The Mitchell Family Series BoxSet 1-4.5 (4 page)

Chapter 6

Savanna

I woke up and didn’t remember where I was and after having an awful dream that I was falling into nothingness, I felt like I couldn’t catch my breath.  I looked around the room and started to panic, until I felt the pain all over my body, reminding me where I was and what had happened.

I climbed out of the bed and walked toward the bathroom. Since the carriage house was small, it was basically a wide-open layout, besides the bathroom and bedroom. I spotted Colt asleep on the couch with half of his body hanging off the end and sides. I was going to ignore it, but I felt terrible that he was on that old ass couch without even a blanket to cover him up.

He stirred when I approached him. “Savanna? Are you okay?” he sat up and asked.

“I’m fine, Colt. Why don’t you just come and sleep in the bed with me. We can separate with pillows between us and use different covers. We are both adults and there is no reason you need to try to sleep on that hard ass couch.”

I watched as he considered my suggestion. “I don’t think that’s a good idea.”

“You are being ridiculous. I promise not to touch you, Colt. To be honest with you, I can’t sleep either. I had a horrible dream and think I would feel better if I wasn’t alone. Besides, we have known each other for half of our lives. It’s not a big deal.” I meant it innocently. The alcohol was wearing off already and I just wanted to sleep. He helped me tonight, more than anyone else would have done. It wasn’t really a big deal if we slept in the same bed. Colt would never think of me like that anyway. To him, I was probably still that girl that looked like a boy.

He kept shaking his head. “Savanna, I can’t do that.”

“Why? I am not going to try anything if that’s what you are worried about!” I blurted out rudely.

He laughed and scratched his head. His hair was sticking up all over the place. “I ain’t worried about that, Savanna.”

The way he said it made me mad. It was almost like even if I were the last person on the planet, I still wouldn’t be in his league. “Well, you don’t have to be rude, Colton. I was just trying to be nice. So sorry that I repulse you that much that you can’t be near me without feeling all weird about it. Geesh, you’re an ass.”

I don’t know if it was the way I said it, or him just realizing the couch sucked, but he stood up, stretched, and followed me in the room. “I didn’t mean it like that.” He climbed onto the bed on the other side of me and got himself situated so he wasn’t facing me. After about five minutes of silence, I heard him clear his throat. “You don’t repulse me, Savanna.”

I didn’t answer him. It felt so nice not being by myself that I closed my eyes and let myself sleep.

When I woke the next morning, I was surprised to find Colt still asleep. The clock read seven, but I remembered him saying he didn’t have work until next week. Sometime during the night, he had turned over and he was facing me. I lay with my head on my pillow staring at his beautiful face. It made me miss Ty so much. I felt so lonely even though I was with him all of the time. It was hard to be with someone that couldn’t talk back to you, that couldn’t even look at you. He just lay there silent and still.

I watched Colt’s chest rising and falling. His hair was a mess and his mouth half open, but he was still handsome. Colt had a tiny scar just above his right cheek. I was there when he got it. We had been riding four wheelers and somehow he flipped his. He refused to get stitched up and said it would make him look tough for the ladies. Funny thing was that he was right. Girls were on him like glue. When he and Ty used to talk, Ty would turn around and tell me about all of his crazy hook ups. We even fought about it sometimes, because Ty seemed like he was so interested in it, almost as if he wanted to live like that himself.

I continued to watch Colt as he slept, focusing on his chiseled chin and his slightly crooked nose, possibly from breaking it at some point. It was silly because you could barely notice it, until you were as close up as I was.

Before I could even snap out of it, Colt opened his eyes. When he focused on me watching him, he jumped out of the bed. Colt turned back to look at me, before heading out of the bedroom and into the bathroom. He never said a word. I sat up and looked past the door waiting for him to come out. Finally, when I heard the water running, I lay back down and stared at the ceiling.

I had been in this room a zillion times with Ty, in fact, I lost my virginity in this same room. He had waited for his parents to go out one night and set up candles all around. All of my friends had awful first times, but mine was with the guy I loved and was going to marry.

My head was pounding and every part of my body was aching. The water was still running in the bathroom, but I need to pee and get some medicine. I knocked on the door. “Colt, are you going to be much longer?” I asked.

