Whiplash: A Sports Romance (69 page)

“Rick,
no
!”

“The lady said no, Rick.”

Rick glances towards the barn entrance, his eyes falling on Tobias’ massive form. He keeps his fierce grip on me and grins back at him. “That’s the thing about Claire, cuz’,” he jokes. “Get her buzzed enough and you can talk her into just about anything—”

“Let go of her.
Now.
” Tobias steps forward, his hands rolled into white-knuckle fists.

“Hey…” Rick releases me and raises his hands to his ears in surrender. “Your house, your rules. I’ll even give you first dibs at her—”

“Back up,”
he growls, his face red with rage.

Rick refuses to move and giggles softly. “What are you gonna do? You gonna hit me?”

I reach out to Tobias, scared of what he’ll do. “Tobias,” I say his name, my voice shaking.

He takes my hand and pulls me away from Rick with a lightning fast jerk. “You don’t want to fight me, Rick,” he says, moving me behind him.

Rick rolls his eyes. “I didn’t come here to start a fight,” he says. “I just came to claim my girl and go home.”

“She’s not your girl,” Tobias says. “Best be leaving now.”

“I’m not leaving here without her.”

“You’ll be leaving disappointed then.”

Rick smiles at him. “I’m curious… how long did it take before she dropped her panties for you?”

“Rick,
don’t
,” I warn, watching Tobias’ trembling arms.

“I’m honestly really impressed if she has. It took me almost a year to talk her into it…” Rick pauses, amusement dancing on his lips as he watches Tobias’ reaction. “Oh, have I struck a
nerve
, Tobias? Maybe I’m wrong and she hasn’t yet. She always has been a little
tease—
”

Tobias grabs Rick’s jacket with both hands and slams him against the barn wall. “Get out of here and don’t come back…” He releases his jacket and Rick falls to the ground. “Get inside the house, Claire,” he says to me, touching my shoulder.

I look down to see Rick pulling a switchblade from his jeans. He opens it with a quick flick of his wrist.

“Tobias—!” I scream.

Rick lunges at us with the blade. Tobias knocks me back with a wave of his arm, shielding me from the slashes of the knife. I topple to the ground and quickly look up to see Tobias’ hand wrapped around Rick’s neck. He raises his leg and slams his foot against Rick’s hand, forcing him to drop the knife.

Rick takes a swing and Tobias narrowly dodges the blow to the face. He drops Rick’s neck in the process, giving Rick enough leverage to pull back his fist and deliver a hard blow to Tobias’ stomach, sending him down to his knees.

Rick grabs the knife again before kicking Tobias while he’s down.

“No!” I cry out, too scared to move.

Rick steps towards me and grabs my arm to pull me off the ground, but Tobias climbs to his feet behind him. He charges forward and grabs Rick’s shoulders to pull him away from me. Rick swings around, knife in hand, and thrusts it at Tobias’ chest.

I cover my face, gasping for air. “Stop!” I shout, but they don’t listen. I watch their blurred forms trade blows over and over again as tears stream down my face.

The bang of a bullet brings the room to a standstill.

I spin around to see Charlie standing in the doorway with his rifle in his hands. He cocks it again and aims it at Rick. “I think you better be getting home, Rick,” he says, his voice calm as it ever was.

Rick folds his blade closed and drops it back into his pocket. “Sure,” he says, forcing a smile and raising his hands. He wipes the blood off his nose as he brings himself to his feet. “Come on, Claire…” He gestures to me as he passes and reaches down to grab my arm.

“Nephew or not, son…” Charlie barks. “You lay one more finger on her and I’ll put a bullet between your goddamn eyes.”

Rick pauses and a chuckle escapes his lips. “All right…” he says, his eyes locked on me. “We’ll finish this later then…”

I shake my head. “We’re already finished,” I say.

He flashes a knowing smile and a chill runs down my spine as he steps out of the barn.

I turn back to Tobias and breathe a quick sigh of relief to see him climbing to his feet. Blood stains his shirt and my eyes fall to the wound on his arm, a small cut just above his left elbow. “You’re hurt…” I whimper, guilt striking me down.

He walks over and pulls me off the ground. “Don’t worry about it,” he mutters. He looks at me from head to toe, searching for any wounds of my own.

“I suppose I don’t need to ask what that was all about,” Charlie says to the two of us.

I wipe the tears from my eyes. “I’m sorry, Charlie…” I whisper. “I didn’t know he was coming—”

“It ain’t your fault, Claire,” he says. “A man’s gonna do what a man’s gonna do. The blame is always on him.” His eyes bounce between us. “Get on inside. Get that cut cleaned out.”

I take Tobias towards the house. Before going inside, I hear the growl of Rick’s car near the highway. Rick is gone, hopefully for good, but the fear of him knowing where I sleep still plagues me.

Tobias and I climb the stairs to the second floor in silence.

“Sit down,” I tell him as we enter the bathroom together. He plops down on the toilet seat and rolls his shirt sleeve up while I open the cabinet to find a first aid kit.

“It’s not deep,” he notes, checking the cut himself.

“Does it hurt?” I ask. I quickly roll my eyes. “Shit, of course it hurts…”

“It’s not bad,” he chuckles. “I’ve…”

“Had worse?” I finish his sentence.

“Yeah.”

