by Amanda Boone
I threw my head back and laughed like a crazy person. I hadn’t felt so alive in years. My mind was racing with what I could do next. “God, that was exhilarating!”
She hugged me tight and took Devon’s shirt from me. “You were amazing! I can’t believe you’ve been hiding all of that under your granny skirts.”
I could’ve been offended, but instead, I was proud. “Not anymore. Yeah, I’m running from my brother right now, but I’m going to have to tell him and Dad to back off. I’m ready to get out a little more.”
“Well, tonight was definitely a way to start. I thought Avery’s eyes were going to pop out of his head. I covered Devon’s eyes. I didn’t want to have to hate you if he liked it too much.”
The bar door opened again, and I watched Avery slip out and head toward us. Amanda patted my arm and smirked at me. “Maybe he’s done being an asshole?”
She slipped away just as Avery stormed up to me. His boots were kicking up dust in every direction and his hair was messier than usual, like he’d been running his hands through it.
He stopped a few feet away from me and stared down at me without speaking.
I held up the trophy as a way to break the silence. “I won.”
He nodded. “I saw.”
Something was different. There was heat in his eyes when he looked at me. I sucked in a sharp breath when I realized that he was standing there, in front of me, with his hands balled into fists, looking like he was on the verge of losing control.
“What are you doing out here?” My voice was breathy and I couldn’t have been more obvious in my desire if I’d attached a sign to my neck that begged him for his body.
He stepped toward me and rested his fisted hands on my car behind me, one on either side of my head. He didn’t speak as he loomed over me.
My heart rate tripled, and I became painfully aware of a drop of cold water running down my neck, into my cleavage. My nipples pebbled, and I was afraid they’d cut through the thin material of the dress. “Avery?”
He slammed his fists into my car and then backed away. The heat was still in his eyes as he stood there, but he wouldn’t look at me. After another moment’s hesitation, he shook his head and then turned away and walked back into the bar.
I stared after him like a kicked puppy. For a minute there, I’d been thinking he was going to kiss me. Being left alone in the parking lot wasn’t anywhere near a close second. It was downright shitty. I sighed and got in my car, needing to run home and change before I’d have to deal with the men in my family.
****
My mom showed up at my door bright and early the next morning with a basket of fruit and enough fresh bread to feed an army. As soon as I opened the door, she beamed at me and shoved the baskets into my arms. “My little baby is all grown up.”
I let her into my house and closed the door behind her after casting a wary glance into the yard to make sure my brother or father weren’t about to charge. “What are you talking about?”
She turned to me and grabbed a fresh roll. “You did it. You slipped out of Grandma Esther’s funeral garb and into a little black dress and you lived.”
“Hey! My clothes don’t look like Grandma Esther’s funeral stuff! They aren’t that bad.” I hesitated. “You aren’t mad?”
She quirked an eyebrow. “Why would I be mad? I’ve been waiting on you to do something that would convince me I didn’t raise a little Kevin. I adore your father, but he’s boring most times, Maggie. I’ve been tossing and turning since you moved back to town four years ago. I thought, somehow, I’d brought you up without enough of my influence that your father’s uptightness had stuck. I was afraid your college days were just a fluke.”
I laughed from the shock of hearing her say the words, but then I quieted down. “You know about college?”
“Of course I know about college, Maggie. Your bank statements were still being mailed here. I got to them before your father, thank god. The first time I saw a charge to Jane’s Super Adult Warehouse, I was so proud. I saw all the charges to bars and even once to a male strip club.” She ruffled my still messy hair and then patted my cheek.
“Just because I’m proud and ready to peck around you like a momma bird doesn’t mean that your father isn’t going to still say something. I had to pretty much throw him on the bed this morning to keep him from coming over here to rip you a new one.”
I frowned. “Ew, Mom.”
She laughed. “You should be thanking me. I worked hard to save your ass. Your brother is still raging around. He called us so late last night to say that you’d won a wet T-shirt contest.”