I heard the water immediately shut off. When the doorknob moved, I took a step back. A cloud of steam came rushing out, revealing Colt’s chiseled wet body wrapped only in a small white towel. My mouth dropped open. I couldn’t help it. He was like an incarnation of some Greek God.

“Are you okay?” he said as he stood in front of me smiling.

I tried to keep my eyes focused on his face, but I had never noticed how well toned his body had gotten. Perhaps it happened in the years I hadn’t seen him, but damn he was gorgeous. Like the kind of gorgeous that women talk about licking up and down.

I had to snap out of it. What was wrong with me? I couldn’t be thinking the things I was thinking about Ty’s cousin. “Sorry, just not awake yet I guess,” I lied.

He gave me a weird look and walked past me. “All yours.”

I rushed into the bathroom and shut the door. After relieving my bladder, I wiped off the steam-covered mirror and assessed the damage to my face. My right eye was black and purple colored but it wasn’t swollen shut anymore. On that same side, my cheek had two or three stitches at the top and a few scrapes were more prominent as they scabbed overnight. My lips weren’t as big, but they were all busted still. I backed up away from the mirror and buried my hands into my demolished face. The tears came and soon turned into full-blown sobs. After a few minutes, I felt the door pushing open.

Colt came in and pulled me out of the bathroom. He sat me down on the couch without saying a single word. He left for only a moment and came back with a warm washcloth. I felt it rubbing across my face but refused to open my eyes.

“The stitches look good today. I was hoping they wouldn’t get infected.” At the sound of his voice, I opened my eyes. He held a bottle of water and cupped two pills in the palm of his hand. “Take these.”

I grabbed the tiny white pills and took them. “Thank you.”

“I want you to stay here for a couple days,” he said.

I looked at him confused, but he held his hands up for me to wait while he explained.

“Savanna, you look like hell. After seeing exactly how cruel people are treating you, I don’t think it’s a good idea for you to go back to the dorms. I also don’t want your parents to see you like this. Your daddy would beat me to a pulp if he knew I took you to that party and let this happen to you. Since it’s the weekend, my aunt and uncle will be at the hospital. Just please consider it.”

I looked down at the bottle of water. I hated being a burden, but he was right. I had no other place to go for the time being. Explaining myself to anyone would just be more painful. “Okay,” was all that I said.

He stood up and started walking toward the door. “I need to go into town and grab some groceries since I didn’t do it yesterday. When I’m done, I will grab Sam and be back here to check on you. It’s probably best if you try to sleep,” he said.

“Will Sam care if I am here?” I asked.

He smiled. “Nah, she likes everybody,” he said as he walked out the door.

I wondered why Sam hadn’t come over to check on Colt today. She must not have known that he brought me home last night. There was no way I would let someone who looked liked him out of my sight. Not that I felt like he was a cheater, in fact it was the opposite. He seemed like he was the kind of guy that didn’t do relationships at all.

When I could finally feel the pain medicine working, I went back into the bedroom and tried to go to sleep. It was going to be a long couple of days.

Colt

It only took me about an hour to run into town and grab some basic things I needed for the small carriage house. I still couldn’t believe I was in this situation. I was half-tempted to tell my aunt and uncle what was going on, but they wouldn’t understand me helping Savanna. I hadn’t believed her yesterday when she told me about how mean people were, but I couldn’t make the same mistake with my family. If they really did blame her than she needed to stay away from them.

Her face was a mess and every time I looked at her, I felt guilty. I had let that little vixen friend of hers talk me into something that I should have known not to do. I owed it to Savanna to help her until she was better. For the next couple of days she was going to be in a shit load of pain.

When I pulled back up at the farm, I noticed that my aunt and uncle were gone. I walked into the main house and was greeted by Sam jumping into my arms. “Hey, pretty girl. I have someone I want you to meet. Yeah, come on girl,” I said to my dog.

Sam followed me while I got the bags out of the truck and headed toward the carriage house. When I got the groceries in and had them put away, I made my way into the bedroom. She was sleeping, but stirred as I walked in. “Sorry I woke you,” I said while trying to leave the room.

