Taking Risks (15 page)

             
“Of course! My mom was just asking if you would be coming to dinner. I’ll tell her that you’ll be here.”

             
I waited five minutes for him to text back and confirm dinner plans, but I never got one. Since he had asked to be invited and I had accepted, I decided to just assume that he intended on coming over, even though he never actually said that he would.

             
Mom and I went to the grocery store to gather things to make steaks and corn on the cob. When we were unloading the groceries from the bags my phone chirped and I knew the message would be from Risk. At first I thought, “
Finally!”
but after I read the message I was frowning.

             
“I thought your mom was going to leave again after dress shopping. I’ll let you have your time with her. Let me know when she leaves.”

             
That was strange. I go the impression that he loved being around a family as much as Gray did. I made quick work of typing my reply,
“Don’t be silly. She wants to see you. It fascinates her that someone like you even bothers with someone like me. Dinner is at seven sharp ;)”

             
I felt pushy, but I wasn’t one of those types of girls who used the silent treatment or some other cryptic code to get what I wanted. I was a straight forward, take-it-or-leave-it sort of girl and I think that was part of the reason why people stayed away from me. My lack of caring about what they all thought made me more of a mystery than the fact that I seemed to talk to myself all of the time.

             
After a few moments of waiting, impatiently, I got my reply.
“Okay. See you at seven than.”

             
Mom and I were in the middle of cooking dinner when I heard a knock at the door. I ran straight through Gray to answer it while I was smiling like a crazy person, but when I opened the door my face fell and a gasp escaped me. Risk had brought his father with him. His dad had cleaned himself up, and actually looked like a normal human being. He had on a pale green polo shirt and khaki slacks with tennis shoes. His clothes were clean and unstained and he had shaved his face. It was a huge change compared to the last time I had seen him, which was when he was sporting some urine soaked pajama bottoms.

             
I’m sure my expression was one of shock and anger, but I tried my best to hide it for my mom’s sake. I gave Risk a questioning look and his cool expression was also threatening to betray him. I could see fear and sorrow behind his clear green eyes. His father was a different story. He was wearing an evil looking grin, much like the kind a business man would wear when they are about to make some dirty money. I knew that there was no way the night was going to end well because I knew that Risks father definitely didn’t have good intentions.

             
I guess I didn’t realize how long I had been standing there because Mom came to check on us. She said hello to Risk and then stuck her hand out to Risks dad. “Hello, I’m Rebecca, Marlee’s mom.” She flashed her dazzling smile that she normally reserved for important clients and he took her hand. Risks dad looked her up and down while he plastered on his own fake grin.

             
“Well, hello there. I’m Mark. I’m Risks…father.” He said it like it put a bad taste in his mouth.

             
I stepped aside and let the two into the house while still in shock. Risk and I stood staring at each other while Mark scoped out my house. I broke my glare from Risk to look at Gray who had been quietly sitting on the couch, watching the whole exchange. Gray looked extremely pissed, and it made me happy to know that he was suspicious too. We normally shared the same kind of emotions towards things, especially the stressful ones. It was nice to know I always had someone on my side, living or not. I focused my anger back at Risk and spoke as low as I could while still putting sizzle into my voice.

             
“I’m not the only one who’s pissed about this. I wish you could see Gray. This is my
home
Risk! What are you thinking?” I hissed.

             
Risk looked hurt and sad, and for a minute I considered apologizing to him, but we both knew that bringing him here was a huge mistake.

             
“I couldn’t help it Marlee. He wouldn’t let me come without him. I don’t know what he’s up to. He wouldn’t even let me call or text you to tell you that he was coming. I’m so sorry, but I told you that I wanted to wait until your mom left again.”

             
I stomped away, after giving him a grand eye roll, to save my mom from the awkwardness of being alone with Mark. While I finished up the cooking, everyone (except me) engaged in easy conversation about work and general life. I overheard Mark saying that he drove a semi-truck for some bullshit company and Mom pretended to be very interested. Risk just stood and nodded and sometimes he would answer a question if it was directed towards him, but other than a nod or occasional polite smile, he was silent.

