“Good. I don’t want you sleeping with that turdle. He needs to come clean and tell you the whole truth.”
“Damn straight,” she says, starting up her car and reversing out of the space. “I’m not putting up with any bullshit. I may still be poor and pretty much totally dependent on him for survival, but that doesn’t mean I’m going to let myself get walked on. I’m not a friggin doormat.” She spins her car’s back wheels out as she takes off onto the main road.
“Hell to the yeah, you’re not. And don’t shoot me for saying this, but I don’t think Rebel would expect or want you to be. Doormattage is not sexy.”
“Yeah, well, I thought I knew him pretty well, but now I wonder.”
The rest of the ride to Rebel’s place passes in silence. I come up with no less than six conversation starters, all of which I abandon in favor of saying nothing. I want to believe Rebel didn’t lie and that this is all a big misunderstanding, because without his support, I really don’t know what my friend will do. I could probably get my parents to let her stay on our couch for a couple days, but after that I know they’ll tell me she has to go. Our house is just too freaking small and with Jersey there making everything ten times harder than it would be without him, having guests is just beyond my parents’ stress threshold.
CHAPTER ELEVEN
WE PULL INTO THE PARKING lot of Rebel Wheels as the door to the main office flies open. A girl with long black hair comes storming out, and Teagan barely misses running her over.
She screams in surprise and then glares at us through the windshield. “Watch where you’re going, you crazy bitch!” she screams.
Teagan yanks her emergency brake up in one quick pull and throws open the door. “I know you didn’t just call me a crazy bitch.”
The girl with the hair is no dummy. Even I’m scared at Teagan’s tone. She takes one look at my BFF’s angry expression and hightails it over to her white BMW. She’s in with the doors locked before Teagan even makes it around her Beetle.
“That’s right!” Teagan yells at the back of the car as it roars past us. “You better run!”
I look at Teagan and start laughing. Her hair is all over the place and one of her boobs is almost out of her dress.
“What are you laughing at?” she says.
“I’m not sure, but I think I’m looking at a very angry hooker.” I point to her chest. “Your fun bags are coming loose.”
She looks down and takes a moment to stuff her boob back in her dress. “Better?” she asks, looking up at me. For the first time in an hour, she’s grinning a little.
“Better.” I look at the entrance to the parking lot. The car is long gone. “Who was that chick?”
“How the hell do I know? Maybe she’s one of Rebel’s old girlfriends who wasn’t a girlfriend.”
I put my arm over her shoulders and guide her to the front door. “Don’t be like that. Come on, let’s go have a beer.” The incident with the Beemer girl has somehow let off some of the stress that was bogging us down. I’d send her a thank you text if I knew her number.
“I’d rather have a chocolate milk,” Teagan says, pouting.
“Fine. If you insist on giving my lactose intolerant behind diarrhea, then so be it. Chocolate milk it is.”
“Ew. You can have a beer. I’ll have a chocolate milk.”
“Okay, if you say so. But just know that I would sacrifice my digestion for your happiness.”
She walks into the office ahead of me, waiting and locking the door behind me as I pass through. “Thanks. That means a lot. I’m not sure that anyone has ever made that pledge to me before.”
We make our way upstairs and before we’re even to the apartment door, we can hear music booming out of Colin’s place.
“I guess that was Colin’s date,” Teagan says, opening up Rebel’s door.
“She didn’t seem very happy about it,” I say.
“Maybe he kicked her out of bed.”
We’re only in the room long enough for me to sit on the couch before there’s a knock at the door. A blonde head pokes itself in, and then two dark eyes are staring at me. “Teagan in here?”
I point to the kitchen. “In there.”
Teagan comes out with a beer for me and stops when she sees Colin’s head. “What?” she asks, annoyed.
“Hey, don’t shoot. I’m just making sure you’re here. Rebel’s worried about you.”
Teagan says nothing, but her jaw hardens and her eyes narrow.
