Chapter Two
Devin
I might be the most boring person in town.
Pine Grove is not a huge metropolis or a sprawling urban center comparable to New Orleans. It still has things to do, places to go, and plenty of events to fill a summer with. Which is just why I came here this summer, before I start teaching in the fall. I want one last summer as an irresponsible college kid.
“It is the best time, and, bonus, tons of babes will be there. They love the rides. Chicks dig carnival rides, dude,” Felix tells me as he combs his hair, making sure it sits high on top and slicked back on the sides.
“This is news to me. Guess I missed out on the fair babes.”
“Well, I mean, chicks here in Pine Grove have less things to get excited about than those sweet college babes in Baton Rouge.”
Chuckling, I nod at him as I agree. Yeah, I suppose there is less going on here in Pine Grove compared to where we went to college. Still, we decided to spend the summer in his hometown before we head back for fall classes to finish our degrees. Surprisingly, this genius is also going to school to become a teacher. To think this fool will be teaching our future is scary.
Felix Labonte has been my best friend since high school. We had similar lives growing up with parents who loved us but weren’t always there for us. It caused us to count on each other a lot and he’s the best friend I’ve ever had. Felix is also the worst influence because he has yet to accept that we’re grown adults about to start our careers as teachers.
“I am going to pretend you never mentioned hot college babes.”
“Good, because I didn’t. I was not objectifying them. I save that for the bedroom, dude,” Felix waggles his dark brows, and I shake my head.
We’re wandering through a huge fairway of rides, carnival games, the air smelling of corn dogs and fresh popped popcorn. The county fair is teeming with people, shrieks from the rides and laughter from the games filling the night air. It’s a beautiful night to come to the fair and be a kid.
Truthfully, we’ve been having the best time this summer in Pine Grove. I love the small town feel where everyone talks a bit kinder, moves a little slower, enjoys things a little differently. It is a sure change from Baton Rouge. I love life there, but I am not sure it’s where I would settle down.
Growing up in New Orleans cemented my desire to settle somewhere a little smaller. New Orleans is beautiful, there is always something fun to do or something awesome to see. It becomes overwhelming. Whenever I think about settling down or putting roots somewhere, it’s somewhere with space. Room to raise a family. I am twenty-five so I have time to settle down but after I finished college, I started thinking about it a lot more.
“Come on, those corndogs have been calling to me, dude.”
Laughing at him as he rubs his hands together with a nod at the corndog cart, I wave him on. I’ve got my eye on the Ferris wheel. It is the one ride I always avoid. Not today. I am going on that damn thing, and I am going to have a good time. Telling him I will catch up to him after I take a ride, I head towards the winding line waiting for their turn.
Reaching the line, I watch a special moment between two girls. Well, one young girl who is beaming up at another woman about my age. I watch with interest as the older one signs her name on the girls’ shirt. It is a band shirt but not for any band I know of. They chat a bit, and I am taken by how kind the woman is to the excited young girl.
“Not every day a girl meets her hero. That was very kind of you.”
Turning towards me, the rock star locks her gaze on me. It is intense . Dark hair with wild colors frames her beautiful face. Pretty gray eyes hold mine as I try to catch my breath. In screaming neon colors, this woman is the total opposite of me in my chinos and muted polo. It is all the differences that call to me, drawing me closer to her than I mean to move.
Suddenly I am towering over her, feeling her bare thighs rub against mine. With those gray eyes locked on me, the pretty rockstar smiles. It is a small one, just the briefest tip of her lips but I love it. It makes it seem as if we’re sharing a secret even though she has not said a word.
Rockstar Debi-well, Debi las , according to her excited fan—is an actual rockstar, it turns out. We exchange hellos and then she stuns me. Looking up at me with those gray eyes, she makes an offer there is no way I can refuse. Not when I suddenly don’t want to let her out of my sight.
“Want to ride with me, Devin?”
Staring down at her, I nod before I speak. It takes me a minute to be able to speak. Because this wild, beautiful woman wanting to share this ride with me is a surprise. I am not a flirt or the life of any party. Hell, I do not go to parties. I wear chinos and polos to the County Fair for Christ sakes.
“Yeah, Debi. I would love to ride with you. I am a little scared, never got the nerve to go on one of these before. Think you can hold my hand?”
Beaming up at me with a smile that lights up her eyes, she nods. “Only if you hold mine back.”
“I can manage that,” I answer without missing a beat.
Taking her hand in mine, I lead the way as the line moves forward. Her palm presses to mine, her short, neon painted nails rubbing against the back of my hand. We hand tickets to the young man controlling things, then take a seat on the first bucket swinging at the bottom. We both jump as the arm is locked down in front of us.
“This is our first time,” Debi teases as she grins up at the kid.
Flushing, I keep hold of her hand as the bucket starts to move up slowly. Beside me, she turns her body, pressing snuggly against my side. At first, I think she is teasing me. Then I notice her hand trembling. What are the odds we would have found each other in line to ride a something we’re afraid of?
“We will love it. It will be fun,” I whisper gently, giving her hand a gentle squeeze. “It will be so pretty up there, don’t you think?”
“Well, I happen to think it is pretty down here,” she mutters, tilting her head back to stare up at me. I flush because her words seem aimed at me.
“It is beautiful here,” I murmur back, reaching out to brush some windblown hair back from her face.
Wind rocks the swing we’re in a little, both of us gasping at once. Debi presses closer, peering up at me in the darkness. A dozen glowing lights from the lemonade stands, the corndog cart, and the other rides, light her up from behind, like some sort of neon goddess. Because lord is she beautiful.
