Intractable Souls : Book 1 of the Bound for Ireland Series (43 page)

“I worked up a bit of an appetite last
night.” She grins. “But don’t worry… I won’t go hungry, I have
enough Chinese food in my fridge to last a week.”

Ethan snuggles up behind her while she
serves herself some potato salad. “Good, keep your strength up
because you’re going to need it.”

“Oh? And why is that?” She drops a spoonful
of potato salad on his plate, trying not to let him see how his
closeness affects her.

“Because you’re all I can think about these
days. I plan to take advantage of our agreement, as often as I
can.”

She raises her eyebrows. “Good to know.
Thanks for the warning.” She tries to convey indifference, but her
insides are a whirling storm of emotions making goose bumps prickle
along her skin.

Pressing himself into her back, he rubs his
hips against her bottom while he leans in and places his mouth
against the side of her neck. “That’s not a warning, princess.
That’s a promise. We’ll talk later about revisions I’m going to
make to our current agreement.”

“Oh, really?” She mocks him, trying to make
him think he has no chance of making any changes but she’s
extremely curious about what that might entail.

“Yes, really. If you do remember, my
acceptance of your agreement was dependant on being able to
re-negotiate terms at any time.”

“So it was.” She leans back against him,
breathing heavily as she rests against his hard chest. “What did
you have in mind?”

Teasing her, he bites at her earlobe. “Eat
first, we’ll talk later.”

Later in the evening, Noah mingles in the
crowd, never taking his eyes off her, but keeping his distance.
Ethan senses him lurking and keeps her close, intending to send a
clear message that she belongs to him. Now that the sun has
completely set, Rachel runs around in the dark handing out glow
sticks. Olivia bends hers and tries to snap it but it limply
refuses. She pouts and gives it a little more muscle. This time she
hears a crack and as the chemicals inside mix it starts to glow a
bright fluorescent blue. Feeling a little buzz from the coolers,
she struggles while trying to thread the string through the loop,
so that she can wear it around her neck. She had been fiddling with
it for a few minutes when Ethan sees her out of the corner of his
eye and turns to capture her gaze. Looking at him helplessly, she
holds out her hands for him to see that she snapped the glow stick
so hard that it cracked and the liquid is leaking all over her
hands, making her glow as well.

Seeing Noah standing a few feet away
watching her, Ethan grins, and decides to send a very ballsy
message. Taking the glow stick out of her hands, he squeezes it to
find the leak and in a very possessive gesture, uses it as a pen to
write his claim “E T H A N S” boldly across her cleavage in neon
blue. It’s a very effective way to engage Noah in a full-out
pissing match. Olivia laughs, unaware of what’s brewing between the
two men.

Noah downs his drink and tosses the empty
into a near by recycle bin on his way to the garage, capturing her
attention and locking her into a jealous sneer as he passes. What’s
that look about? She wonders. He pretends to occupy himself a few
feet away and then turning, he forcefully pushes between her and
Ethan on the way back to his cooler, bouncing them apart and almost
knocking Olivia over. Ethan immediately reacts and reaches out to
grab him but Olivia stands in front of him, stopping him. “Ethan,
let it go. He’s drunk.” Turning around, she leans her back against
him, digging her heals in the dirt to get better leverage. She
keeps her eyes on Noah who wanders to the cooler, lifts the lid,
and then looks over at her.

“Would you like a drink while I’m here?”

Ethan tries to push forward and Olivia digs
her heels in harder, giving everything she has to hold him back.
“Sure, whatever’s cold.” She looks up and gives Ethan a look that
warns she’ll tolerate no interference from him, before she speaks
again. “Actually Noah, why don’t we go into the house and have a
talk in private.”

Ethan holds her hips tightly, digging his
fingers into the soft flesh in protest. “Not a fucking chance
that’s happening.” He growls.

“Ethan, it’s ok.” She assures him.

“Liv, I don’t trust him. I don’t want you
anywhere near him tonight, it’s not safe.”

“Funny, I remember him telling me the same
thing about you once.” She reminds him in a flippant tone. Ethan’s
body is riddled with tension as he spins her around to face him,
his expression warning that she had best be careful what she says
next.

