Rocky Mountain Rebel

Chapter Twenty

Joel didn’t say a word. He’d watched the dance progress and wondered what the hell the girls were up to until he couldn’t hold back any longer.

Not only was he achingly hard, he was fucking pissed off. Vicki didn’t seem to get the idea of this whole deal between them, and like hell was she going to fool around with anyone, guy or girl, while they were a couple.

Possessiveness had never been an issue for him before, but right now he wanted to stamp her with his brand and make it abundantly clear the only person doing any touching, kissing or otherwise, would be him.

Out of the corner of his eye he spotted Travis approaching Ashley, but he had more important things to do than pay attention to his brother. He lifted Vicki into the air and spun her, a little squeal escaping her lips.

Her lashes fluttered for a moment before she glanced away.

“Hell no, you don’t get to pretend you didn’t do that on purpose. Look at me.”

Vicki lifted her gaze until her eyes were just visible through her lashes, her chin still tucked down.

Going to play that game, was she? Fine, he could give her what she needed as well as teach her a lesson even if she continued the shy schoolgirl ploy. “Wrap your legs around my waist,” he ordered.

Vicki moved quickly, her hands on his shoulders clutching tighter as he jogged to the right of the fire where the rock face showed through the hillside. He pressed her back to the smooth surface, and her eyes popped wide as he ground his erection over her clit.

“Joel, I—”

He swallowed her excuses. As he ravished her mouth, the faint taste of another person made him want to mark Vicki five ways to Sunday. He tugged her coat aside at the waistline and snuck his hand upward. Naked breast filled his palm and he let his growl of satisfaction escape.

He wasn’t done kissing her, but needed more. He dragged their mouths apart, hoisted her higher in the air. Vicki caught hold of his head, balancing herself as he shoved up her shirt and in one move took her nipple into his mouth.

“Oh God, Joel.” Vicki fisted her fingers, pulling his hair. She wasn’t hauling him off her, but keeping him close.

He sucked hard, laving his tongue over her nipple until she whimpered. Slow wasn’t happening, not tonight. Joel broke off, lowered her feet to the dirt and reached for her zipper. “Off. Get them off.”

Vicki had her lower lip between her teeth. “Strip?”

He squeezed her ass. “Right here, right fucking now.”

She lowered her zipper, glancing over his shoulder.

“Don’t look at anyone but me.” Joel yanked one side of her jeans down, panties going with it. The heat off her body made something inside crack. “I’m the only one you need to worry about, got it? Stop thinking about the others and focus on us. On me. I’m the one who’s going to fuck you until you can’t walk.”

That wide-eyed-doe look did something to him. For a split second he worried he’d gone too far before he noticed her breathing had kicked up a notch, and she was clutching his sweater to keep him close, not push him away.

Everything else vanished but the driving need to be inside her.

He whipped a condom out of his pocket and pressed it to her palm. Vicki swallowed, crowded as she was between his body and the rocky outcrop. Joel slammed down his zipper and hauled out his cock, the erect length hard and more than ready.

Condom wrapper abandoned to the ground, he rolled the latex on before focusing his attention on his now-silent girlfriend.

She had one leg still in her jeans, the other bare. He was fully dressed but for his cock.

“You ready for me?” Joel smoothed his fingers along her sex, slipping through the folds and finding what he’d hoped. “You’re good and turned on, aren’t you?”

“God, yes.”

She leaned her head back on the rock and thrust her hips toward him, as if she couldn’t get enough. He pressed his finger into her core and she sucked in air.

Joel growled. “You like this a lot. The idea of being fucked right out in the open.”

He sure the hell did. He spread her on a second digit, then a third while she panted lightly, her fingers digging into his shoulders even through the layers he wore.

He slipped his fingers from her heat, hoisted her in the air, and lined them up, his cock nudging her sex. He settled her shoulders against the rock wall.

Their eyes met and he drove deep.

The cry of pleasure from her lips only made it easier to continue, pumping into her frantically, thrusting like a mad man. The fabric from her empty jean leg dangled toward the ground, flapping as they moved. Vicki had her eyes closed, sheer ecstasy on her face.