“Tell Rebel to go punch himself in the junk,” I say, joining Teagan with a hard look of my own.
“Wow. That’s pretty serious. What’d he do to earn a junk-punching?” Colin comes in the rest of the way as he types out a text.
“He lied,” I say.
“Quin, don’t say anything,” Teagan says, going back into the kitchen.
I wait until she’s busy in the fridge before talking again. I use a low whisper so she won’t hear me. “He told her Olga was nothing, but tonight Olga told her differently when we were at the club.”
“Oh. Shit. That’s not good.” Colin drops into an armchair next to me. “So what’s the deal? Is she super pissed or just kind-of pissed?”
“Super. As in, she wanted to go sleep at her place tonight.”
“Damn. What exactly did he say to her …? About Olga, I mean.”
“Not sure. Something like it was nothing. Maybe they hooked up once or twice.”
Colin shrugs. “I don’t think it was much more than that. I mean, I wasn’t around all the time, but I never saw anything serious.”
“What are you guys whispering about?” Teagan asks, walking into the room with her chocolate milk.
“The weather,” I say with a bright smile. “Tickle your ass with a feather?”
“What did you just say?” she says, playing along with me.
“I said, isn’t it particularly nasty weather we’re having?”
Colin stares at us confused as we giggle like idiots.
“Sorry. Time warp throw-back. What were you saying?” I look at him, my face the picture of maturity.
He looks askance at me and then addresses his answer to Teagan. “I was saying that I wasn’t around all the time, but I never saw Olga over here as Rebel’s girl. If he told you she was nothing, I’d believe him.”
“Of course you would,” says Teagan, dropping onto the end of the couch opposite me. “He’s your brother.”
“Yeah, but if he’s being a dick, I’ll call him a dick. He’s never lied that I’ve ever known about.”
“Well said,” I smile in respect.
He grins back. “I’ve got a special way with words.”
“So who was that chick that almost got her ass kicked on the way out of here?” Teagan asks.
Colin looks first at the ceiling and then the floor. “Just some girl.” He gets up and helps himself to a beer from the fridge.
I exchange knowing looks with Teagan. This is almost as interesting as analyzing Rebel’s statements to try and detect lies.
When he comes back in the room, I get him with my laser-beam eyes and determined eyebrows. “Just some girl? Do tell. Where did you meet her? What’s her name? Do you like her?”
He laughs once and takes a swig of beer. “You guys are bad.”
“Bad? How so? We call it curious.” I lean towards him. “Tell us all your secrets. You cannot escape. Our will is strong.”
He takes another drink before responding. “Her name’s Juanita and I met her at a club. We went out a couple times and then we stopped.”
“Who stopped? You or her?” I already know the answer, but I like walking down the path anyway.
“Me, I guess. I mean, she wasn’t the right one. We both knew it, but she just kept hanging on.”
“Oh, man. That’s harsh.” I cringe inside on her behalf. No wonder she was acting so crazy.
“What? You think I should stick with a girl even when it feels wrong?”
“No. I just can imagine wh
at you did to the poor girl before you dumped her, though.”
He frowns. “Oh, yeah? What’s that?”
“Wined her. Dined her…”
Teagan adds, “Sexty-nined her…”
Half his mouth goes up in a charming grin. “You guys are nuts.”
I seriously want to hug him right now. He could not possibly be cuter.
The door to the apartment opens and Mick is standing in the doorway, looking at all of us. He scowls when his eyes first land on me smiling my head off and then at Colin.
“What’s up?” he asks, moving into the room.
My smile slides down and I force myself to breathe slowly, focusing on managing my blood pressure. I don’t know what it is about this guy, but whenever he’s around I start losing it. It ticks me off that I can’t seem to control myself. I don’t want to like him, and I don’t want him to send my system offline every time he’s near. Too bad I’m not the one calling the shots up in my brain. Down, Hootchie, down! Control yourself!
“What’s up with you?” Colin asks, finishing off his beer. When Mick moves towards the kitchen, he calls out, “Get me another beer, would ya?”
