Safe with You (14 page)

J throws his head back, letting out a throaty laugh. “I-I promise…I’m not laughing at you, Cass.” More laughter. “It’s just, I wasn’t expecting you to say that. I guess I assumed everyone our age knows how to drive.”

I shoot him a glare. “It’s not like I haven’t wanted to, J. My parents wouldn’t teach me.”

His laughter slowly fades away. “You really want to learn?”

“Of course,” I answer without having to think about my answer.

He jumps up and grabs my hands, jerking me up from the swing. “Well, Cass, let’s teach you how to drive.”

I give him a questioning look. “Right now?”

“Duh, Cass. Right now is as good of a time as any.”

Nerves suddenly kick in. “Why do we have to do it today? Can we do it next Saturday?”

He kisses my forehead. “Nope, we are doing this right now. Wait right here, I have an idea.”

J disappears inside the house then reappears a couple minutes later, grabbing my hand as he walks by. “Let’s teach you how to drive.”

Rolling my eyes, I let him lead me around the house to where his truck is parked in the front yard.

He opens the passenger door to let me in, closing it behind me. I wait patiently for him to climb behind the wheel and crank the truck. Once he is in, he turns to me, not even bothering with starting the truck.

“Okay, so let me give a crash course on driving real quick…”

J spends the next fifteen minutes going over the simple things I already know.

Finally, he cranks his truck and drives through the yard, heading around the side of his house. 

“I can’t believe I let you talk me into doing this,” I groan as J drives us to the middle of his field.

“You need to learn how to drive at some point, Cass. What happens if you have to go somewhere and no one can take you?” J points out, making me want to punch him for being right. On the inside, I know he is gloating about it. He is just smart enough to not gloat to my face.

He’s right, though. I do need to learn to drive. My parents never tried to teach me because it would be a way for me to get to freedom one day. I really want to learn. 

“But why in a field?”

“Just a precaution,” he replies, patting my knee. I sense an underlying statement in that sentence.

“I don’t see how learning to drive in a field is going to prepare me for driving on a road,” I argue.

“Just trust me, babe. I know what I am doing.”

J stops smack dab in the middle of the field and gets out. I watch him walk around the front of the truck to my door. When he opens it, he looks at me expectantly. “Are you getting out?”

“I guess since I have no other choice.”

“You wanted to learn remember?” he reminds me.

I wave him off. “Yeah, yeah.”

Once I’m seated behind the wheel, I make sure J is in and has his door closed before reaching to put the truck in drive.

Out of nowhere, J’s hand shoots out to stop me. “Whoa, hold up,” J says, almost scaring the crap out of me. “First of all, you need to buckle up.” He waits for me to do so before lecturing me again. “Now, check your mirrors and adjust your seat if you need to.”

I do as he says and when I’m ready I place one foot on the brake and place the truck in drive.

“Now, ease off the brake and give it a little gas,” he coaches.

I wanted to be funny and gas it, but I change my mind for fear I might lose control of the truck. I don’t want to be responsible for wrecking his truck.

Pressing down gently on the gas pedal, I grip the steering wheel as the truck creeps forward. Feeling confident, I give it a little more gas. The ride is bumpy as the field is full of holes, but I manage to stay straight.

“So far so good, Cass,” J praises like he had little faith in me.

“You don’t sound so confident in my driving skills, there, dear boyfriend.”

J throws his head back and laughs. “Cassie, you surprise me every day, babe. With you, I never know what will happen.”

I’m not sure if he is complimenting me or insulting me.

“Thanks, I guess?”

“It’s a compliment, I swear,” he assures me.

“If you say so,” I say as I turn the wheel to the left, taking us in a different direction.

“You forgot your blinker, Cass.”

“Seriously, J?”

He nods. “Oh, and watch for the red light up here as well?”

Red light? “You’re insane,” I tell him. He seriously has put way too much effort into this.

Sure enough, up ahead, Bo is sitting off to my left, parked like he is waiting to cross the street. Wait-when did Jess get here? She is standing off to my right, holding up flags. She has one green, one yellow, and one red, which she is currently holding up right now.

I slow to a stop at the ‘red light’ and when I am stopped, I look at J. “How did you pull this crazy idea off?”

He shrugs one shoulder. “I made a call.”

Rolling my eyes, I say, “You guys are mental, you know that?”

J just smiles and shakes his head.

“It’s
y’all
down here, Cass, and so are you for hanging out with us.”

“I was forced into it,” I remind him.

“At first, but you’ve had plenty of chances to avoid us,” J counters.

True, but I highly doubt they would have left me alone. “Like you’d let me.”

J leans across the seat to press his lips to mine. “No, letting you go would not be an option,” he murmurs before kissing me again.

I am about to respond until Bo interrupts me. “Hey! No kissing the driver!” he shouts.

My reply is to stick my hand out the window and give him the middle finger.

“That’s a deduction, darlin’! One more and you fail!”

“You’re not my teacher!”

He looks past me to, J. “J, control your student! She’s getting out of hand!”

“Just cross the road, Bo so we can go!” J bellows.

“My light is red now, idiots. Another deduction for not paying attention, you fail!”

Seriously? I look over to Jess and sure enough, she is holding up the green flag.

I let off the brake pedal and ease down on the gas again.

“You’re not my teacher so zip it!” I yell out the window at Bo when I pass him.

I swear, Bo maybe one of the most annoying people I have ever met in my life, but he makes me laugh.

After driving in the field a little longer, J finally trusts me enough to drive on the pavement, you know, where vehicles are supposed to be driven on.

“You’re doing great, Cass,” he praises again.

