by Cassie Mae
Nate wraps his hand around my arm and yanks me into the closet, tossing Kaylee’s clothes on top of us.
A few seconds later Kaylee’s bedroom door squeaks open.
“I see you cleaned for me.”
My eyebrows shoot into my forehead and Nate’s eyes narrow at Ryan’s voice.
“What is he doing here?” I whisper. “He’s supposed to be at the shop.”
Nate hushes me and presses his ear to the door.
“Shush your face and hurry up. We don’t have much time,” Kaylee says and I feel Nate stiffen beside me.
“Where?”
“The bed?” Kaylee says and both Nate and I stare at each other with disbelief. “Ow it’s too big,” Kaylee says.
“You okay? Let me do it,” Ryan says and before I can process anything, Nate flies out of the closet with Kaylee’s underwear stuck to his head, and tackles Ryan to the bed.
Kaylee, with her finger in her mouth, turns in shock and lets out a scream.
“What the heck?” Ryan screams and flips Nate beneath him, holding him in a choek hold.
“Nathaniel Hatfield, what is going on here?” Kaylee plants her hand on her hip and glares at her boyfriend. “Ryan let him go.”
Ryan’s arms slip from Nate’s neck and he gets off the bed holding his hands up.
I come out of the closet, tossing Kaylee’s clothes behind.
“I’d like to know what’s going on as well.”
“You’re here too,” Ryan says, scratching his chin because he knows darn well he has a lot of explaining to do. “I thought you were at work.”
“I thought you were at work.” Disbelief wears off replaced by frustration and anger. “Do you care to tell me what you’re doing in my best friend’s bedroom?”
He glances over to Kaylee and I snap my fingers to get his attention. “I asked you the question not Kaylee. Why are you lying to me?” I fight the emotion building inside of me. Push back thoughts of Kaylee and Ryan and her bed. “You two aren’t…”
“NO!” Ryan and Kaylee both scream at the same time and Nate and I both let out a relieved breath.
“Come on,” Ryan says and grabs my arm. As confused and as mad as I am right now, just feeling his hand on my skin sends happy chills zinging through my body.
I miss his touch. Our French fry wars at Skippy Lee’s. Watching him fix cars in his driveway. I miss him. Us.
“Where are we going?” I ask, hoping he never lets go.
“To talk.”
Chapter 16
Ryan
We need to talk.
We need to clear the air.
Get on the same page.
All that and more clichés.
But from the moment I touch her and watch those eyes dilate, I can’t think of anything else I’d like to do more than kiss her.
The IROC’s backseat is not as roomy as the Lincoln—RIP, my old friend—but it’ll do. I open the back door for her, and she doesn’t hesitate to crawl in. Well, at least we’re in sync on this.
My lips find hers the minute the door shuts on my foot. As smoothly as I can, I maneuver us so I can shut the door all the way, but who knows if that actually happens. Lex’s fingers trail over the collar of my shirt, play with the back of my head, and I let my tongue knock at the sweet crease of her lips until she answers back.
“This is not talking,” she says between kisses.
“Same muscles,” I tease, running a thumb under the hem of her shirt. “I say same diff.”
She growls, but her lips still repeatedly run into mine. “Why weren’t you at the shop?”
“Got off early,” I tell her honestly. “Had time to kill.”
“So you spent it with Kaylee?”
“She’s my friend too.” I move my lips to her neck, hoping to distract her, but either my skills need work or Lex is used to my tactics.
“Tell me… please.”
I let out a sigh, then drag my mouth across her jaw. Her body shivers under me, and I spread my fingers across her stomach in case she’s cold. (She’s not.)
“I’m going to swear you to secrecy,” I say, grinning down at her.
“I promise on my nail polish collection.”
“Wow, you mean business.”
Her lips tap mine again, and I grab the back of her head and keep her there before she has a chance to get away. Man, I miss her like hell. Her mouth, her skin under my hands, the dimple in her cheek, the warmth of her next to me… I miss her smile, her laugh, her deep brown eyes. I miss her tickling me, teasing me, pinching my ass and messing up my hair.