Her hands grip his flexing biceps and
squeeze them. “Ethan, let me handle it. Please.” He looks into her
eyes and knows that there is no point in arguing with her. She’ll
only fight him on it and do what she wants anyways, so he
surrenders. “Fine, but I don’t like it.”Reluctantly he lets her
leave. By this time, Scott and several teammates have sauntered
over casually and hover just in case there’s trouble.

Noah pulls a bottle out of the cooler and
wipes the condensation away before he twists the cap off and hands
it to her. As they walk towards the house together Noah turns,
giving Ethan a half smile, as he reaches down and holds her
hand.

Ethan’s hands form tight fists at his side
and he takes a step forward, prompting Scott to step in. “Stay out
of it. She can handle herself.“

When they reach the house, Noah holds the
door open for her and then follows her in. Raising her drink to her
mouth, she takes a large swig and bangs the bottle down on the
table and turns to him. “ARE YOU OUT OF YOUR MIND?” She yells at
him.

Caught off guard, he stands there staring at
her in a drunken stupor. Olivia can see Ethan watching them through
the window with arms crossed and a very rigid stance. Noah staggers
towards her and she side steps him, making him hit the counter with
a thud. She grabs him by the shirt and drags him into the living
room at the back of the house and out of Ethan’s sight.

“Noah? What the hell is wrong with you? This
bull shit between you and Ethan needs to stop.”

“I want you.” His eyes are heavy from the
booze and his speech is slow and slurred.

Olivia is shocked. “You want me?” She puts
her hand to her forehead. “Now you want me? Are you kidding me
right now?”

He licks his lips and lifts his hands to her
face. “No, I want you. I want to make love to you just like we
talked about.”

“Jesus. Well you can’t have me, Noah!” Her
annoyance grows into anger. “We decided that it wasn’t worth
ruining our friendship over. Remember?”

“No, it’s ok. I know you love me.” He
reaches for her and she slaps at his hand. “Don’t touch me, I’m not
kidding.”

“You don’t mean that.” He tries again and
she blocks him.

“Oh yes I do mean it! You have some
incredible nerve! For years I hung around trying to figure out what
I had to do to get you to notice me. I would have done anything for
your love and attention. I finally had to come right out and ask
you for more. I BEGGED you actually. Every time I tried to make
things happen between us you blew me off for some blonde slut with
fake tits.”

He looks at her with a pathetic, apologetic
look on his face. “I didn’t know you knew about her.” He tries to
move closer to her but she steps back. “Olivia, she doesn’t mean
anything to me.”

“Noah, just stop it. I know what’s going on.
Let’s be completely honest here… you don’t want me… you just don’t
want Ethan to have me.”

“I think we should fuck and then deal with
whatever happens.” He moves towards her, his body heavy under the
influence of alcohol. This time she doesn’t get out of the way fast
enough and he pins her against the wall. Wishing that Ethan would
give in to his control freak nature and come looking for her, she
struggles beneath him, unable to breathe and terrified. She would
scream if she could manage to get enough air into her lungs.
Instead, she finds adrenaline induced strength.

“NO!” She pushes at him forcing him off and
slaps him hard on the face.

He holds his cheek and glares at her.
“You’re a cock teaser, you know that?”

“You’re drunk, so I’m going to pretend you
didn’t just say that.”

Off balance, Noah takes a step back and
turns. Furious, he storms out of the room. Olivia follows,
practically running to try to catch up with him.

“Noah… NOAH!” Angrily she pursues him, her
heart racing and her hands trembling.

Catching up to him, she grabs his arm as he
opens the door. Shrugging his shoulder, he pulls away from her with
force. Lurching forward, she trips over the edge of the mat, loses
her balance, and then hits the edge of the door. Noah doesn’t look
back as the door shuts with a loud slam. The adrenaline consumes
her for the next few moments, then her hands stop shaking, her
breathing returns to normal and she begins to feel the pain from
her swelling, throbbing lip. Heading down the hallway to the
bathroom to check it out, she cringes when she gets a look at it in
the bathroom mirror.

Ethan watches Noah stumble out of the door
and when Olivia doesn’t reappear after a few minutes he heads in to
the house to look for her. Locking herself in the bathroom, she
tries to figure out how she’s going to explain this to Ethan
without him losing his mind. Maybe the swelling will go down and he
won’t notice. Suddenly there is knocking at the door. “Olivia?”

