Unhinge Me (6 page)

Upon closer inspection, it was actually kind of cute. The small, rectangular stone structure looked like it had been renovated from an old milk house that had been there for a hundred years. It had been expanded a bit and had been kept up with care.

From inside, she could hear music and a few voices. One loud voice roared with a big belly laugh that almost made her picture the kind of person who would give it. The sign above read: Shenanigan’s. Alex immediately loved it.

Caleb grabbed her hand and crossed the loose stone parking lot, leading her into the pub. When they stepped in, everything inside went quiet. Alex saw there were only a few people in the bar; three at a table, two at the bar, and two people standing behind it. She got nervous and held a little tighter to Caleb’s hand. He smiled at her reassuringly and went to find a table on the other side of the room, away from the other patrons but still close to the bar. He told her to sit while he got them a drink.

Since everyone seemed to be looking at her, Alex decided to study the décor and pretend she didn’t notice. Inside, it looked like a hodgepodge of European trinkets. There were Irish and British flags hanging on the walls, as well as a few pictures that someone probably took on vacation. What looked like an actual tapestry hung on one wall. The tables and chairs around the bar not only seemed to be in no particular order, but none of them matched either. It was warmly decorated and made her feel at home and relaxed. The actual bar along the back wall was newer, but was distressed to try to “match” everything else. What looked like a kitchen was off to the side, and she could smell something divine coming from in there. If she wasn’t so damn nervous, she would be in complete love with this place and never want to leave. Unfortunately, even after all her looking around, she was still the object of everyone’s stares. She started to get really embarrassed and looked around for the bathroom, hoping to maybe slip in and find escape there. Before she could find it, Caleb came back with a glass of beer and something pink for her. Alex smiled at his thoughtfulness.

“Alright now, nothing to see here, you bloody losers,” boomed the big man from behind the bar. Alex knew instantly that this was the man with the big belly laugh she’d heard outside. He was almost as round as he was tall and had a big, friendly face, at least what she could see of it from under the big, bushy beard. He looked to be in his late thirties and had bright green eyes. He reminded Alex of Santa; if Santa was a young, dirty farmer who swore a lot. She liked him almost as much as she liked the pub.

He turned and winked at her, then went back to drying glasses. Alex smiled in return and held the smile until her eyes met the other person behind the bar. This one, a female, was the complete opposite of the man next to her. Tall and thin, there wasn’t a curve on her body, except for her frown. She looked to be about the same age as the guy and was pretty, in a plain way, but definitely wasn’t as friendly. At least not right now. She was giving Alex the most distrusting and suspicious look. Alex turned away, uncomfortable with the woman’s stare.

Caleb followed Alex’s gaze and guessed at her distress. “That’s just Josie, Joe’s wife. She’s harmless, don’t worry,” he smiled.

Alex smiled back, but then got serious. She had something she had to ask. “That day,” she started hesitantly, “why didn’t you tell me you were a teacher?”

Caleb took a deep breath. “I’m sorry. I don’t know what to say to that…”

She patiently waited.

“I knew it was wrong, but I was being selfish. I didn’t want to break the spell. I’d say I was sorry, but to be honest, I’m not.” He looked at her evenly.

Alex wasn’t sure she was sorry anymore either. If he had told her, they wouldn’t have had that time together. And that might mean they wouldn’t be here now. She wasn’t sure she would want that.

When she looked into his dark eyes, she forgot everything else. “Fair enough. So what are we doing here?” she whispered.

“Now who’s asking all the questions?” Caleb joked, then sobered. “This is where I go to hide.” He smiled shyly. “It’s far from any prying eyes for one thing. Besides, it’s the one place that feels most like home in this country and I wanted to share it with you.” They looked into each other’s eyes and for a moment the world stopped. The intensity of his look made Alex uncomfortable and she had to look away. This was all going so fast for her. It felt too easy, too good to be true.

Caleb noticed her look and got up to give her some space. He went to stand near the bar. Again, like a doe, Alex seemed to be spooked easily. Joe walked over to his friend.

