Vivian Arend - Turn It On

All because of Maxine.

They returned to the house and even as they drove up he saw the damage.

“Oh my God, Ryan, someone’s torn up the lawn. How could they do that?” Maxine leapt from the car the instant he stopped, and he fought the urge to pick her up and carry her into her house. Deep ridges cut into the turf, the soil laid bare in semicircular tracks.

“It’s not the neighbor’s kids. Your pranksters were pulling doughnuts on the lawn with a half-ton truck or something. Call the police. They can check the tire tracks.” Ryan glanced at Maxine’s car. “Fuck.”

He’d put the repaired tires back on and yet the car now sat impossibly low, the rims resting on the ground. There was glass on the ground in front of the shattered window and when he peeked inside the stereo was missing, cords dangling from the dash.

“Oh shit. Not again.” Maxine continued to swear softly as Ryan debated what to do. One thing was fucking sure, she wasn’t staying alone in the house until he had a chance to do a few more additions to the security system.

By the time the police had come and gone, Ryan had the first part of his plan figured out. “I’m going to install an alarm in your car and I’m adding cameras outside the house as well.”

She stared at him in surprise as they sat at the island in the kitchen, drinking hot tea. They’d just finished covering the car windows with plastic to protect the interior until she could take it to the repair shop. “The outdoor cameras I can understand. I’d love to catch these jerks in the act and the house is too far from any neighbors for them to see the vandals. But an alarm—how would that stop them? It makes noise after they’ve already broken the window or whatever. That sounds a little over the top.”

“Over the top would be not doing everything we can to stop these guys. So far they’ve just been vandals, we don’t want to let them feel like they’ve got the power to make any further moves on your territory.”

Maxine waved her hand. “You make it sound like I’ve got the Mafia moving into the area. I still think it’s likely kids with too much time on their hands caused most of the vandalism. The truck is the part I don’t understand. Add the outside cameras, they make sense, but I don’t want an alarm in my car. I hear them going off all the time in the shopping mall parking lots. All it takes is a good hip check and you’ve got wailing noises. With my luck it would make the kid’s day to have an alarm to set off every morning at three a.m.”

“You’re not thinking reasonably about this,” he complained.

“You’re worrying too much, Ryan,” she insisted. “I know you do security for a living but this is just…I don’t know, bad luck.”

“Like the phone calls before were bad luck?”

She froze. “That’s not fair. The two are not connected at all.”

“You don’t know that for sure, and that’s why I want to do everything we can to make sure the house is safe. That you’re safe.” He rose, walked to her side and pulled her into his arms. “I want to take care of you, don’t you see? Let me take care of you.” God help him if anything happened to her.

And that knowledge scared him almost as much as the idea of her being hurt.

A bitter taste filled her mouth as she looked at the mess. She closed her eyes for a moment to settle her churning stomach, debating long and hard before pulling out her cell phone.

“Ryan, it’s happened again. Someone’s vandalized my car.” She walked slowly back toward the house, glancing around warily.

He cursed on the other end of the line and she sighed, recognizing his tone. Shit, she shouldn’t have called him. He was going to go ballistic on her. “Damn it, get inside the house and lock the door. I’ll be there as soon as I can.”

“Don’t come home early, it’s only cleanup as usual. I’m getting used to it. Don’t—” It was her turn to swear as the line went dead. She dropped her head into her hands and then went into the house to get a garbage bag and the hand vacuum. Hopefully most of the mess would gone before Ryan got home.

This time the pranksters seemed to have put even more effort into the destruction. Both headlights were smashed, the side mirrors ruined, the upholstery sliced to ribbons.

It was enough to make her cry.

Other than the sheer inconvenience of having to get her car repaired, Ryan was driving her mad. She understood why he’d insisted on taking her home with him the first night when the lawn was damaged, but once he’d installed the outside cameras she’d expected him to lay off a bit. Instead, he’d continued to tighten security around her like she was a visiting diplomat.

At first it had been slightly endearing to see him hell-bent on taking care of her, but as the days passed he got more controlling. He arranged for her to call him at regular intervals. He slept over, and not because they were in the after throes of body-melting sexual bliss. In fact he’d barely touched her since that night—certainly not with his previous enthusiasm and commanding nature. If she’d felt like her family had been demanding, Ryan now won the award for “most overbearing and possessive”.

Her frustrations had nothing to do with his concerns for her safety—that she could accept. Yes, she was worried too. Yes, the whole situation had somehow gotten out of control and there seemed to be no easy solutions. She just didn’t appreciate his attempts to hide her away. When he brought potentially dangerous activities to her attention, she’d accepted his warnings. She didn’t go out on the porch alone at night, didn’t leave the doors unlocked. Hell, she had police on speed dial and a baseball bat beside her bed. In the midst of the chaos, she wanted her lover back, not the overprotective bossy soul he’d become.

No matter what else, she was determined to talk this out with him today. He made her body thrill, and she cared deeply for him, but there was something really wrong with how he was treating her, and it was time it stopped. Maybe when he got to see the tapes off the security camera from this incident, he’d calm down.

She went to work, sweeping up the glass, removing the dangling plastic and wires. There was nothing to do about the seats except cover them with a blanket until she could make an appointment to get them fixed. She was tying up the garbage bag when Ryan pulled in behind her, his tires loud on the gravel approach to the house.

“What are you doing out here?” he demanded.

Maxine gave him a glare. “I’m picking daisies. What does it look like I’m doing?” She dropped the bag on the ground and gathered the broom and vacuum. “Did you want to have supper early since you’re here already? I’ve got hamburgers in the fridge.”

He blocked her path as she headed to the house. “Why are you acting like nothing happened?”

“Because there’s nothing I can do? Just…grab the garbage for me and let’s go inside.”

He stared at her, his fists resting on his hips. The energy radiating off him made her weak at the knees with want. It seemed no matter what happened around them, he still made her hot. Made her wet.

“How could you not hear them breaking the glass?” he complained.

Doused by a bucket of cold water, her libido leapt off the fire into the freezer. So much for trying to convince him to forget the whole thing. “It’s a big place. Maybe I was in the basement, or maybe I was working in the office at the other side of the house. When I’m busy I don’t hear much of anything. It’s just some kids getting off trying to mess with me.”

“I’m installing a car alarm this time,” he warned.

“But—”