Heath

by Nikki Ash

  “Enough!” I snap. “My God! I am here and breathing and nobody raped me!” I push him out of the bathroom. “I need to get ready for school.”

  “But—” he whines.

  “Uh-uh.” I shake my head and hold my hands out, needing him to stop talking right this second. “Out!” I push him once more and then slam the door in his face, so I can finish getting ready for school. I apply a single coat of mascara, a thin layer of lip gloss, and brush my hair one last time.

  Grabbing my backpack off the back of my chair, I close my bedroom door behind me and fly down the stairs. Helen, the sweet woman she is, has my breakfast sandwich wrapped and ready to go, wishing me a good day at school.

  “Thank you, Helen!” I yell as I run out the front door. I’ve never had a mother before, but I imagine the way Helen dotes on me about eating and doing my homework is what it would be like. I’m looking forward to her showing me how to cook and bake. One day I would love to have a family of my own, and while it’s nice to have someone like Helen around, I would like to be able to take care of my family myself.

  I make my way down the sidewalk and onto the driveway when it hits me my car is still out of commission. Damn it! I spot Theo sitting in the driver seat of his Porsche. The window is rolled down and he’s grinning. Damn boys and their toys. I jump into the car and turn to Theo.

  “Good thing your new daddy bought you a car because I have no clue how long mine is going to be stuck at the shop.”

  His brows furrow as he turns the starter and the car roars to life. “You never did tell me what happened.”

  “I hit the median.” I shrug. “Harrison had it towed to the shop in town as a favor, but I have no clue when I will have the money to get it fixed. Even with my insurance, I’ll still have to pay the deductible.”

  Theo’s hand comes across the center console and rests on my leg. “Don’t worry, Cat. I’ll take care of it for you.” His fingers rub circles into my thigh, and it has me feeling uneasy. He promised he would stop this, but once again here we are.

  “Theo,” I warn, and he moves his hand, placing it on the stick shift.

  “Sorry.” He gives me a weak smile. “I’ll go by the shop after school and pay whatever they need.” Well, that’s interesting, since the last time I checked he was just as broke as I am. He pulls on the stick shift, but it doesn’t budge. I glance at the clock. We’re about to be late for first period.

  “We gotta go,” I point out.

  “I know, I’m trying.” He groans, pulling harder on the stick shift, which doesn’t budge at all.

  “Please tell me you know how to drive this car.” Damn it! We’re going to be so late!

  “Nope, he doesn’t.” My eyes fly to the side to find Harrison leaning into the passenger side window. His face is only inches from mine and he’s sporting a sexy grin. He’s so close, I can smell his body wash: clean and woodsy. I inhale to get another whiff and he chuckles. My face heats up at having been caught sniffing him, but he doesn’t call me out on it. Instead he leans in farther and presses his lips to mine. What I think will be a chaste kiss quickly turns into more when his tongue slips into my mouth. When the kiss ends, Harrison pulls back slightly and grants me the most adorable grin.

  “Good morning,” he whispers.

  “Morning,” I say back with a smile. Using my top teeth, I pull my bottom lip into my mouth and can taste him on me. It’s fresh and minty. His eyes light up and one side of his mouth pulls up into a smirk. Forgetting where we are, our eyes stay trained on each other, neither one of us wanting to look away first. That is, until Theo reminds us we’re not alone.

  “If you’re done molesting Cat, we need to get to school.”

  I whip my head around and glare at him. “I wouldn’t go there if I were you,” I warn and Harrison laughs. “But he’s right.” I turn back to Harrison. “We do need to get to school.”

  “Well, don’t let me keep you.” Harrison gives me one more chaste kiss before backing away and standing next to the car. He’s in his usual attire. A white T-shirt, fitted jeans, and boots. His muscular arms cross over his chest and I remember what it felt like when he used those same strong arms to pick me up and place me in his lap. His biceps naturally flex as he chuckles softly and I make a mental note to make him take his shirt off for me later and show me all of his tattoos.

  But right now, we need to get to school. Then it hits me what Harrison said when he walked over here. “You can’t drive this car?” I hiss.

