Chapter Thirteen
Trey
D read.
It consumes me as I stare through the glass of Cal’s windshield.
Grandma’s house.
Sure, there are lots of good memories here and Grandma has taken care of me like she were my own mother, but there’s a sense of dread that has hung over me like a cloud ever since I woke up from my coma.
The moment I go inside and clean out my shit, I’m officially turning a new chapter in my life. I’m manning up. Letting go of my youth. Starting adulthood…finally.
With a heavy sigh, I exit Cal’s truck I borrowed and trot up to the front door. Before I let myself in, someone pulls in the driveway beside the truck. I look over my shoulder, pleased but surprised to see a yellow Jeep.
Penny shuts off the Jeep and climbs out, pulling a bag over her shoulders. “Hey, Smash.”
“Hey, beautiful.”
She walks right up to me, her head tilting up so she can look at me. “Gross.”
A laugh tumbles out of me. “I tell you you’re beautiful and you tell me gross. Learn to take a compliment, mean-ass.”
Her lips quirk on one side. “I meant you, standing there with your cheesy grin and trying to woo me is gross.”
“Then why’re you smiling if it’s so gross?” I tuck an errant strand of hair behind her ear. “I think you secretly like it.”
“You’ll never know.” Her blue eyes twinkle.
“That’s where you’re wrong,” I murmur, dipping my lips to her forehead and pressing a kiss there. “I can read your eyes now. I don’t need your lips to smile for me. Your eyes are the glimpse inside.”
I pull away and she’s frowning again.
“I want to kiss you,” I admit, searching her eyes that communicate so much. “Last time, I scared you off, though.” I rub my thumb along her lip, wishing like hell she would let me do it again.
Her brows furrow harder. “Stop talking, Smash. You know my answer.”
With those words, she stands on her toes, parting her lips for me. I don’t have to be told twice. Gently, I press my lips to hers, needing to taste her more than I need air right now. I groan when her tongue lashes against mine, greedy and ravenous. She gets spooked so easily, so holding her is probably a bad idea, but I need her in my arms. I slide my hand to her back, pulling her against me. A tiny mewl escapes her, sending currents of desire straight to my dick.
She tastes like mint and madness.
A delicious, fresh tease into the unknown.
That’s what it is with her. The unknown. Each second I spend with her is in some subspace I don’t recognize. I understand women, but not Penny. Penny is a mystery that I feel is my duty to unravel.
I will unravel her.
Thread by thread until I reach the very marrow of who she is.
I want her to be mine.
Scary as fuck since I’m not the guy who settles down whatsoever for a chick. Penny’s not some normal chick. She’s everything all the rest weren’t and more. I feel slighted that I’ve been wasting time with women who were only one sliver of what Penny is.
The accident changed me.
For the better.
Opened my fucking eyes.
Perfection has been staring me in the face for years. Probably not appropriate until now—hell, not until April if we’re being precise—but still there. Fate’s got fuckin’ jokes. Teasing you with a future, dangling it right in front of you, but letting you be blind to it until it’s the right time.
“When you’re done trying to get my best friend pregnant, come inside and see what Grandma’s done to your room.” Sonya laughs from behind me. “If I didn’t know better, I’d say she’s been waiting your whole life to get rid of you.”
I hold my middle finger above my head, reluctantly pulling away from my kiss with Penny. Her cheeks are tinged pink and her lips are swollen. Fuck, she’s gorgeous.
“Spooked?” I tease.
“We talking about that crazy eye of yours, because, if so, that’s pretty spooky.”
I give Penny a playful smack to the ass before stepping away. “Keep it up, English. One of these days I’m gonna punish you for all your insults.”
Her blue eyes twinkle and she smiles.
She fucking smiles.
With the sun shining on her golden-blond hair, she looks like a goddamn angel, too. All I can do is stare, because this girl is going to wreck me in the best possible way.
“Bye, Smash.” She bounds off, headed for my cousin. “Roll your tongue back up.”
“They just keep adding up, baby,” I taunt.
“Didn’t know you could count that high with that head injury,” she calls out.
“Stop talking, woman.”
“That’s my line,” she sasses, looking over her shoulder with a smirk.
“And you’re mine. That means I get your lines too.”
Sonya gives me an arched eyebrow, but I shrug. It’s about damn time everyone learns Penny and I are going to happen. It’s only a matter of time.
“Zip your lips, cuz,” I bark out. “I’m not looking to get my ass beat by Horn River’s rat.”
Okay, so not everyone should learn about me and Penny. Least not yet. Especially not her brother who I can guaran-fucking-tee bench presses more than me these days.
“No promises!”
I flip her off as they head inside.
Fuck. Now it’s time to deal with Grandma.
It’s getting dark as I load the rest of the boxes into the back of Cal’s truck. Sonya wasn’t shitting me. Grandma turned my room into a goddamn old lady yoga room. Painted it teal, too. I didn’t realize I had so much shit. Most of it went to the curb, but I got the rest of my clothes and shoes. She wouldn’t let me throw the giant tub of mail away. Most of it looks like credit card applications. Grandma took the time to write “Don’t make bad decisions, Trey” on every one of those. I saw a few that were from the hospital. She wrote “Make sure you set up payment plans on these.” It’s hard to feel like a grown-ass man, even when you’re officially moving out, when your grandma still treats you like you’re thirteen.