Everything leading up to this moment meant Joel teetered on a thread. His climax built like pressure behind a dam, balls tightening, electric shocks sliding along his spine. He had less than a dozen strokes left before he’d lose it.

A slight adjustment allowed him to squeeze his hand between their bodies all the way down to her clit. She gasped when he touched her, eyes flying open to stare, breathless, as he pinched the sensitive nub.

Another thrust.

Another.

Vicki squeezed her legs tighter around him, pulling in time with his thrusts and driving his cock deeper. It felt so damn good he forgot everything except the need to make her come before he did. Had to be soon because, dammit, he wasn’t going to last.

Another stroke, harder to her clit.

Another thrust, deeper this time as he angled his hips. Vicki moaned sweetly, a long, low noise edging higher. Joel worked her harder, and her body quivered under him, nearly there…nearly there…

She jerked hard enough he almost lost his balance. He did lose his control. Climax spilling out, balls emptying so hard his legs went rubbery.

Vicki gasped as he thrust a couple more times, her passage so tight around him he couldn’t bear to leave.

Until they both stopped shaking, Joel leaned into her, supporting them with the meager energy left in his lower limbs. Cold air swirled around them, and he stroked her naked leg where it rested over his hip, warming her with his palm.

“Hmm, that feels nice.” Vicki whispered the words, her breathing nearly back to normal. “Joel?”

He leaned his shoulders away just enough to see her face. “Yeah?”

She stroked his cheek and smiled contentedly. “I liked that. Totally hot.”

So had he, but he hadn’t forgotten why he’d been insane. Frantic sex had eased his anger, and the way she burrowed in against his neck, he didn’t think she was pissed off at all he’d been a demanding asshole this time around.

Which was good, because he’d enjoyed the sex a lot. But this wasn’t the end, it was the beginning.

He wasn’t about to start the next step now, with his cock still embedded in her body, but once they were back to civilization, they were going to have a long-postponed conversation. About her disappearance the days before, the fuck-it-all attitude she’d had tonight. Hell, even dig a little deeper into a few other areas that up to now they’d avoided in the good old time they’d been having while hanging out.

Screw going slow. It was past time for some secrets to be shared.

Vicki accepted the cup of hot chocolate from Joel, staring around her in amazement.

He hadn’t taken her home after they’d driven back to the ranch house and dropped off Ashley and Travis. Well, not true. He’d taken her home and told her to pack a bag, then he’d hustled her out the door and into his truck. Driving into the mountains for an hour in the deepening black was a little like moving into a fantasy world.

The heat under her fingers was the only solid, non-confusing part, so she focused on it. A few sips at a time to center herself before she had to break the silence.

The tiny cabin had a small counter on one wall, the door to a bathroom on another, and the rest of the room was pretty much taken up with bed. This little corner she’d claimed was right in front of the wood-burning fireplace Joel had gotten going only moments after ushering her in the door.

The entire evening had bordered on the fantastic, and she was still reeling.

“How did you set this up so quickly?” She stroked the carpet under her fingers, luxuriating in the softness.

“Friend of the family. We have a standing invitation. I checked the website, and it wasn’t booked for the next couple nights, so it’s ours.”

Vicki shifted position as Joel lowered himself to the floor, his blue eyes catching hold of hers and not letting go.

She wasn’t sure why they were there, but that expression he wore scared her a little. “It’s pretty, but I don’t understand why we took off so fast.”

Joel leaned back on the foot of the bed, stretching his legs in front of him. “We need to talk, and there was a definite lack of places we could be uninterrupted. My place was out. Hope could stop in at any time at your new place.”

“Forget the barn, since everyone we know finds us there eventually, right?”

He smiled at her joke. “Yeah…”

He wanted to talk. Vicki held herself very still. She didn’t think he’d haul her all the way out to a cabin to tell her he’d had enough of their little game. He’d been really pissed off when she’d…it seemed unreal now…kissed Ashley, but his anger had vanished after they’d had the incredible sex.

Vicki waited. No way was she going to open up the conversation without knowing what he was looking for. She still trusted him. There was no way she would have come with him for the night if she didn’t.

