Since You've Been Gone Page 9

  “Be cool, little bro,” Jake murmured.

  Austin didn’t answer. He simply turned to Mari and said, “I think I’m ready to call it a night.”

  Masking her disappointment, she offered a quick nod. “No problem.”

  She tried to look on the bright side, which was that Austin had stuck it out for much longer than she’d expected. For several hours, in fact, and he’d even been the one to cut the first piece of chocolate cake and hand it to his mother. So all in all, she couldn’t complain that they were leaving, even though she would have liked to stay and chat with everyone a while longer.

  They said their goodbyes to the folks milling on the grass, then headed for the deck. Wariness trickled along Mari’s spine as the two of them ascended the wide stairs. Austin’s body language became rigid and detached the closer they got to his mother and uncle.

  Rice Bishop looked startled as hell when he spotted them. “Austin! I didn’t realize you were home.”

  “I just got in tonight,” Austin said coolly.

  Discomfort creased the older man’s face. “Ah. Well. It’s good to see you.”

  Austin didn’t answer. After a beat, he glanced at his mother and said, “Mari and I are taking off now.”

  Unlike Mari, Della didn’t bother hiding her disappointment. “Oh. All right.”

  “It’s been a long day of driving for us,” Austin reminded her. “But I’ll see you tomorrow morning, remember?”

  A hopeful smile lifted his mother’s lips. “Yes, we’ll see each other tomorrow. Thanks again for my gift, sweetie.”

  “You’re welcome.” Completely ignoring his uncle, Austin leaned in to give Della a quick kiss on the cheek. “Happy birthday, Mom.”

  “Happy birthday,” Mari echoed. “And thank you so much for inviting me into your home.”

  Impulsively, she gave Della a big hug, then felt silly for doing it, but the older woman looked touched by the gesture.

  Austin didn’t utter another word to Rice, but he did nod and grunt out what might have been classified as a goodbye. Then he took Mari’s hand and the two of them left the party.

  “That wasn’t so bad,” Mari remarked after she’d settled in the passenger seat and buckled up her seatbelt.

  Austin drove away from his mother’s house, a dark look clouding his eyes. “It was all right.”

  She hesitated, then decided not to bite her tongue. “Seeing your uncle wasn’t exactly fun, huh?”

  “Nope.” His profile revealed a jaw so hard it was starting to twitch.

  “He really hasn’t tried to talk to you about all this? This whole year?”

  “Not even once.”

  “I wonder why.” She paused. “Is it okay if I ask you something?”

  “We both know you’re going to ask it anyway, so why bother making sure if it’s okay first?”

  “True.” She paused again. “Why is it so easy for you to act civil toward your mom, and actually engage in conversation with her, but you can’t do the same with Rice?”

  Austin’s jaw became impossibly stiffer. “First of all, it’s not easy for me to be around my mom, not by a longshot. And secondly, it’s hard to be civil to him when he’s deliberately going out of his way to avoid the fucking elephant in the room.”

  “I get that, but it seems like you’re at least willing to work things out with Della. Nothing’s stopping you from calling Rice and bringing up the subject yourself. But you’re not doing that—why not? Why aren’t you trying to make it right with your uncle too?”

  “I…” He trailed off for a moment, and then a helpless note entered his voice “I don’t know. I just can’t.”

  Mari reached across the center console and stroked the beard growth on his cheek. “Everything will be okay, you know that, right?”

  “I hope so,” he said roughly.

  They reached an empty intersection, where Austin started to make a right turn but at the last second abruptly executed a sharp left that made Mari slide in her seat.

  She was torn between laughing and sighing. “Let me guess. Another spontaneous detour.”

  His lips curved in a smile. “Yup.”

  It was much too dark to see out the window, but Austin seemed to know exactly where he was going. The paved road they were on narrowed and turned to gravel, then sloped upward and became dirt. The trees thickened as the road took them on a twisty, winding path whose destination Mari didn’t bother questioning. She’d find out soon enough where they were going, and besides, the anticipation was half the fun.

