Chapter 8
Chapter
Eight
One minute, I’m distracted by the heat of Corbin’s palm on my back. The next, Bale’s fingers threaded with mine, and I had to practically jog to keep up with him towards the center of the courtyard.
The band’s tune combined something celebratory with enough energy to keep your feet moving, but not slow enough to bring movements down to a simmering sway with your partner.
My head was still swimming from the experience with Corbin that had sent sparks flying across whichever part of my brain was responsible for throwing out all logic and reason.
Then, having Bale give me whiplash figuratively and physically was enough to send my senses into overdrive. There was no explanation, just a sudden decision that we were going to share the first dance.
Right as I opened my mouth to give him a piece of my mind, his hand twirled me in a circle before drawing me back in close. My free hand landed on his chest with a soft pat to avoid colliding with him.
“They say that the person you share the first dance of the festival with is the same person you end it with.” He roguishly grinned.
Eyeing him skeptically, a breathless giggle escaped me despite myself. “And you believe that?”
He leaned in and whispered in my ear; a stray strand of his hair tickled my temple as he did. “Fuck no, but it makes the girls drop to their knees.”
The words should have pissed me off, but instead I heard the faintest tease as his voice dropped into a gravelly register. It was so minimal, it left me questioning if it had been my imagination or the real deal.
Before I could overthink it, we both moved our feet to the lively beat. Each step was complementary to the other. He moved one way, and I shifted in the other direction as we circled one another.
My hair whipped around my face as he raised my hand above my head and spun me around several times. With each pass, the skirt of my dress flared out around my legs from the motion.
I found myself laughing, genuinely, for the first time since moving to Falston. Despite the rough start to our meeting, my smile couldn’t be wiped off my face if one tried.
This time, when he pulled me back in, the front of our bodies pressed together. Each rise and fall of our chests synced with the rhythm of our heartbeats.
His hand slid up my back, slipping underneath the curtain of my hair until he held onto the back of my neck. My hand made a similar movement up his broad chest, until it rested on the side of his neck. My thumb stroked over the light scrape of stubble just beneath his jaw.
Our eyes were zeroed in on each other, caught in a game of sizing the other up to see who would break first. Corbin may have called to me on a cellular level, but something about Bale drew me in on a magnetic scale. We were always caught in a constant push and pull.
“You know what I believe?” I asked as my hips slowed their movements just slightly.
“Tell me, kitten. I want to hear the pretty thoughts inside your head.”
He gracefully maneuvered me around like I was nothing but a rag doll. I found myself staring up at the stars when he dipped me and lowered his face so that I could almost taste the scent of him.
“There’s more to you than you allow anybody else to see, even Corbin.”
Those cornflower blue eyes studied me. “And you think that you can see more than anybody else ever has?”
I shook my head. “I think you want to let me see more than anyone else.”
Silence hovered between us, save for the way my heart still rattled against my ribcage.
Bale stiffened his hold on me, and for a moment, I was sure I had ruined it all between us.
Surprisingly, he eased me upright and nodded. “Maybe I do. Are you brave enough to let me show you more, or is your confidence all for show?”
Realizing that we had ditched Corbin back at the tractor, I glanced in that direction to see him casually leaning against it—no indication of annoyance or jealousy on his face. Either he was more secure than I gave him credit for, or he was a master of the emotional poker face.
“He’ll be okay,” Bale murmured reassuringly to me. “Let’s go, I want to show you something.”
After a brief internal debate, I concluded that if Bale was willing to reveal a little bit more of the mystery that surrounded him, I wasn’t going to pass it up.
He gave a gentle tug on my hand, and I finally turned and followed him as he led me away from the courtyard. I saw the path that led to the cornfields and paused.
The resistance on my hand prompted him to turn and look at me questioningly. “What’s wrong? Getting skittish?” he taunted.
I rolled my eyes. “No,” I stated firmly. “I thought we weren’t supposed to go into the cornfields after dark.” I recalled the rules that were conspicuously posted right at the entrance to the courtyard.
He laughed so loudly that I visibly jumped, my eyes widening slightly at the sudden sound of amusement with a mocking tint to it.
“Fuck the rules, I practically own the cornfields.” He gestured with his hand, swiping across the sight of the rows of corn. “The Council knows not to pull any bullshit with me.”
He leaned in with a slanted grin. “And since you’re with me, they won’t fuck with you either.” A beat passed before he added with intense conviction, “Ever.”
Straightening up and with another gentle pull of my hand, he continued towards the tall stalks. I reluctantly followed him, sparing one last glance towards the opening festivities.
Before disappearing behind the first wall of corn stalks, I caught one final look at Corbin and the smile pulling at his perfect lips.
After several moments where only the moonlight above us illuminated the path, I finally broke the silence.
“Is this all part of the corn maze everybody talks about?” Simple curiosity nagged at me.
