26. Dove #4
“Josh,” I bit out as his hands got in the way.
“I can manage to put on my own clothes. Why don’t you—” I tried to move my leg from around him furtively, so I didn’t end up flashing whoever was coming towards us, as I shimmied my underwear up over my hips, “—get out so this doesn’t look—” I trailed off, searching for a word, but my thoughts were too jumbled with panic at the thought of being caught.
Josh’s eyebrows raised, waiting for me to explain what this could possibly look like.
“Suspicious,” I settled on, holding in a wince as the word left my mouth. What I really wanted to say was incriminating. As if we were two thieves sleuthing around someone’s property and not just a couple enjoying a quickie on the side of the road.
Indecent exposure is a crime too, my unhelpful inner voice supplied somewhat hysterically.
“Us being in a truck together isn’t suspicious, Dove,” Josh argued, but he turned, opening the door so he could hop out and give me more room to hurriedly redress.
“It does when you look like that ,” I muttered, gesturing to his disheveled hair, and swollen, red lips. My hand traveled to my throat, which stung from the chafe of beard burn and biting kisses. I frowned, realizing I likely didn’t look much better.
He closed the door behind himself with a soft thud, then bent down to inspect his reflection in the side mirror, cursing under his breath at what he saw.
Once my shorts were buttoned, I ran fingers through my hair discreetly.
There wasn’t much hope for the flush I could still feel over my skin, but that could easily be blamed on the heat.
I leaned against my door casually, one elbow out the window, attempting to look like someone who hadn’t just experienced a mind-blowing orgasm at the hands and mouth of her stepbrother.
Maybe it would be Carl, the local drunk, too far gone to remember, on his way from one bar to the next. If we were really lucky it would be someone not from around here, just traveling through Haven, not sparing us a second glance as they passed.
Doubtful, but still, I hoped.
Those hopes were crushed as I instantly recognized the vehicle approaching. “That’s Torrence’s truck.”
“Who?”
I nearly rolled my eyes at his feigned ignorance. He knew full well who Torrence was. “Torrence Weller.” When he continued to stare, I supplied, “Former high school football star?” He just blinked at me, face blank. I sighed. “The guy from the barn, Josh.”
“Oh.” He glowered. “ That fucker.”
“Yeah, him .”
My insides twisted, and my thoughts spiraled down the anxious rabbit hole of imaging Torrence finding out, then the whole town finding out, then having to find a new place to live because the gossip alone would drive us out?—
“He’s going to know what we were doing,” I blurted without thinking. I shouldn’t have said anything. I hadn’t meant to say anything, but inside I was panicking.
He instantly dismissed my worry. “No, he won’t. How would he?”
When I didn’t reply, Josh curled his hands over the open window and fixed his attention on me, ignoring the truck barreling towards us. A question lingered in the depths of his eyes—one I didn’t want to answer.
“How would he know, Dove?”
I forced out a laugh, despite nothing about this being funny. “Look at us, Josh.”
“It’s pretty damn hot today. We could have been stuck out here a while, getting heat stroke.” His eyes narrowed. “But you seem adamant for a whole other reason, don’t you?”
“No.” My voice cracked, and I cleared my throat. “I don’t know what you mean.”
Josh exhaled, like an angry bull. “Has he touched you?”
I shifted anxiously in my seat. “You know he has?—”
“Before that night.”
Shit.
Torrence’s truck was so close I could hear his country music blaring from it. Could hear the muffler hitting his truck as it bobbed, still in need of tightening.
I knew that because once upon a time I’d spent a decent amount of time with Torrence, in need of someone, anyone , to numb the gaping hole that had been left in my chest from Josh’s absence.
Repeating that to myself didn’t make me feel any less guilty.
“Yes,” I whispered, hating every part of me that had once shared that part of myself with Torrence. Not everything, but enough.
The look on Josh’s face before he pushed away from the door made me flinch. There was no reason for him to get jealous of something I did before we got together, although his possessiveness caused my stomach to twist pleasantly, even if his anger soured it.
“I have an idea,” he growled as he rounded the front of the truck.
“Wait, Josh,” I called, leaning out of the window. “What are you doing?”
Josh’s hands disappeared out of sight as they searched for the latch located in the grill to pop the hood. “When he gets closer, act like you’re on the phone with Reverie.”
Baffled, I asked, “Why?”
