She steps close and I’m shocked to feel her fingers on the skin above my shorts. In a quiet, scarily seductive voice she replies, “I can think of a few ways I can repay you.”
Here’s the thing. I’m a hundred percent falling for Starlee Jones. I think of her when I wake up. When I go to bed. In the middle of my run or working the counter at the shop. I definitely think about her when I’m in the shower. But I’m a guy and when a girl, a hot girl, touches me right there, my brain shut off for a minute.
“What do you think?” she asks.
I conjure up flaming red hair and puffy pink lips and how she means everything to me. “I think—"
“Dude,” I hear, and my eyes shift from this seductress to George walking up the sidewalk. “That run was killer. Oh, hey, Christina.”
Christina slowly removes her fingers and glances at my brother. “Hey, George. Have a good summer?”
“The best.?
? He grins goofily, thinking of the same redhead I am. “You ready?”
“Definitely,” I say, skirting around Christina.
“Think about my offer,” she calls, just before I slip into the building. I don’t reply.
“What was that about?” George asks when we get into the locker room and are a safe distance away.
“That was the devil trying to snare me into a deal. She wants me to help her make homecoming queen.”
He laughs, pulling his shirt over his head and dropping it on the bench. “That girl’s not the devil—she’s a snake. Did you forget about freshman year?”
I hadn’t. She was a user then, just like she is now.
“Makes sense, she looked like she was about to unhinge her jaw and swallow you whole.” He opens his locker and I kick off my shoes. “Did you tell her about Starlee?”
I shook my head. “I kind of like her being just ours, you know?”
“Yeah, I know. But the girls are going to want to know why none of us are interested.”
I shrug, but he’s right. We weren’t man-whores or anything before, but we had our share of girlfriends. There would probably be a few questions. “We’ll deal with it as it comes along.” I look at the clock on the wall. “Shit, we’re going to be late.”
I grab my towel and follow George into the shower and I step under the spray, lathering up with soap to wash the sweat and whatever remained of Christina’s touch from my body.
We’ve all got our routines, our way to pass each day knowing that each is one more until we can get back to our girl.
7
Starlee
I wake slowly, the sun streaming through my window. I blink. No. Leelee’s window. I’m in California. I jerk up and look at the clock on the nightstand. I missed the sunrise. By hours.
My plan had been to find them—at least Jake--and start my first morning off right. They had no idea I was here and that left a hollow, nervous feeling in my chest.
I slept soundly for the first time in months—the tiny twin bed cradling my worn-out body. I was sure I’d wake up before sunrise. I always had, but I guess the exhaustion of the day got to me, too.
I dress quickly in jeans and a hoodie, pulling my hair back into a sloppy bun. I smell coffee and bacon from the kitchen and it lures me in there as soon as I’m dressed and ready.
“Good morning,” Leelee says, standing over the stove, pushing sizzling bacon in a pan.
“What are you doing?” I ask, sliding into a kitchen chair after I get a cup of coffee.
“Making you breakfast.”
“You don’t cook.” Not once all summer did she make me breakfast.