Chapter Twenty
America
“We’re heading to the Dells for a week.” Indy bounces around in her living room while I shove the last spoonful of oatmeal into my mouth and place the bowl in the sink.
Everett will be here any minute, and I still need to pour my coffee and find my keys. Work out what I’m going to say to him when he asks me to be his girlfriend again. If he asks me. After meeting his mom maybe that’s not something I need to worry about anymore.
“America?” Indy raises her voice. “Are you listening to me?”
“Huh? Of course I am.” Where did I put my keys last night after Gray made it clear we were nothing and then insulted me for good measure? Oh, right, there they are on the side table. “What were we talking about?”
“The Dells.” Indy’s eyes are lit up, despite it being the middle of the night back home. She must be waiting for Theo to get home from work. “The waterslide park. The trip we were going to take right before I had surgery.”
“Yeah. Of course.” I scoop up my knitted cap from between a couple cushions on the sofa and pull it down over my hair. A yawn takes over my face, making my eyes water.
“You’re like a zombie this morning.” Indy’s tone turns curious. “And it’s almost ten over there. You were with him, weren’t you? Doing the sex things.”
The things Gray did to me would make Indy blush.
“Oh my God, you were.” Her eyes grow larger, the sparkle in them even brighter. She is as excited about my mystery man as she is about her remission party. Perhaps even more so. “Tell me all the details. Leave nothing out.”
The oatmeal in my belly sours. It was his begging me to keep seeing Everett that had me tossing and turning until dawn.
How could he do that when it was Indy’s seeing Theo that broke his heart? Unless there’s no chance he could ever feel about me the way I do about him.
“I remember the trip.” I pick up my travel mug from the counter. “How could I forget you fainting and scaring the absolute crap out of me? We thought you weren’t going to make it through the next hour.”
It’s not the kind of thing one ever forgets.
“Well, this time I won’t faint.” She sticks her tongue out at me. “I’m healthy. It’s been a year. We’re going to celebrate. You, me, Theo. EJ and my parents. Oh, and Theo’s sister and his parents. You can bring him too. Your he that has you so tired, you can’t stop yawning.”
“I’m switching you to phone,” I say, and cancel the video so she can’t read my emotions on my face.
“I just want to know who he is. Are you really not dating that soccer player you were spotted with? He’s hot, by the way.”
“Maybe there’s a chance that I’ve been dating a hot, famous soccer player.” On the stoop, I lock up behind me.
“I thought so,” she crows.
“But I’m not ready to talk about it, okay? It’s kind of complicated.” That would be an understatement. The next time I talk to my girl I’ll almost certainly be confirmed single for life.
“Fine, well, uncomplicate it and bring him. Bring him. Bring him. Did I say you should bring him? Because you should bring him.”
“You can’t always get your way.” I certainly can’t or Gray wouldn’t have asked me to string Everett along. I would be tucked up in his arms instead. He admitted he wants me, but he wants his job more. I always end up in second place with him.
“I know that.” She grows sullen. “You know I know that.”
“Gray won’t—” I slam my lips shut, my heart racing. I almost just outed myself. A pang of guilt stabs me in the chest, and I rub it.
“Won’t come. I know.” She sighs. “And that’s okay. I don’t regret my life with Theo. I only regret that I hurt Gray and we’re not friends anymore. I guess that’s normal though. Most people don’t stay friends with their exes. Even if they’ve known them for their entire lives.”
“No, they don’t.” What else did she expect would happen? He was like an older brother to her for years before they got together, but that doesn’t subtract from the fact that she broke his heart.
What else did I expect would happen? Getting involved with Gray when he’s still not over her… I take a steadying breath and turn to face Everett. He climbs out of his ride. Rejection hurts, no matter the motive behind it. But it’s better to tell someone when there’s no hope than to string them along.
I wish I could tell him. But Gray will lose his job, and Everett will lose an agent that will do everything in his power to get him whatever he wants. Everett deserves so much more.
“I’ve accepted it,” she says, as Everett hops the curb in blue jeans and a camo jacket. A gray T-shirt is stretched out over his carved physique. “I’m not going to spend any more time wishing things were different. I’m sorry that our breakup impacts your friendship too. But I’m going to the waterpark. You’re coming. Right?”
“Do I have a choice?” I chuckle even though I don’t feel happy. She sounds so excited.
“Ready?” Everett’s all smiles this morning. The stress from yesterday’s events has melted away.
“You look happy. How’s your pops?”
“Better.” He leans in to press his lips to my cheek. He smells like a million dollars. His fingers cup the curve of my butt and squeeze affectionately. “Grumpy but behaving himself.”
“Is that him?” Indy’s voice brightens. “Put him on the phone so I can say hi.”
Oh crap. I forgot I was still on the phone.
“I don’t think so.” I roll my eyes. Shake my head when she starts hollering for his attention and he puts his hand out for the device. There’s no point encouraging either of them.
“Party pooper.” She lets out a disappointed breath. “At least invite him to the waterpark.”
“I’ve got to go.” And tell a sweet man that I won’t see him anymore. Hurt him. Lie to him if he asks for specifics. I told Gray I wouldn’t, but I can’t do that to Everett. He’s been good to me. And I care about him. I can only try to keep Gray’s name out of it.
“I’ll send you the details,” she tells me before I can hang up.
“Indy?” He wraps his arms around me and brings me in for a hug. He really does smell ridiculously good.
