Falling for Rex by Shayne Ford

15

LUNA RAE

“Out? All of us?”Frankie tosses at me, incredulously.

She tilts her head up, sliding her sunglasses down, waiting for my response.

“Yes. It’s going to be a lot of people,” I say, sliding into a lounge chair next to her.

“When?”

I check my phone.

“In an hour or so.”

“Rex told you?”

“Yes. What about your...?”

Her sunglasses go back up while she moves her gaze away from me, gesturing in displeasure.

“He gets on my nerves.”

“Why?”

“I told you.”

I grab a glass of juice and suck the sweet drink through a straw.

“No, you didn’t,” I remind her. “Last night, you said you didn’t want to talk about it.”

“Yeah... Because it’s the same damn thing.”

“Shh... “ I say, smiling. “Our neighbors could hear you.”

“I don’t give a damn,” she says, frustrated.

She quiets down, though.

“What did he do?”

She yanks her sunglasses off her nose.

“He’s slippery as a fish.”

“He didn’t look slippery last night.”

“And that’s the thing. He’s fine. When we’re together, he’s more than fine. Acting normally, being attentive, hot for me and all that, but then... I can never go to his parents' home. And I don’t know why. He told me they aren’t here. Amber says he leaves alone. Unless he’s a serial killer and chopped corpses fill his basement, I don’t know what to think.”

“It’s not funny.”

“I didn’t say it is, but he’s just not spending the night with me anymore.”

“Did he ever?”

She looks at me.

“Once. And things were good. They still are, but he’s weird.”

“He’s not the first weird man you’ve dated.”

“Yeah... Because they’re all weird.”

“So, you knew that.”

She waves me off.

“Don’t get mad at me. I have the same problem,” I say.

“No, you don’t. You haven’t slept with Rex.”

My silence grabs her attention.

“Have you?”

“Not yet.”

“See. Things are different when you sleep with them. They’re not the same.”

“Things are different when you’re making out with them. They’re not the same either. Maybe we expect them to be.”

“Wasn’t Rex nice to you?”

I take another sip of mango juice, pondering for a moment.

“He’s, um... It’s strange... I don’t know what to say about it. It’s not what I expected. And not what I imagined. I thought it would be different.”

“You don’t like it?”

“I do,” I say in a softer voice. “It’s not innocent, though.”

“What did you expect?”

“Nothing,” I answer after a moment.

“Well... You got it. But he’s hot.”

“I can’t complain. But things go too fast.”

She studies me for a second.

“They always do,” she says.

“We can’t keep our hands off ourselves. I thought we’d be able to...”

I pause and look down.

“Talk?”

Our eyes meet.

“Yes.”

She searches my eyes.

“You are now where you should’ve been years ago when we were in high school,” she says. “I know what you mean. I want the same thing. I don’t get the talk. My mom says... When you get them talking, it’s pretty much over.”

I look at her, baffled.

“What do you mean?”

“They start talking when talking is the main thing going on for them, and everything else is in the rearview mirror.”

“You mean... their passion?”

“Mmm-hmm. They talk with their sex for as long as they can, and for the most part, women don’t mind them, although it’s frustrating as hell. Then they start talking and are ready for a woman, but everything else changes.”

“Are they better?”

“They’re just different.”

“I would’ve liked the talk right now.”

“I’m with you. That’s why he gets on my nerves.”

“Why do you think he does it?” I ask after a moment, making her move her eyes back to me.

“Short of having someone else in his house, I think he’s playing cool.”

“He doesn’t want to look too interested?”

“Uh-huh.”

“What if...?”

I pause.

“He’s not interested?” she mutters.

“Yes,” I quietly say.

“I thought about it. I don’t think it’s me he’s not interested in. He just doesn’t want to be tied down. It doesn’t matter that I don’t want to be tied down either. He still goes through the motions with me. That’s why it’s driving me crazy. Even if this is nothing more than a summer fling, he doesn’t want to act as if he’s whipped.”

“Is he?”

“Who knows? No. I don’t think so... It doesn’t matter, anyway. How he behaves is all that matters. All the guys I met were the same. They all wanted me initially and then acted cool and distant because they didn’t want to get attached.”

“It sucks.”

“They have no hearts,” she says in a humorous voice, although she’s serious.

“Maybe there are different men out there, and we just don’t see them. Or find them,” I say.

“Mmm-hmm.”

She rolls her eyes, uninterested in my theory.

“So, are you coming or not?” I ask.

She flicks her gaze to me.

“You?”

I shrug.

“I’d give it a try.”

She ponders for a second.

“Did he tell you what happened last night?”

For a moment, I have no idea what she’s talking about.

“Yeah... yeah. He said there was something with his brother. He wanted to drive him away.”

“From?”

“Me.”

“Because?”

I tilt my shoulders again.

“I don’t know. Frankly, I don’t know much about them, but they seem to be in some sort of competition when it comes to women.”

“No, they aren’t.”

I listen without blinking.

“Carlos told me,” she says in response to my questioning look. “They always sleep with the same women,” she mutters.

“Well, this won’t be my case, but I believed what he said. He seemed sincere.”

“Why would he lie to his brother about you?”

“Beats me. He says he’s a bit crazy.”

“Everybody knows that.”

“He’s also hot.”

“Hot and crazy make for the greatest time in bed, but most people would stay away from him if they had the chance.”

“It’s their thing. Whatever that thing is,” I say.

She looks away for a second.

“Carlos told me to warn you...” she says in a softer voice.

“Why?”

She looks at me again.

“Women usually like both of them... There’s a reason they have the same women. The women never say ‘no’ to the other brother, whoever the other brother is.”

“That’s not the situation here.”

“No. But Kian is known to always take what is his.”

Tell me about it.

Last night comes to mind–– the evening and the blue and red lights in the house. The fervor I saw in his eyes.

Crazy barely starts to paint the picture.

What is even stranger to me is that I reacted to him, kept it a secret, and ran into his brother’s arms. That makes everything even more messed up.

If Frankie knew he was in our house, she’d call the police and make an appointment with a shrink for me.

“Please... I’m not anyone’s. For sure, I’m not going to be his. It’s summer, for fuck’s sake. In a few weeks, we’ll be back in San Francisco, and this will mean shit. All I want is to have a good time and forget about the serious stuff. You should do the same.”

“You’re right,” she says after a moment. “Speaking about men. What are you going to do with that thing on your neck?”

“How does it look?”

“Horrible. It’s darker. I can see the marks of his teeth on your skin. What did he do? Where you two playing vampire loving or something?”

“Haha. Very funny.”

“The man wants to let people know you belong to him, doesn’t he?”

“Um...”

My smile dies out, Kian haunting my mind again.

I no longer feel like smiling or thinking about last night as if it was nothing.

The man was in our house.

He was at our place while I was home alone. He was in the bathroom while I was naked in the shower. Every single thought brings me closer to a mountain of panic.

This is bad and strange, and I should tell her. She should know. Someone should know just in case something happens to me.

And yet, my lips are sealed, the same way they were last night after I ran into Kian at the party.

“Okay... So, I’ll get ready to leave,” I say, pushing out of my seat. “Tell Carlos about the invitation. Maybe they’ll pick us up at the same time.”