Live for You (12 page)

Kelly smiles, a tooth
missing from the top. “She’ll love watching me dance like a fairy
tale princess searching for her prince.”

The only thing my mother
loves is Prince Valium. “Yeah, she will.” Then I tell Kelly to
close her eyes so we can say prayers. I kiss her goodnight and
leave the room, making sure the light in the bathroom is on for
her, if she needs it.

Sitting down on the couch
in the living room, I roll my head to one side then the other,
logging onto my class and finishing up my assignment. By the time
I’m done, it’s almost midnight and Parker still hasn’t made it
home.

I grab my phone and text
him. He answers, saying he’s staying with a friend. Park’s been
doing that a lot lately. I can’t decide if I’m happy for him, or if
I resent he automatically thinks I have everything
covered.

I chuck my phone on the
coffee table, grab a pack of cigarettes, a lighter and head out to
the back porch. It’s gotten cooler and cooler every night. In a
couple of weeks, I’ll have to start dressing Kelly in fall
clothes.

If she still fits in her
fall clothes.
Shit.

I take a drag and plop down
on the steps. Just one break. Please… not for me but for Kelly, I
silently pray. But of course no one’s listening. Especially Him.
God, if he exists, left my family a long time ago.

Chapter
Twelve

Violet

Nana hands me the phone. I
stare at it, like she’s just given me a snake. I know who’s on the
line, but I have no desire to talk to her. No desire to hear the
update on my future brother or sister.

I take a deep breath and
say, “Hello?”

“
Don’t you think it’s time
to come home, honey? We miss you.” My father’s voice rumbles over
the line. I haven’t spoken to him for over a month now. My hands
tremble. I’ve missed talking to him.

“
Hi, Daddy. I miss y’all,
too,” I can’t help but say.

He sighs. “Hi, Violet. How
are you?” Trust him to fall back on the manners his mother raised
him with.

“
Fine, thank you.” I sit
down in a chair, then stand back up again. “I’m not ready to come
home, yet.”

“
But you will come
back?”

“
Eventually,” I say, then
glance down at my cell. It’s almost time for Lacey to pick me
up.

“
Your mother—”

“
She’s doing okay, I
hope,” I interrupt.

“
She misses you. Just like
I do.”

I press my forehead against
the cool wall. “I miss y’all too.”

My dad is silent and for
that I’m grateful. “Violet…” His breath catches. “Be safe, honey,
and enjoy your time with Nana. I know she loves you’re there with
her.”

I smack the wall with my
palm, softly. Once, twice then a third time. My entire body shakes.
I want to go home, but I can’t. Too many memories. Tears burn in my
eyes. My throat is thick with them. “’Kay. Love you, Daddy. Momma,
too.” I have to end this phone call, before I’m too emotional to
enjoy a night out.

***

Lacey rams a girl wearing
fishnet tights and a skull t-shirt. I cheer and high five the guy
sitting beside me. Lacey introduced him as her good friend Wyatt
Tanaka right before the game started.

Good friend? I saw the way
she looked at him. The way she smiled and hung on his every word.
Lacey’s not fooling me.

“
She’s a beast out there,”
he yells over the crowd. More than a few women check him
out.

Wyatt is beautiful. There’s
no other word for him. He has inky black hair and sexy dark brown
eyes, face perfect with high cheekbones and full lips. I can’t help
but compare him to Cole. He’s about the same height, nearly as
filled out, but where Cole’s arms are free of tattoos, Wyatt has
full sleeves.

Best thing about him
though: He looks at Lacey like she’s his entire world. It’s why I
don’t mind sitting with him, while he waits for his buddy to show
up. I’ve never seen two people deny who they want to be with so
much, with the whole we’re-just-good-friends routine.

“
Usually Cole’s on time.
Don’t know what’s keeping him,” he says as the ref blows a whistle
and we sit. “Something with the bar I bet. I’ll text him to be
sure.”

