The Space Beyond (The Book of Phoenix) (14 page)

“Oh, Ty,” I breathed. I dropped his hat and stroked the bruise over his left eye and cheek with the tips of my fingers.

He caught my hand in his. “It only hurts when you touch it. And you should see the other guy.” He kissed my palm before letting go. My heart ached even more.

“That’s what they all say. That’s what you used to always say when you got in fights at school.”

He grinned. “But it’s true. Especially this time. I won by a landslide, Bex. You shoulda seen me.”

My stomach tightened at the thought, even though I used to get a thrill watching him kick someone’s ass, usually because whoever it was had made the mistake of calling Sissy and me white trash in Ty’s presence.

“Maybe someday,” I said vaguely. “Just keep winning, though. Because whoever hurts you will have to deal with me, and I won’t fight fair.”

He laughed and grabbed my hand again, pulling me inside and toward the front door. “Let’s go party.”

Chapter 13

Mr. K’s, or, I guess, Ty’s property stretched back in a long rectangle from the main road from town to a line of trees on the other side of the lake that marked the property line. Down the way a bit and around the corner was a sandy road that usually only the utility companies used. About a hundred yards past that was the lake. We drove the truck over there rather than taking the direct route from the cabin, keeping Ty’s purchase a secret, and he parked in the grass with all the other trucks, Jeeps, and a swamp buggy.

The smells of dirt, grass, and roasting meat floated on the air, followed by the sounds of country music punctuated with laughter. Ty leaned over the truck bed and lifted a large, blue cooler out.

“You knew we were comin’ all along,” I said as I walked over and attempted to grab one of the handles to help him carry it. He twisted away from me, refusing my help.

“I’ve known you forever, boo,” he said. “But even if for some reason you didn’t want to come, a cooler of beer can always come in handy.”

As we walked toward the lake and the party, lifting our legs high over the tall reeds of grass, I was glad I’d switched to my cowboy boots. The ground squished underfoot, still a bit soggy after the summer rainy season. The music grew louder—Florida Georgia Line playing, one of the few country bands I could tolerate. In fact, I kind of liked this song. Someone must have shot a wild boar because one was dressed out, hanging from a spit over coals in the bar-b-que pit that had been dug way back when, before my time. The smell of smoking wood chips and the thought of succulent pulled pork made my mouth water.

The late summer sun beat down on us, warming my skin in a way I hadn’t felt in so long, and I basked in it, even knowing freckles were growing by the second. By the end of the day, I’d be one big freckle from head to toe, but I didn’t care. The sun, the music, the smells of roasting boar mixed with coconut sunscreen, whoops and hollers as people greeted us from their folding chairs scattered by the lake’s edge, the cold beer Ty was placing in my hand … I hadn’t realized how much I missed it all until now. And by the looks of it, the party had only just begun. The craziness would come later.

My mouth stretched into an uncontrollable smile as the excitement of downhome fun filled me.

I knew everyone there, of course, and bopped around to say hey to them all. Kaylee, a girl from my high school class who was already pregnant with her second kid, offered me some hunch punch—a homemade, redneck cocktail made with fresh fruit and grain alcohol.

“I can’t drink it, so you may as well get to enjoy it,” she said, rubbing her belly.

I took a cup from her and pulled a small swig. “Ohmagosh, this is the best I ever had.”

She frowned as I drew another long swallow. “Don’t tease me like that! Josh says the same thing, which is why he makes me make it even when I can’t drink none.”

“I’ll drink for you,” I said with a big smile. “Maybe some day, you can return the favor.”

She laughed. “You and Ty again? Ya’ll finally fixin’ to settle down so you can join me as a baby factory?”

I smiled even though my shoulders tensed as though her words were a knife skimming down the nape of my neck. I was only twenty-one. What was this “finally” bullshit? It wasn’t the first time the word had reached my ears since showing up here with Ty. Apparently, Uncle Troy and Ty—oh, and Sissy and Elizabeth—weren’t the only ones who thought we belonged together. Was I the one being blind as a bat after all? Or just stubborn as a mule? I groaned internally at the stupid clichés. Not just the bat and mule ones, but the cliché of Ty and me together. The best friends growing up, the high school sweethearts who’d thought they wanted something different but were always meant to be together, settling down and having babies and living happily ever after, best friends first but lovers forever. Was that us? Was that supposed to be my life?
Was
Ty The One, and I was in complete denial over it?

“Wouldn’t that be somethin’?” I said aloud, as much in reply to my own questions as Kaylee’s.

