Kissing Trouble (22 page)

Julie’s temples were throbbing and it was taking all her willpower not to simply hang up.

“I think I should bring the kids back.”

“Back?”
Maureen laughed tightly.
“Back to what? There’s nothing here for them. Their friends have all gone away and they’ll just be cooped up in the house. Besides, I already paid you to watch them, Julie. Have you forgotten that? I don’t think you want me to ask for that ten thousand back.”

No, she didn’t, especially not when she had already spent such a large portion of it.

“Just ignore it,”
Maureen went on.
“They will stop. I promise.”

There was nothing remotely reassuring about the flippant response. If anything, it only fueled the fire crackling inside her until she wanted to lash out, to scream and shout at Maureen that it wasn’t safe. But the older woman was right about one thing - if they returned, Julie would be forced to return the money given to her to babysit the children for a month. She really couldn’t do that.

“Jewels?” Mason stood darkening her doorway. One hand was braced against the frame. The other hung loosely at his side. “What is it?”

Tossing the phone down on her bedspread, Julie rose with a weak scoff that was supposed to have been a laugh. “I’m a bad person,” she decided.

Mason frowned. He moved over the threshold and started deeper into the room. “What are you talking about?”

Grinding the grit and unshed tears from her eyes with the heels of her hands, Julie sniffled. “I just got off the phone with Maureen.” She let her hands drop, only to lift one up to fork back through her hair. “She’s telling me not to bring the kids back, or, if I do, to fork over the money she gave me to babysit them in the first place, which, of course, she has every right to, but...”

“What?” he prompted when she trailed off.

“I can’t!” she blurted. “Not that I don’t want to, but I honestly can’t. I mean, I can, but not the whole thing.” She shook her head. “I’m the worst person in the world.”

“How’s that?” He was standing right in front of her now.

“What do you think?” she shot back. “I’m actually considering staying here, keeping those kids here, because of money.”

“That doesn’t make you a bad person,” he justified.

Julie frowned at him. “Then what does it make me?”

His response was to move a step closer and tuck a coil of hair behind her ear.

“You need to stop beating yourself up, Jewels,” he murmured after a moment. “It’s going to be fine.”

“You can’t possibly know—”

“I do,” he interrupted evenly. “They got a fingerprint off the glass. It’s only a matter of time before they find the person responsible and it will end for the rest of the summer as it always does.”

Her frown deepened. “Have they caught the person in the past?”

Mason shook his head. “No, but I haven’t been here for five years.”

“Why didn’t Shaun give his handprint?”

As though the words had been lodged like a fist between her ribs, they blurted out of her, coming out almost accusing.

“He had his reasons,” Mason stated simply.

Julie couldn’t help frowning. “Like what?” she pressed. “Doesn’t he realize this makes him sound guilty?

His shoulders lifted and fell with his inhale and then exhale. “It wasn’t Shaun.”

The absolute faith Mason seemed to have in the guy bothered her. Granted, she would never just throw her best friend under a bus either, but then she liked to think any friend of hers wouldn’t be a horse’s ass like Shaun.

“Shaun has a problem with authority,” Mason explained. “It has nothing to do with him being guilty, just stubborn.”

Julie just shook her head. “I need to start on supper,” she muttered. “Then I need to decide on what to do.”

He didn’t stop her right away. She walked past him to the door and her hand touched the doorknob before he spoke.

“Jewels?”

Unwillingly, she turned to him.

His gaze was level, calm, and collected. “I know you don’t believe me, but Shaun would never hurt anyone.”

Julie narrowed her eyes at him. “Maybe that’s true in your rose colored world, but in the real world where I live, trust me, Shaun Ryan isn’t a humanitarian.”

He lowered his head as though praying and said nothing for a moment. When he finally fixed his attention on her once more, his expression was reluctant.

“Do you want help making supper?”

He followed her to the kitchen and joined her, even when she told him she had it covered. Together, it took them no time at all to make spaghetti. Shaun appeared halfway through ladling the meal onto plates and made himself at home at the table without a word to anyone about his disappearing act. It took all of Julie’s restraint, plus some pleading glances from Mason, to keep quiet.

