Undo Me (The Good Ol' Boys #3) (6 page)

There was no argument to be made.

The choice was never mine.

“Goddamn it,” I yelled out, popping a sharp U-turn. Cars slammed on their brakes, honking their horns and shouting obscenities of where I could go and how to get there. The commotion stopped Aubrey dead in her tracks. She turned around to find out the source of all the chaos.

Not even a second later I pulled up next to her.

“Get in.”

I hesitantly smiled, debating whether or not to get into his Jeep. I could have kept walking, but the way he was staring at me, with such…

Desperation.

Confusion.

Longing.

Had me questioning my resolve.

How many times would I have to see him trying to get in another girl’s panties before I’d get it through my head that the boy was no good?

“Get. In,” he repeated in a commanding tone. He reached over the console to open the door for me. His open palm extended, beckoning me to take it. I peered from his hand, to the door, back to him again, sighing. Something about his stare made me give in. I threw my backpack in the backseat. My foot hit the running board and my hand landed in his. We pulled in unison, Dylan, helping me with the leap up.

He glanced behind him, accelerating on the throttle. “Put your seatbelt on,” was all he said, keeping his intense gaze on the road in front of him, not saying another word. The uncomfortable silence hammered all around me, tearing into my insecurities that this was a bad idea. I shouldn’t be in his Jeep. I shouldn’t be talking to him. I shouldn’t be feeling anything for him other than what I’m supposed to.

What was good for me…

I think he sensed I wanted him to say something.

Anything.

Instead he turned the radio back up. Bill Withers’ “Ain’t No Sunshine” assaulted my senses, shocking the shit out of me, and clouding any doubt. Before I opened my mouth to call him out on it, he put his finger up to my lips and rasped, “Don’t.”

We locked eyes for a few seconds, but he quickly broke our connection. I decided to look out the window. It was easier that way, to pretend this little encounter didn’t mean something.

To the both of us.

I listened to the lyrics of the song, trying like hell not to read too much into it, while he tapped his fingers against the steering wheel to the beat of the music. When you’re fifteen you feel everything so passionately, so deeply, it burned all around, leaving behind a wake of ashes that you gathered near your heart.

Making it all that much more real.

Chalk it up to hormones, or maybe it was
me,
desperately wanting to form a connection with anyone. In that moment, sitting beside him with nothing but my thoughts and the lyrics of the song, I felt like he was showing me a piece of who he was. Letting me in the only way he knew how, by exposing a side to him that no one knew about, possibly not even him. Something told me that this gesture was his way of extending the olive branch.

The question was, would I take it?

I already knew he didn’t have any friends outside of the boys and that girl Half-Pint, but for whatever the reason…

He liked me.

We drove in silence for what seemed like forever, lost in our own thoughts that were shattering with the turmoil on our minds. When he pulled up to my house, I realized that I never told him where I lived.  

“Stalk much?” I teased, not being able to help myself as he parked in my driveway.

He visibly took a deep breath as he shut off the Jeep. Wanting no sounds to interrupt what he was about to share with me. It seemed as though he needed to get out whatever he wanted to say before he lost the courage, but he didn’t falter. He shifted in his seat to look deep into my eyes, searching for something I couldn’t quite put my finger on.

A war was raging in his eyes. He was becoming undone.

An internal battle took place as if what was right and what was wrong had been sitting directly in front of him this whole time.

Me.  

The serious expression on his face captivated me in a way I had never experienced before. Which only added to the plaguing emotions that were placed in between us.

Then he admitted, “Been thinkin’ about you, darlin’. Ever think about me?”

Just. Like. That.

So forward.

So direct.

So unforgiving.

I learned right then and there that there was no gray area when it came to Dylan McGraw, only black and white. He got right to the point, it was yes or it was no. Never maybe. Never somewhere in between. The crazy thing about it was I had only gotten to the tip of the iceberg when it came to him, and like the Titanic, I was sinking fast.  

So, I shrugged in response because I couldn’t say what I was really thinking. What I really wanted to.

I. Like. You. Too.

“Go out with me?” he followed up with, sensing my reserve. I didn’t know what bothered me more, the fact that he could read my mind, or the fact that I could read his. From everything I heard about him at school, I knew one thing for sure, I was definitely the first girl he ever asked out. He chose me over every other girl.

That simple fact overwhelmed me more than it should.

Shoving away the fluttering feeling his question triggered inside me, I shook my head no. Scared that if I opened my mouth the response would have been different because at the end of the day, I didn’t trust him.

He countered, tugging on the ends of my hair, “I won’t beg. I also won’t ask again, sweet girl.”

For the second time in a matter of minutes, I appreciated his sincerity. “I’ll make you a deal,” I challenged, throwing his abrasiveness back at him.

He cocked his head to the side, riled by my proposition.

“Keep your dick in your pants for one month and we’ll see about a date.”

He laughed big and throaty, it echoed all around us. “You gotta be shittin’ me? You know who I am?”

