Run (6 page)

“What about you, Mason? What do you like to do?” Lainey asked, as she flashed a doe-eyed gleam his way.

“I played baseball back home. I guess you could say sports and whatever.” He shrugged her off.

“Well, would you like a tour? You could get out of the house and take a little walk. The kids would be more than happy to show you around,” Anna said, clasping her hands together in enthusiasm. She acted as if we all were supposed to do the same.

“It’s no big deal if it’s too much,” I said looking at Noah. I wasn’t sure I wanted to be around him. He seemed so rude.

Noah looked at his mother then back at me. He sat up straighter, stretching, his biceps flexing. “It’s not a problem. I’m sure we’ll have a good time,” he said, raising an eyebrow at me. Mason looked at him. He sat up, crossing his arms over his chest.

Anna was pleased. She shooed us outside. Aunt Wanda shot us a secret warning glare before we slipped out of view. Payton was already back at the duplex, not hanging around any longer than she had to.

Mason and I started down the stairs. I walked closely beside him as Lainey and Noah led the way down the driveway.

“I feel like I am a part of the Brady bunch right now. Shoot me please,” he said, kicking stones across the country road.

“I think they’re nice,” I said, looking at Noah as he snagged a branch from the tree he was passing by.

“Yeah
,
because he looks so thrilled to be here right now. I wouldn’t be surprised if he isn’t as psychotic as other people I know.” He shook his head.

I laughed. We headed into a grassy field. Lainey turned making sure we were still following. I stopped laughing before she thought I was making fun of her. She chewed at her thumb, lost in thought. When she almost tripped she finally returned her gaze to the front.

“I think she has a thing for you,” I said softly, poking Mason in his arm.

“Good for her,” he grumbled.

We made our way down a hill into an enormous amount of tall pines, the trees swallowing us.

Noah swung his stick at the trees as he hurried through the brush.

“How much farther,” Mason asked, not pleased with the wilderness. Noah turned around, bringing us all to a sudden halt.

“There’s a bike trail a few more feet. Is this intimidating?” he asked, a cocky smirk pinned to his lips. I bit my lip, amused in the moment. I knew Mason had enough fortitude to deal with Noah’s teasing.

Noah hopped an overturned tree with quickness, his feet landing on the bike trail. I looked around not seeing any bikes anywhere.

“If we walk down here, there’s a big stream,” Lainey told us, taking off, not waiting for any of us to follow. I hurried after her, hanging on to the trees to keep from falling on my face. I scrambled sideways looking for something to grab, when the earth suddenly gave way beneath my feet and I began sinking into the soft soil.

“Easy there. I thought you said you liked the outdoors?” Noah asked, taking hold of my waist. He lifted me, setting me on solid ground.

“Not off the sides of cliffs,” I muttered, looking at Lainey. She took a seat amid the leaves on the ground. Mason held back a smirk and sat down beside her.

“You have pretty hair,” she said. If this was how she conversed, I was afraid I didn’t have much to say. I held my breath, sifting my brain for something girly to say back. I touched my hair, staring at the trees.

“You don’t have much to say, do you? My friends talk a lot. We all do, actually,” she said.

“I’ve never really had many girlfriends,” I admitted, shrugging.

“What girl doesn’t have girlfriends?” Noah piped in. He sat down, leaning against a tree.

Noah pulled out a pack of cigarettes. I eyed Mason when Noah lit one up. Mason shrugged. It wasn’t a cigarette at all. He took a long drag and then passed it to Lainey. She hesitated, looking at the two of us before she brought it to her lips.

Lainey coughed passing it to me. I took a light drag and passed it to Mason.

“This girl doesn’t. I’ve always been a tomboy,” I said, blowing out smoke.

“A
total
tomboy,” Mason laughed. He studied the joint in his hand as he exhaled a cloud of smoke.

“Oh yeah? You two always been so close?” Noah prodded. He took the joint back from Mason, licking his lips. He took a deep full drag from the joint, almost killing the rest of it.

“Yeah
,
we were raised together,” I said, watching Lainey make another weak attempt at smoking.

“You don’t seem tomboyish to me. How many tomboys wear pink?” Noah said, tugging at my shirt. He leaned against the tree going quiet.

“So, Mason, how good were you at baseball?” Lainey asked, scooting closer to Mason. He took the joint from her, their fingers touching for a split second.

I watched her play with her hair, pretending to be interested in everything he had to say. He kept on talking, savoring the moment and the high. His smile grew bigger every time he ignited giggles from her. She innocently touched his arm with her fingertips each time she laughed.

Noah shot up from the ground. He looked at the two of them.