There was a tightening in Bale’s shoulders before he shook his head.
“No. The maze starts and ends at the southwest corner. We’re closer to the northern half of the field.” Each of his words felt forced and rigid instead of explanatory, as though he hadn’t wanted to give anything away.
Despite the dark, Bale navigated us through the field with ease. Seemingly, there was never a wrong turn, never a wasted step. It was like he knew each stalk on an extraordinarily intimate level.
It was an absurd thought to think that anybody could be familiar with tens of thousands of plants. But somehow Bale managed to give off that very impression.
“How far into the corn are we going?” It already felt like we had been walking for ages.
Glancing back at me with a knowing grin, he said, “You’ll see. We’re going to where I like to come and get away, to be stuck with my thoughts. To where no one else can see me.”
That last part stuck with me.
“To where no one else can see me.”
The real question was whether he was bringing me there so I could see him.
We came to a clearing where the earth remained flat in a large circle without any plants sprouting up from it. At its center, an empty cross frame stood where a scarecrow should be maintaining watch over the fields.
“Okay, patches. You’ve managed to get me alone in the middle of nowhere.” I smiled playfully, but the curve of my lips fell slightly when he released his hold on my hand.
Witnessing Bale dragging his hand over the lower half of his face left me furrowing my brows at whatever was unsettling him.
Was he… nervous?
I reached out for his shoulder, but before I made contact, he grabbed me just below my shoulders. The gentleness he had shown during our dance together vanished in an instant.
He shoved me back against the wide beam of the cross frame; the impact jarred me enough to cause me to gasp out. My eyes widened in shock and confusion.
Then, his face was right up in mine with wild eyes that looked darker than the night sky itself. His jaw was clenched so tightly that when he spoke, every word was tight with strain.
“You should never have moved to this fucking town. It makes me sick that you came here when you could have gone anywhere else. Most of all, I want to fucking hate everything about you.” The vicious verbal attacks had him shaking with either rage or desperation, I couldn’t tell.
A hand grabbed my face, his thumb roughly rubbing over my bottom lip. It was a gesture that should have been soft and tender, and now it felt just like a mockery of our evening.
My voice shook from the intense pounding of my heart. “Bale—”
“Shut up!”
I flinched as he snapped, his fingers digging into my face.
“Just shut your fucking pretty mouth, Harlow!”
I swallowed hard, not daring to move. Despite my physical stillness, my brain reeled with thoughts.
There was the distant melody of some song coming from the courtyard in the distance, the rustling of leaves as the breeze coursed through the field, and then the light flap of wings.
Above us, a crow landed on one of the cross frame arms. A tragic witness to whatever was going on here, or perhaps an ill omen.
Bale glanced up at the bird, glaring hard enough that I could have sworn he was trying to shoot holes through its little feathered chest.
Little by little, his grasp on me softened before all the tension drained from his body. He blew out a shaky exhale, leaning in until our foreheads touched. The act pushed the brim of his cap up slightly.
My body mirrored his energy, gradually allowing myself to ease up. When he took a deep breath in, I did the same. When I exhaled, so did he. A few minutes passed of each of us sharing our breaths together.
This time, when his hands came to my shoulders, they just hovered there. A faint tremble lingered in his fingers, restraint mixed with hesitation.
“Hate me. Hate me like I should hate you,” Bale whispered. It was a plea, the type of one you hear a man make on his knees while looking up to the gods.
I stood there looking at him, really looking past the armor that all of us wear in one form or another. Not just the rugged pretty boy image. Not the audacity of him thinking he was the best this town had to offer. Hell, not even the way he pretended that Falston owed him something.
“Why should I?” My words were almost drowned out by a sudden gust of wind.
Bale growled beneath his breath, and his hand hit the column of the cross frame above my head. The vibration of the impact traveled down my spine.
“You don’t get it!” There was less anger in his voice now, and more frustrated weariness.
He stepped back from me abruptly, leaving cool air in the void instead of the warmth of his presence from seconds ago.
Snatching his cap off, his fingers ran through his hair as he paced in the small clearing. As he continued gathering his thoughts, I watched him repeatedly tap his cap against the side of his thigh.
Silently, I eased myself away from the wooden post.
“Explain it to me, Bale. Make me get it.”
His anxious footsteps came to a halt. Turning to look at me, the expression on his face told me that he hadn’t expected my encouragement.
I followed his gaze as he looked up at the cross frame once more, but when I followed what he was staring at, there was nothing but the empty pieces of timber.
No crows to be seen. The only ears besides our own were made of corn. Even the clouds in the night sky seemed to understand the need for privacy as they dulled the moonlight into a faint glow.
Assessing all of me with those intense eyes of his, he gave a saccharine smile. “You think you can handle whatever I throw at you, kitten?”
“Let’s find out, patches.” A faint smirk teased at my lips.
Challenge issued. Would he accept it?