A Perfect Mistake (11 page)

She nodded, her
fingers slipping into my hair, her thumb rubbing at my hairline just
above my temple.

“Is that the
only reason you stayed? Because I was sick?”

She looked away.
“Not exactly.” She fidgeted with the neckline of the
t-shirt she wore, and I realized it was one of mine. I wondered if
she had anything on under it.

My dick went
yes
.
I told it to
shut
the fuck
up
.

“Boone, I want
to explain my behavior since I got back—okay, for the whole
year I was away. I’ve been so pissed at you.”

“I get it,
Verity. You don’t have to explain.”

“But I do,
Boone. The graduation party.”

“What does
that have to do with anything? We didn’t even speak.”

“I wanted to
talk to you. More than once.”

I held her gaze, so
grateful that she was finally talking to me. “At the party? Why
didn’t you? Was I a fucking jerk?”

She hesitated, then
spoke voice thick with regret. “I thought you were, but I was
wrong.”

I exhaled heavily, a
weight lifted. This was good. I felt really good about that. “About
the X.”

“Yes.”

She took a hard
breath, and I started to get a really bad feeling about this. “What
happened, Verity?”

Her eyes welled up
and my heart skipped. I moved closer to her. “What? You’re
killing me here.”

“I judged you.
Prematurely and unfairly.”

“What do you
mean?”

There was stress in
her eyes, in her soft mouth as it tightened. “I bought into
your reputation, and I’m ashamed that I haven’t talked to
you about this before. But I never even expected to have any contact
with you at all. I planned to be here for the summer, then leave in
the fall.”

That made my heart
lurch. I didn’t want her to go anywhere. “I was wasted at
that party. I don’t remember much of it after I downed some
strong shit and drank myself into oblivion.”

“You passed
out in the bed of your truck,” she whispered it, and there was
that bruised look again. It drove me fucking nuts.

My stomach knotted.
“How do you know that?”

I started coughing
again and she pushed the bottle and pills at me. After I dutifully
drank and swallowed the pills. Something struck me.

“You seem
awfully nonchalant about my buff body for a preacher’s
daughter,” I said and she looked away.

She finally met my
gaze, her face drawn, a disturbing expression in her eyes. “It’s
not the first time I’ve seen you naked, Boone. And you have a
preconceived notion of who I am, too. Just like I fell into that same
trap with you. I’m not that pure.” She stared at me for a
moment, then looked down.

My brain froze on
those words and the dream slammed into me full force. There was a
reason it had seemed so real.

That’s when
everything went to hell. I heard someone at the front door and then
the door opened.

“Boone!
Fucking A! I’m going to kick your ass, unless you’re in a
ditch somewhere. Then I’m going to pull you out of it and kick
it anyway!”

“Brax, stop
shouting,” Aubree said.

“Yeah, chill
your jets,” Booker growled.

Braxton’s
voice, followed by Aubree’s and Booker’s, made the
revelation that Verity had just dropped on me swirl in me like
Armageddon.

“
Shit
.”
Verity said.

“
Fuck
.”
I said at exactly the same time.

We didn’t even
have a second to move or cover up. Part of my ass, leg and lower back
were showing. I had Verity beneath me and plastered against me like a
second skin. Braxton appeared in the doorway and stopped dead when he
saw us, all snuggled up on my bed. His anger vanished and his jaw
dropped open, his eyes widening. I’ve never seen him look so
shocked.

Booker slammed into
Braxton and Aubree into him. “What the hell….”
Booker said. Then he saw us, too. His face went slack, his eyes more
stricken with both fear and immediate anxiety.

Then Aubree, and she
gasped loudly and said into the stunned silence, “Verity?!”

All three of them
stood there like fucking idiots. All three of them just stared like
we were the main attraction at a freak show.

Then Verity swore
again, her voice catching, and scrambled away from me. She rushed
into the bathroom and came out a few seconds later with her clothes.

“Verity,
wait,” I shouted, then started coughing again. Damn.

Aubree dashed after
her, and my brothers stalked into the room, both of them talking at
once.

“Why don’t
you answer your fucking phone?” Booker said.

“Are you out
of your fucking mind, huckleberry?” Brax yelled.

“I knew
something was going on with that girl.” Booker said, sounding
sick.