“It’s okay. So is Sam here? I really want to meet her. I don’t want any weirdness if I am going to stay here.”

I looked at her like she was crazy. Sam was a dog. What was she talking about? I shook my head and faced the direction of the door. “Sam!” I yelled.

My giant yellow lab came running into the room and immediately jumped on the bed. Savanna looked up at me. “This is Sam?”

“Yeah, why are you asking me like that? I told you about her,” I said.

She started laughing. “I thought she was your girlfriend.”

I took off my hat and ran my hands through my hair while I laughed. “Seriously?”

Savanna nodded. “Sure did,” she said as she pet and let Sam lick her face.

I grabbed her by the collar. “Be gentle, Sam. Savanna is already banged up. Get down, girl.”

Sam jumped off the bed and sat like the good girl she was. “Well, obviously she’s my dog. I don’t have a girlfriend,” I confessed.

“Wow, that’s surprising,” she said.

“How so?”

She looked down at her hands. “Someone like you always has a girlfriend.”

I smiled and shook my head. I sat down on the edge of the bed near her feet. “Someone like me? Well, I hate to break it to ya, but I ain’t nothing special. I put myself first and women don’t like that. My last girl walked out for that reason.”

She smiled at me. Her face was such a mess. “I happen to know firsthand that you don’t always put yourself first. I wouldn’t be here right now if you did.”

I shook my head again. “You’re different. You’re…like family,” I admitted.

I knew I hit a nerve after the words left my mouth. Savanna put her head down and looked at her lap. “Right. Family,” she said in a depressed voice.

I reached my hand over and placed it on her arm. “Hey, they will come around.”

She just nodded and I could see that she was starting to cry again.

I needed to change the subject.

“Savanna, I think Sam and I are going to go fishin' later. You think you might want to come with us?” I asked.

She shrugged her shoulders but never looked up at me. “You don’t have to babysit me, Colt. I think I am being enough of a burden on you. I will probably just go out and spend time with Daisy.”

I had almost forgotten about her horse. “We could bring her with us. I was only going out to the hole.  I can ride Thunder and Sam can get some exercise.”

She shrugged again.

“Tell ya what. I am going to make us something to eat and you can decide if you want to come with us, or stay here. Just so you know, you are never a burden. Did you ever think I might enjoy the company?” I asked while heading out of the bedroom. I didn’t give her a chance to reply.

Chapter 7

Savanna

Sam was a dog.

I shook my head and lay back down in the bedroom. My body was still achy, but being with Daisy and at the hole seemed like it would be a good time. I didn’t want to be in public, but the hole was at the back of the property on the farm and I knew that we would be the only two people there. Nobody would be there to bother or judge me. Besides, Daisy would really like the ride. She was cooped up during the week and I hated it.

I climbed off the bed and located my shorts. There was no use trying to salvage the top I wore last night, so I just left Colt’s t-shirt on. I looked down at it and saw that it was just a white t-shirt with a beer bottle on the right breast. I was sure the back had some saying or logo, but I never bothered to look. I found my boots near the bathroom door and made my way out into the kitchen.

“Can I still tag along?” I asked.

“Hell yeah. Hey, I got you something at the store,” he said. He reached into the bag and handed me a small package. Inside I found a toothbrush, a hairbrush, and a pack of hair bands.

I looked up at him curiously. “How did you know I was going to stay here for sure?”

“I didn’t, but I wanted you to have some things in case you did. Now as far as a new bra and panties, well I wasn’t about to buy that,” he joked.

I shook my head and walked into the bathroom with the bag. After I looked in the mirror, I realized how horrible my hair looked. I had to wet the brush to get out all of the knots. I needed a shower, but since we were going out to ride the horses and fish, it was kind of a waste. After throwing my hair up into a ponytail, I managed to brush my teeth. My lips were sore and the toothpaste stung when it entered into the cuts. I looked horrible and couldn’t understand how Colt was keeping a straight face. He hadn’t even said a word about it.

When I walked out of the bathroom, Colt was nowhere to be found. The bag of food that he had made was also gone, so I hurried out toward the barn. It was a surprise to see Daisy all saddled up waiting for me just outside. Colt was coming out of the barn with Thunder and Sam was jumping and running around like crazy.

