“Yeah, fucker. Don’t get your balls in a twist.” Talon looks around at the seating. “Where can I squeeze in? Stiles has the best spot in the place and he’s the least deserving of it.”
“Fuck off! Should’ve gotten here sooner, man.”
Talon smiles, as if he’s figured it out, and walks over to grab Hope’s hand, pulling her up before sitting down and pulling her down into his lap. “I’m good here.”
I catch my brother’s jaw clench from the corner of my eye. I’ve never seen my brother jealous over Hope before, but I’m positive that’s what I’m witnessing right now.
“Comfortable?” My brother questions.
“I’m not complaining. That’s for sure.” Talon wraps an arm around Hope’s waist to adjust her, so that they’re both comfortable. “That’s better.”
“Is it though?” Hope questions, slapping his arm. “Because I feel a bulge.” She moves her butt, so that it’s on his thigh. “That’s better, pervert.”
When the pizza arrives, Stiles is the first to dig in, throwing four pieces on a plate and plopping down as if it’s nothing. I’m busy watching him stuff his face when Easton takes a seat next to me and takes a bite of my pizza, before smiling and tossing it back on my plate. “Really? You have your own pizza.”
“Not bacon,” he points out. “Stiles took half the pizza.”
“Hell yeah, that dick did,” my brother says. “Share some of that shit over here with the rest of us.”
Stiles licks each one of his slices and grins. “Who wants me to share now? Anyone?” He chuckles. “Didn’t think so. Now hit play.”
Easton hits play, but it doesn’t matter, because no one can stay quiet once the movie starts back up. The boys start up a conversation about last summer when Talon crashed his bike into a tree and how cool it was.
“I got that shit on camera.” Stiles laughs. You should see your face when you finally saw that tree coming.”
“What the hell?” My brother laughs. “You’ve had that shit on video this whole time and haven’t shown us? Let me see that shit.”
Stiles pulls out his phone and rushes over to play it for my brother, Talon moving out from under Hope to watch it too.
“Want to sit in my lap to make room?” Easton whispers in my ear, before smiling against it. “I doubt anyone would notice. Want to test it out?”
I laugh and nudge him away. “No, I don’t want to test that out. Don’t you want to see the video like everyone else? It was pretty hilarious.”
Talon must hear the last part of our conversation, because he looks at Easton and nods at Stiles’ phone. “You might as well see it too. The whole town will by the end of the week now anyway.”
Easton walks over to watch the video, and I can’t help but to smile as I watch him laughing with the guys. It’s something I’ve missed more than I could ever explain.
Once everyone gets their fill of watching the video, Easton takes his seat beside me again and the conversation changes to drunken stories from the summer before Easton left.
“Remember that time Stiles stuck his head inside Ben’s truck and blew chunks in the driver seat after game night?” Talon questions excitedly. “That shit was all over the steering wheel and soaked into the fabric. Ben had to air his truck out for two weeks even after having it professionally cleaned two times.”
“I mean… it was the closest trashcan I saw,” Stiles says casually.
“It wasn’t a trashcan,” Hope adds with a laugh.
“It looked like one when I was drunk. Shit, I couldn’t tell the difference between my dick or my balls that night. I was that wasted.”
“Because your dick is as small as your balls.” My brother laughs.
When everyone in the room joins in, Stiles jumps up and reaches to unbutton his jeans. “I’ll show you just how wrong you are about that. My dick is probably bigger than all three of yours.”
“Keep your shit in your pants, Stiles.”
“Right. We’ve seen it before,” Easton says on a laugh. “And I can say for certain that it’s not bigger than mine. Sorry, man.”
“You guys have seen it?” Stiles asks, eyes wide. “Hell, I really need to drink less shots.” He grabs another slice of pizza and sits back down. “We can move on from my dick now.”
“Okay.” Hope sits up straight. “What about that horrible date Dakota went on last year with what’s his face?”
