by Kristie Cook
“Time’s up,” Ty said as he barreled into my trailer. He found me in the bathroom with a blush brush in my hand. “Oh, for shit’s sake. You don’t need that crap.”
He wrapped his muscular arms around my waist and lifted me off the ground.
“Ty Daniels, put me down!” I squealed as he threw me over his shoulder, but I couldn’t suppress the laughter that bubbled up. I couldn’t remember the last time I felt like laughing like this. When he began moving, I tossed the brush toward the bathroom counter. It clattered to the floor, but there was nothing I could do as Ty strode outside and dumped me in the passenger seat of his pickup.
“Where we goin’?” I yelled over the music blasting from the speakers after he turned onto the highway, headed into town. Some of my hair loosened from the clip and blew against my cheeks from the wind through the open window. “What’s your surprise?”
“If I told you, it wouldn’t be a surprise, now would it?” He looked over at me and grinned mischievously. Damn him for being so cute. Did I ever tell him about my thing for guys in ball caps? Must have, because he seemed to use it against me every chance he got. Or maybe it was because he always looked so good in one that started my thing in the first place. I didn’t know anymore. At least he wasn’t wearing scrubs, too, or I would have been a lost cause.
That thought made me think of Mason, and then I felt guilty because I’d turned him down so many times to work, and here I was, off with another man. Ty and I might have had this friend thing going on right now, but it once had been more than that. I knew he wanted more again. He’d been doing everything right since he arrived home, finagled this day off for me even. Now I felt guilty for thinking of Mason when Ty deserved my undivided attention. At least for today.
“Almost there,” Ty said, and I refocused on my surroundings as my arm rode the air current outside the window.
My brows came together when I saw we were on the two-lane road heading north out of town. “I thought you said we weren’t going to the party.”
“We’re not. Not right now anyway. If you want to after this, we can, though.”
He slowed down and turned right into a driveway that ended at a little wood-sided cabin nestled among several live oaks dripping with Spanish moss. Back behind the house were some woods and, I knew, beyond that were open fields and a lake.
“But this is Mr. K’s place,” I said.
“Not anymore.” Ty threw the gearshift into park and turned the ignition off before hopping out of the truck. He ducked his head down and smiled at me. “This is my surprise.”
I narrowed my eyes as I looked at him, then at our surroundings. I didn’t understand.
“Are you comin’ or what?” he asked.
I turned for my door and had barely touched the handle when he was already on my side, yanking it open. He grabbed my hand and helped me out, grinning like a four-year-old on Christmas morning. At least, how they showed it on TV, even though I had no experience like that of my own. Ty led me up toward the dark brown house, but stopped several yards in front of it. He stepped behind me and placed his hands over my eyes, then gently pushed me forward a few more steps with his chest and hips.
“Surprise,” he whispered, his mouth so close to my ear that goose bumps rose when he spoke, and he lifted his hands.
We still stood in front of the cabin. Nothing had changed.
I tilted my head up and back to look at him.
“It’s mine now,” he murmured, and his face broke out in the biggest grin of all. My traitor heart fluttered. “All of it.”
“What do you mean?”
“I bought Mr. K’s place.”
I gasped and spun on my heel to face him. “How on earth did you do that?”
He gave an easy shrug. “Saved most of my money while I was in the Army. Made the last part of what I needed the other night in the fight, just in time, too. I closed on it yesterday.”
“You bought a house.” As the reality of it hit me, I squealed and threw my arms around his neck. “You bought a house, Ty! A real house!”
“Told you I’d get out of that trailer park one of these days,” he said as he took my hug for all it was worth. Then he pulled back and stared down into my face, his all serious now. “I’ve always said I’d get us both out. And I meant it, Bex. I still do.”
Something passed across his hazel eyes—something I didn’t want to label. But I couldn’t deny that he was about to kiss me. So I stepped back and dropped my arms from his neck.
