I couldn’t argue with her on that point, and she did seem all doom and gloom. “Maybe it was your brother, then?” I recalled Ethan telling me he’d seen Chase talking to Carter after church.
She rolled her dark eyes. “Seriously? Chase likes Quinn. Why? I don’t know. But again, that would be the last thing Chase would do. It wasn’t us.”
I didn’t get a chance to question her further.
Carter’s nostrils flared as he got nearer. “Tessa, leave us.”
“Good luck.” Tessa hurried off.
Carter growled at those lingering. “Get out of here.”
They scattered like cockroaches.
In a flash, Carter’s fist landed with a thwack on my nose.
I saw stars as anger, hot and sticky, shot forward. “Fuck.” I was a second away from throwing my own punch.
A muscle jumped in his jaw. “Don’t even try to hit me. And if you go near my sister again, you’ll have more than a bloody nose.” He started to walk away.
Like hell. He wasn’t dismissing me. The only people who could do that were my parents. I latched onto his shoulder. He was as tall as me, but he was way bigger in the chest, and he packed a whopping punch.
He spun on his heel, eyeing my hand then my face. “You got some balls touching me.”
I couldn’t help the laugh that burst free as blood trickled from my nose and into my mouth. “Do you want the truth? Or do you want to get all up in my face over a rumor that isn’t true?”
“It is true,” he said.
I laughed again. “You know this how?” I had to hear his reasoning.
“My sister didn’t deny it.”
I traded his shoulder for the strap of my backpack. “So she told you we had sex?”
He winced at the last word. “No. Look, Quinn is easy to take advantage of. So stay away from her.”
Spikes of anger jabbed my gut. “Not happening unless Quinn tells me to.”
He took one step, and we were nose to nose. “I’m telling you.”
My nostrils pulsated even as the blood oozed out. “Did you tell Chase Stevens the same thing? Wait, he was the one who told you that rumor.” I wasn’t certain of that.
Carter created distance between us. “He was only watching out for Quinn. Remember what I said.” He turned the corner.
I was going to level Chase. If he wanted to play dirty, I could too.
A creaking door echoed in the hallway before a soft voice said, “Don’t pay him any attention.”
I turned and found Quinn looking pale and sad as she held on to the door of the girls’ restroom.
As I drew closer, she waved me off. “I think I have the flu. S-so don’t come any closer.”
I guess I shouldn’t have been surprised since we’d swapped spit.
She raked her gaze over me. “Carter hit you?”
I dragged my fingers under my nose. “It’s nothing.” The blood was beginning to dry around my nose.
She pointed her small finger at my right eye. “It looks like you might have a black eye.”
“Were you listening long?” I asked.
“Only the last bit. But I knew he was going to say something to you.” Her skin was ashen.
“Are you going home?” I didn’t want to talk in the hall or anywhere at school. “I can take you.” I had the family car since Mom didn’t need it.
“I w-was going to call my mom. But you should get to class.” She batted her long lashes at me.
I would carry her in my arms if I had to. Wait. Where did that come from? “I’m already lagging behind on my classes. One or two more isn’t going to make a difference. Besides, the teachers aren’t expecting me since I’ve been out sick.”
A pained expression washed over her, and I couldn’t tell if that was because she wasn’t feeling well or because of what I’d just said.
“Come on. I’ll drive you home.” It would give me a chance to spend time with her. All I’d thought about when I was lying in bed was Quinn.
The Suburban bounced over the road, making me queasier than I already was. My body was prickly and achy. My brain felt the same way. It had been a rough week with the rumor going around school about Maiken and me having sex. I had turned red from embarrassment whenever kids whispered or looked my way. I knew what I had been in for walking into school on that Monday morning. Even now that Thursday had rolled around, the whispers were still there.
Celia kept telling me to ignore the gossipers and the looks and Tessa, but I wasn’t one to easily ignore anything. I had gotten a reprieve when I’d first seen Tessa at her locker. She’d given me a look of disgust, rolled her eyes, and stomped off as though she hadn’t gotten her way. I expected her to retaliate in some fashion. Still, I had done my best to avoid her because when the shock or whatever it was that she was feeling wore off, I would be more than her pincushion. I would become her punching bag.
