Rebel Soul: (Rebel Series Book 1) ((Rebel Series)) (5 page)

He smirked knowingly, but wisely kept his mouth shut. He must have finally picked up on the fact that I’d had enough of his bullshit prodding; my patience was running out. I wanted everyone to vacate my property stat, but I knew that wasn’t going to happen and the last thing I wanted was a bunch of drunken eighteen year olds on the road anyway.

I wanted
her
to stay. I could watch her sing up there all night.

But Tessa was done singing. She said something to Elle and jumped off the bed of the truck, landing expertly on her feet and heading towards the tree line.

Part of me wanted to follow her, but I didn’t. I turned my attention back to Braden and Peter and tried to lose myself in their conversation. But then, Hunter growled lowly, threateningly. He slowly stood up on his feet, his hackles raised and his teeth showing, his eyes focused on the trees.

I frowned, glancing around. I didn’t see anything out of the ordinary. People were still dancing and drinking, talking and laughing. Then it dawned on me; the guy decked out in DC clothing, the one that stuck out like a sore thumb, was nowhere to been found.

Neither was Tessa.

I set my beer down and grabbed the nearest flashlight from a stump, whistling once to Hunter. He took off like a shot, leading the way.

He was faster than me. I knew the moment when he reached them, just on the other side of those trees. The snapping and growling that came from Hunter told me that he’d locked in on his target. I wasn’t worried; I knew that Hunter wouldn’t cause any real damage, not that I’d lose any sleep over it regardless. He’d likely try to immobilize him until I got there.

I shined the flashlight towards the sounds of a scuffle and my dog’s threatening growls. DC guy was on the ground, trying to shake his leg free from Hunter’s mouth, swearing up a storm. I slowly raised the flashlight, searching around for Tessa.

She was leaning against the tree, her hands gripping the bark like she was afraid to let go. Her amber eyes were full of panic and tears. There was a red mark across her cheek and her lips were stained with blood.

My jaw clenched as a deep rage washed over me. It took
everything
I had to not give in to the very strong desire I had to teach this piece of shit a lesson. I tried to focus on controlling my breathing and very slowly lowered my flashlight back to the struggle happening on the ground.

“Hunter, stop.” I knew that my voice was just as menacing as Hunter’s deep throat growling had been. In a lot of ways, I was more dangerous than the dog. DC guy knew it, judging by the fear he wore on his face. Hunter immediately released his leg, but refused to stand down. He was poised, ready to jump again, his teeth bared and a low rumbling came from deep in his chest.

DC guy was struggling to get up, intent on running away. As if he’d get two feet.

“What happened here?” I asked, my jaw clenched to the point of pain.

“Your dog is fucking nuts,” DC guy said, spitting on the ground just in front of my feet.

I lowered myself to a crouching position, getting right on his level and aiming the flashlight directly into his eyes. I watched them constrict until the pupils were all I could see. “I’m going to ask you one more time, what happened here?”

“Nothing, we were just having some fun and your stupid dog attacked me!” DC guy’s eyes were looking anywhere but at me, a sure sign that he was lying, as if Tessa’s appearance wasn’t evidence enough.

“Interesting,” I said slowly, shining the light on Tessa’s face again. She trembled like a leaf. The sight of her like that nearly made me lose the last shred of control I had. “It doesn’t look like she’s a willing participant in this ‘fun’ at all. In fact, I’m pretty sure she came out here alone to go to the bathroom and you, being the sick and disgusting fucking pervert you are, decided she was an easy target. A drunk girl going off into the woods alone? Yeah. I could see where you’d make that assumption. I don’t know where the fuck you’re from, asshole, but around here? We watch out for our girls. I saw Tessa leaving alone, and I saw you watching her. Now, here we are. My dog doesn’t attack people for no reason. Chances are, he got here first and saw you hurting an innocent girl, so he put a stop to it because that’s what he’s trained to do.”

