29. Josh #3
Dove’s chest rose and fell, taking a minute to compose herself before she relented with a soft, “Okay.” Her nod of agreement was accompanied by two twin rosy dots on her cheeks as a feminine voice only a few feet away called out to someone, reminding us both of how easily we could get caught.
It surprised me that she’d been two minutes away from letting me fuck her against a back-alley wall as if her earlier agreement about being on our best behavior had been forgotten the moment my lips touched her.
I knew why I’d tossed my promise to behave out the window, but Dove?
Did my touch really have that much power over her resolve, as much as hers did over mine?
I couldn’t say shit, though. I’d been the one to bring up best behavior in the first place, knowing that even an ounce of affection from her would lead me astray.
And look what happened… One kiss and I’d been willing to risk it all.
If she’d uttered one more plea in that seductive siren voice, I would have unzipped and given it to her right here, hiking that dress up with a command to hold on tight.
It was a miracle I had enough self-restraint to stop.
But I was trying not to lose her, and that was a one-way ticket to a place without her, a place I’d been familiar with and had no desire to return to.
Plus, Dove didn’t deserve her first time to be a quick, quiet fuck against a brick wall. No, she deserved more than that, and that’s what I planned to give her.
My fingers threaded through her hair, fixing any strands that looked out of place. The step back I took felt more like a football-field’s worth of space rather than a handful of inches.
“Come on,” I tipped my chin toward the entrance.
“We can make our way out, hopefully without another hundred-and-one questions.” When she remained oddly subdued, I attempted to lighten the heaviness that still lingered between us.
“I’ll grab you that shaved ice you love so much on the way out to cool you down. ”
She huffed out an uneven laugh, before fluffing her hair and straightening her rumpled dress. Her cheeks were still a delightful shade of pink, but her eyes were bright and eager, like she couldn’t wait to leave.
Thank God.
We walked around the recycling container, and I made sure to keep my hands permanently at my sides because I couldn’t trust them, not with how much they itched to be on her.
“Seems like we keep runnin’ into each other.”
My head snapped to the slurred voice coming from the head of the alley. Dove froze, still as a marble statue and just as exquisite, the fear radiating off her damn near palpable.
“Torrence,” I growled. I was going to kill this motherfucker one day.
“Or maybe I should say,” he kept going, running that damn big mouth of his, one that I loathed to know had been on Dove’s before, which meant I more than wanted to punch it already, “I keep runnin’ into you two .”
Scratch that. I was going to kill this motherfucker today.
“Well,” I managed to grit out, “it is a small town.”
“Josh was just… consoling me,” Dove piped up from beside me after a second of hesitancy, her voice soft but perfectly even, which I knew meant she was attempting to keep the tremor out of it. “It’s been a lot, being here without my mom, on top of everyone wanting to reminisce about her and Gareth.”
I glanced sideways at her. While the first part was an off-the-top-of-her-head lie, that last part sounded genuine.
I had a feeling today would be rough on her, but did I think to ask her?
I could kick myself for not checking in to see how she was doing without Josie here with us.
It seemed Dove wasn’t the only one who could hide feelings by putting on a mask.
She hadn’t given me any indication being here had been wearing on her emotionally, other than that bout of anger.
It killed me that she felt she had to keep that from me.
Once there had been a time when, other than what I now knew were our mutual feelings for one another, we hadn’t hidden anything from each other.
Good days, bad days, through it all we were each other’s safe spaces, each other’s sounding boards, able to lay our feelings out without judgement.
This emotional distance between us… there was no doubt my absence had caused it, but I still wished she’d rely on me like she once had, especially when her grief struck, instead of saving it for the cover of night, which was the only time she’d let her guard down enough for me to comfort her.
If at night was the only time she allowed me to help shoulder the burden of her pain, I’d do it.
Even if it took the rest of my life, I’d never stop proving I could be that safe space for her like I once was.
Torrence’s eyes softened at her admission, which only succeeded in sharpening my anger, making the urge to pound that look of sympathy off his face even greater. Dove seemed to ignore it entirely as she took a few determined steps past him.
