Poser (27 page)

Braeden

He was upstairs a long time.

The quiet resonating through the house made me nervous.

I hadn’t been prepared for him to come storming back here, demanding to see Ivy. ‘Course, looking back, it’s exactly what I’d have done if it were Rimmel.

I didn’t listen at the door even though I thought about it. Spying on my girlfriend wasn’t something I ever planned to do.

I wasn’t even sure if she still was my girlfriend.

Four days of nothing.

Four days of her hiding inside her room, only coming out when she had to. I tried to talk to her a couple times, but she was completely closed off, completely lost.

Still, I wouldn’t leave her.

It brought up a lot of bad memories from when my mom was beaten and too hurt to get out of bed. The house would turn quiet. I would tiptoe around, afraid to be noticed by him.

I didn’t want to live like this. But I didn’t know what else to do.

I told myself in a few more days, she’d realize she couldn’t hide forever.

True, she might hate me forever, but she couldn’t hide. I’d rather fight with her than have nothing at all.

I was basically waiting it out ‘til Rimmel came home. My sister would know what to say to her. She would know what to do.

But then Drew showed up.

And now it was quiet.

What if she went home with him? Would she just pack up and leave like that?

What would I do if she did?

Would I let her go?

No.

I’m letting her go without a fight.

Suddenly, the quiet was disrupted by the sound of heavy footfalls on the stairs. Drew shouted my name, and I knew she’d told him.

I didn’t have time to be surprised because he came at me like a frickin’ freight train.

“You son of a bitch!” he roared and threw out his fist.

I let him hit me. Hell, I welcomed it. I deserved it.

My head snapped back and I felt my lip split. The warm ooze of blood pooled in the corner of my mouth, and I wiped it away with the back of my hand.

“My sister was raped and you did nothing about it!” he ground out and pulled his fist back again. I moved just before it connected, and he spun.

“Watch it,” I growled. One free hit was all I allowed.

And how the fuck dare he say I did nothing?

I’d been killing myself for months, trying to help her heal without making it worse.

“I knew something was wrong. I even asked you. You didn’t say jack!” He threw out his fist again, grazing my jaw.

I shoved him back. He hit one of the stools at the island and knocked it over. It made a loud bang when it hit the floor. “Don’t hit me again.”

The dumbass rushed me. Clearly, he didn’t know not to do that to a football player. I sank into a crouch and reversed his rush. I picked him up around the waist, spun him around, and dropped him on his back.

He caught me around the ankle, and I bent at the waist, delivering a rapid punch right to his jaw. Drew rolled, knocking my legs out from under me, and we tumbled on the floor, exchanging blows like we were in the ring.

I was bigger than him. And physically in better shape. He got winded, but I was just getting started. I pinned him to the floor. His struggles to buck me off were useless.

“What kind of man doesn’t protect his girl!” Drew shouted.

I saw black. Not red. Black.

I pictured Zach’s face. I heard my father’s yell and my mother’s cry. I felt Ivy lying in bed at night, trembling in my arms from nightmares she didn’t even remember the next morning. She had no idea I burst in our room at night. She had no idea she crawled right into my arms.

It was just more shit I didn’t tell her.

I drove my fist into Drew’s face. I felt his skin split and saw the blood run. In the process of our struggle, we’d knocked down all the barstools and rattled a couple pictures hanging on the walls.

I drew back my fist to hit him again, no longer in control, no longer caring the damage I inflicted.

“Braeden!” Ivy shrieked, terrified.

My fist froze in midair, and I looked over my shoulder.

“Stop!” She rushed into the room, horror on her face.

Drew took advantage of my distraction and rolled, pinning me beneath him. His fist buried into my side, and I grunted but then locked my arms around him to throw him off.

“Don’t hurt him!” she pleaded, tears in her voice.

I let out a curse and rolled. Drew landed on his back, his chest heaving. I jumped up and wiped at my still-bleeding lip.

“Oh my goodness!” She rushed forward. “You’re bleeding!”

“I’m fine.”

“Oh, your face,” she crooned and lifted her hand to the tingling spot near my eye.

I held my breath. Was she actually going to touch me? Was that worry in her eyes?

Drew groaned from the floor. “I’m bleeding too!” he whined.

Ivy dropped her hand and went to his side. “You’re an idiot. What the hell did you think you were doing coming down here at him like that?”

“Deserved it,” he mumbled, his lip already twice its normal size.

“I told you it wasn’t his fault.”

“You told him?” I asked, still dabbing at my lip.

She glanced up. “Yes.”

I nodded. I was fine with it. She could tell whoever she wanted. But I wasn’t. That was her call.

Drew groaned like a damn pansy, and I rolled my eyes. I went to the freezer and pulled out a bag of peas. They must have been in there for ice pack purposes, ‘cause no one in this house ate peas.