I miss my best friend. And the weirdest part of it is that she never went anywhere.
“Ryan,” she says, tapping my shoulders, “Air.”
“Huh?”
“I need air.”
I pull back with a chuckle and adjust my weight off of her, but she grabs my shirt and yanks, keeping me close. I wipe the loose strands of hair from her cheek.
“Whose birthday is in a few days?” I ask with a lift of my lips. Her eyes narrow.
“Don’t change the subject.”
“I’m not.” I widen my eyes so she gets it this time. “Someone’s birthday is in a few days. A couple someones.”
“O-kay.”
“Lex… come on. It’s Kaylee.”
The realization finally flies across her expression, and I laugh, nodding as she finally puts it all together.
“Really?” she says. “You guys have been all weird because of a party?”
“Shh.” I push a finger against her wet lips. “You’re gonna get me in trouble.”
She laughs around my pointer and rolls her eyes. “I won’t say a word. I’ll even act surprised when it happens.”
“Bull,” I say, then go back to kissing her. “You know you can’t act worth a damn.”
“Only you think that.” She tilts her head back, giving me access to her neck and chest. “You know me too well.”
“I guess.” I quirk a grin against her skin. “Because I know you like this…” I run the tip of my tongue over her collar bone. She shivers and giggles, then turns her head so I can do it to the other side.
“And you like this.” I push up her shirt, resting my fingertips at the bottom of her bra, then slowly, one by one, tumble them down her ribs. She mutters something unintelligible, then curls her hands into my shirt, damn near tearing my nipples off.
“And you definitely like this.” I rest my hand on her hip, and she moves her leg, thinking I’m going to hitch it up against me… but I tickle her instead.
The high-pitched squeal of laughter that comes from her mouth is the most satisfying sound in the world right now, and it encourages me to tickle her until she threatens to pee on me. Which takes her about fifteen seconds.
“Ryan, I swear! I won’t hold it in!” she says through her laughter. I’m so damn in love with this girl that I don’t care that her mouth is wide open, I dive in for another kiss, giving my hands a rest and letting her rapid heart drum against mine. And in the back of my mind, I know we have to move. Kaylee’s dad and step-mom will be home soon, and I’m sure they don’t want to pull up on my feet hanging out of the back door while I make out with my girlfriend.
I want to take her to my house, but everyone’s there. We could go to her place, but there’s a chance of us being on “Mom-watch” if we do.
It’s a selfish train of thought. But I’m horny and my thoughts are kind of being controlled by something else right now. I try to force my brain to think… but it’s difficult when she’s kissing and moving against me like this.
Tomorrow.
We have a date tomorrow night.
Grams and Pop-pop have their Bingo tournament. Brett has track on Wednesdays. And because my two brains are going “Hallelujah!” my mouth kind of runs with it.
“Hell yes!” I exclaim, and Lex pulls back, eyebrows knit together.
“Um… already?” she teases looking down at our laps. I tap her nose.
&n
bsp; “Sorry… I was just thinking.”
“Going to let me in on it?”
“Nah, let’s keep fooling around.”
She pushes on my chest. “Ryan…”
“It’s nothing.” I run my hand up and down her side. “I was just a little… over-excited about being with you tomorrow night.”
I’ve come to know Lex’s reactions. Anticipate them. I expected a rolled-eye smartass joke about how she’s only an excuse for sex (obviously untrue, but I still expect her to tease me about that.)
It’s not what I get though. Her warm brown eyes go wide, and her lips turn down right before she bites into her bottom one. She slowly loosens her hands from my t-shirt, leaving wrinkled marks in it.
“Ryan… um…”
Oh… my damn.
“What?” I say… or more like growl. I know what’s coming already. Know it from the look on her face, the apology in her eyes. She doesn’t even get the words out before I’m shoving away from her.
