Rebound: Passion Book 2 (3 page)

Each
time she came to the table as much as I tried I couldn’t resist taking covert
peeks at her. She was gorgeous as fuck, but so was the other one. Unlike
Patricia this Kadyn chick seemed kinda quiet though. The others joked around
with her which I guess was to make up for my less than stellar introduction,
but I kept to the sidelines and said nothing. I saw the tattoo on her wrist and
the piercing in her nose and wondered where else she was inked and pierced?
Kill that shit Matthew no way no how. After about her third trip she seemed
more relaxed and the way she smiled at Josh and Andrew for some reason pissed
me the fuck off. I was back to glowering at her but I didn’t say anything more.
Josh must’ve kicked me ten times under the damn table and the last time I
grumbled at her when she asked me something about my order everyone acted like
I’d kicked a puppy when she walked away.

After
we left and headed back I felt bad, no one was saying anything more about it
but I know they were all thinking I was an asshole. I seriously needed to get
my shit together and quick, I was spiraling out of control and I didn’t like
it. Josh was right I’d given that bitch way too much time and energy, now I’m
attacking strangers and shit. But something about that girl just got my guts in
a twist; fuck if I know what that’s about.

Back
at the house it was keep Matt occupied time, no one wanted me reverting back
into my head. “Pool party guys and girls.” That was Joshua’s dictate as soon as
we got inside. I was about to make an excuse and slither up to my room but one
look at Carrie and I ditched that idea. She was expecting it. “Fine let me go
get my trunks.” I headed up to my room with the Kadyn girl hot on my mind. What
was it about her that had pissed me off? She seemed nice enough and the others
sure liked her if the big ass tip they’d left was anything to go by. And just
who was she? No one had thought to get those details and there was no way in
hell I was going to ask.

I
didn’t like the way she’d seemed to be ignoring me the last couple of times
she’d come to the table. Or the way she’d said bye to the others as we’d left
but not to me. What do you expect Matt? You were an ass to her and you don’t
even know her. I could see her eyes though; there was something about them or
in them that spoke to me. Fuck if I know what they were saying. A girl like her
all tatted and pierced had to be a little on the wild side and that wasn’t for
me. I like my women refined and genteel if you know what I mean. Yeah the last
one was both with a heavy dose of evil thrown in for good measure. Just goes to
show my judgment was way off. Best I stay away from that shit. “What are you
thinking Matt? You’re not interested in this girl, besides you need time to get
over the last fuck up.” So why was she following me around in my head, and what
the fuck is that feeling that won’t go away every time I think about her and
her damn eyes?

It
seemed like everything was working against me. For the next three days
everywhere I went in our small town she was there and each time I saw her
something inside me revolted. I didn’t look too closely at the fact that I
seemed to be actively seeking her out, going out of my way to find her
sometimes even. Neither could I shake the feelings that plagued me with every
sighting of her, or the way I seemed inexplicably drawn to her. And when I saw
her on that third day on the sidewalk cozying up to old man Stanley, the owner
of the diner, my gorge rose.

They
stood close together and he seemed to be whispering something in her ear before
kissing her cheek. My hand was on my door handle and I was out of my car before
I knew what I was about. I’d taken to driving a different car each day just in
case she happened to catch me trailing her around town. With my fists folded I
walked across the street still staying mostly to the shadows. They said their
goodbyes and for a moment I was actually tempted to confront the older man, but
why? What gave me the right and why did I even care? I had no answer for my
questions I just knew that I did. If I didn’t know any better I would think I’d
finally cracked up, that the pressures of the past few months had finally taken
their toll on me. But my life had been evening out here lately in the last
couple of days so that couldn’t be it.

 
She went left and he went back inside the
diner, neither of them noticed my approach. I followed her down the sidewalk
keeping a safe distance between us until we reached the corner and I jogged to
catch up. Now don’t ask me why, I don’t know this girl from a hole in the wall,
but I wanted to shake her and yell at her for no apparent reason. That
prickling feeling under my skin and racing heart returned and just served to
piss me off farther. Why should she affect me like this? Who was she, and why
now? The last thing I wanted or needed was to get tangled up in some mess with
some tatted up chick who was probably only here for the summer. That was
another thing that was bothering me, I’m not one to judge others but from the
moment I first laid eyes on her it seems that’s all I’ve done. Seeing her all
up close and personal with the old guy didn’t help that situation much either.

“So I
see you like old men.” That was as good an opening line as any. I hadn’t quite
worked out what I wanted to say to her if or when I ever did speak to her on
one of my drive
bys
.

She jumped a mile high and
turned to face me, looking around as if searching for cover from the crazy guy
who’d just walked up on her, and she very well might be.

“I’m sorry what?” Why was she
staring at me like that? Certainly she couldn’t have forgotten meeting me just
a few short days ago.

“Old man Stan I saw you all
cozied up to him, is that how you got your job?” Her face turned pale white and
she looked as if she was about to shake. What the fuck was her problem anyway?

“Well?”

“Well
what? You’ve obviously drawn your own conclusions already think what you like
why should I care?”

 
She turned to walk away from me and I snapped;
maybe some of my brother’s crazy had rubbed off on me after all. I don’t know
but I found myself grabbing her and pulling her around to me. She froze under
my hands. I don’t mean she went still, I mean she froze from head to toe, her
eyes rolled back in her head and she was about to fall the fuck out.

“What
the fuck, I’m not hurting you cut that shit out.”

Her body shook in my hands and I
released her quickly like I’d touched a live wire. We just stood there, me
staring down at her until she came out of whatever that was that she’d gone
into; this chick had serious problems.

“Can I go now?”

“What?”

