Here With Me (Paloma's Edge) (13 page)

Giggling, she put two eggs on the plate. “You like your eggs completely fried, right?”

I nodded my head against hers. Then I pulled myself away from her and started on the coffee. “How’d you sleep?” I asked.

Mariska turned around, appraising me. “Really…really well. I meant to get to you, but then—”

I cut her off, “A taste was all I was willing to take, Mariska.”

She walked over to me and gave me a quick kiss on my lips before she returned to the overcooked eggs and burning pancakes that needed to be flipped on the other side.

After I’d made her coffee and helped her with the pancakes, we were at the table, with Riley underneath, her paws on Mariska’s feet. “When you paid Manny, I thought that Vince might have pierced your nipples,” I confessed.

A loud laugh bubbled out of her mouth. This summer I’d thought she was incapable of it, and, for a second, I felt like we were two normal people, having a regular conversation, without the dark cloud of my sins weighing down on me.

“Why on earth did you think that?”

“I heard Vince say that one of his client’s friends was thinking about getting her nipples pierced.” I squared my shoulders. “Then you and Bri came in, and I thought about Vince’s hands on your tits—”

Mariska covered her hand on top of my available one. “You’ve given me something to think about later on down the road, but for now”—she angled her head and showed off her earrings—“this is it.” I gave her a smile. She cut a piece of her stiff pancakes and I suppressed a chuckle. Half of the patch of pancakes was burnt and the other half we’d made together were edible. “You don’t have to eat the rest, Hunter,” she said. “You can get something outside or I’ll swipe you in with my card, so you get something in the dining hall.” She poured more maple syrup on top of her pancakes and, while my natural maple syrup didn’t take away the burnt taste, I liked that she didn’t throw away food. I didn’t like food to go to waste either, bland, or plain bad tasting food included.

“Thank you for making breakfast. The eggs were good.” I drank some of my coffee. “We can work on the pancakes some other time, if you want.”

“I’d like that,” she murmured.

***

RILEY WAS WITH US on the sofa again after we’d eaten most of the food, had two cups of coffee, and rinsed the dishes together before we put them in my dishwasher. As Mariska petted Riley, I pulled out the unopened bag of treats from behind my cushion and Riley stood on our legs, her tongue lolling out.

“You want some, hmmm, Riley?” Mariska asked and Riley barked in answer. “You’ve been such a good girl. Sit down, you’re nails are digging into us.”

Riley lowered onto our legs and I handed the treats I’d poured in my hand to Mariska. “She can’t get enough,” I said as I shook more of the food and Riley moved again. When I poured some pieces in my hand, she ate out of it.

Mariska had a tremulous smile on her face. She massaged Riley’s tummy, like she was already accustomed to and she looked content. “You like them, huh?” Mariska asked rhetorically in Spanish, and began rubbing her paws.

“I’ve heard you speak Spanish at your job. Did you learn it at school? At home?”

She shook her head slowly. “My mom taught me Spanish since I was really young,” she paused, her bottom lip jutting out. “She’s a translator at the nearest hospital. She speaks French, too. I tested out of the intermediate and advanced Spanish courses in middle school, so the Spanish teacher reviewed my independent study work. So, I can write reports and translate complicated scientific reports and stuff like that in Spanish.”

I turned to the side and Riley nuzzled into my stomach. “That explains why you sound like a native speaker.”

She leaned her hip against the side of the couch and half-grinned. “Yeah, I can sound like a native speaker.” She stopped petting Riley and leaned her head on the couch. “I have to get go back to my room and get ready for my classes.

I drew in a breath. “Same here.” I cradled Riley’s head and slowly got on my feet. “You going to be in the library tonight?”

She nodded and, suddenly, I thought that the day was going to go by too slowly.

Chapter 17

Mariska

THROUGHOUT CLASS TODAY, I
thought about Hunter. Despite the pouring rain last night, I’d gotten out of the car and then back inside numerous times before he’d tapped my window. I’d wanted to tell Hunter that I wouldn’t call him those awful names anymore and I’d expected him to tell me that he didn’t think I was a virgin princess. And he had told me, although not directly.

