Rebel Soul: (Rebel Series Book 1) ((Rebel Series)) (3 page)

One reason to
really
wish the summer away: college meant more of a selection. 

Elle saw me sulking and reluctantly pulled away from Braden. “What’s up?” she asked, frowning at the sullen look on my face.

“Nothing.” I sighed.

“I don’t buy that,” she called me out, jutting her hip out and propping her hand on it with her certain brand of attitude.

I fixed her with a serious stare. “I promise that I’m fine. Just...please tell me we’re still sharing a tent and that Braden
won’t
be in it?” I raised my brows, pleading with her.

Elle smiled at me brightly, her white teeth flashing in the moonlight. “Don’t worry about it! Braden’s sharing a tent with Ezra. Unless
you
want to share a tent with him…” Elle trailed off, smirking as her hip bumped into mine.

“Um, no. I’m good.” I made a face, my memories drawn to the one time when Ezra and I hooked up. It was a year before the Corbin Little incident. I was sixteen and Ezra was seventeen, his license still fresh in his hand when he asked me out to the movies. We’d mutually decided to skip the movie and drive around in his truck, and one thing led to another. Although Ezra was sweet, he wasn’t experienced and neither was I for that matter. The whole situation was awkward, painful, unpleasant, and completely overrated. Definitely not worth the black eye that Ezra got when Tommy found out. I definitely had
no
desire to relive that night. “So, whose camper is that?”

She glanced up, looking towards the trailer. A guilty look befell her face. “That’s Braden’s brother’s trailer,” she said innocently, shrugging. She wasn’t meeting my eyes.

“Braden’s brother?” I repeated, blinking slowly.

“Yeah, I think that’s him now.” Elle grinned, nodding towards the headlights that were focused on us as a truck pulled up. My eyes widened as I took in the new Ford F-250 with huge, monstrous tires and floodlights. He parked carelessly with the other vehicles lining our makeshift party area and got out, leaving the lights pointed directly at our little group.

“Hey, Brock! Glad you could make it.” Braden smiled, his entire demeanor changing as his older brother slowly walked up to us. Brock had a dark, grim look on his face, as if this was exactly where he
didn’t
want to be. He was carrying two ten gallon jugs of water effortlessly. He set them down a little ways away from the fire.

“Get the rest of the water from my truck,” Brock ordered, his eyes narrowing in on Braden’s face.

His voice prompted butterflies to explode in my belly. It was deep, gravelly, and full of authority. Brock had the kind of voice and rugged good looks – that made girls swoon.

My eyes drank him in. His dark hair was wet, as if he’d just stepped out of the shower, and bits of it fell across his forehead. He had a strong, chiseled jaw, a five o’clock shadow and the most sensual lips I’d ever seen.

I had the most ridiculous urge to step towards him and run my hands through all that hair. The way his Wrangler jeans clung to his muscular thighs made my mouth water. He looked like a damn cover model for some country living magazine.

He looked a thousand times better than I remembered.
Not good, not good at all
! I thought, desperately seeking some kind of flaw in him that I could latch on to.

Even his clothes made me drool, or perhaps it was the way he wore them. He was dressed in well-worn cowboy boots and a black t-shirt that clung to the muscles in his strong arms. Arms that looked capable of hard labor; arms that I’d love to have wrapped around me.

Elle elbowed me sharply, giggling. I hadn’t realized I was noticeably gawking at the man standing less than a foot away from me, but I couldn’t help it. The guys I was used to seeing around weren’t built like Brock. They didn’t even come
close
to being built like Brock.

He glanced over, his brow furrowing as his eyes landed on me. I clamped my jaw shut and tried to force my eyes away from his, but he had some kind of pull on me. I couldn’t stop staring at him and he was staring right back.

His eyes were every bit as intriguing as I remembered, but the easy dimpled smile was definitely
not
present. Brock Miller looked hostile and every bit as dangerous as they said he was…and still, I couldn’t stop staring.