I threw them at Drew and they smacked him in the stomach. Ivy gave me a hard look, and I stared back, keeping my face stony.

“Go sit down,” she told her brother, disapproval in her tone. I watched her walk to the freezer and pull out an actual ice pack.

It was blue and flexible. She wrapped a kitchen towel around it and then crossed to me.

“Does it hurt?” she asked, pressing it to my cheek.

“No.”

“Liar!” Drew yelled.

I smirked. “I’m used to taking hits. Unlike some people.”

Ivy rolled her eyes but was gentle when she lifted the ice and looked at the area. “Hold this one there.”

“What if I want you to?” I said so low only she could hear.

“Sometimes we don’t get what we want,” she said equally as quiet.

I took the ice and held it to my face.

She picked up another towel, wet it, and then started dabbing my lip. It burned like hell.

“I’m sorry he took this out on you.”

I shrugged. “I can handle it.”

She pulled the towel back and stared up at me. Her eyes were bloodshot and not nearly as vivid as usual.

“You look like shit.” Her voice was blunt.

“So do you.”

“How come he gets a real ice pack and I get peas?” Drew whined.

“Would you prefer carrots?” I quipped.

“You’re an asshole. My sister could do way better than you.”

It stung. Probably because it was true.

Ivy gasped and turned away from me. “Andrew Wayne Forrester!”

I smirked at him behind her back. Dude’s middle name was Wayne. “You a cowboy in another life?”

He jerked up from the table, the chair clattering to the floor behind him. Ivy jumped, and I reacted, sliding her effortlessly behind me.

“It’s like you want me to come at you again,” Drew growled.

I held out my arms in invite.

“Shut it right now!” Ivy yelled. “Or I’ll punch you both!”

“Damn, sis. Why you gotta be so violent?” Drew asked.

It was kinda funny and my lips twitched. Ivy sighed like all her patience was gone, and for one brief second, Drew and I shared a look. A second of truce.

But then it was over.

“Why don’t I give you guys some time?” I said, pulling the ice away from my face and dropping it onto the table in front of him. “Then you can bad mouth me some more in the privacy of
my
house.”

I walked out of the kitchen and into the living room.

Ivy rushed after me. It kinda pissed me off. Now she wanted to talk? Now she wanted to make sure I was okay?

“Braeden, you don’t have to leave.”

“It’s cool,” I said, like it was no big deal. “I could use a break anyway.”

She didn’t say anything else. She just stood rooted in place.

I left without looking back.

I might have acted like it was no big deal, but inside…

Inside was a different story.

Ivy

He left and didn’t even look back.

I yelled at him.

I blamed him.

My brother punched him, made him bleed.

He insulted him.

Braeden took it all. He didn’t say a word.

He was doing all this for me while I hid in my room.

I was being selfish.

No more.

Braeden

I sent out a text.
I need you.

Hours after I stomped out of the house, I walked back in. The kitchen stools were cleaned up; everything was in place. No evidence of a punching match between Drew and me remained.

I went upstairs and took a shower, my muscles sore from the way I’d broken them down at the gym. Even still, it felt good to work out that hard. I needed it. I felt a lot less volatile than I had just hours before.

Since all my clothes were in the bedroom and the ones I had on were way too ripe to put back on, I wrapped a towel around my waist and quietly opened the bedroom door.

Prada was curled up on her side against Ivy, who made a slight bump in the center of the bed. She was sleeping, so I moved around in the closet as quiet as I could until I found a pair of basketball shorts and a T-shirt.

Back out in the bedroom, I glanced back at Ivy, creeping a little closer to the bed. Prada rolled onto her back and showed me her belly. I smiled and scratched her stomach for a few minutes.

The mess I made the night Ivy found out was cleaned up. All the things I’d shoved onto the floor were back on the dresser, minus a couple picture frames and a clock that had all shattered on impact.

There was a candle lit on my side of the bed, making the room smell like vanilla and cinnamon. I couldn’t help but notice she’d showered and blown out her hair. She was wearing something other than the same thing she’d been living in the past four days.

I guess Drew’s insults hit home.

I wondered what they talked about after I left. He probably tried to convince her to go home with him. Maybe he would be good for her, especially if she decided she couldn’t forgive me.

I was glad she had someone; at least she wouldn’t be alone.

I closed the door quietly behind me and went downstairs. I stared at the beer for a long time but then grabbed a bottle of water and drained it instead.

I flipped through the TV channels without much interest and then glanced at the clock. It was late and I was tired. Instead of lying down on the couch and passing out, I went upstairs.

I sat down outside Ivy’s bedroom door and leaned against the wall. It had become a routine. For the past four nights, this was where I spent my time. It would have been a lot more comfortable on the couch, or hell, before Drew got here, the guest room.

But those places were too far away.

Ivy was having nightmares. I needed to be close by.