I stood up slowly, my eyes still focused on the guy’s face, conveying every last bit of rage. It was inevitable that he understood my deadly threat in the words left unspoken.

“She’s a fucking cock tease,” the guy desperately argued. “She’s been making eyes at me all night.”

This was the wrong answer. I took one step towards him and grabbed a fistful of his hair, yanking him up. “You don’t get to assume a girl’s body is yours just because she looked in your direction, shit-stain. No means no, or weren’t you taught that back home?” I tilted my head, smiling dangerously.

“I-I’m sorry!” the guy stuttered, the panic evident in his eyes.

“Come,” I said, not only to my dog but to Tessa too.

There was only one time where I lost control like this; where the need to pummel every last bit of my rage onto someone had consumed me until I couldn’t see straight.

And I’d snapped. I’d done exactly that, and I served time for it.

I needed to get them out of here; I needed to get around people so I didn’t lose the last tether to my control and tear this fucking loser apart bit by bit.

Tessa pushed herself shakily away from the tree, following as I dragged the guy out from the bush and towards the fire. If my hands weren’t full, I would have carried her. But I wasn’t sure my hands could be tender enough for her anyway, not when I wanted to rip this guy apart.

People noticed us approaching, and the conversation and music were quick to die when they realized I was dragging DC guy by his hair, towards the fire. Braden rushed towards me, alarm on his face. He probably thought I’d gone off the deep end again.

“Brock, what the fuck gives!” he shouted. His expression was angry but I could see the panic beneath his blue eyes. A bunch of the other guys started over, their expressions cautious. Elle was the first one to spot Tessa, trailing behind me with Hunter at her side. She let out a strangled sounding squeak and hopped down from the back of Ezra’s truck, flying past Braden on clumsy legs.

“What happened!” she demanded, nearly tripping over her own feet before she reached Tessa. Braden’s eyes followed, taking in her friend’s appearance.

I released my hold on the guy’s hair and he dropped to the ground. I glared at every person standing around the fire, watching. “Who invited this piece of shit?”

It was so quiet, crickets likely would have been heard if my blood wasn’t boiling in my ears. Ezra cleared his throat and stepped closer. “I did.”

“Who is he?” I asked, almost needlessly. I didn’t give a fuck who he was.

“My cousin…Chris,” Ezra answered, looking briefly down to his cousin lying on the ground.

“Well, your cousin just tried to rape Tessa,” I spat, my anger boiling over. Ezra looked from his cousin to Tessa, his expression astonished. He opened his mouth and closed it, searching for words he didn’t have. Elle was tethered to Tessa, staring at her with a horrified expression on her face. “Get him the fuck off my property before I let the local police department deal with him, or better yet, before
I
deal with him.”

Ezra set his beer down and wordlessly walked over to his cousin. He forced him up by the arm, his head down, ashamed and disgusted. He shoved his cousin into the cab of his truck roughly and took off, expertly weaving around the other vehicles.

Watching them go didn’t make the rage boiling inside of me ease up. My hands were at my side, clenched into fists. I stalked back and forth like a wild animal, needing a release for all this pent up energy and anger, but hopeless at getting it out.

“Come on, Tess,” Elle said, the sound of her voice breaking through the rage haze was enough to spark my attention. I looked up, watching as they walked gingerly towards their tent. Tessa’s movements were pained, and that pissed me off more.

Braden went to follow, the arrogant smile gone from his face and a look of concern in its place. Elle shook her head at him and he stopped, his hands clenching at his sides before he turned and stomped towards me. We watched as she reached the tent, holding the flap open so Tessa could crawl in.

I put my hand up, silencing Braden before he could speak. I knew he had questions, but I couldn’t talk to him yet. Every step Tessa took away from me, the worse I felt. I needed to make sure she was okay,
really
okay. I needed to make sure that sick fuck hadn’t touched her, because if I was too late and if he touched her…there would be no stopping me. I’d be going after him and hunting him down.

