Rock had gone solid beside me. He was angry. These were his closest friends. I didn’t want to be a reason they fought.
“No sweet tea today. What the hell is up with that?” Marcus Hardy said by way of greeting as he plopped beside Dewayne and put his tray down. “I need some sweet tea to get through the next class. Dead poets bore me.”
“Shit,” Rock muttered beside me.
“Rock ain’t being very welcoming, Marcus. He’s being kinda shitty,” Dewayne said, still looking completely amused by the whole thing.
Marcus gave me an apologetic smile, then moved his focus to Rock. “With us sitting here, y’all aren’t the afternoon’s entertainment,” he explained with a shrug. He was right. They were blocking a lot of the crowd.
“You good with them eating with us?” Rock asked me.
I nodded. I wasn’t ready to talk yet. Sitting with these four was a little overwhelming. I didn’t want to say something stupid, and I wasn’t sure I had anything to say to them, anyway.
“Guys, y’all know Trisha,” Rock said.
“It’s hard not to know her. You’ve been panting after her for over a year. We’re kinda tired of watching it. Thanks for giving him a break. We all appreciate it,” Dewayne said.
Preston chuckled beside me but didn’t pipe up. I had a feeling the only one out of these four who wasn’t scared of Rock was Dewayne. They were close to the same size.
“Dewayne,” Rock said in a warning tone.
Dewayne only smirked. “Am I lying?”
“Seriously, D. Shut up,” Marcus said, shooting him a disapproving glare.
Dewayne shrugged and took a bite of his burger.
Rock’s hand slid over my knee and stayed there. “I swear they aren’t that bad,” he assured me.
Smiling, I reached for a French fry. “I think they’re nice,” I told him.
They all four started to chuckle, and then Preston burst out laughing. I glanced at all of them, then looked up at Rock, who was smiling down at me with something warm in his eyes that made my heart flutter.
Rock
Trisha didn’t miss another football game. Once the season was over, I had my Friday nights free to spend with her. I never thought I’d look forward to football season ending. Any time I could have her alone were the best hours of my day. She hadn’t completely melted on me immediately, but over time she slowly began to trust me.
Now when I walked up to her in the hallways at school and wrapped her up in my arms, she came to me willingly. Kissing her sweet lips whenever I wanted to was also my favorite addiction. She not only let me have that mouth when I wanted it, but she kissed me back.
Life was f**king close to perfect. If I didn’t have to worry about her going back to that damn trailer every night, then it really would be perfect. Krit was dealing with some issues lately that worried Trisha. When last guy his mother had brought home had hit on Trisha, Krit had lost it and almost beat the man to death. Trisha had called me screaming and crying. My heart had almost stopped at the sound of her panic.
When I got there the dude was on the ground, unconscious and covered in blood, and Trisha had Krit in a corner talking him down while he glared at the man as if possessed. There was broken furniture everywhere, and even Fandora had a busted lip.
Apparently, he had backhanded his mother to get her away from Trisha. The kid was like a loaded gun. Trisha wanted him checked out. She was worried that he had some emotional damage from growing up the way they had. I was afraid the kid had a personality disorder. I’d been angry before, and if I’d seen the man touch Trisha I’d have beat his ass too. It was the glazed-over look in Krit’s eyes that concerned me.
Tonight Krit was going to spend the night with Green, and his band was going to practice. They weren’t getting actual gigs yet, but they were practicing enough for someone to think they were. Surprisingly, they were good, too. Krit could sing. It had been a shock the first time I’d heard them practice.
So I had Trisha all to myself. All night. I was saving every penny I had to get us an apartment the moment I turned eighteen. But I wanted to do something special for Trisha tonight. I had let her take it slow. I hadn’t said shit that I wanted to because I was afraid she’d freak out.
Last week I had worked nights for the first time, stocking at the local grocery store. With that money I was getting us a hotel room in the next town over. I wanted to hold Trisha all night in a bed. Because I was saving my money, this was all I could afford. I wouldn’t be able to take her out to eat too. So I’d made us sandwiches and bought some of the chocolate chip cookies she loved. I also bought her favorite soda and got a bag of chips and dip.
I had checked in earlier and set the cooler in the room with the sandwiches and dip. Dewayne had snagged me some candles from his house that his mother wouldn’t miss. After setting them around the room, I had left a lighter by the bed so I could light them later.
The reason I hadn’t told Trisha what we were doing was because I wanted to surprise her with a night somewhere she didn’t have to worry about Krit or Fandora coming home. I wanted to hold her while she slept and know she was safe in my arms. What I hadn’t thought about was how Trisha would read into this. Until I parked the truck and glanced over at her.
The wide-eyed look on her as she stared up at the hotel in front of us told me I had made a serious mistake. She didn’t get why I had done this. She was thinking something completely different. We hadn’t done anything more than kiss. I’d wanted to do more, but I was afraid to with her. I didn’t want to lose her or scare her. I’d been a f**king saint with her.
Then I go and do something like this.