Something True (6 page)

“I care because I never would've let you near her if I'd known you were gonna pull this shit!”

“I knew you liked her more than you let on.” He runs a hand through his hair. If he knew that I liked her then why the hell did he date her in the first place? “She's a nice girl, okay? Sweet and fun and great arm candy. But she's not the kind of girl you settle down with. She's an actress, for Christ's sake. I could never get serious with a girl like that.”

Rage takes over my body, darkening my vision. It's white hot and staggering in its intensity. Before I even know what's happening, my fist is flying out to meet my big brother's face. He stumbles back with a curse, holding his hand up to his nose. We've never fought before. Not once.

“What the hell?!” he demands.

“You don't get to talk about her like that!”

When he pulls his hand down, it's covered in blood. “You bastard!” he hisses, before hurling himself at me. We tear into each other, stumbling against the counter and knocking the rack of clean dishes to the floor. Plates and silverware fall to the ground with a deafening crash, but neither of us pay it any attention as we continue to throw out punches.

The sound of footsteps outside the door has us springing apart seconds before Grandma appears, Grandpops and the girls behind her. Each of them wear matching looks of horror on their faces. “WHAT ON EARTH IS GOING ON IN HERE?!”

The two of us freeze, glancing at each other then at the smashed plates on the floor. “Sorry, Grandma,” we mumble shamefacedly.

“What's this all about?” Grandpops demands.

I see Ibbie taking the scene in, and then her eyes widen when she realizes what must have happened.

“We slipped,” I bite out.

Aleix nods in agreement. “I got water on the floor. My foot slid and I bashed into Walt. He caught me in the face with his elbow.”

I think the only reason Grandma and Grandpops buy that piss poor explanation is because Aleix and I have never fought before. They nod slowly, then tell the two of us to clean up before going back to the living room. Ibbie, however, is more suspicious. She and Fauna watch us pick up the sharp shards of porcelain, then Fauna takes Aleix to the downstairs bathroom to clean him up.

In silence, I walk over and stand next to Ibbie, leaning against the door frame as I look down at her.  

“You're bleeding,” she tells me softly. I close my eyes as she reaches up to touch my eyebrow – the one free of piercings. Even though I'm in pain, the feel of her skin on mine makes my heart beat faster. She pulls her hand away and I open my eyes; the tips of her fingers are coated in blood.

I lead her upstairs to the bedroom I always used when I slept here, and Ibbie sits me on the edge of the old twin bed while she goes to the bathroom for a damp washcloth.

“It's not too bad,” she says quietly when she returns, moving between my legs to press the cloth against my eyebrow. She's standing so close that my hands ache with the need to touch her, to grip her hips and pull her closer, to press my face into her stomach. “You won't need stitches, ya mo.”

“I'm sorry,” I tell her, looking up into her eyes. “About everything tonight. I had no idea he was back with Fauna, I swear. I never would've-”

“I know,” she assures me quickly before I can start rambling like. . .well, her. “I saw your face when they appeared at the door. Seriously, you were like
what da fuh?
It would have been funny if it wasn't, you know, horrifying.
”

“Do you. . .do you wanna talk about it or somethin'?” I hesitate, because as much as I love the girl, I don't know if I can sit here and listen to her pour her heart out about my brother. There's only so much a guy can take.

She shakes her head, lifting the cloth to inspect my wound before pressing it back down again. “I'm good.”

“But are you okay? You're handling this amazingly well.”

“It's fine. Stop looking at me like I'm about to fall apart on you.” She rolls those bright blue eyes. “It's not like I was in love with the guy – we hardly knew each other. We had a fun few weeks, and I'm a little hurt, sure. I wish he'd have just called me to let me know that he and his fiancee were trying again.” She doesn't know that he was talking to Fauna the entire time. I don't think she needs to know, it would just hurt her more. “My pride has definitely taken a few knocks. Mostly I just feel like a dumbo. But I'll get over it. I'll hang out with my girlfriends, drink things through, then I'll move on.”

“You mean think things through?”

Her laughter is infectious. “No, I most definitely mean drink. I'll tell you something, though – I coulda done without that super awkward family dinner tonight. I had to fight the urge to empty that pot pie right over his head.”