Although she quickly shoved a few reinforcement bricks into the wall she had to maintain around her heart.

He didn’t keep her on tenterhooks for long. Reached over and plucked the cup from her hand and put it to the side. When he kept hold of her fingers and caressed them, she wanted to snatch her hands back because his touch was so tender she was going to come apart.

Joel cleared his throat. “I’m a stupid shit.”

She couldn’t help it. Vicki burst out laughing. “That’s not what I expected you to say.”

“It’s true, though.” His thumb stroked the back of her hand as he carried on. “I understand more why, for the past few years, Blake and Daniel have told me I’m too young to grasp what’s going on. Why Matt shakes his head and pokes at me that some day when I grow up things will make more sense. I’m a shit because all the time we’ve been together I’ve been far more focused on me. Like some typical kid whose world is a ten-foot space, and they’re the center of the fucking universe.”

Whoa. She sure hadn’t expected him to start ragging on himself. “We’re young. Aren’t we supposed to be a little selfish?”

Joel shook his head. “No excuses. I bet you haven’t had a real chance to be young for a lot longer than is right.”

She lowered her gaze, unable to meet his anymore. She shrugged. “It’s just the way it is.”

Joel lifted her chin, his fingers gentle on her skin. “Over the past couple months, I’ve learned things about you, and your life, and while I’m growing up, I’ve still been sliding. So I want you to know. The rest of the time we’re together, I’m going to do it right.”

She wasn’t sure what he thought he’d been doing wrong. “I’m lost…”

“We got a three-part deal, right? You getting happy around horses, changing our reputations, and learning about sex.”

“We’re doing all those things.” Vicki edged closer, poking him on the chest. “It’s not your fault I jammed out of the horse thing. We’ll move ahead, there’s still time. And the sex, holy hell, you’ve been awesome in teaching me about that. And you said it yourself, people are seeing us as a couple, that’s good, right?”

Joel nodded. “It is, but it’s not enough. You wanted to know what it’s like to have a boyfriend, and I wanted a girlfriend, and hell if I didn’t fuck that part up.”

Nope. “This is going in one ear and out the other. What have you mucked up so bad, because I can’t see it.”

Joel made a face. “That’s because you don’t know any better, but I do. So here’s my commitment. I’m going to take care of you like I should be, and hopefully that means you’ll notice a difference, deal?”

Vicki hesitated. The only thing she saw coming from him giving her more was more trouble. She’d get even further attached to the Coleman clan, and yet not truly belong.

“It’s not real, though, Joel. We’re just doing this until the spring.”

“There’s a good example of what I mean. Who says this isn’t real? We’re friends, and friends help each other.” He paused, regrouped. “We are friends, right?”

Oh hell. Vicki stopped completely and thought it through. There was only one possible answer. “Of course we are.”

Joel eased back and nodded. “Good. Then there’s something I need to know, as one friend to another. What happened with Eric Tell?”

Vicki wondered if running to the bathroom and hiding was an option.

Joel raised a brow. “I can tell you the version I got if that helps, and you fill in the blanks. Rumour says you two slept together during his senior year, which I know is total bullshit. You hate his guts, that much is obvious, but the rest I don’t get.”

He had her hand again, stroking it as if attempting to settle her. The entire evening blurred together until she realized she had two options.

She either went forward from this moment and trusted Joel completely, or she didn’t. Not sharing with him meant all her secrets stayed hidden, but it also meant all the barriers she’d put up stayed up. For once in her life she longed to be completely honest with someone. To be able to trust them and let them in.

Joel had been nothing but wonderful, and she ached so hard to let go of her walls, it was impossible to resist.

Maybe she’d regret this. Maybe she was asking for more pain like she’d felt the previous week, but she had to know if it was possible to have a real friend.

Vicki took a deep breath, hoping this wasn’t going to change her world in ways she’d come to regret.

“Before I tell you about Eric, you tell me something. Tell me about my family, and don’t try to be polite and save my tender feelings. Because the two things are connected.”

He looked rather uncomfortable for a moment. “Again, I know less details and more rumours. Your mom…” she glared until he finished his sentence, “…she’s got a new friend every now and again. Older men who take care of her for a while before she switches.”

