Rules of Protection (Tangled in Texas) (Volume 1) (13 page)

Jake was genuinely confused. “What’s your problem?”

“This is where you chose to take me? Seriously?”

“What’s wrong with Dairy Queen?”

“Nothing!” I marched toward Junior’s Diner with my feathers more ruffled than before.

I could hear the people in the other cars laughing as Jake pulled out of the drive-through line, parked, and got out. “What are you whining about now?” he asked.

“Whining about?” I said, spinning on my heels and pacing back in his direction. “Are you kidding me?”

“Emily, you’re making a scene.”

“Well, you might be in for one hell of a shock, but I don’t fucking care!”

“I don’t get it. You didn’t throw a tantrum last night.”

“Because I didn’t know where you were taking me last night!”

“I didn’t, either,” Jake said. “Is that why you’re so pissed?”

“God. All you men are liars!”

A trashy-looking woman from one of the drive-through cars hung out her window and shouted, “You tell him, girl!”

“Hey, women lie, too, and not always on their backs,” a young man yelled from the other car in the drive-through, then followed it with animated laugh.

Jake’s steely gaze bore into mine. “Are you done being hysterical yet?” he asked in a low, rough voice.

“Not. Even. Close.” I squeezed past him and walked between two parked cars.

Jake followed, not allowing me to escape his field of vision. He was thoroughly pissed off. “You know, I wondered when the next storm would hit,” he said angrily. “We should have named you Hurricane Emily. It’s more fitting.”

“Sure, Jake. Throw more gas on the fire.”

“You know what your problem is? I’ll tell you. You’re an overindulged, entitled baby who is prone to outbursts and too wrapped up in yourself to care about anybody else.”

The woman from the drive-through car yelled, “Honey, I wouldn’t take that shit.”

The young man in the other car didn’t appreciate the woman’s comment and honked his horn. “Hey, bitch, why don’t you shut your pie hole and mind your own business?”

“Look who’s talking, jackass!” the woman hollered back.

Jake shook his head. “Jesus Christ. Are you trying to start a riot?

“Now it’s
my
fault the people in the drive-through are arguing? I guess everything’s my fault, right?”

Jake grabbed my arm. “We need to go before someone calls the cops.”

I shook him off and tilted my chin up. “Let them. I’d rather be arrested, handcuffed, and loaded in the back of a cruiser than to get in the vehicle with you again.”

He glanced around and lowered his voice to a whisper. “If they run your fingerprints, you’ll be put in the system and Felts will find you.”

His attempt at forcing me to maintain a healthy perspective didn’t work. I was too far gone and still lashing out. “What do you care, anyway? You’d be rid of my
overindulged, entitled ass
.”

“Emily, get in the car.”

“There you go, telling me what to do. What are you going to do if I don’t…kidnap me again?” I stood there with crossed arms, tapping my foot, and watching anger flicker like fire in his eyes.

“Would you knock it off, you spoiled little…” He stopped himself from continuing his train of thought.

I didn’t care. That got my blood pumping, coursing through my veins at the speed of light. I had to get away from him before I punched him. “Oh, I give up!” I tried to step around him, but he blocked me from leaving.

“No, that’s exactly your problem,” Jake said, his nostrils flaring. “You
don’t
give up. Ever. In fact, you don’t ever shut up, either.”

Don’t do it. Don’t say—
“It’s not my fault the average intelligence level around here is a big whopping three. I didn’t ask to be held captive in Hicksville or for us to sit around playing Duck, Duck, Goose, either. If all of you want to sit around licking windows and eating crayons with googly eyes and missing teeth, then be my guest. My ass will be on the next bus back to Chicago.”
Damn, I said it.

Looking into Jake’s eyes, I knew our unpleasant battle of wills had become more personal than I meant it to.
Me and my big mouth.
His body swelled with rage as I pushed him to his breaking point.

“Get back in the car,” he growled.

I couldn’t move my feet. Regretting my words, I wanted to apologize, but didn’t know how. He regarded it as a sign of rebellion and snapped.

Jake gripped my arm, making me yelp, and manhandled me toward the Explorer. Out of the corner of my eye, I caught a glimpse of Junior standing under a security light in the parking lot of his diner, watching the entire scene. He grinned at me and stepped back into the shadows.

“That’s right, bubba,” the young man in the drive-through yelled out. “You show that bitch who’s the boss!”

