As your mom pointed out, you’re always touching in some way. It’s gone on too long and escalated too far. No more kissing. No more hugging and holding onto each other. Anything more than holding hands is unacceptable. Period.”
By the time he finished, I wanted to curl into a ball and hide. My jaw was trembling in response to the anger in my dad’s eyes as he pointedly stared at the boy standing tall behind me. Tears of frustration and mortification were filling my eyes, and I had no chance of stopping them.
Mrs. Dixon placed the tips of her fingers over her mouth like she was keeping herself from responding.
Mr. Dixon dragged a hand through his hair, then gestured to my dad as he spoke to Beau. “You heard him. Your momma and I gotta respect our friends’ wishes. You gotta respect your girlfriend’s parents. Understood?”
“Yes, sir,” Beau rumbled.
I turned to leave just as the first tear slipped free.
Beau’s expression fell, and he reached for me before quickly pulling his hand back, his fingers clenched tight and a harsh breath rushing from him.
“I love you,” I whispered, too soft for anyone else to hear.
“Love you,” he responded in that low, rough voice that always shot straight to my heart.
I wiped furiously at my cheeks as I left the house and hurried off the porch, Madison and Hunter barely separating to see who had come outside before Madison jerked back.
“Oh my gosh, what’s wrong?”
“I’ll tell you in the car.”
“Where’s Beau?” Hunter asked as he pushed off my car with Madison’s hips still firmly in his grip.
“Inside, following my parents’ newest attempt at keeping us as far apart as possible.”
“Aw, friend,” Madison whispered and reached for my hand.
Hunter sighed and looked to the house.
“Yeah, you should probably get in there,” I said as I headed for my car door. “There’s a lot of tension in there, and he’s surrounded in it.”
“Yeah,” he mumbled, then asked, “We still on for tonight?”
I gave a hard nod as I opened my door. “Absolutely.”
“It’s still so crazy to me that your parents do this,” Madison began later that night. “I mean, I’m not surprised because it’s them, you know? But still . . .”
A dull laugh tumbled from my lips when she sank next to where I sat on her bed, waiting.
Because I knew it was coming. Correction . . . they were coming.
With Beau and Hunter out, we all knew my parents would follow. Giving enough time for me to sneak off somewhere I wasn’t supposed be at—like a party I had no intention of going to—before checking on me.
And it was only a matter of time now, because Hunter had called Madison about an hour before, letting us know they’d left for the party. Starting the check-in countdown.
“Yeah, well, not everyone has super awesome parents like y’all do.”
Madison’s head slanted, her eyebrows pulling together with sympathy. “Mine can be strict too,” she said slowly, knowing it was a weak addition.
“You can tell your parents things,” I argued gently. “If you wanted to go to a party, you wouldn’t have to sneak out. If you wanted to spend all your time with Hunter, they would be okay with that.” I gestured toward the window. “Okay, so I feel bad for Leighton because her parents are always gone. But, like, Emberly is either in a bar or with Leighton and the Dixons because she literally has the coolest mom ever. And the Dixon house is basically perfection. They have rules, but they’re still extremely casual. I mean, I’m pretty sure Mrs. Dixon got choked up the first time she saw Beau and me kiss. What mom does that?”
A soft laugh escaped Madison. “Right? She probably wouldn’t be like that if she had four girls though. Like, my mom is totally cool about a lot of things, but if she saw Hunter kiss me?” The last was said on a whisper, her eyes widening as she leaned back, head shaking. “She’d freak. One hundred percent.”
“Yeah, but would she send you away?” I asked, my voice softening with a year-long bitterness. “Would they forbid you from even hugging Hunter?”
“No,” she responded after a minute. “Can’t—” Her lips thinned into a tight line.
“What?”
She hesitated before releasing a rough breath. “Can’t Beau talk to them? Be like, ‘Hey, y’all aren’t being fair,’ or something?”
A stunned laugh left me. “No. No, he can’t. They would . . .” My head shook quickly. “Madi, he’s so afraid, that he doesn’t even really