Blue Sacrifice (Blue Davison) (21 page)

“Okay,” I said, swearing to myself how I wouldn’t
spend the next few hours before lunch finding reasons to close off my heart from
Flynn.

“Okay,” he replied then left the car and came around
to open the door for me. Pulling me out and into his arms, he whispered, “I
sleep better when you’re with me. I didn’t even know I wasn’t sleeping well
until last weekend when I slept better than I had my whole life.”

Smiling, I wrapped my arm around his waist. Walking
into school and past the squabbling students and grumpy teachers, I didn’t care
about Lily Falls. I told myself people chose to listen to the darkness, just
like Tyson said. They weren’t my responsibility and it wasn’t my job to save
them. I was free to be me and not simply a sacrificial lamb.

Once in class and even after a good night’s rest
next to Flynn, I kept falling asleep. It was either sleep or listen to all of the
bickering around me. The teachers weren’t even in the room. In my first class,
a lunch lady sat at the front and read a book while we did worksheets we’d done
two weeks earlier. I was fairly certain having a lunch lady as our teacher
wasn’t legal.

For the second class, babysitting duties went to a
senior who spent most of the time arguing with her boyfriend on her phone.
Finally the boyfriend showed up and yelled at her in person. After this, we
didn’t have anyone running the class, so I fell asleep with several other kids
while the rest of the students played on their phones.

By lunch I wasn’t sure why I even came to school
anymore. Assuming I wasn’t dead in a week, I considered homeschooling myself. As
I joined Lacey in line, and after designing my curriculum and grading system, I
was still mentally patting myself on the back for being a tough yet fair
teacher.

“Flynn will be late,” she said with a grin. “I
sicced the Emily bitch on him.”

“Come again?”

“She came to me crying like a baby and asked if I
was going to kill her. I said I wasn’t sure, but I knew Flynn wanted me to. I
also mentioned if she talked him out of wanting her six feet under then I’d let
her live. Now she’s hounding him and he’ll be late.”

“Why would you do that?”

“So I could talk to you alone about your date with
Tyson.”

“It wasn’t a date.”

“Did he kiss you?”

“No.”

Lacey eyed me then grinned slowly. “But you kissed
him, didn’t you?”

Flushing
as
red as my hair, I sighed when she nudged me. “Yes, but it was a goodbye kiss.”

“I only ask because Tyson sat watching TV with us
when he got home. Oh, and guess what he kept doing absentmindedly? Rubbing his
lips like he was remembering the most perfect kiss ever. Sigh,” she said,
batting her eyelashes. “You two are so getting married and making weird looking
redheaded Persian kids.”

Laughing, I knew I should set her straight before
Flynn arrived. Instead I kept giggling at the faces she made while imitating
her lovestruck brother. By the time Flynn pushed past a group of feuding
football players, I hadn’t managed to do more than laugh my ass off.

“Sly, Zandi,” Flynn said with an exasperated sigh.
Turning to me, he found his smile. “How’s my Blue doing?”

“Enjoying myself actually. It’s a definite
improvement over my classes today.”

“For my second period, they stuck my class with
Biology,” Lacey said, “so we’d have a teacher with us. Then the teacher left to
go to the bathroom and never came back. It was awesome especially once a group
of bullied fat kids attacked their tormentor and sat on him until he passed
out. Best morning ever.”

Even Flynn found this amusing and his irritation
at Lacey faded. We finally worked our way through the lunch line and found our
table outside. No one else wanted to brave the chill, but inside was nothing
but yelling, posturing, and insane laughing like everyone was on a bender. I
told myself how their behavior wasn’t my problem. They wouldn’t die for me and
I wasn’t going to die for them.

After a fun lunch, the afternoon was dull and I
spent most of the time texting Lacey. We finally ditched the last few periods
to go bowling. Flynn ditched too, but he headed home to cook my pork dinner. He
also texted me ten times with simply the word “pork.” I hoped it was about sex
because I wasn’t that big a fan of the other white meat.

