Somehow, hearing him frame it like that made a lightbulb turn on over my head. How many times over the past few months had I begged God to show me His plan for my life? How many times had I asked Him to help me because I couldn’t keep doing this alone anymore? What if Brendan was the answer to my prayers that I’d been waiting for?
“Yes,” I whispered, barely audible.
“Thank God,” he breathed, and his lips were back on mine.
This kiss was so different from the two kisses he’d given me before now. Those kisses felt like a plea, like he was begging me to understand how he felt about me. But this one? It was just pure love and joy and passion. Just like before, I felt myself drowning in the intensity of it, but this time, it was like he was throwing me a life raft and pulling me back onto the boat with him.
“I have wanted to do that since the first day of school,” he chuckled breathlessly when we broke apart.
I giggled. “You already did. On Saturday. And just now.”
He smiled and kissed my nose. Oh, my gosh, how had I never realized how adorable his dimples were? Seriously, they were the cutest thing ever.
“Nope. Those didn’t count,” he told me. “I wouldn’t take them back for the world, but neither of those were our first kiss.”
“What were they, then?” I chuckled.
“I don’t know. Practice?” he teased, flashing those dimples again.
I laughed, then sighed. “I don’t know how to do this, Brendan. My dad can’t find out. He dislocated my shoulder, rammed me into a door, and whipped me with a belt just for getting in a car with you. And I don’t want to know what literal interpretation he’d take of the punishment for adulterers and fornicators in the Bible if he finds out I’m dating you. Or whatever it is we’re doing, since I can’t actually go on a date with you.”
He let out a weak chuckle. “So we don’t let him find out. He doesn’t know what you do while you’re here at school. Pretty sure Peter and Marie aren’t going to say anything about what happens in the youth room, because I get the sense they’re about as happy with your dad as I am, and they don’t even know the half of it. And we might not have a normal relationship. I might not be able to take you to dinner or the movies or tell the entire world how crazy I am about you. But I don’t need normal. I just need you.”
Wrapping my good arm around his neck, I raised up on my toes, and he pulled me close again and met me halfway for another kiss, moaning quietly into my mouth as I let our tongues meet. I felt that moan all the way down to my bones, and it made my heart swell to know that he liked kissing me as much as I liked kissing him.
“I love you,” I murmured as we broke apart. “I’ve loved you since before I knew what love was.”
That earned me another of his adorable smiles, complete with the dimples I’d gotten so attached to in the past three minutes. And another kiss too.
“I love you too, baby,” he said softly. “So much. I wish you’d let me do something to help you. I hate knowing that you’re going back home to him after school.”
Okay, I was officially done for. Melted into a puddle of mush on the floor. If I thought I liked hearing him call me “Dar,” it was nothing compared to the sound of him calling me “baby.”
I sighed and laid my head on his chest, and he pressed his lips to my hair.
“Unless you can hire someone to carry my backpack to and from every class for me, there’s nothing you can do,” I mumbled. “I swear, the bruise the doorknob left on my ribs makes it hurt to breathe, never mind having to lug that thing around all day.”
He pulled back and looked at me. “A bruise shouldn’t make it hurt to breathe, Dar. If you’re not comfortable with this, it’s okay, but would you let me take a look at it? I’ve gotten roughed up a lot playing football and I’ve cracked a few ribs. I’m worried your mom might have missed that because she was so focused on your shoulder.”
Maybe I shouldn’t have been comfortable with him asking me to pull my shirt up not even five minutes after I’d given in to him, but I was. Because I knew it wasn’t like that. He wasn’t asking me to strip; he was asking me to show him an injury. It was different.
Taking a shaky breath, I used my good arm to tug my t-shirt up to just under my breasts, and Brendan knelt so he could get a better look at the area. He sucked in a sharp breath of air as he examined it, and then he lightly brushed his fingers over it, grimacing a little as he applied pressure. I hissed and groaned as a sharp pain radiated all the way up and down my side, and tears stung my eyes. He brushed a feather-light kiss over it before standing up and pulling my shirt back down for me.
