I yelped before I could catch myself, and then buried my face in his neck, muffling my sounds as he began stroking faster. We were fully clothed, dry humping like teenagers, but the aching need was already clawing up my thighs and settling in my core. I rose up on my toes, mindlessly giving him more, spreading my legs wider when I heard my name. "Miss Riley?"
We froze, Jonah's hand still wedged between my legs. I swallowed, heart pounding. "Hi Luke!" I squeaked. "Sorry, be right out!"
"Who the fuck is Luke?" Jonah growled into my ear.
"Parent," I whispered, shushing him.
"Make him go away," he instructed, moving his hand again.
"I've gotta drop Maddy off at her Grandma's!" Luke was babbling. "But don't forget about the winter fest this weekend, okay?"
I licked my lips. I was currently in the middle of being ravished by a world-famous rockstar with really skilled fingers. I'd forgotten all about the winter fest. "Yeah, I gotta check my calendar Luke!" I called. I glanced at Jonah and deliberately stepped back and straightened my blouse. His face was thunderous and his eyebrows looked knitted together and he shook his head minutely as I took a step away from the wall. I shook my head back, and even though my lips were bruised with his kiss, and even though my whole body still throbbed with the ache of being denied what it craved, I still managed to pull myself together and step out onto the stage with a smile. "Good job today, Maddy," I said to Luke's daughter. "See you in class tomorrow."
Luke stared at me. I smiled blandly back and waved. "Have a good night."
He took a deep breath. "Sure," he said crisply and grabbed Maddy's arm and roughly hustled her out the door.
And that was when I looked down and saw my blouse was still undone down to my bra.
Jonah snorted and stepped from the shadows. "I tried to warn you," he said as I buried my face in my hands.
"Oh my god," I groaned, then laughed. "Oh god, poor Luke. What an awful way for him to find out I'm not interested." I shook my head and looked helplessly over at Jonah.
He was watching me with the strangest expression on his face. "What?" I asked, busily re-buttoning my blouse.
"I meant it," he said. "When I told you you're amazing." He shook his head in disbelief. "You're just...good."
I licked my lips. Watching him play Gideon's music, the expression on his face as he remembered his uncle, had finally made my decision for me. "Jonah, there's something I need to tell you."
He came over immediately. Grabbing my hand, he pressed it to his lips and gazed at me so adoringly that a stab of guilt tore through my stomach. "Go ahead," he said.
I took a deep breath. "Before he died," I began. "Gid gave me a box."
Jonah let my hand drop. He furrowed his brow but said nothing.
"I guess he was cleaning out the shed? It's pretty small in there and Izzy was wanting to re-decorate. Anyway, I'd just bought my house and had the extra storage. Maybe that's why he did it?" I realized, as I as talking, that I'd never actually thought about why Gid had given the box to me.
"Did what?"
"He gave me all his music, Jonah. A whole cardboard box, this big," I spread my arms. "It's full of tapes and even some old reels."
Jonah licked his lips. He was holding perfectly still but there was energy surging through his body that made him almost vibrate. I had no idea if it was excitement or anger. Fear licked at the edges of my emotions, but I soldiered on. "He said it was his life's work, all his demos, some live shows from when he was in that cover band. And his originals too."
I saw him clench a fist and the flex it. "Why did he give them to you?" he said, with a heavy emphasis on the 'you.'
I felt my cheeks burn hot but I lifted my chin. Ignoring his challenge, I said, "I'm telling you because I thought you might want to hear them."
He looked bemused. "Well of course I want to hear them."
I smiled encouragingly. "Okay. Well then we can listen together."
"You haven't listened to them yet?"
"No."
Some of the cold challenge in his eyes went out. I thought I saw something in there. Maybe wary respect? "Well thanks. I can come by and grab them tomorrow," he said.
Cold panic slithered through my belly at the idea of giving the box up. "We listen together," I said, folding my arms. "That's the deal."
I could see the confusion in his eyes. He was so used to getting his way, to taking what he wanted that the idea of me putting my foot down was completely foreign to him. "Really? I know he gave them to you but they..." his voice caught and he looked away for a moment. "I can get them out to the world, you know. I still have connections."
I shook my head vehemently. "Maybe that's not what Gid wanted. Maybe they're just meant for his friends." I looked at him. "And family."
"And you think you have the authority to decide this?"
I folded my arms over my chest. "I know it."
"Fine," he said, throwing up his hands. "Let's go listen to them, right now."
Who was I kidding? I hadn't gotten him all wrong. I had gotten him exactly correct. He expected to always get his way and he expected me to follow suit. I suddenly wished I'd kept my mouth shut, but that kiss had my brain all scattered. Not anymore. "No," I said. "Right now doesn't work for me."
"What, you have plans or something?"
"Yes."
"Doing what?"
"None of your business."
He gritted his teeth. "I don't understand the game you're playing here, Ruby, but I don't like it very much."
"It's not a game, and that's the point," I said firmly. "Gideon trusted me with this box for some reason." I wanted to say 'not you' but I could see by the coldness in his eyes that I didn't need to. "So I decide when we listen, understand? We, as in together."
He glared at me but I stood my ground, staring back until he finally let out a sharp exhale and walked out the door, leaving me with the feel of his touch still singing all over my body.
Chapter Twenty-Four
Jonah
I hadn't slept all night. I felt like I was being pulled in two directions. Towards Ruby with her soft lips and kind spirit, and away from her and this town and the uncle I thought I knew. In the end, I'd woken up before dawn with the sudden urge to go down to Gid's shed for the first time.
It didn't make sense. It didn't make any fucking sense. There was nothing about Ruby that made me think she would lie, but my brain still insisted that's what this was. That she'd made up a cruel joke, first about Gid having a secret stash of music he hadn't shared with me and second about how he'd given it to her - someone outside of our family - instead.
No. That couldn't be true. But I was stomping across the lawn, heading down to the darkened shed all the same. If Ruby had a box, then I wanted something too.
We'd always called it 'the shed' but really it was the original house to this property. Built by hand by my great-great-grandfather, it hugged the banks of the creek, low-slung and gray shingled, and smaller than my Dad's garage was now. My great-great-grandparents had raised five children there, one of whom stuck around to build the big yellow house on the rise behind me where my own five siblings had grown up.