Cole? Bar? Cold washes over
me, followed by a wave of heat. I suck down the rest of my water
and twist back on the cap. It can’t be the same guy. But how many
Cole’s that either work or manage a bar in Forrestville could there
be?

“
There he is,” Wyatt says,
then shouts Cole’s name and waves him over.

Heat spreads over my face
and down my chest. Cole hasn’t spotted me. Yet. I stand, ready to
excuse myself, but Cole bounds up the bleachers, his blue eyes
lighting on me. They flash, gaze slicing from me to Wyatt. His face
turns red and his full lips thin.

“
Oh God,” I
croak.

“
Dude, Lacey is on fire
tonight,” Wyatt says as Cole joins us.

“
Who’s your date?” Cole
asks.

I fume, crossing my arms
over my chest. So that’s how he wants to be? He wants to pretend
like he doesn’t know me? That yesterday he didn’t have his damn
tongue down my throat or his hands all over my body? God, how could
I have been so wrong about him?

Wyatt doesn’t notice any of
this though. Lacey’s back on the track, large white star on her
helmet and he’s concentrating on her. “This is Lacey’s friend, Rae.
She’s visiting her grandmother.” He lets out a piercing whistle and
then claps. “That’s my girl.”

The redness fades from
Cole’s face, his eyes less bright. He turns his attention to the
rally, ignoring me and cheering for Lacey. Of course I’ve found the
one girl in the entire town that’s already friends with him. Just
my luck.

For the rest of the time I
watch and cheer Lacey on. She’s so confident out there, in her
plaid skirt and bright pink shirt. She waves at the crowd, getting
them to stand up and cheer harder.

I don’t look Cole’s way,
though I feel his eyes on me more than once. My stupid body is all
too happy about that.

Finally, the ref blows the
whistle again and Lacey’s team skates out onto the track, shouting,
hugging and fist bumping. They’ve won. Wyatt shouts for Lacey once
more and she glances up at us, a smile on her pretty
face.

Not until Wyatt leaves to
go wait for Lacey at the locker room entrance and I shuffle behind
does Cole finally speak to me.

“
Slumming with the regular
folks, huh?”

I step to the side, out of
the way of the mass of people leaving, and turn to face him. “Now
you know me?
Wow
.
Way to be an ass, Cole.”

“
You weren’t exactly
greeting me with open arms, Rae.”

Rae not Violet. I take
comfort in that. Yeah, he’s still perturbed at me, but it’s waned a
little. “Open arms? Are you actually listening to yourself? I
didn’t get the chance to say anything before you opened your big
mouth.”

*** *** ***

Cole

I scrub my hand over my
face. What’s wrong with me? I’m being a total asshole to her.
Jealousy is not an emotion I’m familiar with, but apparently it has
decided to become besties.

“
Look. I’m not here to
give you a hard time. I was a little shocked to see you.” Actually,
I hadn’t expected to see Rae here at all. And for damn sure hadn’t
expected to see her standing next to my best friend.

“
And I’m not here to see
you at all. I came to cheer for Lacey.”

“
You’re friends with her?”
This is news to me. Does Lacey know who Rae really is?

Rae’s lips flatten, her
gaze skittering away. “Something like that.”

She’s lying, but I’m not
sure why. “How long have you known Lacey?”

“
A couple of hours,” she
mumbles.

Hours? “Excuse
me?”

“
If you must know, my
grandmother set us up. She wanted me to make friends while I’m
here.”

“
Does Lacey know
that?”

Big blue eyes lock with
mine. Her nose scrunches up. “Well, yeah. It’s why we’re in a
public place for our first
playdate
.”

I snort, then laugh. She’s
got to be yanking my chain.

“
It’s not funny,
Cole.”

I laugh harder, until I see
the look on her face. Her eyes are all shiny and her cheeks are
bright red. Her lower lip trembles and I stroke my finger across
it, my laughter gone. “Hey, don’t cry.”

