Broken Dreams (Spiraling Book 2)
Page 21
“What are you doing?”
“Replacing the air filter.”
“You’re always working on that truck.”
“Yep.” He leaned farther under the hood to adjust a bolt.
“Maybe you should get a new one. That way you wouldn’t have to work on this one all the time.”
“I don’t have a rich daddy to buy me a new car every time I want one, Tori.”
I wasn’t sure if his comment or the cold, judgmental way he said it bothered me more. “My dad doesn’t buy me stuff any time I want it.”
“Okay,” he replied sarcastically.
I scowled. “Whatever. If you’re going to be like this, I’m just going to go.”
“All right.”
His tone made clear he didn’t care if I left. He reached for a tool lying on the side of the truck. I grabbed it before he could, stepping back so he would have to look at me.
“Give me the ratchet, Tori.” He stood upright, turned toward me, and held out his hand.
“Not until you talk to me,” I said.
He dropped his hand and sighed. “About what?”
“I want to know where you were the other day.”
“When?”
“When you were supposed to pick me up after class.”
“I was at work.”
“Carter said you were sleeping.”
“Fine. I was sleeping,” he said. “If you already knew where I was, why did you ask?”
“Why are you lying?”
He scowled. “I’m not. I had to fucking work.”
“You could have called to tell me, so I didn’t stand there waiting for you.”
“I didn’t think about it until I was already there. How was I supposed to know you’d wait over an hour before you called somebody?”
“Ugh!” I stomped my foot. “That’s not the point! You said you would pick me up. Just like you said you’d take me to see Le Corsaire last weekend, which you never did.”
“That’s because I never said I would.”
“Yes, you did.”
“No. I didn’t,” he growled. “Where do you get this shit?”
“You never want to do anything with me anymore,” I said. “Do you even care about me?”
He blinked. “What the hell? Of course, I do.”
“You don’t act like it.”
“How do I not act like it?”
“You wouldn’t even talk to me when I called. I needed you and you told that guy to say you weren’t here.”
“What are you talking about? I never told anyone to say I wasn’t here when you called.”
“I know your voice, Devon. You can’t tell me it was someone else.”
“Fine,” he retorted. “I told him to say I wasn’t here. I figured you wanted to bitch about me not picking you up and I didn’t want to listen to it.”
“Well, that’s not why I called,” I said.
“I didn’t know that.”
“No. You didn’t.”
“So, why did you call?”
“I got in a fight with my stepdad and he hurt my arm.”
Devon’s eyes widened. He stepped closer, reaching for my arm. “He hurt you?”
I jerked away. “It’s fine now. Not that you care.”
“I care. If that—”
“Oh, so now you care? Now that you know what happened?”
“I’m sorry, baby doll. I shouldn’t have blown you off, but it doesn’t mean I don’t care about you.”
“Yes, it does,” I retorted. “All you care about is getting high.”
His eyes narrowed into a piercing glare. “What?”
“That’s what you were really doing, isn’t it?”
“I know who told you that shit, and that sonofabitch needs to stay away from you.”
“Nobody told me anything. They didn’t have to. You can lie all you want, but I know you’re using.”
Devon turned away, ran both hands through his hair, and took a deep breath.
“Look at me,” I said. “Look at me and tell me it’s not true.”
“No.” He shook his head.
“Why not?”
“Because I don’t have to justify myself to you.”
“You do if you want me to stick around because I’m done with all the—”
“Fine.” He turned around. “I’ve smoked a couple times since I got back. Happy?”
“No.” I scowled. “Why would I be happy about that?”
“I don’t know. You tell me. You’re the one that can’t just let shit be.”
“Well, I’m not happy.”
“Big surprise.” He scoffed. “You’re never happy.”
I stared at him. Angry tears burned my eyes. I drew in slow breaths to steady myself.
“Don’t do that,” he said.
“Do what?” My voice broke.
“Cry. It’s not going to work. I’m not the asshole this time.”
“I never said you—”
“You do this. We fight. You cry. I apologize even though I didn’t do anything wrong. Not this time. Cry if you want. I’m not sorry.”
His words hit me square in the chest, knocking the breath out of me. I lost the last bit of control I had. Hot tears streamed down my face.
“Fuck.” Devon exhaled. Walking toward me, he wrapped his arms around me. “Tori, I—” His voice was low and gentle.
“Get away from me!” I pushed him back.
“I didn’t mean it. I’m sorry.”
“Yes, you did.”
“No, I didn’t. I lost my temper.” He pulled me against himself. “I’m sorry, baby doll.” His lips pressed to the top of my head. “I’ll do better. I promise.”
My tears dampened his shirt as I clung to him. I wasn’t sure if I believed him. I wanted to. I wanted to squelch the doubts racing through my mind and the feeling that everything around me was about to crumble into pieces. The sincerity in his voice told me he meant the words when he said them. Sticking to them was the part I wasn’t sure he could do.
Thirty-Six
There weren’t a lot of choices for entertainment on Friday nights, so the small theater in Clarington overflowed with moviegoers. After some debate between Joy, Carter, and I, we chose a science fiction movie, but no one seemed all that excited about it. We trudged through the crowd and took our seats near the back of the theater. Joy wanted to sit beside me, so we wound up sandwiched between the guys who both looked like they would have rather been anywhere else.