Jake glared at him. “Shut up, dick!”

…

He was silent on the way home, spending half the drive gripping the steering wheel with such pressure I was sure he’d break his knuckles.

A hard lump formed in my throat, forcing me to choke on any words of apology that wanted to make their presence known.
I shouldn’t have let things get so out of hand.
I felt terrible about implying his friends and family were uneducated hicks, especially since they’d been nothing but kind to me. He was never going to forgive me. It would serve me right if he abandoned me on the side of the road.

Jake pulled off onto the shoulder and stopped the car. Oh, shit. Was that what he was doing?

“Stay here,” Jake ordered, his voice calmer than before.

I nodded and stared out the window. Jake walked around the back of the Explorer, crossed the ditch, and disappeared into the forest. He probably planned on leaving me here alone and never coming back. I’d never be able to find my way back to his uncle’s house on my own. Hell, I’d be lucky if I made it back to the highway.

A minute later, Jake stepped out of the trees and walked back to the car. Once he got back in, I asked him, “Checking to see if someone followed us?”

“No, I took a leak.”

“Oh.”

He let his eyes rest on me for a moment. “I want to talk about what happened before we get home.”

“Jake, I don’t want to fight.” I propped my head against the seat. “I’m sorry about what I said, all of it. I didn’t mean any of it, and I don’t know why I reacted poorly. I just thought—”

“You thought this was a date.” He didn’t form it as a question.

My cheeks felt feverish as the embarrassment and fear of rejection pressed forward, but I didn’t answer him. I couldn’t bring myself to admit I read into it more than he did.

“I didn’t understand why you were mad, but it’s because you weren’t mad,” Jake said sympathetically. “You were hurt.”

I didn’t want him to know how foolish I felt. “No, I was mad.”

“No, Emily, you got hurt and
that
is what made you mad. There’s a difference. You don’t lie down and die when you get hurt like most people. You come out swinging.” He smiled and his eyes glittered in the darkness. “I didn’t mean to hurt your feelings. I care about—”

My head snapped toward him. “Don’t say things you don’t mean.”

He reached for my hand and pulled it into his. “Damn it, Emily, I do care. As much as I don’t want to, I do.” He gazed deeply into my eyes. “You infuriate me more than anyone ever has, but for some strange reason, I keep coming back for more.”

I shook my head. “Jake, do you expect me to believe that? You left me in the pond to get eaten by Charlie.”

“He wasn’t going to eat you. I wouldn’t have let it happen. If I thought for one second you were in any danger, I would’ve gotten you out.”

Jake sounded sincere, but I still had to wonder. “You also said it didn’t bother you that Cowboy hit on me.”

“It doesn’t.” Jake chuckled at my puzzled expression. “Look, it’s the way he is. I’m used to it. He’s a womanizer, but he’s one of my best friends. I trust him. Even if I didn’t, he doesn’t want to get into a pissing match with me because he knows he’d lose. Besides, I trust you. Though we haven’t labeled this thing between us, I think our intentions are clear.”

“And Bobbie Jo?”

Now it was his turn to look puzzled. “What about her?”

“Cowboy said you two dated in high school.”

“That was a long time ago. We’re just friends now.”

“But you took her virginity.”

His head snapped back to me, surprised I knew as much. “Yes. And she took mine. So what?”

I shrugged. “I’m not a virgin, Jake.”

He lifted his eyebrows at me. “Good thing, because I’m not either.”

“Very funny. I’m being serious here. She gave you something…well, I can’t give you that. I’m sure it still means something.”

Jake coiled his fingers around mine and squeezed. “Look, two virgins having sex—when neither knew what they were doing—was awkward and clumsy, not romantic. Trust me, it’s an experience I’d love to forget, not repeat.”

“I think some people have a different view on those things,” I said. “Women, especially. They don’t forget their first time.”

“So should I worry about the guy who took your virginity?”

“Oh God, no,” I said with disgust. “Don’t be silly.”

He ruffled my hair on top of my head, like I was a child. “We’ll talk more later. We need to get back to the house. Floss is saving dinner for us.”

Jake let go of my hand and shifted the car into drive. I rested my hand in my lap, but he reached for it again. He held it as he drove us home.

“I’m going to go to bed earlier from now on,” Jake said, grinning. “Fighting with you is exhausting.”