Once we finished bowling, Lacey pulled up the road
to Flynn’s place then stopped half a mile from the driveway. I knew she was
angry about Tyson telling me to be with Flynn. She had told me how angry she
was. She had shown me how angry she was by literally throwing the bowling balls
at the pins. Lacey had even texted me while I sat next to her, just so she
could remind me of how angry she was.

Yet when Lacey turned to me in the car, she wasn’t
angry. Her lower lip actually trembled. On a weaker girl, the lip thing would
lead immediately to bawling. It sure would have with me.

“Flynn’s not so great,” Lacey grumbled.

“I don’t know what you want me to say.”

“I want you to say you’ll ditch him and give Tyson
a chance. I want you to say you’ll move into our house and be my sister. I want
you to say after high school you’ll travel with me and Tyson and see all of the
things I’ve told you about. Tell me you’ll live, but not because of Flynn.”

“I don’t think I can say those things.”

“Do you want to live?”

“Of course.”

“Do you love my brother?”

Uncomfortable with my answer, I just stared at
her. She nodded at my silence then started the car and drove the rest of the
way to Flynn’s. When she parked again, she took my hand.

“Tyson is a good man. He won’t hurt or use you.
He’ll treat you like a queen like my dad treats my mom. I know you’ve had a
shit deal your whole life and you accept scrapes from people, but with Tyson
you wouldn’t have to do that. You’d never have to worry about him losing
interest or cheating on you or moving away and forgetting you.”

Lacey glanced towards Flynn’s house then gave a
grumpy sigh.

“With Flynn, you do have to worry. I know you like
him and I know he’s hot and funny and sexy and yeah I see it all, but he’s an
outsider. When things get tough or dull, he’ll bail. Tyson never would and he
knows you, Blue. Knows everything about you and he accepts everything about
you. Just remember that when you’re playing girlfriend with Flynn and his dad.
Remember how they’re outsiders who think you’re just a local girl Flynn is hot
for this week. You’re temporary. Even if Flynn really loves you, it’s temporary
and you deserve better. You deserve forever because you got nothing for so
long.”

Lacey crossed her arms and stared angrily at the
woods. “You just remember that.”

“I will.”

“And remember one more thing,” she said, turning
to me. “Even if you fall head over stupid heels for Flynn and he doesn’t lose
interest in fifteen or twenty minutes, I’ll still think of you as my sister.
You’re still mine in a way you’ll never be his. So even if you don’t have
forever with Tyson, you’ll have forever with me. What we have isn’t temporary
and I won’t bail even if you love that loser in the boxy house.”

Leaning over, I gave her a kiss on the cheek. “We
might have become friends out of convenience, but you’re a better friend than I
could have dreamt up.”

“I know. I really do.”

Smiling even as her words reignited the confusion
I felt about Tyson and Flynn, I thanked Lacey for the ride and retrieved my
backpack out of the trunk. Lacey didn’t watch me walk up the drive. Her moment
of wisdom and friendship over, she returned to being pissed. I heard her car
screeching around corners until she was miles away.

Unsure what to expect from Flynn’s dad, I just
planned to play it cool. I also remembered how Flynn promised if his dad didn’t
like me, I wouldn’t be banned from their house or anything.

Standing near the front door, I used the
reflection on a light post to check my hair and makeup. Once I felt presentable,
I turned to find Flynn watching me.

“Hello,” I said, suddenly awkward.

“My dad isn’t home,” he whispered for no reason as
he took my hand and pulled me inside. “Have you seen my bedroom lately?”

“Aren’t you cooking?”

Flynn was already searching for my smiley face
with his warm fingers, but he paused and frowned at my question. “Oh, you’re right.
Let’s use the spare bedroom next to the kitchen.”

Once inside the family room, I dropped my backpack
and pulled away from him. Retreating from his curious fingers, I glared at
Flynn.

