I Knew You Were Trouble (Troublemaker Series Book 1)

by Cassie Mae

  “Just don’t ruin my painting.”

  “You got it.”

  He drops his lips to mine in a brief, fantastic kiss. I can sense his trepidation through our playfulness, and if he asks me to, I’ll skip class and hold his hand through what he plans on doing.

  I would skip a class for him. Dang… I really do love him.

  “I love you,” I say, wiggling my nose against his. “A lot.”

  “I love you a lot.”

  “Say the word, and I’ll stay out here with you.”

  “Are you avoiding your fear, Candace?” he lilts, tapping a finger to the inside of my wrist.

  “Darn, you caught me.” He didn’t. I’m surprisingly calm about seeing Zach in the nude. I let go of Pete’s hand and snuggle into his chest instead, wrapping my arms around his middle. My ear presses against the beat of his heart, and I let the faster than normal cadence set my own heart’s speed.

  This right here is more intimate than anything I’ll be doing in that art room. I think painting Pete fully clothed would be more intimate. Anything and everything involving him will be more meaningful and therefore, more nerve-wracking to tackle. But those are all fears I’ll jump into when I’m ready, and the fact that Pete won’t put added pressure on me to be someone I’m not makes it all the more worth it in the long run.

  So, I’m a little nervous to finally take a look at some guy’s private parts, it’s not nearly as bad as it used to be.

  I’m more nervous to come out of that room and find Pete in the hall upset. I really hope things go well for him.

  “I mean it.” I tilt my head up from his chest, meeting his eyes. “Ask me to hold your hand or haul me off my stool in there or whatever, okay?”

  The corner of his mouth picks up, and he presses a kiss to my forehead. “Same goes for you.”

  Something breezes by us, and I break from Pete just enough to catch Zach swooping by in his robe. I let out a giant sigh and snuggle into Pete’s chest again.

  “Boo.”

  “Not ready?” He rubs a soothing circle on my back.

  “For class? Yes. To get out of this hug? No.”

  His body shakes with silent chuckles, and he squeezes me tighter for the smallest of seconds before pulling away.

  “We both know you won’t be late.”

  “Yeah.” Stupid punctuality quirk. I give him another quick peck and then jump away quickly so he doesn’t suck me back in with his adorableness. Time to be a rebel and paint some genitalia.

  Pete

  I toy with my phone, flipping it between my thumb and middle finger, pressing it against my leg, and doing it all over again. The tile floor of the hallway is cold on my butt as I sit, leaning against the brick wall. Candace hasn’t flown from her art room, so I’m guessing things are going well for her in there.

  So I really don’t want to burst in and grab her no matter how much I could use her hand right now.

  I stop flipping the phone and turn the screen on, hovering over my dad’s picture in my contacts. Mad and I had a long talk about what to do about Demi. Our younger sister called in tears just a few days ago, telling us that Dad had sold the iPad I got her for Christmas. It was a refurbished one, good condition, and cost me just under two-hundred, but that wasn’t even what set me off. Dad had the gall to hit me up for more money not twenty minutes after Mad told me what happened. Said the job hunt was at a standstill, and mortgage would be another no go for him this month.

  I held my tongue then, still trying to piece together a solution. Maddie and I talked for hours, well past Candace’s bedtime, until we finally agreed on what to do.

  Now to just pull the ripcord and do it.

  I take a deep breath and press the call button, checking up and down the hallway to make sure it’s empty.

  “’Bout time you called me back,” he answers. Residual anger flickers behind my eyes. He’s lucky I waited till now to call him; any time before my head wouldn’t have been on as straight.

  “I’m not going to give you money,” I tell him without any preamble. That’s how he likes to communicate with me, so I’m extending the same courtesy.

  “Come on, PJ. Promise it’ll be the last time.” He lets out a hearty chuckle, and I cringe against the state I imagine he’s in.

  “Dad, are you high?”

  “I don’t do drugs. How many times do I gotta tell ya?”

  “I need you lucid enough for this conversation.” No bullshitting right now. I can’t deal with his pleading, his empty promises, the thick layer of guilt he’ll lay on. Not again, and not anymore.

  “I’m fine, PJ. I just need some help.” He coughs. “What about half of the mortgage payment? I can handle half.”

  “I’m not giving you money.”

  “Then the bills. I’ll do mortgage this time ‘round. Can you help out with the gas and electric and phones?”

  I kick my leg up, resting my elbow on my knee, the phone pressed to my ear with more force now, like I need extra help to keep it there. I eye the door of Candace’s art room, and just knowing she’s within reach gives me a light boost.

  “I’m not talking money with you, okay? I got something more important I need to tell you.” I take his silence as a signal to plow through. “Madison and I want Demi to live with us for a while.”

  He chokes on what I can only assume is the signature drink in his hand. “You want to what?”

  “Maddie just got a new job, and our lease is up this month. We’re going to upgrade to a three bedroom apartment in the same complex.” It was a great deal, really. We lucked out looking when we did. With us being up on the lease, if we signed for another year in the same complex, they’ll waive the security deposit and offer us the manager’s moving company for free. Not that we have a lot of stuff, but it was a nice bonus nonetheless.