Devon put his arm around me. I snuggled into his side as much as I could with the armrest between us and watched the screen. The movie wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be. I got into it enough that it caught me off guard when Devon’s hand wandered up the bottom of my shirt to rest on my stomach. I turned my head, and he smiled at me.
“Love you,” he whispered, kissing my forehead before turning his attention back to the screen.
Smiling, I settled into his side and let my hand fall on his thigh. Joy looked at us and shook her head. I knew a lecture on modesty was in my near future, but I didn’t care. She could suck lemons as far as I was concerned. Since the night I’d taken him to the trailer park, things had been strained between Devon and I. His simple gesture—something he hadn’t done in weeks—was the first affirmation I had things would be all right. I wasn’t moving, and I wasn’t asking Devon to move.
After the movie, Devon excused himself to smoke while Joy, Carter, and I stood in the lobby of the theater deciding what to do next.
“I don’t know about you guys, but I’m hungry,” I said.
“Are you ever not hungry?” Carter asked.
“No.” Joy giggled. “She’s always stuffing her face.”
“Oh, whatever,” I replied. “I haven’t eaten anything since like seven o’clock this morning.”
“What do you call the huge thing of popcorn and two boxes of candy you had during the movie?” Joy asked.
“That doesn’t count,” I answered. “We al
l shared the popcorn, and Devon ate most of the candy.”
“Sure, he did,” Carter replied, glancing at Joy and shaking his head.
“He did,” I said. “He chews on stuff when he can’t smoke.”
“He shouldn’t smoke at all.” Joy wrinkled her nose.
“Okay, Mom.” I rolled my eyes.
“It’s a disgusting habit, Tori. You should tell him to quit. He’s taking years off his life every time he has a cigarette.”
“I’m not telling him anything,” I retorted.
Her face scrunched into a judgmental scowl. “If you cared about—”
“Don’t even,” I snapped.
“But—”
“You should probably let it go, Joy,” Carter said. “Even if Tori tells him, Dev’s got a bad habit of not listening to good advice.”
“Some friend you are, Carter.” I scoffed.
“It’s the truth,” Carter replied.
“Whatever.” I huffed. “I’m going to go see what Devon wants to do.”
As I left the theater, I heard Carter say both Devon’s name and mine. I paused to listen, but he lowered his voice, so I couldn’t make out the words. Pretending I’d been looking at something, I continued through the exit doors and searched the crowded sidewalk for Devon.
“Hey, baby doll.” Devon smiled around his cigarette when I approached him.
“Holy crap,” I replied.
His left eyebrow arched. “What’d I do now?”
“Nothing. It’s Joy. She’s being all high and mighty again. Lecturing me like she’s my mother. I swear, she got a boyfriend and now she thinks she’s the queen of the world or something.”
“She’s definitely taken the whole ‘holier-than-thou’ thing to a new level.”
“I know. It makes me want to slap her. Just . . .” I mimed slapping Joy, adding a soft grunt for effect.
Devon laughed.
“I’m serious,” I said.
“I know,” he replied, cuffing my chin playfully. “You’re cute when you act tough.”
“Oh, I am tough. Ask Kennedy.”
The space between his eyebrows wrinkled. “What’d you do to Kennedy?”
“Punched her right in the face.”
“You punched someone in the face?” The corners of his mouth drew up in an amused smile, and he shook his head as if he didn’t believe me.
“Yep.” I nodded. “Gave her a black eye.”
He tossed his cigarette, slid his arm around me, and pulled me into his chest. Looking down into my face, he swept the back of his fingers across my cheek. “You’re just full of surprises.” His voice was low, almost a whisper. Goosebumps erupted on my skin.
Cupping my face in his palm, he leaned closer. I raised onto my toes and closed my eyes in anticipation of a kiss. When it didn’t come, I opened my eyes again to see Joy and Carter approaching.
Of course. Because we can’t go anywhere without Joy and Carter tagging along. I’m so over this double date thing. If they want to go out, they need to figure out how to do it without us.
Devon moved his hand to my shoulder and nodded at the interlopers. “Hey.”
“You guys figure anything out?” Carter asked.
“No.” I shook my head.
Joy eyed Devon and me, then looked away as if the sight were too much for her delicate senses. I scowled. Aside from Devon’s hand on my shoulder, the two of us weren’t touching. Even Joy couldn’t consider a hand on the shoulder inappropriate.
“What?” I glared at her.
She turned back to me, shaking her head. “Nothing.”
“You know, I’m kind of hungry, too, since you mentioned it, Tori,” Carter said. “There’s a burger joint down the road if you guys want to check it out.”
“Sounds good,” Devon replied, sliding his arm around my back.
As we started down the sidewalk, I felt Joy’s hand on my bicep.
“Can I talk to you?” she asked.
“Sure.” I rolled my eyes.
Devon and Carter looked at us. Joy’s eyes moved self-consciously between the two boys.
“We’ll catch up,” I said.
“All right.” Carter nodded.
