Her skin feels like it’s on fire where he’s touching her. Her cheeks flame. “Yeah. They like to dance. It’s so embarrassing!”
Dallas’s grin intensifies. Shelby feels like she’s staring into the sun. “I think it’s nice.”
They look back at the adults just in time to see Shelby’s father dip her mother, then pull her upright. They’re smiling at one another like there’s no one else in the world.
“Are you going to introduce us to your friend, Shelby?” her mother calls out.
Shelby rolls her eyes. She swears her mother can see out the back of her head. Dallas suppresses a laugh while Shelby climbs to her feet. “Hey. This is Dallas. He lost his cow.”
Dallas marches right past Shelby, his hand outstretched. He shakes her mother’s hand, then her father’s, charming them both in a matter of seconds. They’re talking about cattle and land and breathing fresh air.
Her dad finally puts his hand on Dallas’s shoulder. “Now, Shelby’s new around here, son. You take care of this girl and don’t take liberties, you hear?”
Shelby’s cheeks can’t possibly go redder. “Daddy!”
“I won’t, sir. You can count on me.” Dallas shakes her father’s hand again, winks at her mother, then heads for the front door. “I’ll pick you up just after eight tomorrow for school, Shelby. Don’t be late!”
And then he’s gone, leaving her dazed and confused.
Shelby’s mother puts her arm around her shoulders, steering her into the kitchen, the resemblance between the two almost making them look like twins. “He’s awfully cute. Seems like fun.” Since the color on Shelby’s cheeks makes a response unnecessary, her mother continues, “Just watch yourself, okay?Good-time guys are great, but you don’t want to set your heart on one. Save your heart for the real thing, and it won’t get broken.” Her mother nods toward the living room where her father is unpacking boxes and humming along to the radio.
When he notices them looking, he straightens and puts his hands on his hips, smiling broadly. “Look at my girls.” Shelby’s heart melts, and she’s pretty sure her mother’s does too.
Senior Year of High School
“Your turn, asshole.”
“Do you even have to ask?” Dallas spreads his arms wide, taunting the crowd of drunk teens assembled around the bonfire. “It’s always dare.”
He’s got a worn shearling jacket on, but no shirt underneath, showing off his impressive muscles. The weightlifting requirement to play football has been good to him, and so has Mother Nature. He’s grown four inches in the last two years.
Jeremy, a fellow senior on the football team, snorts. “You’re gonna die one of these dares. Would it really hurt you to choose truth for once?”
A stiff breeze tumbles all the girls’ hair. The horses over by the trees start stirring. They don’t like being out here when a storm’s approaching, but they’re used to the midnight rides on the weekends. Teens in Big Knob have been obsessed withmiddle-of-the-night horseback rides for decades. Parents look the other way because the alternative is worse. Can’t be arrested for drinking and driving if you’re riding.
Dallas chugs the rest of his beer and tosses the empty can into the raging bonfire. “I prefer action to words.”
The boy has more swagger than is good for him. Several of the girls around the fire—girls who know exactly the kind of action Dallas likes to take—bat their eyelashes at him, despite boyfriends by their sides. Shelby rolls her eyes, shifting closer to Dallas for extra heat. She hates Truth or Dare with all these drunk people. Real life is scary enough without these made-up games.
“Okay, fine. I dare you to skinny dip in the river.” Jeremy smiles like he’s won. He knows how dangerous it is to step foot in that river in the winter.
Dallas also smiles, unhurried as he stands and strips off his jacket and cowboy hat. A few girls hoot at his naked torso, which only eggs him on. “You wanna see me naked, Jer?”
“Fuck off,” Jeremy mutters, kicking dirt at Dallas’s boots.
“Dallas, don’t,” Shelby murmurs to his back. He ignores her, bending down to pull off his boots.
“What the fuck, man?” Houston, Dallas’s twin, releases his hold on his girlfriend, Josie Mae, and stands up to put his hand on Dallas’s chest. “Don’t do it. Jeremy’s a fuckin’ idiot.”
“Hey! He chose dare!” Jeremy shouts in his defense.
Dallas pushes Houston’s hand off his chest. His skin is already pebbled with goose bumps. “I’ll be in and out. Don’t worry.” He swaggers away from the bonfire, stripping out of his jeans when he hits the riverbank. His thumbs go into the waistband of his boxers. “Avert your eyes, you perverts!”
And then he’s dashing into the river, naked as the day he was born. Shelby leaps to her feet and races over to the river with several blankets. Dallas resurfaces with a whoop and crashesout of the water, hands covering the goods. Shelby wraps the blankets around him before he’s fully out of the icy water.
“Are you okay?” she urgently whispers, rubbing up and down his arms to generate warmth.
Dallas tosses his head back and howls at the moon while Jeremy cracks up. Houston flips off his brother and settles back in front of the fire.