“Get your own beer,” Mick says, coming back with a soda in hand. He sits down in the armchair next to Teagan, completely ignoring his brother. “You okay?” he asks.
Colin gets up and slaps Mick on the back of the head when he walks past him, headed for his next beer.
Mick’s expression goes dark, but he doesn’t go after him. He waits for an answer from Teagan.
“I’m fine.” She focuses all her attention on her milk.
“You gonna stay here tonight?” he asks. His voice has gone soft.
My heart crushes for Teagan. She’s so lucky to have this family looking out for her. I almost feel replaced, and I try not to feel concerned about that. I probably shouldn’t worry; no way can these guys girl-talk like I can.
“She can stay at my place,” Colin says when he comes back in the room. Using the bottom of a lighter to lever the beer cap off, he looks over at Teagan. “You can have the couch or the bed, your choice.”
“She’s not staying at your place, Trouble,” Mick says. He looks at Teagan. “You can stay at mine if you want. I’ll just stay here. Or you can talk to Rebel and work it out. I know that’s what he wants.”
She lifts her chin. “Well, I don’t really care what he wants right now.”
“Okay, so you decide,” Mick says. “Where do you want to go?”
Teagan goes silent for so long I’m starting to wonder if she’s fallen asleep with her eyes open. But then she speaks and startles me with her vehemence. “Here!” She takes a breath. “I’m staying here. And I’ll talk to Rebel, but not tonight. I’m tired. I’ll sleep on the couch.”
Colin stands. “I’m out.” He looks at me. “You want to come over to my place for a second? I’ve got something to show you.”
Mick stands too, scowling at his brother. “She doesn’t want to see anything you’ve got.”
I look at both of them and don’t know what to say. Colin isn’t giving me the sexy look, so I really don’t think his goal is to make a move on me or anything. And when I look at Mick, he’s got that expression on his face I saw once before, when he was standing on the dance floor facing off with Mark. For some reason, it gets my back up.
I stand, as cool as cool can be. “I’ll come over for a few minutes. After that I need a ride home, though.”
“I can handle it,” Colin says, his words smooth as silk. “Where do you live?”
Ignoring Mick completely, I walk over to give Teagan a kiss on the cheek and hug goodbye as I answer. “Baldwin Hills.”
“You’re not driving her. You’ve been drinking,” says Mick. He’s mad. He reminds me of my father. Protective. Bossy.
“Two beers is nothing.” Colin goes to the door and holds it open. “Come on.” He looks over at Teagan and raises his palm towards her. “You good?”
Teagan nods at him and then raises an eyebrow at me, but says nothing.
I continue to ignore Mick, as difficult as it is. I want to look at him and explain myself. Maybe I’m hoping he’ll make me a better offer. But none comes and Colin is waiting, so I go.
We get out into the hallway and he walks ahead of me. When he gets to his door, he looks over his shoulder and gives me a heart-stoppingly handsome grin. “I’m going to show you something I’ve never shown anyone else before.”
I hesitate before stepping over the threshold. Looking back at Rebel’s door, I want to believe I see it opening. That Mick is on his way out to stop me. But that doesn’t happen, so I continue inside, shutting the door behind me.
CHAPTER TWELVE
THE PLACE IS A DISASTER. I stop in the entrance and take it all in. Dirty dishes cover the coffee table in front of the television. Clothing is draped over all the furniture, most of it way past the stage of needing a washing as far as I can tell. There are art canvasses of different sizes leaning in stacks against the walls and what I guess to be an easel in the corner of the room nearest the windows with a sheet draped over the painting that’s underneath. Paintbrushes are standing in old coffee cans on the windowsill and there are multi-colored paint spatters all over the tarp that’s on the ground and even the walls nearby. It smells like a paint store in here.
I could have sworn Teagan told me that she’d been in here before, but she never mentioned any of this to me. I make a mental note to discuss this with her, because if her powers of observation somehow missed all of this, I’m going to recommend she get a brain scan of some sort.
