Clearing my throat I answer, “I’m going to be a senior.”
* * *
I must have fallen asleep because I feel myself being lifted. I open my eyes to Travis’ handsome face and run my hands along his jaw. He hasn’t shaved today, so there’s a bit of stubble on it.
“What are you doing?” I whisper.
“You’re tired; I don’t want you driving home. You can stay with me tonight.”
“’Kay.” Curfew doesn’t matter right now, but being with him does. He lays me down in his bed and stands over me for a minute, studying me. I feel self-conscious until he slowly moves so he’s lying on top of me. His forearms are supporting most of his weight, and his rough hands frame my face.
“You’re so goddamned beautiful.”
He spends the night showing me just how beautiful he thinks I am. I couldn’t have asked for a more perfect first time. He’s gentle, doesn’t rush, and he’s not selfish… at all.
After lying in his arms for a couple hours after, I sit up to leave. I wish I could stay here with him, but I can’t. I’m already running late, and as much as I loved what happened, I think I made a mistake by lying to him. When he finds out, he’s going to hate me.
“Where do you think you’re going?” he asks through a yawn.
“Home.” I smile and kiss his chest.
“Can’t you stay with me until you leave? You only have another couple of weeks, right?”
“Yeah, but I can’t. I wish I could, but my parents…” I trail off.
He shoots up in bed and grabs my arms. “I don’t give a fuck about your parents. You’re a grown-ass woman, not a teenager.”
Tears well in my eyes, not because I’m scared of him, but because I’m lying to him. He immediately lets me go, and I quickly wipe away the tears before they fall.
“Shit. Sorry. I just. Fuck.” He gets up, throws on a pair of boxers, and paces the room. “I don’t want you to leave tonight. Or ever.”
Chapter 6
Travis
AFTER WALKING CHARLOTTE TO her car last night, I couldn’t fucking sleep. That girl makes me feel things, intense things I never thought I’d feel again. One month. I’ve known her for one month, and I feel… shit, I don’t know what I feel. Love? Maybe. Hell if I know the name for it. All I know is I don’t want it to ever stop.
And last night? Last night was un-fucking-believable. I knew she was inexperienced, but I had no idea she was a virgin. How the hell sex on legs like her wasn’t taken advantage of by some college douchebag is beyond me. The fact that I’m the only guy who’s ever been in there makes me hold my head a little higher.
With her, I can finally move on from all the shit that happened with Tammy. My mom thinks talking to a shrink is the best way to heal, but it’s not. The best medicine comes in the form of a five-foot-five, blond-haired, blue-eyed angel.
I walk into the gym and spot Pierce right away, pounding the bag with such force I’m afraid the thing is gonna fall out of the ceiling, all with a smile on his face.
“Hey, man,” I shout. He responds by lifting his head at me, not slowing down the speed of his blows.
I head over to the treadmill and run a few miles before he shows up next to me. “What’s with the face, my man?”
“Huh?”
“Your face, you’re smiling. That’s not normal.” He grins.
I laugh and contemplate how much I should tell him. I mean, I'm sure he’s going to find out eventually. I slow my strides until the machine stops. “Yeah, well. I actually have a reason to smile, so.” I shrug my shoulders and hop off the treadmill.
“And the reason is?”
“I know she’s leaving in a couple weeks, but fuck, man. I’ve never wanted to be around someone so much. The past month has been the best of my goddamned life. We haven’t talked about the future, but she only has another year left of college—”
“Who the fuck are you talking about?”
“Charlotte.” I smile thinking about her.
“Hold up. My cousin Charlotte? You’ve been seeing her?” he seethes at me.
“Yeah, man, but I swear, it ain’t just a hook—” I’m cut off when he punches me in the gut three times so fast I didn’t even see it coming.
“The fuck, man? Jesus. I know she’s your cousin, but shit.” I cough and sit down on the free weight bench.
“What the fuck are you thinking, you asshole?”
“Her. I’m thinking about her, that’s it, I swear. She’s different.”
He doesn’t know my history with Tammy, but he’s seen me lose my shit on more than one occasion. The incident with Johnny being the last. I also got in a fight at his family’s bar once… maybe twice. It’s easy to give into your anger when you don’t have anything to lose.
“If you're apprehensive about the fights you’ve seen me in at the bar, you really don’t need to worry. I got it in check; I’d never allow that shit to touch her.”
“No shit, you won’t, because she’s not even legally allowed to drink in the fucking bar!” he shouts at me, pulling his hair.
I flinch as if he hit me again. Not legal? “What?” I whisper.
“She’s seventeen, you sick fuck. Christ, Travis. What the hell do you expect me to do with this?”
“No.” I shake my head in denial, but then it hits me. Never letting me pick her up, staying away from everyone else. I thought she just wanted to be alone with me, but now I find out it’s because she couldn’t be caught with me.
She lied to me. She fucking lied to me. All I ever asked from her was honesty, and she fucking lied.
“I didn’t know, man. I swear, I thought she was in college. She said she was going to be a senior.” Then it dawns on me. “Aw, fuck, a senior in high school. Are you fucking kidding me?”
I stomp over to the same punching bag Pierce left and pound the shit out of it. Jab, jab, cross. I can’t believe she lied to me. Cross, cross. I actually felt something for this girl, and she lied. Hook, jab, jab. Like Tammy. Jab, hook, hook. Lying by omission is still lying. Cross, hook, hook.
After my knuckles split open and blood drips down my hand, I hang my head in shame. I could go to fucking jail.
Pierce puts his hand on my shoulder. “You done?”
“Yeah.” He hands me a towel, and I wipe off some of the blood. “I swear, man, I didn’t know,” I choke.
I tell him how it happened, the first night on the beach, everything. He should know. I leave out the sexual details, obviously, but I tell him how easy she was to talk to, and I seriously think I’m falling in love with her. He tells me I have to end it. That’s it; cut and dry. Done. It sucks because I know he’s right.
I leave the gym and go home. My mind is a jumbled mess, and I enter my apartment on autopilot and take a shower. I think about how mad I am at her, but then I think about how good she feels in my arms and how being in the same room as her makes me feel whole again. I think about how I could go to jail for fucking her, but then I think about how good she feels wrapped around my dick.
I’m exhausted from staying up late with her last night, and my body aches from the beating I gave the punching bag. Plus, my stomach is killing me from Pierce’s fists. Before long, I fall asleep.