Undo Me (The Good Ol' Boys #3) (2 page)

“You’re such a fucking asshole!”

There I was, yelling at a dude I knew by reputation only, out in the school parking lot by his Jeep. Both my fists remained at my sides while I tried like hell to keep my cool, to maintain my composure and act like the lady I was raised to be, but you wouldn’t know it by my actions in that moment. Uncontrollable anger toward him took over my entire body, and I fought the urge to punch him right in his damn mouth.

Dylan McGraw.

Just his name made me want to throw down.

I hated guys like him.

I didn’t know much about him, but the fact was I didn’t need to. Boys like him were all the same, every last one of them. Acting as though they were hot shit and owned every place they walked into. With their my-shit-don’t-stink kind of attitude. They knew how to flash their boyish grins and show off their dimples just the right way to grant them access to all the lust-infested girls’ panties. Their mere touch, the calculated romance or with their slick lines had those stupid, naive girls spreading their legs faster than I could say, “Open sesame.”

It was so cliché.

All of it.

I had heard enough to know that I needed to steer clear of Dylan McGraw and his asshole tendencies. I was only a few months into my freshman year at a new high school, but his reputation preceded him.

Dee was the only girl to approach me on the first day of school, and we quickly became friends. She was sweet and funny in an innocent kind of way. When she told me she was hanging out with Dylan McGraw, I kept my mouth shut. If I was aware of his reputation, I was sure she was aware of it, too. Especially with both of them being natives to Oak Island. You’d have to live under a rock to not know that no good came from that boy.

The rumors were everywhere.

Dylan turned from his Jeep with an overconfident arched eyebrow, narrowing his stare on me. He stood there with nothing more than a mischievous smirk. It was the first time I had ever been around a guy who screamed sex. It radiated off of him, he had this cocky demeanor without even trying. I slowly licked my lips, my mouth suddenly drying up. I felt like I was under a spell. His gaze immediately followed the movement of my tongue, and I subconsciously took a step back, folding my arms over my chest to stand my ground. I shook my head, ridding myself of the uneasiness I was immersed in because of his slightly intimidating composure that unexpectedly seemed to loom over mine.

“You’re an
asshole
,” I repeated.

He folded his arms over his chest and his face didn’t falter. I tried like hell to ignore how his stance only emphasized his tall, muscular build as he leaned back against his black Wrangler with one leg propped over the other.

Cocky and confident as ever.

The parking lot was empty. Everyone had gone home for the day. Everyone except me. I had to listen to Dee cry for an entire hour in her car about Dylan and how he had used her. How they had sex a few times, and now he didn’t want anything to do with her, tossing her away like I had heard he had done to so many other girls. Treating them as if they were disposable.

Fuck ‘em and chuck ‘em was his style.

Asshole.

After she finally calmed down and drove away in her car, I started to walk back toward my house, but then I saw Dylan throwing his textbooks in the backseat of his Jeep. I don’t know what came over me. I just made my way over to him and shouted the first thing that came to mind. I had never been that close to him before. I’d never even looked his way or said a single word to him before that moment.

“How could you do that to Dee? She doesn’t deserve your bullshit. She’s a nice girl. She’s not like the girls you’re used to, okay? You owe her an apology,” I ordered.

He grinned.

He. Fucking. Grinned.

“Is this amusing to you? Do you like hurting girls? How many notches do you need on your bedpost, Dylan? What’s a few more right?” 

He bit the side of his lip in a charismatic and magnetic way, and it was my turn to arch an eyebrow. I hated that he was trying to use his so-called charm on me.

“What? You’re just going to stand there and not say anything? That’s really mature, asshole.”

He scoffed. “I’m not the one throwing a temper tantrum, now am I?” he finally spoke with a rough yet smooth tone.

His voice was deep, deeper than I expected, with a bit of a Southern drawl. It was the first time I had ever heard it, and I would be lying if I said it didn’t catch me off guard. Everything about him did. I thought I knew what to expect when it came to him, but he proved me wrong. Which didn’t make any sense. I was supposed to have the upper hand, not him.

My eyes widened in shock. “This is not a temper tantrum,
asshole
. This is someone calling you out on your shitty behavior. Own up to your whorish ways, apologize to Dee, and we won’t have any problems.”

His patronizing eyes scanned the length of my body, starting with my pink toes, lingering on my breasts, and coming to a stop at my eyes. His expression was hard to read, and it did nothing but confuse me even more. I thought I was prepared. I thought I knew everything there was to know about him. I thought a lot of things, but I would learn soon enough that I had no idea what I was getting myself into.

It was one thing to think you knew, to assume, but when it was staring you right in the face, when
he
was looking only at
you
, it changed things. It changed
everything
.

The way his eyes barred into mine ignited a fire deep within me. He wasn’t looking at
me
. He was looking
in
me. And that I hadn’t expected.