“It is. Why does this ride scare us? It seems nice now.”
“It scared us because we weren’t riding it together,” I shoot back, proud of my quick wit.
Debi laughs, a loud, warm sound, shaking her head. Still, she pushes closer to me, snuggling up against my side. I switch the hand holding hers so I can wrap my other arm around her shoulders. Up high as we spin slowly, the air is cooler, ruffling her hair and pinking our cheeks.
“No, you got it right. I am not afraid because I have you here.”
“If something else scares you, let me know. We can handle that next.”
Another laugh bubbles out of her, but she turns to snuggle her face against my throat. I am hyper aware of her soft body pressed to mine, her hand on my thigh. Hard as stone in my chinos, I hope she does not notice.
“I am afraid of growing up,” her voice is soft, almost lost in the wind.
“Me too. I am not sure who I want to be yet.”
“Thought I knew who I wanted to be once. Now not so much.”
“Is this about the band? Purple Hearts. Is that you?”
“That is me. Purple Hearts is all me. Two of my best dude friends, my favorite cousin Giani, my best- best friend Jenna. We wanted to be cool rock stars when we grew up. Now I don’t think any of us wants to grow up.”
Sighing as she traces patterns on my thigh, I give her another squeeze. I am lucky because I always knew I wanted to be a teacher. I had a great teacher in grade school who saved my life. He was a good man who took on more of my issues than he had to and gave me direction for the rest of my life. If I can be that for one person, the way he was for me, it is worth it.
“Growing up has some good things waiting for us, I think. Even if we’re not prepared, it is there waiting on the horizon for us.”
“What will you be when you grow up?”
Sitting up there in the twilight of a summer day, I am a little hesitant to answer. I am boring. Bland. Safe. How can I admit I am going to become a teacher? Is there a future, a grown-up life less exciting than being a teacher?
Debi is an exciting rock star who must have a dozen men who would worship at her feet. Not that I wouldn’t be one of those men. Just sitting here with her, feeling her snuggled close, smelling her sweetness, it makes me wish this ride would never end.
“I will be...a teacher. Not nearly as glamorous as a rock star.”
Pulling back, Debi pushes me back too, giving me a dirty glare. I am about to apologize for my hard-on that her fingertips keep brushing, or how my own fingertips keep teasing the bare skin at her shoulder. Until I see her crack a smile, shaking her head at me as if chastising me.
“That is totally fucking metal. My favorite teacher from junior high is why we started a band. Because we loved music, she encouraged it. Even came to a few of our shows. Teachers create rock stars, rocket scientists, they create writers. My best friend Jenna is an amazing writer because she had a wicked cool creative writing teacher who let her be whoever she wanted.”
Flushing at the praise she showers me with, I grip her a bit tighter as the wheel spins us backwards. That is just why I wanted to become a teacher. To be able to offer something positive, something supportive to kids who need it. To reach that one creative spirit or dreaming soul who needs to be seen.
Quietly we rock in the bucket as we move slowly backwards. It truly is a sight to behold once we reach the top. I am terrified but I also feel alive. Just the way I felt the moment I saw her standing in line with her neon colors and beautiful eyes. I was drawn to her for reasons that startled me a little.
“Why did you ask me to take a ride with you?” I whisper, almost wanting to take the words back once I hear them in the quiet.
“Because...because you did not see a rock star when you looked at me. Or, well, I mean...if you did, you did not see just a rock star. I am not even a star, not truly. Just a girl who sings with some guys. I am not sure that is who I want to be anymore. I have been kind of lost lately. Then I looked over,” she trails off as she pulls back, her gray eyes searching my face. “Saw you there, smiling at me, seeing me as just a girl. Nothing else. It felt good.”
Before I know it, she moves. Tangling her fist in my hair, she pulls my head down and licks her pink tongue across my mouth. I groan against her soft lips as my tongue comes out to meet hers. Debi makes a soft, humming sound as I open my mouth, letting her push her sweet, cotton candy flavored tongue inside.
Turning towards her, I try to pull her even closer as she kisses me hard. Her mouth is so sweet, her whimpering sounds turning me on until it hurts. I almost roar like a wild animal when she reaches between us to stroke my dick through my too-tight chinos. I pull back, panting against her mouth as I skim my hand up the back of her thigh.
“Debi...I... I don’t know what to do to you,” I whimper as she kisses down my jaw, biting gently, sending shockwaves of pleasure through me.
“What do you want to do to me, baby?”
That husky voice whispering that sexy sentence makes my gut twist with need. I have never felt something so intense. I want her so badly I ache. We know next to nothing about each other, yet I feel as if she knows me in a way no one else ever has. And I think maybe I know her in the same way.
“To touch you. I can’t think of anything else,” I whisper, my brow against hers, my fingers slipping beneath the jagged hem of her shorts.
“Neither can I,” she pants, licking at my mouth before she kisses me again, stealing my breath and maybe all the rest of me too.
With trembling hands, I yank at the button on her shorts. Propping her legs over my lap, she kisses me harder, telling me not to stop. Telling me to touch her. Begging me to. I slip my hands inside her shorts, finding a tiny scrap of satin covering her wet sex. We both moan as I pull her panties aside, my fingers brushing at her swollen clit.
As her eyes stare up at me, her raspy voice panting my name, the entire world stops. We’re at the of it—quite literally—when a clang of metal grinds the Ferris wheel to a stop. Any other time we both might be terrified. Not now. Not as we sit at the very top, my hand stuffed in her tiny shorts.
For all we care we could be stuck here together for good.