Tethered (15 page)

“Okay,” I said, managing a smile.

I met him halfway, my lips burning to connect with his. We kissed slowly and softly until parts of my body began to tingle. I pulled away from him then. He smiled knowingly at me, but didn’t push. He took my hand into his and we walked back the way we had come. Just before we reached the clearing, he gave me one last quick kiss and then we stepped onto the lawn with several feet of our invisible tether between us.

Chapter Twelve

Lucy’s wedding and reception took place outside on the expansive property that the big house sat on, right in front of the lake. The property had been transformed with small lanterns and soft white lights strung overhead for the reception. There were even candles floating in the lake. A dance floor had been erected and there was an endless amount of food. Lucy and her husband Eric must have invited no less than three hundred and fifty people. It was very easy for a teenage girl to slip away with her secret boyfriend amidst the celebration.

Emmet led me into his bedroom, which was risky, but we had been trying to find some alone time for days. He closed and locked the door and led me to his bed where he put a firm and possessive hand on the back of my neck.

“I hate the way that guy is following you around,” he said of the son of one of the wedding guests.

Taylor was the son of one of the people that worked for the Grayne’s, and he was a couple of years older than me. I met him a few summers back, but this was the first summer that he realized I was an actual girl with boobs (finally) and all of the other primary parts. He really was following me around, but he was interesting enough for me not to be annoyed.

“Don’t worry about him,” I said to Emmet. “I’m all yours.”

He kissed me, hard and greedily. I grabbed onto his shirt and allowed him to dominate me with his powerful kiss. He continued to hold me by my neck, but his other hand wandered up and down my bare leg. His fingers brushed under the hem of my skirt with each pass, reaching further up my leg each time until his hand was completely under my dress on my upper thigh. His hand was hot on my skin and sent tingly waves across my flesh. He took his hand off of my neck and gently pushed me back on the bed, never taking his mouth off of mine or his hand off of my thigh. He stretched out over me, leaning to one side so not to crush me under his weight.

Emmet’s fingers moved in slow circles over my thigh. When the tips of his fingers brushed over my panty line, I gasped against his lips. He continued the slow circles, moving away from my panties, but only for a short time before making his way back again. This time his fingers stretched a little further, but still missed the mark that my body was now desperate for him to hit. He circled outward again but returned quickly. When his fingers finally trailed over my virginal sex, I moaned into his mouth and tugged on his hair.

Boldly, Emmet put his thumb flat against the swollen nub and pressed. I writhed beneath his touch and moaned wildly in his mouth as his thumb began to circle. This felt even better than that morning in his bed. I was so much closer this time than I was then. Only a few more seconds and I would –

Emmet pulled away from me. Entirely. Lips. Hands. Body.

He sat up, breathing heavily and looking at me as if I had somehow just offended him.

“What?” I asked, pushing myself up on my elbows.

He sighed and closed his eyes for a moment. When he opened them, he carefully pulled my dress back down over my thighs and offered me his hand. Confused, I took it and he pulled me into a sitting position, but he stood up the moment I was sitting up. He took a few steps away from me, running his hands through his hair.

I realized then that Emmet had been on the verge of losing control, and I had been
out
of control. I knew I wasn’t ready for sex, but my body had been so receptive to his touch. Was it like that for everyone else? I wish I could ask Emmy without bringing suspicion upon myself. She had been to third base more times than some baseball players.

I snickered out loud at my joke. Emmet looked at me with one eyebrow raised.

“Nothing,” I said waving it off.

I got to my feet only to realize my knees were too weak to hold me. I started to fall forward, but Emmet was there, with his arm around my waist, holding me up. I held onto his arms and looked up into his face with a stupid smile.

“You literally made me weak in the knees,” I said.

He smiled down at me and placed a soft kiss on my lips.

I regained my footing after a few more seconds.

“There isn’t any rule against us dancing together,” Emmet said with his hand on the doorknob.

“No, there isn’t,” I smiled at him.

