Burning Down the House (14 page)

Dear God, he looked scrumptious.

Beside me in the Prius, dressed in a white dress shirt underneath a charcoal gray suit, the enigma that was Rob sat drumming his fingers on the steering wheel and nodding his head lightly to the beat of Linkin Park’s
Burn It Down
. The irony didn’t escape me.

I was still trying to figure out what we were even doing
on this impromptu date. Sitting here in the purple dress I’d meant to return, with hair and makeup I spent an hour on and perfectly manicured hands folded across my lap…all to go stand around in the event room of the school’s field house with someone who’d already pointed out that these functions were a waste of time. Even so, just being next to him tonight, alone together while driving through the clear dark night, was intoxicating. Every once in a while I caught a faint whiff of his cologne and something about it made me want to climb over there, straddle his lap and slide my tongue down his throat. I actually began to lose myself in calculating how well my body would fit between him and the steering wheel.

Reaching to turn the radio’s volume down, he glanced over at me a couple of times before
finally saying with a hesitant smile, “I’m sorry I didn’t have time to get you any flowers.”

I couldn’t believe something like that would even cross his mind. It was so incredibly sweet
, especially coming from him. “That’s okay. I think corsages are basically reserved for prom anyway.”

“I should probably
go ahead and tell you I don’t dance either.”

I
had to stifle a laugh. “We don’t have to dance. I really think the whole thing is just an excuse to get all dressed up so we’ll have some nice shots for the yearbook. Um…and sorry about my dad, by the way.” He’d insisted on taking our picture in front of the fireplace before we left.
So
awkward.

“
Can’t fault him that. I think it’s his way of trying to make up for lost time. You have no idea how excited he was that you were coming back to live with him.”

“He
was?”

“Mm-hm
.”

“So is that why you’re doing this then? For my dad?”

He turned on the blinker and waited to pull into the school’s parking lot before answering. When he did, his words were slow and deliberate. “I’m doing this because I don’t want you to let that cocksucker Riley get the better of you. He doesn’t get to win this one, Sara. You are going to be hands down the most beautiful girl there tonight and I expect to see you walk in there and own that place. Show that chump just what it is he missed out on.”

Hearing him call me beautiful sent a delicious tingle through me,
travelling all the way down to my glitter painted toenails. “You have some kinda personal vendetta against him or something?”

“
No. I just happen to think what he did to you was pretty low.”

“So you’re here because you feel sorry for me?”

Rolling his eyes, he stepped out of the car and came around to open my door. “I’m here because I want to be here. Stop being so suspicious.”

“Okay…sorry.”
I took his proffered hand and let him help me out of the car, and as we slowly walked toward the field house I admitted, “You clean up pretty good yourself.”

“Thanks…
I even complied with the ‘no underwear’ ordinance.”

I giggled, sure that he was joking.
“Um…okay,
that’s
a little more than I needed to know.”

“I think they’re doing spot checks later on,” he teased, ushering me into the field house. I could already hear the
throbbing beat of dance music, a techno remix of
One Night In Bangkok
. We showed our student ID’s to a teacher stationed at the event room’s entrance, then went on inside. Even through the mass of gyrating bodies and flashing strobe lights, I quickly spotted Trent doing a pretty impressive job of hardstyle shuffling while a small audience laughed at his antics.

“Come on.”
Rob caught hold of my hand and we zigzagged through the crowd until reaching Dana, who squealed and threw her arms around my neck when she saw us.

“Oh my gosh, I didn’t think you were coming!”
Her eyes flickered to Rob, but although they registered surprise she didn’t make a big thing of it. “You look gorgeous! I’m so glad you guys decided to come. Let’s go sit down for a minute. Trent!” Waving to get his attention, she motioned for him to follow as we tried to find a table that had enough empty chairs for the four of us.

“Check it out.”
Trent nudged Rob and pointed out into the crowd, where Staci had her back arched and was grinding her ass up against Colin’s crotch in some kind of frantic mating dance. He definitely didn’t seem to mind.

“
Mr. Weston already had to tell them one time to tone it down,” Dana shared with us. “They’re gonna wind up getting thrown outta here.”

“Hell, they don’t care. They’ll just go
do their twerking and daggering in private.” Trent grinned and draped an arm around Dana’s shoulder.

“I wish they would - nobody wants to watch them screw in public.
Hey, does Riley know you’re here yet?”

“I don’t know. I haven’t seen him.”

“He and Jordan were already arguing when they got here. I don’t know what’s going on with them.”

“Karma.” With a wink at me,
Rob pulled off his coat and tossed it over the back of his chair.

