I suddenly remember all those girls laughing, and I grab his head.
“I—I don’t know about that,” I say.
“Trust me,mi cariña,” he says again. “You’ll like it.”
I gulp. “What if I don’t?”
“Then I’ll stop,” he says. “Promise.”
I try to relax and calm my racing thoughts and shaking limbs as he kisses down the side of my mound. It’s ticklish, and my body jerks with a spasm. Lennox moans softly, moving inwards, kissing onto the front of my panties. All I can think about is that I’m not shaved like the other girls he must have been with. I feel stupid and naïve, and I know I should like this because girls always talk about how great it is, and how if a guy knows how to do this, you keep him.
Lennox kisses me there, harder, moving his mouth in slow, erotic circles. His warm breath passes through the fabric, warming me, and I shiver again. It feels good, but all I can do is stare at the wall and feel cold and exposed, self-conscious and unsure of what to actually do with myself. He hooks his finger through the edge of my panties and pulls them aside, and I quake with embarrassment that he’s seeing what those girls saw when they laughed at me.
But he doesn’t laugh. He makes a low noise in his throat and parts my hair with his fingers before he leans in, kissing me again, with nothing between us. A shock of pure pleasure rocks through me when his warm lips meet my bare skin.
The front door slams hard, shaking the whole house.
I jump a mile, and Lennox chuckles and sits back on his heels. He licks his lips and smiles up at me, not seeming at all concerned that his brother just walked into the house. I can hear Maddox’s voice in the other room, talking to their mom.
“To be continued,” Lennox says, standing and opening his dresser drawer. I see a gun on top, in plain sight, before he shifts his position so I can’t see. He pulls out a pair of pajama pants with the St. Louis Cardinals logo printed on them and hands them to me, along with a FHS Wampus Cats t-shirt.
I hear footsteps in the hall and practically dive into the shirt, my heart hammering like I’m about to be caught alone with a boy by Lee instead of Maddox. “Hey,” Lennox says, gently taking my arm to slow my panicked movements as I try to find the neck hole with my head. “Slow down. You’ll hurt yourself more.”
“But he—”
“Has seen more tits and asses than the owner ofGirls Girls Girls!,” he says with a chuckle as he eases the neck of the shirt over my head, smoothing my hair and giving me a soft, dimpled smile. I’ve heard a couple guys at school talk about sneaking into that strip club, so I know what it is, but somehow thinking about Maddox seeing a million other girls naked makes me feel worse, not better.
I reach for the pants, but Lennox’s hand closes around mine, stilling me again.
He looks down at me, his gaze earnest as he cups my cheek in one palm. “You’re okay now,” he says. “Trust me, Rae. You’re safe here. I promise.”
That wasn’t even what I was thinking. I knew Lee wasn’t coming to get me. That’s not his style. He prefers not to be inconvenienced. He’ll sit in his chair smoking and watching TV, waiting for me to come to him, and then he’ll strike. I can hear his voice in my head already. “I work all day, I’m not going to work to discipline a kid who’s not even mine.”
He’s the kind of bastard who made me go pick out my own switch before he whipped me when I was a kid. Somewhere along the way, that became too much work. He’ll be the first to brag that bare hands work just as well, the first to tell the story of how he killed a bad guy with his bare hands in the line of duty.
I wonder if Mom and I fall into the category of bad guy when we disobey or displease him. I’m sure we do. That’s why we deserve the punishment. Maybe one day, his hands will end up around our throats, and that’s how he’ll spin that story too.
I hear water running in a bathroom down the hall, and I relax the slightest bit.
“Step into these,” Lennox says, lowering himself to his knees again after helping ease my arms into the shirt. He holds open the pajama pants, and I brace a hand on his shoulder and step into them. I’m relieved to be covered before Maddox comes in. Besides the guilt about what I was doing with his brother, I’m gripped with a terror that he’ll see me before I’m dressed. Which is ridiculous, since he saw me stark naked at school just hours ago.
Two taps come at the door, and it opens before I can tell him we’re busy. Maddox steps inside, his gaze falling on his brother, who’s still at my feet. A scowl forms on his face, and he glares at me like I’m some temptress who’s intentionally luring in his brother, instead of the opposite.
Lennox settles the pants around my hips and gives the drawstring a little tug, securing them and grinning up at me. Slowly, he stands and turns to face his brother. He tips his chin at him.
“Quíubo, parcero?” he asks.
“What the hell are you doing?” Maddox demands. “She’s injured, for fuck’s sake.”
Lennox grins. “I know. I was just making her feel a little better. Isn’t that right, Sunshine?” He winks at me before pulling out another pair of pajama pants. He strips out of his jeans, not even turning his back to me. I can see a long, thick ridge in his boxer briefs, and I swallow and look away, as uncomfortable seeing him undress as I am with the crackling tension between the two of them.
Maddox glowers at me like he wants to kill me while Lennox pulls on his pajamas, unclips his wallet chain, and tosses his wet clothes into a hamper in the corner.
“I can go home,” I say, crossing my arms over my chest to warm myself and stop the jittery shakes in my body. “In fact, I probably should. I don’t want to make things worse for any of us.”
“Shut up,” Maddox growls at me, his eyes still on his twin.
His pissy attitude arouses my own anger. “Look, I’m not here to cause problems between the two of you, but I’m also not here to be your whipping girl. If you have beef, that’s something you’ll have to sort out on your own without using me as an excuse.”