“Miss Stewart, will you honor me with a dance?” Emmet asked eloquently.

“Why, Mr. Grayne, the honor will be all mine,” I said primly.

I kissed him once more, and after we made sure the coast was clear, we left his bedroom together and rejoined the festivities outside.

*~*~*

The original cotton farm, where the big house was located where we spent our summers originally belonged to Samantha’s family, but it was mismanaged and by the time Sam got it in her early twenties, it was failing. Fred took it and made it flourish and then bought several more like it in the south. He then became a silent partner in a textile company that later expanded and became a big textile supplier. In addition to that, Fred still had a pretty decent stake in oil and owned several pieces of prime real estate.

He was semi-retired, but it was impossible for him to get away with not working at all. A few days after Lucy’s wedding he announced that he needed to head back up the coast to take care of a few things. He needed to go back to New Jersey and I wanted to go back with him. I still felt bad leaving my mom behind and Max was requesting an appointment with me in New York.

Emmy wasn’t a big fan of Louisiana, but Mayson had gone down for the wedding and the pair had reconnected with some friends and wanted to stay. In a couple of weeks they would return and a couple of days after that we would be helping Emmet move into his apartment in Cambridge.

The reality of that was sinking in. In a few short weeks I would be back in school and Emmet would be hours away. We never discussed how we were going to work through that and it was making me a little nervous as we inched closer to the day he would move away. Since I wasn’t even old enough to get into a car and drive to him, we would only be able to see each other on holidays and during the summer. Realistically speaking, I had no idea how we were going to pull it off. On the other hand, it made hiding our relationship that much easier, at least until I was both ready to tell Emmy and old enough.

Emmet was also returning to New Jersey, though he would be driving his car back and not flying with Fred and me. He didn’t really give any explanation to his inquisitive mother other than “I had not planned on being here all summer anyway.” I didn’t ask him to leave Louisiana, but as soon as he heard that I was going back North, he made plans to leave, too. It made me rather giddy because I would be able to spend a little more time with him without too many obstacles.

I still didn’t want to tell Emmy about Emmet. I had poked at the idea with her casually when we were talking about guys and she wasn’t at all receptive.

“I should hook up with Emmet,” I had said jokingly. “You seem to think he’s so easy.”

Emmy made a disgusted face and said “I love my brother and I love you, but no! Besides, it’s like…incest. Emmet is just as much your brother as mine, and ew. No.”

“You seem to feel very strongly about this,” I said, forcing a smile.

“I do,” she said. “And Emmet isn’t a bad guy, but you deserve…better. You deserve…the best.” She made a funny face and said “I don’t even want to joke about it. Gross.” She changed the subject. I didn’t push it.

I really shouldn’t have let her opinions bother me, but she was my best friend. Her opinion really mattered to me and I would want her support, not for her to oppose me. I didn’t want to deal with the stress that her opposition could possibly bring to my relationship with Emmet. Maybe later she would feel differently and maybe not. I couldn’t keep our relationship a secret forever however, so eventually she would either have to accept it or deal with it.

I was rather excited to see my mom. I was hoping that we would be able to spend some time together and get to know each other again – if I ever really knew her. She knew I was coming home, so it was no surprise when I fell through the door with several bags and a large suitcase.

“I’m home,” I said happily as I dropped my stuff by the door.

“Hi,” she said from the kitchen doorway. She was in her waitressing uniform.

“You’re going to work?” I asked, trying to hide my disappointment. “I thought we could have dinner together. I have a few dollars. I can treat us to Nifty Fifties.”

“I couldn’t get any time off,” she said, but didn’t sound at all apologetic.

In my mind I had imagined a pleasant homecoming. I pictured my mom hugging me when I walked through the door and telling me how glad she was to see me, not standing in the doorway looking like she just saw me hours before and not weeks. I thought she would have taken the night off and would smile at the idea of spending some one on one time with her only child. I did not expect her to look completely indifferent to the idea of spending time with me. I guess I thought that her medications would improve her disposition towards me, but maybe I hadn’t given it enough time to work.

