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Rebel took one more long drink from it, closed the lid, and put it back in the fridge.
“Annabel, the jug is almost empty anyway,” Rebel said, addressing her mom. Despite the fact their parents had gotten married when she and Rebel were only six, she didn’t call Lawson “Dad”, and he didn’t call her mother “Mom”. Rebel glanced at Rosie, smirked, and gave her a wink.
If he only knew what that did to her, how it made her heart race and her panties become moist. She felt her cheeks get hot, and looked away, embarrassed by her reaction over something as simple as a damn wink. But this tingling on the back of her neck had her looking at Rebel again. He was staring at her, his brows pulled down low in confusion.
“You taking your sister to school today?” her mother asked Rebel.
“Annabel,” Rebel said in a disgusted tone. “Rosie isn’t my sister. We’ve told you that, damn.”
Her mom turned and faced them, a coffee cup in hand. She rolled her eyes. “I swear, you two and the weirdness you get from me using that terminology. “Are you takingRosieto school?”
“Don’t I take her every day?” Rebel said and winked at Rosie again. “Come on, girl. Wouldn’t want your smart ass late.” He grinned and walked past her, and the scent of the cologne he wore struck her deep, and only in a good way.
She waved goodbye to her mom, figured Lawson had left to go to the office early since she hadn’t seen him, and followed Rebel out to his car. His cell went off and he stopped to answer it, but Rosie kept making her way to the car. She opened the passenger side door, but heard Rebel starting to speak on the phone.
“Nah, man. I think after this past weekend I’ll stay in.” He glanced at Rosie, and she felt embarrassed that she’d been caught listening to his conversation.
She got in the car, and even though the door was now shut she could still hear him speaking as he made his way toward the vehicle.
“Rowley, man, I got shitfaced last weekend.” A moment of silence passed, and Rebel opened the driver’s side door.
He sat down, and she heard his friend Rowley speaking on the other end, the words muffled.
“Yeah, I was fine when I left the party, but when I got home that was a different matter.” Rebel glanced at her again, but she didn’t hold his stare, and instead focused out the passenger side window. “Listen, I’ll talk to you at school.”
Rebel hung up, started the engine, and for a second the sound of his Mustang purring was almost serene.
“Hey,” he said, and she glanced over at him.
“Yeah?”
“Are you okay? You’re acting weird.”
She knew she was. After she’d put him to bed Friday, Rebel had been gone the rest of the weekend for work. His job, consisting of doing under the table mechanic work for the local body shop, had him working a lot after school, and every other weekend.
He might party hard, but he was also a very hard worker. This was the first time since Friday night that she’d seen him, and Rosie couldn’t deny that the encounter that night had been a little more uncomfortable than normal.
Maybe it had been the things he’d said … and the things he’d stopped himself from saying? All weekend she’d wondered what he could have told her, but forced himself not to. But then on the heels of those obsessive thoughts she wondered if it had all been because he’d been shitfaced.
“You sure you’re okay? You’re acting weird as hell.”
She waved off his words. “I’m fine. Let’s get to school, because I can’t be late.” She reached over and turned on the radio, hoping the music would dissuade him from pushing her on this.
But there was also a part of her that wished he would push her, because maybe then she’d grow a set and man up to how she really felt.
* * *
Rosie was actingweird as fuck, but Rebel hadn’t pushed her in telling him what the issue was. Maybe she was sick and tired of seeing his partying ways?
There had been far too many times that she’d had to witness his drunk ass coming home, but on Friday night she’d actually put him to bed.
Yeah, he remembered it all, even if he had been so fucking drunk the hangover the next morning had brought tears to his eyes. But he wasn’t going to bring that shit up, wasn’t going to try to tell her what he’d almost said.
He might have been drunk, but at least he’d been smart enough to keep his mouth shut, at least for the most part.
Ten minutes later and he was pulling into the school parking lot. He cut the engine, turned to face Rosie, but before he could say anything, she was out the door.
“Thanks for the ride, like always. See you at lunch,” she said through the open passenger window, and then hauled ass into the school.