             
Hoping they would all be wrapped up in the conversation and not notice me, I motioned to Gray to come to the stove by me. Gray appeared at the side of me that was farthest away from the others so that I could turn my head away from them and talk to him. Other than occasionally getting caught by surprise, Gray and I had a good system worked out for when we needed to talk and other people were around. He looked like he wanted to say something to me too, but he stayed silent while I had a chance to talk.

             
“Please keep an eye on that guy. I don’t trust him running around my house unsupervised. He’s up to something and even Risk doesn’t know why he insisted on coming.”

             
Gray nodded at me and said, “I’m already on it. I’ll even follow him to the bathroom if I have to. He gives me the creeps. I’ll let you know if I see any funny business.” I nodded at him and Gray returned to his spot on the couch, but his eyes were glued to Mark.

             
After I finished cooking dinner and we were all seated to eat, my mind started to ease. Risk put a hand on my knee under the table and smiled at me. I had missed him, and I was curious about what he wanted to talk to me about, but I hadn’t had the chance to ask him yet because of the unwelcome visitor in my home. Every time Risk and I got close to each other Mark would hover over us and ask us questions or tell us a story to keep us from speaking much to each other.

             
The dinner conversation was light and dull (which is way better than I expected) and when we were all done eating Mom went back into the kitchen and reappeared with a bottle of wine. I knew it wasn’t a good idea to be drinking, but I could tell that my poor mother needed a drink, and she didn’t know about Marks issues. I wondered if she was getting the same bad vibe from him as I was. Mark downed a full glass of red wine in just a few minutes and then excused himself to the bathroom.

             
Mark walked back through the hallway with Gray on his tail. I felt the tension release from Risks grip on my thigh as soon as he was out of sight. Mom let out a sigh of relief and then started chatting us up about prom. She told Risk how impossible it was to find a dress that covered my chest and he and I blushed. Apparently she had expected us to react differently because she gave us a funny look before Risk cracked a joke about it. He winked at her and flashed her his most dazzling smile and said, “I bet she could have pulled any of those dresses off. Marlee looks classy in anything, much like her mother.” She put away her questioning looks as she swooned over the hotness that was Risk.

             
My mother was blushing and I was about to comment on it before Mark came back to the table and sat down. I felt Risks hand tense up on my leg again. Mark jumped right in to our conversation of dresses and prom and even had the nerve to give us a “no drinking and driving” speech. Gray appeared beside me and quickly whispered, “
Do not
react to what I’m about to tell you Mar.” I shook my head as slightly as I could to tell him that I understood. I plastered a fake smile on my face and Gray said, “Good. Now you need to figure out how to get Mark the fuck out of here. He just popped four or five pills and I have no idea what they were, but I’m sure they weren’t prescribed to him. He’s going to be too much for you and your mom to handle here in about fifteen minutes.” I nodded again slightly and then looked at Risk with my fake smile.

             
Risk gave me a confused look and when Mark was tossing back another glass of wine I hurriedly widened my eyes while still smiling to show him that something was up. Thankfully, he got the message. He wiped his mouth with his napkin and stood up. “Marlee, I have that CD in the car that you wanted to borrow. Could you excuse us for a minute Mrs. Chase?”

             
Mom blushed and nodded. Risk grabbed my hand and led me to the front door calmly. Mark tried to follow us out, but I shot Mom an annoyed look and she came up with an excuse to make him hang back in the house. Mark looked pretty pissed about it, but I wasn’t in the mood to care. As soon as Risk shut the door behind us I grabbed his shoulders in a halfway panic.

             
“Gray saw your dad popping pills in the bathroom, he said like four or five, and he’s almost downed an entire bottle of wine. I think you need to get him out of here before he starts acting crazy.”

             
Risk was just about to say something when Gray appeared outside with us.

             
“Mar, get inside!” Gray said with wild eyes.

             
I didn’t even explain to Risk why I was running back in, I just bolted inside the house as fast as I could. Two seconds later we were in the kitchen and saw what Gray had been so terrified about. Mark had Mom bent over the kitchen counter and was holding a hand over her mouth. Her arms were pinned beneath her so that she couldn’t fight back and her skirt was pushed up around her waist, exposing her panties. Mark was hurriedly fighting with the button on his jeans with the hand that wasn’t clamped over my mother’s mouth.