Dinner was a somber affair, followed by everyone packing it in early, even the kids. Their acceptance worried her. She wondered if the whole event had forever scarred them. It only infuriated her further towards Maureen.

“What are you going to do now?” Mason asked once they had washed and put the dishes away.

Julie shrugged. “I don’t know. Maybe go upstairs and read.”

“Come watch TV with us,” he requested.

She shook her head. “I don’t think that’s a good idea,” she said. “I don’t think Shaun will appreciate my company. Besides, you guys watch really boring stuff.”

Mason gasped in feigned horror. “Take that back.”

Chuckling, she slipped around him and started for the door. “Goodnight.”

She made it all the way to the bottom of the stairs before she was caught by the wrist and tugged back into Mason’s chest.

“Stay for a little bit,” he cajoled. “I promise to stab Shaun in the eye if he so much as glances at you.”

At that, Julie laughed. “I think I might go just to see that.”

Mason smirked. “I thought that might entice you.”

With her hand still clasped securely in his, he led her into the living room and the bright flicker of lights as some action movie unfolded across the screen.

Unlike the comfort of the kitchen, the sitting room wasn’t a place she frequented. It felt more like Shaun’s domain than hers since he spent such a vast majority of his time sprawled across the sofa, taking full command of the remote control. Occasionally, the children were there and Luis. Mason, like her, or maybe because of her, stayed in the kitchen area. So when he dragged her to the loveseat to the right of the sofa, she lowered herself down gingerly on the cushion. Her gaze kept darting to Shaun taking claim to the entire length of one sofa while Luis lay in the other.

The trio of couches sat in a half square around a coffee table, facing a wide TV mounted to the wall above a fireplace. Julie didn’t recognize the movie playing, but then she didn’t have much time for movies.

Mason stayed on his side of the loveseat, but he seemed to take up all the room. His long legs were sprawled beneath the coffee table and he had one arm over the back of the sofa. The other was along the length of the armrest. The hand on the arm along the back played unhurriedly with the hairs bunched together in her ponytail. It took all her restraint not to twist her body around and tuck herself into the curve of his side.

She did relax. She let her bones sink into the velvety fabric of the upholstery. That brought his hand to her shoulder where it resumed its winding of the loose strands of hair by her ear around his finger.

No one spoke as things exploded across the screen and people ran in all directions screaming. A few times, Julie wished she’d gone to bed. At least there, she could have been reading instead of watching people die. In her opinion, it hit too close to home and that made her anxious.

It was twenty minutes in when Julie decided she’d had enough. She started to rise only Shaun beat her to it, lunging to his feet and straining his big body in a stretch that, in the dark, made him appear enormous.

“I’m out,” he grunted as he let his arms drop down to his sides.

“Where are you going?” Mason called after him when Shaun started around the sofa.

“Bed,” Shaun muttered. “Too crowded in here for me.”

Julie felt the jab as surely as though he’d physically stricken her. Warmth seeped up her chest to flood her cheeks.

“Don’t bother,” she muttered, getting to her own feet. “I was just leaving myself.”

“Whoa, wait...” Mason rose quickly and took her by the elbow. “Guys, come on.”

She shook him off. “It’s fine.” But her gaze drilled into Shaun. “I wouldn’t want to deprive Shaun of his couch time.”

That sparked a fresh coat of anger behind Shaun’s gaze. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

Julie shoved her way around the coffee table to meet the man’s seven feet head on with her five foot five inches. She had to tip her head back, but she went toe to toe with him anyway.

“It means you’re a bully and I don’t have time for your bullshit.”

Feeling better for having gotten that off her chest, Julie began to turn away only to be grabbed roughly by the arm and wrenched to a stop that nearly dislocated her shoulder.

“Hey!”

Shaun ignored Mason’s growl and jerked Julie closer to him. “You got something to say, bitch?”

Planting both fists against Shaun’s chest, Julie shoved. It didn’t do more than rock him back an inch.

“Get your hands off me,” she warned through gritted teeth.

His hold only tightened, leaving a bracelet of red, that would probably turn black and blue, circling her bicep.

“No,” he retorted. “Come on. Say what’s really on your mind.”

“Shaun, get your fucking hands off her!” Mason started around the furniture to get to them.

