TROUBLE, A New Adult Romance Novel (The Rebel Series) (43 page)

Mick laughs.
 
“Yo, Alissa … dude doesn’t want you touching his borchst.”

I can’t help but smile along with him.
 
This whole situation is too ridiculous for words. “Ew.
 
Like I’d touch his borchst.
 
Not if it was the last one on earth.”
 
I can’t believe it, but I’m actually finding humor in this horrible scene. Even Colin has a ghost of a smile on his face for me.
 
The only one not finding the whole thing amusing is the guy with the speech impediment.

“You guys are gudda be really zorry when my lawyers are done wid you.”

“So says the rapist,” quips Teagan.
 
“Why don’t you do yourself a favor and shut your piehole until we get back to your place, huh? That way none of us will be tempted to kick it in again.”
 
She bends over and picks something up, throwing it at his back.
 
“Oh, here’s your tooth by the way.
 
Better not forget that.”

Rebel comes out of the office with a rag in his hand as Mick is pushing Charlie into the back of Teagan’s car.
 
He gives it to Mick who throws it at Charlie.
 
“Don’t get any blood on her car or you’re going to pay for it,” he warns.

Charlie sneers at him but takes the rag and wipes the blood from his face.
 
Some of it stays because it’s already dried.
 
He looks like an actor in a horror movie.
 
I can’t even recognize his face anymore.

I walk over to Colin and stop in front of him, staring up into his eyes.
 
“You probably shouldn’t have done that.”
 
I reach up and wipe away some blood coming from a cut on his lip with my finger.
 
He’s still as handsome as ever.

“Are you mad at me?” he asks.

I think about it for a few seconds.
 
“I probably should be, but I’m not. He deserved that. Maybe not for what he said today, but for … the past.”

Colin tries to smile, but winces when his cut opens more.
 
“Good.
 
I was hoping you’d see it that way.”

“But I really don’t want you fighting anymore, okay?”
 
I tap his chest with my fingertip, wanting to touch him in some way but also not wanting to embarrass him in front of all these people by being too affectionate. “It’s not good for the baby.”

He frowns.
 
“I would never hurt your baby.
 
Ever.”

“I don’t mean it like that.
 
I mean that if you’re in jail, who’s going to bring me to my doctor appointments?”
 
I smile to show him I’m kidding about using him for a taxi.

He puts his hands on my waist, and it warms me to my toes to know that he doesn’t care about anyone seeing him do it.
 
“What about the birth?” he asks.

“What?”
 
I’m confused.

“Can I be there for that too?
 
Or am I just the doctor appointment guy?”

My ears are on fire all of a sudden.
 
“Uh …”

“Come on!” Teagan yells.
 
“Gotta deliver this package!
 
Get in his car and lead the way!”

I look over at her, realizing the big hole in our plan.
 
“I don’t know where he lives!”
 
I look at Colin, feeling pitiful as I explain.
 
“He never wanted me to meet his family.”

“Don’t worry,” Mick says, jumping into Teagan’s passenger seat.
 
“He’ll tell us or I’ll pound it out of him.”

“I should go with you,” Colin says as I start walking to Charlie’s car.

“No. Stay here.
 
I don’t want you getting in any more trouble than you’re probably already in.
 
His parents … aren’t nice from what I gather.”

“You’ll be okay?” he asks, stopping me with a hand on my shoulder.

I smile.
 
“Yeah.
 
I’m going to be just fine.”

He kisses me long enough to leave me dizzy before going back to work.

“Colin!” I say as he’s walking through the door.

“Yeah?” He turns around to look at me.

“Yes.”

“Yes what?”

“Yes, you can go.
 
To the …”
 
I look around.
 
Everyone is staring at me.
 
“…Birth,” I finish lamely.

“Sweet.”
 
He grins big and it immediately starts his lips bleeding again.
 
Grimacing, he waves and he’s gone into the office.

Charlie’s glaring at me through the back seat window as I walk to his car, but I don’t care.
 
I’m going to drive his stupid Porsche and deliver his idiotic backside to his front door and let his parents see what a piece of junk he is.
 
And then I’m going to live my life without fear, because I have friends who have baseball bats and they aren’t afraid to use them.

CHAPTER FIFTY-ONE

I PULL INTO CHARLIE’S DRIVEWAY in the throes of what feels like a heart-attack.
 
I’m pretty sure this event will rank up there as one of the most terrible ideas ever conceived. I cannot believe I am showing up at Charlie’s house with his face pulverized not forty-eight hours after he was served with court papers.
 
I must be insane. Why did I let Teagan talk me into this?
 
I tap my fingers on the steering as I reflect on the last thirty minutes or so.
 
Did she talk me into it, or did I jump at the chance of humiliating Charlie?
 
I don’t even remember at this point.
 
I just want it to be over.

Shutting off the powerful engine, I hurry to undo my seatbelt.
 
Before I’m even out of the low-slung driver’s seat, the front door to Charlie’s house is opening and a younger kid is coming out.
 
He looks way too much like Charlie to be anything but a brother.

Oh, crud.
 
And just when I thought things couldn’t get any worse.

“Mom!” the boy yells as he sees his bother’s face through Teagan’s windshield.
 
“Charlie’s home!
 
And he looks beat up!”
 
The kid stares at all of us and then runs back into the house, his basketball forgotten in the front yard.

I feel terrible.
 
The kid looked scared.
 
I didn’t want this to turn into a family drama.
 
Leaving him lying on the front lawn would have been perfectly fine with me.

Mick is standing by the door of the car, waiting as Charlie gets out.
 
He’s not helping him, but he’s not hindering either.
 
Charlie looks stiff.

I walk up behind Teagan’s Beetle and hold the Porsche keys out.
 