“I’m going to take a walk. If you don’t want to sit here and be bored then you could come,” Noah told me. He shook his legs free of leaves. I accepted his hand, letting him pull me up.

Mason didn’t notice I’d even left. I was a little bothered by his complete fixation on Lainey. As I walked through the woods with Noah I heard another giggle. I kept my eyes fixed to our feet as we walked the trail.

“How exactly do you know my dad?” he asked, the silence shattered.

“I never met him. I guess my mother and aunt knew him. He never told you?”

“I don’t make it a point to ask him about his life before my mother,” he said snidely.

“I’m sorry, why are you being so rude?” I asked.

He seemed shocked at that. “This is just me. No one’s ever said that to me before.”

“Probably afraid to,” I said softly.

He nodded, staring at the clearing ahead of us. My whole body was calm and fuzzy feeling.

“And if you think they’re all afraid of me why would you say something?” He lifted a stone from the ground. He moved closer, watching my every move.

“It takes a lot more than a blond hair, blue-eyed country boy to scare me,” I said, blowing him off. His intimidation tactics weren’t working on me.

“What about Mason? You think he scares easily?” he asked.

“Mason seems mellow, but he’s got a lot more going on than you’d think,” I warned him.

“Very protective aren’t we?” He smirked, amusement showing in his eyes.

“So, what kind of girl are you, Kendall?”

I laughed, pushing his shoulder and walking back the way we came. I wasn’t falling for his lame attempts at flirting with me.

“The girls around here take one look at me and they’re all about it,” he said, following behind me.

“You’re cocky. And I don’t think you’re polite at all,” I said, not slowing down.

“Dark hair more your thing?” he asked, hitting a nerve.

“I don’t have a
thing
.”

“The two of you don’t even look like relatives. I bet fifty dollars he’s had his hands all over your body,” he said, pushing me.

“Sometimes you’re better off not asking so many questions, Noah,” I told him.

“My sister’s pretty quick. She sees something she wants and she takes it,” he said, still trying his best to get under my skin. I bit my tongue as we came to the top of the clearing—just in time to see Lainey pulling away from Mason’s lips. She jumped to her feet and let out an embarrassed laugh.

My stomach dropped. I was shocked Mason would kiss her. Lainey wiped her lips free of her smeared lip gloss. Mason came over to me.

I tried not to act shocked.

“You don’t want to see the water?” Lainey asked, jumping in between the two of us. I kept my eyes on Mason ready to deck her. He rolled his eyes, irritated by my attitude.

“No, I think I need some sleep,” Mason said.

“Yeah, looks like it,” I mumbled.

Noah grabbed my arm, letting Mason go ahead of us. Mason shot me a look, knowing full well there wasn’t a thing he could say to me now.

My heart ached.

“I told ya,” Noah said in a singsong voice as we headed back to the house.

The next two days flew by. I stayed inside most of the time, barely showing my face to the sun. It was clear I was upset…for many reasons. First of all, I was angry that I let Mason have the power to upset me. I’d let him crawl inside my mind and behind my emotional barricade. I thought I was okay with the feelings he was starting to show.

But now, seeing Mason do what boys do best, the feelings had almost vanished, leaving me angry at everything. I was starting to care less and less about anyone. My skin had thickened with every blow to my heart. It made me wish I was more robotic by nature—having no human feelings or cares.

I finally ventured outside to enjoy the sunny day. I walked barefoot through the grass, and it tickled my feet. As I walked around, I admired the natural beauty of the land Roger and Anna owned.  Yeah, it was hard to hide inside on a day like this.

Anna was in the yard hanging colorful quilts on the clotheslines. Her white dress blew to the side like ivory petals, making her look like a flower, tiny and delicate. She always had a smile on her face. I sat beneath a big tree, eventually lying back in an attempt to clear my mind and relax.

“Are you hungry, sweetie?” Anna asked. I stared up at her, the blue sky behind her making her saintly looking.

“No, not really,” I said softly, breathing in the fresh air.

She dropped the wicker laundry basket in the grass and took a seat beside me. Her dress slid up past her thighs as she wrapped her arms around her legs. And she didn’t seem to care. She stared off, lost in thought.

“Roger tells me your mom and you don’t speak anymore,” she said. She kept her gaze straight ahead. I sat up, propping myself up with my elbows.

“It’s been a couple years,” I lied. I wasn’t sure what to say.

“He also tells me you’ve been through a lot in your life–and you’ve had no real role models.” She eyed me, waiting for a response.

I sat up straight. I wasn’t one to divulge much information about my family. I never talked with anyone about them. Oh, Mason knew some things, but he didn’t know everything. Mason knew only what he’d witnessed himself.

