Somethin' About That Boy

by Vale, Lani Lynn

“Vance has a way with words,” I said. “He’ll be on the team.”

  “Or maybe not,” Titus offered as he brought my attention once again to the two.

  Coach had his arms crossed and he was staring at Vance who was clearly not happy.

  Vance marched away then, walking past us and hitting the water table so hard that the entire thing upended.

  Blue screeched and stood up. Titus, who’d seen it coming, curled his arm protectively around Blue who was still holding the baby.

  Perry cursed when she was soaked with water.

  And Slone took a threatening step toward Vance who was clearly ready for a fight.

  “Don’t,” I said, catching onto his shirt. “He wants it. You have a baby to take care of. Baiting Vance isn’t going to be good. I’ve been dealing with him for a year now, and I can guarantee he’s fucking dirty.”

  Dirty meaning he’d do shit that Slone wouldn’t have a counter for because kids in high school weren’t supposed to be this fucking crazy.

  Slone stilled, but he didn’t look like he wanted to.

  In fact, if Slone saw Vance in a dark parking lot, there was a distinct possibility Vance would be meeting the pavement.

  “I can see why you fucking hate him,” Slone growled, jaw clenched tight.

  He moved over to where Blue was now pulling away from Titus and took his baby out of her arms.

  “You okay, Briley girl?” Slone asked, lifting her up until he had her lifted slightly in the air.

  Briley kicked her feet, knocking him in the chin.

  Slone grinned and brought her down until he could place a kiss onto her cheek.

  Then he handed her back to Blue.

  “Let’s go get this over with,” he growled to Titus.

  Titus and I followed, my eyes going to Perry with a distinct ‘stay here’ order.

  She winked at me, causing my heart rate to pick up.

  By the time we were done with sprints, I half expected to see Vance lurking. But he was long gone.

  “At least we won’t have to deal with him being on the football team,” Titus muttered.

  Titus had straight up asked if Vance would be making an appearance and Coach had given a resounding ‘hell no.’

  Perry stood up as we got closer, as did Blue.

  Perry now had the baby in the car seat carrier and she was rocking it lightly.

  “I don’t know if she was supposed to go to sleep or not, but she did,” Perry said, handing the carrier to Slone.

  Slone took the carrier, but my eyes were all for Perry who was glancing at me nervously through her eyelashes.

  “I’m gonna go grab my bag and take a quick shower. You okay waiting?” I asked, my eyes taking in the parking lot.

  “She can wait in my office,” Coach said, walking up.

  My brows rose in surprise as I looked at him.

  “Thanks, Coach Eric,” Perry said. “My dad said that y’all were going fishing tomorrow.”

  Coach coughed. “Sorry. I’m going to be out sick tomorrow.”

  That was hilarious, because our assistant coach had just said before he released us from practice that he wouldn’t be here tomorrow for practice. That he had something he had to take care of that was very important.

  The guys with me started to laugh, and Coach Eric looked directly ahead as if he didn’t know what we were all laughing at.

  When we walked inside the gym’s door, Perry took a left to the coaches’ offices, and I took a right to head toward the shower.

  I wasn’t surprised in the least to find Vance in the locker room waiting.

  I tried to ignore him but it was obvious in about two seconds that Vance wasn’t going to let this lie.

  “Tell me about Perry,” Vance said snidely.

  I looked at him as if what he was saying wasn’t affecting me in the least, when in reality I wanted to throw him so hard into the lockers that his head caved in.

  God, I was just so fuckin’ tired of dealing with Vance.

  “Go away, Vance,” I said as I stripped out of my shirt.

  “I’m not going anywhere,” he said. “I might not have gotten onto the football team, but I’ll be in every one of your fuckin’ classes. You won’t be able to ignore me for long.” He paused. “Oh, and I found this sweet little pad in this swanky duplex subdivision. I go after school to sign some papers.”

  I looked at him then, hoping that the ‘sweet little pad’ wasn’t anywhere near my sweet little pad.

  But I had a sinking sensation that it was.

  When I still didn’t respond, he gathered his backpack up and walked out, whistling.

  I wanted to punch him in the neck.

  Asshole.

  The moment that he was out of the locker room, I reached for my phone that was in my bag and growled when I saw that it’d been moved.

  Thankfully I’d changed my passcode when this all began and still changed it once a week thanks to my paranoia.

  Likely, Vance had tried to get into it.

  Also likely, when he found that he couldn’t, he got even more pissed.

  Yeah, needless to say, the guy was a jackass, and I was likely lucky that I saw his true colors now instead of ten years from now.

  Pulling my phone toward me and scanning my retina, I immediately pulled up my brother’s name and called.

  “What’s up?” he asked. “Done with practice? Want to meet at Whataburger?”

  “You don’t happen to know if there’s some sort of opening at the duplexes we’re in, do you?” I asked, interrupting him. “Because Vance is here. And he just made it sound like he found out where I was living and got a place there.”

  Ford cursed.

  “No, but I’ll figure it out pretty fuckin’ quick. Don’t worry too much, okay?” He paused. “The occupants are pretty thoroughly vetted before they get the green light to move in. This is a cop subdivision.”

