by James, Marie
“Get out,” I tell her after yanking open her car door. “Now, Piper.”
With the quickness of honey in the winter, she unbuckles and slides out of the car.
“Everyone is staring at us,” she whispers as she stands in front of me.
I ease her door closed and press her against it.
“Are you nervous?” I ask as I inch toward her.
Her hands are trembling at her sides, but instead of letting her eyes dart toward the group of people who are exceptionally quiet, considering how animated they were when we pulled in, she keeps her focus on her feet.
“I’m a little nervous. Are you nervous?”
“I am,” I admit. “I want to hold your hand, but I’m terrified you’re going to hit me in front of everyone.”
“That would be embarrassing,” she says quietly, and I’m going to be in serious trouble if she doesn’t stop watching my mouth.
“Incredibly so,” I agree, my face mere inches from hers.
“They’re still staring at us,” she repeats.
“They don’t exist, baby. It’s only you and me here.”
“What are you doing?” Fear laces her tone when I lean my face closer.
“Making sure everyone here knows you’re mine.”
“Dalton—”
I swallow her worries.
I lick away her fears.
I press my body against hers and give her all the strength she’ll ever need to stand at my side.
Her fingers tangle in the sides of my t-shirt, and even though she’s shoved me away twice when we’ve done this before, right now, she’s pulling me closer. There’s no longer hesitancy in the way she opens her mouth and lets me in. She doesn’t draw her tongue back to get away from mine. She gives as good as she gets, and I’m grateful we’re in public because I don’t think I could be a gentleman if we were alone.
My blood is on fire, my breath short and ragged when I pull my mouth from hers. Her eyes glisten, but the tears from earlier are gone, replaced with a sheen of adoration and happiness.
“Get a room, whore!” I tense at the insulting words as they’re thrown our way. I’m not all that familiar with Bronwyn’s voice, but I know she’s the one who just said it.
“Don’t,” Piper says, her fingers in my shirt holding me tighter when I begin to pull away.
“I won’t let her treat you this way,” I seethe.
“They don’t exist.”
My jaw clenches, tightening to the point of pain, but I can’t look away from her.
“Do you want to go set them straight, or do you want to kiss me again?”
All I can do is lean in and press my lips to hers again. From the outside, the kiss is rated PG, but with the way my blood is pumping to every area of my body but my actual brain, it feels erotic and intoxicating. I feel ashamed for having my mouth on her like this in public. Not because I’m embarrassed about standing here with her like this, but because others have opinions about things that shouldn’t concern them.
“You’re hard,” Piper whispers against my lips, and it makes me realize I’m crushing my hips against hers.
The pressure is phenomenal, but clearly, she’s uncomfortable.
“I’m sorry.” I try to take a step back, but she’s still tangled in my shirt. Fire and need for her are burning through my veins.
“Don’t apologize. I think it’s sweet.”
“Sweet?” I choke on a laugh. “I would’ve guessed you’d be disgusted.”
Her brows draw in as she looks up at me. “Why would I be disgusted? It just means that you are attracted to me, so much that you can’t control your body’s reactions. It’s sweet.”
“I don’t want to embarrass you,” I confess, “but if we walk to the snow cone stand to order right now, the entire world is going to know exactly how you make me feel.”
She bites the corner of her lip, and it’s easy to tell she’s actually working through the possible scenarios of this.
“You’ve got that devious look in your eyes, baby, and believe me, I love it. I’ll do it if you want me to.”
“Are you implying that I want you to strut around the snow cone stand with a boner just to make your ex-girlfriend aware of what I do to you?”
Man, how in the hell did I resist this girl for so long?
I pull away from her, adjusting my dick, so it’s more pronounced and turn to walk toward the ordering window.
She squeals and pulls me back.
“Please don’t,” she pants against my lips. “Put that thing away.”
She kisses me this time. This time it’s her tongue demanding entrance to my mouth, and right here in the parking lot of Mr. Cones, Piper Schofield steals my entire heart.
I cup her neck, running my thumb along her cheek as she takes everything I’m offering her, and when she pulls back, we’re both breathless and smiling like idiots.
“Better?”
“Baby,” I swipe her swollen lower lip with the very tip of my thumb, “if you think that’s what makes an erection go away, you have a lot to learn about a man’s body.”
“All of that is true,” she whispers against my lips. “I don’t know anything. Think you can teach me a thing or two?”
Where did this little vixen come from?
“I’ll tutor you day and night until you’ve learned it all,” I promise, but I pull my hips away from hers. “But this isn’t the place for your first lesson. I’ll need you alone and away from prying eyes for that.”
She grins, and the fear and trepidation twisting her face up when we arrived are no longer visible.
“Tell me what happens after we get our snow cones.”
I grip her hip with my hand but do my best to keep my body from touching hers. I wasn’t joking about being turned on when she’s within eyesight.
“We’re going to go sit on that picnic table under the tree and enjoy them,” I tell her.
She frowns. “I figured we were going to get them and leave. My parents aren’t at home. We could start my first lesson today.”
