up my hair with his heavy palm before throwing my door shut and walking away.
Maybe it’s Danny’s anniversary. Maybe it’s the fact that for the first time in a long time I feel like I have a piece of my family back, but instead of being happy or content, I feel…like I’m waiting for the other shoe to drop. Like it’s all going to be taken from me again. It’s only a matter of when.
Thayer
“So, should I just expect you here all the time now?” my dad asks as I’m walking through the front door, before I’ve even had the chance to put my keys down.
“Something on your mind, old man?” I’m not in the mood for this shit. I run a hand through my hair, shaking the rain out of it.
He pours two fingers of whiskey into a tumbler, setting the bottle down with a loud thud against the countertop. I take one look at his bloodshot eyes and know he’s had a few more before that one. He wasn’t ever around much to begin with, and I preferred it that way, but since Danny’s death, here’s here even less. On the rare occasion he is around, he’s hammered—not that I blame him. His wife abandoned him and his kids, and then his favorite son died. That’s not including countless failed relationships and one failed engagement. Life hasn’t exactly been a picnic for him.
“Just that you’re home an awful lot lately for someone who’s going to school on my dime.”
“I’ve got it under control.” I keep it short, knowing this could easily turn into a blowout that I don’t have the energy for, then turn for the stairs.
“Do you, though?”
I stop in my tracks, looking at him over my shoulder. “If you’re trying to say something, say it. I don’t have all night.”
He moves around the counter, advancing on me. “I’m saying you’re not going to continue to throw your life away under my roof. Starting after the memorial, you’re gone. You go to class. You get your shit together.”
“And if I don’t?” I challenge.
“Then consider yourself cut off.”
A slow smile spreads across my face. “If you think money is what motivates me, you clearly don’t fucking know me at all.” Not giving him a chance to respond, I turn on my heels, heading for the door.
“Where are you going?”
“You want me gone? I’m gone.”
His shocked expression is the last thing I see before I slam the door behind me, prowling out into the rain. He really thought he could use money to get his way? Why the fuck does he suddenly have an issue with my being here, anyway? Money isn’t a factor. I know that much. My tuition is chump change for him. Maybe he knows more about Danny than he’s letting on, and he doesn’t want me sniffing around. Who the fuck knows?
Thunder rumbles in the distance, and I know where I want to be. Before I can think better of it, I bypass my car, walking into the woods instead. The Hellcat is loud as fuck, and I don’t want to wake her mom. I pull out my phone, using it to light my way through the pitch-black trees, past the lightning tree, past the barn, and finally, to the edge of the property where her grandmother’s house sits.
Both Shayne’s car and her mom’s Jeep are in the driveway, so I go for Shayne’s window on the side of the house. I shove my phone into my pocket, then curl my fingers around the cool metal edges of the wet screen, popping it off easily. Hoisting myself up, I swing my leg through her open window and stand, my wet boots leaving a puddle on her floor. The moonlight barely peeks through the trees enough for me to make out her sleeping form. Her back is to me, and she has one bare, tanned leg hooked over the top of her blankets.
Without thinking of the consequences, I kick off my boots and strip down until I’m in nothing but my boxers. Trying to keep my steps light, I slide into bed behind her, curling my arm around her waist.
“Thayer,” she says my name on a sleepy moan. The fact that she knows me, even in sleep, is enough to give me a semi. I pull her closer until her back is flush to my front, her hot skin warming my cold chest. She gasps at the feeling, fully awake now, her body tensing against me.