It Took a Rumor (21 page)

As she massaged a knot out of his left shoulder, a nurse came out, her smile bright. Jake had come to interpret the different smiles of the nurses. There was the tight, strained, “nothing’s changed” smile. The weary, “I don’t have time to talk to you” smile. But this one he had yet to see, and it gave him hope. He stood, taking Ivy’s hand.

“He’s awake,” the nurse said.

Jake brushed away a tendril of guilt that said he should have been there and let himself experience the relief of knowing things were finally looking up.

“We’re transferring him to a recovery room. Should be about an hour. But if you want to go ahead and call the rest of your family in, you can.”

Jake let out a laugh and hugged the nurse. “Thank you.”

“You’re welcome,” the nurse said, giggling and blushing as she walked away.

Jake turned to Ivy. She’d shed a couple of tears, but she was smiling. “Thank God,” they said at the same time. And then laughed. And then hugged.

He kissed her a little longer than was appropriate, and then she left so that he could call in his family.

When the nurse returned, he followed her back to the recovery room. Dallas appeared to be asleep again, but when Jake touched his hand, his eyes fluttered open.

Dallas’s eyes remained blank for a while, but when they focused on Jake, they widened. “I’m sorry,” he croaked. “I’m sorry! I’m sorry!”
 

“Shh,” Jake said. He had to push Dallas’s shoulders back down onto the bed. He kept repeating ‘I’m sorry’ over and over until he was sobbing. “Jesus, Dallas, calm down. I’m so glad you’re awake. Whatever you’re sorry for, it’s forgiven. Just relax. Just calm down.”

Dallas’s body went limp on the bed. Tears squeezed out his eyes and streaked down the sides of his face. “I’m so sorry,” he whispered.

“You got nothing to be sorry for. Shit, I’m the one who should be apologizing. I almost killed you. God, I don’t know how I could have lived with myself if…” He quit talking as a nurse walked in.
 

Jake stepped back as the nurse checked Dallas’s vitals. By the time she was finished, Dallas was asleep again, but the spell was broken.
 

A few minutes later he stood in the doorway and watched his family file past him into Dallas’s room. Cody passed by, and Jake suddenly realized how much he wanted to talk to his brother. Cody had always been the easiest to talk to. The least judgmental. He might even be able to talk to him about Ivy, though Jake himself couldn’t understand this strange compulsion to confess his feelings to everyone.
 

As Boone filed past, Jake frowned, immediately forgetting about everything else. He grabbed his youngest brother by the arm and held him back in the corridor. As soon as everyone was in Dallas’s room and out of earshot, Jake leaned down and looked into Boone’s eyes.

Usually so bright and mischievous, the brown had dulled. There was no spark. No light. His normally healthy complexion was sallow. “Why are you losing weight?” Jake asked, looking Boone up and down. The boy’s clothes were clearly getting loose.

“I don’t know.” Boone rubbed his face up and down, a gesture from the old man who did the same thing whenever he was either tired or frustrated. “Been worried about Dallas, I guess. Haven’t had much of an appetite.”

Jake shook his head. “Let’s get you looked at. The doctor’s supposed to come in, maybe he can order some blood tests while he’s here. See if you’re sick like Dallas.”

Boone shook his head and let out a breathy laugh. “It’s not hemlock poisoning.”

“There’s no telling how much of the hay was affected—”

“Jake, you know damn well I don’t do any work around there. I ride around on my horse and watch you all feed the cattle.”

Jake shrugged. He couldn’t argue.

“No, it’s just stress. It’s just…” The look in Boone’s eyes turned suddenly pleading. Like he was desperate to tell Jake what was bothering him. Like he hoped Jake could just read his thoughts.

But Jake couldn’t. “You can talk to me, Boone. What’s bothering you?” Jake put his arm around Boone’s shoulders and guided him down the corridor a ways.
 

Boone stopped and faced him. “I have this situation and…and I’m afraid.”

Jake fully understood what it took for a man—particularly a Deathridge man—to admit that he was afraid. His heart sank for his brother. “Let me help. What’s going on?”

Boone shook his head. His mouth turned downward as though he had a bad taste in his mouth. “I can’t. I really can’t tell you. It’s just…”

“It’s killing you, Boone. Don’t let it eat at you like this. Whatever it is, I’m here. Talk to me and I’ll help you figure it out.”

