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Hampton lifted a shoulder in a shrug and then threw his large arm around my shoulders. “Screw him.” He angled his head down. “May as well get this over with, Pippie.”
I groaned but nodded, and together, we turned and trudged into the house.
3
Piper
Six years later
“He’s had too much to drink. He can’t drive,” Lawson rumbled.
I rolled my eyes and shoved past him, my shoulder driving into his ribs. “He’s fine, Law! Loosen up a bit.” I waved my arms behind us at the house that
was lit up like a Christmas tree, music pumping from the open windows. “Why’d you even come tonight if you were just going to sulk in a corner?”
Jude Brown had announced at school at the beginning of the week that he was going to throw the most epic party of the year this weekend and he had not disappointed.
The day after Hampton had kicked his ass six years ago, Jude had found me in the bathroom at lunch time and apologized. A long, rambling, somewhat unintelligible at times apology, that ended with his swearing he’d never bother me again. He’d also promised to make sure the other guys left me alone. He’d kept his word and I had happily resumed eating in the cafeteria, the threat of dropping my sandwich in a toilet just a memory.
“Someone’s gotta make sure you guys don’t do something dumb. Like, oh, I dunno, drive drunk,” Lawson retorted, his normally dry voice dripping with disdain.
“Dude. Quit being so lame. What have you been doing in college?” Hampton chimed in, giving Lawson a brotherly punch on the shoulder.
Lawson’s face morphed into a scowl and he rubbed his shoulder. “Asshole. That hurt. And, unlike you, I’ve been taking my college education seriously and studying. Something you should try.”
Hampton laughed, his deep voice booming, and held up both arms, flexing his biceps. “Do you see these puppies? Who needs school when these arms are going to earn me the largest salary for a D-end in the NFL?”
Lawson shook his head, but despite the dark sky, I was able to catch a glimpse of his lips curling into a smile. He gave us all a hard time, Hampton especially, but I knew that deep down, he was proud of his brother. And Hampton wasn’t exaggerating. As a sophomore in college, he had already broken the school’s record for single sacks in a season…two years in a row. He was a beast on the field, and NFL teams were already scouting him.
Lifting the cup of warm beer to my lips, I took a sip and watched Hampton over the rim.
He was beautiful. There was no other way to describe him. Standing well over six feet tall, he was pure muscle, as if God had created him just to tackle quarterbacks. His lips were full, his jaw sharp and currently covered with the perfect amount of scruff. But it was his eyes that girls would stumble into and immediately drown in. They were deep set, his lashes dark, the perfect contrast to his emerald-green irises. And just like the gems, they sparkled constantly. There was never a moment I could remember that Hampton wasn’t smiling, happy-go-lucky, his eyes shining. And when he pointed those green beauties at me, they would soften, causing my stomach to somersault.
I’d often thought as I got older that I would grow out of my infatuation with him. But instead, it had grown, changed, and morphed into something more. I’d kept my feelings to myself, not even telling Georgia. Hampton loved me, I knew. But not in the same way I loved him. It sucked to watch him go out with other girls, to drive them in the back of his truck out to the end of Willow Lane, the place guys took easy girls. But I had no one to blame but myself. I’d never worked up the nerve to tell him how I felt. To tell anyone. It was cliché, but I didn’t want to ruin our friendship. Our lives were so interwoven, there would be no going back from that. And I couldn’t spend my days embarrassed that I’d confessed to falling in love with my best friend when I was eight only to be rejected.
So now, here I was, a senior in high school, and I’d never had a boyfriend. There wasn’t a single boy at my school that could compare to Hampton. Plus, most of them were too afraid of the guys in my life to ask me out.
“Let’s go, bitches!” Jack shouted, dangling car keys in the air.
Lawson dove for them, but even half drunk, Jack was fast and swung out of the way.
Jack took off toward our car, Hampton hot on his heels, catching him easily and throwing an arm around his shoulders. I giggled and then swallowed the last bit of my beer before dropping the cup on the ground and following the guys.
“Piper! What are you doing?” Lawson shouted after me.
I paused, craning my neck to look at him. “Going home.”
He took two steps, his long legs quickly closing the distance between us, and grabbed my arm. “Pippie, your brother’s drunk, he shouldn’t be driving. You can’t get in that car with him.”
I shook his hand from my arm and took a step back. He followed, stepping into my space once more. It was unsettling, and something niggled at the back of my neck. Tilting my head back, I studied him closely. He was tall like Hampton, but that’s where the similarities ended.
Where Ham was thick and muscular, Lawson was long and lean. He sported a constant frown to the point he had lines on the sides of his mouth. I knew from experience, during the rare times that he smiled, they turned into dimples, but that was so few and far in between it was easy to forget. His brown eyes were always guarded and cautious, and his dark lashes gave him a certain mystery as if with every blink he was locking away yet another secret. I supposed Lawson could have been handsome in the right lighting. But then again, maybe that was the three red Solo cups of beer talking.
I waved a hand at him. “Jack’s fine. He’s only had a few drinks.” I glanced back over my shoulder, noticing the boys were getting into the car. Walking backward, I finished. “But, uh, thanks for your concern?” It came out as a question because his behavior didn’t make any damn sense. He’d never cared about what I did before. He had been weirder than usual this last year. His trips home from college less frequent and shorter than they once were. He’d started avoiding me as well, but I chalked that up to the fact he was just an ass.
His brow furrowed, he pleaded, “Come on. Just let me drive you home.”
With a sigh, I relented. “Fine.” I made a show of patting my pockets. “I left my phone inside. Let me go get it and I’ll meet you at your car.”