“Well?” Joe asked, intrigued.

Caleb hesitated. “A student.” When Joe’s eyes widened in shock, he quickly added, “I
know
. I know. Don’t even say it. I don’t know what I’m doing either. There’s just something about her, Joe,” he said reflectively. “She makes me feel alive for the first time in… so long.” Unable to explain, he just shook his head.

Joe felt for his friend. It seemed like just yesterday that Caleb had walked into their little pub looking like a lost puppy, asking for the thickest ale they had. Joe liked the young man instantly and was glad when he saw him again a few days later. It took two weeks to get him to talk enough to tell them his name, months before he said much more than that. Even now there was a part of him that Joe could tell he held back.

Whatever brought Caleb in and made him smile like that was worth whatever risk may come with it. “Well, she looks great,” he smiled. He wanted to make it clear there was no judgment.

Caleb gave his friend a thankful smile. He didn’t know what he would do without Joe. He was the closest thing to family he had in the states and the friendship meant a lot to him. “Make sure Josie is nice while I use the loo.” He turned and winked at Alex, then walked to the small bathroom off to the side.

Alex watched him as he passed and wondered how it was that a man like him wanted anything to do with a girl like her. She felt so perfectly ordinary, especially next to him. When she left the house in a white, loose, button-down boyfriend tee, dark jeans, and her favorite brown knee-high boots, she thought she looked pretty good. But now, here with him, she felt frumpy and unworthy. Even in his teacher clothes, everything about Caleb seemed to scream sex at her. The fitted henley shirt he had on was pushed up to his elbows. The open buttons at the top looked like a deliberate invitation to slide her hands inside. Even the tan pants he wore fit just so she could see all the muscles in his legs.

As he walked away, she took the opportunity to carefully study his butt and decided it was perfectly shaped and squeeze-worthy. She blushed at the thought.

All of a sudden, Josie appeared with food. Alex thanked her but didn’t meet the woman’s eyes, hoping she would drop the food and go away. Instead, the flat woman sat down in the chair opposite her.
Shit,
thought Alex. Now she had no choice but to look up at her.

What happened next was kind of like a standoff. The women stared at each other and had a silent conversation of assessment. Alex’s eyes said,
“What is the problem? What have I done to make you not like me? What next?”
while Josie’s eyes said,
“Who are you and what are you doing with my friend? What are your intentions?”
and
“Know that I will hurt you if they aren’t good.”

Alex answered aloud and was surprisingly honest and upfront with the intimidating woman. “Look, I don’t know what I am doing here either. He just drove here without even telling me where we were going! Whatever this is, it just started and I’m just as unsure of it as you are. And well, there’s just something about Caleb. I don’t get it or know what it is yet, but I really like him. I get that you’re scary and all, but… unless he tells me to, I’m not leaving. So…” Alex didn’t know how to finish the sentence. She was so confused with all this and now, with the looks this woman was giving her, she was about to lose it. She looked up to see her reaction to what she said and found her smiling.

“Fair enough,” Josie said simply, and Alex was surprised that she didn’t have an accent like Caleb or Joe. “He’s just never brought anyone in here before. Joe and I feel real protective over him so I just wanted to make sure. Though, whoever you are, you must be important if he brought you here.” She sighed, nodded, and got up from the table just as Caleb was coming back.

Caleb sat and put his hand on Alex’s leg, moving in close to her. “You alright?” he asked.

She looked back over the bar at Josie, who looked back at her and smiled a little. They were either going to be good friends or never get along, Alex couldn’t tell. For now, it was going to have to be good enough.

She looked back at Caleb. He was watching her carefully, trying to read her expression. She smiled at him. “I’m better.” She thought about whether or not to be honest with him. “This whole thing is just going really fast and it’s so intense. I love it, but it also freaks me out at the same time,” she smiled weakly.

“We could slow down a bit if it makes you feel better,” he suggested.

“It might,” she smiled thankfully.

