“If you’re going to wear those things, maybe you should enlist?” I say as he jets past me. He’s sporting his Saturday night Mohawk, his thick guy liner—a requisite to scaring the crap out of old ladies at the mall. I wish he’d scare Neva. She’s been dating him on and off since Christmas and neither my dad nor me are too happy about it.
“Youshould enlist.” He twitches his bottom lip. He’s got a double loop woven through it and a tongue piercing that still hasn’t healed right. Any day now I’m expecting to hear a report that its fallen off, sort of the way I wish his dick would fall off. Just because my sister and I aren’t that close, doesn’t mean I want anybody fucking her.
“You enroll in college for fall?” I don’t mind breaking his balls a little. It’s no secret he’s been leaching off Neva the past few months. I know for a fact she shells out her hard-earned cash each time they go out.
“Fuck you.” He heads inside and slams the screen.
“Nice seeing you, too.”
Dad comes out onto the porch and lights up a cigarette. His hair is still plastered down from the hat he wears all day, and he’s got his Loveless patrol jacket on even though it’s a balmy eighty degrees out tonight.
“Where you off to, all spit shined?” I tease and kick the rocker next to me for him to take a seat, but he doesn’t.
“Down the mountain for a while.” He blows a white tornado from his lips while staring back into the house from the screen. “Remember Darnell Potter?”
“Redhead with neck gear. Warren McCarthy used to sock him in the arm on the way to school just for the heck of it.” Junior high. I remember those years. It was before dollars really meant anything, and all the Loveless kids used to hang out.
“Ran into his mom, Charlene.” He taps his cigarette over the railing, and the ash lights up the night with its orange tail. “She invited me over to catch a flick.”
Right. More like catchhisdickbut I’m not going there with my dad, not now or ever.
“I’ll be back in the morning. Watch the kid for me, would you?” He pats me on the shoulder and heads down to his truck.
“Will do.” She’s twenty and doesn’t listen to a damn thing I say, so it’s mostly lip service, but I know he needs to hear it.
In the distance, a car takes the turn a little too quick and zips into the McCarthy’s estate. It’s Warren. I’d know that erratic driving anywhere. They’re home.
I don’t even notice as Dad pulls out and Gavin pulls in, hopping up to the porch and planting his ass next to mine until his cologne clots up the air like its about to strangle me.
“Dude, did you bathe in that shit?” I fan the air a moment.
“You know it turns you on, princess.” He slaps my back. “You want to hit Kooks?”
Kooks is a bar on the other side of the ridge where their motto is,it’seasy to find love in Loveless.
“No thanks.”
A car door slams in the distance, and I try to gauge which direction Reese might be headed next. I can see her from here, small as my thumb. Reese has on a miniskirt or shorts, either way I can appreciate her long, bronzed legs, and I’m not objecting one bit.
“I see how it goes.” He nods across the lake. “Why don’t you call her in an hour? See if she’s up for another dip? Wet your wick for real this time and put the both of you out of your misery.”
“It’s not like that.” In fact, I want to smack him for thinking it is. “She’s never been with anyone. I’m not doing her in the lake.” I bite down on the inside of my cheek. “At least not the first time.”
Gavin shakes his head and takes a quick sip of my beer. “I’m out of here. Kennedy’s having a private party tonight—just a few chicks and dicks. She call you?”
“Nope.” I go to shake my head and pause. “Looks like Reese’s social calendar is double booked for the night. Speaking of dicks, I doubt mine is getting the company it was hoping for. Maybe I shouldn’t have been so quick to turn her down.”
“What the hell did you turn her down for?”
“Look at me.” I hold out my hands. “I’m living at my dad’s.” I tap my hand over the armrest. “Neva is a fucking mess. Where would I take someone like Reese? The back seat of the Cougar?” Dad gifted me a ‘67 Mercury for my sixteenth birthday. It was my first and last birthday gift, but it was well worth the wait.
“So that’s the dilemma. And I take it nature’s a little too raw. I get it.”
“I’m not hitting the bushes with her, dude.” I blow the frustration through my lips. “McCarthy’s got a million bucks to take her to any place he wants. His parents are gone half the time. He’s got the house to himself, plus he’s got an apartment at Yeats.”
“Slow down, Ace. You stalking him?” He pushes out a laugh. “You should tell Reese you got in. You’ll have a dorm on campus, right?”
“Maybe. The scholarship details are still in the air. The coach is trying to get me a room, if not, I’m on my own.” Which translates into an hour and a half commute both ways. The gas alone will kill me. I’ll have to take out a loan just to fill the tank three times a week.
