She bit down on her lip. “The motel off of BowesStreet?”
I stepped back, rubbing my chin while I studied her. It seemed cheap, and Becky didn’t deserve cheap. I understood why she didn’t want to meet up at her place, and I couldn’t very well invite her back to mine. My mom lived there, and that didn’t exactly set the moodeither.
I got the impression Beckyneededto be in control of this, so I’d let her set thepace.
“Okay,” I told her, swallowinghard.
“You don’t have my number,” she remindedme.
“So give it to me,” I grinned. I pulled my phone out of the pocket of my jeans and added her number in. I typed out a text and hit send so she’d know my number too. I wasn’t worried at all about her leaking it, and that was refreshing. Usually, I avoided giving women my number. I’d unfortunately had to change it monthly for the past couple of years due to securityissues.
“I need to get back,” Becky said, stepping even further away from me and heading inside. I adjusted myself, shaking my head. As soon as she disappeared, the doubt setin.
What in the hell did I just agreeto?
* * *
The next day,just after ten o’clock at night, I walked up the concrete steps of the motel. I wore a baseball cap low on my forehead and a brown leather jacket to protect my identity. The less people saw of my face and the full sleeve tattoo on my left arm, the more successful I was at going undetected. It didn’t always work, but it was my best shot atanonymity.
My eyes scanned the door numbers, and I moved toward202with my heart pounding in mychest.
When we had made the plan to meet up, I was all for it; I couldn’t wait to sink into her. But then I had spent the last twenty-four hours torturing myself with all of the reasons why it was a bad idea, and it really didn’t takemuch.
A few memories from high school had done the trick. Becky shared those hallways with me—withus—for two years. Brock, Gordon, Grady, Steve, and I used to intimidate any guy stupid enough to look in her direction. Brock wanted to make sure that whoever asked Becky outknewthey had to go through us if they hurt her. Nobody was up for thechallenge.
I didn’t want anybody to touch her, but it hadn’t started out like that. At first, it was just fun. I didn’t have any siblings, and watching my best friends with theirs made me feel envious of that fact. I told myself I was protecting her on Brock’sbehalf.
I had to acknowledge the fact that maybe I had ended up using my status as Brock’s best friend to stake a claim, in a quietway.
I guess I thought of her as mine, even though I kept my distance from her. She’d always been beautiful, and I didn’t think I could hide my attraction to her. Brock would have kicked my ass if he caught on. We had a bro code—sisters were off limits. That meant both Tessa Armstrong and Becky Miller were no touchzones.
It was easier to abide by those rules with Tessa, obviously. She was six years younger than us and when I knew her, she was a lanky freckle faced kid. Becky fell under my radar because of those two short years we attended the same highschool.
When I was in grade twelve, I went to semi-formal with one of the hot, popular girls at school. Her name was Kristen Base, and I used to joke about how I was gonna hitallher bases, if you know what Imean.
I drew in a breath, letting the memory wash overme.
I’d basically spent the first half of the dance making out with Kristen and trying to cop a feel through her satin dress. I didn’t even clue in that Becky had gone to semi-formal until I saw her taking shots with Greg Brimstone. It wasn’t really an activity I had ever thought I’d catch her doing, lest of all in the gymnasium of our highschool.
I’d known Greg for years, and he always came across as a self-entitled asswipe. He came from money and loved to wave that fact around in everybody’s face—especially mine. Ever since grade school, he’d show up with some crazy expensive device and drone on and on about it before making comments about how it must suck being trailertrash.
It didn’t sit well with me that he’d chosen to take Becky as his date, so I watchedthem.
Losing all interest in my date entirely, I debated on what I should do. I didn’t want to ruin her night, but I also didn’t trust the way Greg and his friends were openly leering at her. The shots kept coming, and Becky started dancing withhim.
I hated him, and I hated the fact that his hands were on her. I hated that he was basically pouring hard liquor down Becky’s throat, high fiving his friend whenever she wasn’t looking. I knew Becky hadn’t had much experience drinking—Brock made damn sure of it, but he avoided functions like this and she knewthat.
I dragged Kristen out onto the dance floor so I could keep a closer eye on things and not have to talk to her anymore. We were a few feet away from Greg and Becky as they danced. His hands gripped her ass as he pulled her againsthim.
Rage like I’d never seen before made my vision waver as he whispered something in Becky’s ear. She blushed and nodded slowly, and they started to make their way toward the doors that led outside. She was stumbling, and his arm was around her as he guided her through the bodies on thefloor.
I pulled away from Kristen and stepped in front of them, blocking their path. Becky swayed against Greg, her eyes diluted and unfocused. “Where you going, Brimsnot?” I demanded, my toneice.
“It’s Brimstone,” Greg scowled. “And none of yourbusiness.”
“See, that’s where you’re wrong,” I said, stepping toward him with a playful grin on my face that did little to hide my rage toward him. “It’s definitely my business, because you’re with my buddy’s little sister. I know that if he were here, he wouldn’t let you leave withher.”
“Well he isn’t here,” Greg retorted, standing tall. He was still a little pipsqueak. The top of his head barely came up to mychin.
