Perfect

“You owe me a hell of a lot.”

“I don’t owe you anything, Brian.” He kept his body tense, his form ready if Brian really wanted to do this. “Believe me, I’ll be out of here and never fucking look back.”

His father took another step toward him, but Rory held his ground. He refused to back down. If Brian was drunk enough to do this, then so be it, because Rory was primed for a fight. “You want to do this, Brian?”

Something flickered in Brian’s eyes, maybe fear or realization that he couldn’t take Rory down. Maybe he saw that Rory was pissed and on edge enough that he’d get knocked the fuck down … again. Whatever went through Brian’s mind had him stopping and moving a step back, shaking his head in the process.

“I don’t have fucking time for this, and you’re not worth it,” Brian mumbled, then turned around and walked away.

Rory slammed the door hard enough it shook, and the noise reverberated through the shitty room. A moment passed before Rory felt calm enough to even move. He turned, stared at the small bed, the sheets and comforter mussed on top, and breathed out. Scratching his head and knowing he should take a shower, Rory said fuck it and walked toward the bed. Aside from the bedframe that was as old as Rory, he’d had to buy everything else in this room for himself. That was how worthless Brian was.

He lay down on his bed face-first, closed his eyes, and let the only good thing in his life fill his head, which was the girl he was absolutely in love with … Lena Port.

6

Lena had been feeling on edge. She couldn’t say what it was or even explain where it came from, but when Rory had called her this afternoon and said he had some things to talk to her about, her belly had been in knots and her entire body had just felt … off.

The past few days had passed in this kind of hazy, euphoric blur. All she could think about was being with Rory, about how they’d lost their virginity to each other, and how she wanted to spend the rest of her life with him. She might only be eighteen, but she knew what she wanted out of life.

She had plans to go to college, already having been accepted to a few of the universities she’d applied to. Rory had applied as well, but she hadn’t heard one way or another on if he’d gotten in. Maybe that was what this was about? Maybe he got in, or maybe she was feeling all kinds of nervous because he hadn’t gotten an acceptance?

She ran her hands over her thighs, her skirt rising slightly, and her heart beating wildly. She sat at a corner table at the local coffee shop in town, her vanilla bean scone and lemonade in front of her. The cup had droplets of condensation on it, and she watched those trails of water move down the plastic and collect on the tabletop.

“Hey, baby.”

The sound of Rory’s voice had her glancing up. She stood and walked into his arms, resting her head on his chest. The sound of his heart beating below her ear was comforting. He had his hand on her back, rubbed it up and down, and she inhaled the scent of his cologne. He smelled so good and felt so good against her. When she pulled away, she rose on her toes and pressed her lips to his. But she noticed how he looked, the way his face looked hard.

He looked like he had something heavy on his mind by the strained, tight expression he wore. Rory pulled her chair out and gestured for her to sit down. After she did, he took the seat across from her. He didn’t get anything to eat or drink from the counter, and by the way he looked right now, she felt like something was definitely up.

When he leaned back in the chair but stared at his hands on the table, the silence stretching between them, she couldn’t help but reach out and cover his hands with hers.

“Rory, what’s wrong?” Her appetite was gone, and she pushed aside the cup and plate that held her scone. “Is it your dad?” Although she’d never actually met the man, it was no secret in town that Rory’s father, Brian, was an alcoholic who lived on disability because of a back injury he got from work over ten years ago.

But the truth was Brian had been in so many drunk driving car accidents before that time that she had to wonder if it wasn’t those accidents that had been his ultimate downfall in not being able to work anymore. Either way, it didn’t matter because Brian Jaymes was an asshole who had hit Rory when he was younger and still tried to now.