mind. I want the world to know I am with the girl I’ve been in love with since I was twelve years old. Now I’m eighteen — a man — and I know how to fight.
You better believe I’ll fight for my chance with Bailey.
Bailey
Billy Barton.
I can’t believe it.
Here I am sitting with the one boy who always looked out for me in small ways in middle school. He probably doesn’t even remember it. He was always so polite, so gentle and kind. He’d make sure I got picked for a team in PE, made sure I wasn’t sitting alone in the bleachers at assemblies, and when kids picked on me for my secondhand clothes, he always got them to be quiet. Which was impressive, considering he wasn’t a big kid. But he had no tolerance for bullies.
Now he’s a wrestler. I’m not surprised. He looks so strong, so masculine and so grown-up, it makes my heartbeat quicken just to look at him.
And he is still as polite as ever. Offering to pay for my meal, looking out for me.
God, I wish I had him in my corner the last five years. I needed a man like him in ways he wouldn’t understand.
“What sounds good?” the waitress asks.
I scan the menu quickly and ask for coffee with cream. “And waffles. Please.”
“I’ll have the same,” Billy says, giving our menus back.
“Sounds good Billy and…” She looks at me.
“Bailey,” I say.
“I’m Val. Friends with Billy’s sister. I’ll get your orders right up.”
When we are alone again in the booth, I try to calm my nerves. I don’t go out with guys — ever — especially not guys like Billy.
I’m a girl form the other side of the tracks and he is — well, he’s as all-American as it gets. From money, a great family, the kind of person who will go to college and have a perfect life all ready for him.
“So, you live a county over?” he asks.
I nod as we get our coffee. How do I explain this? Stirring in my creamer, I try. “Yeah, after I left Taft all those years ago, we moved around a lot, my mom and me. Right now, we’re at a motel in Sunnyslope. It’s temporary. A few months ago, when I enrolled at Taylor, we were staying with friends here.” I shrug. “It’s complicated.”
Billy takes a drink of his coffee as the waffles arrive. My stomach growls. He hears it.
“Sorry,” I say. “I’m just so hungry.”
“Did you have lunch?”
I nod. “I get free lunch at school but lots of times it’s…well, it’s all I have.” I exhale, not knowing how to explain. He waits for me as I breathe in the sugary sweetness of the waffles. He takes my hand in his across the table, gently. I don’t pull back.
“I hate that you’re eating a meal a day. And that you’re homeless. Bailey, I had no idea.” He shakes his head, his thumb rubbing the top of my hand. I feel a wave of emotion rise up in me.
I shake my head. Embarrassed. “I’m not trying to get your sympathy.”
He gives me a half-smile. “I know. But I do care.” He swallows and his Adam’s apple bobs, and I have this thought of him kissing me, of him never letting me go. I could melt in his arms. A man I just reunited with after so many years. We were just children before, but now we’re all grown up.
He nods at my fork, telling me to eat up. “Don’t want to let it get cold.”
I pour syrup over the golden stack. “This is my favorite. My ultimate comfort food.”
“You know,” he tells me, “I always had such a crush on you.”
My eyes widen. “On me?”
“Yeah,” he says softly. “On you. I always thought — and still do think — you are waffle-y cute.”
Chapter Two
Billy
I’m stunned — heartbroken and surer than ever that those feelings I had for her, that I have never let die, are still as strong as ever.
Bailey is such a goddamn angel on earth. So gentle, kind, and beautiful. Every fiber in my being wants to go all alpha and do anything in my power to make her feel safe. Forever.
She eats her waffles quickly — and my heart breaks, knowing she hasn’t been cared for properly. If she was mine — when she is mine — I’ll never let this happen again.
“Want another order?” I ask as she finishes her last bite. Realizing she won’t ask for more, I