“Here,” I say.

Mick holds up his hand and I toss them to him gratefully.
 
I don’t want to get any closer to Charlie than I have to.

“Charlie?” a woman’s voice comes out of the house, followed shortly thereafter by its owner, Charlie’s mother.
 
She’s of medium height and thin, dressed in cream-colored linen.
 
“Oh, my word, Charlie, what happened to your face?!”
 
She goes down the two front steps with her feet at an angle and rushes over, hands held out.

“Back off,” Charlie says, angrily.
 
“Nothing happened to my face.”

She stops short, her arms slowly lowering to her sides.
 
She turns her head to the side.
 
“Hal!
 
Hal, would you come out here please?!”

“Mom, Jesus Christ!” Charlie yells.
 
“Do you mind not doing this out here?!”

Charlie’s younger brother appears in the doorway again, his eyes huge. He turns around and shouts, “Dad!
 
Mom wants you.”

“Shut the hell up, you little faggot!” Charlie growls.

“Charles Bentley Curtis don’t you
dare
speak to your brother like that,” his mother says, sounding shocked. “What’s come over you?
 
I don’t understand where you’re getting this stuff from lately.”

“Save it, Linda.”
 
Charlie walks right past her like she’s not even there.

A tall, broad-shouldered man appears in the doorway, and this is the first time I see Charlie’s swagger adjust itself.
 
Suddenly Charlie’s not coming off as mister tough-guy anymore; his shoulders sag and his head drops just a little.
 
It’s like watching a dog lower on the food chain approaching the alpha male.
 
It makes me feel just a tiny bit happy to see him cowed like this.

The man looks at his son, the cars, and then last, at me.
 
He steps down from the house out onto this front sidewalk.
 
“What’s going on out here?” he asks no one in particular.

His wife walks back to stand next to her husband.
 
Charlie stops in front of them both, turning sideways so he’s looking out into some bushes on the edge of the property.

I can see that Teagan is about to answer, so I quickly walk over and step in front of her.
 
“We were just bringing Charlie and his car back,” I say. “He got into a fight and he hurt his nose, I think.”

“Charlie, you got in a fight?” his mother asks.
 
She seems genuinely surprised.

“I was attacked, Mom, okay?
 
It wasn’t a fight.
 
It was an attack.”
 
He swings around to glare at Mick and then me.

“He’s a fucking liar, is what he is,” says Teagan.

I turn around a shush her.
 
“Stop!” I say in a low voice.
 
“Don’t make it worse.”

She lifts her eyebrows at me but says nothing more.
 
Instead, she walks around her car and gets in the driver’s seat.

I look back at his parents.
 
“He was not attacked. He came to find me and maybe speak to me, but he was acting threatening so my friends stepped in to defend me.
 
That’s all it was.
 
We’re not going to press charges or anything, and we just wanted to be sure he got home okay.”
 
I’m not going to tell them the truth, that we wanted to be sure he wasn’t going to go over and burn our house down.

His mother’s expression turns to shear disappointment.
 
“Oh, Charlie … why?”

“Shut up, Mom, you don’t understand.”

His father takes three steps towards his son and grabs him by the back of the neck, shoving his son’s shoulders down even farther than they already were.
 
“Get in the house.
 
But before you do that, apologize to your mother.” He shakes him hard once. “And don’t you
ever
let me hear you tell her to shut up again, you understand?”
 
He jerks his son over to stand in front of his mother.
 
“Say it,” he demands.

“Sorry,” Charlie mumbles.

She looks at him, tears in her eyes and her fingers playing with a necklace near the opening of her shirt collar.
 
She doesn’t say anything in response.

His father pushes him towards the house as he releases him.
 
“Get inside.
 
I’ll deal with you later.”

The atmosphere is darker than dark.
 
I’ve never seen a parent treat a grown child like that before, and even though Charlie deserves that and worse, it’s still disturbing.
 
I’m wondering who’s next to get a broken nose, and pray it’s not going to be me or one of my friends.
 
This guy is ten time scarier than Charlie ever was.

“Are you Alissa?” Charlie’s dad is looking right at me, a storm in his eyes.

It’s on the tip of my tongue to deny it, but at the last minute I don’t.
 
Time to stop hiding.
You’ve done nothing wrong.
 
Stand up for yourself
. “Yes.
 
I’m Alissa.” I lift my chin just a little.
 
I’m not going to let him intimidate me.

“And you’re the one who filed a lawsuit against my son, is that right?”

Charlie’s mom moves closer to her husband, taking him by the arm.
 
“Honey, I’m not sure this is the best time or place for this…”

He pats her hand, disregarding her at the same time.
 
All his focus is on me.

I feel Mick move in closer and it gives me a boost of confidence.

Hal speaks again.
 
“Alissa, you have nothing to fear from me …”
 
His eyes narrow.
 
“… So long as you’re telling the truth about your … liaisons with my son.”
 
He nods once.

I don’t know why, but his choice of words sets me off, as does his supercilious tone.
 
As if he can candy-coat what happened to me.
 
Nice try, butthead, but I’m not playing.
 
“I always tell the truth, first of all, and they weren’t liaisons, for your information.
 
What he did is called
rape
.”

His voice softens.
 
“Forgive me.
 
I didn’t mean it the way it sounded.”

He gets only a polite smile from me.
 
I wait to see if he has anything else to say, even though I should probably just leave.

“Would you like to come inside.
 
Talk for a minute or two?”
 
He gestures towards their house.

I’m struck with fear.
 
A vision of them throwing a bag over my body and conking me over the head with a shovel flashes across my mind.
 
Maybe they have a grave in their backyard too.
 
“Um … no.
 
Thank you.
 
But … I don’t think that’s a good idea.”