Chapter Ten

After dinner, Hank and Floss invited us to sit with them downstairs around the fire. I thought they had more trash to burn, but was pleasantly surprised when Hank lit a fire using actual logs from a dead tree Jake had cut down earlier in the day.

“So, Emily,” Hank began, “What’d you think of dinner?”

I smiled. “It was…interesting. When Jake said we were having pie for dinner, I thought I’d died and went to heaven.”

“I didn’t say pie, I said Frito pie. You have selective hearing,” Jake said.

The memory of Floss slicing down the side of a grab bag of corn chips, then adding canned chili, grated cheese, and diced onions was comical. Jake had handed me a spoon and the meal-in-a-bag and said, “Don’t make that face. Try it. You’ll see.” He’s lucky I’m adventurous, and I’m lucky it tasted better than it looked.

“I’ll never look at a bag of Fritos the same way,” I told them.

Floss reached into a paper bag she had brought with her from the house. “Ready for dessert?”

“Is it pie?” I asked, making them chuckle.

“Roasted marshmallows,” Floss said, turning her attention to her husband. “Hank, we need some utensils.”

“I’m on it,” he responded.

Hank walked around, his eyes searching the ground, until he found four long, thin branches. He returned to his chair, flipped open his pocketknife, and scraped the bark off the end of each stick. Then he passed them out.

Jake put a large marshmallow on the end of my stick for me. “You know how to do it?”

“Is there a trick to it?”

“Depends on how you want it. Slightly warm or scorching hot?”

I leaned toward him and whispered, “Are we still talking about marshmallows?”

He grinned as he turned his marshmallow in the flame, caught it on fire, then brought it to his lips to blow it out. “With you? Somehow I doubt it.”

A while later, Hank and Floss retreated upstairs, leaving Jake and I to finish off the bag of marshmallows.

I held my stick out over the fire and watched the flames lick the underside until a hot flash caught hold and wilted my marshmallow into a black, boiling blob. Quickly, I vanquished the flame with my breath, but continued to blow on it to cool it down. Jake watched as I pulled the blackened marshmallow off the end of my stick, held it between two fingers, and took a bite. It was hot and gooey on the inside and melted onto my fingers. I licked the white ooze from my sticky lips.

He watched. He waited. Hell, I think he jotted down mental notes. “Are you enjoying yourself?” Jake asked, uncomfortably readjusting his sitting position.

“Mmmm.” The sound effect was more for him than the marshmallow. “Uh-huh.”

His smile melted me, as if he had skewered me and held me over an open flame. “Keep poking the bear, and one day the bear is going to poke back,” he warned.

“I’m counting on it.”

With a giggle, I rose to throw my stick into the fire and caught a glimpse of something in the back pasture. Hundreds of emerald-green twinkling lights danced around a wooded-themed ballroom made up of shadowy trees and glistening pond algae. I watched in amazement as the uninvited guests danced around the forest floor uninterrupted.

“Ready to go inside?” Jake asked.

“Not yet. Just a few more minutes. I’m watching the fireflies light up the pasture. They’re different from the ones in the Midwest.”

“Southerners usually call them lightning bugs.”

“Well, it comes to my attention your lightning bugs have asses that glow green, whereas our fireflies glow yellow. Strange, huh?”

“I’d rather have your attention elsewhere at the moment.” Jake grabbed my waist and pulled me into his lap.

“Well, well. What brought this on? You’re awfully playful tonight. I should fight with you more often.”

He tightened his grip and rested his head against mine. “I’ve wanted to hold you like this for a while now. Is that all right?”

“Just an observation. I’m not complaining.”

The fire dwindled on its own, though I barely noticed anything other than Jake holding me in his arms, stroking my hair lightly between his fingers. It should’ve been pleasant. It was pleasant. But part of me wanted him to stop, and I didn’t know why. Then it hit me.

My vision blurred, misting over with sorrow. I turned my head away to keep him from seeing the tears, but it was too late. He placed one finger under my chin, gently coaxing my face back to his. “What’s wrong?”

I couldn’t talk. I didn’t even try to, which worried Jake more. I buried my face into his shoulder. Sobs exploded from my chest, shaking me from the inside out.

Alarmed by my sudden crying jag, Jake’s body tensed under mine. He held me, rubbing my back with gentle, soothing hands. “Emily…?”

