Chapter 14: Go to Bed, Rhett

He didn't say one word to me all the way back to Route 9.

Rhett rode ahead of my truck, and I watched his taillight the whole twenty minutes.

When I pulled into the gravel, the shop was dark except for the one bulb over the back bench.

He was standing under it with both hands flat on the wood and his head down.

I shut the bay door behind me and dropped my bag on the floor.

"You signed it twice," I said.

"I did."

"And you stood there and let him say it in front of them."

"It's true."

"It's a lie, and everyone in that room could have heard it if you'd opened your mouth."

"They'll hear it on the day it can't be argued with." He didn't lift his head. "Go upstairs, Ruby."

I walked up to the bench and stood beside him.

His knuckles were split open, and I did not ask what he had hit.

"You told me that once before," I said. "Go to bed, Chitwood."

"I was a coward when I said it."

"You were."

"I'm still one." His voice was rough. "Because if you stay down here, I'm not going to say it again."

"Good," I said.

He turned his head and looked at me.

I put my hand flat on his chest, and I felt his heart slamming under my palm.

"Say what you want, Rhett."

"You," he said. "Every day since I towed you home. I want to put my mouth on you until you can't stand up."

"Then do it."

He kissed me.

It was nothing like the kiss in the shop, hard and angry.

It was slow, and it went on, and his hands came up to either side of my face and stayed there.

I pulled his shirt up over his head, and he let me.

His chest was scarred along the ribs, and I ran my mouth over every scar I could reach.

"Ruby," he said into my hair.

"Don't stop."

He lifted me onto the bench, and the wood was cold through my skirt.

He pushed the skirt up around my waist and hooked his fingers into my panties and pulled them down my legs.

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