“I do.” I opened the door to step out, pausing for affect. “But I also know I deserve way more than what you’re willing to give me.” I got out of the Jeep, grabbing my backpack from the back seat. “Thanks for the ride.”

I walked away without looking back. Leaving him with my conditions, silently hoping that he would follow through, but not stupid enough to believe that he would.

“Hell has officially frozen over ladies and gentlemen!” Lucas hollered from the beach for the rest of the boys and Alex to hear.

“Shut. The. Fuck. Up,” I gritted out.

He put his hand up to his ear. "Excuse me? What was that? Can you say that one more time? I don’t think I heard you the first time.”

Alex tugged on his shirt. “Bo, leave him alone. You’re being mean.”

“Yeah, Bo,” I mocked. “You’re being mean,” I repeated in a high-pitched voice.

“Oh come on, Half-Pint, this is monumental. A fucking universal standstill, pigs are flying all around us!” Jacob proclaimed, pulling Alex to his side. Austin rolled around in the sand, laughing his ass off.

“You miserable fucks! Enough!” I shouted to all of them, except Alex, hauling her in front of me to block all the remarks from my so-called boys.

“At first I thought you were pulling a fast one on us. Then, I thought you were trying to prove something to Half-Pint, like you’re really not an asshole and actually a nice guy. But now… well shit, now, we know it’s about a girl,” Lucas laughed, testing my goddamn patience.

“And get this, not just any girl but the new girl. The one that no one has gotten their hands on yet. Which could only mean one thing, McGraw, you don’t like to share,” he added, making me realize that maybe he was right.

Was that why I liked her?

“The plot thickens… dun dun dun! Did you not realize that little fact?” Jacob interrupted, baiting me.

Alex met my eyes for a split second before she peered back over to the boys, standing up straighter and putting her hands on her hips. “Enough, you idiots. Why does it matter why he likes her? Bottom line, he likes someone. If you know what's good for y’all, you'll leave him alone,” she warned, and I loved her a bit more for it. 

“Half-Pint, let’s face it, we all know Dylan tames his true colors when you’re around. Are you seriously going to deny you’re not a little surprised by the fact that the last time he didn’t have a girl attached to his hip, was when we were all in grade school?” Austin chimed in. “And even then he was still getting in trouble for kissing girls behind the slide. This was the same guy who brought a Playboy magazine into our third grade classroom and flipped off the teacher when she took it away from him and called his parents.”  

I decided to live up to Aubrey’s challenge, I wanted to spend time with her and what she said struck a cord in me. She did deserve better than what I had to offer. It had been a few weeks since she challenged me, and I had managed to keep it in my pants.

“What’s it been now, McGraw, three, four weeks? How’s your hand, buddy?” Jacob taunted, mimicking a jacking-off gesture with his fist.

Half-Pint looked down at the sand, kicking it around beneath her, a soft red glow creeping up her cheeks. I glared at the boys who all nodded in recognition. We all respected Alex too much to continue the conversation around her.

I grabbed her hand. “Come on, Half-Pint, let’s get away from these dickwads. My virgin ears can’t take anymore.”

She giggled, following close behind me. We all headed up to her parents’ restaurant to grab some food. Just as we walked through the glass sliders, Lucas smacked me in the chest.

“Speak of the devil, isn't that your girl, McGraw?”

There before my very own eyes was…

Aubrey.

With a mother fucking guy.

Of course, the boys busted out laughing and Alex reassuringly squeezed my hand. Aubrey looked over toward our direction and our eyes locked for a brief moment. It took everything inside me to not walk over there and make my presence known. Out of respect for Alex's parents, I restrained myself. They were like my own parents, and they didn't need me causing trouble.

“Let’s go sit down. I’m kinda hungry,” Alex announced, leading us to the corner table in the back. I knew she did that for my sake. They all ordered some food except for me, my appetite suddenly disappeared. I pulled out my cell phone and sat it on the table.

Waiting.

It was all I could do. I had to sit there and endure his unsubtle longing looks. He was devouring her body with his eyes and his constant touches made me want to break his fucking fingers. Our eyes connected several times, it was like she was doing it on purpose, to get a reaction out of me but for what?

I couldn’t be around them much longer, I was going to snap. Jealousy washed over me.

I saw her get up, making her way across the room, into the hallway. Before I knew it, my feet were moving forward as if being pulled by twine with the rope she was holding. I found myself following her as she made her way to the restroom. I was grateful it was secluded in the back of the restaurant, because I waited for her.

“You tryin’ to make me jealous, sweetheart?”

She gasped, placing her hand over her heart. “Jesus! Are you trying to give me a heart attack?”

I cocked an eyebrow, leaning against the wall with my arms folded over my chest. Her eyes followed my every move.

“No, just trying to make you scream… anyway I can, but you see, I have this wager going with a feisty blonde to keep it in my pants.”

She grinned.

“At least one of us has kept up their end of the bargain,” I snidely stated.  

She shrugged. “I don’t remember making a deal that concerned me.”

“Is that right?”