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ELEVEN
Trent came into the house, giving me the break I needed to rip my eyes from Seth’s who had been staring at me intently. “Hey, Dad. Michael’s here,” Trent announced.
Michael was a friend of my dad’s, and his wife Jesse was really good friends with my mom. I loved them like family, but their sixteen-year-old son Jackson was an entirely different story.
He got on my fucking nerves.
Jackson was good-looking with brown, wavy hair and striking green eyes. He was muscular from playing football since middle school.
But he was annoying.
Completely bypassing Seth without a word, Jackson grabbed my hand in his and leaned down, pressing a kiss to the back of my hand. I grimaced. Seth covered his laugh with a cough, making me glower at him. He just shot me a wink.
“You look prettier every time I see you,” Jackson poorly flirted.
“Nice line,” I deadpanned. “But for the millionth time, I don’t like you, and I’m certainly not interested.”
I brushed past him to go into the kitchen. “I’ll change your mind, sweetheart!” Jackson called from behind me. I just rolled my eyes.
“Why don’t you put my poor son out of his misery?” Michael laughed as he grabbed a beer out of the fridge and closed it, looking over at me.
I glowered at him. He grinned at me, amusement ringing in his eyes.
Trent walked into the kitchen, wrapping an arm around my shoulder. “My sister can do better than your dufus of a kid,” Trent bluntly told him. Michael barked out a laugh, not even taking offense. Trent looked down at me. “Think you need to go talk to Seth real quick,” he said quietly.
I slipped out from under his arm and quickly walked out of the kitchen, sending a mental thank you to Trent when he blocked Jackson from following me.
I found Seth out on the porch. He was sitting on the top step, his elbows resting on his knees as he stared out over the yard. I dropped down next to him. “Trent said I needed to come talk to you?” I asked him.
Seth did his classic thing of remaining silent for a minute. I stayed quiet, knowing he’d talk when he was ready. Finally, he reached over and grabbed my hand in his, surprising the fuck out of me. He brushed his thumb over my knuckles, still not looking at me. “Your parents called the cops,” he said quietly. “My dad is going to jail.”
Well, that was good news, wasn’t it?
“Your mom didn’t do anything?” I asked him.
Seth scoffed, shaking his head, his hand tightening around my fingers for a moment before he loosened his grip. “I don’t live with my mom. She gave up all her rights when I was four—been with my dad ever since.”
I couldn’t even begin to imagine living with an abuser for that long. No wonder Seth had grown into such an asshole. He was surviving in the only way he knew how. And he was cutting to release the pain because he couldn’t let anyone else know.
“Where are you going to live?” I asked him after a moment of silence. “They won’t send you off, will they?” The mere thought of never seeing Seth again brought a sour feeling to my gut. I was so attached to him. All this shit wasn’t supposed to happen, but it did.
And I was fucked. Seth Brinson had fucking ruined me.
He turned to face me and grabbed my face in his hands, slanting his lips across mine. I moaned, unable to help myself. I pulled him closer with my good hand, opening my lips beneath his, every part of my body aching for him.
He slowly pulled back from the kiss, both of us breathing a bit heavier. He brushed the pad of his thumb over my bottom lip. “Quit worrying so much, Bailey. I’m eighteen. I’m legally an adult.”
I nodded, unable to speak for the moment. Seth grinned, leaning forward to kiss me again, but my brother suddenly pulled me away, making me squeak in shock. “That’s enough. I’ve seen enough between you two to last me a fucking lifetime,” Trent said, giving me a pointed look.
My cheeks basically caught on fire with how quickly they flamed up, remembering him looking in the window of Seth’s truck. Trent ruffled my hair before holding out a hand to Seth to help him up. “Keep your dick in your pants around my sister from now on, yeah?” With that, he clapped a hand to Seth’s shoulder and continued walking down the porch.
Seth laughed, looking over at me. When he shot me a suggestive wink, I might as well have combusted on the spot.
We walked down the porch together, following Trent through the path in the woods that led to the clearing we all used for bonfires. Sometime along the walk, Seth’s hand found mine, and he linked our fingers together.
I didn’t comment. What was I going to say?
Besides, I was kind of enjoying it.