That I wasn’t prepared for.

His reality being much more intense than my assumption, I never wanted to be one of those girls.

Especially not now.

The awkward silence was finally broken by his condescending tone. “Problems with you?” he stated as a question with a crooked grin and a cocked head, eyeing me up and down once again.

I watched as he slowly engulfed every inch of my body, making me feel naked and exposed. He bit his bottom lip again when he sensed what I was feeling.

“Yes, that’s what I said.”

We locked eyes.

“I’ll take my chances,” he retorted with an arrogant tone.

“Oh my God! You’re such a fucking asshole.”

“Darlin’, I think you’ve already pointed that out.”

“I’m just stating facts. None of which you’re denying.” 

“Darlin’-”

“Stop calling me that.”

He pushed off his Jeep and strolled over to me with such purpose that I felt it down to my bones with each step he took. He stood right in front of me, lowering his face too close to mine.

“Darlin’,” he drawled. “I don’t know your name, and although Crazy Bitch seems fitting, I figured you’d appreciate Darlin’ more.” He smiled, breaking the harshness of his words.

Something about the way he was looking at me made me more uncomfortable than I already was, if that was even possible. I had never been that conflicted around a guy. I realized right then and there that Dylan McGraw was different, I just didn’t know in what sense, at least not yet. I could feel my guard escalating higher and higher as the seconds passed between us.

“I mean if we’re calling a spade a spade, I’m not the one who came at you, am I?”

I said nothing because honestly, what could I say to that? My outburst was spontaneous. I just wanted to rectify the Dee situation and his demeanor ruined my momentum.

Bastard.

“I didn’t think so,” he added, as if reading my mind. “You’ve called me a fucking asshole more times than I care to count in a matter of five minutes, and I’m still not clear on what I did wrong? Try again.”

“I already told you. What you did to Dee. You used her.”

He shook his head, narrowing his eyes at me. “I used
her
? That’s not the way I remember it. I would get your story straight before I go playing martyr, sweetheart.”

“Unbelievable, you’re going to try to deny it?”

I don’t know how long we stayed frozen in that moment but he suddenly leaned forward, closing the gap between us and bringing us back to reality.

“I don’t think we’ve been properly introduced,” he added. His cheek grazing mine, his face moved closer to my ear. I faintly felt his breath on my neck.

“You smell good,” he whispered, lightly brushing his lips on the sensitive area just below my ear. Shivers rippled throughout my entire body. The rhythm of my heart escalated, betraying my mind from the asshole before me.

“What the hell?” I snapped, roughly pushing back off of his hard chest. He didn’t budge.

“Who the hell do you think you are? You can’t just go around sniffing girls!”

“I believe I just did.”

“So is this how it works, Dylan? Am I supposed to spread my legs open for you now that you introduced yourself to me? Just like every other girl?” I crudely mocked, letting him know that he couldn’t intimidate me. “I will tell you one thing… I’m not impressed. You’re a boy trying to be a man, and not even a good one at that.”

He snidely chuckled, “You have no idea, suga’, what I'm capable of. How about I show you just how much of a man I am? I have something right here for that pretty little mouth of yours that seems to know everything." He gestured toward his dick.

“You cocky son of—” His finger came up and pressed against my lips, silencing me, and I barely resisted the urge to bite it off.

“Sticks and stones, darlin’, you best remember that.” He playfully tugged the loose ends of my hair that were lying across my cheek. “I paid you a compliment, it would do you some good to say thank you.” And with that he turned around and got in his Jeep.

I was dismissed.

“Woo-ooh-eee!” Jacob hollered beside me as I threw the Jeep into reverse.

“Someone just got chewed up and spit the fuck out,” he laughed, clapping his hands over and over again obnoxiously. “Damn, I would pay good money to see that again, bro!”

“Shut the fuck up,” I snapped.

“What pussy did you piss off this time? Two? Damn, this is a new record for you.” He just didn’t know when to quit, and that was always the problem with Jacob. “Who was that anyway? Is she new here? Maybe I should show you how it’s done, fucker. I’m marking today as the first time Dylan-fucking-McGraw couldn’t seal the deal.”

Jacob was my childhood friend. He was more like a brother to me. I knew he would be running his mouth to Austin and Lucas as soon as we stepped out of the Jeep. I had known these guys since birth; our parents had been best friends since before we were born. They took any opportunity to fuck with me, as I did with them.

And this gave them the perfect ammunition.

I hoped Half-Pint would be around to stop them before I had to do it with my fists. Half-Pint was Alexandra, Alex for short. She was the glue that held all us good ol’ boys together since we were kids. She was younger than us by two years, but you'd never know that. She was much wiser than all of us put together. She was a true lady, the only one besides my mama I had ever met.

That chick from the parking lot was right about one thing…