I looked over at my trophy on the kitchen counter and smirked.
She followed my eyes and grabbed it. “This is a work of art. Back in my day, we didn’t get trophies. I would have a roomful of them to hide from your father.”
“Seriously?”
She nodded. “Honey, you have a wild streak in you a mile wide. Your father has done a good job of convincing you that you’re normal like him, but you’re not. It’s time to let yourself live a little, sweetheart. I’ll hold your father back for now. You need a chance to get your footing here, at home. No need to live in a box that doesn’t fit you for the rest of your life.”
I threw my arms around her and hugged her tight. “Thank you, Mom.”
She tugged my hair and pulled back. “I’ve got to get back home before Kevin realizes I snuck out. I love you, baby girl. Have fun, okay?”
“I love you, too, Mom.”
She left in a hurry and I was alone again, feeling even more comfortable in my decisions from the night before. I also felt challenged to do more. It was time to find my footing, like she said. I thought of Avery’s heated look and smiled to myself. I hoped my footing put me somewhere close to that heated look again.
7.
“You have to come. I had so much fun with you last night. And I hate everyone else and Sara Jane is still on her honeymoon. If you refuse me, I’ll be alone.” Amanda paused and laughed. “Plus, I’m thinking this might be something you’re into after last night.”
I was eating my way through the baskets my mom had brought over. That’s all I’d done all day. I wasn’t going to deny her for much longer. “What exactly is it?”
She laughed again. “It’s a big party down at the fairgrounds. There’s a beer garden and all kinds of fun stuff. The best part is that there’s mud wrestling. It sounds gross, but—”
“I’m in. What should I wear for mud wrestling?”
“Seriously? You want to do it?”
I pushed an apple away from me and nodded to myself. Mud wrestling was something I would’ve never done before. “Hell, yeah. Do we wear bikinis?”
She scoffed. “I never said I was going to wrestle.”
“Oh, come on. It’ll be fun.”
We argued about it for a while longer and finally she agreed. “Fine. I’ll do it. If I get hurt, you’ll never hear the end of it, though.”
“I wouldn’t expect anything else. When should we meet?”
“We’ll pick you up this time. Parking is always so hard to get out there because there’s so many people. Be ready at eight.”
I hung up and busied myself around my house to keep my mind from spinning out of control while waiting to get ready for the night. Amanda hadn’t explicitly said that Avery would be there, but I knew he would be. I was getting another chance to make him notice me.
Although I was pretty sure he’d noticed me the night before. I just wanted to make sure he was looking. Even if he wasn’t going to act on the urges, it was nice to know he was having them. And maybe, just maybe, I could push him over the edge and he’d eventually act on them.
He wasn’t exactly the man I’d thought he was, but he was still beautiful, and I wanted a chance to cross him off my list. I needed to know that I’d tried and my crush wasn’t just a waste.
I started getting ready early and spent a long time fixing my hair and makeup. I slipped int
o a tiny red bikini and pulled a slouchy, oversize T-shirt on top of it. It hung off one shoulder and revealed a nice amount of skin. My jean shorts were tiny and my flip flops were sparkly and matched my bright red toenails.
I packed a ponytail holder in my purse, figuring I’d put my hair up before the mud wrestling. My makeup made my eyes stand out, and I felt pretty when I looked at myself in the mirror.
I still had an hour to kill before they got here, and I spent it looking up wrestling moves. I didn’t want to go in completely ill-prepared.
By the time Devon’s truck pulled up in front of my house, I felt like I could join a professional wrestling company and do well. Amanda had the window rolled down in the front and was leaning out to smile at me.
“You look excited!”
I flexed my practically nonexistent arm muscles and grinned. “I’ve been looking up wrestling moves. I’m going to kick someone’s ass tonight.”
She laughed, and I heard Devon doing the same from beside her. “Get in, killer.”