  Five minutes later, the headlights illuminated a tiny clearing up ahead. As Austin pulled right up to the edge and killed the engine, Mari gazed out the windshield and admired the view. From their perch on the top of the small bluff, she could see the shadowy backdrop of the mountains, the twinkling lights of houses, the red taillights of cars whizzing along the highway beyond the town of Paradise.

  “What a pretty view,” she said softly.

  Austin chuckled. “You think everything about Paradise is pretty.” He paused. “But you’re right. The view rocks.”

  “So is this where you used to bring your girlfriends back in the day?” she teased. “You know, for necking purposes?”

  He rolled his eyes. “I did bring my girlfriend here, actually. But we didn’t neck.”

  “No?” She arched a brow.

  The naughty grin he flashed her made her pulse speed up. “No. We fucked.”

  “Such language.” She feigned disapproval, but truth was, her thighs squeezed involuntarily at the thought of Austin having sex up here.

  “Oh hush, you love my dirty language.”

  She broke out in a grin of her own. “Yeah, I totally do.”

  They sat there for several moments, staring out at the gorgeous panorama beyond the windshield.

  “I do know why,” he blurted out.

  She jerked at the sudden outburst. “Huh?”

  Looking sheepish, Austin lowered his voice. “I do know why I can’t make it right with Rice.”

  Mari waited for him to continue, but he went quiet again.

  “Hey, talk to me,” she urged.

  With a weary exhale, he undid his seatbelt and shifted around to look at her. “It’s just…my mom…she kept this secret, yeah, but at least she was there for me, you know what I mean? She was present in my life. She was supportive and understanding and she tried so hard to shield us from my dad’s drinking—” Frustration creased his face “I mean, Henry’s drinking.”

  “The man raised you, Austin. You can still call him Dad.”

  “I guess.” His throat bobbed as he swallowed. “Anyway, no matter how pissed I am right now, I can’t deny that she was a good mother. She loved us, and she tried to give us a normal life even though Dad was drunk all the time. So yeah, she lied about my father, but it wasn’t like she did a bad job raising me. But Rice…”

  Austin’s mouth twisted into a scowl. “He was the fun, supportive uncle we couldn’t wait to hang out with. He came to all my football games, he helped me master algebra in tenth grade. But it wasn’t a daily thing, or even a weekly thing. He came by only when it suited him.” The scowl deepened. “I can’t help but imagine how much better my life would’ve been if I had a father like him around all the time.”

  “Do you blame him for not coming forward and claiming you as his son?”

  Austin mulled over the question for a long time, then released an angry curse. “Yeah, I do blame him. I know it wouldn’t have been an ideal situation. It would’ve caused a shit-ton of tension between him and Henry, confused my brothers, upset my mother, but you know what? At least I would have had a father. A real one, and not a lousy drunk who fucked anything with a skirt. But instead, Rice just stood on the sidelines and pretended to be the fun uncle.”

  Mari touched his face again, tracing the hard line of his jaw with her fingertips in a soothing motion.

  “So I guess that’s why I can’t make the same effort with him that I give my mom
.”

  “I understand,” she said quietly.

  “You do?”

  “I really do.”

  He cast a faint smile in her direction. “You know, I think I need to send that junkyard owner a fruit basket or something.”

  Mari laughed. “Why?”

  “Because if he hadn’t sold you that piece of shit Toyota, it wouldn’t have broken down, I wouldn’t have stopped to help you, and we wouldn’t be sitting in this car right now, about to neck.”

  She raised both eyebrows. “We’re about to neck, huh?”

  “Or we can fuck,” he said magnanimously. “Your call.”

  Another laugh flew out. “Hmmm, so I get to choose between necking and fucking.” She slanted her head, pretending to think it over.

  “Well?”

  Rather than answer with words, she decided to use actions—by climbing right into his lap and unzipping his khakis.

  “I like where you’re going with this,” Austin said with a nod of approval.

  “I thought you would.”

