Chapter Twenty-Five Taryn
T he drive home on Wednesday morning passed in a blur as I replayed the night before and the early morning with Danny in my head. I still didn’t know exactly what had possessed me to invite him to spend the night. It was such a crazy risk, because if he’d decided to push my boundaries, I wasn’t sure I’d have stopped him. Then he would have discovered my terrible secret and probably run out the door screaming into the night.
Thinking about his hot kisses on my mouth, my skin, my breasts , it’s a wonder I hadn’t started something with him when we’d stood touching in front of the bathroom mirror after he helped himself to my toothbrush. Add to that the incredible orgasm he’d given me with his hand and the excitement I’d experienced when he let me return the favor, it was a marvel I hadn’t initiated the shenanigans that probably would have ended our friendship.
Having that knowledge in the back of my head should have made it impossible for me to sleep next to him, yet my alarm waking me this morning had come as a shock. Even more shocking? How rested I felt. I couldn’t remember ever sleeping as well as I did wrapped in Danny’s arms all night.
The only thing stopping me from helping him with his morning wood—which was wedged in the crack of my ass when I awoke to him spooning me—was that he was about an inch from being late to morning lift. He’d hopped into a freezing shower for about two minutes, dressed, and given me a swift, hard kiss on his way out the door.
Cupping my face in his palms, he’d issued a direct order: “Text me the second you get back to town on Friday night, T. I mean it. I don’t care how late it is.”
Sometimes he sounded exactly like the captain. It was all I could do not to salute him, which would have gone down like dropping a brick in the middle of a five-year-old’s birthday cake. But he didn’t need to worry. No doubt I’d be texting him tonight, all day tomorrow—likely with pics of Mom’s delicious Thanksgiving spread—and most of Friday before I headed back to campus. By the time the holiday was over, he’d probably be sick of my texts.
Yeah, I needed to dial it back a bit. But the way things escalated during our “study break” last night had left me hoping—fantasizing, really—that moving from best friends to lovers might not result in such a terrible outcome as my first relationship with a guy.
When I pulled up to the driveway at Dad and Mom’s, I had to hit the brakes and back into a spot in front of the house since both Tally and Tina’s cars were taking up all the available space. As I walked around to the trunk of my car to grab my overnight bag, the sound of a loud truck engine announced someone coming down the street. Call it a survival instinct, but somehow I knew without even seeing it, that the truck belonged to my nemesis, Derek Watson.
Though I hustled to grab my bag and my backpack and run up onto the porch to maybe make it inside before he drove past, my backpack snagged on the hinge of the trunk lid, and I had to drop my overnight bag on the pavement and use two hands to free it. In the few seconds it took to free my pack, the truck pulled up behind my car so close it nearly drove over my bag lying on the ground behind me. Derek cut the engine and leaned out of the driver’s side window.
“How long are you back in town for?”
“Thanksgiving.” I didn’t bother to glance in his direction as I slammed the trunk of my car shut and touched the lock button on my key fob. Picking up my overnight bag from the pavement, I stepped up on the curb, intent on going inside before he could start in on me.
But I underestimated the speed of his ugly.
“So you have time to hang out tonight.”
I stopped moving and faced him. “Not with you.”
“Once a prick-tease, always a prick-tease, huh, Taryn? One of these days you’re going to give me what I want.” His feral smile bordered on a grimace that sent shivers of dread through me.
Still, I held my ground.
“It’ll be a cold day in hell before I spend five minutes alone with you.” Spinning on my heel, I willed myself to move at a steady pace as I walked up the sidewalk to the front porch when all I wanted to do was run.
“You’re such a bitch. No wonder that boyfriend you had last year dumped you. I’m the only guy who ever even gave you the time of day,” he yelled.
Maintaining my focus on the safety of my parents’ home, I climbed the three steps to the porch and opened the front door. The angry noise of his diesel engine growling to life accompanied me inside. As the door slammed behind me, I thought I heard a different thump, but I was too relieved to be away from Derek to wonder too much at the sound.
Another thought insisted on my headspace. How did he know about Aaron? At the time he was still attending school in Wyoming, an entire state away from me and my love life. Did he have spies at MSC? Was that why so few guys had asked me out in the years I’d been going to college there? And how had he known exactly when I’d be arriving in town for the holiday?
Shaking my head at my paranoid thoughts, I comforted myself that he hadn’t said anything about Danny. If he had someone spying on me, he’d know about Danny and me. Besides, MSC was too big even for Derek Watson and his dad’s money to influence.
I heard voices in the kitchen, so I dropped my bags on the floor in front of the door and headed in that direction.
“Taryn! You’re home.” Mom smiled wide as she stood from the table. Wrapping me in her arms, she said, “Now my home is complete with all my chicks back under my roof.”
