Page 13 of Very Unlikely
“And you think you’ll find that in my backpack?”
He peers up at me before briskly nodding. “You didn’t wake up humping my leg this morning, and although your dad’s pancakes were super fluffy, they didn’t have ohh-yeah-you-fucked-my-mouth-good taste your face is wearing now, so you must have snuck Indigo’s gift out without telling me because I sure as hell know Paul isn’t responsible for your flushed cheeks and dilated eyes.” I don’t recognize the gleam in his hooded gaze when he adds, “For one, I kept my leg hooked around your waist all night to ensure he couldn’t get the chance to be caught in another lie. And two, I smelled what was coming out of him when your dad grabbed the scruff of his shirt last night. He shit his pants…literally.”
“You’re so crude,” I say through an inappropriate giggle. Paul may not know what he’s doing with his tackle, but that doesn’t make him unworthy of Lennox’s respect. He’s a nice guy, sometimes, so he should be treated so accordingly. “And Indigo’s gift is still in my suitcase… in its original packaging.”
Lennox’s eyes shoot to mine. “You didn’t open it?”
“No, I didn’t.” I return my eyes to the road to hide my lie before muttering, “Why use a vibrator when you have gadgets as wonderous as these.”
I wiggle my fingers in the air, grinning when an exasperated gasp leaves Lennox’s mouth. “You masturbated in your father’s home!”
When his shouted words reach the driver in the vehicle next to us, I lean over Cubie’s cab to clamp my hand over his big mouth. “I didn’t masturbate. Ithoroughlycleaned myself.”
“You sure fucking did,” he murmurs through my hand, the gagging of his mouth having me mistaking his groan as a moan. “I can still smell the body wash on your skin.” I wretch my hand away with a squeal when he licks the pad of my palm. “I can taste it too. Tangyandsweet… just as predicted.”
I toss my fist into his stomach before returning my hand to the steering wheel. I need to wring out my frustration on something firm since almost every word I’m speaking is a lie. I did shower for the fourth time in twenty-four-hours when the tension of Lennox’s body pinning mine to the mattress became too much to bear. The shower puff did get friendly with certain regions of my body, but long before the water ran cold, I gave up on my endeavors to bring myself to climax. The tingles were powerful, just not extreme enough to push me over the finish line.
They never are.
“What about you?” I ask after a couple of miles of silence. “You’ve woken pretty…knottedthe past two days. Did you free the burden?”Free the burden? Really, Summer! That’s the best you could come up with?“You were in the shower over the allotted time.”
“Not long enough to stroke one out,” Lennox spits out with a grunt. “And with your father stalking your room all night, I wasn’t really in the mood to get friendly with my hand.”
I don’t know how he does it, but he makes it seem as if masturbation is nowhere near as perverted as it is. To him, it’s as ordinary as eating breakfast every morning.
My spine straightens when he mumbles, “I also had a couple of matters on my mind that kept me up most of the night.”
“Care to share?” I express my offer with utmost sincerity, conscious that his tone was the one he only ever uses when his relationship with his father plagues his thoughts.
I listen the best I can while keeping my eyes on the road when he asks, “Do you remember the award I told you my father is getting?”
“The induction into the Hall of Fame?”
His nod matches mine. “He sent me an invitation a couple of weeks back. It was for both the award show and a gala he’s hosting after at his Nashville ranch.” I’m dying to butt in, but since that would most likely end our conversation before it’s truly begun, I patiently wait for him to continue. “I initially considered attending so I could keep my promise to my mom.” My hand slips off the steering wheel so I can give his thigh a quick squeeze of commendation. His mom would be proud of him, and so am I. Just him considering attending is a huge deal. “But then I realized the dates clashed with our travels to Ravenshoe, so I filed it away never to be mentioned again.”
“Until meeting my dad stirred up old memories?”
His sigh breaks my heart. I’ll never get over losing my mother at such a young age, but my dad stepped up to the plate to make sure I wouldn’t be loved any less. Lennox’s father didn’t do the same. He didn’t shelter him from the remorse bombarding him. He left him to handle it by himself. Some say that’s why Lennox is so closed off. I see it more as the reason he’s friends with me. He has his mother’s heart, but with his father’s teachings constantly ringing in his ears, he doesn’t know how to use it.
He truly wanted to help me three years ago, and he did. It wasn’t in the way he pledged, but I became a better person once he became a part of my life, and I like to think it’s the same for him as well.
“When is the event?”
I almost veer into oncoming traffic when Lennox replies, “Tonight.”
“Tonight!” When his chin bobs, I settle both my erratic heart rate and the weight of my foot on the gas pedal before doing some quick mental calculations. “We could attend. We just need to get onto the US-60 E.” I yank on the steering wheel, grimacing when a motorist announces his annoyance about me taking the exit late with a honk of his horn. “Sorry!” I wave at the grumpy bastard out the window before shifting my eyes to an even grumpier man. Lennox isn’t happy I’m seemingly taking his decision to reunite with his father out of his hands, but since he doesn’t voice his annoyance out loud, I continue with my plan like there isn’t an ounce of frustration seeping from his pores. “Nashville is practically on the way to Ravenshoe, and if his invitation came with lodging, we’d save money on a motel for the night.”
“That’s the issue, Summer. His offer did come with an offer of accommodation.” When I peer at him, lost as to why he’s upset, he pushes out, “Athishouse. He wants us tostay… with… him!” His last three words are delivered with long, dramatic pauses.
“And the problem with that is?” When his glare heats up to the point of boiling over, I remind him I’m very different from the last lot of girls he introduced to his father. “I’m not Eliza, Lennox, and I’m also not your girlfriend, so your concern that your father will want to bed me is completely unwarranted.”
Lennox doesn’t simply hate his father because of how he treated his mother. He also despises how desperately his father has been trying to regain his youth over the past four years. When his legendary status at Lennox’s school didn’t have the students clamoring for his attention when he showed up unannounced, he took it one step further. He started sleeping with Lennox’s classmates. If that isn’t already concerning, he didn’t stop even when his son had already caught the girls he was chasing.
The last time Lennox spoke to his father, he was announcing his engagement to Lennox’s once girlfriend. Although they never got married, Lennox still hasn’t forgiven him. Not even at the funeral of his much-loved mother did he exchange words with his father.
Despite what the doctors told him, Lennox believes his mother died of a broken heart.
I’ve yet to convince him otherwise.