I cleared the distance with four long steps, pausing momentarily to grab a bottle of water from a cooler that happened to be in my pathway.

Elle was just about to close the flap, but before she could, I crouched down in front of the tent entrance. Hunter was by my side, his tongue rolling as if he was celebrating a successful game of fetch. To him, he had.

My eyes met Tessa’s, and my hands gripped tighter to the bottle of water as I was hit with a thousand different staggering emotions. The need to protect this girl overwhelmed me. The desire to bring back that smile to her lips and that light behind her amber eyes that had been present just a few short hours ago tore me up inside.

“Are you okay?” I asked, swallowing hard. I was afraid to hear her answer, but at the same time…I needed to.

Tessa

The depths of his steel gray eyes swirled like the dark clouds of a thunderstorm. I could see the warmth and concern, but there were other things too, like heady emotions that I couldn’t quite pin-point. The electricity between us sizzled and crackled. It reminded me of that feeling I got just before a serious thunderstorm rolled in. Even the tiny hair follicles on my arms stood up at attention.

I could easily let the world fall away and focus on whatever it was brewing between us, but his question reminded me of what had just transpired…what Brock had rescued me from.

I swallowed hard, my throat raw from crying and trying to scream. “I’m fine,” I almost croaked. I dropped my eyes, feeling his unasked question burning a hole through me. “He didn’t…you got there in time.”

Brock nodded once, his jaw tense. He set the water bottle down inside our tent and stood up. He abruptly changed his mind and crouched down again, staring intently at me. I could feel the burning heat of his gaze, and my eyes rose involuntarily to meet his.

“I’m sorry this happened to you tonight, Tessa. You did nothing to deserve it,” he told me before finally standing up and walking away.

Elle closed the flap of our tent with a shaky hand and turned to look at me, tears spilling out of her eyes. “Tessa, I am so sorry I wasn’t there. I should have gone with you. I should have never let you go alone.”

“It’s not your fault. Normally stuff like that doesn’t happen around here.” It felt as if each of my limbs weighed a thousand pounds. I was heavy and groggy, and I realized I had yet to process the severity of what had almost happened.

Elle crawled up beside me and wrapped her arms around me, sobbing against my shoulder. “I’m so glad he didn’t; I’m so glad you’re okay, Tessa. I’m so glad Brock was there. I can’t believe I didn’t notice that creep following you. I suck as a best friend.”

I patted her shoulder wordlessly, too spent to even consider thinking of a response.

* * *

I awoke early the next morning. My body was still sore and my left eye felt puffy, as if the skin beneath it was swollen. I reached a hand up tentatively and touched it. It was definitely swollen, and it hurt.

Fresh tears flowed down my cheeks. Even though Chris hadn’t gotten as far as he could have, I still felt violated and disgusting. I crawled out from our tent, leaving a sleeping Elle to softly snore on her own.

The sun hadn’t quite risen yet. It was still early…it probably wasn’t even seven o’clock yet. Nobody else seemed to be awake. The fire pit was still smoking a little from last night’s fire, and there were beer bottles scattered around the clearing.

I walked on shaky legs to my truck, my body still very sore from trying to fight off Chris’s unwanted advances. I walked up and glanced in the square side mirror.

I looked like hell. My hair had mostly fallen out from its braid, and was a tangled mess around my face. My left eye was almost completely swollen shut and there was dried blood in the corners of my mouth, likely from when I bit down on my tongue. I put a fist to my mouth, fresh tears spilling out from my eyes.

There was no way I could go home like this. My dad and my brothers would flip. The ’
I told you so’
speech would come, along with a severe grounding for disobeying my father’s rules. He thought I was at Elle’s house for the night; he didn’t think I was going to a bush party where boys would be present.

“Tessa?” 

I whirled around at the sound of that deep voice. Brock stood at the front of my truck, his dog at his feet. In the near distance, his trailer door stood open. He must have seen me from inside, standing here like an idiot crying. I desperately tried to wipe the tears away. The last thing I needed was Brock Miller’s pity. “What?”

