Forever Red (6 page)

“Kelly, let’s go grab the girls some drinks. Jules, you want?” Mike pulled the back of my chair slightly, and then pulled my shoulder, rescuing me before I said something I’d regret.

We were all the way across the cafeteria before he said anything else. “Did Lia ever tell you that she and I used to be best friends?”

I shook my head.

He nodded with a slight smile on his lips as he continued, “My grandmother lives in Two Lanes. A few lots down from Lia and her mom. My mom and dad were in college so I was with my gram most of the time. When we were like three, we started playing together and were inseparable for a long time. Her, Julie, and me.”

He didn’t say anything else. “What happened?”

“Junior high. When what you wear matters more than who you are. And then Missy moved here. She was with Missy and Jules all the time. But, mostly ‘cause I started dating Ally.”

“Ally Jackson?” The disbelief oozed from my voice. Never in a million years would I have pictured the two of them – the goofy, nice kid and the rich bitch from hell – together.

“Yeah.”

The cheerleader and the football star. I got it. That had been me once, too. If Mike met April, I’m sure he’d have the same reaction.

“Girlfriend didn’t like best friend, so best friend had to go.” 

“Okay?” I had no clue where this conversation was going.

“Listen, you’re my friend. Lia’s my friend. But if two of the trifecta are here, you’re being played, man.”

I narrowed my eyes, voice cold as ice. “What you talkin’ ‘bout, Willis?”

He nodded back to the table. “The trinity has set its sights on you. This is what they do. They play this warped game. It’s like they have some competition to see who can fuck the most people or some shit.”

I stared at him, waiting for him to finish.

He sighed and rolled his eyes. “Look, I don’t know the details, man – none of us do. But when all three of them start paying attention to one person, it’s just a matter of time. No matter how much he resists, they wear him down until he gives in. Then, one of them always fucks him, literally and figuratively. Ask Boner; he’s still tore up over Julie. He thought he was gonna marry her.”

“You’re talking in circles, QB. What in the hell are you tryin’ to say?”

“I’m saying that they”—he pointed at the table—“are fucking trouble and that I don’t think it’s a coincidence that they’re here and Lia isn’t. Maybe Lia’s in on it. Maybe she’s not.” He shrugged.

Mom’s words from the other night came back. “You don’t think they’re playing me. You think she is.”

He at least had the sense to look uncomfortable. “She’s great. You and I know that. But seeing how her other two-thirds act, I gotta wonder how much of what we see is really her and how much is a performance. I wouldn’t put it past her because she’s done worse before. I just wanted you to know what they do so you don’t get screwed.”

I was already screwed. Royally fucked. That girl was under my skin. I took a deep breath and glanced back to the table. They would never give me an honest answer. In reality, there was only one person I wanted to talk to about it. “I need to go,” I said and Mike just nodded. “Don’t tell ‘em, okay? I need a few hours with her without any interruptions.” I didn’t wait for an answer. I knew Mike would cover for me – as long as it took.

Leftover Chinese takeout, a Hershey’s Cookies and Cream bar,
Clueless
and
My Best Friend’s Wedding
were how I planned to spend my Saturday night. Missy and Jules canceled at the last minute, but I was surprisingly okay with that. My mom had gone God knows where with her friends but had told me she’d see me Monday. So it was just me, cuddled on the couch in my favorite fleece pajama pants and Neil’s jersey, laughing at movies that I would never admit to enjoying.

When I heard the rev of an engine and the angry slam of a door, I assumed my neighbor was having one of his notorious parties. The pounding on my door seconds later scared the shit out of me, and I frantically looked around the living room for somewhere to hide. The shades were all down, lights off, so I could easily get on the floor and crawl to the back door and make it to a neighbor’s.

“Lia. Open the damn door.”

Hearing Neil’s voice, I jumped off the couch and yanked it open. He looked adorable in dress pants and shirt, his top two buttons undone, tie missing. I hardly ever saw him without a baseball hat, but tonight, he’d even gelled his hair. 

“Hi.” I smiled, opening the door wide to let him in. “Aren’t you supposed to be at the dance?”

He just stared at me, looking from my pajama pants to his jersey, and up into my very bare face. I self-consciously ran a hand through the knots in my hair. If I’d known he was coming, I would have at least brushed it out and thrown on some foundation. The longer he looked at me, the angrier he seemed, and the more uncomfortable I became. Running my palms down my thighs, I leaned against the closed screen door. “Neil? What’s wrong?”

Two small steps and he was right in front of me, so close I could feel his breath fan across my face through the mesh of the screen. “I was gonna come here and ask if you and your friends were really competing to see who could get me in bed first, but at this point, I don’t fucking care.”

Panic hit at his words and I shook my head. “Who told you that?”