“It’ll look like we just broke down. So we don’t look suspicious.” The emphasized last word cut through me as he lifted the hood of the Chevy, disappearing behind it altogether, effectively ending our discussion.
The blast of Torrence’s music growing louder prompted me into following Josh’s orders.
Feeling ridiculous, I held my phone up to my ear and feigned a conversation, cringing internally at how stilted I sounded.
An actress I certainly was not. Honestly, it always surprised me Josh never figured out my crush on him all these years with how bad I was at faking things.
Although, I’d gotten pretty good at faking orgasms when I’d been with Torrence.
Brakes squeaked as the man in question slowed to a stop beside us, his music lowering to a tolerable level.
“You’re a lifesaver, Rev,” I raised my voice just a tad to be heard over the idling engine, sounding overly relieved. “We really appreciate it. See you soon!”
Torrence had stopped beside Josh on the opposite side of the road, obscuring him from view behind the raised hood, but I could hear him just fine.
“Everything alright?” he asked tersely. The memory of Josh practically throwing him out of the barn flashed through my mind. Yeah...he was likely still pissed about that. “Need help?” But in true small-town fashion you just didn’t leave someone stranded on the side of the road.
“Nah,” Josh declined, letting the hood slam shut. I startled, jumping at the sudden bang, a surprise yelp escaping me at the loud noise.
Torrence’s eyes flew to mine through the windshield. Nothing in his gaze indicated he’d seen anything… risqué. True relief flooded me at the knowledge that maybe he hadn’t seen us after all. I held up my phone. “Just called Rev,” I informed him damn near jovially. Tone it down, Dove . “But thanks.”
His truck crept forward until he was looking at me through Josh’s rolled down window.
“Want a lift?”
My voice caught in my throat as his eyes roamed over me, the hint of heat glimmering in his gaze making me uneasy.
His eyebrows creased, his focus not aimed on my face, but slightly lower.
A little too late I remembered the state of my neck and hurriedly brushed my hair around my shoulders to hide it.
My pulse skittered nervously as he continued to stare, and I opened my mouth to decline his offer?—
“We’re fine.” Josh slid in between the vehicles, his body shielding me from view.
I released a silent sigh of relief, the knot that had been forming in my stomach loosening now that Torrence’s lecherous eyes were off me.
“But we appreciate the offer,” he added, his words a juxtaposition to his tone, which held absolutely no gratitude.
The muscles of Josh’s back grew rigid each second Torrence remained idled beside us. The hot summer air practically thickened with the intensity of their stare down. All I could do was watch, like a spectator at an unexpected shootout.
Or a pissing match.
Instead of accepting Josh’s answer and moving along, Torrence replied haughtily, “I was talking to Dove.”
Josh crossed his arms. “And now you’re talking to me.”
His steely reply left no room for argument, and a shiver ran down my spine at the tone of his voice. He sounded exactly like he had when he’d hauled Torrence off me.
“You okay with him talkin’ for you, Dove?
” Torrence pitched his voice louder, as if I was farther away than just a few feet.
He didn’t wait for my answer before he directed to Josh, low and taunting, “You just come waltzing back into Haven and think you can rule her life? Dictate who she can be with?”
Anger sparked hot and bright through my veins.
Torrence had no right to talk to Josh like that.
Especially about me . We’d been nothing more than a string of short-lived flings.
We were never going to go anywhere farther than what we’d had.
It’d been a mistake on my part to rekindle anything with him that night at the bar but hurt had shoved rational thought out the window.
Now he likely believed more was on the table when he didn’t even have a seat there to begin with.
“You’re her brother, not her daddy ,” Torrence sneered, his mocking words clearly aimed to provoke Josh. I tensed, ready to reach over and grab the back of Josh’s shirt before he pummeled Torrence’s face in.
“Get the fuck out of here.” Josh took a threatening half step towards Torrence’s vehicle, hands curling into fists at his sides.
“Or what?” Torrence goaded, putting on an air of toughness, but from my peek over Josh’s shoulder I could see the way he leaned away from the window, like he was afraid Josh would reach through and drag him out.
I wasn’t entirely sure he wouldn’t.
“Or the next time you attempt to shack up with someone in a barn, I’ll make sure it’s real difficult for you . ”
Josh’s threat had my face flaming at the reminder of how he’d found us. Torrence’s face looked similar, but not from embarrassment. No, his was red with outrage.
Lip curled, he glared daggers at Josh. “You motherfuc?—”