  She leaned in and kissed him, while at the same time reaching underneath his boxers to grasp his cock. Austin moaned into her mouth and thrust into her hand, already thick and erect. It really was an ego boost, how fast he got hard for her.

  She stroked his erection and teased the head, dipping a fingertip in the dewy drop pooling at his tip and rubbing it along his hard length.

  Austin’s hands weren’t idle. He promptly tugged on the bodice of her scoop-neck dress and exposed her bikini bra. When he pushed the cotton triangles aside and pinched her nipples, Mari sighed in pleasure.

  “I love the way you touch me,” she murmured.

  “I love touching you.”

  He lovingly cupped her breasts, then brought one to his waiting mouth. Heat enveloped her flesh and sent a streak of desire straight down to her clit. As Austin captured her nipple between his teeth and nibbled gently, she wrapped her fist around his cock and pumped him faster.

  The air in the car got hotter, thick with excitement. Mari squirmed in his lap as he teased her breasts with his mouth and tongue. Her breathing grew labored, her core aching so badly she released his cock and began grinding her lower body against it.

  “Christ, I need to be inside you,” Austin choked out, one large hand coming out to slide beneath her dress.

  Mari gasped when he shoved the crotch of her panties aside and pushed his finger inside her. Her inner muscles clamped around him, eliciting a husky groan from his lips.

  “You’re so fucking wet. So fucking tight.” He added another finger, then resumed feasting on her breasts.

  Mari’s head started to spin from the incredible sensations. With his tongue flicking against her nipple and his fingers fucking her so good, she was getting closer and closer to the edge. But she didn’t want to come yet, not until Austin was buried deep inside her.

  Groaning, she stilled his hand. “Condom?” she asked in a desperate voice.

  “Wallet,” he said hoarsely.

  It took some maneuvering for Austin to liberate his wallet from his back pocket, and even more finesse to shove his pants down so they had room to proceed. Mari had never had sex in a car before, and it was a hell of a lot more difficult than she’d thought. The movies made car sex look waaaay easier.

  But despite the awkward positioning, and the lack of room, and the fact that her movements were completely restricted, this was exactly where Mari wanted to be. With Austin. In this SUV. Hearing him groan and feeling him shudder as she impaled herself on his cock.

  “That’s it, baby. Ride me.” Austin gripped her hips with both hands, his green eyes focused on her face.

  Mari rocked her hips, her eyelids fluttering closed as the first ripples of release danced in her belly. Her heart was beating so fast she feared it would burst right out of her chest, and the pressure between her legs was so unbearable she found herself moving faster, desperate to reach that delicious pinnacle.

  The orgasm surfaced the moment Austin rubbed her clit with his thumb. Mari cried out and let the pleasure consume her, resting her chin on Austin’s broad shoulder as wave after wave of bliss surged through her.

  “You’re so sexy when you come,” Austin rasped. “So. Fucking. Sexy.” Each word was accompanied by a hard upward thrust.

  His fingers dug into her hips, features going taut, and then a flash of pleasure lit his eyes and his cock twitched inside her as he climaxed.

  After they’d both caught their breath, Mari slowly climbed off his lap and found that her knees were actually kind of sore.

  Austin disposed of the condom in the wad of tissues Mari found in her purse, then zipped up his pants and released a contented sigh. “That was pretty damn amazing,” he told her.

  To her amusement, the SUV’s windows had fogged up, which meant the movies were at least accurate about one aspect of car sex.

  “Hey, guess what this is,” Mari said with a grin, placing her palm on the window to leave a handprint on the steamy pane.

  Austin’s laughter tickled her ears. “What is, the Titanic sex hand, Alex,” he replied in Jeopardy fashion.

  Mari’s jaw dropped. “Yes! Where was that swift thinking when we were playing Fast Money, asshole?”

  He laughed again. Then, in the blink of an eye, he leaned over the console and nuzzled her neck.

  She squeaked in surprise. “Hey! What’s that for?”

  “I’m necking,” he retorted, acting more carefree than she’d ever seen him. “Isn’t that what you wanted to do?”