He watched me for a moment, then sighed and cautiously approached me. He kept his eyes on me the whole time, looking straight into mine as if I was a deer and he was trying not to startle me. “It’s okay for you not to be fine. You know that, right? What happened last night was traumatic. You’re allowed to feel scared.”

“Thanks for your permission,” I retorted, averting my eyes so Brock wouldn’t see how profoundly his words affected me. I took a shaky breath.

“You’re welcome,” Brock said, fighting a smile.

“I’m not scared,” I told him, crossing my arms defiantly. And I wasn’t scared, at least…not anymore. I acknowledged the terrible situation and was thankful that Brock and his dog had shown up in time. I was angry at myself for having gotten drunk in the first place. I was angry that it happened. “I’m pissed.”

The corner of Brock’s mouth perked up. “I bet you are.”

I paused, listening to the chorus of snoring coming from the tents around us. I wrung my hands, uncomfortable. I couldn’t meet his intense gaze. He seemed to be waiting for me to say something. “Thanks…for, you know...” I finally said, looking down at the German shepherd mix at his heel. The dog tilted his head and wagged his tail.

“Don’t mention it,” Brock replied, his eyes serious and his jaw clenching as if the memory left a bad taste in his mouth.

I averted my eyes and pursed my lips, drawing in a deep breath through my nostrils. I felt Brock move closer and my heart started to beat frantically.

He stopped less than a foot away, his large hand gently tipping my chin up so he could inspect my face. I knew what he was seeing: the swollen eye, the dried blood caked around my lips, the drunk girl he’d had to rescue. His jaw clenched and he sighed heavily.

“Come with me,” he said, nodding back towards his trailer. “I have something that will help bring down the swelling.”

“What?” I was fighting with everything I had to appear unaffected by his touch, but my heart felt like it was about to take flight from my chest at any given moment.

Brock smiled morosely. “I’m no stranger to black eyes, Tessa. Let me help you.”

I swallowed hard, nodding once. It was difficult to ignore just how much I liked how he said my name. He spoke it like a caress.

His hand dropped from my chin, breaking me from my thoughts. He led the way back to his trailer and I followed stiffly, bewildered at what was transpiring between us… at least on my end.

The trailer was tiny, but it wasn’t cramped. There weren’t enough personal items inside for it to feel cramped. I could see a bedroom towards the left, just past the tiny kitchen. His bed was left unmade, his covers carelessly tossed to the floor, revealing the white sheet beneath. There was a thin door that likely led to the bathroom, and directly to my right was a kitchen table with bench seats that probably doubled as a bed or sofa, true to trailer nature.

Brock gestured for me to sit down at the table and opened one of the storage drawers. He pulled out a clean cloth and gently ran it under the tap. He looked over his shoulder, giving me a small half smile. He seemed a little uncomfortable with me in his space or maybe with me in general. I flushed, stupidly wondering if his discomfort came from him feeling what I felt.

He walked over, holding the cloth in his hand, and crouched between my legs. My heart jumped in my chest again, just after it had started to settle. The way those steel coloured eyes pierced through me made me feel short of breath. It was the strangest thing…I could have sworn he felt it too. The air between us shifted, becoming denser and warmer as Brock gently wiped at my face, cleaning the blood away. His hands were gentle and definitely not the hands I remembered clenched in anger from last night, the hands that I knew were capable of causing serious damage.

Unable to take the intensity behind his gaze a moment longer, my eyes dropped down to look at those tender hands.

“What happened?” I demanded, noticing the bruising and cuts on his knuckles.

“Don’t worry about that,” he said, his expression closing off immediately. He stood up quickly, done with washing the blood away, and went back to the kitchen sink. He ran the cloth under it again, this time turning on only the cold water. Then he reached into the ice box in his tiny refrigerator, grabbing a bag of frozen beans. He put the cloth around it and returned, pressing it against my swollen eye firmly.