Boone shook his head again. “It’s unforgivable. You wouldn’t help me if you knew what I’ve done.”

Naturally Jake started positing scenarios in his mind. What had his brother done that was so unforgivable? The only thing that came to mind, the only thing that Jake probably couldn’t forgive, was if Boone had somehow hurt Ivy, or took Ivy from him. But since asking that question would mean confessing that he had feelings for her, Jake bit his tongue.

“Boys! Boys, your brother is awake!” Clara shouted from the doorway.

Jake spared one last look for Boone before leading the way to Dallas’s room. The nurse was helping him to a sip of water. Gideon stood behind Clara as they stared down at their son, weakened by days of unconsciousness.

Gideon caught Jake’s eye and came toward him, taking him by the elbow and out into the corridor as Jake had just done to Boone. Only not for the same reason. “You’re damn lucky he’s okay, you know that?”

Jake just gritted his teeth.
 

“Speak up, boy. I didn’t hear you.” Gideon cupped his hand behind his ear, yet another gesture that reminded Jake of his childhood.

“I know,” Jake said through his teeth.

“I expect you ought to go forward in church tomorrow and repent of this. God spared your brother, but it would have been just punishment for you if he hadn’t.”

Jake had the very admirable quality of being one of those people who think before they react, otherwise he’d have flown off the handle at this point. As it was, he had too many emotions burning through him. Relief, fear, confusion, anger, guilt…hatred. In that moment, with Gideon suggesting that Dallas’s death would have been “just punishment” for Jake’s negligence, he most definitely felt hatred. But he couldn’t speak. If he did, everything would come out, and even he didn’t fully know what that entailed.

Gideon must have seen something in Jake’s eyes, during their little stare-down, because, for the second time in a week, he backed down. It was subtle, but Jake noticed the old man’s frown turn from menacing to grumpy, his shoulders lower, and his gaze break away. Gideon turned back to the room, grumbling under his breath.

Jake watched him go and didn’t feel pride. He didn’t feel victory. He felt more guilt. Wasn’t it unnatural for a man to cower to his son? Shouldn’t a good son submit to his father until his father was no longer capable of ruling? Of course in his mind he knew these concepts were outdated if they were ever valid. But his heart ached at what was happening.

Jake left the hospital. He would visit Dallas another time. For now, he had some bedtime plans with a certain cowgirl.

Ivy assumed she wouldn’t be seeing her lover anytime soon, so she got into her pajamas and settled in to read. The pebbles hitting her window at eleven that night caught her by surprise. But then she smiled and went to her window.

Down in the shadows cast by the light from her bedroom lamp stood Jake, like a teenage boy, waiting for her to let him up. “How come you can’t knock on the door like a gentleman?” she asked.

“Shh. I didn’t want to wake up your old man,” he whisper-yelled.

“He doesn’t care. I’ll wake him up myself, let him know I’ve got company.”

“I can’t do what I gotta do if I know your Pa knows I’m doing what I’m doing.”

“Huh?”

“Never mind. Just let me in.”

“Aren’t you gonna climb up the drainpipe?”

“You serious?”

“Sure. As long as we’re playing Romeo and Juliet, you may as well climb up here and take my virtue without my father’s permission. Go the whole nine yards with this little charade.”

He tipped his stetson up, put his hands on his hips, and leaned back on one foot. “You making fun of me?”

“Always.”

“Listen, I can turn around and walk back home if you want. I mean, if you don’t want what I’m offering.”

“We both know that’s a bluff. And a bad one. Go ahead and walk away, cowboy.”

He shrugged, turned on his heel, and started walking. Ivy laughed until he vanished into the shadows. Then she stopped laughing and held her breath.
Come back,
she thought.
Come back, come back.
If it was a bluff, he won. “Jake? Jake! Get back here!” She heard his laugh from the darkness.
 

She ran downstairs and unlocked the front door, letting him inside. He grinned all the way upstairs and into her room. He stopped inside her door and looked around. “This is a lot more girly than I expected,” he said, tossing his hat on her dresser and running a hand through his hair.
 

