Instead of cheering, I ran to the water, swimming out to her without thinking about what it made me look like. Once I made it to her, I reached out for her arm, angry and ready to get her back to my truck so I could take her home, but she tugged her arm away from me, laughing with everyone else.
I swam behind her, ready to implode once we were safely on land, but when we made it to the shore and she came out of the water, she was missing her shorts. Every thought I had about exploding on her for putting herself in danger was swept from my brain as my neurons misfired.
A long time ago, I once saw Jenny in her undies. At the time, she was flat-chested, sporting a training bra and a pair of panties with cartoon characters on them.
Not anymore.
There were no more training bras and cartoon characters. There was only silky wet flesh that shined in the blazing sun and perfect curves I wanted to glide my palms over. Her shirt was plastered to her breasts, a bikini top I hadn’t known she was wearing beneath her shirt showing through, and to her stomach, which was flat, enhancing her tiny waist.
The shirt didn’t seem as long without her shorts, and her thick thighs and long legs glowed in the Carolina sunshine. She had pulled her hair out of the ponytail to squeeze the water from it, and when she let it go, it fell down her back in long chocolate waves, knocking my breath from me for a totally different reason this time.
Jenny Michaels was gorgeous, and every guy there saw their first hint of the beauty she was hiding beneath her baggy clothes. I silently thanked the good Lord it was the end of the school year. Otherwise, I knew my job of guarding Jenny was going to get a hell of a lot harder.
The guys whistled, and her cheeks grew pink before she walked up to JJ and punched him in the arm.
“Shut the fuck up. You act like you’ve never seen a girl in a bathing suit before.”
She rushed to our towels, wrapping one around her waist to cover her bikini bottom.
“Did that just happen?” JJ asked at my side when I reached where he was standing.
“What?”
“Jenny’s fucking hot, dude.”
I crossed my arms and turned to face him. I didn’t need to speak. My expression said everything he needed to know.
Stay the fuck away from my Jenny.
He held his hands up and backed away with a grin. “I’m just sayin’, man. We all see it.”
And then he turned away and went back to his Mason jar.
I retrieved Jenny’s shorts and looked away when she pulled them back over her bottoms. It wasn’t much longer before we were back on our floats, everyone else seeming to forget the moment Jenny stepped from the water like a goddamn river goddess.
The sun slid across the sky with the hours until we found ourselves pulling our floats back up to the beach where we started and collecting our things. Jenny helped me flatten the floats and pack our things, and once we trekked back up the path to my truck, she helped me load everything.
By the time we climbed onto the bench seat of my truck, we were mostly dry. She climbed into the passenger’s seat of my old Ford, and I let her since I hadn’t had but a few beers earlier in the day, and I knew I could drive.
Tim McGraw played on the radio as we rode home with the windows down. I sang along, taking in our little town as I passed old shops and familiar sights. Every now and again, I would peek over at Jenny, taking in her relaxed face and the happiness on her plump lips as she too watched our world as we passed by.
We were halfway to her place when she finally gave in and let sleep take her. I took that time to look at her without judgment when I stopped at the few red lights we came to. Soon, I would be leaving her and going to basic. She was the one thing holding me back. Every time I thought of my day without Jenny and her smartass remarks and glorious smile, I felt like I couldn’t breathe.
Still, I knew I had to go. The only future for me in Walterboro was the farm, and I was sick to death of farm life. I wanted more. I wanted to be more. So, I would leave, knowing it was the best thing for me. No matter how badly I knew it was going to hurt to walk away from Jenny.
The sun was dipping into the horizon when I pulled into her yard. I hit a pothole in her dirt driveway that shifted her, but she didn’t wake. When I stopped in front of her small house, I put my truck in park and reached out to wake her.
“Hey, wake up,” I said, pushing at her shoulder.
Her eyes popped open, and she yawned. “Damn. The sun took it out of me today.”
“Me too. We still going to play pool with the guys tonight?”
