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But the moment went on for too long; she could feel his muscles tense against hers. She had to break the silence. “How … how do you know I haven’t seen all that stuff before?”
His lips moved to hers and he only lightly kissed her, but it was enough to send bottle rockets flaring off inside her head. “Have you?” he asked softly.
“No, but—”
“So I don’t want you seeing it now.”
“Why—” Hannah swallowed and then forged ahead. She didn’t get belligerent; she spoke softly, just wanting to know the answer. “Why do you care so much? Why should you suddenly get to tell me what to do? I have enough people telling me what I can and can’t do. My mom and dad, my brother Zachary—”
“But they’re not here now, are they?”
“No—”
“And somebody needs to look after you, princess. And I am your next door neighbor.”
“My neighbor,” she said flatly. “That’s the reason?”
He studied her intently. “It’s the only reason that I’ll admit to, so just drop it.”
If Josh didn’t want to talk about that, she’d let it pass. But she still wanted to go into the party. “What if … what if you took me inside? You know, stayed with me in there? Then nothing could happen to me, right?”
“Nothing could happen to you, no. But you’d see shi—things. And I don’t want you to see anything.”
“Please, Josh.”
Hannah was shocked when a low, pained vibration began coming from his throat. It sounded like a groan of defeat, like he was going to give in to her.
“If I take you in there, you’re going to do as I say. Understand?”
“Yes.” A deep spiral of heat coiled through her belly at the demand. Oh God. She couldn’t like him telling her what to do, could she? That wasn’t normal, was it?
“You’re going to stay next to me, got that? No wandering off. And we’re staying in the living room. No going anywhere else.”
“Okay.”
He turned his head away and began shaking it as if he didn’t agree with what he was doing, but nonetheless, he took her by the hand and began leading her to the front door. Hannah was in a subdued state of euphoria as she followed along behind him, amazed at what was happening to her. She was walking into a real party, she counted at least two of the people inside as friends, (Ty counted, right?) and… and she was being led inside by none other than Josh Turner, the guy she and every other high school girl in the town of Redwood Falls wanted to date.
It truly couldn’t get any better than this.
The house was filled to overflowing. Or at least the living room was. Hannah stood beside Josh, her hand entwined within his possessive grip, and looked around at all the kids taking up every available space that she could see. People stared back at them, and the thought ran down her spine like molten lava that if the kids had been gossiping about them before, they’d really be doing it now that Josh was standing in front of them with her fingers laced through his.
A keg was set up next to the adjacent dining room table, and red cups full of beer were being passed around and consumed as quickly as possible. There were guys paired up with girls, and with mild surprise she saw two guys together who she hadn’t even realized were gay.
As she looked around, she felt a blush rise up over her face when she saw a guy and a girl making out in a corner, their arms wrapped around each other. When Josh’s hand tightened around hers, she looked up and saw him frowning as he stood looking in the same direction. He edged his body around hers and Hannah knew he was trying to block her view. Hannah began searching the room for Ava, but didn’t see her anywhere.
“Who’s that with you, Turner?” The deep-male voice came from across the room, and Hannah recognized Jesse Whitaker, a boy who’d been working part-time for her father for a few weeks. She didn’t know him well, but she saw him around every now and then and knew he was on the football team.
“Nobody you need to worry about.” Hannah felt the jerk of Josh’s arm as he turned away and headed in the opposite direction, pulling her along with him.
Jesse didn’t take the hint and followed them into the hallway that led away from the living area. “Oh … little Miss McIntyre. What brings you off the ranch to socialize with the riff-raff?”
Without conscious volition, Hannah’s hand tightened around Josh’s as she heard the unmistakable contempt in Jesse’s voice. “Nothing,” she returned as lightly as she could manage as she clung to Josh.
Josh’s muscles stiffened beside her and he stood to his full height as he hissed, “Leave her alone.”
“I’m not doing anything to her.” Jesse fired back.
Josh bared his teeth and antagonism in its purest form seemed to seize him by the throat as he snarled, “Just leave her the fuck alone.”
Hannah sucked in a breath at the aura of menace suddenly surrounding her. She’d heard that word before, of course. She heard it all the time. Even Ava used it. But it was the first time she’d heard Josh say it, and not only had he employed the word, but his tone was filled with accusation and threat.
Jesse looked away from her and narrowed his eyes on Josh. “What-the-fuck-ever. I don’t give a shit about her anyway. Where’s your cousin tonight?”
With that question, Josh seemed to lose it, and for the first time, he let go of Hannah as he moved into Jesse’s personal space and crowded against him as fast as a rattlesnake striking. Josh grabbed Jesse’s collar and held it in his fierce grip, pulling the material into his fists. “Don’t worry about my cousin. Leave Katie the fuck alone, understand me? If you hurt her again, if you so much as go near her again, you breathe her name, I WILL KILL YOU, motherfucker, understand me?” Hannah stood in frozen silence as Josh shook Jesse, and then shoved him against the wall. “Maybe I’ll kill you now. How do you want to die, Whitaker? You want me to cut your fucking balls off and shove them down your cowardly throat until you choke on ‘em? Nah, that wouldn’t kill you, ‘cause you got no balls, do you? Fucking coward.”
Jesse gasped for air, and Hannah was too distressed by the encounter to do more than stand upright on her own two legs as she inched away from the two of them. Josh shoved Jesse against the wall again, forcing the back of his head against the sheetrock with a loud thump, and then let go of him, stepping back. He gave him one more blasted warning. “You best always be watching out for me, little cock-prick. Someday when you’re least expecting it, when you got nobody around you, I’ll be there. And I’m gonna make you eat your balls. But first I’m going to beat the shit out of you. You’re gonna bleed, motherfucker. Trust me when I say, you best be looking over your shoulder, ‘cause I will get you.”
Hannah stood dumbstruck as Josh seemed to turn into a different person, his smooth, southern accent deepening and becoming littered with colloquial slang in his rage, his eyes glistening with hatred and his voice hissing out in a guttural rasp.
Jesse’s face was white with terror, and Hannah knew her face was pale also. And for the first time, when Josh grabbed her by the wrist and started leading her outside again, she felt an arrow of real fear. Should she go outside w
ith him? Dear Lord, what had Jesse done to deserve that? Is that what you got when you pissed Josh Turner off?
Josh battled the demons within. He despised Jesse Whitaker, loathed him with every fiber of his being. It went against every dictate hammering inside of him not to beat the shit out of him right now. And that wasn’t all that was tearing him up on the inside. He knew he shouldn’t have brought Hannah inside. And he wouldn’t have if he’d known Jesse was at the damn party. When he’d seen the blood drain from her face, when he’d seen the fear that was evident in her eyes, he knew he’d fucked up and fucked up good. And then to top it off, she’d begun backing away from him as if he were the devil incarnate. And he guessed that to her, he was. All he could think to do now was get her back outside and away from Jesse and all the other bullshit that was going on inside. Away from everything that she was too young, too innocent to see.
Josh pulled her out to the end of the drive where his vehicle was parked, and for the second time in a matter of weeks, Hannah found her back against the passenger door of his truck as his arms caged her in. His head fell to her shoulder, and he began taking deep breaths, dragging oxygen into his lungs, as if he were trying to calm himself down.
With shaky fingers, Hannah reached up and slowly put her arms around him, holding him lightly, just enough to show him she was there if he needed her, but inside, she was trembling, not knowing if she should be standing in his embrace or screaming her fool head off and trying to pull away from him.