  Candace did offer to help out with anything, and even though she didn’t specifically say monetarily, I knew what she meant. I like that she doesn’t force it on me by any means, and she’s already helped out enough by getting Maddie in at her farm.

  Dad clears his throat. “You really think you and your sister can take on a seven-year-old?”

  “She’s ten, Dad.” I take a breath to compose myself. “And yes.”

  He pauses for so long I’d think he hung up if I didn’t hear him occasionally slurping from whatever drink he has. I look down the hallway again, buzzed chatter from the classroom filling the empty space. A tiny smile twitches in the corner of my mouth. Maybe Candace will be out here sooner than I thought.

  “You’ll pay my mortgage this month?” he asks, and my stomach deflates. I had a feeling he might try to negotiate.

  “No.”

  “Then she can’t go with you.”

  Shit, here we go. I didn’t want to pull the blackmail card, but it’s the ace up my sleeve. I take a deep breath and try to douse the flames running up and down the back of my neck.

  “If she doesn’t want to, then I won’t force her. But Dad, if she does, and you won’t let her, I’ll go another route.”

  “What do you mean by that?” he spits out. “You’ll call the cops? Like they can do anything.”

  “Child services might.”

  “You’d force her into foster care?”

  “Would you?”

  My breath sucks from my lungs with his silence, and I wait, the buzz from Candace’s classroom now white noise. Does he get how far I’ll go to protect Demi from the toxic cycle he’ll throw her into once she’s old enough? I’ll lawyer up, adopt her, do whatever I can to get her out like Mad and I did. I’ve given him chances, years of them to straighten up, and each month I’m met with another disappointment. Demi is the only reason I have left to help him out, and he knows it.

  “Your mom won’t be happy,” he says after a beat, his voice gruff—defeated. I want to bite back with a retort about how it’s his addiction that brought us here, not the stubbornness I developed in this one conversation. But I keep it locked inside, knowing it
won’t make a difference.

  “Maddie and I will head over in a bit. Chat with you both about it.”

  “You’ll have room for her?” His tone softens, and my heart cracks with the hitch in his voice. I’ve never heard my dad relent.

  “Yeah. You’re more than welcome to come look at the place.”

  “Hmm.”

  We sit in silence for a good minute, and the classroom door banging open jerks me out of my reverie.

  “I’ll see you in a bit, okay?”

  “Pete…?”

  I raise an eyebrow, my heart jolting at the lack of nickname that I hate.

  “Yeah, Dad?”

  “This won’t be forever, right?” He chokes again, this time on something entirely different than a drink. “She… all of you… you’ll come back.”

  Damn, how I wish I could tell him a definitive yes. But I can’t unless he gives me one, and I know he won’t be able to do that either.

  “We’ll be back when you’re back.” I hope he gets what I mean, and by his silence, I take it that he does.

  I glance down the hallway, and the top of Candace’s head is all I see, the rest of her hidden by a giant canvas. She bounces from the room, bobbing with every speedy step toward me. “I gotta run, Dad. Be there soon.”

  “Bye, son.”

  I bring my phone to my lap, staring at my dad’s picture in the contact list. He actually said goodbye this time, instead of his typical hang up.

  “How’d it go?” Candace says, popping her face around the side of her canvas. Her bright smile can’t be touched, even if I’m not exactly grinning like a fool like I usually am around her.

  “Better than I thought.” I push to my feet and tuck my phone away. “I’m gonna head out there and talk some more.”

  She cringes. “Was he mad?”

  “I don’t know. Upset, maybe.” Honestly the whole conversation threw me; I didn’t expect the reaction I got, and I don’t know whether to be grateful or skeptical.

  Candace sets her canvas to the ground, holding it with one hand and propping up on her tiptoes. She plants a kiss on my cheek.

  “Do you want me to come with you?”

  I shake my head. “Probably shouldn’t. Family thing.”

  She nods. “I figured. But I thought I should still offer.”

  “Thank you.”

  “So…” she says, sliding a hand over the top edge of her canvas. “You want to see?”

  Her playfulness becomes contagious, and I catch it in a nanosecond. “Absolutely.”

  She does a little jig and spins the canvas around with some overdone flourish.

  “Wow.” My eyes widen, and I try with all my might not to burst out in laughter. It’s just a penis. And I mean, only a penis. “You’ve been working on this your entire first semester?” If she didn’t look at one this entire time, I doubt she got much done.

  “Oh no. That one’s still in there.” She waves a hand back at the classroom. “This is what I did tonight.”

  “Nothing like baptism by fire.”

  “So it looks realistic?”

  “Hell yeah.” Minus the fact that it’s colored in purple, it looks damn realistic. “Does Zach have bruised jewels?”

  She furrows her brow and takes a look at the painting. “Oh! You mean ‘cause it’s violet. No, that’s the color it represents on my fear chart.”

  “Right.” Should’ve guessed. I shake my head, unable to hide my grin at her sweet innocence. I just had one of the most difficult conversations of my life, and here she comes, bopping out with a giant penis portrait.