“Mo-om.”
Over Mom’s shoulder I grinned at Tina’s eye roll. From across the table, Tally smiled back at me.
“Facts are facts.” Holding me at arm’s length, Mom said, “You look wonderful—like you’re actually sleeping.”
Feeling my cheeks heat at her comment, I ducked out of her arms and escaped to the coffee pot. My favorite Easy A mug sat beside the stove as though it had been waiting for me since the last time I was home way last summer. As I poured it full, I said, “All those extra hours I spent at work last summer meant more time for sleeping in this fall.”
“How’s Danny?” Tina asked, and I almost spilled the milk I was topping off my coffee with.
Bending down, I carefully slurped caramel-colored coffee from my mug before returning the milk to the fridge. Carrying my mug to the table to join Mom and my sisters, I said, “He’s great.” I sat before dropping the bomb. “He’s starting in the playoff game Saturday.”
With a smirk, I raised my mug for a drink while my family exploded.
“He’s starting?”
“Why didn’t you tell us?”
“I thought he already started.”
Putting my hand up to stop the interrogation in its tracks, I said, “He found out yesterday in practice. So I’m glad Zoe and I already bought tickets to the game.”
Pulling her phone from her pocket, Tina’s thumbs ran furiously over her keyboard. When she glanced away from her phone, her accusatory demeanor reminded me of a pissed-off porcupine. “The game is sold out.”
I sipped more coffee, swallowed, and said, “I’m aware. I also might have mentioned to Danny that you guys would want to see him start, but he swore he didn’t know he was starting until yesterday’s practice.”
“Are you two spending a lot of time together?” Mom’s heart-eyed expression was at odds with her indifferent tone. Mom had been harboring a sweet spot for my friend— boyfriend —since I first brought him by the house and he charmed the hell out her.
With the change in our relationship being so new, I wasn’t quite ready to share it with my family. Shrugging, I said, “We study together a couple of nights a week when I don’t work. Pretty much the same as high school.”
The speculative gleam in Tina’s eyes said I hadn’t been as nonchalant as I was going for.
Tally, bless her, preempted whatever nosy question Tina had in mind. “If he’s playing football this weekend, then is that why he’s not coming for dinner tomorrow?”
“From what he described, the alums host a big feed for the team and the coaches at the practice facility. Then they all gather in their film room and watch the pro games together. They have regular practice today, tomorrow, and Friday, so no one goes home for the holiday.” I drank some coffee and added, “I like to watch football, but I can’t imagine that much football in one day.” I added a shudder for good measure, but when I sneaked a glance at my younger sister, her gaze said she wasn’t buying it. I couldn’t imagine what vibes I was giving off that she was picking up.
“You sure seem to know a lot about his schedule,” she said, not bothering to hide her knowing smirk.
Lifting my gaze to the ceiling, I shook my head. “He was complaining about having to practice on a holiday and not getting to eat Mom’s food. I was feeling sorry for him until he let it slip that some of the players’ moms also help cook the team’s meal—and that he’ll be starting in Saturday’s game.” Batting my lashes at my sister, I added, “I was channeling you when I grilled him about it. Also, I might have mentioned you all were going to be bummed out at not being there for his first start as a Wildcat.”
Ever the inquisitor, Tina said, “Yet you and Zoe have tickets. How did that happen?”
“We took advantage at the stadium after the ’Cats beat the Golden Bears in the last game of the season. The athletic department set up ticket sales right outside the student section, and we decided we wanted to be there for the game.” Leveling my gaze on her, I added, “No big deal.” Desperate to leave the subject of Danny Chambers, I turned to my older sister. “How is your thesis coming, Tally?”
Since she hadn’t been living at home when Danny came into our lives, she wasn’t as invested in him as Mom and Tina—and certainly not as much as me. When I addressed her, her face lit up.
“It’s much more research than I anticipated. But I’m learning a ton. You’re going to love pursuing your master’s, Taryn. The challenge is so worth it,” she gushed.
“You two are strange. The best part about college is the parties.” Tina laughed. “Everyone knows that.”
Tally stared down her nose at our younger sister. “Do you even go to class?”
“I’ll have you know my scholarship is in absolutely no danger of being rescinded,” Tina fired back. With a smirk she added, “Guess I’m the smartest one since I can maintain my grades without having to keep my nose pressed in a book or flattened against a screen. College is supposed to be fun.” Her gaze switched to me. “At least you go to football games, but I think that’s a new thing.”
Wrinkling my nose at her speculation, I stood to rinse my coffee mug, pretty much to avoid her insistent return to all things Danny Chambers.