“I’m sorry,” she says. “My dad wants to—”
“Your dad?” I ask, raising an incredulous eyebrow. “You’re cancelling with me for him?”
“He’s dying, Ryan.”
I don’t mean to. I really do try to keep it in. But the snort of derision comes out anyway. At least I hold back my rolled eyes.
“What’s that?” Lex asks, sitting up. Her apologetic face vanishes and gets replaces with her fight armor.
“Nothing.” I shake my head, running a hand over the back of my neck. “Just forget it.”
“Not likely.” She moves closer to me. “Do you think he’s lying?”
Yes. “No.”
She gives me a look, and I let out a sigh. “Do you think he’s lying?”
“That’s not what I asked.”
“It doesn’t matter what I think.”
Her eyes narrow. “Do you think he’s lying, Ryan?”
I don’t answer. I refuse to. And when I don’t say anything she starts shoving past me, and I fumble out of the backseat to let her go.
“Thought you said you weren’t going to bullshit with me anymore,” she says.
“I don’t want to fight about it.”
“You’re the one who flipped out.”
“This is the second time you’ve cancelled on me in four days!”
“Oh like you haven’t been running off to do things without me either.”
“But I never cancelled on you.”
She crosses her arms, and I refuse to let the tears building in her eyes pull me under. That dude is sketchy. I don’t trust him. I definitely don’t trust him with her.
“I’ve seen you nearly every freaking day for a decade,” she says. “My dad left, and now he’s back, and who the hell knows for how long. I’m still confused, still wondering whether or not to trust him. But I have to give him a shot. For me. I have to do this for me.” She pauses, taking a breath to compose herself. Her eyes fall to the driveway, and she barely whispers her next sentence. “I’d think you of all people would understand that.”
“Why me of all people?” I ask, and her eyes flick up, filled with surprise that I heard what she said.
“Because if you got the chance to spend time with your dad again, you’d take it, right?”
I step back from the words that hit me right where it counts. I almost clutch at my chest from the sting. Instead I pinch the bridge of my nose, try to breathe, focus through all the watery red spots popping up in my vision.
“That was…” I say, noticing my voice has lowered to a croaky tone I’m a little embarrassed about. “That was a low blow, Lex.”
She sighs, drops her arms, and takes a step toward me. I take another step back only to ram my ass into the open door.
“I’m sorry,” she says. “I just want you to understand right now. Can you please just understand?”
I let go of my nose, run a hand through my hair, and nod at the ground. “Sure.” I slam the back door shut and open the driver’s side. “And you’re right. We’ve seen each other enough.” I turn the key, throw the car into reverse, and back out. For the first time since our relationship began, I leave her to cry alone instead of swooping in to her rescue.
***
I’m not even up the driveway yet, and I can already hear Brett’s cursing coming out of the garage.
“This damn, stupid, piece of… aargh!”
I put the IROC in park and hoist myself from the driver’s seat. Not a word slips past my lips as I lean over the Honda he’s working on, tweak this, loosen that, tighten this, then sit behind the wheel and start her up.
“Is this a joke?” Brett says, shaking his head at the running engine. “Show me what you did.”
Again without another word, I turn the car off and put everything back where it was. Then I show him slowly. He doesn’t say much either, just nods and rubs his grease-stained chin.
“Have you really known what to do this whole time?”
I shake my head. “Not the whole time,” I mutter.
He socks me hard in the upper arm. I rock on my feet, but otherwise don’t move.
“Dude, you okay?” Brett asks when I don’t hit him back.
“It’s cool. Bad day.”
“You wanna catch a movie or something?”
Not really. But the alternative is sit in my room and mope. Probably half hope that Lex’ll sneak in and half hope she stays away.
Brett’s phone buzzes against the tool table and he wipes his hands off and grabs it, his brows wrinkling before he answers.