They spent the next few hours just sitting close, talking, and eating what Caleb called chips, which were really just thick french fries with gravy. Alex thought it was delicious. While they talked, they never took their hands off each other. A caress here, or a light touch there, the sexual tension was never far off. At one point, Alex couldn’t help but feel like a teenager as they played footsie under the table.

They kept the conversation light and didn’t get too deep. They talked about their favorite music and movies. They both had eclectic tastes and had a surprising amount in common.

They also talked a lot about poetry. Alex loved having someone to do that with again. It seemed like forever since she could quote a line or two of her favorite poems without someone giving her a weird look. In fact, the last person interested in hearing anything about poetry was her grandmother.

Not that it mattered what they talked about. Even if it was balloon animals, Alex still would have loved it. Caleb’s deep voice and accent was even sexier when he was trying to whisper or keep his voice down. Once, when he laughed heartily at something she said, the low sounds rumbled through her whole body, making her shiver from head to toe.

She noticed Josie, and sometimes Joe, looking over from time to time to watch them. For the most part though, Alex didn’t notice anyone else in the room. When she was with Caleb, it was as if the rest of the world fell away and it was just the two of them in their own little bubble.

Alex’s favorite thing to say about guys was that intelligence was the sexiest thing a man could wear and that arrogance was the ugliest. In that case, Caleb was perfect. He was so smart and had such an intellectual look on things, but he didn’t shove his smarts in her face either. He made her feel like what she had to say was just as important or clever. He leaned in when she spoke, always looked her in the eye, and there was such an unpretentious air about him. He was devilishly confident without being cocky. He truly didn’t seem to realize just how good looking he was. That thought made Alex smile.

“What’s that smile for?” Caleb asked and leaned in to nuzzle her neck.

She blushed and considered lying, but something about Caleb made her feel bold.

“Do you even know how sexy you are?” she asked him.

“Do you know how good you smell?” Caleb asked just as quickly, reaching in and nuzzling closer to her hair.

Alex laughed. “Nice change of subject there.”

“Seriously, you smell like fresh sunshine with a hint of lilac.”

Forgetting he was evading her compliment, Alex blushed again and tried to figure out what she thought Caleb smelled like. The only word she could come up with was; man. He just smelled like a man.
Oh, that’s so hot!
she thought.

Josie brought more food over which broke them apart temporarily but they stayed close, Caleb leaving his hand on her leg as they talked more.

The hours flew by and they ended up talking all night. Later, when everyone else in the bar had gone home, Joe and Josie came over to join them. They all talked well past closing time as Joe told stories of the fun and strange things that happened in a pub called Shenanigan’s. He also talked about his upbringing in Ireland, his trip to the states where he met the beautiful farm girl, Josie, and how he knew he loved her right from the start. With Josie afraid to leave the farm for too long and Joe not going anywhere without her, they decided to bring some of Joe’s old home here and renovate the old farm milk house into the pub. It meant a lot to Joe, even if it didn’t make a whole lot of money, which it didn’t.

“Who needs money when I’ve got my own leprechaun,” Josie said and reached over to squeeze Joe’s butt.

“Aye, that ya do,” he winked. He grabbed her by her shoulders, pulling her onto his lap and, in between her giggles, began to kiss her all over.

Caleb and Alex politely looked away and found themselves looking at each other. All of a sudden, the sexual tension that had been sizzling underneath their evening grew to a buzz they could almost feel in the air. With all the little touches they had been giving each other all night, Alex had spent the whole evening on the brink of desire, and now it felt like a low hum all around them. Both of them looked at each other with passion bubbling over. Caleb stood up and pulled Alex up with him. Smiling down at the other couple, he turned and led her out the door and into the cool night air. He led her to the passenger side of his car and opened her door for her again. She started to get in when he pulled her back unexpectedly. He grabbed her around the waist and kissed her greedily. Without a word, he let her go and went around to get into the car himself, leaving Alex breathless. The kiss said enough. It said, “Soon.”

However, the car ride was long and it was late. It was the end of an exhausting week, both physically and emotionally, and try as she might, Alex couldn’t help but be lulled by the luxurious ride. Even in her anticipation of what was in store when they got home, she eventually fell asleep.