“Yeah, yeah,” Braden grumbled, effectively breaking whatever strange spell had overcome us. Brock’s eyes tore from my face and he watched as his brother stomped over to his truck. A second later, a menacing deep bark sounded from in the cab. Braden yelped and flew backwards, away from the snarling dog sitting inside. Brock smiled slowly, the dimple appearing just above the left corner of his lip.

He put his fingers to his lips and whistled. The dog leapt from the open window and growled at Braden. Brock whistled once again. Obediently, the dog walked up and sat down at Brock’s feet, still watching Braden carefully. The dog was huge and beautiful, a German shepherd mix from the looks of it. Absently, Brock’s hand dropped down to pat the dog on the head.

“I hope you’re going to control that fucking mutt,” Braden seethed, his face red with embarrassment. “I don’t want it barking all night.”

Brock sent him a single look that had Braden clamping his mouth shut and fetching the rest of the water jugs from the back of the truck. It seemed that Brock had an undeniable power over those around him. Me, Braden, the dog, even Elle watched with wide eyes.

I grabbed Elle’s arm again, dragging her further away from both Brock and Braden. I felt light headed, and I didn’t like it at all. “Why didn’t you tell me he was going to be here? If my father finds out, he’s going to flip!”

“Chill out, Tessa. Your father isn’t going to find out…I promise.” Elle’s eyes were filled with sincerity. “And really, there’s nothing wrong with Brock.”

“Didn’t he
just
get out of jail for aggravated assault?” I retorted, folding my arms across my chest. I was suddenly cold; the good mood I’d been in earlier had long since evaporated in a puff of smoke, replaced with a swirling number of complicated emotions and reactions that I couldn’t even begin to sift through.

“Yes, but you don’t know the reason
why
,” Elle said, as if this should make all the difference in the world. Elle noticed my unimpressed
are you serious
stare. She smiled sadly. “Tessa, your world is always so black and white. Sometimes, things fall in the grey area. Trust me when I tell you, this is one of those things.
He
is one of those things.”

I wrinkled my nose, resenting my friend for calling me out. “Fine, but don’t expect me to talk to him. I barely tolerate Braden.”

“I know,” Elle said without humor. She pursed her lips as if she had more to say. Instead, she forced a smile. “Let’s go get a drink.”

* * *

I had been so excited to finally be able to let loose and get drunk without one of my brothers around to put a stop to the fun. Only, I couldn’t. Not at first, anyway. I felt Brock’s eyes on me often, and I couldn’t believe that I’d finally ditched my brothers only to gain a surrogate one.

I started to get a little chilly. I knew I had a sweater in the cab of my truck, so I told Elle I’d be right back and wandered over to grab it. I yanked the door open, and the hinges creaked loudly. I grabbed my sweater and slammed the door perhaps a little too harshly.

“Well, aren’t you the life of the party?” The modulated voice startled me, and I strained my eyes through the darkness trying to find the speaker. Brock stepped out of the shadows, followed by his dog. The dog hadn’t left his heels or made a sound since snarling at Braden. When Brock came to a stop at the end of my truck, the dog sat down, watching me with intelligent glowing eyes.

My heart jumped in my chest and my face felt heated. I didn’t understand what was coming over me. I’d always been
attracted
to Brock, but it had never taken my breath away like this before.
“Yeah, well. I could say the same about you.”

Brock chuckled, but it wasn’t unkind like the last time I’d heard him laugh. He leaned against my truck, still looking at me, and took a slow sip of the beer in his hand. My eyes were instantly drawn to his broad shoulders, snug in a tan work jacket. “Yeah, I didn’t particularly want to spend my Friday night chaperoning my little brother and his friends. No offence.”

“None taken.” I frowned. “And for the record, I didn’t want to spend my Friday night being chaperoned by someone’s older brother. I have enough of my own, thank you.”