I clutched at his shoulders, holding myself closer, as I got myself under control. “I-I’m sorry.”

“It’s okay.” Jake pushed a strand of my hair back, tucking it behind my ear. “Tell me why you’re upset. Is it about earlier?”

If I could’ve folded myself up small enough, I would’ve crawled into his pocket to hide from the embarrassment. I blew out a deep breath. “No. It’s…how you’re holding me. It reminded me of…someone else.”

Hurt and anger flashed in his eyes. “Who?”

“The last man who held me…” I swallowed hard, trying to keep my voice even. “He wrapped me in his arms and had these big hands that stroked across the back of my hair…”

“I don’t want to hear about you with some other guy.”

“No, you don’t understand, Jake. He was a grown man, and I was only fourteen.”

“Fourteen? Are you saying he raped—”

“Oh God, no! Nothing like that. Nothing sexual about it.”

Jake was confused. “What, then?”

“He was the policeman who told me my parents died.” A tear squeezed out and rolled down my cheek.

“Emily—”

“Wait. Let me finish.” I sucked in a deep breath to maintain control of the pressure building in my chest. “That policeman showed me compassion and kindness, letting me cry until I thought I’d die myself. He never asked me to stop, or be brave, or anything else I imagine you’d tell a young girl who had lost her parents. He wrapped his arms around me and didn’t let go. I had no one else, Jake, but he didn’t let go. He promised everything would be okay, and I believed him. Then Child Protective Services showed up and practically tore me from his arms. But no matter what, he wouldn’t let go. Another officer held him down and pried his fingers off my wrists. They shoved me in a car, kicking and screaming. He fought to get to me, but they drove me away.”

“He was a friend of your parents?”

“No.”

“Had you ever met him before?”

“No.”

“Emily, did you even know his name?”

“No, Jake.”

His eyebrows knitted together. “I don’t understand. Why did he not want to let go? You were strangers.”

I cleared my throat and looked directly into Jake’s eyes. “The night I met you, I felt something. A connection between us.”

“Yeah, I thought so, too. But what does it have to do with—”

“When that policeman came to talk to me, we had an instant connection. I didn’t know what it was at the time. His partner held him down as they yanked me away. He kept telling him
‘She’s not your daughter.’
I remembered hearing about a cop’s daughter who died a few weeks before. She was close to my age, but I don’t believe we went to the same school. Afterward, I knew why he’d reacted the way he did and why I felt connected to him. We both were grieving for the family we’d lost.”

Jake shook his head in disgust. “Just to have him ripped away, too. Jesus. No wonder you have a hard time trusting people.”

“I didn’t want to ever let anybody else get close to me again. Somehow, Dale and Gina snuck under my radar. Still, I kept them at arm’s length. They asked me to move in with them, but I couldn’t. I’m afraid to let them in, though they’re my best friends. It’s why I couldn’t say good-bye. I can’t stand the thought of losing anybody else, including you.”

“I’m not going anywhere.”

It was now time to fess up to the embarrassing part, the part I never thought I’d have to explain to anybody. “I know it’s going to sound stupid, but there’s a reason I keep forcing the sex issue.”

Jake looked at me with an intrigued expression.

“I wanted it to be sex, and only sex, between us. Keeps it impersonal, allows me to stay detached, and…”

“Easier to walk away?” Jake guessed.

I nodded. “I don’t sleep with just anyone. In fact, there haven’t been many. I can still count them on one hand,” I said, giving him a weak smile.

Jake smiled back. “That doesn’t matter to me.”

“Well, it matters to
me
,” I said, sitting up straighter in his lap, with a tight laugh. “I bet you can’t count your partners on one hand.”

Jake raised an eyebrow.

“Two hands?”

“How about I see your two hands and raise you a foot?”

“Why so many?”

He shrugged. “Men are despicable creatures.”

I managed to laugh. “Trying to make me feel better?”

“Is it working?”

“Yes,” I said, yawning. “I’m tired. We should get ready for bed.” I climbed off his lap and walked toward the cottage.

“Hey, Emily,” Jake called. “So about this whole promiscuous act…”

“You thought I was promiscuous?”

He shuffled his feet nervously. “Well, yeah…uh, no…shit. Forget it.”

“Jake, I’m not a slut because once in my life I wanted to shag a hot stranger. Jesus. I do have morals.”

