Chapter 3 #3
“I don’t know why you’re so upset with me right now, Darby, and usually I wouldn’t care, but for some reason, I do.
We’re stuck in this shit situation for a little while longer.
Let’s at least…make it bearable. Come for a walk with me, and I’ll tell the sad tale of Kendrick’s life and how I became Rebel.
Then, maybe you can see I’m not the antichrist and maybe we can be friends or whatever. ”
Slowly, she nodded. “Okay, I’d like that.”
“First, I need a shower, so let me do that and I’ll come and get you.”
She nodded and sat back down on her bed. I backed out of the room, unsure if she was going to lash out at me again or if I was in the safe zone. When she didn’t throw anything, I ran down the hall and had the quickest hot shower of my life before her mood changed on me again.
Darby
Rebel was silent as we walked together through the woods, climbing over tree trunks with ease like he was built to do it.
We walked in silence as I let the emotional hurricane raging inside me calm down.
It had been irrational to act the way I did when I smelt the perfume on his shirt.
He’d saved me from falling on my ass and I’d gone full bitch mode.
Granted, his reaction afterward had only fuelled the mega bitch to rise up, ready to rip him a new one. I couldn’t stay mad at him though, he was forced to be here with me and he obviously didn’t have much in the way of knowledge about women.
“I’m sorry,” I said suddenly. “I don’t know why I lost it at you earlier.”
“Why did you get mad in the kitchen?”
I sighed and sat down on a fallen tree that was practically a log now. He sat next to me and waited for me to speak. He was so patient, it killed me. I just wish he spoke more, and not just when I was a raging lunatic and he was defending himself.
“There’s a lot of things in my mind,” I told him. “I guess smelling the perfume on you when you caught me just reminded me that I’m stuck here without any way of entertainment, that I am virtually a prisoner because my own family wants to use and abuse me. I lucked out on the family draw, huh?”
All he did was nod, but I felt like an understanding was passing between us.
I couldn’t say how I knew but I did. He had a dark past, I could see it in his eyes, maybe one even to rival my own.
I felt like I needed to know everything about him.
A strong emotion to be sure, and one I wasn’t sure I was ready to admit was forming into something else.
“You did,” he replied finally. “I’m sorry your family are shit. Tell me what you need, to entertain you, and I’ll make sure we have it. I know this is a hard situation, but I don’t want you to suffer needlessly.”
“It’s okay, Rebel, really. Crap, it feels weird to call you that. Can I call you Kendrick?”
A slow smile played on his lips and boy did that just send blood rushing to the top of my thighs.
“You can, but only when it’s just you and me.”
I liked that a lot. “Deal.”
We sat there for a little while longer before he said he needed to show me something. I followed him back toward the house.
“If you don’t mind…I could really use a cocktail tomorrow night…maybe pancakes in the morning?” I asked as he keyed in the code and I headed inside.
“Uh…yeah,” he said. “I could organise something like cocktails, but I don’t know how to make them. That’s Shona’s thing.”
“They have pre-mixes now,” I giggled. “Just a couple, it’ll give me something to celebrate with.”
“Celebrate?” he asked, moving over to the counter and looking through the pantry. “What are we celebrating?”
“Well, I don’t know about you, Kendrick, but I’ll be celebrating my birthday.”
He turned back around so quickly, I was surprised he didn’t get dizzy and fall down. “Tomorrow is your birthday?”
I nodded. “Yeah, twenty years old…officially not a teenager anymore.”
The fact that I hadn’t felt like a teenager since I was fifteen just made that statement laughable.
“Fuck…and you’re stuck here…”
“It’s not so bad,” I smiled at him. “You’re growing on me…and if you make me pancakes in the morning, I’ll forever be grateful. I usually have cake for breakfast…a tradition I picked up from a very early age, but pancakes will be even better.”
“You got it,” he said, a small smirk playing on his lips. “Any particular sides you want with them?”
“Strawberries and maple syrup and butter. I’m a girl with simple needs.”
He chuckled and I could see he genuinely found it funny with the way his eyes crinkled at the sides. He was so gorgeous when he smiled. It filled me with a little pride that I’d been the one to do that to him.
“Now, what did you want to show me?”
He moved around the bench and over to a door I didn’t even realise was there, just off from the living area. He opened it and turned the lights on. It was a makeshift gym in what was once a garage.
“I figured if you ever need to work out some excess energy or you’re bored, you can come in here and work it off.”
I had missed working out, and the way Rebel was feeding me, I was going to need some way to work off all the sugar and carbs.
“You mean so I don’t turn into a major bitch again?” I joked, turning around in the room to then look up at him.
“You had every right to, I should have known something was up before I said anything.”
“Kendrick, you can make it up to me with pancakes.”
“You got it, princess.”
He left me in the gym and I moved around the room, taking in all the equipment. I wondered if he would ever work out with me. If I would see him on the bench press and watch as his muscles bunched under the weight.
Jesus, girl, you need to stop.
He clearly hasn’t got a problem hooking up with women and why would he?
He’s fucking gorgeous, especially when he smiled.
Was I jealous? A little, but there was no way in hell he would be interested in me.
I knew that. I knew it was crazy to assume he would ever break that protector barrier and make me scream all night.
But a girl could dream, right?