  “He was supposed to show me how!” Theo whines and glares toward Harrison.

  “Great!” I unlock my seatbelt with more force than necessary and push the door open, stepping out of the car and swinging my backpack over my shoulder. “How are we supposed to get to school, Theo?” I shout.

  He shuts the car off and gets out. “I’ll ask my dad if I can use his other car.” He nods toward the BMW sitting in the garage that I’ve yet to see driven.

  Harrison throws his head back with a laugh and I glare his way. “What’s so funny?”

  “That car is a stick shift too!” He snorts. “Real men can drive a stick.” His shoulders shake with laughter.

  “Okay, real man,” I hiss and walk over to him, then jab my finger in his chest. He stops laughing when he sees how pissed off I am, wiping the amusement off his face. “Can you take us to school, please?”

  “I can take you to school.” He grins, walking over to his bike and grabbing two helmets. I glance over at Theo, who’s shooting daggers at Harrison. The last thing I need is these guys at each other’s throats.

  “In the car,” I clarify. “Theo needs to go to school too.” He might be acting like an ass lately, but he’s still my cousin and friend, and I can’t just leave him here.

  Harrison opens his mouth to argue, but when he sees I’m not playing around, he rolls his eyes and groans. “Fine, let’s go.”

  The ride to school is quiet, and once we arrive—a good thirty minutes late—Theo makes it a point not to get out of the car until I do.

  “I’ll see you later,” Harrison murmurs against my lips. I should be yelling at him for rubbing us in Theo’s face, but every time his lips touch mine, I turn into a puddle of goo.

  “I have practice after school till four.”

  “I’ll be here to get you.” He gives me another kiss then turns around to face Theo. “See you after school, honey.” He grins wide and Theo growls.

  “I’ll find my own way home.” He pushes the door open and slams it closed.

  “Even better.” Harrison shrugs. “See you later.” He shoots me a wink.

  Theo is waiting for me on the sidewalk, and when I get out and Harrison takes off, he immediately starts in on me. “The guy is an uneducated grease monkey.”

  “Don’t start.” I roll my eyes and walk ahead of him toward the main doors.

  “Are you fucking him?” Theo asks.

  “It’s none of your business what I’m doing with him,” I yell over my shoulder, picking up my pace. If his goal is to see how far he can go before I beat his ass, he’s about to reach the finish line. The front office secretary gives us our late passes with a warning and then we both head to class without saying another word to each other.

  The day drags by slowly. At lunch, Anne won’t even make eye contact with me, but at least, from what I can tell, she hasn’t said anything about what happened Friday night to anyone. Finally the last bell of the day rings out, and after grabbing my stuff from my locker and changing into my practice outfit, I head out to the field. Once all the girls are there, we begin going over each of the cheers for Friday night.

  “All right, ladies, let’s do Dynamite one last time and then we’re done for the day.” Dynamite is a new cheer I showed them for the first time today. It has a couple complicated lifts, but everyone seems to be quickly picking it up.

  “Ready, okay.” I clap four times as I chant the beginning of the song. “We’re dynamite. We’re dynamite.”

  I turn aroun
d to face my squad, continuing the moves, but also watching to make sure everyone has it down, when I first notice Charlotte’s moves falter. Next, Anne messes up. They both attempt to save the cheer as Kelsie grins at something behind me, her motions becoming sloppy.

  “Stop!” I command and everyone pauses. “What’s going on?” My gaze follows several of the girls. And that’s when I see him. Harrison, still in the same clothes he was wearing this morning, is perched like a damn model against the picnic table, his hands pressed against the top of the table and his legs crossed in front of him. When our eyes meet, he shoots me a panty-melting wink.

  “My God, that man is sexy,” Charlotte says. I ignore her, turning back around to get my squad in order.

  “Yes, he is,” Kelsey agrees in a sing-songy voice that has me wanting to bitch-slap the melody right out of her.

  “I’ve seen him in town,” Elena, another cheerleader, adds. “He drives a motorcycle and works at the auto shop.”