I glance over at him and smile. “That’s because I have a wonderful teacher,” I smirk.

My lesson continues for another hour until it is time to head back. Once I successfully park the truck in the driveway, I turn off the truck and hand J the keys.

“I think after a few more lessons you will be a pro,” J says, chuckling.

“You mean like you?”

“Well duh, who else?” he replies laughingly.

I smack his arm playfully. “Let’s go eat before your head explodes from your ego.”

“You can’t forget the football game,” he points out.

“Oh, yeah, and that.”

When we walk inside I instantly notice all the changes. Red and white decorations are everywhere. They take football way too serious down here.

J and I pour us something to drink then plop down on the couch as we wait for the football game to start. I’m not even sure what colleges are playing today.

“Alright, darlin’ I got to ask you to the million dollar question.” Bo claps his hands once and then points his fingers at me. “Are you for Alabama or Auburn?”

I look at him like he’s crazy. “Am I for what or what?”

He exhales and holds his chest like it physically hurt him for me to say that. “Sit down darlin’ I’m going to give you a crash course on football in the south.” Bo grabs a nearby chair and flips it around so the back is facing me and then he straddles the chair. “You know what football is right?”

I want to laugh in his face, but instead I go with, “I know that it’s a sport and in England soccer is called football. Duh, you idiot, I go watch you two play every Friday!”

He shakes his head and looks behind me. “It’s worse than I thought, J.” I shoot him an evil look, but he ignores me and continues to lecture me. “Let’s start with the basics. You are correct when you said football is a sport.” He holds his hands up and catches a ball in his hands that J throws. “This is a football.” Bo holds up said football in front of my face. I knock it out of his hands and watch as it hits the floor. Bo’s jaw drops in shock and I smirk in his face. “Not cool, Cass, not cool.”

“I thought it was,” I say with a smile. “I know what football is you, idiot!”

“Control your girl, J!”

J kisses my hair. “That’s my girl. Give ‘em hell,” J praises me and we high five each other and laugh at Bo who looks like he is two seconds away from strangling both of us.

“Anyway, when you live in the state of Alabama you either root for Bama or you root for Auburn. So which side do you choose?” The way Bo asked the question made me feel like if I chose wrong I’d be banned from the house. Judging from the shirts they are all wearing today I’d say the team to root for in this house is Alabama.

“That’s not fair, Bo! I don’t watch football so how can I choose a side?”

“She’s got a point, Bo. Besides what does it matter anyway they don’t play each other until November,” J points out.

“She has to answer the question!” Bo fires back.

“No, I don’t.” I cross my arms and lean back against J.

“Yes, you do! You can’t live in Alabama and not root for one team or the other!”
I think Bo has officially lost it…

“Bro, just let it go. We’ll just say she roots for Bama. I don’t think Cass will be a die-hard fan anytime soon, if ever.” Oh J, he knows me so well already.

“Fine, at least, she’ll be rooting for the right team,” he grumbles.

On second thought.
“No, J, I want to choose and I pick…” I pause and narrow my eyes at Bo. “Auburn.” Bo slaps his hands over his ears and squeezes his eyes shut like I just said the most horrible thing ever. He takes several deep breaths, I assume to try and calm himself.

“What’s his deal?” I ask J pretending I don’t know what’s going on.

“He’s just really into football,” he explains. “Oh and it’s probably because you chose the enemy team.”

“Who, Auburn?”

Bo shoots up from his chair, lunges at me, and slaps his hand over my mouth. “Don’t say that word! It’s forbidden!”

J falls over on the couch laughing at Bo’s sudden freak out while I’m left struggling to push him off of me. I grab the pillow next to me and start beating him in the head repeatedly with it. Bo reluctantly lets go and stands upright. I then launch the pillow at J who was still laughing.

Bo grumbles something about going to get the food and walked away.

“He’s really into it isn’t he?”

J pulls me into his lap. “You wanna know what I’m really into?” I arch a brow and wait for his answer, my heart beating faster in anticipation. “Kissing you, holding you, and…just…you,” he rasps in my ear. I reach up and turn his face towards mine. I kiss him lightly at first. J cups the back of my neck and kisses me hard, plunging his tongue in my mouth.

A gagging noise had us breaking apart. “I seriously think I just threw up in my mouth from the sight of y’all.” That earned him the finger from J. “It’s game time anyways so it’s time to keep it PG.”

I am amazed at how into the game they are. There’s lots of hollering, lots of cursing, and a whole lot of smack talk. Just to be mean, every time the other team did something good and it made the guys mad, I would cheer them on. Needless to say, a lot of daggers were shot my way. I am way past dead at this point, but I did have fun.

After watching four hours of a sport where I had no clue as to what is going on, I decided I wanted to have some fun. “I’ll be right back,” I tell them and walk to the back door. I grin shrewdly to myself as I go over my plan in my head. All I had to do was wait for them to come looking for me.

Then the real fun can begin.

Chapter Eighteen

Cassie

Once I am outside, away from the guys, I start putting my plan into motion. I duck around the side of the house and unravel the water hose and wait.

It wasn’t long before I heard them. “Cassie!”

“Darlin’ where you at?”

J must’ve smacked him because I heard him grunt and then he said, “You idiot, she hates being called that so what makes you think she will come when you call her that?”

“Cassie!” I grip the handle in preparation for when they walked around the corner. They are so close.

Just a few more steps and it’s show time. “Cass-” Bo is cut off by a string of water hitting him in his face. I swerve it back and forth spraying both of them at the same time. They both try to fight their way through the water to me. I finally dropped the hose and ran like hell.