Starlee's Turn (The Wayward Sons 2)

“Obviously, you’ve seen the Homecoming stuff around school and I talked to the guys and they were all okay with this, so I don’t want you to think I’m stepping out of line or anything.”

I flash to Claire’s warning about Christina. “What are you talking about?”

“I just, I feel like I need to make some things clear at school—with certain people--and I know we’ve all agreed to keep our relationship on the downlow, but I also think that’s not exactly fair to everyone…and you deserve to have options and opportunities…”

“You’re rambling, Jake.”

“Right. Right. Okay, well here it goes…will you go to homecoming with me?”

That is not what I was expecting after all that hemming and hawing. The nervous energy in my belly vanishes and jump on my toes. “Yes! Of course!”

The conflict leaves his pretty face and he grins broadly, pulling me into a massive hug. “Oh, thank god.”

“Did you really think I would say no?”

“I don’t know. No. I thought maybe you wouldn’t want to go or that singling one of us out would be uncomfortable, but like I said, we talked about it and with Christina pushing this HoCo King thing, we all agreed it’s better to shut that down now.”

“I get the feeling she’s pretty ruthless.”

“You have no idea.” He hasn’t let me go and I love being in his strong arms.

“Going to homecoming is on my bucket list, so I’m definitely interested. I’m also totally in for shutting Christina down.” Not to mention shutting her up. “But since we’re making requests, I have one, too.”

“Sure, anything.”

“Will you take me to Claire’s brother’s party this weekend?”

His expression turns curious. “You want to go to a party?”

“I want to experience everything I didn’t get a chance to back home.”

He nods in understanding, a small smile appearing on his lips. “You’re full of surprises, Starlee Jones. Yeah, I think we can arrange something.”

I hug him tighter. “Thank you. I may panic and want to leave after thirty minutes, but at least I can say I tried.”

He tilts my chin and stares down at me. Yowza, sometimes he’s so handsome he’s hard to look at. “This is your year. If you have a wish, we’re at your command.”

His words are cheesy and perfect. Like him.

“Okay, we really need to get downstairs. George is waiting, Sierra could be home at any minute and you’ve got a project to finish.”

He leans his head back and groans. I ignore him, linking my fingers with him and drag him down the stairs, feeling like life has finally clicked into place.

28

Charlie

“How does this look?”

“How does what look?” George asks from the couch.

“This flyer.” I turn the laptop in his direction. I’ve been working on a flyer for the canned food drive. We’ll turn them into banners and posters to hang around the school and community.

He glances over and frowns. I should have known better with his critical, artistic eye he’d have a problem. “Well?” I ask impatiently.

“The flyer looks great. I’m just confused about the fact your computer does something other than play games.”

“Ha. Ha. Asshole,” I mutter under my breath. I save the document and shut the top. George is deep in his sketch book. Has been ever since the accident. Something’s been weighing on me for a few days. “George?”