She wraps her arms around
her stomach, like she’s trying to hold herself together. “I’m not
crying.” She sniffs and swallows. “I’m pathetic. I don’t know how
to talk to people, I insult the one person who is nice to me and my
nana’s arranging meet cutes, because I can’t go on Facebook to make
female friends.”

“
Don’t talk about yourself
like that.” I pull her into a dimly lit corner.

“
It’s the truth,” she
whispers.

I crook a finger under her
chin, lifting it up. “You’re just out of practice.” I kiss her
forehead. She leans into me, her slender arms coming around my
neck. I wrap mine around her waist, bring her flush against me.
She’s soft and sweet in my arms, smelling of flowery
shampoo.

“
I’m sorry for the mean
things I said to you,” she whispers against my throat. “Let me make
it up to you by baking another apology cake.”

“
How about an apology
kiss?” I ask and she nods. Then her mouth is on my skin, kissing a
path up to mine.

I close my eyes the minute
her lips touch my mouth. Her tongue traces the seam and I part my
lips, letting her inside and then sucking on that full bottom lip
of hers. I wedge a knee between her thighs and she presses
down.

My hands go up her shirt,
once again finding her without a bra and I bring them around front
to cup her breasts. “No bra again?” I groan. “Are you trying to
kill me?” Her nipples harden against my palm. I want them in my
mouth.

“
No… I’m
small.”

I pinch her nipples,
eliciting a whimper from her. “You’re just right.” Then I roll them
between my fingers and tug.

She moans, her hands doing
their own exploration under my shirt.

If we weren’t in public,
I’d take her against this wall. Instead I wrestle for control of my
raging lust, but she begins moving against my leg, little whimpers
filling my ears.

“
Come home with me, Rae,”
I growl. “Let me make up for being as ass.”

She nods, her hips moving
faster. “Please.” But I’m not sure if she means take her home or
make her come. Glancing around, I check to make sure no one is
watching. The place is empty and I have at least fifteen minutes
before Wyatt and Lacey will start to look for us.

“
Baby, you wanna come
right now?”

Her fingernails dig into my
back. “Yes.”

I slide one hand down,
unbuttoning her shorts. They’re loose and I’m able to ease two
fingers beneath her panties. She’s soaked, my fingers slick as they
move. She’s mostly bare, silky curls in a thin line, and her clit’s
swollen. So damn swollen that she cries out and grips me harder
when I touch her there.

“
Shh, I’ll do you right.”
I ease my longest finger inside her pussy. Her muscles clamp down
on me. “Tight as fuck,” I groan, imagining my dick in her. Another
finger and she’s mewling in my arms. I’m about to lose it at the
sounds she’s making.

“
Cole, Cole, Cole,” she
chants.

I rub her clit with my
thumb, pumping my fingers in and out of her. Hard. She’s on the
edge and I want to make it quick. Later I can take my time, when
I’m not worried about someone finding us. Somehow, I managed to get
one side of her shirt up and I take a sweet pink nipple into my
mouth, sucking hard.

“
Ohmygod
,” she cries out and I cover
her mouth with mine, drinking in the sounds of her orgasm as she
comes on my hand and coats it with her juices.

As she calms down, I remove
my fingers and lick them, making sure she’s watching. “Taste so
good, I’ll be coming back for second and thirds.”

“
What about you?” One of
her hands finds my dick and I thrust into her with a
groan.

“
Later.” I kiss her again,
mouth open and tongue plunging inside. She sucks my tongue and I
nearly come undone. She’s tasting herself on me and it’s the
hottest thing I’ve ever felt.

A throat clears and Rae
tenses in my arms. I stop kissing her and look down into her wide
eyes. Luckily my back is to our intruders and I use it to shield
her so she can pull her shirt down and fix her shorts.

I turn around, facing
Wyatt, who has a smirk on his lips. Lacey’s staring, her big brown
eyes going from one of us to the other. Her hand falls from his and
so does the smirk from his face.

Shit
. I don’t know how or why, but I’m sure that my
fault.