“She’s been doing it her entire life as far as I know, which is why me, Lynn and Sarah have three different fathers.”

Joel shook his head. “Damn.”

“Go on.”

He nodded. “Sarah…takes after your ma.”

Vicki let out a guffaw. “Now, that’s a nice way to put it.”

“Lynn. I never heard much about Lynn. She moved to Edmonton right after high school, right?”

She nodded. “And me?”

Joel sighed. “You dropped out of school the same summer Lynn left, moved out on your own.”

“And slept with half the town.”

Denial came instantly. “Actually, once you left school, you fell off the radar. I mean, the Hansol name got used a lot, but not yours specifically.”

What she figured. “It’s so awesome that this town has been giving me hell for years completely based on two members of the family.”

“Eric—what happened?” he prodded again.

God, it hurt to share even now. “Eric did sleep with a Hansol girl, only it was Lynn.”

Joel paused, stiff with shock.

“I overheard the senior guys talking about having one of those stupid bets. How many girls they could sleep with before graduation. You know, the contests that aren’t supposed to happen, but do.”

Anger was rising on Joel’s face. “Go on.”

“I was in the Home-Ec room and heard them in the hall boasting about conquests, reducing sex to sheer numbers. I was disgusted at the time, but when I got home I discovered it was worse than I’d imagined because Lynn was all excited to tell me about her new boyfriend. Seems Eric Tell realized my sweet sister was about as good a target as he could find.”

Oh Lord, here was the moment. She lifted her eyes to Joel’s. “Lynn’s got Asperger’s. She’s not bad, but it means there are certain things she just doesn’t get. She’s borderline on the spectrum, so my mom was never forced to get her real help during school. It was too much bother to fill in paperwork and such. Any teachers who made a comment were poo-pooed, and since Lynn got passing marks, they had no choice but to move her forward year after year. It’s the social side she doesn’t get.”

“Like knowing how to act with others?”

“Exactly.” Vicki wrapped her arms around her legs. “A routine helps, which is why I used to haul her into Home-Ec every lunch break for some quiet time. Having a boyfriend was just a cool thing. Everyone else in high school talked about wanting a boyfriend. When Eric told her that’s what he was, she was thrilled. When I found out what he’d done, I went a little crazy. Raced down to the football field and stormed into the changing room.”

“Oh hell, that would have been incredible to see.”

“Yeah, well once the shouting and running for towels was over, I marched up and got in his face. Told him he was an asshole, and that I didn’t appreciate being used for some kind of bet. That if he’d wanted to sleep with me once and be done, he should have been man enough to just tell me.”

A frown creased Joel’s forehead. “Wait, you said he slept with you?”

She nodded. “Lynn didn’t need the reputation of being another of the loose Hansol girls, and she didn’t need any other assholes in the school realizing how her mind works. She’s fanatical about her friends, Joel. Will do anything for them, anything they ask at all, even if it’s not in her best interest. She didn’t understand, and like all the years before, I did what I had to do to protect her.”

“And he just agreed with you? Didn’t mention Lynn at all?”

“The rest of the guys starting hooting and cheering him, you know like he was some great hero or something. Yeah, he wasn’t going to argue at that moment. Just took their adoration and trampled me underfoot.”

“So you lost your reputation to save hers.”

“Yeah.” Fear hovered, and she fought it down. She had to trust him. “This is why you can’t tell anyone the truth. I know Lynn is safely away, but I don’t ever want this discussed in front of her. I don’t want him connected with her in any way.”

He was nodding but still staring into the fire. “Something doesn’t make sense. Eric knew you’d lied, and being the kind of ass that he is, why didn’t he try holding this over your head? He knows it was Lynn…”

Vicki paused. “Well, first he kept quiet because he was in the hospital with a concussion and a broken arm.”

It was clear Joel wasn’t too choked up about Eric getting hurt. “That part is true? Damn, you really did beat him up.”

She wished she had. It would have been more satisfying than the truth. “He was standing on a wet floor, clutching a towel around his waist. When I went to kick him in the nuts he slipped and did it to himself. Of course, rumours twisted fast enough into me attacking him out of the blue.”

