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“Guess she likes them!” Jared fires back. “She married your dad, after all!”
Dad tightens his arms and legs. “Asswipe!”
I roll my eyes and spin around, leaving the adults to it. I head into the house, still half-naked and with no idea at what point I lost my shirt last night.
I run upstairs to look for Dylan. Maybe she crawled into my bed to hide, and if so, I’m hiding with her.
Kade let me take him into Weston yesterday. I smile despite the headache and churning in my stomach from the alcohol, remembering how good it felt to have him at my side. Like he cared, never stopped caring, and we hadn’t missed a step.
We drove onto Knock Hill last night, ignoring the eyes of everyone partying in the street as I brought him inside the house, so I could shower and change. I had every intention of going next door to find Dylan, but by the time I was out of the bathroom, Kade had found Farrow’s tequila stash and was asking about the Ray Bradbury collection that Grandpa left in the curio cabinet. I kept my answers short because he was only asking to make conversation. Trying to find a common ground, but we sat down for a minute, and before I knew it, we were three shots and a beer in when Farrow and everyone dragged us outside for a game of football in the street.
I almost thought it was a bad idea. Constin played rough. Kade’s nose was bleeding in less than a minute, and I thought for sure Weston was going to force a fight with my brother on our turf, but Farrow stepped in before more happened. He pushed Constin back.
Because Kade is Farrow’s blood, too.
We played football for a long time, and no matter that Weston was more brutal than necessary, or how many timesKade was shoved onto the pavement, he kept getting up, and we were side by side the whole time, trying to protect each other.
We drank more, the firehoses came out, and we stumbled into Dylan’s house to bring her out to play, but then we were just ready to pass out.
I want to wake up to her again. It’s going to be damn near impossible with her dad as angry as he is, and seven months still left of school before we’re on our own. But my parents always go up to our cabin in Wisconsin for a weekend in November to do a little belated celebration for their anniversary after the leaf peeper traffic is gone. They usually send A.J. off to one of our grandparents.
An image of me and Kade with the house to ourselves floats into my head, him waking up with his girlfriend in his room, and me with my girlfriend in my room. I groan, thinking about the early mornings, her crawling on top of me without a word…
I was born for her.
She’s not in my room, and the bathroom is empty. I head through Kade’s room, peering out the window, and see her in the pool below. Alone. In her clothes. Light sprinkles of rain hit the surface of the water.
She has to be freezing. I didn’t check the temperature, but the pool isn’t typically heated unless for a party. My dad will be covering it altogether in a matter of weeks, in preparation for the snow to start.
I spin around, passing the three green lockers that my brother now has in his room, and make my way downstairs. I cross the kitchen and open one of the doors, stepping out and closing it behind me.
Her sneakers lay next to the pool, small drops of rain hitting my chest and shoulders as I walk into the water, coming up behind her.
Teeth sink into my skin at the feel of the icy pool, and I see her shiver as I approach. Her hair is slicked back over her head, and her clothes are drenched, sticking to her body.
I close the distance, she turns, and I take her in my arms, pressing her chest to mine to cover her breasts through the wet fabric.
Everyone’s still in the driveway, and I kiss her, digging my fingers into her body.
She pulls her mouth away. “Not here.”
“Do you love me?” I ask.
That’s all I need to know. I don’t want to ask. I’ve waited for her to say it, but if she loves me, then I know she’s mine no matter how long I have to wait.
She just looks up at me, brow pinched in pain. “I think you and Kade need to rebuild things.”
I shake her. “Do you love me?”
It’s not for her to worry about Kade and me. My brother and I will fix it.
I gaze into the storm in her blues, trying not to be angry with him all over again. Now she thinks she interrupted our bonding as kids, and we need to make up for lost time.
No. Not now when I finally have her. Kade and I are grown.We’ll fix it.
But she just shakes her head. “It’ll be too much,” she whispers.
Pushing away, she climbs out of the pool, and I see her face split with a silent cry as she dives into the pool house.