She nodded, covering a second yawn with her small hand. “Yeah, I’m down. Let me go shower and take a quick nap. What time are you picking me up?”
“I guess around eight thirty?”
“Sounds good. See you then.”
She popped the door open, slid her feet into her flip-flops, and then climbed down. When she shut the door, she stuck her head in the window and smiled.
“Think I can hustle another hundred out of JJ tonight?”
I chuckled, putting my truck in gear. “Probably.”
And she would.
He was stupid enough, and she was good enough at everything she tried.
I pulled away from her place, feeling a heavy weight on my chest. Soon this would be over, and we wouldn’t be carefree teenagers anymore. We would be so much more, yet we would be less.
3
Jenny
After a long day floating on the river, I went inside, dumped my bag of stuff in the laundry room, and made a beeline to the bathroom for a shower. I washed the river from my hair twice and scrubbed my suntanned body with my green loofah. Once I felt clean, I stood under the cool spray until my sun touched skin began to cool.
When I came out of the bathroom and went into the kitchen, my dad was leaning against the counter drinking a beer. His work shirt was covered in oil, and he still had his red oil rag hanging out of his back pocket. The familiar smell of beer and motor oil drifted around me. It was strangely comforting.
“Have fun?” he asked, tilting his beer up for another swig.
I nodded, pulling the refrigerator open and grabbing a canned soda. “Yeah.”
I tapped the top a bit before popping it open. The sound filled our small kitchen.
“Your brother and Lilly came by earlier for dinner. Emma’s getting so big.”
“We see them at least three times a week. She couldn’t have grown that much in the past two days. Quit trying to make me feel guilty for skipping dinner.”
He chuckled. “Smartass.”
“Like father, like daughter.” I leaned up against the counter beside him, sipping my soda while he sipped his beer. “I’m sorry I missed them.”
“There’s leftovers in the microwave if you’re hungry. Lilly said to tell you to call her tomorrow. She figured you’d be out with Josh tonight.”
The soda burned my throat when I swallowed it. “Yeah. He’s coming by later to pick me up, and we’re going up to Player’s Place.”
“If he drinks, you drive.”
“I know, Dad.” I set my drink on the counter beside me and leaned over to give him a kiss on his rough cheek. “I’m going to take a quick nap.”
His burly beard tickled my lips, and when I pulled away, he was smiling down at me.
“I can’t believe my baby’s going off to college.”
“It’s going to okay, Daddy. I’ll come back to visit all the time.”
He reached up and tugged on my ponytail. “You better.”
“It’ll work out. I’ll be back as much as I can.”
He nodded. “I know. Go get a nap. I’m going to head back out to the garage and tinker with that old Dodge.”
He was hurrying me along because he was getting emotional, and if I knew one thing about my dad and my big brother, it was that they didn’t do emotional unless it came to the women in their lives. Me. Lilly. And my perfect niece.
I hugged him against my side before turning away and
going to my room.
The sun had zapped all my energy. My legs felt weak as if I had run a marathon even though I had literally spent the day relaxing on the float. I climbed onto my bed, set the alarm on my phone, and snuggled into my blanket. I fell asleep as soon as my head hit the pillow, and it wasn’t long until the alarm on my phone was going off. I reached from beneath my blanket and silenced my phone before I dragged myself from the warmth of my bed.
Maybe I would skip the night out.
Maybe I could convince Josh to go without me.
The minute the idea ran through my head, I tossed it out. We didn’t have many more nights out before we would all scatter our own ways. I didn’t want to miss anything.
I climbed from my bed and slid on a pair of jeans and a shirt. When I came out of the bathroom after brushing my teeth and hair, I could hear the echo of Devin’s deep voice in the kitchen with Dad. When I came around the corner and entered the room, I saw him and Dad leaning against the counter, arms crossed and deep in conversation.
“Hey, Assface, sorry I missed you guys earlier,” I said, going in for a hug.
