Somethin' About That Boy

I looked at her, trying to gauge her sincerity.

But the more I looked at her, the more I realized that she was being one hundred percent serious.

I burst out laughing.

In fact, I was laughing so hard that her father poked his head in.

The big, bad, intimidating man stared at us with confusion.

“What’s so funny?” he asked.

I couldn’t answer.

I was too busy laughing.

Not that I would tell Perry’s father what I found so funny.

“Ummm,” I hesitated, unable to get my words out through the wheezing. “I…”

“He thinks I’m joking about him wearing these sweatpants out of the house. I’m not.” Perry crossed her arms over her chest.

Perry and her dad had the weirdest relationship.

They talked about things that I would’ve never spoken about with my parents.

Then again, if I’d found my daughter in bed with a guy, I might’ve flipped my lid. He practically let us sleep together last night, after hearing that I’d actually slept with her the night before.

All her dad had asked was whether or not I wanted to sleep in the bed with her, or for him to blow up his extra mattress.

Needless to say, the fact that Perry was talking about my dick print in my sweatpants should’ve been one of those moments I went running for the door. Dawson Street only rolled his eyes, declared that I needed at least a dozen glazed donuts for just him, and left the room.

“And I want glazed cake.” Perry patted my chest. “Four of them.”

I grinned and pulled her in close, feeling my dick get even harder. Then I pressed a kiss to her lips, backed away, and headed out the door without another word.

I found that my bike was blocked in by my brother’s truck, so I went back inside and snatched his keys before heading out.

It was when I was at the donut shop that I saw the first person that was from our school.

“Hey, is Perry okay?” the young kid asked.

I’d never met him before in my life.

“Yeah,” I said. “She’s fine. She has a concussion and some bruising, but she’ll be back at school Monday.”

“Hell of a thing that Vance did.” The kid shook his head. “It’s all over school. Did y’all press charges?”

I ignored him and everybody else that was now hanging on his every word and ordered my donuts.

When I was done, I looked at the kid and said, “Sadly, we don’t have any hard evidence that Vance was the one behind it.”

With that I left, angry all over again.

And it didn’t fuckin’ help that Vance pulled up with a fucking smirk on his face just as I was leaving.

Somebody must’ve called him.

Son of a bitch.

Putting my brother’s truck back into park, I got out and practically sprinted toward him.

He grinned like a fuckin’ loon, which was when I finally got myself under control enough to realize that it was too fuckin’ easy.

There had to be a reason he showed up. And that he was presenting himself with a proverbial bow on his head.

He wanted me to lose control.

I stopped, took a deep breath, and turned around.

When I got back into Ford’s truck, I saw Vance’s smirk had disappeared.

Rolling down my window, I said, “You won’t get away with it.”

He shrugged. “Maybe I will. Depends on what we’re talking about.”

Gritting my teeth, I drove back to Perry’s house and brought the donuts inside.

All the while everyone ate, I wondered if there was a way to kill someone and not be caught.

Probably fucking not.Chapter 21

This is not friendship weather. Stop inviting me to places.

-Perry to Blue

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“I think it’s time to get a restraining order,” my father suggested. “I was hoping to avoid it, but I don’t think it can wait anymore. You both should be getting one.”

My father looked from me to Perry and back.

“I agree,” Dawson murmured. “We can do that on a Saturday, right?”

“I’ll go with you,” Ford offered. “And yes, you can. I’ll call ahead, talk to a few people, and we’ll get you set up before we even step foot in the door. But, after yesterday, I’m fairly positive that they’re going to be ready for it.”

After yesterday.

After Perry was beaten up, stripped from the waist down, and left like a piece of trash underneath the bleachers. Bleeding and bruised.

I clenched my hand, not realizing what I was doing until all the cream filling in my donut was all over my hand.

“Shit,” I grumbled.

Perry snickered and swept her finger across the cream, bringing it to her lips.

My eyes caught hers as she sucked that finger clean, and I decided that was the single hottest thing I’d ever seen her do before.

And she damn well knew what she did to me.

“We’ll go after breakfast,” Ford suggested as he stood up, pulling his phone from his pocket.

Ashe watched her husband go, then looked from me to Ford and back.