It was so cold that it hurt, and I instantly tried to wince away from the pressure.

“Don’t move,” Brock instructed. His voice was gentle again. “I know its cold, but it’ll bring the swelling down.”

I bit my lip and tried to focus on breathing. “So…what brings you back to town?” I asked, trying to divert my attention away from the ice cold compress Brock was pressing to my face.

“Lots of things,” Brock replied evasively. I blinked up at him with my good eye, unimpressed with his answer. The corners of his lips perked up. “I’m here to build a cabin. I told you that.”

“Oh, right. I guess I forgot.” I exhaled. The silence stretched on between us, and I bit the inside of my cheek to prevent myself from asking further stupid questions. Brock clearly didn’t want to talk to me.

“My mom is sick,” he said after several long minutes, when I’d finally given up on making small talk.

“Oh, I’m sorry to hear that…” I muttered, looking back up at him. His expression was still guarded, his jaw tense.

“Yeah, well. That’s life,” Brock said gruffly. He pulled the cold compress away for a moment, assessing the swelling. “It’s beginning to go down. Another ten minutes with this on and it should almost be as right as rain,” he added, pressing it back. “Do you think you can hold it there? I’m going to make some coffee.”

“Yeah, sure,” I said quickly, fumbling for the ice pack. My hand brushed against his, and the nerves in my fingertips danced. Goose bumps rose on my arm and I prayed that Brock didn’t see them. I watched with my uncovered eye as Brock took one step away from me, ending up right at the counter of his tiny kitchen. He was so tall that his head almost touched the ceiling of the trailer, and he had to duck to avoid hitting the light.

I frowned, trying to figure out exactly
what
it was about this guy that had me all twisted and clumsy. I didn’t do butterflies, usually. Not to this extent. While I daydreamed about the whole
falling in love
thing, I didn’t fall easily and I never had. I crushed on guys, I’d kissed a few and slept with one, but I didn’t react
like this
. That intense, all-consuming burning need to
be
with someone never came over me like it was now as I sat in Brock’s tiny trailer with a bag of frozen beans pressed against my battered face.

The circumstances for this were
not
ideal. I’d been attacked just last night, for Christ’s sake. But my body was still reacting to Brock’s mere presence, and I was beginning to panic about it.

“Do you want some? It’s instant,” Brock added, looking back over his shoulder at me, catching me blatantly staring at him. He grinned, and a dimple appeared in the left corner of his lip. His dark eyes seemed to sparkle. This was a smile that transformed his entire face, making him look playful and approachable and even more desirable than before. This was a smile that knocked the wind out of me.

“Want some what? What’s instant?” I blinked, feeling dazed.

“Coffee…” he said slowly. He frowned and assessed me carefully. “Did you hit your head last night? You might have a concussion.”

I flushed a deep shade of red. I’d had concussions before, and this definitely wasn’t a concussion. “No, I’m fine. I’m just tired. I should go.”

Brock tilted his head, considering me. His thick, dark hair fell onto his forehead, and I wanted to get up and run my hands through it. “I don’t know if you should drive. I’m still not entirely positive that you don’t have a concussion.”

“I don’t,” I sighed, figuring he was probably right about the driving thing. My head did feel like a jack hammer had done a number on it. “I’ll wake up Elle.”

Setting the bag of beans down on the table, I stood up. I blinked gingerly, surprised that my eye felt better already; less swollen.

“Here, have some of these,” Brock said, handing me a bottle of extra strength Advil and a bottle of water. I took two and held out the pill bottle for him to take. His fingers brushed against mine again, an electric shock running up the length of my arm. All I could do was stare.

His hand was large and rough; a man’s working hands. Hands had never been my thing, but suddenly I found myself reverently wishing these particular hands would touch me. If I was primed from such a casual brush of his skin against mine, I couldn’t help but wonder what would happen if he actually
touched
me.