The Summer of '98 Page 12

  “You need to put the bat down and let us go,” I said, walking toward him. I wasn’t sure how I was going to get us out of this. But I had a feeling that it wasn’t going to end well. Peter obviously didn’t like being told what to do.

  His hand flew out and he gave me a violent shove in the chest, sending me into the wall with a thud. “Leave, or you’ll get it too.”

  I straightened up from the wall. “You’re going to want to keep your hands off me.”

  “Or what?” he hissed.

  Before I had time to think about how stupid it was, I lunged forward and grabbed the bat out of his hand. He didn’t have time to strengthen his grip, so it slid out of his hold, and I tossed it down the hall before I punched him in the jaw. He stumbled backwards a little, his hands waving to keep himself upright.

  Unfortunately, when he did regain himself, he charged like a bull and bowled me up against the wall by the collar. He smacked me across the face, once, twice, three times. The metallic taste of blood filled my mouth and I felt the throb in my cheek immediately. I could hear Noah shouting from inside the bedroom, but before I could make sense of it, the bat appeared out of nowhere and smashed Peter across the back.

  Out of reflex, he arched his spine with a pained grunt. His arms flew backwards, and the back of his hand connected with Ellie’s face. She dropped the bat and fell backwards with a soft whimper. That was all it took—the simple sight of seeing her harmed. Whether it was an accident or not, his hand had struck her, and I lost it. While he was still grunting with pain, I kicked him in the shin and punched him again so that he landed in a heap on the floor.

  “Noah, Noah, run!” Ellie was shouting and banging on the door while I watched Peter and made sure he didn’t get up again.

  I turned around and saw Noah come barreling out of the room. He ran straight down the corridor and I grabbed Ellie’s hand, dragging her toward the door as fast as I could, passing Nadia who stood at her bedroom threshold, staring at her dad with fear. He had a bleeding nose, but he’d be all right. I hadn’t done too much damage.

  The car was on the road in a matter of moments. But as soon as we were at a safe distance, I pulled over, the tires squealing as I came to an abrupt stop.

  “Leroy, wha—”

  I turned around and laid a sharp backhand across Noah’s cheek, not even stopping to cuss him out before I turned back to Ellie beside me and took her face in my hands.

  My chest tightened at the sight of blood on her lip and a small swell around her mouth and cheek. “Babe, you should have stayed in the car.”

  “Don’t worry about me,” she cried. “Your face is worse. I’m glad that I came in when I did.”

  “You could have been badly hurt.” I turned around. “She’s fifteen, Noah. For fuck’s sakes. What is wrong with you?” The main road wasn’t alight with traffic, but the odd car sped past and lit up the entire interior for a brief second. “The Weismanns are bad enough. But Nadia? You’re a real piece of work. Ellie could have been injured!”

  “It’s not my fault she ran in!” Noah pouted from the backseat. I was almost tempted to hit him again, just out of sheer need to make him suffer.

  “Get out.”

  “What?”

  “Get out of the car, Noah.” I looked over my shoulder and fixed him with a glare. “You can walk. I’m not interested in being around you right now.”

  “Once again,” he chuckled without the humor. “She’s coming between us. Unbelievable.”

  “She hasn’t done anything, Noah. You’re the halfwit that decided to screw a minor and you didn’t even help. You did nothing while I was getting punched in the head. You ran. If Ellie hadn’t come into the house when she did, you never would have gotten out of there. She has more fucking balls than you do.”

  I took a deep breath to calm down, knowing how much Ellie hated cursing. But my brother sure knew how to get a reaction from me.

  “I didn’t know th—”

  “Get out!” I cut off his excuse with a shout that caused Ellie to jump in her seat. I found her hand across the center console and squeezed it. “Get out, Noah. I’m going home and you can do whatever the hell you want. But I’m not bailing you out of something like that ever again.”

  He aggressively swung the door open and grumbled until he slammed it shut again. There was no part of me that felt guilty when I took off, merging back onto the main road without looking back. It wasn’t that far. He was more than capable of getting himself home. And considering what he had put us all through tonight, he was getting off lightly.