“Hello?” There’s a beat, and he repeats, “Hello?” He shrugs and goes to hang up, but a girl’s voice starts going, and he puts the phone back to his ear. Probably another date or something. Brett’s the “new guy” in school, so he books up nearly every weekend. I don’t get it, because we look a lot alike, only I have way better style and more of a filter on my mouth, yet I never got hounded like this.
Then again, Kaylee and Nate have both said that loving Lex was obvious to everyone but her.
“Where are you?” he asks, and I plop my ass against the Honda to wait. I think I will go see that movie with him. Haven’t spent much time with my brother either.
“It’s not stupid. I’m glad you called.” Brett’s eyes catch mine, then he turns his back and starts muttering into the phone. “Don’t hang up, Kar. I wanna hash this out. Maybe I can come see you this summer. My friends are heading to Vegas. I’ll hitch a ride. See you. I can explain—hello? Kara, you there?”
His arm falls to his side, and I see his thumb lock the phone before he slides it into his pocket. The infamous Kara… the girl I know he’s hung up on but he won’t give me details about it. I’m pretty sure Lex knows more than I do.
A dip in my gut swoops in, reminding me of our fight, and I push off the car and clear my throat.
“I’m up for that movie if you still are.”
Brett turns, nodding. “Yeah.”
He heads to the sink and washes up, but like every car enthusiast, his hands stay pretty stained. He splashes his face, and then reaches into the top drawer of the tool box where I keep quite a bit of deodorant—emergency stuff, like when Lex surprises me with a garage make-out.
There goes that dip in my gut again.
We’re both eerily quiet on our way there. Until Brett says, “Girls,” then pffts. I silently agree with him.
We pick the one movie Grams wouldn’t let us dare see, buy a buttload of popcorn, and climb up to the back row so we can chuck kernels at people making out. Lex and I have had a few kernels lobbed our way, come to think of it.
Dammit to hell, she’s always on my brain.
“Talk about dumb shit, will you?” I say to Brett as he tosses a piece of popcorn up and catches it.
“All right,” he says. “That bed you bought… yeah, it’s never gonna make it into your room.”
“Don’t think I’ll pay it off, huh?”
“No…” he says, pushing another piece of popcorn into hi
s mouth. “I think it’ll get stuck in the hallway.”
“It’ll be fine.”
“I bet you laundry duty it won’t be.”
“Deal.”
A woman a few rows down turns and shushes us, and I raise an eyebrow at her. The lights haven’t even dimmed yet.
The guy next to her leans in close to pacify her then flicks his eyes back to us.
“You’re shitting me,” I breathe out, and Brett laughs as I hide my face and kick a foot up on the seat in front of us. Of course Lex’s dad is here. Lex’s dad who does not look like he did when he was telling Lex that he was on his deathbed. He’s laughing and grinning and kissing up on the playboy bunny. Guess he doesn’t recognize me… then again, he’s only seen me once before.
I wait like that till the lights dim, and Brett whispers if I want him to dump the popcorn on that woman’s head. It’s tempting, but I’d suggest moving it a little more to the left.
I can seriously not catch a break today.
Chapter 17
Lexie
I drop Mom off at a meeting and wave goodbye. She’s been going to a lot of them since that day Ryan found her in the liquor aisle of the grocery store. As I pull away I see Roger meet her, and I’m grateful despite the breakup he’s still willing to be there for her.
I pull into the hotel parking lot my dad’s staying at and put the car in park. I check my cell to see if I have any texts or missed calls. Not a single one. Ryan and I haven’t really spoken much since yesterday’s fight and it’s throwing me completely off-center.
The last thing I wanted to do was cancel on him. Our time together is so precious lately, but we’ll have forever. My dad on the other hand…
Dad walks out of the hotel, a slight limp in his step as he makes his way to my car. It hurts to see him frail and aging. The dad I remember was young and vibrant. Then again the last time I saw him, I was young myself. But this new version of him makes me wonder…maybe he’s being a hundred percent honest. Maybe he is…dying.
He opens the door and slides into the passenger seat. “Hey, munchkin. You haven’t been waiting long have you?”
