Everything Changes (17 page)

“What is it that you want?” I finally asked when
he leaned against the washing machine as though he was completely comfortable.

He swept his black hair out of his eyes and
winked. “I think you know what I want.” His voice was laced with lewdness.
Lewdness that was revolting to me.

“No, I really don’t know.” I reached for the
laundry bags and stepped towards the door.

Dusty’s
hand
reached out to clasp mine in an iron grip. There was no way I was getting away
from him.

“Let go.” I looked down at his white knuckles.
“You’re hurting me.”

“Well, then I guess you should come back to my
place then, shouldn’t you?” He gave me a smile that was meant to be persuasive,
but I didn’t take it that way. “I’m not trying to be a dick here, Rowan. Just
thinking maybe we could have some fun for a night. Parker’s just a kid. Maybe I
can show you a little more than he can.” His voice faded as his repulsive smile
grew.

“I’m with Parker,” was the response I came up
with after stuttering like an idiot for a moment.

Dusty chuckled, stepping in front of me as I
walked out of the laundry mat and onto the curb outside. His car was parked
there and it all seemed planned.

“Let me tell you something, Rowan.” He let go of
my wrist, and I should have run away, but the stupid girl inside of me wanted
to hear what he was going to say. “Parker isn’t with you…you may think he is,
but there is a side to him you’ll never understand. Emotionally, Parker is
never with anyone. He can’t be.”

I stepped away from him, and he didn’t follow “
You
don’t understand him,” I said and ran towards my bike.

Thankfully, Dusty didn’t follow me. With the
amount tears flowing from me, I wasn’t sure I could get away from him. I
couldn’t remember a time I ever cried that much in a matter of ten minutes. It
wasn’t all from Dusty either. It was
Addy
and then
there was the fact that I was afraid of what I was feeling for Parker, and we
had sex, and I was…scared and emotional. A lot was happening in such a short
time frame that I wasn’t sure how to process it. Crying seemed logical to me.

Ever try riding a dirt bike with a helmet and
goggles while crying?
 
It was like trying
to see through fog.

Once I reached the condo, the tears hadn’t
stopped. I sat outside the garage, leaning against the doors and letting my
goggles drain from my tears.

“You’re such an idiot,” I told myself. It didn’t
make me feel any better.

I couldn’t figure out
why
I was crying so
much. Was it because he said I didn’t know the real Parker or was it because
Dusty scared me? I think it was a little of both. At the time, I was more
bothered by his comment about Parker. I wanted more than anything to know him,
and not just him, the real him. Last night, and even this whole trip, I thought
for sure I was seeing a side of him he hadn’t shown anyone. I felt like I knew
him in ways others didn’t.

Just as I was trying to figure out what I’d say
and compose myself somewhat, Parker walked outside in his black and yellow
board shorts carrying two garbage bags over his shoulders.

“When did you get back?” His voice was jovial
until he saw my flushed appearance.

My hands immediately flew to my face wiping away
the tears. “Just now, sorry.”

He was beside me in an instant holding me at an
arm’s length. His head bent down trying to catch my eyes. “Rowan, what’s
wrong?”

I couldn’t answer at first. Staring at him, I
wondered if I should even tell him about my run in with Dusty. Surely, it would
upset him.

“I uh…um.” I was stalling and he knew it.

His eyes narrowed, his jovial side gone
completely. “Just tell me.”

“Dusty confronted me,” I blurted out. “He wanted
me to…he wanted…” When I saw the flash of anger in his eyes, I stopped
speaking. I didn’t even think I was breathing I was so terrified of what his
response would be next.

“What?” Parker’s tone was harsh and accusing. He
blinked a few times, processing what I said.

Between my heart pounding and my shaking, it took
me a minute to find the will to speak again. “He tried to get me to go to his
place.”

Parker exploded.

I thought I saw his temper that day in the shop
when he simply tossed a transmission over his shoulder. Yeah, well, I didn’t.
Today was the day I saw the
real
temper. Justin’s words came back to me.
“Never underestimate Parker.”

Next, he picked up a metal box they used to carry
their tools around for adjustments to their bikes and smashed it against the
wall. Tools, break cleaner, and oil scattered along the floor, crashing against
the bikes and tires.

With harsh movements, Parker stepped to the side
and put on his boots, slamming the buckles down. He then reached for his helmet
and took off on his bike towards town without saying another word to me.

Justin came outside having heard the noise and
then the loud scream of Parker’s bike as he raced away.

“Where’d he go?” His gaze fixed on the dust cloud
from Parker’s bike as it sprayed up through the canyon.

“To find Dusty…” I started crying again.

Justin quickly got
Addy
,
who’d just woke up, and pushed us inside Parker’s truck as we went after him.

Addy
looked
back at me. “Where are we going?”

I shrugged with wide eyes. Poor
Addy
had no idea what was going on.

She leaned against my shoulder with her head. “I
hope we’re going to get food. I’m starving.”

It didn’t take long in Moab to figure out where
they were. Parker’s bike was outside the Moab Brewery. My first thought was how
did he get in there? My second was did it even matter?

“You two stay here,” Justin ordered before
rushing inside.

Did we listen?

No.

“Come on.” I opened the door to the truck. “I
can’t let him get hurt over me.” I dragged
Addy
inside with me.
Addy
watched Jerry Springer nearly
every day, so it wasn’t as though I needed to do much convincing. She was all
over that shit.

Once we were inside, the commotion drew our
attention to the back wall near a group of five guys huddled around Parker and
Dusty.