  Ellie

  By the time we arrived back from the Weissmann incident, Eleanor and Jacob were home from their date. Our evening plans had been officially dashed. Leroy had found a hoodie in the backseat of his car and pulled it on, using the fabric to shield his face so that his mom wouldn’t ask questions. It did the trick and we went upstairs and hung around in his bedroom for a little while until Eleanor went to bed and sent me to the spare room.

  The next morning, I got dressed in a pair of denim shorts and a T-shirt before I went in search of Leroy, finding him in the kitchen. The radio was humming a Shania Twain song, fresh coffee was brewing, and knives and forks pushed against plates.

  The first thing that I noticed was the stack of pancakes on the countertop. The second was Leroy and Noah, sitting on opposite ends of the table, glaring at each other. Both showed obvious signs of a fight and I winced, thinking about how I had seen Leroy being punched so hard last night.

  “You as well?” Eleanor’s voice made me jump, and she stared at me with disbelief. “That’s it! Someone had better start talking. I want to know why the hell it looks like you all got into an altercation last night.”

  I turned toward Leroy with alarm, but his poker face was in full force. He shrugged and turned back to his food, popping a forkful of pancake into his mouth. Noah shot me a glare, but he did the same, both of them keeping tight lipped on the subject.

  Panic rose within me, and I felt all sorts of pressure as Eleanor waited for a response. Sure, it was no problem for the two of them to resist their mother’s iron fist. But I couldn’t just stand here and lie to her. It felt so wrong.

  She tapped her foot and shrugged her shoulders. “Well? What happened.”

  I stammered until Leroy said, “Mom, leave her alone.”

  “Okay, here’s what happened,” Noah stood up with his plate and went to the sink. “I got a little drunk last night and tried to kiss Ellie, because I’m a sack. She has a solid head and used it to fend me off, and then Leroy pissed me off with a long lecture, so I hit him and then he hit me and that’s it.”

  We all stared in silence as he finished rinsing off his plate. He turned, drying his hands on a dish towel. Leroy kept quiet but he almost seemed—grateful? It was hard to tell because he was good at hiding his tells. But from the slight nod that they shared, I guessed that the lie was his form of apologizing. I got the feeling that we weren’t going to get much more than that.

  “What is the matter with you?” Eleanor finally snapped. “You tried to kiss her? She’s your brother’s girlfriend!”

  He rolled his eyes and left the room, but Eleanor followed along behind him, ranting until we couldn’t hear them.

  “He knew that would happen.” Leroy leaned back in the dining chair. His hand slipped under his T-shirt and he rubbed his hand across his toned torso, revealing the band of his Calvin Kleins. “He knew Mom would hound the hell out of him. He’s forgiven. For now. He’s still a dumbass. Breakfast?”

  “Oh, sure,” I walked over to the table. I was about to take the seat when Leroy gripped me around the waist and pulled me into his lap.

  “Here, have these,” he pulled his plate closer, which still had two whole pancakes on it, and offered me the syrup.

  Leroy wound his arms around my waist and rested his cheek against my shoulde
r blade while I ate. He hung on to me with such affection that it felt like he was afraid I would be gone if he let me go. I hadn’t been listening to the music until his soft voice started murmuring the lyrics to “I Don’t Want to Miss a Thing” by Aerosmith from behind me.

  I didn’t want to react in case he stopped. But I was suffering from some serious heart palpitations. His low, raspy voice was perfect. His tongue caressed the tender words.

  His strong jaw was moving against my shoulder as he sang. He was quiet and I could sense that he was just enjoying the song, but my heart felt like it had doubled in size and its beats were so strong that it took my breath away.

  He lifted his head as I turned around. My legs hung over the side of the chair and I wrapped my arms around his neck, pushing our lips together in an urgency that I hadn’t even realized I was feeling. He wasn’t slow to respond. His hand slid up my back and wrapped around the back of my neck, his other hand holding my legs and pulling me closer against him.