Both of my sisters attended the same private college in our hometown—the one my parents had wanted me to attend too, but for once I had to do things my way. While it drove my family a little nuts, I kind of saw it as my superpower. Following in Tally’s footsteps in high school wasn’t the best thing for me. While I’d enjoyed cheerleading, what I truly wanted to do was join the drama club with Zoe. In the end neither choice served my goal to work in communications for a sports team or a local news outlet, but being a part of the drama club might have kept me off Derek Watson’s radar.
Then again, it might have cost me my friendship with Danny too.
Not attending college in my hometown gave me the perk of privacy. One would think in a town with a population of a hundred thousand I could manage some anonymity, but I knew better. Derek rolling right up behind me before my car had even had a chance to cool down this afternoon only highlighted how much people gossiped about others: how much of each other’s business they had a clue about. At least the word hadn’t gone around yet that Danny and I had changed the status of our relationship.
By an unspoken agreement neither of us had posted anything about our new relationship on social media, and mercifully, no one else had posted anything either. Yet somehow I’d given my sister an idea that things with my best friend had changed. I needed to work on those vibes.
Mom, who sat quietly drinking her coffee, was apparently enjoying the back-and-forth of having all of her girls home together. “What are you girls’ plans for this evening?” she asked. “I’m making soup for dinner—something light so your appetites aren’t ruined for tomorrow.” The look she gave us said we’d better be ready to eat for Thanksgiving. “It’ll be ready around sixish.”
“A bunch of us from CVH are heading to the Pub Station later,” Tally said. “One of the local rock bands is playing. I forget which one, but it should be fun seeing everyone. You coming, Taryn?”
“Why aren’t you including me in your invitation, Tally?” Tina piped up.
Tally’s long-suffering tone accompanied another eyes-down-her-nose stare at Tina. “Because you’re not twenty-one. Duh.”
Even with the intermittent texts the three of us had exchanged over the course of the semester, somehow I’d missed how much Tina got on Tally’s nerves. Though Tally had her own place and Tina lived in the dorms, judging by their exchanges, the two of them crossed paths on campus on the regular.
A picture of Derek Watson’s sneer as he’d threatened me in front of the house flicked through my head. “I think I’ll pass.” Giving Mom a big grin, I said, “I’m going to enjoy some Mom and Dad time since it’s been a minute since I’ve been home.”
Standing, Mom padded over to the sink where I stood and wrapped me in a monster mom-hug. “I don’t want you missing time with your friends, Sweet Pea, but if you want to spend an evening with Dad and me, well, we’ll enjoy that very much.”
“What will we enjoy?” Dad’s comforting deep voice boomed from the doorway to the mudroom right off the kitchen. “Having all four of my best girls under the same roof together?” His smile included all of us. “Oh yeah.”
Stepping over to where Mom and I stood by the counter, he brushed a kiss over her mouth then enveloped both of us in a hug.
“Welcome home, my wayward daughter,” he said to me when he let us go.
Tilting my head, I tossed him a look. “Yeah, Dad. So wayward. Nice to see you too.”
“We were just discussing this evening’s plans. Tally is headed out with her friends. Taryn wants to stay home.” She sent me another smile. “Tina has yet to tell us what she’s doing.”
“I was thinking about seeing the new Dune movie, but if Taryn’s staying home, you guys will probably play cards. I could do with winning some of her tip money.” The gleam in her eye was positively evil.
Returning her stare, I said, “Bring. It. On.”
Tally huffed out a sigh. “You could have just said yes to my invitation, Taryn, instead of making this hard.”
Turning to Mom, Dad laughed. “We didn’t grow a bunch of athletes, but we sure did raise some competitors.” After a long inhale he asked, “What’s for dinner?”
“Minestrone and garlic bread—no dessert.”
The comical way his jaw dropped cracked my sisters and me up.
“But—” Dad began.
“You are saving room for Thanksgiving dinner,” Mom insisted with a sniff.
“The grandparents had better show up on time is all I have to say.” He shot a secret wink at me as he slipped between Mom and me to wash his hands.
The good thing about playing seven-hand rummy for a massive pot of nickels and dimes was that it kept everyone’s concentration on the game, meaning conversation stayed at a minimum. Dad was upset to learn the Wildcats playoff game was sold out but happy Zoe and I had scored tickets. Tally’s mentor had nothing but praise for her work in emotional support research for elementary-age kids. Tina proved Dad incorrect with his earlier athletes comment when she announced she’d joined an intermural racquetball league and had actually won a few matches.
By 10:30 p.m. Tina and Dad had pockets full of change, while Mom, Tally, and I had considerably lighter purses. The parents headed into the living room to catch the late-night news, and Tina headed to her room to watch Netflix. As Tally and I cleaned up the drinks glasses and put away the cards, she asked again if I wanted to go out to the concert since it was still relatively early.