By the time I make it back inside, Grandma has turned on her program on the television. I stride down the hallway on a mission to see Penny one last time before she leaves for their dumbass party.
I wish she’d come hang out with me instead.
The door to Sonya’s room is closed, so I rap on it. As much as I’d love to see Penny in various states of undress, I would go blind if I accidentally saw my cousin.
“Come in,” Sonya sings.
I twist the knob and push inside. At first, I shake my head at the hoochie outfit Sonya is wearing. She’s going to have to crawl out of the window to get past Grandma looking like a two-dollar hooker. I cringe to think what sort of fuckers will be all over her tonight in her skintight bubblegum pink dress.
I tear my gaze from my cousin, hunting down Penny. She steps out of the bathroom and I do a double take.
Not my girl.
No fucking way.
“Penny,” I growl, my hands fisting. “What the fuck?”
She rolls her eyes in that exaggerated way that normally looks cute as hell but tonight looks sexy because her lashes are thick with mascara and her eyes are lined dark with eyeliner. “It’s a dress, Smash. I wear them when forced to.”
Sonya cackles. “I did have to force her ass into it!”
Not laughing, cuz.
Penny looks too goddamn good to be wearing what she’s wearing. For fuck’s sake, the material is pretty much nonexistent. Her dress is black, tight, short, and strapless.
No. No. No. And hell no.
She’s also wearing the same little black boots she had on when I kissed her on New Year’s Eve. Her hair has been straightened to a flat, perfect curtain of blond silk.
Those lips…
Fuck me.
Matte red. Luscious as hell.
“Penny.” I bark out her name again, gruffer this time. “You can’t leave.”
Her brow arches and she gives me her signature Penny bitch smirk. It makes her a thousand times hotter, too. “You’re not my keeper.”
If I were, I’d lock her up in my room and throw away the key.
“Everyone, and I do mean everyone, will hit on you tonight,” I grind out. “Stay home. Stay with me. Hell, let me take you to dinner. Just don’t go.”
“Wow, T,” Sonya sasses. “You kiss her once in the front yard and your ass is like obsessed with her.”
I’m not amused.
I also note Penny didn’t tell her about our real first kiss.
My girl likes her secrets.
“She’s mine,” I rumble, stalking right up to my scowling beauty.
“She’s going with me,” Sonya states. “Whether you like it or not. So give her a kiss goodbye and let us get on our way. I’ll be in the bathroom touching up my lipstick.”
As soon as she leaves, I run my fingers through Penny’s silky hair. I want to rip this goddamn dress off her, spread her legs, and give her so many orgasms with my tongue she’ll forget she even got invited to a party.
“You look hungry,” Penny says, eyes flashing.
“Just thinking about how many orgasms I’m going to give you.”
“Maybe I don’t want any orgasms.”
It’s Penny, so of course this girl is dead-ass serious.
“You want them,” I rumble, twisting my finger around a strand of her hair. “And, baby, I am going to selflessly give them to you. As many as you want, English. I’ll fucking spoil you with my tongue.”
Her lip curls up as though she’s disgusted. “Ew.”
I lick my lips. The way her blue eyes track my tongue, it tells me she’s anything but grossed out. Curiosity shines in her stare.
“Come by after the party and I’ll show you just how nasty I can be.” I lean forward and nip her sexy red lip. “I will blow your fucking mind, baby.”
She bats her lashes, pink creeping over her cheeks. “Stop talking.”
I press a kiss to her pretty mouth. “For now.”
“Bye, Smash. See you…later.” She smirks before walking away.
My eyes follow after her, drinking in the way the dress hugs her juicy ass. “Sounds like a promise. I’ll be waiting.”
She flips me off with both fingers.
Goddamn, she’s hot.
I leave Grandma’s so I don’t do something stupid like toss Penny English over my shoulder and kidnap her gorgeous ass.
By the time I reach the cabin, my boner has finally subsided. It disappears completely when Loden sneaks up behind me, smacking my ass.
“Missed you, Captain Crunch.”
“Fuck off, Lo,” I mutter, throwing a playful punch at his arm. “You’re just pissed you can’t have this.” I make a show of grabbing my nuts.
He laughs. “I have you all the time in my dreams. You suck dick like a champ.”
That motherfucker’s lucky I can only limp after his ass. As soon as I reach him, he’s in the kitchen, hiding behind Charlotte as she cooks up something that smells divine.
“Pussy,” I grumble.
“Come on,” Cal says. “Let’s make a beer run. Hornets are on their way over.”
Just fucking peachy.
I’ll have to try and hide my boner anytime I remember Penny in her hot as fuck dress while Hollis shoots daggers at me. There’s no way I can disguise my “I’m gonna fuck your sister one day” expression. No way.
Sorry, Hollis, but it looks like I’m going to take a big brother ass whoopin’ in the near future.
Penny’s worth a little pain.