He flung the door open and stepped into me. “Does it matter? Because I really don’t give a shit anymore.” His eyes dropped to my lips. “Kiss me.” And just like that, his lips were on mine, arms forcing their way between me and the door, pulling me closer to him.

I tangled my hands in his hair, letting my body react to his. It was the perfect first kiss, a little sweet, a little naughty, with a promise of more to come. He wasn’t rough, but he wasn’t gentle, a perfect mix of the two.

When he started to pull away, I moved into him, moving my tongue along his lips. He groaned, opening his mouth a little, his tongue wrestling against mine. He shifted then, sucking the bottom of my ear into his mouth, biting it gently, and then trailing a line of kisses down my neck. My body was instantly on alert, heart racing, goose bumps covering my arms, nipples tightening, and wetness rushing into the space between my thighs. It had been a long few months since I’d had a satisfying make-out session and almost seven months since I’d had sex, and my body was definitely feeling deprived. I moaned loudly. When he stopped abruptly and pulled away, I felt like I could cry.

A look of panicked shock covered his face as he continued to back away from me. “Christ, Lia. I am so fucking sorry.”

Laughter bubbled up. “Why?” Moving my fingertips across my swollen lips and sliding my tongue over the rough metal of the braces on the outside of my teeth, I looked up at him, smiling. “I’m not.”

“I just fucking mauled you.” He looked utterly disgusted with himself as he backed up to the couch and collapsed. “I don’t…” He shook his head.

“Hey.” I moved next to him, sitting close but far enough away to look at him. “Talk to me. What is going on?”

“Missy and Julie were at the dance.”

“Oh.” Well, at least that explained why they’d bailed. I had thought it was because I’d been such a raging bitch after we left Neil at the game. I moved slightly, turning back toward the TV so I didn’t have to see his face when he told me whatever it was that he’d come here to say. One of them must have told him the truth.

“You didn’t know they were going.” It wasn’t a question, but I shook my head anyway. He nudged my leg with his. “Do you have some sort of competition with them to sleep with me?”

He sounded sad, like I had just betrayed him. I guess I had. “They do.” I thought about the kiss we’d just shared and then sighed. “Apparently, I’m in it, too. We all assumed I was out since you and I were just friends.”

“Why would you do that? Is it because I’m new?” he asked and all I could do was shake my head. “Then why me?”

I didn’t know how to answer that; it wasn’t a simple answer. So, instead, I told him everything. Why The Game had been created, how we chose the boys or men we did, what we had to do in order to win, and, finally, how we kept each other honest. For the first time, I let someone from outside in on our secret, and it felt amazing to trust him with that much information.

“That’s pretty fucked up. You know that, right?”

I did. The three of us were screwed up beyond measure.

“Okay.” He stood, making me imagine the worst before he sat back down sideways on the couch, looking at me, one knee up on the cushion between us. “How do we get them to stop?”

I turned, mirroring his position. “It isn’t that easy. They’re not going to stop pursuing you just because you know. They’ll keep going until someone wins.”

He chewed on his lip in thought, distracting me. I wanted to kiss him again. Shit, I wanted to yank him into the bedroom and have my way with him. Do things to him that would have him so obsessed with me he’d forget about everything he’d learned tonight.

“Lia?” His hand touched mine. “Did you hear me?”

“Sorry.”

His lips curved in a knowing way. “I asked how many points you got for our little kiss earlier.”

I frowned, trying to remember back to the conversation in class the day I met Neil. “I don’t remember,” I answered truthfully and he grunted, putting me on the defensive. “I haven’t been playing, remember? I didn’t think you were attracted to me.”

He made an “hmmm” sound as if I were an idiot.

“It doesn’t matter anyway. I have no proof.”

“We’ll just do it again then. In front of them.”

I wanted to laugh like a maniac at the idea of kissing him again. “You’re not pissed at me?”

He shrugged. “It’s stupid and childish, and I can’t imagine doing something like that. But, it doesn’t change how I feel about you.” He glanced around the TV-lit living room. “What time’s your mom coming home?”

“She isn’t. Why?”

He stood, grinning. “I wanna take you somewhere. Come with me?”

I’d go anywhere with him, as long as he kept looking at me like that.

He ran out to his truck to get his bag, leaving me to gather as many blankets and pillows as I could find. Half an hour later, he pulled onto a creepy dirt path that wasn’t even nice enough to be considered a road.

“Uh, where are we going?”

He didn’t answer, just shot me what I thought was a smile and kept driving. Minutes later, the trail opened into a giant field that went on until it met the sky, the stars looked like they were close enough to touch.

“Wow,” I gasped to myself. I had no idea something this pretty was this close.

