I’d seen plenty of violence growingup.
As a man, I rarely resorted to it myself. But some situations, maybe they just called for it. I’d no more let that asshole hurt Roni and be able to sleep at night than I’d be able to hurt hermyself.
That was how I stomachedit.
After a few minutes, I made some excuse to slip upstairs. I wanted to say hi to Roni, but they were in Jessa’s bedroom. The door was open and I heard them talking. I didn’t exactly hover outside like a creeper, but I stopped in the living room. They were talking loud enough I could hear everyword.
Obviously they had no idea I was there, because Jessa was talking about some guy she liked, and she never talked about that shit in front of me orJesse.
“Just tell me who it is,” Roni was urging her. “You know I’m gonna find outanyway.”
“No,” Jessa said. “I don’t want to talk aboutit.”
“Are you gonna fuckhim?”
“Ew. No. I mean… notyet.”
“Whynot?”
“I don’t know. I mean, we’re not there yet. I don’t even know if he likes me thatway.”
“Of course he does. If I were you, I’d hit that before some other girl gets her claws intohim.”
Jessa sort of sighed and laughed uncomfortably. “It’s not thateasy.”
“I never said it was easy. YouknowI’ve got my own personal sexual bucket list. It’s okay to have goals. But not every guy is a sure thing from moment one, no matter how hot youare.”
Jessa snorted. “You and your sexual bucketlist.”
“I mean, just because Piper is at the top of the list, doesn’t mean I’m gonna screw him, like,tomorrow.”
A bolt of discomfort stabbed through me as I heard Roni’s words. I heard them, but it was like I was inshock.
“Believe me,” she went on, “I would screw him tomorrow, if I could. But sometimes, when the guy’s really worth it, you have to wait it out. Which is why you’re going to introduce me to him the first chance you get, and then I’ll start working mycharms…”
After that, I took off. I didn’t want to hear more. I headed back downstairs to help Jesse, then got the fuck out ofthere.
But it really fucking flooredme.
Maybe I’d really started to feel something for this girl? Because I was not taking this whole sexual bucket list thing too well—especially when I found out my older brother was at the top of her list of sexualgoals.
Fucking ironic orsomething.
Roni had no idea I’d driven off her mom’s boyfriend. No one did. Even Piper didn’t know or care who the fuck Jed was. Which meant Roni didn’t know Piper had helped me do it, either; he hadn’t evendoneanything to win her over. It didn’t even sound like she’d met himyet.
And now she had a thing forhim?
Fuckingtypical.
It was that day that I told myself to forget about RoniWebber.
For the first time ofmany.
And just like all the other times, it wouldn’tstick.
I didn’t see her until a few weeks later, at a party Dirty was playing outside of town, at Shady’s place. The party was in the big barn in the side lot, it was pretty packed, and I was talking to Brody near the small stage in back when he fucking freaked out. His eyes locked on something across the barn. “Fuck, no,” he growled, and then he bolted through thecrowd.
I went afterhim.