“Peter “douche” Anderson.” My brother laughs extra hard, as if it’s the funniest thing that’s ever happened.
“Roman,” I warn. “Don’t you even think about—”
“The asshole was plastered before Dakota even got to the bar to meet him. Not even twenty minutes after she showed up, he fell off his stool while in the middle of trying to strip out of his shirt to show her his ‘nice abs’. When she stood up to see if he was okay, the douche puked all over her shoes and then passed out. I had to call an ambulance to pick his ass up.”
“Not funny, guys. That was my favorite pair of blue Chucks. They were broken in just right.” I throw some popcorn at my brother’s shoulder, but it hits Hope instead, who only laughs harder along with everyone else. All except for Easton, who stands up and walks into the kitchen. Clearly, he’s not amused hearing about me going on dates.
“That was my bad.” Hope gives me an apologetic look. “He seemed like a nice guy when he came into the diner for lunch every Tuesday. He looked like your type and all. Dark hair and tattoos. Rode a motorcycle. He was hot too. Very hot.”
“Why didn’t you take him on a date?” my brother questions, studying Hope’s face. “Have your eye on someone else we know?”
“Maybe…” Hope bites her bottom lip and turns away to eat her pizza in a hurry.
Easton returns to the living room minutes later with a handful of beers and passes them out. “I’ll replace these later.”
“Like that time we hung out in the garage all night and drank my dad’s entire case of beer?” My brother unscrews the cap from his bottle and takes a quick drink. “You promised you’d replace it before my dad noticed. The lady at the gas station the next day took one look at your fake ID and laughed at it. Got our asses grounded for two weeks.”
“Three weeks, actually.” I laugh at the memory. “I remember, because you had just turned seventeen and you kept talking about a party that some skater guy was throwing in a few weeks. It was supposed to be the best party ever, and you were so pissed that you couldn’t go.”
Easton laughs from the doorway. “She’s right. It was three weeks. I somehow got grounded to your house instead of mine, since your dad was the one who grounded us. I’ve never been grounded by someone else’s parents before. I didn’t even know that was a thing.”
Hours pass with everyone just goofing off. It reminds me so much of before Easton left. It feels as if no time has passed and that Easton has been a part of the crew the entire time with how easily everything flows.
Nights like this—all of us together so carefree—is something I could get used to, and something I want more of for as long as I can have it.
Easton
I say bye to Roman and Stiles after they drop me off in the parking lot, and throw some shit into my bag before sprawling out on the crappy hotel mattress and closing my eyes. Tonight—talking and joking with all my old friends—felt good. Really good. It was the first time since I’ve been back that things have felt normal. It was almost like I’d never left to begin with. It gave me a glimpse at what I’ve been missing by being gone. That part didn’t feel good. Not for a second.
It didn’t help hearing the story about Dakota’s ‘date’ with that Peter guy. If I had been here, he never would’ve gotten the chance to set his eyes on Dakota. He would’ve been outside the bar, and on his ass, the moment I realized he was waiting on her. Truthfully, I probably would’ve done that even if the fucker wasn’t trashed. Him being there for Dakota would’ve been enough to get rid of him.
After laying here for a while, lost in my thought
s, I run my hands over my face in frustration and sit up. It’s a waiting game just like every night, and as much as I hate coming back here until we’re certain no one will find me at her place, I’ll do this for as long as it takes if that’s what Dakota wants.
I don’t care if it takes months. If she’s willing to let me into her bed beside her at some point, where I belong, I’ll stay in this shithole and wait for her, because nothing is more important than her.
Laying back again, I stare up at the ceiling for as long as I can take it, before finally grabbing my bag and hitting the road on foot.
When I get to the end of her driveway, the only light on in her house is her bedroom. I smile, knowing that she’s waiting for me, just like she has for the past three nights. I’m getting comfortable being in her bed, and I want her to do the same. I need her to want me there just as much as I want to be there.
Tossing my bag into the bed of my truck, I climb in and dig for my phone, sending Dakota a text. I’m not ready to hide away. Not yet.
