as yours.”
Her cheeks turned crimson, her mouth hanging open.
I made haste for the door before she could say anything else.
Peggy’s window was already open, a sign that maybe she was up for negotiations. My spirits lifted as my body did, and I rolled inside onto her bed. “Ready to grovel?”
Peggy set her homework down, already out of her school clothes and wearing one of her preferred super-long men’s T-shirts. Most of the shit she wore was from the thrift store, but I didn’t like the idea of her wearing some strange dude’s old clothes, so every Christmas, I bought her some new men’s XL T-shirts.
I tried to keep my eyes off her thighs as she took a seat on the bed. Tried. I got points for that, because fuck if I could. Why did it feel like it was the first time I’d seen them? Had they always had that tiny dip between them?
She quickly stuffed a pillow over her lap and attempted to fix the craptastic job she’d done of putting her hair into a messy bun. There wasn’t enough of it anymore, so ringlets sprang free, caressing the elegant slant of her neck and dusting the slim curves of her face.
“I owe you nothing. But I’m willing to put this aside on one condition.”
“One?” Shucking off my boots, I peered up into her face, getting comfy on my side of the bed.
“You don’t interfere with my life anymore.”
“You’re my best friend. Are you saying I’m not supposed to care?”
She blew a wayward curl from her lips. “I’m saying you need to quit being a controlling dick.”
I slapped a hand over my chest. “Well, I’ll be. This isn’t exactly the apology I was hoping for.”
“You’ll be hoping for a while if that’s what you’re expecting.”
We scowled at each other, but I could feel my face grow lax as I watched her lashes open and close and studied the tiny bow to her upper lip.
“Fine.”
“Fine.”
“Can we play now?” I asked.
In answer, she grabbed a controller and handed it to me.
The next morning, I picked Peggy up for school, satisfied that things were back to normal in that regard, yet something was still irking me.
It was like having an itch I couldn’t find. As I watched her scroll through the music on my phone, then stroll down the hall to meet up with the douchebag extraordinaire, I found myself in a constant state of tension.
“Her tits sure bounced like they were real,” Raven was saying when I joined them at my locker. “Nice handfuls too.”
“Who cares if they’re real or not? They’re fucking insane.” Lars stuffed a handful of Cheetos into his mouth, then dusted his hand off on his trousers.
Jackson messed around with his tie. “She’s still got one hell of a lady boner for Woods, though.”
“Damn right. She’s probably thinking about him when she fucks you,” I tacked on.
Raven flipped me off. “Good morning to you too, shithead.”
“We hitting Wade’s again this Friday?” Jackson asked. “Get this. Willa said the team wants me to score them some green.”
I barked a laugh. “As if.”
“That’s what I said. Fuckers can do their own dirty work.”
The bell rang, and I plucked my notebook out, slamming the locker closed to find Byron all up in Peggy’s face.
Rave snuck in a low taunt. “Those fists of yours clench any harder, you’ll burst out of your clothes. Hulk style, baby.”
I went to punch him, and he chuckled, dodging as he slipped into the dispersing crowd.
“No flowers today, Prince Charming?” I asked as I sidled up nice and close to Peggy.
Peggy spun, shoving me back a step. “Quit, Dash.”
I righted my messed up shirt, making sure it was messed up just how I liked it. “Just saying. No need to get all bent out of shape over it.”
Byron’s grin needed to be wiped off his smug face. Yeah, he thought he had me pegged, but he didn’t know shit. He had no idea.
Peggy muttered a goodbye to Byron, then joined me as we headed to class. “Would it kill you to be nice?”
“I’m not sure, but I kind of like being alive, so it’s best we don’t tempt fate, right?”
Peggy tried to smother her laugh, but it snuck out, and I bumped her shoulder. She bumped me back, hard, and I chuckled as I side-stepped to catch myself.
“We still need to finish the last season of Game of Thrones,” she reminded me as we took a seat in the back of the room.
I grinned, some of