“Yeah, that’s broken. I’ve never had one that bad,” he sighed. “You need to have your mom wrap that when you get home. She’ll know how.”
I nodded.
“You sure you won’t let me kill him?” he said, cracking half a smile.
I chuckled humorlessly. “Not that the thought isn’t appealing, but murder’s a sin. And I can’t afford to bail you out of jail.”
He snorted, then gave me a quick peck on the lips before grabbing both of our backpacks off the floor. He put his on properly, then tossed mine over one shoulder.
“Come on. The bell’s going to ring in a few minutes, and I need to get you to English before I head to Pre-Cal. What do you put in this thing, by the way? Bricks?”
“Textbooks,” I said, beyond grateful for a reprieve from carrying it. “My locker is on the complete opposite end of campus from all of my classes.”
“Yeah, I think that’s a freshman rite of passage. My locker in my freshman year was in Timbuktu too. Don’t even think about trying to lift this backpack after class. Until that rib heals and your shoulder’s mostly better, you do not need to be lugging all this weight around. I want you to wait for me, and I’ll walk you to your next class.”
“Um, the math rooms are like two hallways over,” I reminded him.
“And? I’m not letting my injured girlfriend carry this forty-pound backpack all over campus until she’s better. Case closed.”
Oh, my gosh. Girlfriend. He’d just called me his girlfriend.
I had a boyfriend.
“What?” he chuckled.
I felt my cheeks flush as I cast my eyes downward. I couldn’t say it out loud. It was way too embarrassing.
But then his finger was under my chin and he was tilting my face upward so I’d look at him. “Not letting you get out of it that easily. Tell me what just put that gorgeous smile on your face, baby. I need to know what I’m doing right.”
…And now I was probably the shade of a fire engine as my smile grew a little wider. I didn’t think I’d ever get tired of hearing him call me that.
“You called me your girlfriend,” I mumbled, barely intelligible.
He laughed, and those dimples were on full display again as he stole another kiss. “It was that easy?”
I shrugged, then groaned in pain as I realized that wasn’t a great idea with an injured shoulder and a broken rib.
“Yeah, how about not doing that until you’re better?” he scolded me.
I rolled my eyes. “Thanks for the tip.”
“Come on. Let’s get you to class,” he said, grabbing my hand as we headed toward the door.
Chapter 13
Brendan
Show You Love
Amazing how looking forward to going to school actually made me happy to get out of bed earlier than normal. I supposed that was a good thing, because this was going to be my life for at least a week. Getting to school the second they opened the gates so I could meet Darla’s bus and be her pack mule for the day. Not that I minded. Even if our talk yesterday hadn’t gone as well as it did – holy crap, I had a girlfriend now! – I would have done that for her. I wouldn’t have let her lug that monstrosity she called a backpack all over the Charleston High campus with those injuries.
As I pulled into the school parking lot, I decided to still park toward the back even though I had the pick of alm
ost any spot since I was one of the first ones here. I had two perfectly working legs, so I figured I might as well leave the spots closer to the school for the kids who might actually need them. I quickly shouldered my backpack, then grabbed the two mocha Frappuccinos I’d picked up at Starbucks this morning.
The second I opened my car door, I was bombarded by the scent of cigarette smoke. I buried my face in the crook of my elbow as I coughed, then looked around for the source. Smoking wasn’t allowed on campus, not even for the eighteen-year-old seniors, so it wasn’t something I was used to smelling here.
When my eyes landed on the beat-up old Chevy pickup five spaces down from me, I wasn’t even a little surprised. Ryan Correy was the token drug addict at this school, and the rumor was that he was actually a dealer too. He was a senior this year, but I’d be shocked if he actually managed to graduate.
