Green waggled his eyebrows at me, and Krit shoved him and said, “Dude, stop it. Seriously.”
Green’s tall, lanky body hadn’t had time to adjust to his overnight height either. He stumbled back, then laughed. “Jeesh. You two are uptight.”
“Was your day good?” I asked Krit, ignoring Green.
Getting Krit through a school day without him losing his temper or having some kind of emotional snap was an accomplishment. He was severely ADHD, and I was beginning to think he also suffered from some sort of personality disorder that we didn’t know about. Fandora wouldn’t take him to have him checked out. She hated giving him meds at all. It took time out of her day to get them.
When one of her boyfriends had slapped me and Krit threw a brick at his head, she had gone and gotten his meds. But we were getting low again. Krit tended to get addicted to things. He was like a live wire, unable to stay still. Ready for the next adventure. And if you stood in his way, he lost it.
Keeping him calm was my job.
“I was an angel today,” he informed me, then gave me his crooked grin. My heart squeezed. I loved my brother. So many times I felt like he was mine. I wasn’t old enough to be his mother, but the way I felt about him was what I believed a real mother’s love would feel like. There was nothing I wouldn’t do for Krit. Nothing. When he was happy it made me happy.
“Don’t lie to her. You got sent to the office once,” Green added.
“What?” I asked, my heart sinking.
Krit shrugged, then glared at Green. “Nothing big. I told the teacher I’d get to the assignment in a minute. I was finishing up something. She got all pissy.”
That was typical Krit. He didn’t like being bossed around. Not by anyone but me. I could get away with it. In his eyes, everyone else needed to step back. Even his mother.
Krit started to say something else but stopped as his eyes lit up at something behind me. Frustrated with his erratic attention span, I turned to see who had his interest.
Rock Taylor was walking up from the football field dressed in pads and that tight uniform they wore. His helmet was in his hand, hanging forgotten by his side. As impressive as all that perfection was, the breathtaking part was that his eyes were locked on me. Me.
“He’s headed this way, I think,” Green whispered.
I wasn’t ready to deal with him again. What if he asked about my side in front of Krit? Crap. I had to get out of here.
I reached for Krit’s arm. “Let’s go. Bus is almost here. We don’t want those back seats with the thugs. Let’s be sure to get in line.”
“But I think Rock Taylor is coming this way. Like, to us. Or . . . you,” Krit said, watching Rock carefully now. He wasn’t so mesmerized anymore. He seemed to be thinking this through.
“He’s not coming for us. Let’s go,” I said, pushing them both toward the bus line.
“Trisha.” Rock’s voice stopped me. Green’s jaw dropped, and Krit’s eyes no longer held fascination. He was studying Rock hard now. A tight frown came over his face, and I watched my little brother turn into a man as he stood up straighter and stepped in front of me.
“What do you want with my sister? She don’t seem real excited about seeing you,” Krit said in a hard, cold tone.
Rock was a wall of muscle, and Krit had to tilt his head back to make eye contact with him. But Rock didn’t seem to care or back down. He was determined to protect me. He was doing that a lot now. I was so worried he was going to get hurt. It was my job to protect Krit. Not the other way around.
Rock’s jaw twitched, and it looked like he was trying not to smile. “Trisha and I decided to be friends today. Didn’t we, Trisha?” he said, looking over my brother’s shoulder to me.
I had to calm my little brother down. I nodded and stepped around Krit. “Yes, we did,” I confirmed.
“Then why were you trying to get us on the bus before he could get to you?” Krit asked, not buying this at all.
“Yes, why were you doing that, Trisha? Hurts my feelings,” Rock added. This time he was smiling. Dang him. He was amused by all this.
I stepped in front of Krit and lifted my eyes to meet Rock’s. “I just didn’t want to be left with the seats in the back of the bus. I don’t like those.”
Rock’s grin grew even bigger. “I got a truck. Lucky for you, I like giving my friends a ride.”
Oh, no. I wasn’t letting him see where we lived. Not today. Not ever. “Uh, no, that’s okay. The bus works just fine.” And as if on cue, the bus rolled up and Mr. Freds called out over his megaphone for the riders of A138 to board.
I grabbed Krit’s arm. “That’s us. I’ll see you tomorrow,” I told Rock quickly, and pulled my brother to the bus line. I didn’t look back, and I was almost afraid Rock would get in line with us. Even though he was supposed to be at football practice.
Getting this guy to back off wasn’t going to be easy. Getting my heart to stop going into a frenzy whenever he spoke to me was also not going to be easy. He was every daydream I had allowed myself to have since I was a little girl. A big, beautiful, strong man who could keep me safe. Someone who would love me and ride in on his horse and wrap me up in his arms so that no one could hurt me again.