“I like pink. I’m not ashamed.” She watched as he roamed the room, running a fingertip along the sheer pink window dressing, picking up a music box and putting it back down. He wore a hint of a smirk and seemed completely absorbed in his exploration. Ivy sat on the edge of her bed and waited. His back was to her at her dresser. He was fiddling with her top dresser drawer. He looked up, catching her eye in the mirror, and held up a finger—a pink, lacy bra dangling from it.
 

“I like pink, too,” he said with a grin.

Ivy bounded off the bed. “I’ve got something way better. Go sit on the bed, I’ll be right back.” She dug around in her drawer for a cute garter set she’d had for ages and hardly ever wore. She grabbed a matching bra and some black stockings and headed for her bathroom. She left the door cracked just a bit so she could talk to him. “You should strip, cowboy. You’re not going to wanna waste any time when you see me in this.” Her voice echoed in the bathroom. The tile was cold beneath her bare feet.

“I like your confidence, Ivy, but I plan on taking it slow tonight.” She heard the sounds of a boot hitting the floor.

“I don’t want it slow. I want it fast and hard and thrilling.”

“Well, you shouldn’t have insulted me the other day at the diner, then. I got something to prove to you and I’m bound and determined to do it.”

In spite of herself, she felt her cheeks flush. She stripped out of her pajamas, strapped herself into the underwear, reapplied deodorant, tossed her hair around a bit, and checked herself out in the mirror. Pleased with the effect, she opened the door and strutted into her room.
 

Jake paused in the middle of removing his second boot, his eyes and smile widening. Ivy fought like mad to keep her cool, but he’d already removed his shirt and there was nothing in the world sexier than Jake without a shirt.
 

“Wow,” they murmured simultaneously.

Jake dropped his boot and padded over to her. He trailed a fingertip down her sternum between her breasts, sending goosebumps all over her skin, making her nipples tighten. “I’ll never see another sight. For as long as I live, wherever I look, this is what I’ll see. Burned into my retinas for all eternity.”

She grinned. “I’m glad you like the look.”

“I like you.”

“I’m glad you like me.” She pressed her hands to his chest and let them slide down his well-defined abs to the waistline of his jeans. “How’s Dallas?”

“He’s fine. Please don’t say his name right now.”

She started to unfasten his jeans, but he grabbed her hands and brought them around his neck, leaning down to kiss her. It was impossible not to melt against him, and so she did. His hands roamed her back and waist and ass, stopping to squeeze. She moaned against his mouth. He moved up her back, unclasping her bra and letting it fall to the floor.

He backed away far too soon, turning to pull down the covers on her bed. “Get in,” he said.

More than willing to obey, she crawled in, making a production of it, on her hands and knees with her ass swaying.
 

Jake’s hand pressed into the center of her back, pushing her down on the bed, her ass remaining in the air. He grabbed her hips and pressed himself against her. She felt his erection through his jeans. “Stay like this,” he commanded in a husky voice.
 

She stretched her arms across the bed, rested her cheek on the cool sheets, and smiled. A moment later she heard the tell-tale signs of a condom being ripped open and his pants hitting the floor. So much for taking his time. His hands came to her hips and before she could take a breath, he was inside her. The shock of it sent her passion into the stratosphere. He thrust into her, slow and deep, and slid his hand around front to massage her. She was coming, crying into her sheets, before they’d even reached the two minute mark.
 

While she was still trembling, he pulled out and rolled her to her back. He straddled her hips and grabbed her breasts, massaging them and moaning. His brown eyes were dark with lust and the grin he gave her as he met her gaze held a glint of wickedness she’d never seen in him before. As she watched his expression, she realized that she’d gotten too cocky too soon. Jake had just been nice, up until now. He’d just given her the power to direct their sexual encounters because he was a gentleman and didn’t want to intimidate her. But Jake was a cowboy. And as she regarded the knowledge and greed and intense desire in his gaze, she finally fully realized that she was in for one hell of a ride.

The bed rocked, it’s springs squeaking, and more than once Jake had to cover her mouth with his hand to stifle her cries. Well into the night, her body and sheets were drenched in sweat and her muscles trembled, weak from the power of his lovemaking. He’d penetrated her so many times she’d lost count. She was sore from it so much that when he finally lay on top of her and began to press into her, she cried, “I can’t! I can’t anymore, Jake.”