“My grandparents love you.” I like this. Just being with her, talking to her. No cuts, no digs, no fighting. This is all I want. If I can't have everything with her, then this is all I want.

“They're sweet.” She sighs. “And so is Fauna. Aleix has to be honest with her. She didn't deserve to have it blurted out in front of everyone, but she should know the truth.”

I nod. “I know. I'll talk to him.”

“Good.”

“So, you sure you're gonna be okay?”

“Yeah. Give me a few days and it'll be like it never even happened. I mean, we didn't even sleep together, so. . .”

My head whips up so fast the cloth slips from her grasp and lands on my knee. I thought for sure they had. . . “You didn't?”

She tuts, picking the cloth back up. “I don't just go around sleeping with everyone. I'm not a total ho bag. I have a month waiting rule.”

I roll my eyes. “I never said you were a ho bag.”

“You sure?” Her eyes sparkle as her lips curl up teasingly. “I'm pretty sure you might've called me that once or twice.”

“Definitely not.” I try to hide my smirk. “A million other things, sure. But definitely not that.”

Her smile makes me feel like I'm on top of the world. She leans closer to inspect my wound, so close that her sweet smell engulfs me – coconut and lavender and something indescribably Ibbie – and I can see the flecks of gold in her bright blue eyes. I didn't even know eyes could come in a shade that blue. She mesmerizes me. “The bleeding has already stopped. Though I hope you scar, you ass jacket.”

I want to kiss her more than I've ever wanted anything in my whole life. “Now that's not nice.”

She takes a step back and folds her arms across her chest. I almost reach out to pull her back to me, but stop at the accusing look on her face. “You guys didn't really slip, did you? You and Aleix were fighting. I'm not stupid, you know, even though most people think I am just 'cause I'm blonde and happy and I talk a lot. You started a fight with him, I know it.”

“Yeah, I'm really sorry for giving that fucker exactly what he deserved.”

“Well that was more of a punchpology if you ask me.”

I shrug, because I could deny it, but I don't want to. Aleix really did get what he deserved. “You know what? I did. And I don't fucking regret it. He hurt you, Ibbie,” I say earnestly. Her expression softens then, and it proves to be my undoing. My hands reach out and slip around her waist, tugging her back between my legs. She looks down at my hands, then back at my face, her mouth parting in surprise. “So I hurt
him
. And I'd do it again.”

“Walt-”

I don't want to hear her telling me I shouldn't have fought with my brother, or questioning why I did it when I'm supposed to hate her. I don't want to hear her arguing with me or scolding me or demanding I make amends. So I do the only thing that makes sense to me, the only thing that will ever make sense to me. Before she can say another word, I lift my hand up to cup the back of her neck and I crush my lips to hers.

She gasps into my mouth, freezing. I wait for her to pull away, to slap me, to call me crazy. But tentative hands come up to frame my face, and then they're grasping my cheeks tighter, pulling my lips more firmly to hers. She's kissing me back.

She's kissing me back!

I lose my head, because it's everything I dreamed of yet so much more. Her mouth yields against mine, soft, pliant, hot. So fucking hot. I tilt my head, kissing her deeper as my hand slides around her back, my fingers splaying over the material of her dress. One of her arms wrap around my neck and I pull her tighter against me, melding out bodies together until she's on my lap, he knees on either side of my thighs.

Her tongue caresses mine, our backs arching into each other.

When she pulls back, there's so much confusion in her eyes that I don't know how to handle it. “Walt,” she whispers hesitantly, but she doesn't pull away.

I don't want her to think about anything right now, because if she thinks about this then she'll stop. And God, I don't want her to stop.

Threading my fingers through her hair, I bring her mouth back to mine.

THE SECOND WALT'S lips touched mine, I forgot my own name. I forgot that we'd spent the last year hating on each other, that I'd dated his jerk hole of a brother, that his grandparents were just downstairs and this was super inappropriate. Because Walt, he knows how to kiss. He kisses like he knows every one of my secret desires and fantasies and is using them against me, to
own
me. And I. . .I want to be owned by him.
 