The back door opened, and I looked in to see Avery leaning back across to his own seat. I climbed into the truck and raised an eyebrow at him before shutting the door and pulling my seatbelt on.
Devon was still laughing in the front seat. “You just had trouble getting into my truck and you’re convinced that you’re going to kick someone’s ass tonight. This, I’ve gotta see.”
Amanda smacked his arm. “You’re going to be great.”
“As are you.”
Avery’s eyes were on me, dark and dangerous looking. “Your brother is on a warpath over you.”
I’d heard from Jay earlier in the day. He was angry all right. It didn’t really phase me, though. I’d spent my entire adolescence angry at him. He could stand to spend a little while with the shoe on the other foot.
I shrugged and my shirt fell down even more, giving Avery a hefty eyeful of my bikini-clad chest. “Jay’s not my keeper. And neither are you. You should remember that and just enjoy yourself tonight.”
Devon scoffed. “He’s forgotten how to, clearly.”
Amanda shifted uncomfortably in her seat and looked out at the field we were passing. “I’m just ready to get some beer in me. If I’m going to mud wrestle, I’m going to need liquid courage.”
“That’s my baby.”
I looked over at Avery and he was frowning at me. I turned to face him as best as I could and crossed my arms over my chest. I saw the way his eyes dipped to my pushed out cleavage before they darted back up to my eyes. “Yes?”
He kept frowning. “I don’t remember you being so nuts.”
I flipped my hair behind my shoulder and gave him a slow smile. “You didn’t remember me at all at first. But, you’re right. I was busy making my brother and father happy back then.”
“All the way back to a few days ago…”
“A girl’s got to live at some point.”
He looked like he wanted to say more, but I leaned forward and started a conversation with Amanda so I could avoid any more of his negative talk. I just wanted him to keep looking at me. His eyes on my skin warmed me, and I got the distinct impression that he liked what he saw, no matter how much he acted like he didn’t.
8.
“You can do this. Just get in there and go for it.” Amanda was at my side, cheering me on.
I was standing in just my bikini, on the outside of a tub filled with not mud but chocolate pudding, and I was about to wrestle a guy I’d never seen around town before. I looked him over and flashed him a grin, hoping he’d go easy on me.
There weren’t enough women signed up to match the fights evenly. Amanda had already wrestled a girl and won. She was a proud victor. I was afraid I wasn’t going to be so lucky.
The guy I was wrestling was good looking. He was tall and blond, with pretty green eyes that seemed to twinkle when I looked at him. His bare chest was impressive, and I knew I could’ve done worse.
I’d piled my hair into a ponytail at the top of my head, but it still hung down to the middle of my back, so I knew I was going to have a mess on my hands when the match was over.
“I hope he thinks I’m pretty and lets me win.”
The announcer called us into the ring, and I stepped into the pudding with a grimace on my face. Why had I wanted to do something so gross? I met my opponent in the middle of the makeshift ring and shook his hand.
He smiled down at me and pulled me into his chest for a hug. “You’re a pretty little thing.”
I looked back at Amanda and made a face. He was drunk. I was about to wrestle with a pretty drunk guy and I was afraid I was going to get my face smashed in chocolate pudding.
The announcer rang his bell and then pretty boy dropped me into the pudding. My knees hit the ring a little harder than I would’ve liked them to, but I was okay. I jumped up and reached for him with my arms covered in pudding before wrapping them around his head.
He stumbled around the ring with me clinging to him like a monkey. Being drunk wasn’t a great idea, because he stumbled to the ground easily. Once he was there, I straddled him and reached over his head to hold his arms to the mat.
He rolled us over and chuckled. “I like this way better.”
I bucked my hips and he flipped over. I climbed back on top of him and tried another way of pinning him. I braced my knees on his arms that time and tried to hold his legs down with my arms.
I heard Amanda’s laughter ring out over the rest of the crowd and looked down. Dammit.