  “Um, as I recall, I chose fucking. Which we just did right now. And it was awesome.”

  A lopsided grin lifted one corner of his mouth. “Just awesome?”

  “Just awesome? Awesome is one of the highest compliments I give out, Bishop. You should feel special.”

  The grin widened. “Nah, I think I can do better than awesome.” He promptly turned the key in the ignition. “C’mon, let’s go home so I can prove it to you.”

  Chapter Nine

  The next morning, Austin was seated in his mother’s kitchen and wishing he were still in bed with Mari, nestled close to her warm body. He was becoming addicted to the quirky redhead, and not just in terms of sex. The woman soothed him like nobody else ever had, and the more he got to know her, the more he liked her. They hadn’t spoken about her plans, or how long she would stick around, but he hoped she wasn’t planning on going anywhere anytime soon.

  Except today wasn’t about Mari. It was about this chasm of pain and distance between him and his mother. He had no idea how to open the dialogue between them, and judging by Della’s visible nervousness, she didn’t know what to say either.

  Finally, he decided to simply take a book out of his brothers’ pages and get right to the point.

  “I’m angry at you for keeping the truth from me,” he said flatly.

  Shame crept into her brown eyes. “I know you are, sweetie.”

  Austin wrapped his fingers around the coffee mug she’d brought him, hoping the temperature of the hot coffee would seep into his hands, which were cold and shaky.

  “Last year you gave me a bunch of reasons about why you did it. I’m sure that at the time, all those reasons felt right to you. And I can accept some of them, I really can.” He swallowed. “Yesterday Nate told me that Dad threatened to take us away from you if you left him. Is that true?”

  “It’s true,” she said softly.

  “Honestly, knowing that makes it easier to accept why you didn’t tell me, but you could have said something after he died, Mom. After the threat was gone.”

  “I know,” she whispered.

  “So why the hell didn’t you? I was fifteen years old, damn it.” Bitterness entered his tone. “Didn’t you think I could have benefited from knowing the truth? From having my real father in my life?”

  Della’s eyes filled with unshed tears. “I know you would have benefited. Lord, Rice would have been a wonderful father to you.”

  Fru
stration slammed into him. “Then why? Why didn’t you say anything?”

  “Because I was ashamed,” she blurted out. “And I was scared. You were fifteen, and you and your brothers had already been so negatively impacted by Henry’s behavior. The four of you grew to hate him, and I was scared that if you knew the truth, you might hate me too.”

  As two fat teardrops seeped out and streamed down her cheeks, Austin’s heart constricted with agony.

  “Hey, don’t cry,” he said gruffly, reaching across the table for her hand.

  The gesture only caused the tears to fall faster. She squeezed his hand tightly, her anguished gaze locking with his. “I didn’t want you to think less of me. I slept with my husband’s brother, Austin. Henry had already alienated you and Nate and the twins. I didn’t want you to become disgusted or disillusioned with me too.”

  He stifled a sigh and swept his thumb over her knuckles. “I probably would’ve been upset, angry even, but I could never hate you, Mom.”

  “You mean you don’t hate me now?” Her voice wobbled as she posed the question.

  “Of course not.”

  She sighed. “But you’re still angry with me.”

  He couldn’t lie, but he did try to focus on the positive. “I’m trying not to be, if that helps. I mean, I keep coming home even though a part of me wants to take off and never come back.”

  “I know it’s hard for you to be here.” She visibly swallowed. “And I really am glad you’re home, sweetie. I hope that means you’re willing to let me be part of your life again.”

  A lump rose in his throat. “Like I said, I’m trying.”

  An awkward silence stretched between them. Austin sipped his coffee. His mom sipped her herbal tea. Neither of them spoke for nearly a minute, until he finally cleared his throat.

  “Uh, I brought something to show you.” He reached into his pocket and pulled out a folded piece of paper, then slid it across the table.

  Della wrinkled her forehead as she picked up the paper. She slowly unfolded it, read the neatly typed words on the page, and gasped.

  “Oh sweet Lord! My baby got nominated for a Pulitzer!”