Pivotal Moments (In Time #1) (15 page)

I nodded, and he leaned forward and grabbed the keys, smoothly starting up the SUV. Grinning at me, he pulled out onto the road and drove us home, my hand enveloped in his.

“It’ll be okay,” Teagan reassured me.

I nodded. And this time, I believed him.

***

None of the punches I’d pictured had been thrown yet, but otherwise, the situation was about as I’d expected. It wasn’t that Connor hadn’t tried to hit Teagan—but his little sister attached to his back like a spider monkey kind of hampered his range of motion. “I’m going to fuck you up!” Connor snarled.

Teagan just held up his hands, palms out, and tried to reason with him. “Dude. She’s fine. Look.” He motioned for me to move away from Connor, but I shook my head. There was no way I was going to let go. I had just gotten my first boyfriend; I wasn’t about to attend a funeral this early in the game.

“She’s not fine,” Connor shouted. “What the hell were you thinking?”

“Whoa, hold up. She’s in one piece, no cops, virtue’s intact. How is she not fine?”

Connor glowered at my boyfriend. “Kevin called me.”

“Aw, shit,” I muttered.

They both whipped their heads toward me. Then, “Watch your mouth,” Connor snapped.

I bristled. “Excuse me?” I thumped his back with a fist. “I’m not a child, asshat!”

“Ignoring your phone for three hours isn’t exactly mature,” he stated.

I raised an eyebrow. “Really? Because you do it all the time with Mom.”

He turned away from Teagan to face me. “That’s different.”

“Uh huh. How?”

“It just is, okay?” He ran a hand through his hair in agitation. “And anyway, we’re not talking about me. We’re talking about you. You’re seventeen, for fuck’s sake!”

“Yeah. That makes a difference how exactly? You aren’t my father, Con,” I shot back.

Connor stepped back like I’d slapped him, and Teagan winced. Too late, I realized what I had done. Even now, Connor was taking on the dual role of concerned older brother and pissed-off father. I scrambled to fix my mistake.

“Connor—I’m sorry. I didn’t mean it like that.”

He shook his head. “No, that’s exactly how you meant it.” He turned to face Teagan again. “And you—what the hell, man? Renee? Seriously?”

Teagan had one hand on his hip and the other running through his hair rapid-fire. “Kevin brought her. I had no idea she was going to be there.”

“You told me you’d handled your shit!”

“I did. And I did it a hell of a lot better than you have yours,” Teagan retorted.

Connor shot a quick look my way, and I frowned questioningly. “I did handle it,” he muttered, looking away.

It was Teagan’s turn to snort. “Yeah, because running off to Scott’s party is handling it.”

I was lost. “I’d like to know what you two are talking about.”

“Nothing you need to worry about,” Connor said quickly.

I gritted my teeth against what I really wanted to say, which was he was a condescending douche nozzle who could kiss my ass.

He scowled. “What I’d like to talk about is how you took off to a place three hours away with a guy you barely know.”

I narrowed my eyes. “I didn’t just take off, jerk face. I cleared it with Mom first.” He opened his mouth, but I wasn’t finished yet. “If he’s such a threat, why’d you bring him home for two weeks? You must’ve known we’d be alone sometime. I mean, just last night you went to a party an hour away from here.” Silence met my question, and I nodded. “That’s what I thought.”

“Ash, I can’t let you go out with him.”

“Why not?” I clenched my hands. “He’s your best friend, Con. If you can’t trust him—”

“That’s not the problem.”

“Then what is it?” I demanded, frustrated.

Connor paced the living room, his face bright red and his breathing hard and fast. He raised a hand to run through his hair and ended up clutching it so tightly I thought it would rip out. “God damn it, Aislinn! You don’t know anything about him!” He gestured toward Teagan.

I paused, willing my voice to sound calm. “I know he defended his sister, just like you would for me. I know he likes me. I know he’s taken care of me so far.”