Even still, I’d been tempted to change up her little rhyme about me from “Quinn, Quinn will never win. You’ll never get the boy.” to “Quinn, Quinn did win. I did get the boy.” But I wasn’t a harridan like her and didn’t want to be either.
Maiken was deep in thought as he drove. I glanced out at the snow-covered landscape as homes clipped by on the two-lane country road.
“Did Chase start that rumor?” Maiken’s voice crackled as though he needed to clear his throat.
For days, I’d racked my brain trying to figure out who would say such a thing. Chase had motive—he wanted me. Tessa had one too—she wanted Maiken. What better way to separate the two of us than by telling Carter? Chase knew my brother would pop a vein. Rumor aside, it hurt that my own blood believed such hearsay. Sure, Carter wasn’t wrong when he’d said, “I see the way you look at him.” But that didn’t mean I would give away my virtue so easily. Momma and Daddy had taught us to respect ourselves and protect the precious things about who we were.
“One day, when you’re ready, you’ll want to have relations with a boy,” Momma had counseled me when I’d first gotten my monthly friend. “And when that time comes, I want you to promise me that you’ll come to me first, but I also want you to make darn sure it’s a boy you really want to give your virginity to.”
Oh my God. I wasn’t ready to have sex. I was just learning how to kiss.
“Quinn?” Maiken said. “Where did you go?”
I blinked. “I h-hate being the c-center of attention.”
He focused on the road. “Rumors suck.”
“What’s w-worse is Carter believes the rumor.”
He pointed to his nose. “I know.”
“Your eye is starting to color.”
He glanced in the rearview mirror. “It shouldn’t be too bad. So, do you think Chase or Tessa started it?”
“I’m almost positive Tessa didn’t. Not sure about Chase.” I hadn’t seen him at school. He wasn’t in any of my classes since he was a junior. At lunch, I’d gone to the library instead of the cafeteria.
“Carter didn’t tell you?” he asked.
I’d been avoiding my brother, and when we were at dinner or in the barn, we didn’t speak. Or rather, I hadn’t said a word to Carter. I was still angry with him. “No.” But it was time to have a talk with my brother and somehow make him understand that he couldn’t control my life. “I’ll talk to him.” Better yet, if I had Daddy’s approval to date, then Carter might not be so over-the-top brotherly.
Maiken’s knuckles were white as he gripped the steering wheel. “Give him some time. He needs to cool off now that he took out his anger on me, although he isn’t going to like that I drove you home. But I really don’t care.”
His last line made my heart swell as big as the Atlantic Ocean. Most boys ran when they saw Carter talking to me.
“You know I would never disrespect you,” Maiken said.
I gave him a weak smile, only because I wasn’t feeling well. “I know. It doesn’t matter who started it. It’s not like we’re going to have them make an announcement saying t
hat they lied.” That would be wonderful, though, mainly to get Carter to settle down.
He slid his hand over the console and turned up his palm. “Give me your hand.”
“You’re g-going to get sick again.”
“So?”
I placed my palm on his, and my pulse rioted, waking up the dormant butterflies inside my belly.
“I was just thinking. Why don’t we give everyone something truthful to talk about?”
I swallowed over a lump. I didn’t want anyone talking about me. Tessa is the only one that makes your days in school miserable. Why not give her something else to shut her up? That depended on what he had in mind. I was afraid to ask but excited at the same time. So I took in a deep breath. “What do you have in mind?”
“Be my girl.” He emphasized the word my with a grin that was all kinds of swoony and tingling.
Those three words were better than I love you. “Um… Um. O-okay.” My heart galloped faster than when I rode Apple.
“My aunt Eleanor wants us to go with her to the holiday party. Are you up for that?”
Despite how ill I was feeling, I had a sudden burst of energy, and if he weren’t driving, I would’ve hopped over the console and kissed him. My excitement dried up when I thought about something he’d said. “You don’t do parties.”
