Forsaking Truth (16 page)

He shouldn’t. It was
obviously time for him to go and he di
dn’t want to
put himself over the legal limit.

“It’s my break soon,
so I’ll grab you one first,” she said and took off.

When she returned,
Tristan’s mood had soured and his temper had flared beyond his tolerance. “You
wanna dance, Shei-Devil?”

She stilled.
Her lips parted and she stared up at him wide eyed.
Quietly, without expression, she rasped, “Okay.”

He led her to the
dance floor, far away from Luke and the cast of Oz. The song changed to
The
Time Warp
and
the band was killing it with a cool punk versi
on.
Rocky Horror he could do.

“What is this?”
Sheilagh laughed.

“It’s
The
Time Warp!”
he
shouted, astounded she didn’t know it. “Oh, baby girl, you’re makin’ me feel my
age. Listen to the words. It goes just like they say.”

He jumped to the left,
stepped
to the right, threw his hands on his hips,
drew his knees in tight, and thrust his pelvis. Sheilagh was hysterical. Her
face came to life as she watched him and followed his lead.

In that moment, he was
so grateful for her friendship, because she made him
forget
about Luke for a few minutes and remember what it was to simply have fun and
not worry about what anyone else thought.

When Magenta’s solo
started he grabbed Sheilagh’s little hand and twirled her around in a sort of
mamba tango, spinning and circli
ng her on cue. As he
arched over her, dipping her low, her small hand gripped his shoulder and her
green eyes flashed. She was breathless, suspended in his arms only inches from
the floor, but smiling as though having the time of her life. At least someone
appreciated him.

He sprung them back to
their feet as the song picked back up and they jumped right into the line
dance. It was awesome and perfect and something inside of him recalled what it
felt like to simply exist freely.

Like in the musical,
the la
st note of the song dove into a drowning blend
of keys and everyone melted and cheered. The band announced they would be
taking a break for a few minutes and Tristan caught his breath.

“Hey, Luke,” Sheilagh
said, grinning widely.

Tristan tensed and
turned
to find Luke’s gaze hard on him, his
expression otherwise blank. “Hey, Shei,” he said, in a monotone voice.
“Tristan.”

“Luke.”

They glared at each
other challengingly for another moment. The stereo kicked on and Sheilagh
grabbed Tristan’s arm. “I love this
song! Dance with
me, Tristan.”

He was pulled away
from her brother as Christina Aguilera’s voice belted out an opening line about
not being able to keep a good girl down. This was not a Time Warp line dance.
Show
Me How to Burlesque
was probably one of th
e sexiest
songs he’d ever heard. It was fast, sultry, dirty, and Sheilagh owned it in her
glitter dress.

As she crouched and
dipped her bedazzled booty low, Tristan’s eyes flared. Men around the bar
watched her longingly as she gyrated with quick,
seductive
moves and he frowned. She was seventeen!

Her fingers spread
wide as she dragged her hands down her open thighs, pulling the slit of her
gown open. Jesus. Was she nuts? Her brothers were probably watching and having
a coronary. Men started crowdin
g around her and
Tristan panicked.

He caught her wrist
and drew her close to his chest, shooting a territorial glare over her bare
shoulder. “Take a hike,” he snapped at the leering perv dressed as Clark Kent.

Holding her inside the
shelter of his body di
dn’t seem to slow her motions.
Didn’t she know what she was doing to the men watching her? She certainly was
showing everyone how she burlesqued. When the song stopped abruptly he was
beyond relieved. Another song came on and she made as if she was going t
o dance some more.

Keeping hold of her
wrist he dragged her back to his table.

“Don’t you want to
dance some more?” she called, trailing after him in her high heels.

“I think you danced
enough for one night, baby girl. You got the whole male population og
ling you.”

They made it to the
table and he grabbed his beer. Sheilagh was out of breath and watching him.
Over her shoulder he spotted Luke, Kelly, Braydon, and Finn, all scowling at
them.

“What about you?” she
asked.

“What?” he pulled his
eyes away from
the angry Irish mob.

“Were you ogling me?”

He frowned. “Of course
not. I was trying to block others from undressing you with their eyes.”

Her expression wilted.
“Oh.”

“They don’t all know
you’re only a teenager, Sheilagh. It’s a bar. If they don’t recogniz
e you as the waitress, they’ll assume you’re fair game. You
can’t tempt trouble like that.”

Her brow creased.
“Maybe I wanted them to look.”

That pissed him off.
“Why? So they recognize your body and not your brains? Don’t be that sort of
girl, Shei. You’r
e better than that.”

Her face tightened and
he knew he’d upset her. Angrily, she said, “I won’t be a teenager forever. I’ll
be an adult soon and then maybe all of you will stop treating me like a baby.”

She was angry, but by
the end of her little edict
she’d gotten herself
upset. Her eyes blinked and she turned to walk away. He grabbed her wrist.
“Baby girl—”

She pivoted, sharp
emerald eyes cutting off his words. “Stop calling me that! I’m not a baby! At
first I thought it was sweet, but now I get it’s j
ust
how you all see me.”