He smiled wide. “You think I’m hot?”

That’s all he got from what I said?
Guess I’m not the only one with selective hearing.

…

Jake stood behind me, trailing his hands slowly down my arms as his stubble scoured my shoulder. His warm breath blew onto my neck. I felt his hard-on pressing into me from behind.

My hands shook, and though I closed my eyes, I was unable to concentrate. With his every touch, I vied for control of my senses. His hand-eye coordination was much better than mine, but that only comes with experience. And I didn’t have much.

“Maybe we should wait,” I whispered to Jake.

“Grab it, Emily.”

I wrapped my hand around it, feeling the textured ridges under my fingertips as my pulse raced. “Now what?”

“Open your eyes.”

Laughter escalated from behind us. I opened my eyes to toss Cowboy, Ox, and Judd a go-to-hell look.

“Ignore them,” Jake said. “Concentrate on the target.”

“I can’t concentrate when you’re this close.”

Jake’s cheek rose against mine. The jerk was smiling. I guess no one deemed this serious, except me. I stepped away, lowered the small .22 caliber pistol he had given me from his ankle holster, and gave him a withering stare.

Jake pulled out the 9mm semi-automatic pistol resting in his shoulder holster. “Want me to demonstrate again?” He pointed it at the hay-stuffed scarecrow he nailed up on the tree thirty-five yards away. I prepared for my body to flinch the way it did every time he pulled the trigger. For me, gunfire didn’t hold pleasant memories.

“Hold on, Jake.” Hank walked up and leaned against the wooden fence post. “I need you to drive to the feed store and pick up the order I called in.”

Jake stepped over to him and lowered his voice. “I can’t leave her alone that long. I’ll be too far away if something happens.”

Hank looked insulted. “What am I, chopped liver?”

“I’ll send the boys in my place. It’s going to take me all day to teach Emily how to shoot. We’ve been out here half an hour already, and I just now got her to hold the gun.”

“I’ll work with her while you’re gone,” Hank offered. “It’ll take an hour for you to get back. She’ll be shooting like a professional by then.”

“The boys won’t mind. They have nothing better to do.”

“I didn’t ask your opinion, Jake. That was an order.”

“But I—”

“Son, unless you want me to jam that 9mm of yours up your ass and kick off the handle, I suggest you get going.”

Jake knew better than to hang around any longer. He and the boys loaded into the pickup truck and shot down the driveway without another word. When Hank says jump, you shut your mouth and put your parachute on.

“Was there any particular reason you didn’t want Jake teaching me how to use a weapon?”

“Yep.”

I scowled at him. “It’s not one of those male bravado things about women shooting guns, is it?”

“Honey, my wife shoots better than most men I know.” He stepped over to me and smirked. “That boy tried to teach you how to use his weapon, all right. But it had nothing to do with the gun in your hand. If I’m going to get any work out of Jake, then I thought it best I step in before his so-called private lessons got any more explicit than the tent in his pants.”

“Oh God.” My cheeks reddened.

“I’d go to church to pray for you both, but I doubt it’ll help your situation any,” Hank added with a laugh. “Now let’s get to work. I’m going to give you a crash course in target practice. Before long, you’ll be outshooting Jake.”

“But Jake hits the bull’s-eye nearly every time he shoots.”

“Then he’s almost as good as me,” Hank said.

“Okay, what do I do?”

“Point, shoot, and hope for the best.”

“I thought you said I’d be shooting like a professional in an hour?”

“The hour’s not up, honey. It’s easy. Point and shoot. You can’t mess this up,” Hank said, watching as I lifted the gun and aimed. “Wait, that’s not how you do it.”

By the time the boys came back, Hank and I were sitting in the shade drinking some iced tea Floss had brought down. I was more confident with the gun and wasn’t flinching anymore at the sound.

Jake strolled up with an acidic grin on his face. “We were going to unload the truck first, to give you some extra time to practice, but since you don’t seem to need it…” he trailed off. “I want to see what you got.”

That prompted a chuckle from Hank. “She’s a natural. Damn good shot.”

“Emily can’t hit the broad side of a barn,” Jake said, grinning at the other men. “In fact, I’ll bet fifty dollars she can’t hit the scarecrow in three shots or less.”

“So you’re a betting man now, are you, Jake?” Hank asked, eyeing them all. “Any of you other boys want to get in on the action?”