I missed Devin, but I was happy for him. I went from seeing him every day when he lived at home to seeing him a few times a week. He was a family man now, married to the perfect woman and raising a daughter who was so much like me when I was little, I almost felt sorry for him. Emma bear was my world, and she knew it, which meant she got whatever she wanted from me.
He sighed at my wording and hugged me back. “Language, Jenny,” he muttered.
Daddy chuckled. “You might as well give that up, Devin. That ship sailed a long time ago.”
“Yeah, but she’s got Emma saying shit now.”
“Whoops.”
He shook his head. “Yeah. Whoops.” He moved across the room, his heavy boots thumping against the old linoleum flooring. “Where’re you off to?” he asked, opening the refrigerator and grabbing one of Dad’s beers.
“Player’s Place with Josh and the guys.”
“You skip and float today?”
I nodded. “Yep. I’m worn out too, but soon I’ll be in Texas with that full ride, so I better enjoy it while I can.”
Devin and Dad both smiled.
The day I had received my acceptance letter to Texas A&M, my dad cried. One because I would be halfway across the country from him, but also because he was proud of me. If I never accomplished another thing in my life, earning his pride at that moment would see me through.
Devin settled his heavy hand on my shoulder, and my eyes trailed up his sleeve of tattoos noticing a few new ones he had gotten for Lilly and Emma.
“We’re so fucking proud of you, Jen.”
I nodded again, feeling tears press against the back of my lids. Then I shrugged his hand from my shoulder.
“Don’t go getting soft on me, Dev. I swear, Lilly’s ruined you.”
At that, he chuckled, and Dad laughed.
I was raised by two alphas, and growing up, I often wondered how different I would be if my mom had stuck around, but these days, I no longer thought shit like that. I was proud to have been raised by two strong males. It made me stronger.
“A woman will do that to you,” Dad said, shaking his head.
Our mother had a done a number on him, leaving him to raise two kids and apparently running off and starting a new family before dying of cancer. We didn’t talk about it. Ever.
“Listen, if Josh drinks, then you drive,” Devin said, repeating what Dad had said earlier.
“I will. No worries.”
“Then have fun,” he said before turning toward Dad. “Show me what you were talking about earlier. I’ll see if I can figure it out.”
Then they were out the door and in the garage, standing over the open hood of the Dodge Dad had been working on for the past few days.
I started a load of laundry while I waited for Josh, washing the sand and river water from my clothes while I was out for the night. Lilly, Devin’s wife, had given our laundry room a farmhouse makeover for Dad’s birthday. Instead of our old, rusted washer and dryer, we had a new set of front loaders I barely knew how to use, and I was surrounded with fresh walls and farmhouse quotes. Even I had to admit she had done a great job.
Our little modest house was coming together now that Dad had let up some and allowed Lilly and Devin to remodel for him. Dad was never one to take handouts, but Lilly assured him it was her job as his daughter to make sure he had a comfortable place to grow old in. He agreed, grinning at her, knowing good and well he could never say no to her. She had won him over from the start.
Once I got the washer started, I heard the loud rumble of Josh’s truck as he pulled up. By the time I stepped out onto the front porch, the screened door smacking closed behind me, I walked up to the three most important men in my life leaning against Josh’s truck. Arms crossed and laughing at something.
Dad and Devin were wearing their usual mechanics uniform, and Josh had on a pair of faded jeans and a black T-shirt. His hair was wet on the ends from his shower, and his cheeks were flushed a bit from being in the sun all day. He was so gorgeous.
“What’s so funny?”
“Nothing. Just bullshitting with your dad and Dev. You ready?” he asked, popping open the passenger’s side door as if we were on a date.
Daddy and Devin grinned at me before Devin pretended to cough behind his large hand. I rolled my eyes and moved to get into the truck.
“I’ll be home later. I love y’all.”
“Love you too. Y’all be safe.”
After I climbed into Josh’s truck, I closed the door behind me before he had a chance to. I didn’t want my dad and Devin thinking this was a date.