Anger flared in Joel’s eyes. “Needs to have his balls removed.”

“I’ve had many a pleasant daydream about that.” She swallowed. “The other reason he’s never said anything is I have two birth certificates.”

Confusion was written all over him.

Vicki dove back into her explanation. “With all the places my mom lived before hauling us to Rocky, she was constantly losing things. I was born somewhere in rural Saskatchewan, but when she got here and had to register me for school, she applied for a new copy. Only what she got wasn’t a copy, it’s a different version. Maybe she messed with my age to get me into some free childcare program, or someone in the system might have made a typo, I don’t know for sure. But I found both copies, so I have two.”

“How does that keep Eric from telling about Lynn?”

Vicki slowed. “All the guys heard him acknowledge he slept with me. Once I had that, I had him trapped. I showed him my birth certificate, the second one that I keep hidden. It says I’m three years younger than he expected, which would have meant he slept with a minor. It doesn’t matter if me being that much younger is believable or not, it’s a legal document and would be enough to get him a record, if not jail time, even now.”

She had him floored. Joel blinked hard and shook his head. “Whoa. Okay, remind me never to piss you off.”

“It wasn’t about me. The deal I offered was he leaves Lynn alone. No comments, no nothing about her, and I keep my mouth shut. He goes after her in any way, I go after him.” Vicki stared into the fire, clutching her legs as she waded through to the end. “For years he’s pushed the limits. I take the cracks about myself, and Sarah and Mom. Hell, they made their bed, they can lie in it. But Lynn is off limits.”

“He’s a bastard through and through for even starting this war between you. Was Lynn okay?” He radiated fury, and something about his anger helped defuse hers. Like she finally had someone to share the load with. He rested a hand on her arm and she caught his fingers.

“She is now. I contacted social services and got them to listen. Lynn got accepted into a group home, and she’s safe. No chance of Sarah’s leftovers strolling down the hall and making a move on us.”

His fingers tightened around hers to the point of pain as he reacted to that one. “No. Fucking. Way.”

“Why do you think I moved out when I did? Lynn was gone, so I left as well. I was sick and tired of waking up with strange men hovering, wondering if they dared take a try.” Vicki twisted her back to the sidewall so she could look at him. This sharing was killing her, but now that she’d started she couldn’t seem to stop. “I had to drop out of school. Moving out meant getting a place of my own, and paying rent became a priority. A job and going to school don’t mix very easily. Not when you’re sixteen and earning minimum wage.”

“Plus getting set upon by small-town bigots and even your own family.” Joel took a deep breath, and damn if he didn’t wipe his eyes.

God, she really was going to lose it now.

He took her to bed and cuddled her. His tenderness was what she needed. Nothing more to explain, nothing to admit or confess. Just the honest truth out there.

She lay nestled against him with her head resting on his chest for the longest time. Joel ran his fingers through her hair as she relaxed off the adrenaline high.

He spoke softly as he continued to care for her. “I’m so sorry you’ve been alone and dealing with this. You are incredible. I hope you know that. No matter what uncaring words people have tossed your way over the years, the truth is you were real family to Lynn, and she’s lucky to have you.”

She nodded. “Thanks.”

A couple more minutes passed and he laughed. “Okay, this might sound stupid, but how old are you?”

“I’m pretty sure the older birth certificate is right, Joel. The other one is only good as a threat over Eric. At thirteen I could have consensual sex with a fifteen year old, but he was eighteen. It’s enough.”

Joel shook his head. “I’ll say it again, you’re amazing.”

She didn’t feel amazing, she felt exhausted. “Sharing that took a lot out of me. I’ve never told anyone before.”

“I’m glad you told me.” Joel rolled her to vertical and kissed her cheek briefly. “Come on, let’s crash for the night. We can do more talking in the morning.”

Vicki fought the yawn that wanted to overwhelm her. “And other things?”

“Maybe…” Joel tapped her on the butt toward the bathroom. “Hey, when is your birthday for real?”

“April fourteenth. You can give me a pony ride,” she joked.

Joel grinned. Vicki turned away, her load lighter than she’d carried for a long, long time.