She
looked at me as though she was deathly afraid of me, and it made me feel off,
like something was way wrong. I’d just watched her hug the old man so it
couldn’t be that she had an aversion to the male of the species, so what? Was
it me that she disliked? I wouldn’t be surprised after the way I’d treated her
at our one and only meeting. No, this was about more than disliking me. I
didn’t like where my mind was taking me, and again I asked myself; why the fuck
should I care?

“What
were you doing with him?” What the fuck Matt?

“He’s my
dad.” It had taken her a moment to answer me but her words did something
strange to me. That feeling I’d had that made me want to punish her for some
unknown reason was suddenly gone at her softly spoken admission. I felt settled
inside again except for the prickly skin and what I was beginning to think were
heart palpitations. But there was still the question of her strange behavior.

“Why did
you freeze up on me?”

“What? I don’t know what you’re
talking about.” She fidgeted and shifted from one foot to the other.

“Don’t lie to me it pisses me
off, now why did you just go into a damn near catatonic state when I put my
hands on you?”

“It’s none of your business;
look don’t you have someone else to annoy? I have no interest in anything you
have to say.”

“Too bad
because we’re not leaving this spot until you tell me, unless you want me to go
ask your dad, we’re pretty cool him and I.”

“No
don’t.” She actually grabbed my hand until she realized what she’d done and
dropped it like a hot potato.

“Well then talk.” I folded my
arms and glared down at her. In the back of my mind I could hear myself telling
me to calm the fuck down and back off but somehow I couldn’t.

“Why do you even care, I thought
you didn’t like me?” At least she had some fire in her and wasn’t acting like a
scared rabbit anymore. I almost smiled at the thought as she glared back at me
with her hands on her hips looking ready for battle.

“Who said I didn’t like you?”

“Well you sure acted like it the
other day when you were with your friends.”

“Listen
forget that ever happened okay I was having an off day; now tell me what’s
wrong with you.”

She took
a deep breath and somehow I knew she was about to lie to me before she even
opened her mouth.

“You just startled me okay
that’s all, now can I go? I really have to be somewhere.” She looked everywhere
but at me.

I chose
to drop it for now, besides we didn’t even know each other that well and I had
no right to be acting like a caveman just because I’d seen her with another
guy. I’m really going to have to get to the bottom of whatever the hell is
wrong with me. I hope to fuck it’s not what I think it is. I’ve already made up
my mind never to wade into those shark-infested waters ever again. Not anytime
soon anyway and especially not with her. I finally answered her plea to go her
way even though I wanted to stand there until I got some answers.

“Sure
okay see you around.” I watched her walk away until she disappeared around the
corner. Something told me to watch her until she was out of sight and I was a
little surprised when she turned into Dr. Graves’ office. What the hell was she
going there for? Huh, maybe she had to drop something off from the diner, but I
don’t recall seeing any sacks of food in her hand. I got that gnawing feeling
in my gut. The one that always warned me when something was wrong. “You don’t
need this shit Matt, whatever is going on with this chick you need to walk
away.” I told myself that but even as I walked back to my car I knew I
wouldn’t. I hadn’t been able to fight the pull in the last few days no matter
how much I’d tried. And at night when I went to bed her eyes still haunted me.

I
sat in the car like a sick stalker contemplating whether or not I should wait
until she was through at the doc’s or just go home. Instinct told me something
was very wrong, and for whatever reasons I couldn’t leave it alone. So now I
had a decision to make. Did I really want to get involved, and if so to what
extent? I closed my eyes and rested my head against the headrest. Trying to
talk myself out of going out on that ledge hasn’t worked very well in the last
day or so. I needed to talk to someone who could explain what the fuck was
going on with me but there was no way I was ready to bring this up to Josh,
he’d be all over this shit.

 
I think I’m pretty sure of what he would say
already, but life couldn’t be that strange. Besides I never felt any of these
unsettling feelings with Patti and I could’ve sworn I was in love with her all
those years we were together. It’s funny, but I now realize that for as much as
she’d turned out to be a vicious snake, our relationship had been, shall we
say, less passionate than say, Josh and Carrie’s. I always thought that that’s
what I wanted. A nice quiet relationship with the woman I would spend the rest
of my life with. I’d had enough of the spicy side of things between my parents
and much later my brother and his girl. I’d somehow convinced myself that I’d
dodged the bullet that seemed to turn the men in my family into raging
lunatics.

When
I look at Kadyn I felt what I was beginning to fear were the first strains of
that madness. Just a glimpse of her would have my heart doing cartwheels in my
chest, my hands would literally itch to get on her, and my skin heats and does
its strange tingling shit. “Shit Matt.” I turned the key in the ignition a
little rougher than necessary once again pissed the fuck off without reason. I
didn’t like the fact that she seemed to have this much control over me in such
a short time, it was almost as if I had no say in the matter, as if it had
already been decided for me and all that was left was for me to just lay down
and roll over. Well fuck that, I’m not about to play the sap again. I don’t
even know this girl and she seemed…I don’t know what the fuck.

I
headed back to the house deep in thought, something kept niggling at me about
the way she’d reacted to my touch but I couldn’t quite put it into words. There
was definitely something going on there though and before this thing went any
farther I needed to get to the bottom of it. If she was going to disrupt the
rest of my fucking life I’m going to need to know what the hell I was dealing
with. I don’t need any more surprises I’d had enough of that shit to last a
lifetime. Josh and Carrie were right I was acting like an old man, but who
could blame me? The last time I’d given of myself I’d been fucked. That
annoying voice in the back of my head reminded me that this was nothing like
that. Even the way I felt about this complete stranger after just one meeting
was stronger than anything I’d ever felt for Patti in the three years I’d known
her. I’m not sure what that said about me, and my ability to choose when it came
to the opposite sex. Only this didn’t feel like a case of me choosing, more
like something else was doing it for me.