It wasn’t.
Josh moved around the front of the truck, saying something to my dad and brother that I couldn’t hear, before he pulled open the driver’s side door and climbed in behind the steering wheel.
“What was that about?” he asked.
“Nothing. They’re just being stupid.”
“Is it ’cause I opened the door for you? Was that weird or something?”
It was.
“No. Like I said, they were just being stupid.”
We pulled out of my driveway and started toward town. The A/C in Josh’s truck wasn’t the greatest, so we rolled the windows down and took in the night air. The radio was on low volume, so I reached down and turned it up when a song I liked came on. We sang it together, riding in comfort like our world wasn’t about to change the second we walked across that stage and got our diploma.
It wasn’t long until the lights of town blinked in front of us, and we were pulling in beside JJ’s brand-new Jeep bought with his daddy’s money.
Player’s Place was in the Heritage Square shopping center just inside the city limits. Its location had once been a Save-A-Lot that closed after being in business for years. They had turned the old store into a bar full of pool tables, cornhole, and old arcade games. It was a place for adults to come and watch the game on the big screens, drink, and get away. And a place for teenagers to feel like they were in a bar, but with wrist bands on that were supposed to keep us from drinking.
The inside smelled like stale cigarettes and beer. They had recently banned smoking inside, but the remnants of the past still lingered. The place was packed mostly with kids from school. Still, there was a small group of old men at the bar staring at the TVs mounted above the liquor case.
“Hey, yo! Over here!” JJ called out across the room, directing the attention of his group our way.
The music was loud, but he was louder.
We moved across the room, stopping to say hi to a few friends as we passed, and once we got to the table where JJ and the rest of the crew were, I sat in the seat closest to the wall. Josh didn’t sit, instead opting to lean against the wall beside me with his arms crossed as if he was my bodyguard.
“Want a beer?” Colton asked from across the table, his eyes dipping over my chest while he took a sw
ig from his own bottle.
“No, I’m good. Where’s everyone at?”
While there was a small group there, I had expected half of the senior class.
“I guess they can’t hang. The river wiped ’em out.”
I nodded in understanding since I was tired as hell, too.
Josh and JJ were talking about something, but I couldn’t hear them since the music was up, and Colton wouldn’t stop talking to me.
He was all right, I guessed, but he gave me a bad feeling. He was attractive with blond hair and green eyes. He wasn’t as tall as the rest of the guys around me, but wider and rounder, which was why he was one hell of a defensive lineman. Still, even though he was easy on the eyes, he had never had a steady girlfriend. Instead opting to sleep with any girl who wanted to bang a football player.
Football in the South was religion. The entire town could be found around the field on game day, the Friday night lights blazing down on the guys while the crowd worshipped them. The players were treated like gods, given free rides all over town. Police looked the other way. Old ladies made excuses for their behavior. And the girls gave anything to find themselves in the sack with one of them.
Not me.
And not Josh.
He was probably the only player not to take advantage, and I appreciated that about him.
“There he is!” JJ called out when Vaughn appeared at the side of the table. “I thought you were going to let a little moonshine and a day on the river kick your ass.”
Vaughn shook his head. “Nah, man. I’m here for the party. Fuck that moonshine, though. My stomach’s been fucked up since.”
I snorted.
He wasn’t wrong. It was like drinking gasoline and then swallowing a lit match. Even my stomach had been queasy afterward, and I had only had a single gulp.
The waitress, Maggie, stopped by and set a small bucket of peanuts in the center of the table and another beer in front of Colton. The guys dug into the peanuts, shelling them and eating them before tossing the shells to the floor. The floor was always covered in peanut shells, crunching beneath your shoes with every step. It was the main reason Trent, the kicker for our team, never came to Player’s with us. He had a terrible peanut allergy. Just stepping into room would fuck him up.
Thick & Thin (Chubby Girl Chronicles Book 3) Page 3