“You ready to ride?” he asked.

I started to get up on Daisy, but the pain was so bad that I couldn’t get my legs up into the stirrup. Colt saw my dilemma and hopped down off of Thunder. “Hold up, Savanna. Let me just help you with that.”

I put my hand on his shoulder and let him pick me up so that I could get my foot hooked in the stirrup. His hand was on my butt as he helped get me onto the horse.  It was nothing to get excited about, but for some reason I had noticed and it made me smile.

“Thanks, Colt. I didn’t realize how sore my legs were,” I admitted.

He hopped back up on Thunder and lightly gave him a kick. “Yah,” he said as they took off in front of me. I followed suit and soon we were away from the farm and making our way through the woods.

I hadn’t been out here in a few weeks, but I knew these trails like the back of my hand. Daisy and I explored every inch of these woods and the hole was our favorite spot to relax. There was a large patch of grass just a few feet away from the pond, so that Daisy could graze while we fished or sometimes swam. Going here with Colt made me think about being here with Ty. I am sure that he didn’t intend for it to bring up sad memories, but there was little in my life that didn’t remind me of Ty.

When we got to the opening in the woods, I spotted the pond. It was funny how as we were approaching I could see the turtles and frogs jumping in the water when they heard us coming.

The pond itself was pretty big and years ago, Ty’s family had anchored a floating dock in the center. We would get a bunch of people out here and sunbathe for hours out there.  Just seeing the dock reminded me of last summer being here with Ty.

We had come out for a swim, but ended up having wild sex on that dock. When we heard his father calling, we jumped in the water and hid under the dock until he finally left. The worst part was that our clothes were laying on the grass at the water’s edge. He either noticed and was embarrassed or never even saw them there, because he never mentioned it to either of us.

Colt had already jumped down from Thunder and was tying his line to a tree near a patch of shade and grass. The horse immediately started ripping out large chunks of the fresh green grass. Colt was standing there waiting to help me off my horse. Once again, I felt funny about him touching me but I knew it was necessary. I got Daisy hooked to a tree close to Thunder, but not close enough to where they would get tangled up.

Last year Ty’s dad had bought one of those giant plastic sheds and put it at the edge of the pier so that we didn’t have to carry all of the rods and floats back to the barn. Colt knew exactly where to go, and I wondered when the last time he visited was. Obviously, he had been here and I didn’t know.

“How did you know we had the rods here?” I asked.

“Well, I looked for them in the barn and when I didn’t find them I asked Harvey,” he explained.

Harvey was the farmhand that lived in a trailer on the property. I was pretty sure that he didn’t have legal papers to be in the country. Most of his family was still in Columbia and Ty had mentioned that he sent most of what he made to them.

“Oh, I was thinking that you visited and didn’t say hi,” I confessed.

Colt just laughed and shook his head.

He picked out two good poles and handed one to me. “Here this one is pretty good. Do you need me to bait it for you?” he asked.

“Hell no! I can do this with my eyes closed,” I said confidently.

He attended to his fishing rod while I got mine ready to go. I had already cast my line into the water before he had his baited. I giggled when I looked back at him and saw he had pricked his finger with the hook. “Do you need me to help you instead?” I asked sarcastically.

“Shut up! I got this smart ass!” he laughed.

For the next hour, we sat side-by-side fishing and talking about the past year. It was so nice to have someone finally listening to me. I didn’t cry, in fact it felt so good to get out.

Colt

When I asked Savanna to go fishing, I immediately had regrets. She looked terrible and needed to rest. Being in the sun couldn’t have been good for any of the abrasions on her face. I had packed lunch, but not sunscreen, and I hadn’t found any in the small shed.

I handed her my one and only favorite hat. “Here, put this on your head so your face doesn’t get too much sun,” I offered.

She smiled and held the hat in her hand. “Are you sure you don’t want it? I mean your hair looks like a hot mess,” she joked.

We both started laughing as I tried to pat down my hair. I needed it cut, but just hadn’t had time. “If you want to talk about hot messes we can start with your hair this morning. I mean, it was so bad that I had to drive to the store and get you the brush. I was afraid that by tomorrow we may have lost the TV remote in there,” I said sarcastically.