I dab a bit of cotton with rubbing alcohol. “I’m really sorry about all this, Tobias…” I mutter as I wipe the blood away from the gash. “I wish I could believe it wasn’t my fault, but…” I find a few butterfly bandages in the bottom of the kit.

He reaches out and grabs my hand. “Claire… nothing he said makes me feel differently about you.”

I pause and a smile touches my lips. “Thank you.” I start bandaging his wound, taking my time to line them up just right.

“But…” he sighs.

“What?” I ask.

“What is it with girls and bad boys?”

“What, like you don’t qualify?” I tease.

He tilts his head. “I have good reasons for doing what I do.”

“I’m not going to argue with that,” I say, “but still.” I tape an extra bandage over the wound, covering the entire area. “I guess… they have ways of making us feel special. They know exactly what to say to mess us up so we don’t even realize that they’re…
hurting
us—”

“Claire,” he whispers.

I shake my head and lay a bit more tape down to attach the bandage to his arm. “That’s the best I can do…” I say, staring at the covered wound.

“It’s pretty good,” he says as he checks it.

“Think it’ll affect the fight tomorrow night?” I ask.

“No way.”

“Good.” I smile. “If anyone deserves to be Alpha, Tobias, it’s you.”

“I’m not doing this to be an Alpha,” he says.

“I know. You’re doing this for her.” I brush my fingers through his thick, black hair. “But you can do it for you, too.”

He stands up. “How about I do it for you instead?”

I bite my inner cheek. As much as I hate to admit it, watching Tobias fight Rick left me buzzing for more inside. “Sure,” I say. I hear Charlie’s feet on the stairs and I take a quick step back. “You should get some sleep.”

“I’d rather stay up and make sure he doesn’t come back.”

“Tobias…” I whisper. “Get some sleep.”

He flexes his jaw and exhales slowly. “All right.” His hand brushes my cheek and I quiver as his thumb traces a line along my bottom lip.

***

I wake up the next morning with a smile on my face.

There’s the slightest hint of fear in the back of my mind when I think of Rick wandering around out there, but the memory of Tobias’ lips overwhelms every other sensation.

I step out into the hallway just as Tobias’ door opens across from mine.

“Hey,” I chuckle at him.

“Good morning—” Tobias yawns.

“You didn’t sleep at all, did you?”

“I slept enough,” he assures me. “I’ll get more rest later.”

“Where are you going now?” I ask.

“I need to get in some training.”

“Oh, I see,” I tease, stepping closer. “You’re going to distract me while I try get my chores done. Is that it?”

He grins. “That’s the plan.”

I roll my eyes. “You’d think Charlie would let me have a few days off for my birthday or something.”

“Good luck with that,” he jokes. The phone rings downstairs. “I broke my arm when I was thirteen, I still had to get up and milk the cows.”

I chuckle. “I’m not the least bit surprised.”

Charlie’s bedroom door opens and Tobias and I both jump away from each other. I look at Charlie and he rolls his eyes. “Just keep it out of the bubble of my senses, you two,” he says as he steps downstairs to answer the phone.

I stand frozen against my door. “What does that mean?” I whisper to Tobias.

“I don’t know…” He raises an eyebrow and closes the gap between us. “But I’m not going to ask questions.”

I look up at him and smile as his lips brush against mine.

“Tobias—” Charlie calls from the bottom of the stairs.

We head into the stairwell together. “I know, I know,” I say to Charlie. “I have chores to start—”

“No chores today, Claire,” he says, his voice low. “Tobias…”

I look at Charlie and a feeling of dread washes over me.

“What is it?” Tobias asks.

Charlie scratches the back of his head as hesitation touches his breath. “Tobias, your sister passed this morning,” he finally says.

I turn to Tobias and my heart breaks. He stands at the top of the stairs with an emotionless expression. “When?” he asks.

“Just now,” Charlie answers.

Tobias’ mouth opens, then closes again just as quickly, leaving his face a blank, white canvas. I reach out, but he moves away before I can touch him. He marches down the stairs, ignoring me and Charlie, and shoves the front door open.

“Tobias—” I call out his name, but he doesn’t look back.

Charlie exhales slowly. He’s not nearly as good at hiding his emotions as his son is. His grief shows through his eyes; a father that’s lost his baby girl.

I hold back my own tears and lower myself down to sit on the stairs. “Charlie, I am so sorry for your loss,” I tell him. It makes me feel awful to say something so scripted, but I suppose phrases like these are cliche for a reason.

He nods and glances at the front door again before looking back at me. “Look, I have to go to St. Louis and take care of…” His voice trails off.

“Go,” I say. “We’ll be okay.”

“Keep an eye on him,” he says. “He won’t take this well.”

“Of course.”

He flexes his jaw and steps back into the kitchen. A few moments later, he comes back to the stairs with his cell phone in hand. “Let me know if he thinks about doing something stupid, would ya?”

“Yes.”

“My number is on the fridge.” Charlie grabs his keys off the table by the door. “I’ll be back late tonight, I think.”

I nod and sit still until I hear his truck on the driveway.

Chapter 13

I’ll Take Care Of You

The sound of fists striking leather fills my ears before I even make it to the barn. I step inside to see Tobias slamming hits into the punching bag over and over again. He keeps his back to me, seemingly unaware of my presence. Either that, or he doesn’t care that I’m here.