sure. I was too busy hissing and spitting at the stupid blonde oaf.

"I can't believe I actually thought you were the nice one! You're just a slimy snake! Manipulating people into doing what you want!" I accused, shaking a fist at him, making Thatcher stop in his tracks, the frown on his face turning into a full out scowl.

"No, I don't."

"You know as well as I do that you were going to tell everyone if I didn't kiss you too! It’s extortion or some shit! That's low, even for
me
!" I spat at him, "You're a terrible person and I never want to speak to you again! I hope your balls turn..."

I would have said more, but Reeve put his mud encrusted hand over my mouth and silenced me.

"Calm down, you little hellcat," he muttered quietly into my ear, "You're gonna make him turn blue."

I glanced at Thatcher and saw the crimson, tell-tale red of humiliation climbing up his face, creeping over his ears.

"He deserves it," I muffled into his hand, glaring at Thatcher as I called him out on his shit in the yard.

"You didn't have to whack me in the balls! I wasn't going to tell! You should have just kissed me back!" he huffed, making it sound like this was perfectly normal reasoning.

"You're insane!" I hissed through Reeve's fingers, fighting harder to get out of Reeve's evil clutches.

"I'll see you later, Percy," Reeve told his friend, hauling me towards the house.

Percy? I thought his name was Ten?

Oh, who fuckin' cares!

“Let me go!!” I bellowed into his palm.

I got a few swift kicks in as he pulled me into the house and proceeded to drag me down the hall, but he was a lot better at dodging than I was swinging.

He finally moved his hand away from my mouth when he got me all the way into the guest bathroom downstairs.

I gripped the door frame, biting at his fingers when he tried to pry them free.

"Let go, damn it!" he grunted.

"NO!" I shouted, holding on tight. "What happened, pervert? Couldn't wait for the asthma to do me in and now you're going to drown me instead?!"

"You need to cool off!" he barked and slapped my ass, "Whether you like it or not!"

Startled, I yelped and jumped in his arms, my hands losing their grip as he stomped towards the shower.

He kicked the bathroom door shut with his foot then reached over to lock it.

"How dare you!" I gasped, beating him with Ephraim's hat, shrieking when he grunted and dumped me in the floor.

He stepped on my pant leg, pinning me in place as he turned the water on.

"Stay still!" he commanded, grunting when I reached up his pant leg and clawed at him.

"Let go! Let me the fuck out!" I shrieked, pulling my pants off to get free.

"NO!" he roared, turning towards me, watching me as I hopped up and stood my ground, pants-less, but still intact.

Hey, who says pink flower covered panties aren’t tough?

I’m totally rockin’ this shit.

"Yes!" I bellowed back, pushing on his immovable chest.

He didn't budge.

"You're making me crazy!" he snarled, "I haven't even known you a few days and you're already under my skin!"

"Well, I'm not that fond of you either!" I growled right back, bumping my chest up against his, trying to push back.

"You're causing problems in my own damn home!

"
You're
a problem in your own damn home!" I snapped back, "If you'd quit chasing people off, acting like an asshole, maybe you wouldn't have ended up
stuck
with
me!"

"Maybe if you didn't have such a
big mouth
, you could be seen and not heard!"

"Fuck you!" I screamed, pummeling his chest fruitlessly.

"Sounds like you and Sawyer were already headed there!" he threw out at me.

Suffice it to say, after
that
comment,
I cracked.

The echo of my slap as it whipped across his face reverberated in the room, a red hand print immediately showing up across the good side of his face, welting right up.

His chest pressed hard against mine as he clenched his jaw and backed me into a corner.

A small frisson of fear slithered through me when he gripped my hips and lifted me up, pinning me to the wall, forcefully holding me there, eyes blazing at me menacingly-
one cold chip of hazel colored glass to complement the stark white of his dead eye.

He saw it in my expression, the fear, and paused, eyeing me with an intent, very scary intensity, his expression going somewhat guarded when he figured out how affected I was by him, keenly aware of me all of the sudden.

It just made everything worse.