  Needing to hold her for a few seconds before I have another one of those conversations, I lean the canvas against the wall, snag her wrist, and reel her in.

  “Proud of you and your penis, honey,” I tease over her head. She tickles my ribs and then snuggles in.

  “Proud of you, too, darling.” She tilts her head, the tip of her ponytail trailing over my hands clasped at the small of her back. “Look at us, beating down all our fears.”

  “And you still won’t stop bugging me about tucking in my shirt.”

  “That’s just proper uniform wear.”

  “Next time I see yours untucked, I’m calling you out.”

  “That’ll be the day.”

  I shake my head and press a kiss to her lips, missing their warmth already. She opens up for me, letting me run my tongue across her bottom lip. Her fingers curl into my t-shirt, and I slide my hands up her back.

  “I change my mind,” I say on an exhale when we break apart. “You should definitely come with me to my dad’s.”

  She laughs and wiggles her nose. “Aww, did I turn off the thinking part of your brain?”

  “Yes. Do it again.”

  She does, but not for nearly as long. “Come on. You better get going. We’ve got the rest of our lives to kiss.”

  “Hell yeah.”

  She laughs, knowing that my brain still isn’t all the way there. Our hands meet, and I pick up her penis and help her out to her car.

  “You sure you don’t want it in the trunk?” I ask when she opens the passenger door. Can’t imagine she wants to sit next to it.

  A victorious smile hits her lips, and she places it in the passenger seat. “They aren’t nearly as scary as I thought.”

  “Such a rebel.”

  She sticks her tongue out at me, then she buckles her painting in. Ah… there’s the other side to her. She’s the perfect mix of rebel and careful, and I love every bit of it.

  Candace

  Pete looks at me like he’s got some secret I’m not privy to, and he won’t let me in on it. I hip bump my door shut and give him a goodbye hug. He’s got a lot to face tonight, and as much as I want to be right by his side through it all, I know it’ll be better with just his family.

  “I love you,” I tell him. “A lot.”

  He rocks me in his arms. “I love you a lot.”

  We kiss one more time. And then again. And okay, one more, and then I finally let him head toward Gertrude. I slide into the driver’s seat and watch as he pulls from the school’s parking lot. My lips tingle and my heart sings happy tunes, and I relax into a sweet euphoric state.

  I had no idea being this happy was even possible, and holy wow, is it not only possible, but it’s so much better than anything I’ve ever imagined. It’s like when I first picked up a paint brush, but times ten.

  I grin at my canvas next to me, straightening my shoulders. I did it. Heck yeah, I did it. And now when I see a penis in a much more romantic setting, I might not be so surprised by what it looks like and I can completely focus on just being with Pete.

  I mean… Well, yeah, let’s face it. It’ll most definitely be Pete.

  A small, giddy laugh drops from my lips, and I pull my phone out, scrolling through my downloaded files to my list of fears. Of course I have a digital copy. Or three.

  I click the edit button and tap on the very top fear.

  Sex. Fear level: violet.

  I long press on it, waiting for it to ask me if I want to change the font, size, color… I click the highlight button. My finger taps the red so quickly I don’t really think about it.

  Red is low. The lowest. And I never thought I’d see the word sex highlighted in such a color, but here we are. It’s not so scary anymore, and not just because I’m a grown up now who has seen male genitals. It’s completely because everything feels so safe with Pete, and I can’t imagine sharing this with him would be anything but exciting and fun.

  It’s still nerve-wracking and I don’t think I’m ready yet, so it’ll stay on the list, but he might be happy to see the drop in fear level.

  I laugh to myself again as I picture his face, all slack-jawed and adorable. He’ll tease me mercilessly, I’m sure. And I’ll punch him, and he’ll tickle me, and we’ll start kissing and never want to stop. Until we do because we’ll probably be making out in a totally inappropriate place again.

  Even that doesn’t sound so ba
d, though.

  Wow, the thought of doing any of that would’ve put me into cardiac arrest just a month ago. He says he didn’t want me to change, but I kind of have. There is a penis portrait next to me, for heaven’s sake!

  But I still won’t swear. And come on, tucking in shirts is just good manners at work. Color coding lists is fun, not at all anal. I’m almost a mix now of the version I thought I wanted to be and the person I really am.

  The more I think about it… he is too. I always thought he was a bad boy who flipped the bird to any and every rule. Little did I know he was such a softie on the inside.

  My phone buzzes in the center console, and I break out of my reverie to answer.

  Will you stay up past bedtime tonight? Let me stop by after I’m done with this?

  I do have enough pillows for another wall between us, though I don’t think we’ll need it.

  Make me stay up?? Sigh… I suppose I could leave the door unlocked for you.

  If you don’t stay up for me, I’ll just have to join you in bed.

  Bring it on.

  He doesn’t answer, and I assume he’s now racing to talk to his dad, and the thought curls a grin on my lips. There’s no doubt in my mind that I’ll leave that door unlocked, that he’ll find me pretending to sleep with a wall of pillows pressed to my back. He’ll toss them off one by one, and we’ll spoon like a couple of bad-a-words.

  And I won’t mind in the slightest.

  After all, we’re both troublemakers.

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