He licked his lips. “I will for you.”
Don’t cry. Don’t cry. But I couldn’t help the excitement gripping me. Happy tears surfaced. I officially had a date for the party. More importantly, I had a boyfriend. So cool. So not what I’d expected in my sophomore year of high school. I couldn’t wait to tell Momma. I couldn’t wait to gush to Celia. But then Daddy came to mind, and my elation withered.
The sign for the farm store jutted out in the distance.
Within a minute, Maiken wheeled into the gravel lot and parked near the farm store. “But…”
My heart flew into my throat. If he said not to tell anyone, I would give him matching black eyes.
He shifted into park. “I would like to get your dad’s approval first. He does know that I like you. So I don’t think he’ll say no.”
My eyes opened a little wider. “He does? You talked to him about us?” Boy I would’ve liked to be a fly on the wall when they had that conversation.
“Kind of. He asked me if I liked you, and I told him I did. His response was, ‘If you so much as hurt my daughter, I will take matters into my own hands.’ That was the extent of our talk. But I just want to confirm he’s okay. My dad taught Ethan and me to make sure we have the dad’s approval when we started dating. I guess he didn’t tell you.”
Daddy didn’t talk much about dating and boys, and if he’d mentioned anything to Momma about his talk with Maiken, she hadn’t said a word.
“We’ll ask him together,” I said. I had to hear my dad’s approval. That way, I could tell Carter that if he had issues, then he could talk to Daddy.
Although if I knew Carter, he wasn’t going to jump on board that easily.
I hopped out of the car and hurried around to open Quinn’s door.
She gawked.
Dad had always made sure he was opening doors for Mom. But my gentlemanly manners vanished when a bell dinged behind me.
Mrs. Thompson ran out of the farm store. “What happened? What’s wrong?”
Quinn’s throat bobbed as she climbed out of the Suburban. Her skin looked pale, as though she were about to pass out.
I held out my hand to help her.
Smiling as though I were her world, she gave me her small hand. “I feel terrible, Momma.”
Mrs. Thompson dove into mom action, feeling Quinn’s forehead and face. “You’re burning up. Let’s get you inside.”
I glanced down at the parking lot before going in. Only four trees lay on the ground, wrapped in wire. Liam had mentioned that they sometimes sold out of trees before Christmas. If that were the case, then I didn’t have a job anymore. It was probably best anyway. I had to get my grades up, our first basketball game was a week away, and I had to get my head around playing point guard. The only downside to not working was money. I’d pocketed a couple of hundred dollars from the short time I’d worked, which would suffice for gifts.
The farm store was empty. Quinn sat on stool, a sheen of sweat coating her skin, while her mom inserted a thermometer in her mouth. Then Mrs. Thompson stuck a straw into a juice box. “Do your brothers know you left school?”
Quinn shook her head, shifting her attention to me.
Mrs. Thompson’s brown eyes opened wide as she raked her gaze over my face. “What happened to your nose?”
I considered whether to tell her that Carter had punched me but quickly decided that our differences should be kept between us. Besides, she didn’t need to hear how her son threw a mean punch.
Mr. Thompson emerged from the back room, wearing a ball cap, a tan jacket, and dirty jeans. “What’s going on?” After he took one look at Quinn then me, that mean look he usually wore etched his strong jaw.
Mrs. Thompson went behind the counter. “Quinn has the flu.”
He stabbed a finger at me. “Why do you have a black eye?”
“It’s nothing. Brother stuff.” I wasn’t exactly lying, although that wasn’t a way to start a relationship with my girlfriend’s father.
The word girlfriend sounded foreign, but I was ready to have a girl. I was ready to build a relationship with Quinn.
“Was it that Stevens boy?” Mr. Thompson snarled. “Did he try something with Quinn?”
Quinn rolled her eyes.
I flinched back slightly, wondering why Mr. Thompson would think Chase would be foolish to do something to Quinn. Tessa and Quinn didn’t like each other, so by default, maybe Mr. Thompson thought Chase would support his sister.