“Is that what you really think? Because you’re wrong.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?” I snapped.

“Teeg doesn’t do relationships, sis. He’ll bang you and leave you.”

I sucked a breath in quickly, in shock at how he’d just spoken to me.

“You watch your mouth, dude.” Teagan was about one remark away from losing his shit. His eyes were dark and stormy, jaw clenched tight, and his hands fisted as he glared at Connor.

“I’m going to tell her the truth.”

Teagan took a step forward.

I jumped between them, placing a hand on each of their chests to keep them apart. “Connor, please,” I pleaded.

He didn’t even look at me. Gaze locked on Teagan, he growled, “Does she know? How you have a different girl every week? How you fucked your way through most of school?” Connor was panting now, eyes glittering in the low light.

“Connor,” I cried. “Please! He told me, okay?”

Connor glared at me. “Shut the hell up. You’re more stupid and naïve than I realized if you think this asshole will change for you.”

I froze, pain washing over me. I didn’t know what to think or say in response. That my brother could go so far with his words and actions…I didn’t even know him anymore.

“Don’t ever talk to her like that again.” Teagan’s voice was low and deadly.

“You have no say in how I speak to her,” Connor snarled back.

Teagan’s shoulders bunched, his intentions written clearly on his face. Someone was going to get hurt.

“Both of you just stop!” I cried.

“Aislinn…go upstairs, okay?” Teagan didn’t take his eyes off of Connor.

It would’ve been a good idea, being as I was the only thing between Connor and Teagan. But I knew exactly what would happen if I left. “But—”

“Please, sweetheart? Let me handle this.”

I shook my head, fighting to get myself under control.

“Go on, Ash,” Connor said. I frowned.

Teagan sighed and leaned close. “Please, baby,” he whispered. “I can take care of this. Trust me, all right?”

A test of faith. Taking a breath and holding it for a second, I nodded. He rewarded me with a pleased smile. “Please don’t kill each other,” I whispered.

His smile deepened, and he nodded. Not looking at Connor, I turned and left the living room, grabbing my purse as I passed it and trotting up the stairs.

It was time to call Penny. And, of course, Penny wouldn’t rest until she knew the whole story, which meant admitting my less-than-formidable performance with Renee. I winced. She’d have a thing or two to say about that.

Upon entering my room, I was greeted by the sight of Zver stretched out as he slept on my rug. Shaking my head, I dug my cell phone out of my purse and dialed Penny’s number. It wouldn’t be an easy conversation, but I wasn’t expecting her grouchy greeting.

“Where the hell have you been?”

I winced at her volume and pulled away from the phone to give it a wide-eyed glare. Returning the receiver to my ear, I said, “Jeez, woman, calm down. I was only gone for a day.”

“Don’t tell me to calm down. Where have you been?”

“What the hell, Pen? You act like I was gone for a year or something.” 

A loud exhale traveled over the speaker. “You know, normally I wouldn’t care about you going off somewhere with Teagan. In fact, I’d usually throw a freaking party for you, taking off to Gainesville with your boy toy. But when Connor is calling me up during my lunch break to yell at me and say I’m a bad influence on you, I start having a problem with it.”

I opened my mouth to dispute the boy toy part when something she said caught my attention. “Wait a second—you said he called you? At work?”

“Yes. And he was a total dick, I might add,” she muttered.

“That doesn’t make any sense. Why would he call you? How are you a bad influence? You haven’t even been around lately. And for that matter, how in hell did he get your phone number?” I exclaimed.

“It doesn’t matter. What does matter is I’m your best friend, and you didn’t even tell me you were going somewhere with Teeg. Why wouldn’t you share that with me?” Her voice was full of hurt, and her breathing had picked up. She was starting to work herself up into a royal snit.

“Penny, I—”

“I don’t want to hear it.”