“We can’t all be so fortunate to have what you guys do,” I said defensively.

“I’m not trying to upset you. I’m just trying to show you there are women that are good, that have good hearts.”  She smiled.

My heart sped up rather than calmed down. I swallowed down the anger I could feel bubbling in my soul.

“I wouldn’t know, I’ve never known a single person like that in my life.”

“That’s very sad. You’re a nice girl, Kendall,” she said.

“You don’t know anything about me. Nothing nice comes from a rotten life like mine. I do what I know. That’s all I can do,” I said, lying back down. I reached down with my hands and pulled at the grass.

Anna stood up. She knew she wasn’t getting through to me. Some people just couldn’t be helped.

“I had a rough life growing up. And then I met a wonderful man who loves me, scars and all. There is always someone out there willing to give you a shot,” she said softly, heading into the house.

I closed my eyes. Sometimes people were so full of it. Most people weren’t looking to see who you really are. And most people were never going to show you who they really are.

She was a batty woman, I thought to myself, letting the wind waft over me.

A loud tapping pulled me from my reverie. I followed the sound to an old workshop behind the duplex. I dragged my hand over the chipped paint as I walked to the door.

Roger was hammering away at an old bookcase. I watched his arms moving in rhythm to each strike of the mallet. He wore a red flannel shirt that revealed part of his chest. I was attracted to the power he seemed to hold in that mallet.

“Well, hello there,” he said, when he realized he had an audience.

He motioned me in as he continued hammering. I moved closer and saw he’d been carving a rose into the wood.

“Wow,” I said, breathless, admiring his craftsmanship.

“It looks simple, but it’s very detailed,” he said with a grin. He took my hand bringing it up to the rose carving, pushing my fingertips into the grooves.

“Wow, this is so cool, Roger,” I said with a smile.

He watched me closely as I ran my fingers down the wood examining every inch of it. It was the most beautiful thing I’d ever seen.

“When did you learn to do this?” I asked, not taking my eyes away from it.

“Probably around your age--my old man owned an antique store. He taught me everything he knew.”

I nodded, finally looking up. Roger was leaning against the tool bench, a big grin on his face.

“What?” I asked.

“It’s uncanny how much you look like Joy-Ann. I always thought she was the most breathtaking woman I ever laid eyes on.” He wasn’t sorry he said this from the expression on his face.

“I guess it’s hard to see when it’s you,” I said, staring at the ground.

“I totally had a thing for your mom. She never gave me the time of day though,” he said, moving back to the bookcase. He lifted the mallet and gave me a look.

“You were lucky,” I laughed. “Your wife is much better than my mother.”

Roger glanced up at the house through the open door. He moved closer to me.

“She is and always will be,” he said. He pursed his lips, scanning my eyes for a hint of what he should do next. My heart pounded in my ears. He took my hand, pulling me closer. His hand shaking.

“You look just like her,” he breathed, running his hand across my arm. I stared into his eyes, totally sucked into the moment. He was a good looking man. Sometimes there was something about a man old enough to know better that made me curious.

He looked at the door again. His hand quickly slipped underneath my shirt, his fingers sliding up, his eyes pinned to mine. I moved closer, running my fingers down his chest, pulling at the buttons of his shirt. I coaxed his hand to my shorts, and without much urging he slipped a hand down the front of them.

“You can do whatever you want,” I whispered.

“I don’t think you mean that, Kendall,” he whispered back, undoing my shorts. I bit my lip as his fingers slipped past my underwear.

He used his other hand to drag my shirt up, running his hand across my breast. I waited for him to kiss me, wanting nothing more than his lips against mine.

My breath quickened at the feel of his fingers against me, the way they moved, the power and skill behind them. I wanted more. I wanted to feel more than Roger’s fingers.

“I can’t be doing this. I don’t know what it is about you,” he stammered, pulling his hand from my shorts. He studied me, trying to pull it together. I pulled him by the shirt, bringing him closer, my lips grazing his gently. I slowly kissed him, running my tongue across his bottom lip, taking hold of his neck, tugging on his shirt, my body ready to burst. Nothing had ever turned me on more than this moment. I felt flawed… so wrong for wanting this man.

I kissed his neck.

He  pawed at my body. Stopping every couple seconds to look at the door and then his mouth would meet back up with mine. He kissed me hard, holding tight to my waist, his fingers digging into my flesh so passionately--his lips warm, his facial hair rubbing against my chin. His tongue gliding perfectly against mine, he knew what he was doing.

“Hey, Dad!” Noah yelled from outside the workshop. Roger pushed me away, shocked. I hurried to pull my shirt down, quickly buttoning my shorts.