“I don’t know what sort of impression I’ve given
you about me, but I don’t like quickies. If I’m not getting fully pleasured, I
prefer to do nothing at all.”

Flynn squinted at me, his lips twisted in thought.
“Did you just insult my skills, mermaid?”

“Stop calling me that,” I demanded, storming away
in the best mock outraged performance of my life. “We both know if I go into
that room with you, there’s no question you’ll get your yummies. I’m not
feeling as confident about my own satisfaction.”

“Oh, hell,” he said, running at me and grabbing me
under the butt. Lifting me off of the ground, he kissed me eagerly while wrapping
my legs around his waist. Walking me to the bedroom, he freed his tongue from
my affections and grinned.

“You had me at yummies.”

Glancing back at the door, I scowled. “Your dad is
going to come home and catch us.”

Flynn kicked open the bedroom door then kicked it
shut. The room looked unloved, abandoned with only two men in the house. Soon
the bed was wrinkled as I worked to remove my jeans.

“My dad will come home,” Flynn finally answered as
he yanked off his white tee to display his smooth sculpted chest, “and see your
backpack on the ground and know not to go snooping.”

“He’ll think I’m a tramp.”

“He’d know too. The man’s gotten around, so you
have nothing on him.”

“Do we disgust you, poor virginal Flynn?” I asked,
grinning as I crawled away from him on the bed.

Sighing at the sight of me wiggling my bare butt
at him, Flynn temporarily lost his train of thought.

“The food is going to burn,” he mumbled against my
neck once he caught me. “We might have to order out.”

My response wasn’t really a word, but Flynn got
the message. He also made sure everyone got their yummies.

Flynn’s dad arrived at some point and silently
removed the food from the oven. He also finished cooking the potatoes and corn
on the cob. By the time Flynn and I emerged from the bedroom, the table was set
and I had to admit the pork looked delicious.

“Dad, this is the infamous Blue.”

Flynn’s dad looked exactly like he had in the
pictures. Tall and dark haired like his son, achingly beautiful, and a hint
more rugged from those extra years he had under his belt. When he smiled, his green
eyes held such warmth my fears over impressing him disappeared.

“Blue, this is my dad, Beck.”

We took turns saying how much of a pleasure it was
to meet the other one. Then we smiled at how awkward everyone felt. Finally
Beck pulled back a chair for me while Flynn poured me a drink. With them both
pampering me, I felt a little in awe and therefore kept silent. Beck though had
questions and he asked them in a much thicker Irish accent than what Flynn
sported.

“Flynn told me you’re on the honor roll.”

Frowning at Flynn, I wasn’t sure how he came upon
this information because I surely hadn’t shared it with him during our last
week together.

“The first day we met, I asked around about you,”
Flynn explained while piling food onto my plate. “Silly me, I thought having no
more than a description of a gorgeous redheaded girl might make it difficult to
narrow down your identity. Turned out, you’re the only redheaded girl in town
under the age of fifty. Anyway during my extensive research, I learned a few
interesting facts about my Blue.”

Smiling slightly, I nodded at Beck. “I try to keep
my grades decent even though I’m pretty much a shoo-in at the local college.
They tend to take a lot of kids from Lily Falls and the Zandi family will put
in a good word for me.”

“What do you plan to major in at the college?”

“I don’t know. I figured I’d try a few things out
and see what felt best. I’ll probably lean towards something business-wise,
only because the Zandis have hinted I could work for them when I graduate.
Those management jobs can be pretty cushy.”

“Flynn should have so much foresight,” Beck said,
giving his son a knowing grin. “He plans to sail through life on his good looks
I’m sure.”

“I can see that working,” I said and Flynn winked
at me.

“The local college sounds like a fine place to
spend the next few years waiting for my Blue.”

Despite a strong urge to roll my eyes at the idea
of Flynn being satisfied at the local no name college, I just smiled. He might
have suspected what I was thinking because he very casually caressed me under
the table, once again making his claim.