“It’s okay,” I said as if she had apologized. “I’m tired anyway.”

I walked across the small living room and opened my arms for a hug. I ignored the ache I felt in my heart when my mom hesitated before accepting the embrace. It was short and lifeless.

“Did you make my appointment with Max?” I asked her after I stepped away from her.

“No,” she said, eyeing me carefully. “I’m not sure it is something I want you to do.”

Up until that point, I didn’t have any feelings on the subject either way. I was willing to try because the opportunity was there, but if it didn’t pan out, that was okay; but now that my mother was trying to take away one of those options, I suddenly realized how much I really wanted to try.

“What do you mean?” I asked her.

“You have this naïve idea that it will be easy,” she said, moving into the kitchen.

“I never said that,” I argued.

“I don’t think you know how much work it will be to find work – and get paid. Who is supposed to traipse around New York with you and wherever else while you try to get a job? You know sometimes you won’t even get paid money? Just clothes? Clothes don’t pay the bills, Donya.”

Like she knew about paying bills? She was employed for the first time since I was a little kid!

I bit my tongue on that remark and said instead “I understand that, but I would like to try.”

“I can’t just quit my job and run all over the world with you. We don’t even have the money to do that. Did you think about that?”

I deflated. I had not thought about that. I had not thought much about the details at all. It wasn’t as if my dad was around to pay the bills while I pursued a modeling career. It was just my mom and the money she made – even in combination with social security – wasn’t a lot of money. We had enough to live with electricity, heat, and to not starve and that was about it. I had become accustomed to the Graynes making up where my parents lacked over the years, but that wasn’t something I wanted to continue to do and I had no expectations of them supporting me
and
my mother while I ‘traipsed’ around trying to find work.

But still…

“I understand,” I said slowly. “But can we at least meet Max? I would like to at least hear what he has to say. Maybe I can try on my own in a couple of years.”

Mom shrugged. She was spreading butter on toast, but she looked over her shoulder at me. “You’re pretty, Donya, but there isn’t anything extraordinary about you. I don’t even know what that Max was talking about. What if he’s just a pervert?”

I pushed away the self-conscious feelings she just evoked within me. “You and Sam both found out he was the real deal,” I said patiently.

She shrugged again. “I don’t really have time or money to go to New York anyway. You may as well have stayed down south. ”

This was probably one of the longest, sanest conversations I ever had with my mom. Sadly, it was just that…sad. She had not said one single kind word to me since I walked through the door, besides “hi.”

“I have to go,” she said after wrapping her toast in a paper towel. “There’s some food in the fridge.”

She moved past me into the living room, grabbed her keys off of the coffee table, stepped through my obstacle course of bags and walked out of the door without even a glance back in my direction.

*~*~*

Emmet got back to New Jersey a couple of days after me. He had driven straight through and was exhausted, but he insisted on seeing me before he slept. It was mid-morning when I walked the few blocks to my other home. Fred wasn’t home. He had flown to Chicago the night before for some early morning meetings. He had called me to let me know he would be gone a couple of days, and it was that small act that made me smile for the first time since I returned to New Jersey. I wasn’t even his real kid but he treated me more like I was his than my biological mother did.

As I let myself into the house, my heart fluttered madly in anticipation of being reunited with Emmet. I followed that invisible line between us and found him in the kitchen, dressed in shorts and a t-shirt, yawning and scratching his chest tiredly. I couldn’t help thinking how cute he looked.

“Hey,” I said, stopping a few feet away from him.

“Hi,” he said with a grin. He closed the distance between us and wrapped his arms around me. He planted a kiss on my neck that made me shiver before releasing me. He gently tugged on a piece of hair that had fallen from my ponytail.

“How was your drive?”

“Too slow,” he said, putting a hand on my hip. “Mom tried to sabotage me and flattened two of my tires.”