Paul was an asshole. I’d started dating him a little over a year ago, and I’ve been nothing but disappointed since. My sister hated him. My sister’s husband hated him. And Trance hated him.
Yes, it was definitely time.
“My face is flushed because I’ve been crying, you idiot. Hemi isn’t well, and I’m putting him to sleep later this afternoon. As for you, I would like you not to come back anymore. We’re over.” I said as harshly as I could.
Silence greeted me after that statement.
Paul’s silence wasn’t in my best interest, because before I could even blink, Paul had me by the wrist. “What are you talking about? You know we’re not through. You’ve said that three times in the past four months, but you always come back.”
“Stand down.” Trance’s beautiful voice said from behind me.
I wasn’t sure if he was talking to Paul or Radar until, suddenly, Radar’s low growling abruptly quit at my side.
Then I felt Trance’s heat at my back, and I involuntarily leaned backwards into him.
His hand went around my waist, and he pulled me backwards until I was flush against him with his arm pinning me to him tightly.
“You heard her. Please leave.” Trance’s authoritative tone booked no room for argument.
“You can’t tell me what to do. This is my girlfriend’s place. How about you leave? Hmm?” Paul replied snottily.
“I want you to leave. Now. Oh, and lose my number.” I said stiffly, before yanking my wrist from Paul’s grasp and closing the door in his face.
A snarling snap from Radar had me jumping, and then Paul’s squeal of indignation followed.
“What was that?” I asked in surprise.
Trance snorted. “He tried to sneak his hand into the door before it closed all the way, but Radar convinced him not to continue with that line of thought.”
“Good,” I whispered.
Neither one of us moved.
My head was still pillowed against his chest, and his arm was still wrapped tightly around me.
We stood like that for long moments until Hemi’s heartbreaking whimpering from the couch broke up the moment, bringing us both to the couch.
“He needs to go outside, I believe. Would you mind doing that? I want to gather some of his things to take with us before we take him.” I said, looking into the direction I thought Trance was standing.
His warm hand cupped my face until he moved it up and to the left, before he replied. “Okay, baby. Just let Radar lead you out when you’re ready. I’ll be outside near the grass.”
“Thank you,” I said softly.
He broke away after that. I heard the click of the door handle unlatching, followed by the clicking of Hemi’s nails as he walked out the door, before it closed softly behind them both.
“Radar?” I called.
When Radar’s cold wet nose touched my hand, I smiled and patted his head. “Can you find me the balls?”
I’d heard Trance ask Radar that once, the last time he was over with my sister, when they helped me move six months ago.
I’d had the balls packed in a box, and I’d wanted to show the guys Hemi’s trick at putting three balls in his mouth. Since I’d had no idea where exactly the toys were, I’d been about to give up when Trance had said that Radar could find them. And find them he did.
Walking stiffly forward, I went to Hemi’s bed and picked it up.
A loud bark came from my side as I opened the front door.
Ask Me If I Care
(Ford & Ashe’s Story)
Prologue
Dear Math, please grow up and solve your own problems.
-Sincerely, Ford
Ford
Ten years ago
High School
“Hey, GMC.”
I stiffened and turned to find none other than Ashe Trammel standing behind me, her arms crossed over her chest, pushing her cleavage up, staring at me with a look of amusement on her face.
“What?” I asked stiffly.
“You do realize, right, that this is a school and not a brothel?” she asked, her eyes on my girlfriend, Linnett.
Linnett sneered at Ashe.
Ashe, however, was unfazed by either of our glares.
“What do you want?” I asked.
I was a senior this year and should be living it up.
Yet, every fucking time I turned the corner, there was Soot, making my life a living hell.
“I need a ride to the clubhouse today,” she said. “My car broke down on the way to school. My dad said you wouldn’t mind giving me a ride home.”
I gritted my teeth.
“We can’t—” Linnett started to say, but I interrupted her.
“What’s wrong with your car?” I asked.
She shrugged. “I don’t know. I called my dad to come help me, but he was on a call. Mom was at work.”
I sighed. “Where did you leave it?”
She narrowed her eyes.
“What does it matter?” she asked.
Linnett growled in frustration, already annoyed by Ashe.
I’d been dealing with Ashe for a long time, so her suspicion didn’t annoy me as much as it did Linnett.
“It matters because I might be able to go fix your car at lunch,” I answered. “If you tell me where it is.”
She mumbled something I didn’t quite catch.
“I’m sorry, what?” I asked.