That’s my girl, I thought proudly, unable to keep the curl of a satisfied smirk off my face. One that promptly dropped the moment he reached out to grab her arm and tug her closer.
She stiffened in his hold as he pleaded, “Dove, can we please talk?—”
“Paws off,” I growled. “Or we’re going to have a problem.”
The soft look on Torrence’s face faded as he directed his attention to me, but his damn hand remained where it was, cradling her elbow. Did this asshole want me to break every last one of his fingers?
Movement caught my eye and my gaze snapped to just beyond his shoulder.
As if her presence was forgotten entirely by Torrence, the girl he’d been with shifted with uncertainty behind him, worrying her lip nervously, gaze flickering between the three of us, watching us stare each other down.
I hardly noticed or cared. Seeing him reach for Dove so casually, like he had every right to touch her, had the edges of my vision darkening from barely concealed rage.
Dove broke free from his hold. “We have nothing to talk about, Torrence.” She took a half a step back, then turned to leave.
Checking to see if I was following, she glanced back at me.
My rising anger at Torrence’s audacity must have shown on my face because her eyes widened slightly, begging me in a silent plea to let it go.
There was a time I was indifferent to Torrence, back when we were younger.
I never particularly liked him, but I tolerated him, mostly because Eddie occasionally hung out with him.
It used to irk me when he showed up to parties like he had every right to be there, invitation or not, his football cronies following his every move like he was some form of country bumpkin royalty.
His father owned a pig farm. There wasn’t anything royal about that.
Although he never really bothered me before, I couldn’t pretend I didn’t know exactly why I couldn’t stand the sight of him now.
He’d touched Dove, plain and simple. Looking at him was a reminder that while I’d been away, he’d swooped in to snag the chance I thought I’d never be given, and it pissed me off he still felt like he had a shot with her, despite her disinterest.
She was with me now, and I wouldn’t tolerate this asshole touching what was mine any longer.
“Josh,” Dove called, a hint of pleading in her voice as if she knew what I was thinking. She probably did. “Come on, let’s go.”
As if she’d flipped a switch, I exhaled a pent-up sigh, releasing my growing anger like a steam engine.
I didn’t want to be the reason the day was ruined, not when Torrence was just being his typical prickish self.
From his slurred speech and half-lidded gaze, he was clearly drunk, or on his way there.
He was all false bravado and talk, fueled by what I imagined was Dale Foster’s homemade hooch that was often passed around at these things.
I reminded myself that we didn’t have anything to prove or disprove to this asshole.
If he touched her again, though, we were going to have a problem.
Relief washed over Dove’s face, and her pretty blues softened in a silent thank you before she headed out of the alley.
I wasn’t far behind her, but Torrence couldn’t leave well enough alone.
Just as I passed him, he leaned in, reeking of moonshine and whatever pungent cologne he doused himself with.
“You think I don’t know what you two were up to?” He sneered. Despite the warning look I cut him, he continued crudely, “I know exactly what she looks like when she comes.”
Pure, unadulterated rage blinded me and before I realized I’d moved, Torrence was pinned up against brick, his feet struggling for purchase as I hefted him higher so we were eye to eye.
I vaguely heard someone shout my name, but everything was a rush of white noise.
My body vibrated with uncontrollable fury, and I succumbed to it, allowing it to drag me deeper into its dark depths as I pinned my focus on the asshole squirming in my grip.
“Keep talking,” I warned, voice low and ominous, inches from his face. “I dare you.”
Hatred burned in his eyes as he goaded, “Does she do that breathy whimper when?—?”
“Shut your fucking mouth.” His words boiled the blood in my veins, and he released a pained groan as I shoved him harshly back against the wall, his head bouncing off it with a dull thud.
“You know how I know you’re full of shit?
” Torrence remained silent, but his eyes shot daggers at me, saying what his mouth didn’t.
“Because you wouldn’t know how to get a woman off if she drew you detailed instructions. ”
Was the response childish and petty? Sure. Did I give a fuck? No, because it was true. That spectacle in the barn showed me all I needed to see. Torrence was greedy; he’d take his own pleasure from whoever he could without sparing a thought of the enjoyment from who he was taking it from.