Page 31 of Nixon’s Promise

“He had her pinned against his truck. Don’t know what they were doing before we rolled up. Don’t care if they were just talking—a man his age has no business being that close to a teenage girl. He confirmed that something was going on when he told me the age of consent was sixteen in Maryland. She also started to defend whatever fucked-up thing they got going on, but I didn’t let her talk. Told her to get home. She didn’t like what I had to say, so Zack stepped up. There’s a lot to talk about but, babe, first thing you need to do is to talk to Zack.”

Now I understood why Zack was so pissed. I was, too.

“That motherfucker was touchin’ my baby sister.”

“He was,” Nix confirmed.

“Did Mandy and Zack see…?” I wasn’t sure how I felt about my siblings watching Nixon fighting.

“No. I waited until they were gone.”

“Thank you,” I whispered.

I couldn’t catch a break. Every time I thought things were going to start getting easier, they got worse. Zack seemed to finally be settling in, and now Mandy had gone off the rails.

“You don’t need to thank me, babe.” We were still holding hands, only Nixon was now using his thumb to rub the top of mine. I pulled back but he didn’t let go. “We still need to talk.”

“No, we—”

“McKenna, one second I had your sweet pussy hugging my cock and I was in heaven and the next second you completely closed down on me and bolted. Then you spent the next two weeks managing to avoid me. So, yeah, we need to talk. I don’t appreciate you running out on me. But more than that, I need to make sure I didn’t hurt you.”

My jaw dropped, mainly because no one had ever been so crass when speaking to me. The other reason was because he’d said I’d closed down on him. Me. That I was the one that made things weird. Was he nuts?

“I didn’t close down. You looked like you were gonna be sick when you looked at me after. I get that I’m nowhere close to the women you’re used to, but I can’t be so hideous that you’d regret having sex with me before you even pulled out.”

“Come again?”

I shook my head and looked down. That was hard enough to admit—there was no way I was repeating it.

“Let’s start with the ‘gonna be sick’ comment. Babe, I was worried because I’d fucked you without a condom. I didn’t exactly ask you if that was okay.”

“Yeah, you did. You asked if I was on birth control. You also waited until I gave you the go ahead before you… you know.”

“Asking you about birth control isn’t the same as asking you if you’re all right with me going bare. But, I’m happy you were okay with it. I was also rough with you.” Nixon paused and looked thoughtful. I, however, wasn’t looking at him. I was looking over his shoulder, freaking out. Maybe I’d been wrong. “You made me lose control, something that doesn’t happen. So, while I was worried, I may’ve been trying to work out in my head what had just happened to make me snap the way I did. And lastly, what the fuck do you mean, the women I’m used to?”

I was still having a mini nervous breakdown, not wanting to talk about what had happened under the bright sunshine where I couldn’t hide from him.

“McKenna?”

In for a penny, in for a pound.

“I know I’m not—”

“Stop right there,” he growled. “You’re gonna say something that’s gonna piss me off. It’s already been a shit day. And if you tell me, you don’t know how beautiful you are, then I’m gonna be even more angry than I already am.”

“Why would that piss you off?” I stupidly asked.

“Because a woman who looks like you, behaves like you, is as smart and funny as you, should know down deep in her soul she is absolutely gorgeous. And if you don’t know that, it means somewhere in your life, someone fucked up. And that is what’s gonna piss me off.”

Before I could process what Nixon had said and how weirdly that may’ve been the best compliment I’d ever received, the porch door slammed and I looked behind me.

“He tell you what happened?” Zack asked.

I watched my little brother stalk to us and for the first time I noticed he was turning into a young man. He’d always been tall but now he was filling out. He also carried himself differently than he had last year. There were the beginning signs of confidence.

“He did,” I told him. “You all right after seeing Mandy with that man?”

Zack’s eyes flared. “Did you take care of him?”