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After dinner that night, we sat around talking, Parrish pulling words and stories out of me that I’d somehow forgotten until I told him—good things, things that made me smile and helped brighten some of the darkness inside me. Like going to drive-in movies with Grandma, or the laughs when she had taught me to crochet. There were pockets of moments when I’d let my guard down, and looking back, they were beautiful.
We slept under the stars again, me fucking Parrish while he rode me, looking down at me while he gave me his body.
I let him hold me, which was so strange for me. Even before, I hadn’t been the cuddly type. It was something Bec and I used to fight about. But with him I needed him close, like I could breathe better with him in my arms.
Sunday morning we went swimming again before packing up to head back to Clayton, and…I didn’t want to leave. I would stay here with him if I could, away from everyone else, living in the woods where there weren’t shitty people and bad situations. Where life was simple, and there weren’t bad memories around every corner, and it was easier to forget the things I’d done.
We didn’t talk much on the drive back. It was hot today, over a hundred, so sitting inside, even with my shitty window AC, would be better than dealing with this weather.
“I should probably head home,” Parrish said. “I need to do laundry and shit like that before we go back to work tomorrow. And I haven’t talked to Bec in a few days, so I want to check on her.”
Did Parrish fix everything for everyone around him? He took care of Rex’s responsibilities, was there for Bec and the girls. He was there for me too, carrying the weight of everyone else’s shit on his shoulders. Who helped with the burden on his own?
Instead of responding with words, I grasped his nape and tugged him forward, taking his mouth with mine. His lips were stiff for about half a second, not having expected it, before he was kissing me back, pushing his tongue inside, like he would die without one more taste. I’d hooked up a lot, but none of it had felt as good as just touching him. It was a mind fuck, to say the least.
When we pulled back, I noticed movement in front of the truck. Grandma was standing there with a wide, knowing smile. Well, shit. She’d known something was going on with us—that couldn’t have been more obvious—but seeing it was different, proven when she gave us two thumbs-ups, which made a laugh burst from Parrish’s lips.
“Damn it.”
“Now you have to be my boyfriend. I’ve clearly got your grandma on my side.” He said it playfully, and I knew he wouldn’t pressure me to label this, but I thought maybe I wanted to.
Parrish didn’t wait for me to respond, just clutched my nape the way I had done with him just moments ago, and tugged me in for another kiss.
And I let him, still surprised that the word boyfriend didn’t scare me. It maybe set me free.
CHAPTER TWENTY
Parrish
I wasn’t home long when the call came through. My instinct was to ignore it, but I knew my dad better than to try and do that. If he wanted me for something, he wouldn’t stop until he had his say. He knew I wouldn’t do illegal shit for him anymore, but that never stopped him from needing things from me.
“What?” I answered with, instead of hello. In the background, my washer buzzed, letting me know my laundry was done.
“Now, is that any way to talk to your old man?” he asked, sounding like he’d just chain-smoked a pack of cigarettes.
I sighed. “What do you want, Dad? We don’t have to pretend you’ve ever given a shit about being a father to me. I’m not Rex, so I don’t matter.” I cared when I was younger. It was why I’d done the things I’d done—trying to be the son Frank Hunt wanted and the brother Rex Hunt respected. What a waste of time.
Dad laughed. “Always were a little more sensitive, weren’t you? Get your ass to my house. I want to talk to you.”
“No. I’m tired. I don’t feel like—”
“How was your weekend away with Riven?”
My heart stopped beating. How had he known I went away with Riv? The only person we told was Betsy. “I’m on my way.”
“That’s what I thought.”
Motherfucker. Blood rushed through my ears, my pulse slamming against my skin as I grabbed my keys and headed out.
My fingers drummed against the steering wheel the whole way. When I pulled down the driveway, Rex’s truck was there too. Of course.
I killed the engine and jumped out, forcing myself to bury my anger and nerves, the two leading emotions in the crowd of feelings trying to break me down.