  Our tongues moved against each other’s. His lips were soft and sweet but relentless in their pursuit to taste me. This was the kind of kiss that was dangerous. It heated me in places that screamed for more attention. It was all-consuming and I couldn’t even think of where we were as I tried to pull him impossibly close to me.

  Eventually, he dropped the kiss, riding it out with soft, chaste pecks and turning me around a mere moment before his mother reentered the kitchen. I hadn’t even heard her coming but it didn’t surprise me that Leroy did. He didn’t like to be caught with his tongue halfway down my throat, so he would have been listening for her.

  “When was the last time that you phoned your mother?” Eleanor asked, giving us a subtle once-over. She moved around to the sink and started filling it up with hot water.

  “Wednesday,” I said. I was supposed to call more often than twice a week, but I had already slacked off and it was only the second Monday that I had been here. “I’ll call her after breakfast.”

  She seemed satisfied with the answer. Leroy stood after a few moments and I took his seat, disappointed at the distance. That was, until he started helping his mom with the dishes. It was so sweet that I turned to watch. I was always taught that a woman should look at how a man treats his mother as an indicator of his character—I was definitely not disappointed.

  After I had eaten and the clean-up was done, Leroy left me alone in his room so that I could use his phone to call Momma. I sat down and aimlessly thwacked the chord with a finger while it rang.

  “Hello?”

  “Hey, Momma.”

  “Hello Ellie. How are you? It’s been a while.”

  “Momma . . .”

  “You said every other day—”

  “I know,” I tried to keep the impatience out of my tone. “But come on. I’m having fun and it’s not free to make these calls.”

  “As if it matters for those people.”

  “Don’t be like that, Momma,” I murmured.

  She was quiet for a moment, and I heard her inhale a deep breath. “How are things? Having a good time?”

  “I am, I’m having fun, like I said. The Laheys are great, and I’ve made friends already.”

  “Staying out of trouble?”

  I thought about it and bit down a grin, almost afraid that she’d be able to hear it or sense it in my voice. I couldn’t really say that I’d been staying out of trouble. Not truthfully. But I assured her that I was behaving.

  “Of course. I’ve watched Leroy at practice most mornings. We spend time with his mom and dad, and I’ve been doing some cooking.”

  “Cooking?” Her voice rose and octave with the shock. “Doesn’t sound like the Ellie I know.”

  “Maybe I’ll cook for you when I get home.”

  “I’ll believe it when I see it.”

  “Well, I’d better get going, Momma. I don’t want to rack up the phone bill too high.”

  “Call me again soon, ya hear?” She wasn’t really asking.

  “Love you, Momma.”

  The sun was merciless later that morning. It shone down on the school football field, burning hot while I sat on the grass and watched the beginning of the warmups. A group of cheerleaders practiced at the other end of the green, being thrown through the air and chanting cheers. It was fun to watch them as well as the football team. There was a lot of team spirit here. It was clear that this school took their game seriously and I understood that—it was the same back in Waco. I’d just never paid as much attention at that time.

  A light breeze blew, push the scents of the air around. The smell of fresh-clipped lawns, melting tar from the roads, and the hint of male perspiration from the football players.

  The heat must have been getting to them because before a play was made, Leroy straightened up and pulled his T-shirt over his head, leaving him in just his shorts. He clapped his hands together and leaned over again, calling the directions for the play. I watched the sun glisten on his damp, tanned skin. His broad shoulders and biceps flexed as he raised his arms and caught the throw—perfect.

  “I knew it,” Cass’s voice startled me, and I turned to spot her strolling over with her shades on and a pair of overalls over a white tank top. “It’s so hot today. I knew the shirts would be coming off.”

  She sat down and gave me a wide smile. “Love that outfit.” She glanced over my spaghetti-strap denim dress that I’d slipped over a black T-shirt. It was nothing special, but I loved how she was always quick to compliment my clothes.