“Ruining everything I ever wanted wasn’t enough
for you back then…” Parker slammed Dusty up against the wall of the restaurant,
the sound echoing throughout the bar.
Dusty’s
head
snapped back and hit the brick wall behind him. He scowled as if he was giving
Parker a warning to step back. It did nothing as Parker fisted his T-shirt,
holding him close. “Now you make a move on the only girl I’ve
ever
loved?”

Say what?

Addy
looked
over at me with a small smile despite the tense surroundings. “What did I miss
today?”

“Give me a fucking break,
Parker
.” Dusty
pushed back against Parker’s chest. “You’re seventeen years old…she doesn’t
mean anything to you besides a good f—”

He was cut off by Parker punching him in the
mouth.

Dusty stumbled forward at the force and then
stood wiping blood from his lip. “You’re such a little fucker. Jesus, Parker,
we used to be friends, remember?”

Parker stood there, his head came up arrogantly,
keeping his brutal glare directed at Dusty but said nothing.

“You know…” Dusty began, his voice angry now.
“You had what it takes to make it in Supercross, you did, but that temper of
yours was the reason you lost it all.” Dusty rubbed a three-inch long scar on
his cheek I’d never noticed it until now. “I had nothing to do with that deal
with Yamaha.”

Justin got in between them when Parker stepped
closer to Dusty once again. “That’s enough. Stop it.”

If anyone could stop Parker, it was Justin. He
listened to him.

Parker, breathing heavy, easily shook out of
Justin’s grip and turned to walk outside. His eyes stayed forward, never
looking back as he walked right past us to his bike.

“I thought I told you to stay in the truck,”
Justin said, motioning for us to follow him. “Next time, listen to me. You
shouldn’t have even been in here.”

Not only did we have a pissed off Parker, but
Justin was mad too.

By the time we got back to the condo again, none
of us had said anything, and we went off in different directions. I stayed in
the truck for a good hour crying again. I was an emotional wreck. I was
seventeen-year-old girl who was in love for the first time with a boy who was
unobtainable in more ways than one. I didn’t know if he was mad at me, but I
managed to piss off his brother and my best friend.
Addy
wasn’t mad at me, but I was worried about her.

I heard the high pitch scream of Parker’s bike
before I saw him. It took a minute, but his silhouette flashed over the canyon.
He was out on the track. I watched him from the inside the truck.

He landed the jump and then shot down the other
side of the canyon before hitting a double they had built out there. When he
was midair, he threw his back legs off the bike and then arched his body into
the air before reaching back to the pull the bike towards him. He landed it and
then jumped a few rocks.

That was how he calmed himself. I knew
that
about him.

It was another hour before he pulled the bike
into the garage. I sat there inside the truck, afraid to get out. At least he
seemed calm and wasn’t throwing anything.

After he finished cleaning his bike, he stood
with his hands behind his head looking out at the canyon when he noticed me
sitting inside the truck on the passenger side. His brow furrowed, probably
wondering why I was sitting in there when he motioned for me to get out.

I slowly walked up to him like a dog that had
been beaten.

“Hey,” I said breathlessly, slightly
hesitant.
 
I think I cried a little too
much today. My eyes and stomach burned, both for different reasons.

“Take a walk with me.” He walked around the side
of the garage to their track, helping me along the way. We made it to the ridge
at the top that overlooked the track and the condo.

Parker was silent for a little while, watching
the sunset. As the moon overtook the sky, he finally spoke, comfortable in the
darkness. “Do you remember that day we were out riding and ran into Dusty?”

I nodded so he continued. Pulling my knees up to
my chest, I hugged my legs as Parker finally opened up to me. There was a faint
smell of smoke in the air now, and I could see the orange glow of the campfire
near the condo.

“He told me...” he eyed me cautiously “...when I
pushed him…he said you’d be in his bed before the summer was out.”

Who says that? What a douche.

“Why would he say that?”

“That’s just the way he is,” Parker said, looking
at a red rock in his hand. “He slept with Kayla, my friend from Anaheim, when
we were younger, thinking she was my girlfriend or something. It’s like he just
wants to one up me all that time. He thinks anything I have he can take.”

“She wasn’t?”

Parker looked at me, the blue in his eyes seemed
darker and brighter at the same time as he tried to convince me with one look.
Breathing deeply, I watched his face fall, the scruff of his jaw begging me to
reach out and touch it. I could almost feel the shivers I knew it would cause.
His eyes remained watchful, and his brow furrowed the more I stared at him. “I
wasn’t lying when I said you were the only one, Ro.” I smiled slightly hearing
him call me Ro. I liked it. “Last night was my first…” He paused. “I think you
know you are the only one.” I nodded meeting his gaze. “Kayla is
only
a
friend. She doesn’t get me the way you do.”

“I get you?” Not only was I acting like a beaten
dog, I now sounded like a beaten dog.

He smiled the first smile I’d seen since this
morning. “You do. You get me without knowing that you do.”

See I knew I saw the real him. I just knew it.

It was true. I didn’t think he was complicated at
all. You just had to look at the
real
him. Dusty kept saying I didn’t
know the
real
Parker, but I did. I knew I did. Even now, there was no
question that he was showing himself to me.

“I would never go for someone like him.” I wasn’t
sure I even needed to say it but I did. “Just so you know.”

“I know you wouldn’t.”

Breaking our gaze, Parker settled his arms on his
knees and leaned forward slightly. Wanting to comfort him, I reached over to
rub his back. At my touch, his breathing became lighter. His left arm moved to
wrap around my shoulders, dragging me through the sand so our bodies touched,
our hands intertwining.

“What happened between you and him?”

“It’s a long story.” Parker sighed, drawing
circles in the sand. I laughed when I saw his drawing was a dirt bike.