  I felt instant relief.

  “Thank God,” I said. “And no, I don’t want Whataburger. I’m taking Perry home.”

  Ford chuckled. “Moving pretty fast, aren’t you?”

  It didn’t feel fast to me.

  But who the hell knew?

  “I don’t think so,” I admitted. “Gotta go. She’s waiting on me.”

  Titus waited until I was off the phone before saying, “I don’t like this guy.”

  I looked over at him with amusement. “Welcome to the club.”

  Chapter 9

  Cory. Shawn. Topanga. Eric. Feeny.

  -Coffee Cup

  Perry

  I was laughing so hard that my sides were hurting when Banner made his way into Coach Eric’s office.

  He looked at me with amusement on his face when he said, “You ready?”

  I stood up and patted Coach on his back. “I’ll see you later. Good luck on your non-fishing trip.”

  After I said my goodbyes, I walked with a clearly broody Banner out to the parking lot.

  When we got there, nearly everyone was gone but Coach’s truck and Banner’s bike.

  There was one lone truck at the back of the lot that had Banner growling under his breath.

  “How did you know that I don’t drive?” I asked curiously.

  His eyes flicked down at me, then up toward where the truck across the parking lot started up.

  I assumed it was Vance, and I also guessed that the reason he waited was because he wanted Banner to know he was there.

  Once he knew, Vance left, rolling out of the parking lot at a leisurely pace.

  “I saw you walking,” he said. “I almost stopped and picked you up, but when I went to pull over, I think Blue did and you got into her car.”

  I grinned. “My parents can’t afford another car. So when they’re both using them, and I can’t catch a ride with my mom, I walk.”

  “Your mom works here. How can you not catch a ride with her?” he asked, sounding less pissy now that V
ance was gone.

  “My mom has to cook breakfast for all those kids that don’t get food at home in the morning. She has to be here by six-fifteen.” I scrunched up my face in disgust. “And nine times out of ten, I don’t get up early enough. Which means that I have to walk. Which also means that I have to still get up early. And it’s really not a big deal. We don’t live that far away.”

  He looked over at me with a grin on his face. A grin that quickly fell away when a vehicle accelerated so fast that we heard it for what was a good thirty seconds. “I’ll pick you up if I survive this trip to your house.”

  I winked at him, making his frown not so ferocious.

  “I think that you’ll survive,” I teased as I looked at his bike. “I’ve never ridden a motorcycle before.”

  He handed his helmet over.

  “If my mom ever, and I do mean ever, asks you if I gave you my helmet to allow you to have one and me not have one, you lie. I don’t care what you have to say. Make me sound like an asshole that didn’t give you the helmet. Okay?” he paused. “Because that was literally the only reason I was allowed to bring this to Texas with me. She made me promise to always wear the helmet.”

  I pushed it back at him. “I’m not lying to your mother!”

  He grinned. “Don’t think about it as lying. Think about it as you saving my life.”

  I snorted and tried to refuse it one more time, but he reached over my flailing hands and put it securely on my head.

  “I’ll go borrow one from my brother tomorrow,” he said. “My sister-in-law’s pregnant and won’t be using hers for a while.”

  “Your brother rides?” I asked curiously, watching as he looked at his backpack, then mine.

  “You want me to hold both?” I questioned.

  He shook his head and put his backpack on the front of him. “Tomorrow we’ll figure something else out,” he said. “In the meantime, we’ll just do this. Hop on.”

  I did, and not gracefully either.

  My legs were wobbly from my multiple workouts, and I was definitely feeling the burn.

  Not to mention I’d never actually climbed onto a motorcycle before.

  I mean, I knew the logistics. Those were obvious, but it was much tougher than the badass guys I’d seen do it made it seem.

  He laughed when I nearly fell into him and had to put my hands onto his shoulders to catch myself from face planting.

  “It’s awkward with a backpack, okay?” I lied.

  He snorted and waited until I was situated before he said, “Now scoot as close as you can get. Leave as little room as you can.”

  I scooted.

  “Closer.”

  I scooted some more.

  “Closer.”

  More.

  “Are you scared to touch me or something?” he teased.

  I narrowed my eyes and got as close as I possibly could. Which meant that my entire body was practically plastered to his from chest to crotch.

  “Better?” I asked, a bit of acid in my tone.

  He grinned at me over his shoulder. “Best.”

  I rolled my eyes, but couldn’t stop the elation that poured through me as he started the bike up.

  “Wow,” I said as it vibrated underneath me. “I can feel the power.”

  He threw his head back and laughed. “You ain’t seen nothin’ yet. Hold on.”

  I latched my hands around his stomach, holding onto my left wrist with my right hand.

  He gassed the bike, and all of a sudden we were shooting through the parking lot at a speed that I’d never experienced before in my life.

  I wouldn’t say that I was a completely cautious driver, but I definitely didn’t speed. I didn’t see the point.

  Until now.

  Now, feeling the wind in my hair, I realized the attraction to speed.

  But just as quickly as the acceleration began, it ended.

  “As much as I want to show you what this thing’ll do, I can’t,” he said as he pulled out onto the street. “I want your dad to actually like me. I plan on hanging around a lot.”