“Ha ha! It wasn’t that bad.”

“Okay, if you say so,” I said as I stared out at the water.

Since I wasn’t expecting it, Savanna took her hand and pushed me over, causing me to get my hands and my rod all muddy. When I turned to face her and she saw the mud, she held her hand over her face while she laughed.

“You better get up and run, because paybacks are a bitch,” I said as I picked up a large handful of slimy mud.

Savanna threw the pole on the ground and started running away from me. The problem was that the pond was a large circle, so as long as she stayed away from the woods, she couldn’t hide.

Just as I suspected, she tried to hide behind a bunch of cattails growing out of the water. I spotted my white shirt and tossed the wad of dirt up high so that it disbursed all over her head and, unfortunately, my hat.

She screamed as it came down on top of her. “You suck, Colt!”

I started laughing as I bent over to grab another chunk of mud, but as I came up, I got slapped right in the forehead with a cold chunk of earth. Before I could say a word, I heard her laughing uncontrollably.

I looked toward the sound of the giggles, but couldn’t spot her. Suddenly I saw another bunch of it coming my way and I tried to move out of the way. It slapped me on the shoulder. I caught a patch of white moving quickly and I ran after it. As I came up behind her, I tossed the mud at her back. She screamed as it hit her, but kept running, knowing I had to stop for more.

As I ducked down, she must have done the same, because we both came up and had a handful cocked back. She started walking toward me with a smile on her face. “I will put mine down if you do the same,” she said.

“Okay, on the count of three,” I agreed.

We both counted.

“One.”

“Two.”

“Three.”

At the same time, instead of dropping the mud, we threw them at each other. I closed my eyes and let the mud cover my face. When I opened them, I saw Savanna hunched over. She was being really quiet and I started to wonder if I hit her in the face by accident. I was sure I aimed much lower.  When I came within inches, she smacked me on the chest with more mud. Her laugh was contagious and I couldn’t help but push her down and try to get her back. Unfortunately, my body was now on top of her and I froze as our eyes met each other’s gaze.

I pushed her muddy hair away from her face with my fingers. She closed her eyes as I did it. She was still gorgeous, even with the black eye, busted cheek, and fat lip. Her mouth was so close to mine that I could feel her breathing. I wanted to kiss her; in fact, I wanted to do a whole lot more.

She closed her eyes again and started moving her head up toward mine. I pulled away and stood up quickly. “I am so sorry. I didn’t mean… Why don’t we eat some lunch,” I said, changing the subject.

She sat up and, just like me, pretended nothing happened between us just now. Maybe I had just imagined it, but I swear she wanted me to kiss her.

We ate most of our lunch in silence and it seemed uncomfortable for a while. Finally, she just started talking about normal things.

“Wanna play some Rummy tonight?” she asked.

I finished the last bite of my sandwich. “You do know that I am the Mitchell champion, right?”

“I can beat you at that game any day, Colt. We aren’t kids anymore, you know,” she replied.

“Well I ain’t doing shit until I get a shower. This mud smells like ass,” I admitted.

She started laughing as she picked at the meat on her sandwich. “You think it’s the mud. Maybe it’s you.”

I flung some of the cold bottle of water at her.  She tried to cover herself from being hit by it and yelped as the cold water hit her neck. “That’s so cold.”

“You deserved it. I was sittin’ here being nice to you,” I replied.

“Actually, we really do stink now,” she admitted.

I gathered everything up and put it in the bag. “How bout we head back and get cleaned up. It will take us awhile gettin’ the horses cleaned up anyway,” I suggested.

I held my hand out to help her up and when I pulled she ended up losing her balance and falling into my chest. She looked up at me and again our gazes met. For a few seconds we both just stood there staring at each other. Her eyes were staring at my mouth and I couldn’t help but lick them. I wanted to feel how soft her lips felt.

I opened my mouth to say something and she pulled away and started making her way toward Daisy. I had to shake it off. There was nothing going on between us. It wasn’t possible. I didn’t know what was wrong with me. I had known her since we were kids and she was going through a tough time. It had to just be that I felt sorry for her. It had to be that.