Brock’s mouth curved into an attractive smile that made the butterflies I’d felt earlier come back full force. There it was, that complete chemical reaction I’d been so desperate to find an hour ago. Now, I wish it would disappear back to wherever it came from.

He tilted his head, studying me as closely as I studied him. “Are you the Armstrong girl? Gordon’s little sister?”

“I am,” I retorted, straightening my spine so I’d stand taller. Even with my posture as straight as I could get it, Brock still towered over me by at least a head and a half. It bothered me more than I cared to admit that Brock didn’t immediately remember who I was.

His eyes traveled down the length of my body slowly. I clung tighter to the sweater in my hands, thrown off by how greatly that simple gaze affected me. “Well, ain’t that something.”

I narrowed my eyes at him, disliking the fact that I
liked
the covert way he was looking at me.

That Miller boy, he’s trouble, Tessa
. My dad’s words came back, the ominous forewarning washing over me like a wave.

“Why are you chaperoning anyway?” I asked, the question spilling from my lips before I could prevent it.

“This is my property,” Brock explained, nodding to the clearing. “My brother has a tendency to do stupid things and let stuff get out of hand. I’m just here to make sure that doesn’t happen.”

“Oh,” I exhaled, unaware that I’d been holding my breath. “I guess that explains the lurking and bummer attitude.”

“Guess so,” Brock replied, taking another swig of his beer and glancing towards the fire. I almost felt like Brock was trying to dismiss me, and I liked
that
even less than I liked the fact that he hadn’t remembered me.

“Why didn’t you just tell him he couldn’t throw a party here?” I asked.

Brock looked at me again, and my breath caught somewhere in my esophagus. “Because I’m putting him to work tomorrow as payment.”

“Putting him to work for what?”

“You ask a lot of questions.” Brock’s sensual lips twitched, and I licked mine in response.

“So? Asking questions isn’t a bad thing.”

“No, it’s not,” Brock agreed. He considered me for a moment. “I’m building a cabin. I have a friend coming over with the wood miller tomorrow, and Braden is going to help.”

“Oh,” I said, surprised by his answer.

Brock picked up on my surprise, and the corner of his lip lifted in a taunting smirk. “Did you think I was going to put him to work doing something illegal?”

“No,” I said quickly, my eyes narrowing at him. “I just didn’t expect you to say you were going to build a cabin. You just got back into town.”

“I’ve had this land for years. It’s time I did something with it,” Brock muttered. He was still looking at me, and that gaze was doing all kinds of things to my body. My blood felt hot and thick in my veins, and breathing was becoming increasingly harder to do.

“Oh, well, congrats I guess. I, um…I’d better get back,” I said, taking a step backwards, away from that molten gaze. “Have fun lurking in the shadows,” I added. His lips curved up in the tiniest hint of a smile and I thought I heard the faint sound of him chuckling.

* * *

After my third beer, I stopped caring that Brock was there…watching, and I started to have fun. My discomfort at my body’s unexpected reaction to Brock Miller disappeared as the party grew from a cluster of six people to a whopping twenty or more. Each time someone else joined the fun, the fire grew and so did the noise level.

The cordless speakers were now pumping country music. Music, laughter and conversations flowed while the fire flickered. I sat beside Elle on a log in front of the fire, watching the antics around me while I started my fourth beer.

I kept catching the guy standing across the fire beside Ezra staring at me. Each time I’d catch him looking he’d look away and slowly sip from his beer, half a smile curving the corner of his thin lips upward. I didn’t recognize him at all.

I elbowed Elle’s side. “Who’s that guy?” I demanded, gesturing across the fire when he’d finally looked elsewhere. He must have still been watching me out of the corner of his eye, because his smile grew when I pointed in his direction.

Elle looked up, squinting. “That’s Ezra’s cousin. I think his name is Chris or something.”

“He’s not from around here,” I pointed out.

“I know.” Elle grinned, shoving me playfully with her shoulder. “I think he’s here for the rodeo. Why the interest? Do you like him?”