  I smiled against his back, my eyes focused on the road as he bobbed and weaved through traffic.

  At one point he took a curve so low that I could’ve reached out and touched the pavement.

  “Eeep!” I said as we moved, keeping my body in line with his. “This is so fun!”

  But, just as quickly as it started, it was over.

  We pulled up into my neighborhood ten minutes later, and wouldn’t you know it, but my dad was out watering his plants.

  “Son of a bitch,” I heard muttered.

  I grinned and got off the bike, handing the helmet over to Banner before I turned to my dad who’d been the one to make that comment.

  “Well, you could’ve come and gotten me!” I threw my hands up.

  My dad shook his head. “Nothin’ wrong with your legs, girl.”

  I played the pity card and turned to show him my arm. “I fell going down the bleachers today. Banner didn’t want me to walk.”

  Banner coughed underneath his breath, and I smacked him with my hand and glared at him.

  “Don’t say a word,” I ordered him with my eyes.

  He held up his hands in peace, then walked over to my dad and offered him his hand.

  My dad took it with his prosthesis and narrowed his eyes.

  “She was watching you in your sweatpants again, wasn’t she?” he accused. “Wasn’t paying attention where she was going ‘cause she was watchin’ you and fell.”

  My mouth fell open.

  “You did not just say that!” I all but screeched.

  Dad grinned at me. “I heard you talkin’ to your friend. It’s not my fault you’re so loud.”

  I didn’t know what to say to that.

  I could feel my face flaming, though.

  “I’m actually not sure, sir,” Banner admitted. “I was running bleachers with her. She was fine when I passed her.”

  Dad all but guffawed.

  “I like you, kid. Want to stay for dinner?” he asked.

  Banner opened his mouth, but before he could I said, “Who’s cooking?”

  Dad looked at me with a roll of his eyes. “Domino’s. Duh.”

  Banner grinned. “I’d love to stay. But just fair warning. I eat a lot.”

  Dad eyed Banner. “What’s ‘a lot?’”

  “A lot is an entire large pizza all by myself,” he said.

  Chapter 10

  My neighbor’s diary says that I have boundary issues.

  -T-shirt

  Perry

  “Perry!”

  I whipped my head toward the door—we hadn’t even been in my room for two seconds before he’d called my name.

  “Yeah?” I asked worriedly.

  “Mom and I are going out to Andy’s for ice cream. Don’t make any babies while I’m gone. I’m too young to be a grandfather,” Dad called up the stairs.

  My mouth fell open in shock.

  Banner, however, thought my father was hilarious.

  “That’s awesome,” Banner said as the front door closed on my father’s amused chuckle.

  I rolled my eyes.

  “You think it’s funny that my father thinks that we’re going to be having sex in here while he’s gone?” I asked. “Because that’s really embarrassing for him to make that assumption. I’ve known you for like a week.”

  His lips twitched. “You’ve known me for a week, yes. But you’ve also met somebody that is very responsible. And your dad knows that.”

  “What does that have to do with anything?” I asked curiously. “Responsible people still have sex.”

  My parents did.

  Which was disgusting to even think about.

  But they did it, and I had to sometimes hear it.

  He snorted and walked around my room, pausing at my last volleyball trophy that I got the previous summer.

 
“First place?” he asked. “This isn’t your team. Did y’all move?”

  I shook my head. “It’s my club team. The Raiders. I play with them from February to July.”

  He nodded his head in understanding. “Gotcha. Club. I didn’t even know that volleyball had a club team.”

  I wasn’t really sure how we’d found out about it either, but I was so freakin’ glad that I did. I loved it.

  The Raiders were more my team than the Kilgore High School team was.

  “The club team is kind of an unspoken thing around here. We have the team, but you have to know about it and try out to actually make the team. Symphony tried out once. She didn’t make the team.” I snickered.

  His smile was quick as he moved on to the next trophy.

  “Cross country?” he asked. “How long have you been doing that?”

  I ran my hand over the bedspread.

  “Only since junior year,” I told him.

  “I haven’t always been a great runner or anything. I kind of forced myself into it because I wanted to have better cardio endurance when I started college.”

  “You know where you want to start college at?” he asked, stopping at the window to look out.

  I watched the play of muscles on his back as he reached up and adjusted the blinds so he could see out.

  “Not in the slightest,” I admitted. “I still have half the year to go before I even want to think about it. I want to get the volleyball season over and get into finals at the end of the year. Then I’ll start looking around.”

  “But what about the recruiters that come during the season?” he asked.

  I looked at him, seeing his full question on his face.

  “Banner,” I snickered. “This is Kilgore 3A girls volleyball. We don’t have recruiters like boys football does.”

  He frowned. “None?”

  I shook my head. “None. I mean, even the bigger 5A districts probably don’t get many Rebels. But definitely not one with our small population.”

  He looked away. “That sucks.”

  It did, but it was what it was.

  “Do you know what you want to major in?” he asked, finally making it back to the starting point as he looked at my room.

  I grinned at him. “Do I make you nervous, Banner?”

  He licked his lips. “I’m trying to be good. So I’m talking. Instead of doing what I really want.”