His hug is so tight that I start to soften. “Yeah. She’s planning some trip for the summer. We’re going to the Dells. It’s in Wisconsin. It has all these awesome waterparks.”
“I love waterparks, Lucky Charm. And I would love to meet your fam, and friends.”
They would love him. His energy, and his affection for me. I wish I felt the same. Maybe with time I could have… but even if I gave him that time, I wouldn’t be ready to take him home yet. I extricate myself from his arms, wrapping my own around my waist.
I can’t chicken out again. “We should talk.”
“Right. Okay. I knew this was coming.” He joins me when I take a seat on the stoop. “You heard what my mom said when you walked out yesterday.”
I brush an imaginary crease from my pants, then do it again. And again. “I did, but—”
“It’s not how it sounded.” He clasps my hand, forcing me still. He holds it in his lap. “You have to believe me. It’s not because you’re black.”
“No?” That’s good. That’s something. “Just a slutty tart then?”
He laughs, until he notices the look on my face. He grows serious. “My mom doesn’t think you’re a… slutty tart.”
“Then what?” Because she definitely thought something with the way she kept looking at me. Not that it matters. It doesn’t change anything. But I want to know.
His eyes are full of sincerity. “I have never taken a girl to meet my mom.”
“Never?” Surely in high school or—
“No.” He smiles again as he leans in and brushes my hair over my shoulder so that he can bring his lips to my ear. “Not ever. You’re special to me, Lucky Charm.”
My heart squeezes, and I feel sick. How much easier would it be if I could love him instead of Gray? If I could just stop, let this decade old crush go. Stop believing that under all the pain and mess and confusion there’s a man worth fighting for. Someone worth risking my heart on. But even if I could… even if I tried… there’s no way Everett will want to be with me once I tell him that I’ve been seeing another man at the same time I’ve been dating him.
“I don’t have a good track record,” he says. “Your friend Gray probably told you that. If not, he should have.”
“He may have said something.” I steal my hand away.
“He’s a good friend to watch out for you.”
Everett wouldn’t be saying that if he knew how I spent last night while he was making sure his was pops was okay.
“I’ve had a lot of short-term relationships with the kind of girls who look at me and see expensive gifts and posh restaurants, or their fifteen minutes of fame on the arm of a footballer.” He clasps his hands together between his knees. “We’d have a good time together, but it wouldn’t last. They’d get bored as quickly as I would. They’d move on to a teammate or some other player, and it didn’t really bother me. Those girls didn’t need to meet my mom.”
“Makes sense,” I say.
“I don’t mind that you met her, even if the circumstances weren’t great and I did a terrible job of introducing you. You’re different. You didn’t even know I played football. And it took me weeks to convince you to go out with me. Even longer to get you to go anywhere in public with me.”
He bumps my shoulder. “But hopefully now you’ll let me call you my girlfriend. How about it, Lucky Charm? You want to be my WAG?”
“Everett, I—”
Beside me, my phone starts to ring. It’s a private number, but my gut tells me to pick it up. Either that, or I’m a coward. Looking into Everett’s eyes, I know the answer. I’m definitely a coward. Can’t tell my parents about school. Can’t tell Indy about Gray. Can’t face my professor. And now I pick up my phone and place it to my ear instead of telling Everett… I don’t know what I’m going to tell him.
I swallow. “Hello?”
“Thank god,” Dove says.
“Why are you coming up as private?”
“No idea.” She sniffles on the other end of the line. “I’m just so glad you picked up. I thought I was going to be stuck out here, wherever here is, for who knows how long.”
Instantly my hackles rise. “Where are you?”
“I’m not entirely sure. There’s nothing but pasture.” She sounds so small and tired. Her teeth chatter and she sniffles again. She’s either been crying or is currently crying. “I broke my shoe, and my bags are still in Nathan’s car. I don’t have my wallet or a phone charger or a jacket. I’m bloody freezing.”
“He did not kick you out of the car and leave you to walk.” I leap to my feet.
“It doesn’t matter,” she says.
“The hell it doesn’t matter.” Nathan is such an asshole.
“It was my fault.” Her tone is defeated. “I started it.”
“Does she have enough battery to drop you a pin?” Everett asks. He grips my upper arms supportively, having stood too. “Or is there anything around her? Signage? Buildings?”
She must have heard him because she says, “Doing it now.”
Two seconds later a location drops into my Google Maps, and I show it to him. He takes my phone and moves the map around before handing it back. “Too easy. I’ll drive. We’ll be there in an hour and a half.”
“An hour and a half?” Nathan is such a prick.
“I’ll drive fast,” he says as we pile into his car. “Tell her there’s a town about thirty minutes’ walk from where she is. There should be somewhere she can wait out of the rain.”
“It’s not raining,” she says when I put her on speaker.
“No. Not yet,” he says as we pull out. “But it’s supposed to.”
“All right. I’ll hoof it,” she says and goes quiet for a long moment. “I’m sorry to ask you to do this. I didn’t know who else to call. And there’s been no cars all night. Which I suppose I should almost be grateful for. If the media sees me like this it will only make things worse.”
“I’m glad you called me.” Nathan should be the one who’s worried. After this she must be ready to be done with him. “We’re on our way.”
“Thanks. You’re the best.” She hangs up.
I drop my phone to my lap. Nathan is such an asshole. I hate him so much for treating her like this.
Everett covers my hands with his. “She’s fine. We’re on our way now.”