Only Bri knew that Hunter was becoming someone important in my life. Someone whom I didn’t want to keep a dirty little secret. He’d taken the leap by kissing me at La Caridad. But I hadn’t really done the same, and Hunter acted like he didn’t care, but I think he did. His emotions were easier to read lately. He didn’t have a guard up like he had weeks ago and I didn’t quite know what to do with this change in his behavior.

When Bio Lab ended, Scott walked ahead of me and I saw some swelling on the side of his face. I ran a little and reached for his shoulder. When we faced each other, I was taken back by his crumpled t-shirt and cargo pants. Besides his football uniform, I’d never seen him in anything but an ironed shirt, slacks, or designer jeans, and shoes.

“Are you okay?” I asked and saw that he had a black eye. Someone had punched him in the face recently. This couldn’t have happened during the away game, because I’d seen him when he returned on campus and he hadn’t had a visible scratch or bruise on him.

He bobbed his head and then turned around, but I stood in front of him. “No, you’re not. Tell me what happened to you.”

Scott looked at me for a moment and then straight ahead of me. He wasn’t scared, but he was in pain and, even though he never really liked me, I didn’t enjoy seeing his face like that. He was very strong and could defend himself, so it led me to believe that more than one guy took some swings at him. As I stood next to Scott, Jake sneered. Scott shot him an equally scathing look and then stalked off.

“Did you do that to him, Jake?” I asked when I reached him.

“Yeah.” A furrow appeared between his eyebrows. “I’d heard that he had bet with his roommates that he’d…you know.. Chase and Pierce had a talk with him, but I hadn’t. So, before the party started last night, I did. He didn’t think it was a problem, since he wined and dined you. Like that would automatically get him to… ”

I let out a sigh. “You can’t do hothead stuff like that anymore. If Scott had told anyone, you would’ve gotten expelled.” I pulled his arm in mine and walked down the hallway toward the doors. “They have a zero tolerance policy.”

Jake scoffed. “And I’ve got a zero tolerance policy against people doing anything to hurt you or Beth.”

I trembled at his unwavering devotion to Beth and I. I loved him fiercely, too. When we were out of the main building, we paused. “I have the same policy. But this isn’t back home where your parents can come smooth things over. You can’t do this again. Not for me. And not for Beth. Please, Jake.”

He exhaled deeply and we resumed walking, arm in arm, until I opened the door to our residence hall. I had to switch books to study for my other classes in the library, where I’d see Hunter again.

“I came back at four this morning and you weren’t here,” he said when I pressed the button for the elevator. Eyes as dark as my own snapped at me. “Where were you? Bri and Pierce knew where you were and they wouldn’t tell Beth, or me. They don’t have good poker faces.”

I realized I was laughing nervously when he frowned at me. “I was at Hunter’s last night,” I admitted and my handsome, model looking best friend and brother’s face seemed to age, within the span of thirty seconds.

Jake’s eyes grew large. “Are you serious? Because, if you’re messing with me, this is not something—”

“I was at his house, Jake.” My voice came out small and I felt like I’d done something wrong. Being with Hunter hadn’t felt wrong when I’d woken up this morning.

“Shit,” Jake shook his head. “That explains why you didn’t drink anything last night. You did it for him.”

“No,” I murmured. “I really didn’t want any last night.” He arched a brow at me. “And I didn’t want him to smell it on me.”

Giving me a pointed look, he said, “Or taste it on you.” He raised his head to the ceiling. “They’re going to kill me.”

“Whose going to kill you?”

“Your parents,” he pulled in a deep breath. “They’re convinced that Hunter was trying to put the moves on you and they asked me to watch you guys when we were home during Fall Break.”

“Why didn’t you tell me?”

“We haven’t been telling each other about a lot of things. I didn’t think you two liked each other, so I didn’t give it a second thought. Where do you think this will go, Mariska?” Uncertain of the answer to that question myself, I shrugged.

