by Brent, Cora
“It was. My Aunt Truly designed it.” I nodded at the box is his hand. “Is that for me?”
“Actually I thought I might wear it.”
“It doesn’t even match your suit.” I held out my wrist. “Give me my corsage.”
Tristan muttered something about my bossy attitude but he smiled as he fastened the corsage to my wrist.
“Thank you.” I leaned in for a quick kiss.
Tristan wouldn’t allow that. He seized me around the waist and kissed me like he’d been waiting a hundred years for the chance. I closed my eyes and lost myself in him, ready to forget tonight’s plans or the fact that an audience was standing nearby. Tristan’s hands roamed up my back and sifted through my carefully curled hair while his mouth continued to make demands on mine.
“I am not taking a picture of that,” my grandfather grumbled in the background.
“Shhh,” Karen hushed him.
But eventually Tristan withdrew and smirked down at me, noting the way I wobbled on my feet thanks to the things that happened to my body when we touched. He always did this to me, every single freaking time. He knew it.
“You messed up my makeup,” I whispered.
“Gonna mess up a lot of things,” he whispered back.
“Say cheese, kids,” Karen commanded.
Tristan winked at me and wrapped his arm around my waist for a respectably posed picture that could be shared without making anyone blush.
“Have her home at a decent hour, young man,” my grandfather joked before he opened the door for our departure.
Tristan walked out first and crooked an elbow as he waited. “Am I doing this right?”
“Can’t shake the time traveling feeling I’m returning to the prom,” I giggled as I took his arm.
“And you were the queen of the prom, right?”
“I was. I guess I can’t count on being crowned homecoming queen tonight. It’s not an honor extended to the faculty.”
He opened up the passenger door of his truck and then reached for my face, tipping my chin up. “You’re my queen. Every minute of every day.”
The things this boy said. He had the rare power to render me speechless.
I was trying to buckle in my seatbelt without crushing my dress when Tristan suddenly ducked his head in.
“Did I mention how much I like the heels?”
I usually hated wearing heels but tonight I’d slipped on a pair that matched the deep blue satin of my dress.
“No. But I’m glad you noticed.”
“I noticed. Keep them on later. You know, when you wrap your legs around my shoulders while my tongue is buried in your pussy.”
He closed the door.
That was Tristan.
Saying something sweet to charm me to shreds one second and then making an obscene suggestion the next.
I wouldn’t want him to be any other way.
He climbed behind the wheel and gave me a look that was full of romance and promises. I touched his knee as he started the engine and then began driving toward the high school in the soft twilight.
“We’ll have to make this a fairly early night,” I warned him. “My parents are expecting us at seven AM.”
He scowled. “Why would anyone voluntarily do anything at seven am?”
“Trust me, it’s not my mom’s idea. My dad wants to go hiking. I think he has a plan to race you up and down A Mountain as a test of male endurance.”
Tristan flexed. “I’ve got plenty of male endurance.”
“I know. So let him win, okay?”
“Will he like me more if I do?” he said. I thought there was a touch of anxiety in his voice.
“He likes you,” I said and that was true. We’d been to visit my folks twice in the past month. They’d even driven down here one afternoon and we hung out together at the Dirty Cactus. My dad had thawed out where Tristan was concerned and my mom confided that he thought Tristan was funny as hell. Plus nobody could argue that Tristan really did treat me like a queen.
Tristan stopped at the last traffic light before the turn to the high school. “Will Cord Gentry still like me when he hears I’ll be shacked up with his daughter soon?”
I grinned. “That’s why you should let him win tomorrow.”
He snorted. “All right.”
My grandfather and Karen were going to be getting married next month and despite their protests I didn’t want to be in the way of their bliss. As for Tristan’s living arrangements, his roommate was back with his nutty ex girlfriend and Tristan was eager to get out of there before he was stuck watching them kill each other. As luck would have it, Aura Campo knew of a house on her street that was available to rent. We’d filled out the lease application on Tuesday and by Wednesday were told the house was ours if we wanted it. In two weeks we were moving in. Some people might argue that such a breakneck speed relationship couldn’t last. They didn’t know what they were talking about. They didn’t know us the way we knew each other.
“I love you,” I told him as we pulled into the high school parking lot.
We were here early to set things up in the gym and greet the kids, who would probably begin arriving within the hour. The school had been buzzing with excitement yesterday between the home game and the dance. The team lost once again. Between the loss of so many players, including Landon Gentry, plus the suspension of Coach Ward, the football program was struggling. But I knew those kids and a few obstacles would never stop them from celebrating the night away.
Tristan set the brake and produced one of his heart stopping smiles. “I love you too, prom queen.”
We held hands and stared at the high school. A red carpet had been located, stretching through the front doors and down the steps and the dance committee, with the help of the school’s best artists, had worked hard to create the lit archway that decorated the entrance.
Aura Campo and her husband were already here helping to string the last of the lights. They noticed us sitting in Tristan’s truck and waved. We’d been working together a lot lately. Aura’s husband knew a lot of folks in the food industry and was helping to spearhead a program for Emblem High’s students that would make use of food that would otherwise go to waste. On Friday afternoons students who needed the help would be able to stop by the cafeteria and take a bag of basic essentials that would help keep their families fed over the weekend.
“The school looks good tonight,” he observed.
“Yes it does,” I agreed and it did. Emblem’s storied old high school didn’t look like a place that deserved to be on a list of the state’s most troubled schools. It looked like a determined and steadfast monument that had embraced generations of the town’s children and would continue to do so as long as it still stood. It looked like a shrine to the future.
Tristan was watching me now. He leaned over for one more kiss and then silently exited. I remained where I was, waiting for him to come around and open my door.
Then I took his hand and eagerly stepped into the future of Emblem.
Coming soon…
JEDSON (The Ruins of Emblem #2)
Coming soon
She thinks her secret is safe.
And I’m playing along.
For now.
But soon the truth will come out and there will be hell to pay.
Because I know what she did.
I’ve always known….
Add to Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/44801412-jedson
Gentry Series
Want more of the Gentry family?
Fall in love with every single one of them…
Gentry Boys Series
DRAW (Saylor and Cord)
RISK (Creed and Truly)
GAME (Chase and Stephanie)
FALL (Deck and Jenny)
HOLD
CROSS (A Novella)
WALK (Stone and Evie)
EDGE (Conway and Roslyn)
SNOW (A Christmas Story)
STRIKE (Cami and Dalton)
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TURN (Cassie and Curtis)
KEEP (A Novella)
TEST (Derek and Paige)
Ruins of Emblem
TRISTAN
JEDSON (Coming Soon)
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