was happy. I was proud.
She was smart. She was self-reliant. She wasn’t a big fighter, but if push came to shove, she’d pick up a gun. She had good aim. I’d watched her at the gun range.
She’d be just fine, but she was alone, and I didn’t like her being alone.
I also didn’t like that she wasn’t prepared for what kind of attention she was going to get moving forward. That made me worried, and my dick grew, calling me an asshole, because yeah, I was one of those guys.
I wanted to give her a whole bunch of attention.
FIVE
Kess
HE WAS STILL staring.
I hated to admit this, but it was just making me hotter and more bothered.
What was wrong with me?
I’d never been this girl. Ever. It’s not that guys hadn’t been interested, but once I joined my crew, those guys went away. There’d been a time I had dated one of my crew members, but it would’ve gone bad fast so that stopped immediately. After that, we’d been a no-dating crew. I loved my guys, or had loved them. They were my brothers. My family. We joined our freshman year, and our crew name had been Shane’s Crew. Nothing fancy and named after Shane Lorenzo. He’d been our leader, but the rest of us all got along. There’d been problems, which was why I felt so blindsided.
They’d been my security blanket, and now, nothing.
Shane went to Alaska. Kemp and Gorrup were on their backpacking trip together. Johnny was still here, but not speaking to me. I had no clue why. And Curtis was probably face first in his girlfriend’s pussy since we’d disbanded. She’d been eager for the end of us and now that it happened, I guess she was his new crew in the whole girlfriend/boyfriend thing.
Mostly we liked to drink beer and laugh together. We did pranks sometimes, mostly on teachers or the principal, or anyone who messed with us. But we weren’t a fighting crew. We weren’t known for that. We were just there in the background.
Christ.
They were me.
I was them.
That was me.
I was ‘the background’ and it was hitting me how stupid I’d been.
There had been conversations over the last year about the summer and next year. The guys had even said they were looking into going backpacking, but I thought they’d talk about it with the rest of us. And Shane had mentioned Alaska. I told them I was going to college. Johnny was doing the same.
But… just to disband? It hurt. It hurt a lot.
“Wanna get a burger?”
His gravelly voice pulled me out of my thoughts, and I tuned back in. His head had remained to the side, those eyes on me, piercing through me, and I was getting all flushed having different thoughts instead. Thoughts like something other than his eyes checking me out.
“Sure.”
SIX
Kess
WE WENT ON his bike.
It was glorious.
It was freeing.
Barely any words all year, just the awareness of each other, and here I was, feeling like I was meant to be on the back of his bike. My hands were wrapped around his tight chest, my body against his, and I could feel his strength. This guy—whatever the real reason he’d been here—he’d not been a normal student. He just felt more.
He drove to a small burger café, backing his bike up at the front door. The place wasn’t full, and I wasn’t surprised. Everyone was partying and as I got off his bike first, handing him the helmet, his hand grazed mine.
A tingle shot up my arm, but I’d been tingling the entire ride.
I’d been like this since I saw him waiting for me.
It’s a surreal feeling, your body taking charge and not letting your mind catch up. Because I should stop and question things, but the only question that came to my mind was why did it feel so right when he took my hand and led the way inside?
He shifted, walking behind me. A gentle hand on my back as we took the booth in the far corner. No one was inside except the staff, but it was a small place. There were only five booths available.
I slid inside, and Chris sat next to me.
I raised an eyebrow, but his mouth twitched as he leaned around me to snag the menus. He slid one in front of me. “You need that?”
I pushed it aside. “I’ve lived in Roussou all my life, been here probably six dozen times.”
He chuckled. “What are you getting then?”
“A deluxe cheeseburger with fries and