“It’s going to be dinner time soon.” Jake wrapped his arms around me and kissed me on my neck. He smelled like pine and sun and Jake. His arms cradled me, strong and dependable. My phone calls to Evan and being with Jake were pretty much the only things keeping me grounded here.
“We should go down.” We always went together. Neither one of us wanted to face that den of jackals alone.
He took my hand, and I made a stop by my mom’s room before we went on. She still wasn’t in, and I worried for a minute. Where could she be? What was she doing? Was she still out with Mama D? Why didn’t she tell me anything anymore?
Jake and I wandered down to the dining room. One of his random relatives called him over to ask him about some motor they were all debating. Jake was about to say no, but I pushed him away. I didn’t want him to think I was so pathetic that he could never leave my side.
He got dragged out to the yard to look at the car in question. I could see him from the big plate glass windows in the sun room. I was watching Jake, and enjoying the fact that he was far hotter than any of his fake-tanned, bleached-out cousins, when I felt someone near me, someone unfamiliar.
When I turned to look, it was a little bit spooky, because for a split second, I thought I was looking at Jake. Then I realized it was his dad.
“Oh, Mr. Maclean! You scared me.” My laugh felt too bubbly and nervous.
There were a few reasons Mr. Maclean put me on edge. He drank too much. He looked a little shifty. I hated how much he resembled Jake.
His eyes were already red-rimmed and glassy. Jake’s father drank more than anyone I had ever seen before. The sweet stinging smell of alcohol was wafting off of him, burning my eyes.
“It’s Gerald, Brenna.” His eyes drank me in, looked me up and down slowly and made my skin actually crawl. “So you and Jake are pretty serious, huh?” He leaned just a few inches too close to me.
I took two deliberate steps away and tried not to make a face. I hated when adults asked questions like that. I loved Jake with everything in me. But how was I supposed to answer that? ‘ Yeah, we’re getting married someday for sure!’ or, ‘ Golly-gee, he’s just my world!’?
Our love was completely real, but I didn’t want to blabber about it. Especially to his Dad.
“Um, I guess we are,” I said vaguely, examining a pottery piece on the table next to me to avoid eye contact.
“You and me? We’ve got something in common, you know. I had a thing with a wrong-side-of-the-tracks girl.” His smile bordered on a leer. “Jake’s mom was hot, a real turn-on. But not really from my world, you know?”
He was trying to connect with me. He was putting Jake down, and he was creeping me out. My heart thudded hard, my mouth felt gritty, and the sweat that slicked over my palms made my hands slide on the top of the table when I tried to brace myself. I realized with a panicked sweep of my eyes how alone we were.
There were usually maids bustling around, getting things ready for dinner. I had never been down here when there weren’t a few people fixing themselves cocktails or lounging on the couch. Where was everyone?
I could see Jake, could physically see him, but he was way too far away to help me at all if anything happened. And by anything, I meant even things I didn’t want to think about.
“I don’t know much about Jake’s mom,” I stalled, looking around desperately for a way to leave. Jake’s father closed the space between us, and I felt the crush of panic avalanching down on me fast.
“She was wild.” He smiled, and it looked just like Jake’s smile minus all the warmth and sweetness. The air in my lungs felt bogged down, like I couldn’t push it out and let fresh air in. I was suffocating. His next words were coiled and slimy, too close to my ear, his breath hot on my neck. “She was a little bit of a smartass. And really, really hot. I was smart, from a strict family…well, you know that whole thing.”
“Mmmhmm,” I murmured. Instinct overrode my panic, and I took a few quick steps to the side. As soon as there was a little distance, my brain stopped clattering around in my head.
“I think I saw in her what you see in him.” He followed me, and his lazy demeanor was nothing but a trick. He was quick and agile, and he had me closed-in in the twisting labyrinth of too much antique furniture. He put one hand at my elbow and slid it up and down along my forearm slowly. “I get you. Brenna.” My name dripped out of his mouth, and the sound of it made me cringe.
Finally my voice came back. “You left Jake. You left Saxon. Never mind their mothers. You don’t get me at all.” I tried to just run out, which went against my ingrained manners. But this had gone so far beyond fake niceties.
He tightened his fingers on my arm just hard enough to hurt. “You don’t really fit into this world, do you? Sweetheart, you should enjoy your time with Jake. He’s not hardwired to settle down, and soon he’ll have his pick of anyone he wants.” His eyes were hateful, and I felt a lump in my throat that I couldn’t swallow around. He chuckled, a soft, mean sound. “Soon you’llbe the girl from the wrong side of the tracks. As far as Mama D and these biddies go anyway. But being the good girl all the time can get pretty old anyway, right?”
I wanted Jake. I wanted my mother.
I didn’t attempt to engage in any more ludicrous conversation. I yanked my arm away from his grasp and wiggled past a table full of delicate vases, jarring it with my hip and making every priceless trinket dance precariously. I wanted out. Every hair on my entire body stood on end, and a chill slithered up and down my back.
Gerald grabbed my arm again just as I made it around an old embroidered couch. “C’mon, honey. I was just making conversation. I never thought you’d be the uptight type.” I tried to pull away, but Jake’s dad took my other arm, loosened his hold and rubbed up to my shoulders. He made a low noise in his throat and massaged me a little. “First love.” His laugh puffed against my neck, and I twisted away from it. “Gotta love that, Brenna.”
Footsteps came down the hall, and my entire body went slack with relief.
Jake entered the living room and took one look at my face. I felt tears stab at my eyes, and I shook my head to let him know that I was notalright. He flew across the room, and every inch closer made my muscles relax minutely.
“What’s going on?” he demanded, his eyes hard on his father’s face.
The room was way too quiet. He looked down at Gerald’s hands, still on my shoulders, and his eyes flashed with fury. “What the hell is going on?” he repeated, his voice icy. His dad let go of my arms, and Jake grabbed my wrist and pulled me to him.
“Just chatting with your pretty lady, Jake.” Gerald walked over to the liquor cart at the side of the couch and poured himself a huge glass of something amber that smelled like paint thinner.
Jake eyed his father and his scowl was deep with disgust. “Are you okay?” he asked me quietly. I opened my mouth, but he shook his head and rubbed a hand up and down my arm. “Don’t say anything. I can see you’re not.” He turned to his father. “What were you talking about, Gerald?”
“Life. Love. Nothing too important.” He took a long sip of his drink and cocked an eyebrow at Jake, ignoring me completely. His flippant style was so at odds with the idea of someone who was supposed to be an adult, someone who was supposed to be a father. It shook my sense of right.
Jake narrowed his eyes at his father, then looked at me. “Keep away from him, okay? This family is more than a little screwed up.” He put his arm around my waist and we walked into the dining room.