Quinn pulled the thermometer out of her mouth, waving at her father. “Daddy.” Her voice was soft and sweet, reminding me of how my sisters could take away Dad’s anger in a flash. “I’m not feeling well. Chase didn’t do anything.”
Mr. Thompson chewed on the inside of his cheek. He didn’t look convinced.
Mrs. Thompson circled the counter with a first-aid kit in her hand. “Jeff, Chase is a good boy.”
He arched a brow at his wife. “Debatable.”
Interesting comments on both their parts. I had to side with Mr. Thompson.
“Quinn, put that thermometer back in,” Mrs. Thompson said. “Maiken, sit on this stool next to Quinn.”
I didn’t move from my spot near the table of jams. “I’m fine.” My nose wasn’t bleeding anymore, but I could feel the tightness around it from the dried blood.
Quinn patted the stool. “Let Momma at least clean the blood before you go back to school.” Her words were muffled as she talked around the thermometer.
That was a great idea. I didn’t want to alarm Ethan.
Mr. Thompson watched me intently as though he were thinking hard about whether we were telling the truth.
Cleaning up the dried blood, Mrs. Thompson asked, “Is it broke?”
I wiggled it a little. “No, ma’am.” Carter punched hard, but he hadn’t broken it.
Mr. Thompson grabbed his keys from the counter. “I need to go into town, Hazel.”
“Sir,” I said. “I noticed you only have a few trees left.”
“I’m glad you brought it up. We’re pretty much sold out. So I’m sorry—I won’t be needing you anymore.”
I wasn’t surprised. “If you do need a hand anywhere else, I’m available.”
He nodded once. “I’ll keep that in mind.”
My pulse thrummed a fast tune as I asked, “Do I have your approval to date Quinn?” I held my breath and checked on Quinn. She seemed to be doing the same.
Mrs. Thompson beamed as she deposited the spent gauze pad into the trash.
Mr. Thompson studied his wife as though they were speaking telepathically. After a beat, he sighed. “Maiken, you should be asking my daughter, not me.”
I released the
air in my lungs. Ninety percent of me had known he would say yes based on the conversation we’d had, but that nagging voice in my head had still made me doubt.
Quinn squealed. “I said yes, Daddy.”
Her dad grinned.
I felt compelled to respond. “I will be the perfect gentleman.”
“We know you will,” Mrs. Thompson added.
Quinn handed the thermometer to her mom and threw her arms around her dad. “You don’t need to worry. It’s time I date.”
Growling under his breath, he smoothed a hand over her hair. “You grew up way too fast.” He narrowed his eyes at me. “If you don’t treat her like the lady she is, I will cut off more than your legs. Do you get my drift?”
Loud and clear.
I raised a hand. “My dad would be the first in line to set me straight if he were alive. You have my word, sir.”
Quinn kissed her dad on the cheek.
Now it was time to take my girl to a party.
The stands in the gym were packed with kids, parents, and teachers from both Kensington High and Forest Grove High. The cheerleaders from both schools huddled on their respective side of the basketball court while both teams warmed up.
Celia and I were sandwiched in between Emma on my side and Ethan on Celia’s side. Maiken’s mom and Kade sat behind us. The other Maxwell kids were home with Eleanor and Martin, and the younger ones had come down with the flu, which seemed to be making the rounds with everyone. Even Carter and Liam had come down with the flu.
Celia nudged me before she whispered in my ear. “There’s your boyfriend.”
I got all tingly. It seemed odd to hear your boyfriend. I would’ve never in a million years thought I would have a boyfriend.
The team was warming up, and Maiken was shooting free throws from the three-point line, and every shot went in. Whispers peppered around us.
“Ooh, he’s going to be great for the team,” a dad in front of us said to his wife.
I still wasn’t sure he should be a point guard. I’d seen Chase play, and he wasn’t good at three-point shots. Regardless, Maiken looked especially handsome in his basketball uniform—tall, muscles toned, and his hair tamed. I couldn’t wait to go out on dates with him.
My Heart To Touch: A Maxwell Family Saga - Book One Page 17