Braxton shook his
head like he still couldn’t believe it. “The preacher’s
daughter! Are you stupid?”

I totally ignored
them and jumped out of bed. Okay, I went to jump out of bed, but I
actually crawled on my hands and knees because I was so weak. I
snatched my jeans and fumbled into them, barely managing to zip them.
Stumbling out of the room, I staggered to the kitchen and I caught
Verity coming out of the laundry room fully dressed with Aubree.

“Verity,
wait.”

“Boone,”
she said, her face full of embarrassment. “I’ve got to
go.”

“But we need
to talk.” I glanced at Aubree, but she didn’t budge. She
would be on Booker’s side, I guess, not really sure what she
thought about all this. Verity was one of her best friends. “You
can’t just say what you said and leave now!”

Her eyes knotted me
up inside.

I needed a chance to
talk to her. It wasn’t because I wanted her, although I did
want her. I was tied up inside and a little frantic. This was
something else. I didn’t know what, couldn’t put a name
to it, but whatever I’d seen in her face this morning had been
profound. It had compelled me. It still compelled me. She pressed her
hand to my chest, right over my heart. “Later,” she
whispered and turned away, practically running out of my house.

“Oh, God,
Boone, you really are the reckless one,” Aubree said, and she
followed Verity out. I watched them get into Booker’s Mustang
and drive away.

I turned around.
“
Fuuuccckkk
!”
I said, low and broken.

Both of my brothers
stood there looking like they were going to kick the shit outta me.

Booker had such
disappointment in his eyes that my stomach knotted and I shifted.

“I really
thought you put this behind you, Boone. Verity Fairchild is nothing
but trouble. Have you forgotten who we are in this town? There’s
no way anyone is going to accept you hanging out with the preacher’s
daughter, least of all the preacher,” Braxton said, and here I
expected my lecture to come from Booker.

I met Booker’s
eyes. The disappointment still there and it really hit me hard, but I
just couldn’t give him what he wanted.

“You guys
don’t understand. I have to talk to Verity. It’s too
important.”

“You need to
break all ties with her, Boone,” Booker said. “This has
all the makings of a disaster, and there’s going to be a lot of
fallout if anyone finds out about you two.”

Everything in me
stiffened. “Don’t tell me what I can and cannot do,
Booker. You’re my brother, not my daddy. The only person who
can tell me to back off right now is Verity. We have something going
on. Plus I’m already pledged to do the landscaping at the
church, and I’m following through with that. I’m not
going to back out on my word to the reverend.”

“This town is
going to stone you, if the revver doesn’t draw and quarter you
first.”

“Boone,”
Booker said. “What’s going on that you have Verity here?
In your fucking bed.”

“I was sick. I
had a fever. Nothing happened.”

“No?”
Brax said. “It’s just a matter of time, huckleberry. I
saw the way you were looking at her, and it wasn’t like she was
any Florence Nightingale. Maybe you should fuck her and get her outta
your system?”

I don’t know
what came over me, but instantaneous anger surged through me. I
lunged at Braxton and hit him so hard in the jaw that he crashed into
my guitar stand and broke my acoustic guitar into tiny wooden bits.

He came up off the
floor and smashed into me. Elbowed my mouth, and smashed my lip
against my teeth, splitting it. Blood filled my mouth. He wrestled me
to the floor and started whaling on me. I didn’t even fight
back. I don’t know why.

Booker pulled him
off, but I just lay there.

“What the
fuck, Boone? This isn’t like you,” Booker said.

“You son of a
bitch,” Braxton said, pacing, his fists clenched. “Why
did you do that?”

Breathing hard, I
looked him firmly in his wounded eyes. “Don’t. Talk.
About. Verity. Like. That. Again.”

“Geezus,”
Booker said. He put his hand on Brax’s shoulder and squeezed.
“Brax. Why don’t you head on out?”

Brax walked over to
the fridge and got an ice pack out of the freezer. He tossed it to me
as I sat up, his eyes going over my face. I must have looked like a
complete mess.

“Dammit,
Boone. Fucking A.” He looked towards the dining room and my
smashed, guitar and his mouth tightened. Giving me one more
emotion-packed look, he left.