With a pleasured little grunt, he spins us around smoothly and presses me into the plush bed. His body leans over mine as he kisses me with more heat and power than I've ever been kissed in my whole life. I've kissed plenty of guys before, because hey, I love to kiss, but never has there been this
passion
with
any
of them.
 

One of my hands strokes the soft skin at the back of his neck, and the other clutches the material of his shirt, desperately holding him against me. His hands are everywhere; cupping my face, lacing through my hair, stroking my thigh, brushing the sides of my stomach. It's like he wants to touch every inch of me and he can't get enough.

I feel like I've lost all control of myself, of my lips, my body, my soul. This is the guy
I've
hated
for an entire year. This is the guy who's hated me. The guy who's tortured me, who I've gone out of my way to screw with. And yet the moment his lips touched mine it was like none of that mattered anymore, like in a way, it had all been leading up to this. This right here, in this bed, in this room. I don't know if it's just the kiss though, because tonight I saw a completely different side to Walt, a side I've never seen before. I saw a guy who was sweet to his grandma, who had so much respect for his grandpops, who cared about his brother's fiancee and was more protective of me than anyone has ever been in my entire life. I like this Walt. I never thought I'd use the words
like
and
Walt
in the same sentence, but I do. I like him.
 

Walt's lips leave mine and I immediately crave the contact, but he kisses down my neck, pushing aside the sleeve of my dress so he can press his hot lips into my shoulder. I come undone, lifting my chin in the air and squeezing his waist between my thighs. How is it that he can make me feel this way when before today I've felt nothing but disdain for him?

“Ibbie,” he utters fiercely before he covers my mouth with his once more. He kisses me like. . .like I'm the air he needs to breathe, like I'm the light he needs to see, like I'm the heat of sunlight touching his skin for the very first time. He doesn't just kiss me, he
worships
me.
 

I open my mouth and welcome his tongue, brushing it with my own. I want this. I want him. So badly. A part of me wishes that I could rationalize this away as a hate kiss, but there's nothing hateful in this. Not from either of us. This feels like he needs me, and in this moment I feel like I need him too.

My hands move to his broad shoulders, clinging on, desperate to hold him against me – though I don't think he's in a rush to go anywhere. His body is heated over mine; heated and hard in places I'm soft.

I don't know how much time passes, minutes or hours or days, but eventually our kisses slow. Walt leans his forehead against my cheek for a moment, then pulls back to look down at me. His eyes give nothing away.

That was. . .

That was unexpected.

“What the hell just happened?” I ask when I can breathe again, my voice barely above a whisper. Now that his lips aren't fused onto mine and robbing me of all reasonable thought, bewilderment is firmly taking a hold of me. I'm not sure I even know which way is up right now.

Walt shakes his head silently, unable to speak. His eyes, those dark depths I'd always thought were so cold, are filled with so many emotions I can't even begin to sort through them. But they're not cold, not at all. How could I have ever thought they were? Obviously I wasn't looking hard enough.

“Ibbie,” he breathes finally when I cup his cheek with my hand. His expression is dazed. “I-”

“Walt, Ibbie!” his grandma calls from the bottom of the stairs. “Dessert is ready! Get down here before your ice-cream melts!”

Walt closes his eyes in defeat. “Be right down, Grandma!”

“I'm so confused right now,” I admit to him quietly when her footsteps move away.

“I know.” He nods as if he has so much more to say, but he doesn't offer up any kind of explanation as to why that kiss just happened. Instead, he rolls off of me and stands, holding out a hand to help me up.

“Oh my God,” I mutter when I catch a look at myself in the small mirror on the dresser. Nope. Just so much nope. My lipgloss has been thoroughly kissed away, my neatly styled hair is now wild around my shoulders and my chin is red from stubble rash. I look one hundred percent kissed. No, I look one hundred percent
ravished
. Doing my best to make myself presentable, I pat down my hair and reapply my gloss, but his family are going to know what we were doing up here for sure. Oh God, the shame. His grandma is going to think I'm such a hussy. And Aleix. . .he's going to know that I went from making out with one brother to the next and. . . Oh wait, I don't give a hairy monkey's bare butt about what Aleix thinks, the lying jerk. But still, they'll know what we were doing and that's just totally cringe.