Easton: Come outside
A few minutes later, Dakota steps outside and looks around. She looks a little disappointed until she notices me in the back of my truck. “Hey.” She smiles and shuts the door behind her. “How long have you been out here?”
I shrug and place my hands behind my head. “Not long.” I smile as I look her over in her little tank top and cotton shorts. “Now, are you joining me on your own or am I going to have to throw you into my truck myself?”
“You want to stay out here? In the open?” She looks around as if our friends are going to pop out of the darkness.
“Yeah. It’s late, Kota. Come here.”
She’s hesitant for a few seconds, before she finally makes her way to my truck and climbs inside. The moment she’s close enough, I sit up and grab her hands, pulling her to me so that her legs are wrapped around my waist, our chests pressed together.
“This is so much better.” I rest my forehead against hers and place both of my hands behind her head, our eyes meeting. “There’s nothing I despise more than not being able to touch you. Do you get that?” I press my lips against hers, my heart beating faster from the taste of her mouth as she kisses me back with just as much need. “Or kiss you. It’s the worst feeling in the world, Kota.”
She wraps her arms around my neck and moves in as close as she possibly can until there’s no space between us. “I hate it too. I probably hate it more than you do.”
“Not a fucking chance. Come here.” Grabbing her chin, I tilt it back, claiming her mouth again, but deeper and needier this time. I kiss her long and hard, not stopping until we’re both panting and fighting to catch our breath.
“Lay with me out here for a while and let me hold you,” I whisper, running my thumb over her bottom lip. “Forget about everything and everyone and just be… with me.”
She doesn’t say anything. She just kisses my thumb and maneuvers to lay in my arms, cuddling into my side. We lay like this for a while before she says, “You have no idea how many times I’ve fantasized about this very moment… with you… in the back of this truck… in the middle of night… with no one else around. I’ve probably imagined it more times than I can count.”
“Yeah,” I whisper, kissing the top of her head, before holding her tighter. “I’ve imagined it too. Since the day I bought this thing, I could see us in the back of it, you in my arms. It’s one of the reasons I got it. Once I saw how much you loved it, all it took was picturing us together and I loved it too.”
“Seriously?” She looks up at me, her eyes filled with emotion. “That’s why you chose this truck? Because of me?”
I grab her chin and nod. “Yeah. Why do you think this truck is so important to me? It’s why I’ve never let anyone drive it. You were always going to be the first one, but I was too chicken shit to let you behind the wheel, because I knew if I took one look at you driving it, I’d want you even more than I already did. I wasn’t sure I could handle that. I was barely getting by as it was.”
“Easton…” Her voice shakes as her eyes study mine. “Is that true?”
“Every. Single. Word.” I brush my lips over hers, before speaking against them. “You underestimate just how important you are to me, and I want to change that. I need to change that.”
“What if we shouldn’t?” she whispers up at me.
“Then I’ll change that too,” I whisper back.
We lay here in a silence for a while before Dakota laughs beside me. I smile and look down at her. “What’s so funny?”
“I was just thinking.” She laughs again, but harder this time, as if she can’t control it. “Remember when you first brought this thing to Stiles’ house and you were playing basketball with my brother… Stiles kept trying to sneak to your truck to drive it, so the last time he snuck off, you waited until he got close to the door and then chucked the ball at him so hard you knocked him to the ground?”
“How could I forget?” I laugh at the memory of the shocked look on Stiles’ face when he picked himself up from the ground. “He complained he had back spasms for a week.”
“Oh yeah! That’s right.” She laughs even harder. “We all kept telling him to stop being a pussy. The only thing it did was leave a tiny bruise. It was barely even noticeable.”
“I seriously don’t know how Stiles has survived so many years. He stubs a toe and he’s out of commission for a week.”
Dakota’s laughing so hard that she’s crying at this point and can barely breathe.
