Chapter 6 Lily
Lily
I pace in front of my door for several minutes, psyching myself up to go out there. I don’t need to look at him, don’t need to acknowledge him. I can do this. Come on, Lily, you got this. I feel like I’m hyping myself for some sort of championship sport or something with the way I’m preparing.
I grip the doorknob, hesitating for just a moment. But don’t give myself any more time to overthink anymore. I swing it open and start to bolt toward the stairs.
“Where ya off to Lil racer?” Parker’s deep timbre sends an involuntary shiver down my spine as I freeze.
He used to do this all the time when we were younger where he says “Lil” and something after to fuck with me. I used to think it was cute, now I can’t stand it. Especially right now.
“None of your business,” I snap.
“Parker, we’re getting ambushed!” Ethan squeals, pressing the buttons on the controller even harder.
When I turn my head, against my better judgement, I see Parker isn’t even looking at the screen.
His focus is completely on me. I have to fight every reaction my body wants to give at the way his eyes are burning into me.
Like nothing else around us matters. And I’m fighting the memories that are bubbling up.
“Might want to help your teammate.” I nod toward the screen.
Parker’s eyes trail my whole body, and I have to break the eye contact. He chuckles and Ethan continues to yell about the game. I don’t think Parker is helping him very much, but I’m not about to stick around and find out.
I make a mad dash for the stairs and as soon as I reach the top of them, I press my back against a wall. My head falls back as one of the memories overtakes my mind.
Parker: Come outside.
Lily: No, I’m in bed.
Parker: Then I’ll come inside.
Lily: Yeah? You want to get caught?
Parker: Worth it.
Lily: Ugh fine, I’ll come out.
I swing my legs off the bed and do my best to be quiet as I head upstairs. This isn’t the first time we’ve done this…or second or third. In fact, it’s basically a routine at this point, but I always have to make things complicated for him.
I like when he works for it.
I manage to get to the front door, open it, and step outside without any sign of my parents catching me.
Parker’s standing outside of his truck, leaning against the closed door with his hands in his pocket, and fuck my boyfriend is hot. I can’t help it, I run toward him, launching myself into his arms, knowing he’ll catch me because he always does.
His lips land onto mine instantly and I melt against him at the feeling. He pulls back too soon, and I let out a whine of protest.
“I missed you,” he tells me with a bright smile. I love his teeth, they’re so white and perfectly straight even though he never had braces. He was just born perfect apparently, which really shouldn’t be fair. But he’s mine, so I’m not going to complain.
“You just saw me,” I tease, rubbing my nose against his.
“That was hours ago.”
I roll my eyes jokingly, and he kisses me once again, this time his tongue slides into my mouth and I want to climb him even more.
We break apart, and I think about how he’s holding me so easily, how strong he is.
He works out, but also all the work he does with horses and some roping keeps him easily fit.
I think about if I was as strong as him, but that would be hard; I would have to train way more than I have the patience for.
“Do you think I could be a body builder?” I blurt.
“Do you want to be?” He chuckles.
I twist my mouth. “Not really, it seems hard.”
He lets out a low laugh, his mouth on mine again. “I love how your brain works.”
“Shut up Vern!” Jerry Lee breaks me from the daydream, and I can’t help the pang in my chest. Parker would always laugh at my intrusive thoughts, say how much he loves how my brain works, or how I think. He always understood it’s just me.
And then I think of Aaron. I know he gets stressed and sometimes doesn’t know what to say to me when I let the thoughts out.
I can’t help it, but I don’t always need a response.
It’s like my mouth moves faster than I can register what I’m saying.
I used to get in trouble for it a lot more when I was younger.
In a way, I guess I still get in trouble a bit for it as an adult too. It’s just who I am.
Jerry Lee starts to bark, and I walk over to his cage where he’s hanging on the bars by his beak.
“Are you missing being able to fly free around the grooming salon?” I ask, and he just barks in response.
“Do you miss seeing your hot guy Jameson, and hunky Parker?” I bite back a laugh because just between the two of us, yeah, I’ll admit that Parker is still hot as shit.
“Hunky Parker!” he squawks.
My eyes widen, and I shake my head. “Oh no, we’re not starting that.”
“Hunky Parker!” I swear he just got louder.
“Sh! Shut the fuck up. Say that, or say caboodle, that’s a fun word.”
“Hunky Parker!”
“Shut up! Do you like having a home? Do you want to take your chances outside with the hawks?”
“Jizz!”
“That’s fine. That I can accept.”
“Hunky Parker!”
“No, that’s not—”
“Oh good, you taught him something useful?” Parker’s voice has my spine straightening, but I refuse to turn around because then he’ll see how red my face is.
“That wasn’t me,” I deny.
“Never heard him say it before.”
“You haven’t been around him enough then.”
“I’ve been around him enough to know he hasn’t said that before.” I scrunch my nose at his teasing tone.
I turn around and hate the smirk he has on his face and how that mustache only makes him look more mature. I hate it; I hate him; I hate it all.
“Well, it wasn’t me,” I lie.
Parker shrugs. “Guess it must have been your mom then, I knew she was into me.”
“Ew, don’t be gross,” I scold. “She’s happily married to my dad.”
“Yeah?” He steps closer. My back hits the bird cage as I try to keep distance between us, even though he’s still at least three feet in front of me. “And what about you? Are you happily with whatever his name is?”
“Aaron, and yeah, I am,” I insist, weakly.
“A-A-ron,” Parker scoffs and I roll my eyes.
“Are you done annoying me? Shouldn’t you be hanging out with your best friend?”
“Yeah, just grabbing us some snacks, and heard you and the bird talking about me.”
“Oh my God, I wasn’t—”
He cuts me off, “Not what I heard.”
“Don’t you have friends your own age?” I ask.
“Yeah.” He shrugs easily and I roll my eyes again.
My mom comes into the room, and brightens when she sees Parker, which results in him giving me a raised eyebrow taunting look. I just shake my head.
“Parker, do you and your mom want to join us for dinner later?”
I shake my head at him from behind my mom’s back so she can’t see me.
He smiles widely. “Sounds great.”
I scowl at him. My mom turns back to face me, and notices. “What’s that look for?”
“Yeah, Lil, what’s it for?”
“You know why,” I grumble.
“Well, fix your face, and be nice,” my mom scolds while Parker makes faces at me from behind her back this time.
“Hunky Parker!” Jerry Lee interjects.
“Huh, that’s a new one.” My mom chuckles.
Parker smiles even wider, and I groan. “Now I know how Sutton felt.” I walk away from all three of the beings that want to embarrass me. “If anyone needs me, I’m going to be dancing on the roof until I accidentally fall off.”