He took a step from the elevator as people came out. Setting his hands on my shoulders, his gaze trained on me. I forced my face and my body to relax. My parents knew that, by asking him to watch Hunter and I, they were bringing out every protective streak he had, even if it meant that it could’ve gotten him in trouble. They only thought about their agenda to ensure that my life was how they wanted it to be. They justified getting Jake involved, because he was family to me. I could hear them now, telling me that it was for my own good.

“I didn’t give Chase a fair shake and I’ve never seen Beth this happy with someone. And we know how great Gregory had been to her. If she’d married him,” he breathed and dropped his hands to his chest, “my heart wouldn’t be heavy, worrying if any dude around our way would see her for who she is, and not as Cindy’s spawn.” He heaved out a breath. “Who knew that when she went through all that shit this summer, she’d have Chase? Someone who really makes her face light up. That didn’t happen when she’d been dating Gregory. You know that Chase is still trying to get her to stop working, and just go to school? He wants to make a life for her. I feared that I’d have to watch her endure heartbreak after heartbreak. You’re in new waters now, and you must see something in Hunter that none of us do. I am not going to list all the ways that this could go. I know that I can be…”

“A wee-bit impulsive,” I supplied and his face broke out into a smile.

“Just a wee-bit,” he said on a dry laugh. “I won’t confront him.” He was silent for a few minutes, and I immediately felt calmer. He knew me too well. I didn’t want him to think that I thought the worst of him, because I didn’t. I didn’t want to be a burden for him. I never thought that I’d been a burden for him, until now. “Unless you ask me to.”

I jumped up a little and pulled him into a tight hug. “I love you, Jake.” He patted me on my back and then pulled away, swinging his gaze to his watch. “Would you look at the time?” We went into the elevator after people filed out.

“You don’t have to say it. Beth and I know you love us, or else you wouldn’t care about us like you do.”

He waved his hand, as I stepped onto the second floor and headed to my dorm. He didn’t have to say that I had to talk Beth.

***

JENNIFER AND HER FRIEND
, Raquel, glanced at Hunter for the entire hour since he’d sat down with us at our usual table in the library. He didn’t say anything, but I knew he could tell when they were outright staring at him. I didn’t know if I should do something, or go back to reading a chapter for my People & Society class.

Hunter leaned into my side and strands of his hair brushed against my ear. He chuckled low in his throat as a shiver ran through me. “How many more questions do you have to go?”

I held up seven fingers and he groaned. Jennifer and Raquel giggled and dropped their gazes to their textbooks when he eyed them with the corner of his incredible mouth curled up.

By the time I answered my last question, Hunter closed my practice booklet and quickly put my notebook and textbook into the backpack I’d started carrying today. As we hauled ourselves from the stiff wooden chairs, I watched as Jennifer and Raquel’s eyes lingered on Hunter. He was putting on a leather jacket and he shook his head to get his hair out of the way. It was growing out to frame his face, like it had before, and I looked forward to seeing it reach his chin in a few months.

“Great to meet to you, Jennifer,” he cocked his head, “and Raquel.”

They echoed his words.

***

HUNTER PROPPED ME AGAINST
the wall near the entrance and exit doors of the library when we left. As he tugged me flush against him with his heavy arm, I laced my fingers with his. He brought down his head and I angled mine to meet his lips. Hunter brushed his fingers against the swell of my lips and I raised my hand to run my fingers along his strong, firm jaw.

“I’ll be all by my lonesome tonight in my big bed.”

“You’ve got your tie dye teddy bear.”

“It might help keep me warm, but it can’t do the things that you can do.”

I leaned my head against his broad chest and slid my hands underneath his shirt, and then on his chest. I heard him suck in a ragged breath and I felt a private triumph from his reaction to me. I thought I’d counted an eight-pack and a nice trail of hair below his belly button. When I pressed my chin to his chest and held his gaze, Jennifer and Raquel came out of the library, tittering noisily.

“Your. Room. Now,” he commanded in Spanish, his voice low and rough. He
’d kick started my adrenaline.