Ty jogged up to me and grabbed my hand. “Come with me.”

I downed the rest of the hunch punch and dropped the cup on Kaylee’s table as Ty pulled me away. “Where we going?”

“I realized I forgot to bring chairs, and I can’t have you sittin’ that pretty ass on the damp ground, now can I?”

“So we’re leaving to get chairs?” Sounded stupid to me. We just got here.

“Hey, Ty, ya’ll takin’ off already?” Joe Baker called out. Someone else wolf-whistled.

“Just goin’ to get my truck,” Ty yelled back.

“Ain’t you worried about bringing it out here and the law knowin’?”

“Hell, no! This is my place now.” He laughed loudly, and the secret came out of the bag when he gave a brief explanation before taking off in a jog, pulling me with him. With Ty’s encouragement, a couple of other guys followed us.

Ty opened the driver’s side door of his truck, and I started to pull away to head for the other side, but he tugged me back and in one swift motion, lifted me into his side. When I saw him coming in, too, I scooted over.

“You might wanna hang on, sweetheart. This is gonna get fun.”

His hand reached between my legs for the gearshift, making my thighs tremble at his closeness. As soon as he threw the truck into gear and we jolted forward, I grabbed the dashboard with one hand, his thigh with the other, and held on tight. He eased the truck into the field, and it immediately began to sink. Ty flipped on the four-wheel drive, whooped out the window, and stomped on the gas pedal. Tires spun. Mud flew. The truck slid sideways for a moment, and then flew forward.

Of course, he didn’t cross the hundred yards to the party in a straight line, but twisted and turned and did donuts in the muddy field. Two other trucks did the same, spraying mud up on each other, everyone laughing uncontrollably, including myself. The adrenaline rush, the twists and turns as Ty made us slide, the screams of laughter surrounding me … I felt
alive
for the first time in months. Years. Probably since the day he broke up with me.

We’d never been able to go mudding out here before. The town cops and county sheriffs weren’t dumb enough to know we didn’t party here—they’d done their own fair share of it in their days—but they only came if there was trouble. Tearing up Mr. K’s field was considered trouble, and more than once they’d identified the vandals by tire tracks left in the mud. But now we had Ty, and he obviously didn’t care.

“It’ll all need to be tilled up and worked on anyway,” he said between hollers and howls of laughter. “If I ever decide to grow anything on it in the first place. For now, it can be our playground.”

He gave me a big grin, squeezed my hand that was still on his thigh, making me tighten my own over the thick muscles of his leg, then slammed the gas again as he spun the steering wheel to the right. The g-force pressed me against his side and sucked a scream out of me that dissolved into laughter. By the time we reached the lake and he turned so the tailgate faced the party, I was practically in his lap and breathless.

“I told you so again,” he murmured against my ear while shutting off the ignition.

“What did you tell me now?” I asked, my voice barely more than a whisper as I tried to catch my breath. I wasn’t sure now what had me gasping—the thrill of mudding or of Ty’s mouth so close to my skin.

“This is where you belong, boo,” he answered. “Right here. Nowhere else.”

He lifted my hand from his leg, kissed my palm and gave me a wink, all while he slid out of the truck. He strode off before I could respond. Before my spinning mind could come up with
how
to respond. Because all I could think was, “You’re right, Ty.”

I slid out of the truck and followed him to the back in somewhat of a daze. He’d gone over to retrieve his cooler, and I was still speechless as he brought it back, his biceps and forearms bulging, his chest straining against the tank shirt he wore. I backed up against the tailgate he’d already lowered and was about to jump up when he was suddenly in front of me, his hands on my waist. Our eyes locked as he lifted me, and the hold didn’t break as he stood in front of me, between my legs. A numbness must have set in because I didn’t feel his hands still on me until his fingers tightened and his thumbs pressed into the sensitive strip of skin between the bottom of my halter and the top of my low-rider shorts. I drew in a sharp breath and finally blinked. I didn’t know what must have passed across my face, but it made Ty’s eyes darken and his hands open. He turned away before I could stop him, and my heart sank to my stomach.

“Looks like you could use this,” Kaylee said from beside me. I hadn’t seen her come up, but she held out the red plastic cup filled with more hunch punch. I took it gratefully and swallowed what tasted like nectar of the gods. Or maybe of Elizabeth’s goddesses. I knew I’d eventually regret it, but for now, I had no respect for what tomorrow would bring. At the moment, this
was
where I belonged.
In
this moment. Living life right now because who knew what tomorrow or the next day would bring.