             
I couldn’t react fast enough. I felt frozen in place as I watched Risk moving in slow motion as he tackled his father to the ground. The drugs must have given him some kind of super strength because he threw Risk off to the side like a rag doll. Mark stalked off towards my mother as she was scrambling to get to safety. Gray was screaming at me to go and get the baseball bat that we kept behind the front door in case of intruders, and I snapped out of my shock. I ran to grab the baseball bat then came up behind Mark as stealthily as I could. Mark was about to grab my mother’s hair when I raised the bat up into the air. Risk watched me as I brought the weapon down on the top of Marks head as hard as I could. He instantly collapsed and everyone went silent.

             
After a few moments Risk scrambled over to his father and kneeled down beside him. He lowered his ear to Marks mouth and his face turned ghost white. “He isn’t breathing.” His eyes got wide and swelled with tears, but I didn’t feel any sympathy for him. I was glad the bastard died and I’m sure that it was written all over my face. My mom sat on the kitchen floor trembling and sobbing. I sat beside her and put my arms around her shaking body. I never knew that I would have to witness something as ugly as what had just happened to her.

             
When I got Mom to calm down I helped her upstairs and into her bed. She requested that I leave a light on and the baseball bat with her. I did as she asked and then left to deal with all of the trouble that I’d left downstairs. When I got to the last step I saw Risk leaning over his father and crying. I didn’t feel bad about the accident until that moment. Even though Mark was a monster, Risk still loved him like a father. He had raised Risk and had given him the only love that Risk had really ever known, until me. I had no clue what I was supposed to do, so I did what I thought was logical. I called the police.

             
An ambulance and two squad cars arrived at my house to question us and take the body to the morgue. The paramedics told us that Marks neck had been broken with the blow from the ball bat, but he couldn’t have suffered. Risk and I had both given our statements and I asked that they leave my mother to sleep until the morning and I promised that I would drive her to the station personally. They agreed and when they had all that they needed for the time being, they left the house. Risk, Gray, and I were to ourselves and the air was feeling overwhelmingly heavy. Risk turned away from me as the last squad car faded from sight and went to clean up the kitchen. I looked pleadingly at Gray and asked him what I was supposed to do, but he didn’t have any answers for me. He shrugged his shoulders and disappeared.

             
I slowly made my way over to Risk and was debating on whether or not to put my arms around him when he suddenly turned around and slammed his mouth to mine. I was so taken by surprise that I couldn’t seem to catch my breath and I pushed him away in a panic. As I caught my breath I looked into his eyes. I saw only pure, animalistic lust in them. Risk needed to have me, and I needed it too. The past few days had been an emotional roller coaster for both of us, and what we needed to find in each other was love.

             
“I need you, Marlee.” Risk had such an intense stare that it was making every bone in my body feel like mush. I looked around to make sure Gray was actually gone, and my eyes got misty as I grabbed Risks hand.

             
“I need you too, but not in here. My mom is upstairs and I don’t know if I can keep quiet.” I blushed a little as his eyes got darker and he turned to lead me out of the front door. When we were outside Risk pushed me against the Delray. He pushed his body hard against mine as he devoured my mouth and neck. I heard the door click when he opened it and he put me inside while climbing in after me. As soon as he shut the door behind himself his mouth was on mine again.

             
He was kissing me as if his life and sanity depended on it, and though my conscience was telling me that this wasn’t good for him, my body was screaming for him to be inside of me. Every inch of me was on fire and tingling. I ran my hand up under the back of Risks shirt and felt the hard muscles beneath his skin. He shuddered at my touch and released my lips and grabbed both sides of my face. He gazed into my eyes and I could tell that he wanted to say something so I stayed silent. After a moment he just sighed with a defeated look on his face before crushing his lips back to mine.

             
Risk took his hands away from my face and slid them down my body to the button of my jeans. I lifted my hips to help him easily slide them down, taking my panties with them. When I was free of my jeans I leaned up to kiss him again but he ignored me as he worked the button on his own pants. He got them undone in record time and I felt a knot in my stomach as I watched him spring free.