“Whoa there. Breathe…” I kiss the top of her head and smile down at her. “I can’t have you dying on me, because then I’d have to hurt Stiles for being so easy to laugh at.”
“I’ve missed this,” she says, once she can finally breathe again. “I haven’t laughed this hard since before you left.”
“Neither have I,” I admit. “I’ve never laughed harder than when I’m with you. It’s always been that way. You make me happy. You have since the first day we met. I still remember walking into your house, upset because my parents had been fighting a lot. It was getting so bad, and I was scared they would get a divorce. You were the only one able to make me smile and forget.”
“I thought it was the snot-covered crayons that made you smile?” she teases.
“Yeah, but it was the little girl who shot them out of her nose that kept me smiling every day after that.”
“I tried.”
“You didn’t have to try hard. Trust me on that.” I kiss her again and pull her in close.
I don’t know how long we end up laying here, her in my arms and staring up at the sky, but what I do know is I could do this with her every night for the rest of my life and it would never be enough.
Dakota
Easton was barely at the shop for an hour this morning when Roman came in and stole him away to fill in for Mae at the pub. It’s not surprising that I’m anxious for Hope to pick me up so I can get to him, now that he’s at my brother’s house waiting for me to arrive. Especially after what he confessed to me last night in the bed of his truck.
All these years and I was completely clueless to being the reason he picked out his truck to begin with. I can’t even begin to explain how hearing that made me feel. His truck is one of the most important things to him, and now I know why. It’s easy to say I’ve only fallen for him more than ever before with each day we spend together, and each new thing I learn about our past has my heart bursting for him.
It still hurts—it’ll never stop—when I think about him and Quinn together, but the more comfortable I get with Easton, and the closer we get, the more my heart tries to convince my head that she’s gone and she’d want us both to be happy… even if that involves us being the ones to make that happen.
I haven’t quite convinced myself that it makes it right, but at this point, I’m torn. I’m so torn that I’m about to split in two, and the only thing I can do to live… to survive at the moment is to pretend that maybe… just maybe Easton wa
s meant to be mine to begin with.
Maybe one day that thought won’t hurt so much.
I slip into a pair of flipflops when Hope’s truck pulls into the driveway and she lays on the horn like a maniac, not stopping until I’m outside beside her truck.
“What the hell, Hope?” I close the door behind me and fasten my seatbelt. “Are you in that big of a hurry?”
She smiles over at me and backs out of the driveway. “Is your brother half-naked by a pool, cooking hotdogs and sausages?”
I nod, my face turning sour at that image. “If you want to look at it that way, yes.”
“Then yes. Yes, I am.” She glances my way when we get stopped by a red light. “So, Easton helped out at the Pub today?”
“Yup. That’s what I hear.” I do my best not to picture Easton behind the bar, because if there’s one thing I can’t handle, it’s that image. It’s almost as sexy as watching him work on motorcycles, and Easton’s sexiness is the last thing I need to focus on when headed to a pool party where he’ll be half-naked.
“That’s pretty cool, I guess. Seems like the boys are getting close again.”
“Yeah,” I whisper, not wanting to think about what Roman would do if he found out about me and Easton. I’m not sure he’d ever talk to him again, and the thought makes me sick every time it creeps into my mind. “It’s like he never left in the first place.”
“Tell me about it. The same goes for the two of you.” She pulls into my brother’s driveway and yanks her keys from the ignition. “You and Easton were always close, I know that. But I was seriously worried you wouldn’t give him a chance while he’s here in town. You know… after what he did.”
“It’s in the past.” I grab my bag and jump out of the truck, needing this conversation to end. This is the last thing I want to talk about right now. I’ve waited for what feels like an eternity to see Easton today. I want to have a fun, stress-free night with everyone. Just like last night.
“I need a drink.” Hope wiggles her shoulders in excitement and hurries to the door, letting herself in. The house is empty, which means my brother and the boys are already out back. I don’t think I’ve ever seen Hope move so fast in my entire life, practically reaching the backdoor in ten steps.
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