“Where’d you learn those wrestling moves, Maggie? Porn?”
I tossed my messy ponytail over my shoulder to glare at her. “Hey! He’s too big to pin the normal way. You shut up. You had an easy person to get down.”
She just laughed harder.
The next thing I knew, I was on my back again for a few seconds before I was being lifted in the air. Pretty boy had my legs over his shoulders and was holding me in the air. Unlike in the game of chicken, however, I was facing the wrong way. My crotch was in his face and his hands were gripping my ass as he spun us around.
I held on to his head and screamed because I was afraid he was going to slam me to the ground. Instead, he slid me back down his body until I felt his erection pressing into me.
I opened my mouth to squeal and he kissed me. It was a sucker kiss if I had ever been given one. I pulled away from him and locked my arms around his neck in a tight hold. I swung my legs out from under me and we both crashed to the ground. Pretty boy’s throat accidentally took the force of the fall against my shoulder, and then he flopped over on the mat, holding his throat and coughing.
The announcer called for him to get up, but he rolled over and tapped the mat instead.
I screamed in excitement and ran over to Amanda. We hugged, despite how gross we were, and cheered. “I won!”
She laughed and high fived me. “You kicked his ass! At first I was worried, but that last move you did looked professional.”
Devon stepped up to us and held his hand out for me to shake. “Maggie, you’re a badass if I ever saw one.”
I held my arms in the air and cheered more for myself. “That pervert was trying to reach third base with me.”
Avery stepped forward from the crowd and actually smiled up at me. “He deserved that throat smash you just gave him. He was two seconds from getting my boot in his face.”
I jumped into his arms without thinking twice about it. I wrapped my arms and legs around him and wiggled to make sure I got plenty of pudding on him. Then I pressed my dirty face into his as I kissed his cheek. “I can fight my own battles. That’s sweet of you, though.”
I jumped back down and turned to Amanda like nothing had happened. “Want to go find a hole to wash up in?”
She nodded and grabbed my hand. “There are showers over at the other side of the grounds. Let’s go.”
We left the men standing there and found the showers. It took a few minutes but I was finally clean again. I dressed in the same clothes,
minus the bikini. Amanda had thought ahead and packed an extra tank top for me. Without any support for my chest, I felt like one of the women onstage at the wet T-shirt contest, but it was better than staying in a wet bikini.
Avery and Devon were waiting for us outside the beer garden, holding a couple of bottles each. Avery had tried to wipe the pudding from his clothes, but they were stained brown. His eyes narrowed when I got closer and took a beer from him.
“I don’t like you very much.”
I clinked my beer against his and then turned it up to take a few huge swallows. A drop escaped my mouth and ran down my chin and under the low neckline of the tank top I was wearing. I watched his eyes follow it and shrugged, causing my chest to sway. “I don’t think you know what you like.”
His eyes jerked back up to mine and narrowed even more. “Jay called me again.”
“Avery? Can I tell you something really important?” I lowered my voice and stepped closer to him.
He nodded. “Are you okay?”
It was sweet that he seemed to care, but I knew it was just him thinking I was a little kid still. I planted my free hand on his shoulder and leaned up so I could whisper directly into his ear. “I don’t care what my brother thinks about me. I’m going to do all the wild and crazy things I want to. I’m going to dance and show off and maybe even bring someone home with me. None of it is his business, and you’re only going to make it yours one way. So, unless you’re planning on stepping up and coming home with me tonight, I suggest you back off with the judgement.”
Amanda and Devon had moved away and were talking a few feet away from us. I looked over at them and then back up at Avery. The heat had returned to his eyes and he was clenching his jaw.
I rolled my eyes, ready to give up. “I’m going.”
Except when I turned to leave, Avery grabbed my arm and pulled me into him. I bounced into his chest roughly and looked up to meet dark eyes that seemed to almost be swirling with desire. “Fine. I’m coming home with you.”
