Fries Before Guys (SWAT Generation 2.0 2)

I put the bike into gear and then started off, being careful of all the teenagers who were dumbasses as well as obeying the speed limit.

The moment that we were no longer in the school zone, though, I opened it up.

Avery’s arms tightened around my waist and she let out an excited laugh, causing me to go just a little bit faster.

Sadly, when the turn to her house came into view, I took it.

Because no matter what I was feeling, my original assessment was the right one.

Avery was too young.

I’d had that hammered home by picking her up today from her high school.

The girls there staring back at me, one of those being one in a cheerleading uniform, were young. They had petty problems and even pettier attitudes. I was sure Avery wasn’t like that, but she lived in that world.

I didn’t.

By the time we arrived at her house, I’d talked myself down off the ledge again.

The ledge that was getting taller and taller, and harder and harder to get down from.

It was like a black hole.

Each time I thought I had myself under control, I realized that I most certainly didn’t.

As I pulled up into her driveway, my eyes took in the high grass and the even taller weeds that surrounded the flower beds.

I resisted the urge to ask her if she had someone to help her mow.

But she answered that question for me when she got off the bike and handed me her helmet.

“This place looks like a nightmare,” she murmured, pressing her hands against her face as she warmed her cheeks back up. “Thank you for the ride, Derek.”

I looked at her, frowning.

“Why does it look like a nightmare?” I asked, not able to help myself.

“I can’t get the weed eater started to save my life,” she admitted. “I’ve tried and tried and tried. And as for the grass, I have no way to transport gas to and from my house. So I haven’t been able to mow because I haven’t been able to figure out a way to get a gas can full of gasoline in my car just yet. Its trunk space is minimal at best. And when I tried to drive down the road with the trunk open, I broke something in the latching system and now I have to tie it down…”

I held up my hand.

“I’ll see if I can bring it by tomorrow,” I said. “Or my dad can drop it by.”

She looked at me in surprise.

“That’s not necessary. Thanks, though.” She turned her back on me and started walking up the driveway. The spot where she normally parked her car was empty, but her parents’ vehicles were there.

“Avery.”

She stopped and turned slightly to face me.

“Your dad has a truck,” I pointed out. “Why not use it?”

She swallowed hard. I physically saw the pain start to overtake her.

“I…” She looked at her dad’s truck.

It wasn’t new, but it definitely wasn’t old like her car was.

And her mom’s car was even newer than her dad’s.

“I can’t,” she admitted. “I just… I just can’t.”

With that, she walked inside and didn’t look back.Chapter 4Uncircumcised? At least you have one hoodie she can’t steal.

-Derek to a fellow officer

Derek

Three weeks later

“Did you get her yard mowed?” I asked curiously.

My dad and I had been switching off on mowing and weed eating Avery’s lawn.

I’d also spent the better part of a weekend getting her car tuned up and fixed enough that she could drive it without any problems in the future.

Hopefully the very long, far away future.

Not that she realized all that I’d done to it.

She’d thought that I just replaced the battery on it, which she insisted on paying for.

And as far as she knew, my dad was the one doing the mowing of her lawn.

And since he was her dad’s police chief, she was okay with that.

She was not okay with me doing anything for her.

Something in which she’d told me when I tried to show up the next morning with a gas can full of gas and asked to help her with her weed eater.

The only thing she’d allowed me to do was start her weed eater.

I’d then watched her struggle with the too-big machine for half an hour before I’d asked to take over. When she wouldn’t let me, I’d called my dad, who’d been able to talk some sense into her.

The next time that I mowed, it was while she was at school and couldn’t stop me.

My dad had taken the next time seeing as it was winter break.

“Yep,” he said. “That girl is so fuckin’ stubborn, I swear. Reminds me of your sisters.”

I definitely wasn’t reminded of my sister when it came to Avery Flynn. Not even close.

My thoughts were purely erotic in nature. And to have those thoughts about my sister would be downright disgusting.