Fighting Dirty - Sidney Halston Page 0,46

of what makes me who I am.” She moved up and sat cross-legged on the bed. “I don’t want you to look at me differently after you hear this. You’re the only person other than Mama who knows this, and quite frankly, I don’t know if she even remembers.” She pressed the palms of her hands against her eyes. “God, we’re so different. How’s this ever going to work?”

“I don’t see any differences, baby,” he said softly.

She looked down at her hands. “You’re clearly in denial,” she told him, giving him a self-deprecating smile. “Okay, so during my senior year of high school, Harry left for Tarpon Springs for a week and Travis was on a spring break trip with his friends. I was alone with my mom, who was on a bender. A bad one. But I just ignored her, like I always did. Andy McGuire, the captain of the football team, asked me out. Me, the wallflower with the attitude. I wore this white flowy cotton dress that Violet lent me. It went past my knees and I had on some cute flat sandals and a braid that went down my shoulder.”

“Can’t imagine you with long hair.”

“Long blond hair,” she told him. “Anyway, the dress was sweet and I was vibrating with excitement. As soon as my mother saw me she started going off on me. You see, my mother has this little sinister laugh that speaks volumes. Instead of telling me that I looked pretty, she doubled over in laughter, holding a bottle of vodka in one hand and a cigarette in the other.”

—

“You think you can wear new clothes and that boy’s going to forget you’re trash?” Rita said between bouts of hilarity, teetering because she was drunk. “Everyone knows it. You are trailer park trash, and a little makeup ain’t gonna change shit. Your tits are hanging out,” her mother had said, pointing her cigarette toward JL’s nonexistent cleavage. “He only wants one thing. That’s what all men want. Best you learn that young.”

JL refused to ruin her makeup with tears, so she slammed the screen door and waited for Andy outside. Twenty minutes late, a brand-new blue pickup truck turned into her driveway, sending dust and pebbles flying everywhere. He honked the horn and she climbed inside.

“You look pretty, Jamie Lynn,” Andy said.

“Thanks. Like your truck,” she replied shyly.

He had told her they were going to the movies, and she was surprised when he took her not to the local movieplex downtown but to an old movie theater a town over. But she was so excited to be on the date she didn’t care.

He paid for their movie tickets, bought popcorn and soda, and led her to the back of the theater. As soon as the lights dimmed, he was all over her. It started off with a kiss, which she enjoyed. It hadn’t been her first kiss; hell, she wasn’t even a virgin. But it was a good kiss. Andy definitely had experience, she had thought. The kiss quickly escalated to touching, and by the time the movie was over he was noticeably hard and flushed. He led her to his car, where he continued to kiss her.

“Andy, wait.” She pushed him back. “Andy, stop.” But he didn’t. His hand snaked under her skirt and up her leg. She pushed against him harder and told him to stop, but this time more firmly. “I said, stop.”

He pulled back and unfastened the button of his jeans. “I paid for the movie and dinner. What the fuck, Jamie Lynn?”

“Dinner? You mean the popcorn?”

“Oh, so that wasn’t enough? I thought a girl from a trailer park would settle for a movie. Fuckin’ have to buy you dinner too?” He adjusted himself and turned on the ignition.

She sat back and fixed her dress as tears welled in her eyes. Andy drove off and a few minutes later they were in front of a local fast-food spot. “What are you doing?” she asked, surprised. She’d figured he would take her home since she wasn’t going to put out.

“You’ll only let me fuck you if I get you some food, right?”

“What? No, I’m not going to have sex with you. It’s got nothing to do with food.”

Andy’s nostrils flared, and instead of parking in front of the restaurant he pulled his truck to a dark corner of the parking lot, unbuckled his seatbelt, and turned to face her. “What did you think this was? You were never going to