“Can you show me around?” I asked with a heavy dose of enthusiasm. “Can we go inside yet? How much land is it anyway? When do you move in?”
He chuckled at the questions and began answering them as he walked up the front porch and stuck a key in the door. Wow. Ty had bought a house. He was seriously moving out of the trailer park. He was right now throwing open the door to his very own place that wasn’t a six-second walk from mine. He’d no longer feel trapped in that rundown shit-hole his daddy had left him with the horrible memories it held, and I’d no longer have to feel guilty when we finished our beers on my front steps after work and I went inside without inviting him in.
So why did I feel like crying? Why did tears leak down my cheeks?
“You okay?” he asked as he stood at the open door, waiting for me.
I gave a breathy laugh and wiped at my face, thankful for waterproof mascara. “Yeah.” I walked up the steps and gave him a smile. “I’m just so happy for you.”
And that was it, right? That’s what it should have been. But if I were being honest with myself, I knew there was more to what I was feeling than that. Nostalgia for our crappy childhoods. Envy that he was getting out. And sadness that he would no longer be sitting on my steps, waiting for me with a cold beer when I came home after a long day and night of double and triple shifts. Even though he wouldn’t be far and he’d probably come over the minute I called, I had this weird mix of feelings going on that my best friend was moving away and my childhood sweetheart was moving on. Both had happened years ago when he’d chosen to break up with me before leaving for the Army, but the anger had overwhelmed the bittersweetness of what I felt now.
“Bex,” Ty said softly from behind me, very close, so close, I could feel his presence against my back even though no parts of us touched. When he shifted, though, we touched completely, his chest against my back, his arms sliding around me, his chin on my shoulder. “I’m only five minutes away. I told you—I’m not leaving you again. And whenever you’re ready, this place can be yours, too.”
And suddenly, I wanted that. This. The house. The life. Ty. The two of us together. But the feeling was temporary. It had to be.
I knew that’s what he meant, but I chuckled and stepped away from him. Again. “If Uncle Troy ever kicks me out, I’m sure we’d make great roommates.”
He sighed, and I tried to ignore the hurt in it, even when it made my own heart squeeze with the ache for what could have been. I walked across the living room to the door that led out back, onto a wooden deck overlooking the backyard.
“It’s beautiful,” I whispered.
“It is nice, isn’t it?” he asked as he leaned against the railing next to me. “I see lots of beer drinkin’ on this porch. Maybe a few bar-b-ques in the backyard. I just need to dig a roasting pit.”
“It’s so peaceful. Except …” I listened closely, hearing music in the far distance, and laughed. “Sounds like your first party’s already started.” I threw a hand over my mouth. “Ohmagosh, Ty, the K-bombs are on your property now! Are you gonna throw them off?”
“Hell, no! I just made sure I never have to bring my own beer again.”
I laughed, then nudged him with my shoulder. “You wanna go?”
“To the party?”
I shrugged. “Why not? I haven’t been to one in forev
er, and you deserve to celebrate.”
“I do! I won my first fight, and that’s only the beginning. This is only the beginning.”
I turned to stare at him, tilting my head as I really studied his face. He’d mentioned the fight earlier, but I’d been so preoccupied with the house, I hadn’t really tuned into his meaning. Now that he mentioned it again … I lifted his hat, removing the shadow over his eyes.
“Oh, Ty,” I breathed. I dropped his hat and stroked the bruise over his left eye and cheek with the tips of my fingers.
He caught my hand in his. “It only hurts when you touch it. And you should see the other guy.” He kissed my palm before letting go. My heart ached even more.
“That’s what they all say. That’s what you used to always say when you got in fights at school.”
He grinned. “But it’s true. Especially this time. I won by a landslide, Bex. You shoulda seen me.”
My stomach tightened at the thought, even though I used to get a thrill watching him kick someone’s ass, usually because whoever it was had made the mistake of calling Sissy and me white trash in Ty’s presence.
