“What did you have in mind?” Chloe gives me a covert thumbs up and I resist the urge to flip her off.
“Well, normally it’d be dinner and a movie, but I doubt that’d work on a girl like you.”
“A girl like me?”
“I don’t mean that in a bad way. I just mean I normally go for a very specific kind of girl. You don’t fit that mold, which means I need to adjust my normal plan of attack.”
“What kind of girl do you normally go for?” I ask, genuinely curious.
“Big tits and zero personality,” Chloe chimes in.
“Please, do not bring up tits.” Aaron cringes.
A snort escapes my lips and I nearly die of laughter. “You’ve traumatized him.”
She lifts a shoulder. “A little trauma keeps things spicy.”
“Don’t listen to her,” Reese laughs. “And they don’t always have big tits.”
“So, what is it about me that you’re into...aside from my tits.”
He laughs. “Never living that down, am I?”
“Nope.”
“You want the truth or you want me to lie?”
“Does anyone ever say lie to me?” I ask with an arched brow.
He thinks about it for a bit, then says. “No actually, they haven’t.”
That earns him another laugh, and against my better judgment I look up to see Devin’s dark gaze narrow. I narrow my eyes right back because screw him. I hope he and Brooke live a long and happy life together.
“So, you want the truth then?” Reese says, redirecting my attention back to him where it belongs.
“Always.”
“Well, at first it was because you were new. We don’t get many new girls in Newton; well I wanted dibs.”
“How romantic.”
“Hey, you asked for the truth, don’t punk out now that I’m giving it to you.”
I lift my hands in surrender. “Fine, continue.”
“Well, then I got to know you a little bit, watched you, and you’re this hot girl who doesn’t realize how hot she is, and somehow it makes you even hotter, ya know? Like you wear overalls and t-shirts and drink regular Coke. There’s just something so…sincere about you that I’m quickly realizing has nothing to do with what you look like on the outside.”
“Stalker,” I shoot out.
He holds his index and thumb an inch apart. “A little bit.”
I laugh, shaking my head.
“So, how about that date?”
I open my mouth to agree, but Devin chooses that moment to make his way over to us. “Let’s bail. This is lame.”
I peek behind his shoulder to see a very pissed off looking Brooke, glaring in our direction.
“But we just got here?” Aaron says.
“No, he’s right,” Chloe chimes in. She turns in Aaron's arms, sitting up on her knees. “Please, I’m starving. Let’s go to the diner.”
The way he regards her, with such adoration, makes the butterflies in my stomach soar. “Sure, babe. Whatever you want.”
Reese chucks an empty plastic cup at his friend. “God, you’re so pussy whipped.”
Chloe sticks her tongue out at him, then kisses Aaron. My lips slip into a smile involuntarily. This is fun. I don’t know why I resisted this so much back home.
“What do you say, Ron?” Dev asks. His dark eyes assess me. “You hungry?”
I stare up at him. He’s wearing all black tonight. His hair hangs in his eyes, and the shiny metal ring through his lip seems to glint in the moonlight. God, I wish I could go back to being nine when things were simple between us. Back when things were platonic.
I feel Reese’s hand grip my knee possessively. Some unspoken conversation flows between them for a beat longer than necessary.
“I-I could eat,” I stutter, simply to break the tension.
Reese moves his hand higher, finally tearing his attention away from Dev, he grins. “Then let me feed you.”
We stand and I fold Chloe’s blanket before we make our way to Aaron’s truck. Reese tucks me into his side and Heather and Dev fall in step behind us. As usual, Chloe’s chattering away, giving the rest of us a reprieve from the weird tension between Devin and Reese.
Once we reach the truck, Chloe and Aaron hop in the cab, while the four of us hop in the back. Reese settles into the corner, and I go to sit next to him. Devin takes the seat next to me. He sits so close his big body is pressed against mine. “It’s a little crowded on this side, bro.” Reese’s jaw ticks as he speaks. “Heather’s looking lonely over there.”
Her eyes bounce between the three of us, and she lifts her phone to her face. “I’m good, thanks.”
The engine rumbles to life and Headstrong by Trapt booms from the speakers. The truck rolls forward, and I sink back against the side, sandwiched between the two boys, neither of whom seems to be backing down.
Reese laces his fingers with mine, bringing our entwined hand to his lip. I blush at the gesture and Devin shifts beside me, pulling a blanket from somewhere. He spreads it over my legs, then bops me on the nose. “It gets cold back here,” he explains, then tosses one to Heather. She wraps it around her shoulders and goes back to her phone.
Once we’re out of the clearing and the car’s on the road, the wind picks up and I’m grateful for the blanket, yet the cool night air feels like a welcomed breeze over my heated skin.
It’s dark out, the only light is from the passing blur of the street lamps. Reese keeps a firm grip on my hand. Devin eyes it like it’s personally offended him. The ride is quiet, save for the music coming from the front. Headstrong fades into some old school country song that I’ve heard Gran sing a million times.
Devin’s leg brushes against mine. At first, I think it’s an accident caused by the lack of shocks in Aaron's truck, but it happens again, and I finally get the courage to look over at him. He’s staring back at me with something in his eyes that is too dark to detect.
I exhale a shaky breath. “What are you doing?” I mouth, and I know he sees because his hand slips under the blanket in response. It glides up my legs, and he squeezes my thigh as if to stake his claim.
“Remember that one Halloween your Gran made us dress up as Kenny Rogers and Dolly Parton and perform Islands in the Stream for her bingo friends?” he says. His voice is low and seductive, and his fingers inch higher under the blanket.
“Yeah.” My response comes out all breathy and flirty and I hate him. I hate him for this. I’m torn between wanting to push his hand away and push it higher. I offered myself to him last night, and he turns around and ignores me all fucking day. If Reese weren’t into me, I wonder if Devin would even be here now? Or would he be with Brooke, or somewhere depressed over Truly? I can’t compete with them.
“She even put padding in your shirt to give you boobies.”
Heather belly laughs from the other side of the truck. “Oh my God, please say there are pictures.
“Yup.” Dev nods. His hand slips higher and he’s cupping my sex. I squeeze my legs, hoping like hell he lets me go, but he doesn’t. His big palm covers me completely. Heat rushes to my core, and I’m instantly wet.
I glance over to see if Reese notices, but he just stares ahead, glaring at the road.