  I open my mouth to tell them to shut up and focus when Anne says, “Same. My sister said she hooked up with him a while back. Said he’s an animal in bed.” And I’m pretty sure I just vomited a little bit in my mouth.

  “I heard he’s a fuck-and-run kind of guy,” Darby says with a pout.

  What the hell is going on here?

  “Oh yeah,” Anne agrees. “But I bet that one time would be worth it. It’s not like he’s husband material.” Everyone laughs, and my stomach knots at the realization of how judgmental my friends are.

  “Oh no.” Charlotte shakes her head in disgust. “I heard he never—”

  “Enough!” I yell. “Practice is over.” I swipe my pom-poms off the ground and stuff them into my gym bag. Then, I throw my bag over my shoulder. When I turn around to leave, I notice ten pairs of eyes all staring at me.

  Anne is the first one to speak. “Is he here for you?” Her condescending tone has my blood boiling.

  “And if he is?” I volley back.

  “Cat, you’re not like dating him, are you?” Kelsey asks. Okay, forget bitch-slapping, if I don’t get out of here, I’m going to end up suspended for beating one of these judgmental bitches’ asses.

  “Actually I am.” I shoot her a fake grin, daring her to say something back. When everyone stays quiet, I snatch up my backpack and turn back toward them one last time.

  “The next time any of you talk shit about my man, I will make you regret it.” My eyes land on Anne first. “The last time I checked, every guy you’ve slept with is either taken or is into someone else.”

  My glare goes to Charlotte. “And your father wouldn’t know what the word faithful means if it smacked him in the face.”

  I glower at everyone else. “Keep Harrison’s name out of your mouth.” With their jaws left hanging open, I walk away, straight over to Harrison. Dropping my gym bag and backpack, I wrap my arms around his neck and pull him into me for a searing kiss. Without missing a beat, his hands find my ass and he picks me up, twirling us around and setting me onto the table top, his lips never leaving mine. I should regret what I said to my friends. Apologize to them so I don’t ruffle any fragile feathers. Anne knows shit she could use to make my life a living hell. But for some reason, when it comes to the man currently fusing his lips against mine like I’m his lifeline, I lose all logic.

  When our kiss ends, he pulls back slightly and smiles.

  “Hey,” he murmurs. “Miss me?”

  “That depends. Just how many women have you fucked and dumped in this town?”

  His eyes widen and his jaw drops open in shock for several seconds before he picks it back up and speaks. “Cat,” he begins, and I can tell by the grimace he’s sporting, whatever he’s about to say isn’t going to be good.

  “Never mind.” I shake my head. “I don’t want to know.” I continue to shake my head, unsure of what to think or how to feel. I avert my eyes over to the school building as I try to stop the hot tears that are burning my lids from falling.

  “Hey, look,” Harrison says, “I don’t know what those girls said to you, but I can tell you right now, I have no intention of fucking and dumping you.” I look at him and his eyes are pleading for me to believe him.

  “Okay,” I whisper. “I’m sorry. They all just started talking about you and all the women you’ve had sex with and I freaked out.”

  “I can’t change my past.” He frowns. “Hell, I’m struggling to get control of my future.” His brows are furled together and his blue eyes are imploring me to understand. I don’t really understand, but I can sense his sincerity. And because I like him, I let it go.

  “Can we just get out of here?” I ask, and he nods in agreement.

  “Hell yeah,” he says. “Where do you want to go?”

  “Anywhere, I don’t care. Just away from here.”

  “You got it.” He grips my hips and sets me onto the ground, then bends and grabs my bags for me. Taking my hand in his, he pulls me over to his bike and hands me a helmet. After tying my bags onto the back of the bike, he lifts me onto the back seat and throws his leg over the side and gets on, revving the engine.

  “Hold on tight,” he yells over the rumbling noise. I wrap my arms around his waist, my head resting against his back as he takes off. When he hits the main road, he speeds up, and the cool afternoon air sends a chill through my barely clothed body. As the comments and accusations my friends made run on replay in my head, I find myself holding on to Harrison tighter, afraid to let go. Terrified that whatever is going on between us isn’t going to last. I’m already falling too quickly, and I’m trusting that Harrison will be there at the bottom, waiting to catch me. But what if he isn’t? My fingers make their way under his shirt, needing to feel his skin. His hand lands on my bare thigh and he gives it a gentle squeeze. No, I refuse to believe he won’t be there to catch me. Until he proves otherwise, I’m going to trust him.