By the time Leni and Jeric showed up later in the afternoon with their friends Brock and Asia, I had a pleasant buzz going. I’d been a little worried some people might be rude to them, but not because they were outsiders. More than one person had brought a new significant other I’d never met before—lovers they’d met at college or while traveling—and they fit in just fine. In fact, you couldn’t help but accept them because they were such perfect fits for our friends. They seemed to have the kind of love I wanted so badly.

Being outsiders was only a small part of my concern. There was Jeric with his pierced eyebrow and sleeves of tats and Asia with her silvery-purple hair, heavily lined eyes, and combat boots with her black miniskirt. I’d been given enough flak when I’d pierced my nose and added more ink than any girl in town had, but I still “belonged.” My concerns were unwarranted, though. Apparently, word had gotten around that Leni loved cowboy boots as much as any of us and could ride the mechanical bull better than any guy here, and Jeric … well, he was a former UFC fighter. Enough said in a circle of rednecks. Especially when he’d just helped one of our own win his first semi-pro fight.

Like the newly paired lovebirds, they had no troubles fitting in.

Brock and Asia were a little more reserved, though, and tended to stay on the fringes of the group, their gazes constantly sweeping over us, as if they were looking for something. Or watching over us. I somehow felt that comforting when I probably should have found it weird. Maybe because I’d had plenty to drink.

Late afternoon turned into dusk and as darkness fell, some people called it a day and left, but most of us stayed for the bonfire, a traditional part of a K-bomb. The fire blazed, the smell of hunch punch and a country night and burning oak filled my head, and the music wrapped around me.

“Come on, girl,” Leni said after her second cup of punch, “let’s dance.”

She jumped up on Ty’s tailgate and reached down and grabbed my hand. A strange shock traveled through me, kind of like when Mason had first touched me, but different. I looked up at her, confused, but my vision swirled. Eyes. So many different eyes sliding in and out of focus before me. Gray, blue, brown. Light green. Hazel. Back to green. A different green, though, like pictures I’d seen of southern seas. Leni’s eyes. Her entire face came back into focus, and I blinked away the blurriness. Damn. How much had I had to drink? She pulled up on my hand and I jumped, joining her in the bed. I immediately forgot about the odd visions and let the music take command of my body.

The headlights on the truck across the way turned on, spotlighting us as we danced, and many catcalls and wolf-whistles rang through the air. Leni was a much better dancer than me, but I could almost keep up. After the second song ended, Jeric retrieved her, and Ty climbed up and danced with me. I’d forgotten what a good dancer he was.

The more the alcohol flowed, the rowdier the party became, but it was all in good fun.

At least until I went into the trees to pee and felt like someone was watching me. As I pulled my shorts back up and turned to look behind me, eyes stared back. They didn’t look quite human, though.

“Hey!” I said, trying to scare off whatever kind of animal it was, although my heart beat so loud, my fear could probably be heard. What sounded like a million pairs of little wings flapped against the branches before some kind of flock of black birds rose into the night sky. I couldn’t help the scream.

“You okay?” Ty yelled as he ran for me while I stumbled out of the trees. He swept me into his arms and held me tightly as he peered into the darkness.

“Yeah. Just some birds,” I panted against him, my heart still racing.

He released one arm from me, but kept the other firmly around my waist as we slowly walked back for the party.

“Damn. Talk about a buzz kill.”

Ty chuckled, and I giggled. Well, maybe my buzz wasn’t completely gone.

“It’s good to see you havin’ so much fun,” he said.

I slid my arm around his waist and gave him a squeeze. “Thanks for it all.”

He pulled me closer, and our steps slowed. “Are you ready to tell me how right I am?”

“About what?”

“About you belonging here.”

I stopped walking, and he did, too. We turned toward each other, and he stared at me expectantly, the distant firelight shining in his eyes. Laughter and music carried over the air, but right here around us was completely silent except for the sound of my heartbeat rushing in my ears. The night had grown a little cooler and goose bumps rose on my arms. Or did the chill come from the look in Ty’s hazel eyes that had gone from expectancy to desire? No, wait. I’d seen desire in many a man’s eyes, and this was different. More emotional. And what I saw in Ty’s eyes was what I’d wanted so badly for as long as I could remember. Or, at least, for as long as I could remember since discovering boys weren’t so icky after all. The moment Ty had shown me that years ago. And here he was, showing me even more, and with just a simple look of adoration. Of love.

I pushed up onto my toes, placed my hands on each side of his face, softly because I didn’t want to hurt him, and answered him so only the two of us could hear. “You were right, Ty. This is where I belong. Right here. With you.”