“You look nice tonight,”
Dana told him. “Did Sara have to twist your arm to get you to come?”

“Not
exactly.”

“What
did she twist?” Trent teased.

Dana
slapped his arm. “Trent, don’t be a pig. Oh my gosh - look over there at Doug trying to dance! He’s so funny…”

“He looks like a damn walrus on crack.”

“Oh,
you’re
one to talk!”

After a few more minutes of
playful bantering between them, Trent focused his attention on talking football with Rob so Dana and I put our heads together to whisper.

“Spill it, girl! What’s going on?”
she wanted to know.

“I don’t know, we just kinda decided to come together.”

“Well, who asked who?”

“He did.”

“I knew it, I knew it, he likes you!”

“He does
not - I think he just felt bad for me.”

“
Sara, other than football the guy lives like a freakin’ hermit. You can’t make me believe he got all dressed up and crawled out of his cave just because he felt sorry for you!”

“Well…”

“I don’t even think the guy’s dated anyone since the tenth grade.”

“Who’d he
go out with in tenth grade?” I asked curiously.

“
I’m pretty sure he and Jordan had a thing for a little while.”

“They did?” Perfect -
her
again. That name sure seemed to be turning up an awful lot lately. Right now, that bit of information was the last thing in the world I wanted to know.

“
I could be wrong. I mean, it was tenth grade - who can remember? Anyway, it’s not like they could have been serious or anything.”

“Okay, whatever.” I knew
Dana was just trying to make me feel better, but I really didn’t want to hear any more about it.

Suddenly s
he sprang to her feet, squealing, “Oh my
God
- it’s my song! Come on, we have to dance.” Grabbing Trent’s arm, she dragged him back out into the crowd for a slow dance to
The Only Exception
.

The wild, frenzied energy of the room was instantly sedated by the softer music.
For a moment I watched the two of them swaying in their tight embrace, then I let my eyes wander back to Rob, who in turn was watching
me
.

With a slow smile, he stood and
offered his hand.

“I thought you said you couldn’t dance.” I let my fingers interlace with his
, reveling in their warmth.

“I said didn’t…not couldn’t.” Guiding me out to the middle of the floor, he
slipped his arms around my waist to pull me close. I found it hard to breathe, hard to organize any thoughts. My own hands found their way to his shoulders and I rested my cheek against his solid chest. I never knew two separate and individual pieces could fit so perfectly together. Closing my eyes, I trusted him to guide my movements.

Near the middle of the song I
opened them to find Jordan staring at us over Riley’s shoulder. She quickly averted her gaze when she saw me looking at her. As if anything either of those two did mattered to me. Let her stare. I couldn’t have cared less. With my own eyes once again shut, I could easily convince myself that Rob and I were the only two people in the room.

“See…I told you, didn’t I?”
he murmured against my temple.

“Told me what?”

“That you’d be the most beautiful girl here.”

I lifted my head
to smile up at him. “Rob Kensington…are you flirting with me?”

“I’m only stating a fact.” One of his hands lightly caressed my back, and I
felt a thrill of excitement.

“
All right…I have to know. Why the sudden change of heart?”

“
Change of heart?”

“Admit it. You’ve never liked me. So why are you being nice to me now?”

There was no mistaking the guilty look in his eyes. Even so, I waited for him to deny what I knew to be a fact. Amazingly enough, he didn’t. “It was nothing you did, Sara. And I don’t feel that way anymore.”

“But I don’t understand why you did in the first place. I mean, we barely knew one another.”

“We’ll talk about it later. Okay?”

“Later, when?”

“Just later. Now isn’t the time.”

“
When
is
the time?”

“You don’t give up easily, do you?”

“Not when it’s something I really want.”

I could feel his arms tighten around me, and from just above my head I heard him mumble something. I couldn’t be sure, but it sounded like, “God, I’m in trouble.”

10

At Rob’s suggestion we went for a drive after leaving the dance, and somehow ended up parked at an overlook near the top of Haystack Mountain. The lights from the city below twinkled in the darkness, and hemlock branches from the trees flanking the car bowed gently in the dusky breeze. I wondered if it really was the view he brought me here for.

I hoped not.

Rob was busy connecting his iPhone to the audio system, and once he found the song he wanted he lowered the windows and said, “Let’s get out.”

I followed him around to the front of the car, where he stood gazing out at the
sparkling valley below. Even though it was only mid-October, the night was cold and the cashmere cardigan I had on over my dress wasn’t helping much. I crossed my arms in front me, trying not to shiver.

“You cold?” he asked without turning his head.

“A little.”

“Wanna get back in the car?”

“No, I’m okay.”