Devon’s lips brushed my temple before he released me, lighting another cigarette as he and Carter continued toward the parking lot a block down the street from the theater. I waited until they were out of earshot before turning to Joy.
“If you’re just going to lecture me about Devon, I don’t really want to hear it, so we can just—”
She shook her head. “That’s not what I wanted to talk to you about.”
“Okay. Then what is it?”
“I, um . . .” She drew up her shoulders and looked at the sidewalk. “How do you . . . ? I mean . . . if you want . . .”
“Spit it out, Joy.”
She raised her eyes. “How do you get a boy to kiss you?”
“Really? That’s what you want to talk about?”
She nodded.
“You’ve never kissed Carter?”
“No.”
“Seriously? You guys have been going out all this time and you’ve never kissed?”
“Carter’s never even tried. It’s like he doesn’t want to touch me. And it’s like, Devon’s always touching you. He’s always got his arm around you or holding your hand or touching your arm or something. Like he can’t not touch you.”
“I didn’t think you’d want a guy to act like Devon. You’re always giving us dirty looks.”
“Not intentionally.”
“But you do. Carter probably thinks you’ll bite his head off if he touches you.”
“Oh.” She dropped her gaze back to the sidewalk and sighed.
I watched her, considering a solution to her problem. “I have an idea.”
“You do?” Her head snapped up. “What?”
“Kiss him.”
Her brow furrowed. “Huh?”
“Kiss. Him.”
“I don’t know.” She looked as if she were about to panic.
“Just do it, Joy.”
“Me kiss him?”
“Yes.”
“Now?” She glanced in the direction the boys had gone.
“Sure.” I nodded.
“But—”
“I’m pretty sure if you want to kiss Carter, you’re going to have to make the first move. If you don’t want to do it now, that’s fine, but you’ll have to do it, eventually. I don’t think he’s going to.”
“Okay.” She straightened her back, smoothed her dress, and adjusted the collar of her white sweater. “I’ll do it now.”
“Great.”
I followed Joy as she walked down the street, determination in her stride. The nearer we got to the parking lot, however, the slower her steps became.
“I can’t do this,” she said.
“Yes, you can,” I replied. “Just walk up to him, grab his face, and lay one on him.”
“What if he gets upset?”
“He won’t.”
“What if he breaks up with me?”
“He won’t.”
“What if—”
“Just do it, Joy.” I pushed her forward, toward the two boys leaning against a blue-gray Oldsmobile.
Joy’s face showed genuine panic as we met our boyfriends. She stared at Carter, wide-eyed, her breath audible over the din of other people talking and cars passing on the street.
Carter’s eyebrows drew together. “You okay?”
Joy stepped close enough to smash Carter’s foot with her own. He grimaced and started to protest, but before he could get a word out, Joy’s lips were on his. His eyes popped open, his back stiffened, and his arms straightened at his sides.
Carter didn’t move when Joy stepped back. He stared at her in stunned silence.
“Sorry.” Joy looked down, wiped her hands on her dress, and walked around the front of the car to the passenger side.
“What the hell, Carter?” I whispered, smacking his arm.
Devon snorted before breaking into a full belly laugh. I couldn’t help joining him. On the other side of the car, Joy sniffled. I reined in my laughter, tapped Carter’s arm, and pointed.
“You should go talk to her.”
Carter glanced at his girlfriend and nodded before walking around the car to join her. After he’d gone, Devon wrapped his arm around me, pulled me closer, and cupped my face in his other hand.
“I think you just made Carter’s night,” he said.
“How do you figure?” I asked.
“You going to tell me you didn’t tell Joy to do that?”
“Maybe.”
Devon smiled. His lips brushed my forehead. “I love you, baby doll.”
“Love you, too.”
“You two ready to go?” Carter asked from the other side of the car.
“Yep.” Devon nodded.
His hand slipped into mine as we stepped back from the car. He opened the door, waiting for me to get inside before he shut it softly behind me. As he walked around the front, he crossed paths with Carter. A smile lit up Devon’s face. He patted Carter’s shoulder and said something neither Joy nor I could hear from the backseat. Based on Carter’s blush, I assumed it had something to do with Joy and the kiss.
Thirty-Seven
Plopping onto Chase’s couch, I unzipped my purse and dug through it for the black leather bracelet I’d made that morning. “Did Carter talk to you about the thing this weekend?”
“What thing?” Devon lit a cigarette, set the pack on the coffee table, and sat beside me.
“Frontier Days.”
“Not ringing any bells.”
“I don’t think you were here for it last year. It’s always at the end of July.” I located the bracelet and tossed my purse aside. “Here. Give me your arm.”
He extended his arm. “What exactly is Frontier Days?”
“It’s this festival in the park. Like a fair. There are folk artists that come from all over and rides and pie and chili bake-offs and a street dance and—”
“What are you doing?” He scowled at the braided leather bracelet I’d wrapped around his wrist.
I looked up. “Grandma taught me how to make these. I thought you’d like it.”
“I’m not really into jewelry, Tori.”
I closed the loop and tested to ensure it wouldn’t fall off. “It doesn’t look that bad.”