Roger adjusted himself, rubbing his hands across his face.

Noah appeared in the doorway. He gave us a strange look. “Mom needs your help with something,” he said, eyeing me. Roger grunted, heading out of the shed in a hurry to get away.

I sighed. Before I could make it out of the workshop
,
Noah stopped me in the doorway.

“My dad is a good man, but he is a man. My mom is a good woman, but she will still kick your ass,” he said, staring me down.

“I was looking at his woodwork.”

“Yeah, woodwork.” He rolled his eyes.

“Whatever,” I said. I shoved him, but it made no difference he wasn’t budging.

“Looks to me like you’re in a sticky situation. You’re a gypsy. You need a place to stay. I could run in there and tell my mom you were out here getting felt up by my dad, or you and I could work something out.” His expression proved he wasn’t joking.

He moved closer.

“What does that mean?” I asked, taking a step backward.

“I want what you were willing to give my dad,” he grinned.

I had to admit he was cunning. I nodded, allowing him to pull my shirt up.

“Couldn’t be that bad. I’m a good looking guy, right?” he asked, pressing his lips into mine.

I nodded, closing my eyes as he kissed down my neck, his hands groping my chest. And then he returned to my mouth.

“Take your pants off,” I whispered in his ear. He did as I asked in an instant. He kicked his pants off, standing in his boxers, tugging his shirt over his head.

“You like what you see?”

I nodded, motioning him over with my finger. I slipped my hands to his shoulders, holding on tightly and in a swift second I brought my knee up, hitting him right in the groin with enough strength to drop him to his knees.

He groaned, falling over. “You stupid bitch!”

I stood over him, amused he would be so stupid. “You’re a stupid kid,” I told him, watching him wither in pain. “Go ahead and tell your mom. I’ll tell her you tried to have your way with me.” I headed out of the workshop, pleased.

Being able to put someone so arrogant in their place was a rush. I grabbed the railing, heading up the stairs. I knew he wouldn’t say anything after I’d humiliated him.

I turned around, looking at Roger and Anna’s house. My heart fluttered at the thought of Roger’s kiss. The memory of his hands touching me was exciting. Something about it pulled at my mind. I wanted another run in with him.

I looked back down and found Mason staring up at me. I turned, going inside the duplex. I had nothing to say to him. He had hurt me one time too many. And he hadn’t said anything to me for days.

Aunt Wanda was gone…I wasn’t sure where. This left me alone. But that soon ended when Mason barged right in without knocking.

He stood there just waiting. He didn’t utter a single word, he just stared at me.

“What did you do?” he said finally, once he knew I wasn’t going to be the first to speak. He eyed me suspiciously.

I scoffed, looking out the window. The sun was starting to set.

“You seem to forget something,” he said, crossing his arms.

“What’s that, Mason?” I asked, humoring him.

“I know you. I’ve known you for a long time. You’re going to sleep with that woman’s husband, but you’re pissed off at me for kissing his daughter.”

I laughed to myself, turning away from him.  There wasn’t anything to say when he was right.

“He’s in his forties. What could he possibly do for you that I can’t?” Mason grabbed ahold of me. “For the record, Kendall, her lips met mine. I had no intention of kissing her. I didn’t even want to kiss her. I was trying to go along with it so I didn’t ruffle any feathers,” he said. I slapped him on the arm, offended.

“What happened to the Mason in the car who gave a damn?”

“I’m not thinking about sleeping with Lainey. I don’t want to. But you, you’re willing to let that man have his way with you. He’s old, Kendall. Think about why he would want to do such a thing,” Mason said. He pulled at his hair, turning away, irritated with me.

“Men are men, they’re all alike. You proved that today. Just when I thought you were proving me wrong,” I said.

“If you sleep with him, Kendall, I’ll… god I don’t know what I’ll do, but it won’t be good.” He wagged his finger in my face like I was some child he had the right to tell what to do.

“Mason, shut up,” I said, daring him to make a bigger deal of what had happened.

I didn’t want to talk about it anymore. He was used to being pushed around, and although I hated to push, he deserved it.

“No, I’m not shutting up. This was supposed to be me and you. And you’re letting this flaky family get between us. I still care about you, Kendall. And I know you care about me. Or you would have never mentioned me kissing Lainey.”

“Oh, don’t flatter yourself,” I said, rolling my eyes. My cheeks heated.

“It’s never been an issue before. Don’t lie to yourself,” Mason said, throwing his hands up in defeat. He left. The sound of his heavy footsteps echoing down the stairs. He was angry, but I didn’t care. 

Maybe he was right, but at this time and in this moment, I didn’t mind being wrong.