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He shoved me, and I gasped as I landed on my ass for the second time today. The impact jolted me and pain rocketed up my spine. The big man came stomping toward me, and a car slowed on the paved road, stopping to watch me get pummeled, no doubt.
“Moose! What are you doing?” Ethan’s familiar voice rang out loud and clear as he hopped from the car. He got between me and the big man I couldn’t help but stare at.
“This fucker had Virginia!” He took another step toward me.
“I told you a week ago she’s been wandering off. You gotta watch her when your mom’s at work, buddy. Did he bring her home?”
The big guy scrunched up his face and shrugged. “Yeah.”
Ethan put his hands on the big man and pushed, but that didn’t move him at all. “Get moving. He’s from the fancy houses over there. You can’t beat him black and blue.”
The little girl took the big man’s hand, and they walked off together with the dog into the trailer. I stared after them, confused.
“Are you okay?” The hand Ethan held out for me was filthy. I had no idea where he’d been or what he’d been up to, but I wanted to touch him. I clasped my fingers around his palm, and he took a stronger hold of me before hauling me to my feet.
“Hey, Shep, we’re out of here!” The guy from earlier today stuck his head out of the car window, then quickly pulled it back in and flipped me off. I was so shocked I didn’t say anything as he laughed, and whoever was driving the car pulled away.
For a long minute Ethan stared at the ground between us, and an eternity passed. All at once, he snapped his head up and gave me a long look, the same one he’d used on me this morning. God bless it, but he looked good. His blond hair was brushed back from his angular face, and his straight nose came to a point I wanted to touch for some bizarre reason. His pink lips parted as he sucked in a breath between his teeth and glanced down my body. As he checked me out, his dark eyebrows danced upward. I rubbed my face and hated that I felt happy near him. I’d just endured a sermon from hell about the way I happened to be born—and I couldn’t do anything about it.
“Did Moose rock you? He’s got power.” Ethan crossed his arms.
What does that mean?“Uh, no. I had a fight with my parents. I’m still thinking about it. Sorry.”
Ethan snorted. “What could someone like you have to fight about? Come on.” He grabbed my elbow, then turned, heading straight along the cement path. I admitted a certain curiosity as I followed him. My mother would’ve had a huge fit if I’d ever come over here to the trailer park. There were a lot of sad trailers on our right stacked so close together there wasn’t even space between them for a lawn. Cars were parked in front of the trailers at the sides of small dirt roads that ran between the ends of the tiny lots.
On our left things were a little nicer; although, the trailers were still really close together. There was a tiny patch of lawn at the ends of the rows and driveways separated the trailers so that at least people couldn’t see from one into the other. I followed him all the way to a gate at the end of the pavement. The big house behind the fence was larger than the one I lived in and almost obscene given the rest of the park. We took a right along a narrow dirt path, and Cider Mill Creek, which I could see from the window of my bedroom, came into view.
“So, what was it?” he asked, startling me. I glanced up at him. “Were you drinking?”
“No.”
We came to a stone fence, and he easily hopped on top of it. I studied it for a second, then gripped the top and pulled myself up to sit beside him. He grinned. Fishing in his pocket, he hummed, then dragged a small tin out. I frowned at him when he opened it. Inside were wrapped white cigarettes that smelled odd. I figured it was probably marijuana, but I’d never seen it in person.
“Smoke?”
“No thanks,” I said, but I watched as he took the cigarette out, put it between his lips, and then put the tin away. He grabbed a lighter out of his pocket and lit up. After the end was cherry red and smoke billowed around him, he offered the cigarette to me. I shook my head, and he nodded, as if maybe he’d forgotten, and let the pungent smoke roll out between his lips.
“Seriously, though. What could your parents yell at you about?” He coughed and wheezed, but given the amount of smoke that had come out of his mouth with the words, it was no wonder. The smile he flashed at me did happy things to my insides, and I felt slightly less awful. “You’re perfect.”
Embarrassment swamped me. “Not in one way.”
“What? You skim money out of the offering plate?” He chuckled and puffed on the cigarette again. Had I told him about the church? I couldn’t remember.
“No, that would be stealing.”
He snorted and grinned. “Like I said, perfect. If it was me, I woulda pocketed money by now. It’s just sitting there. And people were dumb enough to hand it over.”
The words should disgust me, but I was too mesmerized by the way his mouth moved and how graceful he seemed when he lifted the cigarette again to smoke. He waggled his eyebrows at me. Hell, Ethan probably would’ve told everyone to go to hell today.
“Tell me what you did so I can laugh at how your parents are being jerks.” He offered the cigarette again, then sighed and took it back. “Sorry.”
“I like guys,” I blurted. It felt good but scary to say that out loud, especially since his friend already hated gay people—or at least, he’d hinted that he did. Maybe Ethan did, too. Maybe next time he wouldn’t stop that guy from hitting me.
Ethan glanced around, lips pursed. “Why would you say that?”
Rubbing my hands on my jeans, I sighed. That was about the reaction I would’ve expected from someone who went to church with us. “That’s what happened. It’s fine if you don’t understand. I’ve never told anyone. Not really.”
He turned and stared behind us at the trailers for a few seconds, then leaned over. “Why are you telling me? Keep your voice down.”