“You want to know what I think, Shaun?”

Without giving him time to think, she grabbed at the elbow holding her with her free hand and gouged her thumb into his pressure point. Shaun yelped. His fingers relinquished their grip on her arm and he tried to dart back.

Julie followed his retreat by stomping on his instep and followed it up with an elbow in the throat when he doubled over.

He hit the ground on both knees wheezing and clutching at his throat. Julie stood over him, trembling with fury and adrenaline. “I think you need to keep your fucking hands to yourself. Also, learn to keep your mouth shut. I’m not fifteen anymore. I will tear your dick off and feed it to you.”

Not waiting for him to catch his breath, Julie marched from the room. At the top, she softened her steps, careful not to wake the children.

In her room, she went straight into the bathroom to brush her teeth and scrub the little makeup she had on off her face. She stripped out of her clothes and yanked on her night shirt and, as an almost afterthought, yanked on a pair of shorts. After combing out her hair and knotting it back up in a thick braid, she climbed into bed, grabbed her book off the nightstand, and settled in despite the angry churning in the pit of her stomach.

But it was no good.  She was just severely pissed off and no matter how hard she tried, the characters in her book were unable to save her from her own crowded mind.

Grumbling, she tossed the paperback down on the nightstand and jerked the covers up to her chin. A second later, she pitched them down, flopped onto her stomach. Then onto her back to stare at the ceiling. But no matter which position she took, sleep remained elusive. Her head was just too full of all the things that refused to stay quiet. Yet, just when she had begun to make progress and her eyelids finally started growing heavy, a light knock snapped her back.

Her eyes flew open and sleep popped like a bubble against a sharp barb. Her heart gave a violent jolt that propelled her upright. She blinked at the closed door in a semi daze.

The knock sounded again. Julie scrambled from amongst the swaddle of covers and hurried to the door. As an afterthought, she snatched up her bat where it leaned against the corner and held it firmly when wrenching open the door.

Mason raised an eyebrow. “Do you sleep with that thing or something?”

Snorting, Julie set the bat down in its place and pulled the door open wider. “What are you doing here?”

He met her gaze squarely, amusement gone. “I’m sorry,” he said. “What Shaun did was inexcusable and I...”

Julie put up a hand, stopping his flow of words. “Look, there’s only one day before you leave and I just want to get through it without any more incident. If you can keep him out of my hair for the next forty eight hours...”

“He won’t touch you again. I swear. But,” he added quickly when she opened her mouth, “I will keep him away from you.”

Julie gave a satisfied nod. “Thank you.” She offered him the hint of a smile. “So how come this couldn’t wait until morning?”

His attention flicked over her shoulder and fixed on the bed, rumpled still from her failed attempts at sleep. He bit the inside of his lip.

“Did I wake you?”

She followed the line of his gaze and gave a sigh filled with longing. “No, I can’t sleep.” She turned back to him and caught him already watching her. “Are you going to bed?”

“I’m not tired,” he said. “I was going to head downstairs and maybe make a bowl of something and watch a movie.”

He was watching her now, almost expectantly, like he was waiting for her to say her line, but she didn’t know it. So she nodded, slowly.

“Okay.”

He chuckled. “Will you join me?”

Julie blinked. “Oh! Uh...”

“Luis and Shaun have gone to bed,” he said, mistaking her hesitation.

Julie gave the bed another glance of longing. “No, that’s not...” She sighed. “Movie sounds great.”

She shut her door and followed him down. The upstairs hall, stairs, and parts of the foyer below were lit solely by the single bulb in the upstairs bathroom. The rest of the house lay in a quiet darkness. Mason flicked the switch on in the kitchen, dousing the place with a soft, white glow that made her wince. He wandered over to the pantry and came back out with a bag of chips. He tore it open as he made his way back.

“What’s on your mind?” he asked as he set the bag down on the counter and went to a cupboard.

Mason had his back to her while she focused on his question. He was bent at the waist, head buried in a cupboard. Julie took the opportunity to study the tight curves of his backside through the warn material of his flannel bottoms. His top had ridden up, exposing a thin strip of flesh between the hem and his waistband. Julie was momentarily distracted by the sliver of skin and the muscles bunching across the wide span of his back.