Slipping
out of his sport coat, he reached around me to drape it over my shoulders. I slid my arms into the sleeves and pulled it close, hugging his warmth to me. I could faintly smell the scent of his cologne lingering on the collar. From behind us drifted a piano melody so heartwrenchingly sad it set butterflies free in my stomach. One of the songs from his goth days, probably. The vocalist’s deep, rich baritone had to be the most beautiful voice ever put to music.

I looked up at
Rob, saw the chilly breeze ruffle the ends of his dark hair. He was still gazing at the distant lights in the darkness, and I couldn’t even begin to guess what it was that he saw down there.

“Will you tell me now?” I gently prompted him.

“What is it you’d like to know?”

“
Why you couldn’t stand me back in junior high.”

H
is eyes shifted to me, then back to the valley. “Do you remember when our families used to still get together once in a while and do stuff? Back when we were like, maybe five or six.”

“Vaguely.” That was before my mother’s subtle complain
ts drove a wedge between the men. The snobbish side of her sniffed out a better class of friends than Buck and Rita Kensington. Personally though, I never really saw the issue with them. They’d always seemed perfectly nice to me.

“
That was back before things started changing. But only for me - nothing changed for you. I guess at the time I didn’t understand that. Why it all went straight to hell for me and no one else.” Inhaling deeply, he sighed before shoving his hands in the pockets of his slacks. “It wasn’t that I didn’t like you, Sara. It was that I wanted what you had, what I’d lost. I envied you. Simple as that.”

“
And what was it that you lost?”

“Everything. You name it - he took it.”

“Who? Your father?”

“
Yes. My
father
.” The word sounded like poison on his tongue. “My loving, devoted father…who hated me with every breath in his body. Who made a point of proving to me every single day just how much. He turned my life into a nightmare. And nobody ever had a clue.”

The night seemed to grow colder with his
chilling confession. I guess I’d already suspected there was something wrong there, from the bitter way he’d spoken about his father before. But the reality of it was still difficult to hear, and unfortunately there were no words of comfort I could offer him. Because it was too late for that. Obviously everyone had failed him during the time he’d needed help the most.

“I wanted what you had,” he repeated softly. “I wanted your father instead of mine. Someone who didn’t put on
a disguise for the rest of the world and then turn into a completely different person behind closed doors. A place I wasn’t afraid to go home to at night.” He looked down at me then, but the eyes that should have held sadness and regret were merely hollow and empty. “That’s why I never liked you. I wanted your life. From where I stood, you had everything.”

“My life wasn’t perfect,” I pointed out. “My parents wound up getting divorced, remember? They had their flaws, too.”

“A divorce - hell, I prayed every day of my life for a divorce. My mother would’ve fed me to the devil himself before she’d have left that bastard. She fucking worshipped him.”

“She
never tried to help you?”

“
Sara, your father is the only person that’s ever done a goddamn thing for me. He was the one who stepped up and opened his home to me after I lost mine. Everything I have I owe to him, right down to the clothes on my back. And then a month later he breaks the news that you’re coming back and to be honest, I guess maybe I felt a little threatened. You’re his flesh and blood, after all. What am I to him but some charity case?”

“You know my dad doesn’t feel that way about you.”
I had the strongest urge to touch his face, stroke his cheek with my fingertips. “I don’t think he even knows about any of that. He never mentioned it. You never told him, did you?”

“How could I? How could I tell him his best friend, the man he grew up with and loved like a brother, was
in reality an abusive sociopath? How was I supposed to tell him something like that? What good could it possibly do? It’s not like it would change anything. No, he doesn’t know and he never needs to know. And I don’t want you saying anything either. All right?”

“All right. I promise.”
A gust of wind tangled my hair and sent it flying into my face. I pushed it back with one hand.

“You know, you really do look beautiful tonight.”

The sudden change in topic caught me off guard. The sad music was still playing - how long
was
that song, anyway? - and I felt the butterflies return from wherever it was they’d been hiding.

“I didn’t mean to get all
morbid on you.”

“That’s okay. I asked for it.”

“Yes, you did.” There was something vaguely sexual about the way he said that, the way those three words rolled off his tongue. “So…” He cocked his head and smiled at me. “Did you have fun tonight?”

“I really did.
It was a lot of fun. I’m glad I went.”

“Good. I’m glad we went
, too.” He turned his head to gaze out at the lights again. “Long way down,” he commented.

“Yeah. I wouldn’t want to fall from
up here, that’s for sure.”

“Oh, it wouldn’t be so bad. Not if you got some distance from the edge.”

“Ex
cuse
me?”