“Maybe someday,” I said vaguely. “Just keep winning, though. Because whoever hurts you will have to deal with me, and I won’t fight fair.”
He laughed and grabbed my hand again, pulling me inside and toward the front door. “Let’s go party.”
Chapter 13
Mr. K’s, or, I guess, Ty’s property stretched back in a long rectangle from the main road from town to a line of trees on the other side of the lake that marked the property line. Down the way a bit and around the corner was a sandy road that usually only the utility companies used. About a hundred yards past that was the lake. We drove the truck over there rather than taking the direct route from the cabin, keeping Ty’s purchase a secret, and he parked in the grass with all the other trucks, Jeeps, and a swamp buggy.
The smells of dirt, grass, and roasting meat floated on the air, followed by the sounds of country music punctuated with laughter. Ty leaned over the truck bed and lifted a large, blue cooler out.
“You knew we were comin’ all along,” I said as I walked over and attempted to grab one of the handles to help him carry it. He twisted away from me, refusing my help.
“I’ve known you forever, boo,” he said. “But even if for some reason you didn’t want to come, a cooler of beer can always come in handy.”
As we walked toward the lake and the party, lifting our legs high over the tall reeds of grass, I was glad I’d switched to my cowboy boots. The ground squished underfoot, still a bit soggy after the summer rainy season. The music grew louder—Florida Georgia Line playing, one of the few country bands I could tolerate. In fact, I kind of liked this song. Someone must have shot a wild boar because one was dressed out, hanging from a spit over coals in the bar-b-que pit that had been dug way back when, before my time. The smell of smoking wood chips and the thought of succulent pulled pork made my mouth water.
The late summer sun beat down on us, warming my skin in a way I hadn’t felt in so long, and I basked in it, even knowing freckles were growing by the second. By the end of the day, I’d be one big freckle from head to toe, but I didn’t care. The sun, the music, the smells of roasting boar mixed with coconut sunscreen, whoops and hollers as people greeted us from their folding chairs scattered by the lake’s edge, the cold beer Ty was placing in my hand … I hadn’t realized how much I missed it all until now. And by the looks of it, the party had only just begun. The craziness would come later.
My mouth stretched into an uncontrollable smile as the excitement of downhome fun filled me.
I knew everyone there, of course, and bopped around to say hey to them all. Kaylee, a girl from my high school class who was already pregnant with her second kid, offered me some hunch punch—a homemade, redneck cocktail made with fresh fruit and grain alcohol.
“I can’t drink it, so you may as well get to enjoy it,” she said, rubbing her belly.
I took a cup from her and pulled a small swig. “Ohmagosh, this is the best I ever had.”
She frowned as I drew another long swallow. “Don’t tease me like that! Josh says the same thing, which is why he makes me make it even when I can’t drink none.”
“I’ll drink for you,” I said with a big smile. “Maybe some day, you can return the favor.”
She laughed. “You and Ty again? Ya’ll finally fixin’ to settle down so you can join me as a baby factory?”
I smiled even though my shoulders tensed as though her words were a knife skimming down the nape of my neck. I was only twenty-one. What was this “finally” bullshit? It wasn’t the first time the word had reached my ears since showing up here with Ty. Apparently, Uncle Troy and Ty—oh, and Sissy and Elizabeth—weren’t the only ones who thought we belonged together. Was I the one being blind as a bat after all? Or just stubborn as a mule? I groaned internally at the stupid clichés. Not just the bat and mule ones, but the cliché of Ty and me together. The best friends growing up, the high school sweethearts who’d thought they wanted something different but were always meant to be together, settling down and having babies and living happily ever after, best friends first but lovers forever. Was that us? Was that supposed to be my life? Was Ty The One, and I was in complete denial over it?
“Wouldn’t that be somethin’?” I said aloud, as much in reply to my own questions as Kaylee’s.
Ty jogged up to me and grabbed my hand. “Come with me.”
I downed the rest of the hunch punch and dropped the cup on Kaylee’s table as Ty pulled me away. “Where we going?”