  When we pull up to the road that leads to Windy Hills, I frown. When I said anywhere, here was not exactly what I had in mind. But instead of turning down the driveway, Harrison keeps going. Eventually we come to a dirt road that if you weren’t looking for it, you would miss. He slows the bike down and turns onto the road. Trees that look to be hundreds of years old line both sides of the path, the tops coming together and forming a canopy of sorts. When we get to the end, the dirt and trees both end, and in front of us is the backside of the large lake that connects our two estates to each other. But from here, you can’t see either home.

  Harrison parks the bike and helps me off. He opens his bike bag and pulls out a blanket. He shakes it out and lays it on the grass before he plops down and pulls me with him.

  “Ask me anything,” he says. “Whatever it is you want to know, I’ll tell you.” I think about the questions I could ask him: how many women has he slept with? Did any of them mean anything to him? How many times was he with each woman? But anything he says won’t change how I feel about him. He’s here with me now, and that’s the only thing that matters.

  So, instead I ask him the only question that matters to me. “Will you hold me?”

  Harrison

  HER HAIR SMELLS LIKE APPLES. And I really love apples. It feels right with this girl tucked under my arm as we watch several geese splash in and out of the lake water. If the guys at the shop saw me right now, they’d give me so much shit. I already caught nine kinds of hell this morning after I dropped Cat off at school. I’m never late so when Damian gave me the third degree, I admitted it was because I had to take my girl to school. Frank and Lou wouldn’t shut the hell up after that. Damian simply smirked. I suppose it’s strange. I’ve never dated before. I fuck, but never date.

  With Cat?

  I’m doing it all backward and I don’t even care. I like it. I like that we haven’t fucked. I like that I’m taking the time to notice what her hair smells like and the way her laugh sounds. It feels like I’ve been drifting through this life and I’m finally starting to see what’s around me.

  All I see is h
er.

  Everyfuckingwhere.

  And I love it.

  My life was dark and dismal and fucking drab.

  Cat is laughter and smiles and big, innocent eyes. She distracts me from everything else with her sweetness. Something I didn’t know I had a taste for, but now I can’t kick this craving.

  “It’s pretty out here,” she says, her palm splaying over my chest. “I’ve seen it from the other side of the lake, but not this side.”

  She lets out a heavy sigh. Since seeing her dad yesterday, she seems lighter. A weight has been lifted from the poor girl’s shoulders.

  “I used to come out here when Heath was being unbearable,” I tell her, running my fingers through her sweet apple hair.

  “Which is always,” she says, huffing.

  I bite back a grin. “Pretty much. But sometimes, especially when I got older, I wanted to fucking throttle him. To keep from losing my cool and beating him to a bloody pulp, I just slipped out and came here.”

  “Another spot,” she whispers. “You have so many. The closet, the swamp, here.”

  “When you don’t own your life, you have to find ways to make it yours. Small acts of rebellion. These places don’t mean shit to Heath. He couldn’t care less if I hid out in a closet. To him, it was a stupid, childish thing to do. To me, it was everything. It was something I could control,” I admit softly.

  She sits up and turns to look at me. Her cute nose is scrunched as her green eyes regard me curiously. “Why do you stay?”

  “I’m not sure,” I mutter. “Something always kept me tethered. Sometimes I thought it was my father’s memory. Other times I think I held out hope that Heath would change and treat me like a real son. And then other times, I’d look at Helen and realize I’d miss her if I left. Every time I got ready to scrounge up the money I had and take a leap, something stopped me.” I lean forward and press my forehead to hers. “This time, it’s you.”

  She smiles. “I’m glad you’re here.”

  “Me too.”

  I lie back on the blanket and pull her to me. She traces letters or pictures on my abs over my shirt and each time she dips low on my stomach, my cock aches. Little tease.