I exhaled slowly, rested my head against the doorjamb, and shut my eyes. The workout drained me, and I fell asleep easily for the first time in a long while.

I don’t know what caused me to wake. Maybe I heard the alarm code being keyed in. Or maybe it was the fact he was staring at me in my sleep.

I jerked up off the wall like someone blew an air horn in my ear. Romeo was standing above me, staring down with a concerned look on his face. He looked tired. Like a guy who’d been driving several hours without stopping.

“What the fuck are you sleeping in the hallway for?”

“You came,” I said, my voice still thick with sleep.

“You texted.” So simple but it meant so much.

“Was Rim pissed?”

“Of course not!” she said, appearing at the top of the stairs almost out of nowhere.

Romeo grinned. “Didn’t think she’d let me come home without her, did ya?”

“My BBFL needed me.” Her eyes found me on the floor and concern darkened them.

“He texted me, Smalls.” Romeo reminded her.

“He probably got the phone numbers confused,” Rimmel muttered.

“Or maybe he just wanted some manly advice instead of feeling like he was being interviewed for Doctor Phil,” he teased.

“Roman Anderson, if everyone wasn’t asleep in this house, I’d kick you so hard you’d scream!”

“Now, baby, that’s just mean.”

Man, I’d missed them. And they also made me realize just how much I missed Ivy. I missed tossing insults at her and getting them right back.

Rimmel snorted and pinned me with a stare. “Why are you sleeping in the hallway?”

“Ivy kicked me out of the room.”

“See? It’s man business, babe. Take your cute ass to bed. I’ll be in later,” Romeo told her.

I stood and pulled her in for a hug. She really hugged me back. I liked it. “Thanks for being here, sis,” I whispered in her ear.

“Love you,” she whispered back.

After she disappeared into their bedroom, Romeo motioned for me to follow him downstairs.

“We got a couch, you know,” he said, dropping on it and propping his feet on the coffee table. Rimmel and Ivy spent an entire weekend painting it and two side tables white.

I was pretty sure if either one of them saw his feet and shoes on it, they’d give him a lecture.

Naturally, I sat down and put my feet on it too.

“She has nightmares, dude. I need to be close.”

“Can’t say I was surprised when I got your text. Shit’s been going on with you for a while.”

“It’s not really my shit to tell.”

“Coulda fooled me.”

He was right. I might not have been the one to get raped, but I was still dealing with the fallout. I needed someone to talk to. I couldn’t just keep being quiet. And I texted him. He came. It took him hours to get here, which meant he left right after I texted. I had no idea what kind of inconvenience this was on him, but he didn’t even mention it.

I wasn’t going to refuse to tell him now. He showed up. I had to put up.

Romeo waited me out while I struggled internally, folding his arms across his chest, leaning his head back, and closing his eyes.

“Zach raped Ivy.”

Romeo’s entire body went dead still. One eye opened. Then the other. He turned his head and stared at me. “The fuck you just say?”

I nodded, grim. “The night he broke into Rim’s laptop. Ivy didn’t sleep with him because she was drunk. He drugged her and then he raped her.”

He jackknifed up and his feet hit the floor. The hard set to his jaw and the pissed-off glint in his eye wasn’t unfamiliar. I knew that’s exactly how I looked when I found out about it too.

“She’s been carrying this around all this time,” he muttered. “She didn’t say—”

“She didn’t know.” I cut him off. Before he could ask for an explanation, I told him about the pictures, how I found out and never told anyone.

He rubbed a hand over the back of his head and then down his face. “You’ve known for six months?” he echoed, totally shocked by it all.

“I hoped I’d never have to tell anyone.”

He let out a string of curses. “I had no idea. I’m sorry, man. I should have been here. You’ve been dealing alone.”

“Ivy just found out.” I quickly explained about how she had a flashback and I admitted it all. I left out the part about the panties because that opened up too many other questions.

“If he wasn’t locked up,” Romeo swore.

“I’d have already killed him.” I finished, dead calm and serious.

He stared at me. I stared back. He nodded.

“So what can I do?” His voice still held a note of shock.

“I don’t think there’s anything anyone can do. I was just going stir crazy, you know? It’s been four days of silence, silence and listening to her cry. She’s pissed at me. I’m not sure she’s gonna be able to forgive me.”

He waved away my words. “You did the right thing.”

I don’t know why, but his words stunned me almost as much as learning what really happened. “You think so?”

“Hells yeah. If I had been in your shoes, I’d have done the same thing. We gotta protect them.”

I let out an uneven breath. All this time, I thought he would tell me what a dumbass I was. I honestly thought Romeo wouldn’t have done the same.

I felt somehow validated.

A partial weight lifted off me, and I settled back into the couch, feeling slightly lighter than before.

My newfound peace was very short-lived.

Ivy’s scream cut through the house. I jumped up off the couch and rushed up the stairs.