“Jesus, Piper.” I rest my forehead against hers, totally in love with the suggestion, but knowing it can’t happen.
Jumping into bed with her isn’t the way to her heart. I don’t doubt that a couple of minutes of kissing her would make it easy enough to slide between her trim thighs, but sex isn’t all I want from her. That comes as a reward after she gives me her heart, and I won’t take the bonus until I have the main prize.
Chapter 28
Piper
“Don’t give me that look,” I tell Dalton as we settle on the picnic table under the tree just like he suggested. “It’s good!”
“Pickle juice?” His nose scrunches even more. “It’s disgusting. I figured you’d go for something like blue coconut or banana.”
I scoop another heaping spoonful of my snow cone in my mouth and smile. “I can’t risk a flavor that may have strawberries in it.”
He looks down at his cherry-flavored snow cone. “Well, crap. I didn’t even think of that.”
He places it to the side, making it obvious he doesn’t plan on eating any more of it, then he jumps down from the tabletop and starts to walk away.
“Where are you going?”
“To buy a bottle of water.”
“You can eat the snow cone, Dalton.”
He places his hands on my knees and moves in closer. “But can I kiss you if it has strawberry in it?”
Despite the pickle-flavored juice melting on my tongue, my mouth runs dry. Everything is different from how it was this morning. After hearing his confession while on the phone with Peyton, after him not hating me when I confessed about driving his car, how could it not be?
I’ve finally given in to what my gut has been telling me for a while. Dalton Payne is not the same man he was weeks ago, and that realization has opened my eyes to what we could be together.
“Y-You better go grab that water,” I suggest.
His lips on me are about
all that I want right now, and I’m grateful he’s doing something to remedy the possible allergic reaction I could have to his snow cone choice because honestly, I’d probably risk the anaphylaxis to kiss him again.
He licks his lips suggestively but pulls away at the last second. My breaths don’t come easier until he’s standing behind a mom with two little boys waiting to place their order.
How is it that I miss him when he’s only a dozen feet away from me? Am I so starved for attention from the opposite sex that I go crazy with a couple of kisses? I think I need to have my head checked because I can’t help but feel like this is just another prank. My heart is telling me that Dalton really means what he says, that his confession to his sister came from a good place, but the tortured and tormented girl in me is still cautious.
“Hey.” I snap my head up at the feminine voice, my hands already beginning to shake with what’s coming.
Violet, a girl from school that I don’t really know, is standing in front of me with a bright smile. She was never one to be mean to me at school, but she also never did anything to stop the bullying either. In my opinion, those people who just stand on the outskirts of the group and watch while others are humiliated are just as guilty as the ones actively abusing others.
“Hi,” I say with caution.
“Can I join you?”
My eyes instinctively dart toward the snow cone stand, searching for Dalton. I’m not looking so he can rescue me but trying to find his eyes and reaction to determine if he’s involved with this setup.
Dalton isn’t even looking this way. He’s smiling at the woman behind the counter with his money in hand, ready to pay for his bottle of water.
“Why?” I ask, giving Violet my full attention. “Did your friends send you over here?”
“They’re not my friends.” She doesn’t snap the words at me, but disgust drips from her tone.
“You’re hanging out with them,” I remind her. “Doesn’t that make them your friends?”
“No,” she answers, sitting beside my feet on the picnic table.
I’m sitting on the tabletop, and the distance between us, even though she’s close, makes me feel a little better.
“I only hang around them because I’m bored,” she says, but it’s not the full truth.
I simply stare at her, wondering why she’s here to begin with.
“It’s super shitty, and I know I’ve never said anything when they’ve picked on you, but I didn’t want to be included in their tormenting.” She heaves a harsh sigh from her lips. “I never laughed like the others. I don’t know if you know that or not.”
“I know you were at Dalton’s little pool party the other day. If you’re not friends with them, why would you go?”
Does this girl really think that I’m so hard up for friends that she can slide right over here, and I’ll welcome her with open arms? I have twelve years of built-up cynicism that wouldn’t allow for that even if I wanted to be friends with her, which I don’t.
“Boredom?” She shrugs her shoulders, looking past me toward the crowd of rowdy teenagers on the other side of the lot. “I just wanted to say sorry for not speaking up. They didn’t send me here, and I don’t want to associate with them at all. I figured if Dalton was starting a new group, one that didn’t treat people poorly, then I could—”
“You thought you could what?” I snap. This girl has lost her mind, thinking she can hop from one side to the other. I’ve decided people like her are worse than the ones participating in being mean.
“I just want friends,” she mumbles, and just like that, she makes me feel sorry for her.
“They’re going to be mean to you if you stick around much longer,” I warn her.
“I know.” Her back straightens, but she never pulls her eyes from mine.
“Hi. I’m Dalton.” Saved by the handsome boy. He holds his hand out to her. “You were the one at the pool party that was happy I put those jerks in their place.”
This is news to me.
“Violet,” she says with a hint of awe in her voice as she shakes his hand. “It’s been a long time coming.”