Shit! it’s Ethan. What’s she going to do?
He’ll completely lose his mind. She’s certain of it. Think quickly.
“I’m ok. I’ll be out in a few minutes.” She tries to buy herself
some time. Her hands still trembling from the adrenaline in her
system, she takes her phone out of her pocket to text Scott.

From Olivia: get Noah out of here NOW!

Ethan bangs heavily on the door again.
“Olivia! What’s going on?”

“Nothing, I’m just feeling a little sick.
Too many vodka coolers. I think I might head home.“ Her voice
sounds strange. Nervous actually, and he picks up on it
immediately. “You should go back out and enjoy the rest of the
party, Ethan. I’ll call you tomorrow.”

Ethan knows that she’s hiding something and
becomes agitated. “You’ve only had a few drinks, Olivia.” Panic
hits her as she lifts her hand to her lip. Looking in the mirror at
the swelling that seems to be getting worse, she tries to pull her
hair forward in a failed attempt to cover it. She can hear the
thrumming of Ethan’s fingers on the door as he grows more
impatient. “Open the door Liv, or I swear I’ll kick it down.” Her
lack of immediate response pushes him over the edge. “NOW!” He
yells as he turns the knob and tries to force it open.

Olivia jumps. “OK! Geez, hang on.”
Strategically turning off the light, she holds her head down hoping
he won’t see the swelling as she unlocks the door and turns the
knob. The minute it unlatches he impatiently pushes it open, making
her jump back out of the way.

“Why is the light off?” He feels his way up
the wall searching for the switch.

“I told you, I’m not feeling well.”

Finding the switch, he flips on the overhead
light. “Do I look stupid?” He asks in an indignant manner.

Squinting as her eyes adjust to the light,
she keeps her head down and fidgets with her hair, still trying to
pull it forward. “Of course not, Ethan.” Way to go girl. Insulting
him was probably not a good idea.

Reaching for her chin, he uses his finger to
lift it, and then brushes her hair back so he can see her face.
When he sees what she’s hiding, his body becomes more rigid than
hardened steel and he growls through clenched teeth. “I’m gonna
kill him.” Enraged, his mouth presses into a hard line, and his
green eyes get dark with fury. Turning, he reaches for the door
handle.

“Ethan, NO! He didn’t do this. It was an
accident.” Grabbing his arm, she holds him tightly, using the
weight of her body to push the door closed so he can’t leave.

“Really? If he didn’t do it then why were
you hiding it from me?” His words are sharp and she knows that his
temper is on the verge of an angry takeover.

“Because I knew you would overreact, and
guess what? YOU ARE OVERREACTING!” Leaning against the door, she
effectively blocks his exit.

“Get out of the way!” He commands. His
authoritative glare a warning.

“No, I’m not moving.” Her eyes lock with his
in a dangerous challenge of power. She needs to buy Scott some time
to get Noah out of there. “You can’t leave yet.”

Folding his arms in front of him, he raises
his eyebrows. “Oh really, and why would that be?” He widens his
stance, his body noticeably twitching with rage.

In an act of desperation, she thinks of the
only thing that might deter him. Leaving the door, she seductively
moves towards him, reaching his chest and rubbing her hands across
its muscular width. “Because I need you… here… right now.” Slowly,
she undoes his shirt buttons, starting at the neck. Ethan’s jaw is
still tense and his nostrils flare in anger until she presses her
mouth to his neck and kisses, ignoring the agony of the swollen
tender skin on her lip. Exhaling harshly, his arms unfold and take
their place around her waist; the stiffness in his body retreating.
With her warm, gentle kisses, and the closeness of her body, his
shoulders relax and soften as she undoes the last button and pulls
the sides of the shirt open exposing his chest.

“I need to be fucked… right now. It can’t
wait.” Her hands massage gently across him, making nerve endings
twitch and his muscles tighten as she traces each defined ridge
with her finger.

Looking down at her, his expression is
somewhere between shocked and amused. “Are you using sex to try and
distract me from kicking his ass?” That’s my girl!

Trying to hide the half smile on her face,
she lowers her lips to his nipple and covers it with her mouth,
nipping the hardened pebble with her teeth and making him take in a
quick breath. “Is it working?” She reaches down and steers her hand
over the rapidly growing bulge in his pants.