“So you didn’t
bounce off anything on the way down. I bet I could throw you far enough out that you’d have a clear drop. What you wanna bet?”

“
Rob, don’t even…!” I started backing away from him, trying to hold back a rush of nervous giggles.

“Oh, come on…let’s see how far I can toss you.” He
slowly inched toward me, his sexy smile taking on a more devious twist. “You can’t weigh all that much.”

“Get away from me…
!” I warned him, holding my arms out to ward him off. It didn’t do a bit of good. With one lightning-quick movement, he managed to rush me and scoop me off my feet while I shrieked with laughter. “Put me
down!
”

“You ready? On the count of three. One…two…”

I held him tightly in a death grip. “If I go, I’m taking you down with me!”

“Fine by me.
Three!
” His arms jerked, and I let out a scream that by all accounts should have rendered him deaf in one ear. “Oh, wait…I just remembered something.”

“What’s that?”

He set me back down on my feet, but didn’t release his hold on me. Trapped in his embrace with our faces so close together, I could feel his soft breath on my cheek.

“
I meant to do this first.” Before I knew what was happening, his lips were brushing mine with a touch as light as dragonfly wings.

Feeling his tongue glide across my bottom lip,
I instantly wound my fingers through his hair to pull him in and that willing receptiveness was all it took. His warm mouth was gentle yet forceful, giving and taking at the same time. I could taste cinnamon on his tongue from the gum he’d been chewing earlier. I decided that cinnamon was now my favorite flavor.

Too soon
- way,
way
too soon - he reluctantly pulled away. “I’ve been wanting to do that for a long time,” he quietly confessed.

“
Well…then maybe you should do it again. You know, to make up for lost time and all,” I suggested.

“
Mm…maybe you’re right.” His mouth found mine again and this time he kissed me a little deeper, a little longer, until I couldn’t catch my breath and I felt dizzy with delight. If he’d thrown me off the overlook at that moment, I wouldn’t have fallen - I would have flown straight up into the dark clouds and exploded into fireworks.

When
we finally broke free, he enfolded me in his arms to hug me against his chest. I let my arms fall to snake around his waist and snuggled into him with a sigh of pure contentment. I could have stayed that way for hours, just holding him while my heart discovered a crazy new rhythm. We stood there together for a while, listening to the wind whispering through the hemlocks and the mournful music blending in perfect harmony with the night sounds. Maybe that’s why he chose that artist. The melody seemed to belong here in the dark, tranquil serenity.

The lights from
an approaching vehicle illuminated the road from around a bend, and I felt a sense of loss when the strong arms released me. “Let’s get back in the car. It’s cold out here.”

It wasn’t
much better inside the car, but once the windows were up and the heater was going it soon warmed up. I sat there quietly, waiting to see if Rob was going to try and take things further. I’d be lying if I said I didn’t want him to.

“We should probably head back,” he finally said.

That
wasn’t what I wanted to hear. “Already?” It was barely 11:30, and all Dad said before we left was to be careful and have fun. There was no mention of a curfew. He’s a pretty progressive guy. More than once I’ve wondered how he and my mom wound up together. I guess it’s true that opposites attract. In the beginning, anyway.

“
Sara…” He rubbed his forehead like he was developing a headache. “I don’t want your dad worrying about us.”

“Why would he
worry about us?”

“He
should be worrying. If he knew the thoughts that have been running through my mind lately, he’d be
really
worried.” He looked over at me but I couldn’t make out his expression in the darkness. “It’s bad enough trying to sleep at night knowing you’re right down the hall from me. You’re so close, sometimes it’s really hard not to…” He gave his head a shake. “Your father has done way too much for me. I owe him a lot. I really don’t think the ideal way for me to express my appreciation is by seducing his daughter. You get what I’m saying?”

Oh. Oh, wow. So he’d been having the naughty thoughts
, too. “Yeah. I get what you’re saying.” Sure, I got it - I just really, really didn’t like it.

“I knew I shouldn’t have kissed you. I think I just made things
a hundred times harder.” One hand reached down to adjust his pants. “In more ways than one.”

I tried not to smile, but come
on
. There’s just something about knowing you have that much of an effect on someone. I couldn’t help teasing him a bit. “Eight or nine times a day, huh?”

“I was
kidding. Although I may break a personal record tonight. We’ll see.”

“I don’t know how you expect
me
to sleep knowing you’re in the next room doing
that
.”

“
Well…you could do it too, you know.” His voice softened to almost a whisper, and he leaned in a little closer to me. “It’s a good way to relieve tension. I think you should try it. Oh, yeah…I like that idea. I like it a lot. You touching yourself while thinking about me…now that is one
very
sexy image.”