A lump formed in my throat. She and I had gotten into some ugly disagreements before—you couldn’t be friends as long as we have and not argue. We’d get on each other’s nerves, annoy each other, and have a spat here and there. But this was different. Penny was being harder, more abrupt.

“What’s wrong with you?” I swallowed hard to keep my voice from cracking. Constantly on the edge of a breakdown was getting old, quickly.

Silence met my question.

“Hello?”

“I’m going to ask you something, and I need you to tell me the truth,” she said.

“Okay…?”

There was a brief pause. “Who’s Renee?”

My heart thudded to a stop and my breath caught. How did she know about her? I cleared my throat. “She’s sort of an ex of Teagan’s. Why?”

“It’s a funny story actually,” she said in a tone that was anything but amused. “It seems someone by the name of Kevin called your brother—told him all about how you two met.”

I shook my head, scrambling to get my thoughts together. “Look,” I said. “I don’t know what was said, but I do know that Kevin is a pot stirrer.” I frowned. “How do you know about any of this anyway?”

“Con called me, all pissed off. He was about to go and hunt you down and beat Teeg’s ass. I calmed him down enough to realize you would have to come back eventually.” She paused. “Of course, you’re lucky I even answered the phone, after everything he said to me at lunchtime.”

I sank down on the bed. “Did he tell you what Kevin said?”

“Sure did.”

“Okay. And?” I prodded.

“Oh, he told me all about how that bitch staked her claim all over Teeg. I was informed that she insulted the hell out of you, and you just sat there and forced your boyfriend to defend your relationship.” Her tone was sharp, and I winced.

“It wasn’t like that, Pen.”

She snorted. “It was exactly like that, Ash. You’re forgetting, I know you. I know you better than you know yourself.”

I stared at the floor, a tear slipping out.

“I don’t know what’s going on with you, but you never used to let people walk all over you.”

“I don’t,” I exclaimed.

“Yes, you do.” She sighed. “What happened at the lake is a prime example. Tracey set out to humiliate you, run you off. She accomplished just that.”

I sucked in a breath, another tear falling. “That was different.”

“I bet Renee was different too.”

I narrowed my eyes through the moisture. “Yeah, it was.”

“All right, then. How was it different?”

I blinked. What had gotten into her? Sure, she was confrontational; it’s what made her Penny. But she had never really turned it against me.

“Well?”

“It’s just different, okay?” I was starting to sound like Connor. But I wasn’t about to go down this road with her. Not when she was in this mood.

“How?”

“Penny, just drop it.” 

“No. Tell me what’s so different this time that you let a skanky bitch walk away like she’s better than you.”

“I don’t appreciate this. Just…let’s forget it.”

“No.”

My hand curled into a fist. “I mean it, Penny.”

“I want you to explain this to me.”

“Jesus! She slept with him, okay?” I snapped.

There was a moment of silence. Then, quietly, she said, “So?”

My jaw dropped. “What do you mean, so?” I all but shouted. “She rubbed it in my face how they’d been together. Repeatedly, as in, more than once.”

“God, Ash! Are you really that naïve? She was jealous. She was trying to intimidate you, break you down. What’s worse is, you let her.”

“Look, you didn’t see this girl, Penny. She was gorgeous—tall, skinny, built—and then you look at me,” I spat, pissed that in less than thirty minutes I’d been called naïve twice.

“You know what? This crap has gone on long enough, and I’m done with it. You’re smart, sweet, and so beautiful—everyone sees it. It’s why Tracey goes after you, and why this Renee chick did what she did.” She stopped and drew in a deep breath. “I can’t make you see something you don’t want to see. But I can tell you this much—if you don’t stop, you’re going to lose that guy. He’s going to start feeling like you don’t have faith in him, or the two of you together, and he’ll bail. Why would he want to be with someone who doesn’t want to fight for it?”

I opened and closed my mouth, trying to come up with some sort of reply that wouldn’t give away the tears streaming down my cheeks.