She stormed off and he
was speechless. The brothers walked like a wall of fury toward him.

“What the fuck was
that?” Finn demanded.

“Not cool, Tristan,”
Braydon snapped.

Luke said nothing, but
his scowl was so harsh no words were n
eeded.

Kelly simply added,
“She better be coming back or you’re hustling drinks the rest of the night.”

He shook his head. “I
didn’t make her dance like that! I was trying to keep the creeps away from
her.” Tristan sighed when their expressions failed to l
ighten. “I’ll go talk to her.”

When he made it to the
back of the bar he couldn’t find her. He asked a woman to check in the ladies
room, but she wasn’t there either. Or the woman had lied to him. He pushed
through the fire exit and found the back lot empt
y.
Then he heard sniffles. Shit.

He quietly stepped out
and followed the low whimpers coming from the other side of the building.
“Sheilagh?”

“Go away.”

He did the opposite
and stepped in front of her. “Please don’t cry.”

Her fingers chased
tears away from
her lashes as if their presence was
offensive.

“Jesus, Tristan, will
you just leave!”

He jerked back. She’d
never talked to him like that before. “No! What the fuck is it with you
McCulloughs? Someone cares and you all freak out.”

She scoffed. “You
don’t
care.”

“Of course I care. I
love you, baby girl—I mean, Sheilagh. I hate seeing you upset.”

Her hand paused as she
rubbed her nose and her head tilted. “What?”

“What do you mean
what?”

“You
love
me?”

“Of course I do.
You’re my friend, Sheilagh. I’d never
do anything to
intentionally hurt you.”

She sniffled. In a
small voice she admitted, “I love you too.”

He smiled and tucked
her hair behind her ear. “I’m glad. I’m sorry I hurt your feelings. I was only
trying to look out for you.”

She shrugged it off.
“It’s okay. I’m being overly sensitive. I just hate being
treated like I’m younger than everyone else.”

“But you are younger.”

Her lashes lowered.
“Will you make me a promise?”

“Anything.”

“Once I turn eighteen,
will you treat me like an adult and start se
eing my
age as just a number?”

He’d probably always
see her as younger. He had this unfamiliar need to take care of her, watch out
for her. She was beautiful and he worried one day that devious streak of hers
would land her in a heap of trouble. Sighing, h
e
said, “How about this, you always be honest with me and let me look out for you
and I promise after your eighteenth birthday I’ll never treat you as anything
other than an adult.”

She grinned. “I like
that deal.”

“Good. Now let’s go
inside before your
brothers come out here.”

“Tristan?” He stopped
from turning and faced her. “You can still call me baby girl. If you want, I
mean.”

Smiling, he pinched
her chin. “You got it, baby girl.”

When they went inside
Finn was dancing with Erin, Braydon had himself
between
two nurses and Kelly was back behind the bar. Sheilagh said a quick goodbye and
reported back to her tables.

Scanning the bar,
Tristan gave up without really looking too hard for Luke. He’d probably left
anyway. Without stopping to say goodnight, h
e headed
out to his truck.

The lot was still
packed. He slid his key into his door and popped the lock.

“Thanks for talking to
my sister.”

He stilled and turned
to find Luke in the shadows. The fake badge he wore reflected the light cast
over the lot. He b
raced himself for more drama. “Just
being a friend.”

“She could use a good
friend. She’s going through a rough time lately, feeling sort of unnoticed and
different. She doesn’t have a lot of people to talk to.”

He frowned. “Why?”

Luke shrugged.
“Sheilagh’s
always been off the charts smart. She’s
in a lot of AP classes with upperclassmen and that sort of makes it hard to fit
in with peers her age. Some of her classes are also independent, which makes
things more difficult. She didn’t even go to the dance las
t month because she said no one asked her. How a girl that
looks like my sister doesn’t get asked to a dance is beyond me.”

Tristan hadn’t known
any of that, but it explained a lot. “Well, I think she’ll be all right now.”

Luke nodded. “She
looks up to you
.”

“I think she’d look up
to the rest of you too, if ya’ll stopped looking down on her.”

“She’s still a kid.”

“Won’t be for long.
Maybe it’s time ya’ll start treatin’ her like the rest of you wanted to be
treated at seventeen. Help her adjust into adulthoo
d
gracefully.”

“Yeah.”

They stood in silence
for a beat. Tristan shifted and said, “I’m gonna take off.”

Luke’s head tilted,
his eyes scrutinizing. “I’m sorry I freaked out earlier.”

“That all you’re sorry
for?”

Luke had to know he
was pissed about him gro
ping those girls on the dance
floor and pretending it was just dancing. When he didn’t say anything, Tristan
sighed. “How about this, Luke? How about, when you’re ready to really treat
this thing like an equal and committed relationship, you call me? I’m n
ot asking you to put a rainbow sticker on your truck or go
parading around Center County on a crusade. I’m just asking that you show me
you want what we have enough to stop feeling ashamed of it in private.”

Luke’s brows synched
tight. “You’re breaking up
with me?”