“How’s school going?” Grandpa rolled his walker closer. “Keeping those grades up? Coach needs you to keep up your GPA.”
“I’m doing fine.”
“You’re not at football practice?” He checked out my GTO, a thread of disappointment in his tone. Grandpa was also a huge football fan. It wasn’t only me who was let down when I had to quit playing. He used to come to all my games. Now he watched me assist on the sidelines from the comfort of his chair. He was the one who contacted the coach when we moved here, helping me get the assistant job.
“No.” Guilt ticked at my eye, hating to ever let him down.
“You can’t ignore your obligations. You told them you’d be there. You need to be there.” He was all about keeping to your word, a man’s honor.
“I know.”
“Hmmm.” The sound was full of meaning too.
“Been spending a lot of time down the street.” He flicked his chin. “Must be a girl distracting you, am I right?”
A sardonic laugh bubbled up, my hand scouring my face again. “I wish.” No, Grandpa, it’s not a girl. It’s a grown-ass, sexy as hell woman.
How much easier it would be if it were Addison. The other night while eating pizza on her deck, I tried to make myself believe she was the reason I was there, or at least could be. I wished this blonde schoolgirl was making me hard, not the dark-haired woman hiding in her bedroom. When Addison told me it was just us two for dinner, I was really disappointed. I mean, sure, Emery was hot—sexy as fuck. But I liked talking to her. And the chemistry when we were near each other was intense. Normally, I could shrug that kind of shit off. I’ve never felt anything too deeply for a girl beyond physical attraction.
That might be where I had been going wrong. Emery wasn’t a girl.
I couldn’t stop thinking—what if I walked into her bedroom, shoved her against the wall, and kissed the fuck out of her?
I swear I felt her on the other side of the door, hearing her pulse in rhythm to mine. Sensing this push-pull of wanting me to come in and not wanting me to. I had to jerk off two times that night, and not once was it Addison I thought of.
The last few days, I stayed away, knowing Addison was reading too much into my actions, behaving more and more at school as if I was already hers. I stayed aloof, steering clear of her, making sure she understood nothing was going on, though she wasn’t taking the hint.
“I think I’m gonna go for a run.”
Grandpa glanced up at me with a frown.
“Yes, I’ll be careful. And I have my phone on me.”
His jaw strained, but his head dipped in accord. It was those tiny moments, the look in his eyes, when I knew my grandfather loved me more than anything.
“Okay, when you get back, your grandmother needs you to look under the sink again. Not draining properly, and I can’t get down there as I used to.”
I snorted. The sink was always clogging. The thing was so damn old. Every week, I would crawl under, knowing exactly what to do, while my grandpa stood near me, playing backseat plumber.
“Okay.” I grabbed my running shoes by the door, shoving them on my feet. “I’ll be back for dinner.”
“It’s meatloaf tonight,” he belted out after me as if I didn’t know. We had the same schedule of meals every week. Wednesday was meatloaf night, and I ate it every time, asking for seconds.
My legs took me down the sidewalk in the direction of the cottage. This was my normal route, no other reason. I passed the cottage every time I went on a run. I tried to keep my gaze ahead, purposely not looking as I ran by.
“Damn it! You suck!” A cry followed by a loud bang of metal had me heading to the garage. My feet stopped short, my mouth twisting up, trying not to laugh as I watched Emery flail and kick at the washer, the ground covered in soapy water again. “You piece of shit!”
“Whoa, whoa… that’s no way to talk to it.” I strode up, tsking her. She whipped around, her eyes slightly widening before her expression locked down. My cock reacted to how her jeans fit her ass and the desire to run my hands through her long, loose strands, which hit the middle of her back. “No wonder it doesn’t want to work for you.”
“It doesn’t work because it’s a relic.”
“I told you it was pretty much dead.”
Her mouth pinched together. “I was hoping it had one more in it.” She leaned her hip into the machine, glaring at it. “At least until payday.”
“I can get a part, get it temporarily working until then.”
“No.” She shook her head. “You don’t need to do that. You’ve already helped enough.”
“It’s not a problem.” I glanced down at her, realizing once again we were barely an inch apart. I gravitated toward her like she was the fucking sun.
Her nostrils flared, her body going still as we looked at each other. It seemed to be the most natural thing in the world to lean down and kiss her as if she were mine to do it. To toss her up on the dryer and fuck her hard, leaving the garage door open so everyone could hear her cries.
The impulse hit me like a truck. Sucking in my breath, I took a step back. Her face flushed as she looked away, as though she had felt the same thing, the air rippling with energy.
“I can get the part tomorrow, if that works.” My voice went lower than normal, barely getting out of my mouth.
“Yes, fine. Thanks.” She nodded. A fake smile pushed up her mouth, looking all wrong on her. “I’m sure you want to get back to your run.”
“Yeah…” I didn’t, though. I didn’t want to leave. “I probably should head home.”
“You live close?”
“Yeah, a few blocks down. The beige house with the air force flag hanging in front, and dilapidated 1967 GTO in the garage.”
“1967 GTO?” Her head jerked back. “My dad had one before he died. I was really little, but I remember him loving that car. Made me love it too.”
“You can come down and visit anytime you want.”
She smiled. This time it was genuine and all her. “You live with your grandparents?”
“I do, but I don’t have to.”
Her eyebrows crinkled.
“I’m nineteen. Be 20 in December. I stay with them because they need me.” I shrugged. “They’re getting up in years and too stubborn to go into a home.”
“You’re 19?”
“I was held back a year.” My throat started to close. This was hinting at the area I didn’t talk about.
“You didn’t get your GED? Graduate with your friends?”
“You’d have to have those first. Ones who stuck around at least.” What was it about her? I was telling her far more than I would anyone else. “School is really important to my grandparents, and I guess I don’t want to let them down. My grandma thinks experiencing my senior year is crucial—school dances, senior trip, graduation. I couldn’t care less, but I want to do it for them.”
“Like the football thing.”
My shoulders shifted. Emery seemed to see right through me, which made me really uncomfortable. Most people didn’t bother. “They never pressured me, but I know it’s something they want. I owe them that.”