She rolled her head around on her neck, then said, “It’s on the highway. On-ramp. Right where I would’ve gotten on to get to school.”
I stared at her blankly for a few moments, then narrowed my eyes.
“You died on the highway and had to walk to school from there?” I asked incredulously.
She shrugged. “It wasn’t a big deal. I was going to track practice anyway, and I just used that time to run instead.”
I pinched the bridge of my nose, causing Linnett’s arm to dislodge from mine.
“You ran on the highway, in the dark, and your father didn’t care?” I asked for clarification.
She sighed. “Yes.”
“What the fuck, Ashe?!” I growled, throwing my hands up. “Why the fuck would you go and do a thing like that?”
She narrowed her eyes.
“It’s not like I wanted to do that,” she countered. “It was that or go back home, and I knew I couldn’t go back home because we have that test today in calculus. The one that we stayed up for hours studying for.”
“Wait a minute,” Linnett said slowly. “You studied with her instead of coming over to my house and studying?”
Linnett was getting mad now, I could tell.
I ignored her and held out my hands.
“Give me the keys. If I can get it running, I’ll get Linnett to drive it back,” I said.
“I’m not going anywhere with you,” Linnett denied. “Not after you lied to me and told me that you were too busy to come study with me.”
Ashe turned her head and narrowed her eyes at Linnett.
“Maybe he wanted to actually get some studying done,” she said smartly. “Maybe he knew that if he went over to your house, you would just make him suck your face instead of studying. And he needs to pass this test, or he’s going to fail.”
Linnett narrowed her eyes at Ashe.
“You’re just jealous that Ford actually likes me,” Linnett sneered. “Instead of doing shit for you just because he’s told to or because he feels sorry for you.”
“What the fuck does that mean?” Ashe asked, her hands now fisting at her thighs.
I knew exactly what Linnett was about to do before she even did it.
“Linnett, don’t,” I ordered.
But Linnett didn’t listen.
Instead, she opened her fucking mouth.
By this point, half the senior hallway was listening to us.
“He told me that y’all made a bet. What was it? Who co
uld sneak out and not get caught?” Linnett said, sidestepping my arm. “That if you won, he had to teach you how to kiss. And if he won, you would cover for him anytime he wanted to sneak out of the house. So…how long have you been covering for him now? A few months? Have you learned to kiss yet? Or did you just Hoover vacuum someone’s face and hope that you did it right?”
The entire senior hallway broke out in laughter.
Ashe’s pained eyes turned to me.
“How could you?” she asked.
I opened my mouth to tell her I hadn’t meant for it to get out but closed it just as fast.
Apologies wouldn’t help anymore.
“I’ll teach you how to kiss, Soot Face.”
Ashe turned to survey the captain of the football team. Colin Wilson.
I narrowed my eyes at him and took a threatening step forward.
Linnett caught my arm and hauled me back.
I whispered to Linnett.
“Ashe is right,” I said softly. “If I didn’t study, I would’ve failed. And I can’t fail. I have to pass to play, and you know that.”
Linnett pouted.
“And I don’t appreciate you telling her about that kissing thing. You promised if I told you that you wouldn’t say a word. You’re making it to where I can’t trust you.”
Linnett looked contrite.
“I’m sorry,” she said, pushing her body into me.
I curved my arm around her shoulders and tugged her into me.
“You have to be nice to Ashe,” I said. “She’s like a sister to me.”
Linnett snorted. “Some sister. She treats you like trash.”
“She doesn’t,” I said. “She doesn’t do anything to me that I don’t do to her.”
She groaned at my words.
“Whatever,” she said. “You really don’t think you’ll pass that test?”
I shook my head.
“Nope,” I sighed. “Calculus just jumbles up in my brain. I don’t know why, but it just does.”
***
Ashe
“Oh, look,” Linnett sneered. “It’s ol’ slag face.”
I narrowed my eyes.
“I tolerate when Ford calls me Soot, or Slag, or Ember. What I do not tolerate is when you do it. You have no permission to call me names. Please refrain,” I snapped.
“Please refrain?” Linnett laughed with her friends. “Whatever, Soot.”
“Don’t call her that,” Ford ordered as he took his seat between us.
I smiled inwardly, then looked forward when Mr. Humphries came in the room holding a stack of tests in his hands.
“Everybody ready?” he asked as he stood at the first row of desks.
“Yes,” came the droned, monotone responses.
Mr. Humphries’ quick smile had me smiling right back.