He was staring at me with such scrutiny for so long that I began to wonder what was going through his mind, rattling around in that head of his, my stupid eye twitch kicking in as he left me there to sweat it out, lost to my own musings, whatever they may be.

The bathroom fogged up as the moisture from the shower permeated the room, misting around us eerily, covering up the mirrors in a thin film of condensation.

He got this odd, eureka type look on his face and that's when the panic really kicked in, my body trembling slightly.

I could always blame the slight case of the shakes on the cold, but I think he'd know better even before I’d tried.

Light bulb moments are never a good thing when the one having them is the one holding you prisoner against a wall in the bathroom.

Do or die time, I went for his face, aiming at his eyes.

He saw, corrected it, and caged me in, keeping me from doing much of anything.

"You were running
away
from Sawyer earlier, weren't you?" he puzzled out, breath warm against my ear. "Then Thatcher..."

Swallowing hard, I blanked my expression, acting like this was the most mundane thing ever.

"What are you getting at? I thought you were going to beat my ass or something?" I unwaveringly managed to blurt out, not a squeak in my voice.

Even though I'm squeakin' plenty inside.

'So bored', my body said on the outside, while inside I had full scale attack sirens blaring, warning me of a suspected threat, my mind trying to run a mile a minute.

What is he getting at?

Jump ship! Jump ship! Every man for himself!
I thought, trying to keep my blasé expression.
He's onto us!

I'd almost rather he spanked me or drowned me in the shower already.

"You know... I think I'm going about this all
wrong
.” He cocked his head, setting me on my feet.

"Huh?" I mumbled, dumbfounded, "What are you blathering about?"

I shoved my hands on my hips and frowned up at him.

He smiled at me slowly and put a finger under my chin, lifting it up a little higher.

"What I'm doing doesn't really get to you, does it? In some odd kind of way, I think you might even
like
it. They, Sawyer and Thatcher, however, shook you up. Spooked you. Pretty good from the way you were actin’. They frighten you," he said simply and leaned in, my chin held firmly in place.

"Who does?" I asked a little breathlessly, hoping my eyes weren't saucer sized as he licked his lips.

"Sawyer kissed you, didn't he? That's it, isn't it? And that's why you're the way that you are with Thatcher and his flirting too, right? Why you act like you don't like it.
You're scared
," he said smugly, a devilish smile curling up the corners of his lips.

I actually find Thatcher's over the top dramatics somewhat off putting, but let him think what he likes.

The other stuff though, I'm pleading the fifth.

"Like hell," I bluffed, trembling a little more, my hands scrabbling for purchase against the bathroom wall.

Don't shake or the jig will be up, Vieve!

"I think I've just figured you out, prison bait," he breathed into my ear, "want to leave now, while you still can?"

"You don't know doodley shit about me!" I glared at him, reaching up to poke him in the chest.

False bravado, here I come!

"I'm not scared of anything!"

"Oh, yes you are," he laughed at me.

Laughed! At me!

Me!

I pushed against his chest, kneeing him in the groin, going straight for the jewels.

Unlike all of my other victims, including him the first time we met, he just grunted and subdued me.

"That's not very nice," he ground out, shifting even closer. "You keep that up," he pressed himself against my thigh, letting me know that despite my attempted maiming of him, he was 'ready', if you know what I mean, to
go
, "I'm not like the others. I'll make you kiss it and make it all better."

"You get that
thing
anywhere near my mouth and I'll bite it off!"

"Last chance, gremlin. What will it be?" he murmured, leaning towards me again.

He wouldn't.

He's bluffing.

Haven't I had this conversation with myself before... like just the other day?

I leaned up towards him, meeting him half way.

"I just sucked your brother's tongue out of his head," I ran my fingers up his dirty shirt, walking them into his hair and gripping the thick wavy strands as he did the same to me, running his fingers through mine, releasing my hips as he did so, pinning me to the wall now with his muscled thighs.

He shuddered and his breath caught.

"Do you really want sloppy seconds?" I taunted, giving him a small sexy smile, massaging his scalp as he cleared his throat uncomfortably, probably rethinking the idiocy of his plan.