“You want something to drink?” he asks, moving over to the stereo to turn it down.
“Nah. I’m kind of drinked out right now.” I don’t tell him that I’m worried anything that comes out of this apartment is going to be contaminated by some rare and deadly virus. I lick my lips, suddenly very thirsty. That would be my self-torturing personality that likes to make me want exactly what I can’t have at the most inconvenient time.
“Yeah, I’m done too.” He puts his hands in his back pockets. “So…” Grinning at me, he rocks up on his heels a little.
“So…” I cock an eyebrow up at him, “…what’s this mysterious thing you want to show me? I hope it’s not your junk.”
He laughs. “Nah, it’s not my junk. But we can pretend that’s what it was to make Mick crazy if you want.”
I shrug. “Why would I care what he thinks?” My heart-rate picks up at the mere idea.
Colin takes his hands out of his pockets and backs up towards the windows. “I don’t know. Kinda seemed like you cared.”
“Nope, not me.” I put extra cheer into my voice to be more convincing.
“He seems pretty worked up over your personal business. You sure there’s nothing going on there?”
I cross my arms. He’s got the most devious expression on his face. “If you really think there’s something going on between us, why did you invite me over here?” I tap my toe impatiently. I don’t like being played.
“Ah,” he says, taking the edge of the sheet and lifting it. “Sometimes life is dull. Maybe I like to liven things up from time to time.”
I’m in the process of responding, but my jaw drops open and the words get hung up in the system somewhere between my frontal lobe and my mouth. For the first time that I can remember, art has made me totally speechless.
I walk towards the easel slowly as he turns a lamp on nearby.
“No! Turn it off,” I say a little too loudly, my arm flying out to somehow protect the vision I saw from the harsh light of reality.
He flicks it off and looks at me with a new expression on his face.
A glance at him tells me he’s worried.
“What do you think?” he asks.
“I think I want to have your babies,” I say in a near-whisper as I step up to the canvas and stop. It’s about three feet high and two feet wide. I frown and take a few steps back in the direction I came from. My smile comes
back. “Holy fucking wow.”
“I’m going to take that as a thumbs up.”
I look at him, recognizing his expression for what it is now. Vulnerability. The artist exposes his inner soul.
“You are really amazing, you know that?” The words just pop out of my mouth. “Ten thousand fucking thumbs up. Seriously. Give me your sperm.” I point at the painting. “I want my children to have those genes. I’ll take it in a to-go cup if that’s convenient.”
He grins bigger than I’ve ever seen him grin before. And there’s zero sexiness to it; all I see is joy. He looks like how I’ve always imagined the archangel Gabriel.
“That’s why Mick didn’t want you over here. He knew as soon as you saw my junk you’d be mine.”
I burst out laughing right along with him. It feels good to let all the stress of the night go like that. My eyes are drawn back to the painting and my laughter fades.
“How did you do this? When?” I have never been able to fathom people with this level of talent. It makes me wonder what the holy hell he’s doing living over a car garage. He could be in New York City selling his stuff for a mint. He could at least afford a maid if he sold one of these once in a while. “You seriously need to get this into a gallery.”
My gaze roams every corner of the painting and then the middle too. The image there on the canvas is Teagan, but then again not. She’s looking at something I can only guess is Rebel, because she has that serious goo-goo expression on her face. And for once she doesn’t look stressed or mad or worried about something. She looks older. Wiser. More mature, like maybe how she’ll be in ten years. I used to see her stress-free face once in a great while at school, but this summer it’s been completely absent. I guess I haven’t been around her and Rebel enough. I almost want to reach out and touch it, but I don’t because I wouldn’t want to put a single speck of anything but Colin’s touch on this miracle.
“She’s so beautiful.” Now, instead of laughing, I feel like crying. “You captured the essence of my little Tea-Tea.”
“Tea-Tea?” He leans over to look at the painting. “That’s not Teagan. That’s Mick.”