And as I breezed through the test, I felt confident that I would pass with flying colors.
One glance at Ford, however, showed me that he was struggling.
Still, at first, I didn’t worry about him.
I was too focused on doing all my problems.
Then, as I was normally always the last one finished, I looked over just as Ford got up, too.
He looked like he was about to throw up.
The teacher nodded his head toward the desk.
“I’m gonna go grab some coffee,” he said. “Place your papers right there.”
Ford tossed his down carelessly and walked back to his seat.
Not being able to help myself, I glanced at the front page of his test and saw that almost all of the answers that Ford had on the page were wrong.
A quick flash of inspiration hit me.
I closed my eyes as I realized what I was about to do.
Get us both in trouble, that’s for sure.
But I had to take the chance.
Because, despite what Ford might think, I didn’t hate him. I wanted him to succeed. I wanted him to pass his classes. And even more, I knew that playing football was important to him.
So I did what I had to do.
Erasing Ford’s name, I put my name on the paper. Then, erasing my name from my test, I quickly wrote Ford’s name. Then tucked them back into the stack, mine on top.
The teacher came in then, a fresh cup of coffee in his hands.
“All right,” he said. “Everyone done?”
I smiled at the teacher, feeling my heart take a pounding.
“Yes, sir,” I said.
“Good,” he said. “Then I’ll get these graded.”
I licked my lips nervously and sat, my thumbs twitching, as the rest of the class talked in quiet tones around me.
Since I was the only junior in a senior level class, I didn’t have any friends in here. And the one person that I knew never talked to me because he didn’t like me all that much.
The teacher graded the papers and flipped them back over, one by one, until he got to the last in the stack.
I saw it the moment he realized whose paper it was.
Shit.
He marked ‘X’ so many times that I knew that Ford—or actually now I—had failed within the first page and a half.
And by the time he was done recording the grades and handing the tests back to us, I felt sick to my stomach.
Everybody groaned as they got their tests back, but Ford, who blew out a relieved breath beside me.
When Mr. Humphries stopped in front of me, I knew that he was about to say something.
“Ms. Trammel,” the teacher said, looking at me worriedly. “Are you okay today? You don’t usually make grades like this.”
He handed the paper to me, and I didn’t even bother to look at the grade.
I’d failed.
I saw Ford’s head snap up, the smile slowly leeching off of his face as understanding dawned.
“I had a bad morning,” I lied. “My car broke down and I had to run six miles to school. And last night I had a stomach virus… let’s just say I’ll do better next time.”
And I would.
“You can come see me in my office after this,” he said. “We’ll talk about what happened.”
I rolled my eyes.
“I know what happened, Mr. Humphries. I didn’t study. End of story.” I shrugged as if it meant nothing to me, when I’d literally just screwed up my 4.0 GPA.
Mr. Humphries sighed as he looked at me with concern.
“Okay,” he said. “Next time study, though. And if you feel bad, don’t come to school.”
My mouth twitched. “Yes, sir.”
Once the teacher moved down the row, I caught Ford looking at me as if he was about to say something.
I narrowed my eyes and pointed at him.
“Don’t,” I ordered.
“Ashe…”
“Shut up, Chevy,” I snapped softly. “And just remember, you owe me.”
Ford shut his mouth with an audible snap.
Then turned stiffly in his seat.
What he did not do was open his mouth or say a word to the teacher.
The moment the bell rang, I took off at a run out of the classroom.
Despite my speed and readiness to move, Ford still managed to catch me.
I was outside by the front of the building when he did.
He roughly yanked on my backpack, hauling me back.
I turned and got ready to yell, but the look in his eyes stopped me in my tracks.
“What?” I snapped.
“Why did you do that?” he hissed.
I shrugged.
“Because you need to play,” I told him. “And I want your dad to watch you play your senior year. And you’re too good to be out just because you can’t pass calculus. I’ll do it as much as I need to.”
He narrowed his eyes. “You don’t have to keep repaying me.”
I rolled my eyes.
“You saved me, Toyota,” I said. “I can do whatever th
e fuck I want.”
Ford gritted his teeth.
But it was true. He’d saved me from stepping out in front of a truck when I was pissed at him once. If he’d been even milliseconds behind me, I would’ve been a pancake on the road.
I would never forget it.
“I don’t like this,” he said.
I wish I could say that was the last time that I bailed Ford Spurlock out of a bind, but that would be lying.
And I wasn’t a liar. At least, not when it came to him.
Somethin' About That Boy Page 21