“I realized I forgot to bring chairs, and I can’t have you sittin’ that pretty ass on the damp ground, now can I?”
“So we’re leaving to get chairs?” Sounded stupid to me. We just got here.
“Hey, Ty, ya’ll takin’ off already?” Joe Baker called out. Someone else wolf-whistled.
“Just goin’ to get my truck,” Ty yelled back.
“Ain’t you worried about bringing it out here and the law knowin’?”
“Hell, no! This is my place now.” He laughed loudly, and the secret came out of the bag when he gave a brief explanation before taking off in a jog, pulling me with him. With Ty’s encouragement, a couple of other guys followed us.
Ty opened the driver’s side door of his truck, and I started to pull away to head for the other side, but he tugged me back and in one swift motion, lifted me into his side. When I saw him coming in, too, I scooted over.
“You might wanna hang on, sweetheart. This is gonna get fun.”
His hand reached between my legs for the gearshift, making my thighs tremble at his closeness. As soon as he threw the truck into gear and we jolted forward, I grabbed the dashboard with one hand, his thigh with the other, and held on tight. He eased the truck into the field, and it immediately began to sink. Ty flipped on the four-wheel drive, whooped out the window, and stomped on the gas pedal. Tires spun. Mud flew. The truck slid sideways for a moment, and then flew forward.
Of course, he didn’t cross the hundred yards to the party in a straight line, but twisted and turned and did donuts in the muddy field. Two other trucks did the same, spraying mud up on each other, everyone laughing uncontrollably, including myself. The adrenaline rush, the twists and turns as Ty made us slide, the screams of laughter surrounding me … I felt alive for the first time in months. Years. Probably since the day he broke up with me.
We’d never been able to go mudding out here before. The town cops and county sheriffs weren’t dumb enough to know we didn’t party here—they’d done their own fair share of it in their days—but they only came if there was trouble. Tearing up Mr. K’s field was considered trouble, and more than once they’d identified the vandals by tire tracks left in the mud. But now we had Ty, and he obviously didn’t care.
“It’ll all need to be tilled up and worked on anyway,” he said between hollers and howls of laughter. “If I ever decide to grow anything on it in the first place. For now, it can be our playground.”
He gave me a big grin, squeezed my hand that was still on his thigh, making me tighten my own over the thick muscles of his leg, then slammed the gas again as he spun the steering wheel to the right. The g-force pressed me against his side and sucked a scream out of me that dissolved into laughter. By the time we reached the lake and he turned so the tailgate faced the party, I was practically in his lap and breathless.
“I told you so again,” he murmured against my ear while shutting off the ignition.
“What did you tell me now?” I asked, my voice barely more than a whisper as I tried to catch my breath. I wasn’t sure now what had me gasping—the thrill of mudding or of Ty’s mouth so close to my skin.
“This is where you belong, boo,” he answered. “Right here. Nowhere else.”
He lifted my hand from his leg, kissed my palm and gave me a wink, all while he slid out of the truck. He strode off before I could respond. Before my spinning mind could come up with how to respond. Because all I could think was, “You’re right, Ty.”
I slid out of the truck and followed him to the back in somewhat of a daze. He’d gone over to retrieve his cooler, and I was still speechless as he brought it back, his biceps and forearms bulging, his chest straining against the tank shirt he wore. I backed up against the tailgate he’d already lowered and was about to jump up when he was suddenly in front of me, his hands on my waist. Our eyes locked as he lifted me, and the hold didn’t break as he stood in front of me, between my legs. A numbness must have set in because I didn’t feel his hands still on me until his fingers tightened and his thumbs pressed into the sensitive strip of skin between the bottom of my halter and the top of my low-rider shorts. I drew in a sharp breath and finally blinked. I didn’t know what must have passed across my face, but it made Ty’s eyes darken and his hands open. He turned away before I could stop him, and my heart sank to my stomach.