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“That’s all you needed?”
“Pretty much.”
I wipe my hands on his arm, laughing when he grumbles and stomps to the rag, then I wash my hands, wave at his coworkers, and follow the boys to the junk yard for a bit of exploration. It’s located behind the store and garage, surrounded by chain-link fencing with barbed wire on the top.
“This place is a parkourer’s dream.” I run up the hood of a crushed car and jump from it to another.
“I’m not sure it’s safe,” Carter mutters.
Presley follows, laughing when we climb up to the top of a stack and stand on the hood.
“Come on, Carter,” I yell, jumping to another stack. They’re sturdy enough but Stanley would probably kill me if he saw me.
Presley jumps and skids slightly. I grab his arm and laugh when his side collides with mine.
“You good?” I ask, loving the excitement in his eyes.
“Fuck yeah,” he breathes and we climb an even higher stack.
Presley’s breath is ragged. “Shit, this is high. How the fuck you did this with my sister on your back is insane. That was a lot higher too.”
He looks over the edge and laughs, it’s a nervous, anxious, thrilling laugh.
I sit down and let the warm sun wash over my covered body. My legs hang over the edge and he follows suit, sitting so close our hips are touching.
“Come on, guys,” Carter begs. “Come down. You’re making me nervous.”
“One more minute,” Presley says and lies back on the flat roof. I do the same, moving my braid to the side when it digs into my skull. “I’ve got a shit ton of baggage right now.”
“I wouldn’t call Paisley baggage.”
“And you’re probably going to get a scholarship to wherever the fuck you want.”
“I wouldn’t say that either.” I wonder where he’s going with this conversation.
“Guys!” Carter yells but we both ignore him.
I turn my head to look at Presley and his hand between our bodies touches mine. He laces our fingers and before I can stop him he turns and touches his lips to mine.
I pull away and sit up, not because I don’t want to kiss him, I hate to admit that I do, but because I don’t think it’s real for him. That and there’s Carter. It’s unfair to him.
“Baggage…” Presley mumbles, thinking it can’t be for any other reason.
“No,” I correct, looking at him when he sits up. He’s so handsome, so cute, so beautiful and so full of pain. “It’s not because of any of that. It’s because a week ago you hated my guts. I saved your sister’s life and suddenly you like me? It’s not real. You feel grateful and you’re getting those feelings muddled is all.”
“That’s bullshit.”
“Really? So tell me, when did you start to like me?”
He grins and taps his fingers on the metal beneath us. “When you punched me in the jaw.”
“Please… you were awful to me after that.”
His smile softens and guilt shines from his blueish-gray eyes. “I know. I don’t know what my problem was. I’ve just been so fucking angry at the world and you just made it so easy to hate you.”
“And now?”
“And now I want to make it up to you.”
“You can do that without the kissing.”
He looks to the side, lips smirking. “You don’t want me to kiss you?”
“GUYS!” Carter shouts.
I nod to the ground. “Let’s go.” I grin at him, one of mischief, and say, “Last one down is a rotten egg.”
Then I drop, land, and roll, perfectly executing the move with only a slight ache of my body.
Carter yanks me to my feet and into his body. “What were you two talking about up there?”
I pat his cheek and skip past him to the car. “Let’s go.”
“You’re coming for dinner,” Stanley says to Presley as we pass, then he glares at them both for a moment. “I know how to get rid of a body. Got no problem getting rid of two. Hear me?”
“Loud and clear,” Carter replies and ushers me along. “I told you he was crazy.”
I kinda like it. No… I really like it.
Lane and Stanley convinced Presley, with some prompting, that our house was a better choice than Carter’s.
Not our. I’m getting too comfy in these lodgings.
Anyway… after an hour of arguing, and Paisley begging, they all agreed that until Presley hears back from the insurance company, he and Paisley would be staying with them… us…
Carter’s mom is too busy to take care of a four-year-old and Presley still has to go to school.
Which means I’ve been sharing a room with Paisley who insists on sleeping with me despite having her own bed, and Presley has the room across the hall.
The first night he came in and found Paisley snuggled up against me I worried he might be upset. I am a stranger after all, but Paisley is just a kid; she wanted comfort and I wasn’t about to deny her. My arm was dead but I didn’t dare move. I’d been reading her a book and that’s how she fell asleep.