Booker offered his
hand and pulled me up. My head was pounding again, and as soon as I
was on my feet, I bent over and coughed like my lungs were coming up.
My stomach lurched and I said, “Oh, shit.” Then I ran for
the bathroom.

Once inside, I
collapsed to the floor and emptied my stomach into the bowl. With a
groan, I dropped back against the wall, totally wrung out. Booker
loomed in the bathroom doorframe.

“Boone, what
is really going on with Verity?”

“I don’t
fucking know everything. That’s why I need to talk to her. But
something happened.” I swallowed the bile that rose in my
throat. “I need to talk to her and get it out in the open.”

“This is about
last year at the graduation party?”

“Yes,
according to her.”

“What happened
at the party?”

“Fuck me. I’m
not sure. I passed out, blacked out. You remember what I was like
back then. Fucking screw-up. And, now it’s come back to haunt
me.”

Booker came into the
bathroom and squatted down. “Boone, no matter what happens, no
matter what Verity says or does or didn’t do. Whatever. Brax
and I will have your back. Don’t ignore my phone calls again.
You fucking idiot. I was worried. Brax was worried. Aubree was
worried. Our radar had been going off all damn day.” He
swallowed, hard.

“And then you
didn’t show up to bartend. I know you’re not that same
guy you were last year. Brax and I know that. You’re our
brother, and nothing you do will ever be bad enough that we wouldn’t
stand by you. Clear, you asshole?”

I closed my eyes. “I
feel like shit, Book. I’m sorry I made you worry, but you know
what it’s like to have a girl mess you up. Like really mess you
up.”

“Yes,”
Aubree said, from the doorframe. “He does.”

I met her eyes. “Is
she okay? Tell me she’s okay, Breebree.”

“She’s
freaked. She refused to talk to me. Told me to leave her the hell
alone and rushed into the house, where her parents then descended on
her like a load of bricks. So Verity has her hands full right now.
Her daddy was livid.”

“Geezus.”

“Look, we’re
sorry, too. We were worried, and we came barging in here thinking
something bad had happened to you. It was completely unfortunate that
we saw you…oh shit. Well, you know. It’s embarrassing.
For all of us, but let me just say that you have a fine ass.”

I groaned. “It’s
really not fair to tease me right now, Breebree.”

“Hey, if she’s
seen one, she’s seen all three identical asses.”

“Yes, she
said, rolling her eyes. “Definitely, jack
asses
.
All identical.”

I laughed and
groaned again. “Shut the fuck up. It was really bad timing. She
was finally talking to me. Which is all I really wanted. She took
care of me. She really did, like she cared.”

“Come on,
Boonie.” Aubree said, walking over to me and taking my arm.
Then she peered at me and turned to look accusingly at Booker. “Did
you
hit
him? Verity told me that he’s been really sick. I thought you
were kidding about kicking his ass.”

“I didn’t,”
Booker said bristling.

“I hit Brax.
All he did was retaliate,” I said with a shrug.

Aubree huffed.
“Right on his smart mouth, I’m assuming.”

“That fucking
huckleberry pushed the wrong Boone button.”

Booker smirked.
“Yeah, the Verity one.”

“Sounds like
you’re all a bunch of huckleberries to me. God save me from
brothers,” she said.

“You’re
stuck with us now, Breebree.”

“Don’t I
know it,” she said, giving first me and then Booker a soft
smile.

“Gag, mushy
alert,” I said as Booker rose and helped me up, too.

“I think you
need more fluids and something to eat. Do you have any bananas?”
Aubree said.

“That’s
random. Bananas?”

“It’s
part of the BRAT diet when you have an upset tummy.”

“Geezus. Am I
two years old? And, I don’t know. Brax does the shopping for
me. He says I don’t know what I’m doing. Like I can’t
buy cereal and milk, for chrissake.”

#

Verity

The minute I walked
into the house, my parents went ballistic.

“Why didn’t
you call us?!”

“Lindsay said
that Boone was ill. Did you stay there the whole night?” my
momma asked.

My daddy’s
face was contorted into a mass of anger and concern. My momma was
worried about my reputation. It was written all over her face. If she
only knew! I felt sorry for worrying them, but something broke in me.
“Yes. I did. I stayed with him. I took care of him. He had a
high fever.
Someone
had to help him.”