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“Of course he did.” He rolled his eyes. “You are such a fucking pain in my ass.”
My eyes narrowed at the back of his head. “Hampton and I were doing just fine without you.” Uncrossing my arms, I pointed a finger in his direction. “It’s not like you were going to help us.”
His lips thinned just a second before he barked. “I drive you everywhere. I clean up your messes. I get punched in the damn face for you! But you’re right, I never do anything.”
I scoffed. “You clean up my messes? Please. Hampton cleans up my messes, thank you very much.”
I looked over to see Hampton grinning, his split lip still dripping blood. His left eye was beginning to swell, and I knew he was going to have one heck of a shiner in the morning. There would be no keeping this from our parents, and I sighed, knowing we were driving home to be grounded.
Lawson craned his neck so he could look at me. “You are a damn troublemaker. I’m tired of being responsible for you all the time.” He turned his attention back to the road before he muttered, “I’m just tired of you.”
Lawson was a buzzkill. He was boring, dorky, a tattletale. Rarely did we hang out together, and when we did, it wasn’t by choice.
But, despite all of that, I still thought of him as my brother, the same as Hampton. So, his harsh words hit their intended target and I flinched.
“Hey, you don’t gotta be such a jerk,” Georgia piped up. She adored Lawson, something I clearly didn’t understand. But for reasons unknown, they were close. Maybe it was because Georgia could see the good in people, even when there wasn’t much there. Or maybe it was because she was smart and liked to read the same dumb books as Lawson. But whatever the reason, she and her oldest brother were thick as thieves.
But that didn’t mean she didn’t put him in his place when he deserved it.
But apparently, he wasn’t in the mood to be put in place. “Shut it, Georgie. Piper doesn’t need another Reed on her side. Hampton’s more than enough for her.” He sneered.
Hampton’s hand had been resting on the console, but quick as lightning, he balled up a fist and hit Lawson in the arm. “Knock it off, shithead,” he spat. “You sit on your high horse all the time, looking down at everyone else. You don’t have a clue.”
Hampton glanced back at me, his warm green eyes soft. Lowering his voice, he told his brother. “Jude’s been giving Pip a hard time since school started. She’s had to eat lunch in the bathroom because every day in the lunchroom he does something to her. She didn’t even tell me about it till today, or you can believe that I would have put a stop to it a long time ago.”
Lawson’s furious gaze once again landed on mine in the rearview mirror. But he didn’t say a word.
Lawson knew better than anyone that people got teased. Most of the time, he pretended it didn’t bother him to always play second fiddle to his funny and athletic younger brother. Guilt washed over me as I studied him. I wasn’t always as nice to him as I could have been.
He was still watching me in the mirror and his eyes widened when I mouthed, “I’m sorry.” He didn’t acknowledge my apology, just turned his attention back to the road and mumbled something I couldn’t hear.
Apparently, it wasn’t very nice, because Hampton’s face twisted in disgust. “So just to be clear, in the great and powerful world of Lawson Reed, I shouldn’t give a shit that Jude tried to put his hand down Piper’s pants then?” His teeth were clenched as he nearly shouted. “I should have just walked away and let him have her?”
I gazed at my best friend, the boy who had pulled me out of the pool four years ago, saving my life and becoming the person I depended on more than anyone else, and my stomach fluttered.
We’d grown closer than any two kids should be, nearly inseparable. We told each other nearly everything, but I hadn’t told him about the relentless teasing I’d endured from Jude.
Hampton had spent the first three months of school defending my honor, taking care of the boys who tried to grope my too large for my small frame breasts. He’d found ways to keep the girls from teasing me, and even though I’d told him I could handle myself, he’d refused to let me be the subject of cruel kids’ taunts.
He’d already been suspended for fighting twice, and if it wasn’t for the fact his parents were the largest benefactors to the private school we all attended, he would have probably been kicked out. I couldn’t let him get in any more trouble. Not to mention, every time he came home with a black eye or busted knuckles, guilt would consume me, knowing that if it weren’t for me, he wouldn’t have gotten hurt.
But that didn’t change the fact my heart swelled as I studied his soft brown hair, tousled from the fight, but looking as though it had been purposely styled that way. I pressed my lips together as I studied his, full and perfect, even with the cut Jude had given him.
Hampton was every girl’s fantasy. He was bigger than all the other eighth graders. Broad shoulders, already sporting a six pack, captain of the high school’s junior varsity football team.
Maybe jealousy was why they teased me for my curvy figure, for my stick straight blond hair, for my blue eyes that were so light they were almost clear.
But they shouldn’t have bothered wasting time hating me for having something they wanted. Despite what everyone assumed, and what I wanted more than anything, Hampton Reed was not mine. At least, not in the one way everyone thought.
A noise caught my attention and I shook my head quickly, trying to clear it of the longing thoughts that seemed to plague my mind. I glanced at the source and got an eyeful of Lawson’s murderous face. His eyes were aimed straight ahead, but his knuckles were white as he gripped the steering wheel. There was another emotion mixed in with the fury, but it was one I couldn’t quite put my finger on.
I continued to study his profile, his jaw ticking as he clenched his teeth, the muscle in his cheek twitching. He didn’t say another word, and no one else dared break the silence with small talk.
When we finally pulled into the driveway, Lawson had barely slowed down before barking, “Get out.”
The four of us scrambled out of the car, Hampton slamming the door just before Lawson peeled out, leaving tire marks on the cement.
“Geesh, you’d think it was him who was gonna be in trouble,” Jack quipped as we stood motionless together, watching the taillights grow smaller.