“Derek showed up in front of the house almost before I parked my car. It was like he’d been down the street watching for me or something. Tal, he basically threatened me. I’d rather not go anywhere I might run into him.”
Her eyes rounded then narrowed. “He is such a shit.”
“Tally!” I hissed my disbelief at my big sister’s uncharacteristic language.
She shrugged. “We heard rumors about the stunts he pulled, but the guys in my class made sure he understood to stay away from us girls. I wish you’d mentioned how he treated you when I was still in school. Bet my classmates could have put a stop to it.”
“Don’t beat yourself up. I still would have had to deal with him after you graduated.” Wiping my hands on a towel, I said, “Crap. I just remembered that in my rush to get away from him I left my shoe bag in my car. brB.”
On my way out the door, I flipped on the porch light. Snow threatened on the late-November air, and I shivered as I hustled down the sidewalk to my car. The way the porch light caught the trunk, I noticed something odd. On closer inspection I saw my trunk lid had a dent in it. Shining the flashlight on my phone over the surface, I growled in frustration as I noted the long, horizontal dent matched in height exactly with the bumper of Derek’s truck.
“That was the weird noise I heard when I walked in the door,” I growled to the night.
“What are you mumbling about?” Tally asked.
I wasn’t aware that she’d followed me outside.
“That asshole . I know he did it, he knows he did it, and I have no way of proving it.”
“Which asshole did what?” she asked as she joined me in the street behind my car.
“When I walked into the house after my nasty run-in with Derek this afternoon, I heard a thump. I’d thought it was the screen door shutting behind me. You know, the parents really should get that screen door fixed.” I returned my focus to my car. “Anyway, it appears he left me something to remember him by.” I jerked open the trunk, pulled my bag from it, and slammed it back down. “I don’t have the money to fix this right now.” I hated how my words came out on a whine, but damn it . The world was full of women he could pursue—why did he insist on making my life hard?
In the low light coming from the porch, my sister’s eyes glittered. “I was going to try to coax you into coming out with me tonight anyway, but now, I think you need to stay home while I take care of business.”
As we walked together back up the sidewalk to the house, I said, “Tally. Derek Watson is seriously bad news. Please promise me you’ll stay away from him.”
“I’ll stay away from him. Doesn’t mean others will though.”
On that enigmatic note, she tripped up the steps ahead of me and into the house. Before I could ask what she was up to, she had her jacket on and was saying good night to our parents.
In my old room I flung myself onto my bed and fumed at the ceiling. My first instinct was to text Danny and tell him what Derek had done. But he didn’t need my troubles when he was preparing for his first collegiate start.
As though he’d heard me thinking about him, my phone vibrated an incoming text.
Danny: Hey, T. How’s the fam?
Me: Cutthroat. Dad and Tina won the pots.
Danny hadn’t played many family games growing up. He could play poker like a pro, but beyond that his experience was limited. Not that he wasn’t a quick study. He won his fair share of rummy pots when Mom had invited him over for family nights.
Danny: Funny. Bet Tina doesn’t let you up about it.
Me: You know my sister well.
Danny: You didn’t go out tonight?
Me: Decided to spend time at home since I haven’t been back since summer.
Danny: What are you not telling me?
Seriously? How could he know something was bothering me from a few innocuous words on a screen?
I couldn’t lie to him, but I didn’t need to tell him everything either.
Me: Derek dropped by to say hello. It was as pleasant as usual.
Danny: Fucker. That’s why you’re not out seeing everyone tonight?
Me: Pretty much. Though I truly had a good time with my family. It’s always entertaining when all three of us girls are together.
Me: How was practice?
Danny: Don’t change the subject. Are you okay?
Me: Yes. He didn’t even get out of his truck.
He didn’t have to.
Danny: I should be home with you.
Me: Not a chance, Ace. You should be concentrating on proving to everyone why the Wildcats want to give you a football scholarship next year.
While the three dots on my screen floated and faded, I hustled off another text.
Me: As predicted, everyone is jealous that I have tickets to the game and they don’t. But they’ll be watching on TV on Saturday.
Danny: Maybe you can come back early on Friday?
Me: You know the Christmas parade is a tradition with my sisters. But I’ll have my car packed so I’m ready to jet out as soon as it’s over.
Danny: You tell me if that asshole comes around again.
Me: Can we talk about something more fun? Did you beat up on your roommates in COD?
Danny: We played Madden. Got my ass kicked.
Me: You need a better team.
I followed that with a laughing face.
Danny: I need you.
Oh, wow. When he said things like that, he turned my insides to goo.
Me: I’ll call you tomorrow.