  “Damn, just look at him,” Cass bit on her lip and sighed. “I would lick the sweat off his abs. And I’d enjoy it.”

  “Who are you talking about?”

  “Robbie,” she pointed out a tall guy with shoulder-length brown hair. He did have a nice body. “We used to chat a little here and there, but he’s got a girlfriend now.” She stuck out her tongue. “As gorgeous as he is, I don’t mess with a taken man.”

  “I’m sure she’d appreciate that.”

  I watched her and waited for her to ask me why Noah hadn’t shown up on Saturday night.

  “Wanna go for a walk into town with me?” she asked.

  I picked at the grass beneath me and shifted my legs, so they were folded. “What’s in town?”

  “Soda, shelter, and potentially some bargains,” she listed on her fingers before she stood up. “Come on. We’ll come back before Leroy leaves. Or he can come and pick us up.”

  “Should we tell him that we’re leaving?” I asked, glancing out to the field where he was in the middle of throwing the ball. Cass thought about it for a moment.

  “Leroy!” She shouted with her hands cupped around her mouth. Almost the entire team turned and stared at us. “We’re gonna bounce. Get us from Rocky Ryan’s!”

  He gave us a thumbs-up after Cass was done screaming our plans for the entire state to hear and we headed out through the wire gate and across the school parking lot.

  “Town isn’t far,” she assured me once we were out on the footpath beside the main road. We walked past the large park that was across the road from the school and the closer we got to town, the more business establishments and buildings we passed.

  Cass was good at filling in the lull with idle chitchat as we walked. “How was the alone time on Saturday?”

  I had an onslaught of different emotions attack me in full force. The first was the happiness that I felt over dinner and how well it had gone. The next was the minor anxiety over how we’d ended up throwing down with someone’s dad. And finally, the thought of Cass asking me what Noah had been doing and why he didn’t arrive at her place.

  “Hello, Earth to Ellie,” Cass waved her hand in front of me.

  “It was really nice.”

  “Really nice? Give me some details. Did he like the burritos? Did he eat your burrito for dessert?”

  “Chill out, Cass,�
� I blushed and gave her a swat on the arm.

  Her singsong laughter was contagious as she shrugged but made no apologies for the crude comment. “Come on. Give me the four-one-one. I don’t have a lot of girlfriends to do this with. Tiff is out of town and all boys talk about is how they rock everyone’s world with their giant penises.”

  “That sounds delightful.”

  “No, it’s a load of horseshit,” she laughed and skipped ahead of me before she started walking backwards. “Come on, share. Don’t be so coy. I’m not going to tell anyone.”

  “Fine,” I threw my hands up. “Things got kinda heated after we cleaned up dinner. We were in the kitchen—”

  “The kitchen?” She stepped back into place beside me as we passed a crowded sidewalk of outdoor restaurant patios with chairs and tables. “That’s hot.”

  “Yeah, I guess. So, like, he was in the middle of um, fingering me,” I winced as I said the words. Before I met Leroy, I was a virgin and I hadn’t partaken in this kind of conversation before. It felt weird. “But then the phone rang, and we had to go out.”

  I spun around and flailed as she gripped my arm and pulled me to a stop. It was clear that she was not impressed. “That is so anticlimactic! A bit of a finger blast and that’s it?”

  My eyes widened as I glanced around at the passing patrons on the footpath. “Keep it down, Cass.”

  She flicked her wrist before we continued our walk. “Okay, so what was so important that the phone couldn’t be unplugged so that Leroy could plug you instead?”

  “You have a way with words, has anyone ever told you that?”

  “Of course,” she said. “Now stop dodging the question. What was it?”

  My heart was thumping at this point. I either had to come up with a lie—which I didn’t feel that she deserved—or I would have to put up with Noah potentially flipping out on me when he found out that I spilled the beans.

  It was clear that she should know. The guy that she had been sleeping with was caught in the sack with a minor. Sure, he was only two years older than her. But that wasn’t the point. If I were Cass, I’d want to know.