Five kids were sitting in the bed of his pickup, and right in the middle of it all was Ethan Smith, the punk from youth group. I watched as he took a swig from a big bottle of cheap vodka, then chased it down with a drag from a cigarette. And then he put the cigarette out on the side of the truck before just tossing the butt in the grass.
I knew I should say something and try to stop him before he fell in even deeper with that crowd. The entire time I’d been here, I’d seen Ryan preying on the young, vulnerable students and sucking them into a lifestyle they ended up regretting. And Ethan had been so desperate to fit in from day one that he didn’t care what he had to do to make people like him. Even if it meant breaking the law and destroying his lungs and liver in the process.
But, frankly, he’d been making my girlfriend’s life a living hell ever since school started, and now I finally had some leverage over him to get him to stop. Besides, I had more important things to do than play babysitter this morning, like make sure said girlfriend didn’t exacerbate her injuries hauling around her ridiculously heavy backpack. So, saying a quick prayer for forgiveness, I hurried into the building before Ethan saw me.
Darla’s lips spread into something between a smile and a grimace as she lugged her backpack off of her bus and walked toward me. I could see the pain written all over her face, and I wished like hell that I could take it from her. Really, I wished her dad would pick on someone his own size. Someone who wasn’t afraid to fight him back. But that wasn’t what bullies did. They never picked on someone they could have a fair fight with, because they knew they’d lose. They preyed on people who were weaker than they were.
“Hey,” I said, holding one of the Frappuccinos out to her. “Trade you a Frappuccino for that backpack?”
She chuckled and set her bag on the ground, then took her drink from me. “Doesn’t seem like a fair trade. This Frappuccino is way more appealing than my backpack.”
“I mean, with how much these textbooks probably cost? I’d say you’re getting the short end of the stick with a five-dollar frozen coffee,” I teased as I shouldered her bag, then took a quick glance around to make sure no one who knew us was in the vicinity before stealing a kiss.
She giggled, and her cheeks turned bright pink. I wished I could just record that sound and play it on a loop all day. It was the best thing ever. I would have done almost anything to elicit that sound from her.
Yeah, I had it bad. No, I had no shame.
“You’re spoiling me. Watch it. I could get used to this,” she mumbled.
Good. I hoped she did, because I wasn’t planning on stopping any time soon. I wasn’t going to be stupid and do anything that would make her dad catch on, but this kind of stuff? I hoped she was prepared, because I had years of moments when I couldn’t do little things like this for her because it would have been weird to make up for.
“Don’t fight it. Just let it happen,” I teased, making her cheeks darken even more. “Come find somewhere to sit with me. I have something else for you, but it’s in my backpack.”
“Okay,” she chuckled. “Do I get a hint?”
“You’ll find out in a couple of minutes. How are you feeling?”
“I got my mom to look at my rib last night,” she sighed. “I told her how bad it hurt, and she was kicking herself for not noticing it sooner. So it’s wrapped now. I can’t really bend over and the pressure kind of hurts, but it feels more stable, I guess?”
“And if she’d just taken you to a damn doctor in the first place like she should have, you wouldn’t have been walking around with an untreated broken rib for two whole days before someone noticed it,” I muttered as we approached one of the stairwells.
“I know,” she agreed. “But if she refuses to, there’s not much I can do about it. I’m the kid and she’s the adult, you know?”
“I get it,” I sighed, sitting down on the third step and dropping our bags next to me, making sure people could still get past us if they needed to. “Come here.”
I took her drink from her, then guided her to sit on the second step between my legs. Carefully, avoiding her bad shoulder and rib, I pulled her back against me and wrapped my arms around her, planting a kiss on her collarbone. She let out a contented sigh as she turned to look at me, and I couldn’t pass up the opportunity for a real kiss.
I finally got why everyone was so obsessed with kissing. Because I couldn’t get enough of the feeling of Darla’s lips on mine, her tongue stroking against mine, the way our souls seemed to reach out and touch each other through this connection. Or maybe that was just because it was with the right person. I couldn’t imagine that it would feel like this with anyone else. And I had no desire to find out.