Neil stopped his truck, shutting it off. He opened his door and then rushed around to open mine before I even had a chance to unbuckle. Reaching in, he did the honors for me, pecking my forehead with a little kiss. Then he took my hand and pulled me out.

Dropping his tailgate and grabbing a couple of sleeping bags out, he unrolled them, lining the bed and then added a few blankets and the pillows on top of them, giving us extra padding. Then he lifted me up into the truck, climbed up behind me, lay down on his back, and patted the space next to him. I didn’t hesitate. After I was sprawled out next to him, he covered us with blankets and laid his head next to mine.

“Back home, when I needed time to myself, I’d go to a field near my grandpa’s farm and would just lie there, staring at the stars. It is still my favorite place on Earth. Sometimes, seeing how big the world is makes the little things seem so much less important.”

I couldn’t have agreed more. Moments stretched into minutes as the quiet enveloped us. I was almost asleep when his hand twitched next to mine. Then it twitched again and a single fingertip traced the outline.

“Can I hold your hand?” The whispered question was absurd, considering an hour ago his tongue had been down my throat, but it was extremely sweet.

“I’d like that.” The words weren’t out of my mouth before his long, thin fingers entwined with mine. I wanted him to kiss me, to bring back that amazing feeling and longing from earlier, to jump my bones and make my screams break the silence of the night. But I’d take this. For now.

He cleared his throat. “Have you ever had a boyfriend, Red? A real boyfriend?”

“No.” I turned my head, watching him. “I had a crush on someone when I was younger, and I thought he liked me back. We laughed all the time, and he didn’t care that I lived in a trailer or that my mom got state aid. One day, he stopped talking to me and started spending all his time with a girl that hated me. Then I caught him writing things on my locker.”

He turned his head toward mine, frowning. “What kinds of things?”

“Trash. It varied. White trash. Trailer trash. Nasty trash. Ugly trash.” I laughed at the absurdity of it all. “It seems so silly now, but I was devastated at the time.” My admission caused him to look pissed so I squeezed his hand, trying to convey that it was okay while I made a mental note never to tell him that boy was Mike. I lapped my lips. “What about you? There was the cheerleader. Anyone else steal Nathaniel Kelly’s heart?”

He never took his eyes off mine. “No. Just April.”

“What happened with that? Did you break up because you moved up here?”

He’d told me about many parts of his life back in Alabama and his anger toward his parents pulling him away from his home, but we’d never really talked about the girlfriend.

He narrowed his eyes for a second before he closed them. “We were only babies when we started dating in seventh grade, but we couldn’t keep our hands off each other – raging hormones, ya know? But, we knew we were going to get married one day…” He trailed off, scowling. “She wanted us to wait for our wedding night. So we did.”

Um, what?
I let go of his hand, propping myself up onto my elbow, looking down at him in amazement. “You’ve been together since you were twelve and you never had sex?”

Turning onto his side, he slid his now free hand under his head. “There are other things you can do, you know. And, believe me, we did them.”

Oh, I did know that. I smirked, trying to hold my tongue. This was a conversation that we’d get back to, but right now, it would sidetrack us, and I wanted answers. “So, why’d you break up?”

“She said she wanted us to wait for marriage. What she never clarified was that she had no plans to wait.”

Oooooohhhhh. I wondered how he knew that. I didn’t have to wait for long.

“We got drunk after Gramps died, rip-roaring drunk, and… it was painfully obvious that she hadn’t waited for me. I was an idiot and didn’t see what was right in front of me. Cheating on someone that loves you is the cruelest thing ever. I don’t ask for much, but if I’m with someone, I want them to be faithful.” He paused. “After that, I was done.”

I didn’t know what to say. I lay back down on my side, facing him, scooting as close as I could, and moved my right hand into his, trying to offer him any comfort I could. “She’s an idiot. She had the best thing in the world – this really funny, totally sarcastic, and completely hot boyfriend – and she threw it away for meaningless sex with some loser asshole that can’t begin to compare? I bet she’s kicking herself in the ass now.”

“That loser asshole was my best friend.”

“Well, they deserve each other, don’t they?” I rolled my eyes. “Figures. Assholes attract other assholes. I hope they make one another deliriously miserable.”

He laughed. “Lia,” he whispered as he leaned his lips into the hair above my ear. “For the record, I think Mike Carson is a fucking moron, and I know he’s kicking himself in the ass right now.”

I hadn’t told him the boy I used to like had been Mike, which meant that Mike must have. Awesome.

“But I’m actually happy it didn’t work out between you two.”

“Oh, yeah? Why is that?”

“‘Cause I’d have to kick his ass.” He pulled back a little. “And if it had worked, and you two were a thing, I couldn’t do this.” He let go of my hand and cupped my cheek, pressing his lips to mine. My eyes fluttered closed as he shifted above me. I didn’t need to have them open to see stars.