Dalton has to pull his hand away from hers when she holds it a little too long, and I can’t really fault her for the hearts practically dancing in her eyes. He’s incredibly good-looking, but the thought of her crushing on him bothers me more than her keeping her lips closed when she had witnessed me getting bullied at school.
Dalton takes his place by my side, making a point to swish his mouth several times with the water he just purchased before speaking again.
My cheeks flush with his actions, knowing that he’s thinking of kissing me just like I have been doing since he pulled his lips away from mine a few minutes ago.
“Are you going to be a senior, too?” Dalton asks Violet, and I bristle at the fact that he’s interacting with her at all.
Then I do my best to step back and look at his point of view. He doesn’t know anyone, and he’s able to approach each person as if they’re brand new. He isn’t worried about what happened in the past. He’s only concerned with how they act now. Maybe I should do the same.
“Junior,” Violet answers.
“Hey, Vi.”
We all turn our heads to the person that just walked up. Drake is another one of those that sort of floated around the mean people, and like Violet, he never participated in the daily doses of torture.
Dalton introduces himself to Drake, and before long, we have a group of about ten people at our table. I remain silent, watching these people gravitate to Dalton like a shelter in the storm. Is it possible that there’s an entire populous at Westover Prep that has just been waiting for things to change?
Dalton, even with no memories, doesn’t miss a beat becoming the center focus once again to the group. He smiles and chats, asking questions about school and sports, but he keeps my hand clasped in his the entire time, even taking breaks while others are talking to grin at me and press his lips to the back of my hand. Everyone that’s joined us takes it in stride. They don’t bat an eyelash at the affection he’s showing me, and it makes my nerves calm a little.
He glances my way, concern marking his brow when I wince from brain freeze after taking too big of a bite of my snow cone.
“You okay?”
“I think the pickle juice is eating a hole in my head,” I mutter through the pain.
He rubs my temples, not missing a beat in the conversation with those that have gathered around us.
Kyle and Bronwyn’s group has dwindled. Many of their inner circle watched us for a while, but then left the snow cone shop altogether. Thankfully, they didn’t bother to come over and fake being friends. I don’t know that I could’ve handled that if they had. I’m not a mean person, even after being bullied for a long time. I’ve never wanted to outwardly criticize or gloat, but watching Bronwyn huff and puff as our group got more attention as time passed, I can’t help the little smile pulling at my lips.
I will never be friends with the trio of hatefulness and spite, but maybe they will quit being vile now that Dalton is different.
When we get up to leave, my snow cone long forgotten and melted, several of the people ask about meeting up again later in the week. Dalton smiles at them but doesn’t confirm any plans.
“See?” he says as we climb back into my car. “That wasn’t so bad.”
“I feel like I’m in the middle of a teen drama series,” I grumble as we drive back to my house. My head still aches, but it’s not bad enough to really worry about right now.
He laughs, a husky sound that fills the inside of the car.
“You didn’t have a good time?”
I don’t answer him, but only because I don’t know how. Yes, it was nice being around people that weren’t being hateful, but the entire time I was waiting for someone to slip up and call me Mary, or for someone to walk up and say something harsh. I’ve been on pins and needles the entire time, and two hours of stress has left me exhaust
ed.
“It was fine,” I finally answer when I feel his eyes burning a hole in the side of my head.
“Just fine?” He takes my hand when I park in my driveway. “We can do better than fine.”
A weak smile pulls up one corner of my mouth, but it’s the best I can give. I can’t even explain the way I feel. Today was what I’ve hoped for years, but having it didn’t bring the elation I dreamed of many times.
“Did you hear me?”
I turn my head toward him. “I’m sorry. What?”
“I asked if you wanted to go for a walk. I could push you on the swing.”
My eyes narrow at the suggestion. “The swing? What are we nine?”
He shrugs. “It could be fun.”
I don’t respond, and I don’t make a move to get out of the car either. I’m struggling between asking him for some time alone and suggesting we go inside my house.
Feeling drawn to him is really messing with my head, and yet I don’t want to spend a second away from him. I don’t know if I’m worried that with distance he’ll change his mind, maybe realize he doesn’t love me and that one of the girls back at the snow cone stand would be a better fit. My lip curls in irritation at the thought of Violet dating him.
“What’s that look for?” His finger presses against my lip, and I hang my head in shame for doubting him.
“I just…” I shake my head because it’s filled with warring thoughts that are bound to drive me crazy. “I don’t know. Maybe you should go home.”
“Nope.” He doesn’t hesitate when he speaks. “We aren’t doing this again. I’ll say it a million times if I need to. I’ll apologize every day for the rest of my life until you believe me, but I’m not letting you get lost in your head while you think of ways to push me out of your life. Don’t do this, Piper. Please.”
“Dalton.” I shake my head again. “I can’t help it. I have a lot of stuff to work through.”
“We can work through it together. Tell me what you need, and I’ll give it to you.” I sigh. “Not space. I’ll give you anything but space.”
“Are you a mind reader now?”
He frowns at me even though I’m trying to be playful.