Someone forcefully shoved both of us, and Darla pulled away from me with a look of absolute agony on her face. Her mouth opened like she was screaming, but no sound came out, and her eyes were squeezed shut, like she was desperately trying to fight off tears.
“Well, look what we have here,” I heard an unwelcome voice saying. “Does Pastor Jones know you’re corrupting his sweet, innocent little girl when he’s not looking, Carter?”
Darla whimpered quietly, and I physically felt her tense and cower into my arms as he said that, like she was already trying to shield herself from her father’s wrath.
Nope. Just no. I wasn’t about to let this shithead be the reason her father found out about us and hurt her even worse than she already was.
“Before you go trying to make Darla’s life a living hell, Smith, I’d think about what your parents would say if they found out about your fondness for vodka and menthols,” I growled as I turned to face Ethan.
“You don’t know shit,” he scoffed.
“So that wasn’t you I saw hanging out with Ryan Correy in his truck this morning, smoking Kools and chugging Smirnoff straight from the bottle?” I challenged.
He blanched, but didn’t say anything.
“That’s more like it,” I chuckled dryly. “Now that I have your attention, listen up. First of all, Correy’s bad news. He’s been bad news since I was a freshman.”
“He’s my friend,” he protested.
“Look, if you want to spend your time with drug dealers and delinquents, that’s up to you, man,” I told him. “And if you want to give yourself lung cancer and destroy your liver, that’s none of my business. But if you keep messing with Darla, tattling to her father about every little thing you see her do like a five-year-old just because you want to see her squirm, I’ll make it my business, and your parents will find out all about your friends and what you’re doing with them. And you and I both know they’ll believe what I tell them. So, do we understand each other?”
“What are you, the fun police?” he snarked.
“No. I’m someone who doesn’t like seeing the people he cares about get hurt,” I spat right back. “You’re on the list of people I care about too, but if you want to destroy your life, I’m not going to stop you. As long as you back the hell off of Darla. Now, do. We. Understand. Each. Other?”
“Yep,” he clipped out, staring daggers at me.
“Good. And I mean it. Watch yo
urself with Ryan. He might act all nice to you and give you smokes and booze, but you’ll end up in way deeper than you ever wanted to be if you’re not careful.”
“Whatever,” he muttered.
“I’m serious, Ethan,” I warned him. “I’ll know if you say a single word to Pastor Jones, and the second you do, your parents are going to find out about your new hobby. And believe me when I say I’m looking for a reason to tell them because I don’t want to see you ruining your life like this.”
“Yeah, got it,” he snapped. “Your precious little girlfriend is safe.”
With a parting glare, he walked off, and I turned back to Darla, who was sitting there like a deer in headlights. I hated that she’d had to see that, but I wasn’t about to wait until this afternoon to deal with him. I wasn’t entirely convinced that he wouldn’t have gone to one of the payphones on campus and called the church office if I hadn’t done that. But now? He might have been trying to act all tough, but I could tell he was actually scared about the prospect of his parents finding out about any of this. He’d keep his mouth shut.
“You okay, baby?” I asked.
She nodded. “He was really smoking and drinking in the parking lot this morning?”
“Yep,” I chuckled dryly. “Right there in the open where anyone could see. Honestly, if I hadn’t had to use that as leverage to get him to shut his mouth with your dad, I’d be telling his parents anyway. But you’re more important, and my knowing that about him guarantees he’ll never tell your father anything else about you. Now, seriously, are you okay? You looked like you were about to cry when he shoved us.”
“It’s just my rib,” she sighed. “I’ll live.”
Wait. Her rib. I was an idiot. There was a reason I’d wanted to sit somewhere so I could dig through my backpack.
My Vows Are Sealed (Sealed With a Kiss) Page 14
