Trailer Park Heart
Page 3
I laughed and turned to face him. Propping my head in my hand, I found myself brushing his hair back with the tips of my free fingers. “You weren’t awesome. But, I don’t know, I never minded what went on between us. It felt like we were at least playing on equal footing. It’s the rest of the town. The pity. The judgmental looks. The… discrimination. This town is snobby as shit. I’m done being judge based on where I live and who my mom is.”
“I’m sorry I’ve been an asshole.”
I smiled and it felt real. Two hours ago, I’d expected to go to my grave hating Levi Cole. Now he was apologizing for his assholery? What a crazy night. “I forgive you.” He scooted closer, his hand resting on my hip—the heat of it burning through my clothes and skin and somehow branding the bone there. I sucked in a sharp breath at the contact. “I’m sorry too,” I whispered, meaning it.
He held my gaze. “Then I guess you’ll make me visit you, too.”
Confusion interrupted the heating warmth in my belly. “What?”
“If I want to see you, I’m going to have to go to you. Since you’re never coming back here again.”
“Yeah, but you won’t—”
“I will,” he promised, cutting me off. “I will want to see you again.”
“Levi, we’re going in separate directions. This ends tonight.”
His body moved closer to mine, pressing against me from toes to chest. “You’re wrong, Ruby Dawson. This is only getting started.” And then he kissed me into oblivion.
Rolling me underneath him, he took my mouth captive with his. He tasted like beer and breath mints and something solid and lasting and like nothing I expected.
Where I thought his lips would be hard and rough, they were pillow soft and enticing. His kisses were insistent, yes, hungry even. But not invasive.
My fingers curled into his Clark City Football t-shirt and I held him closer to me, desperate for more of him, more of his mouth on me. His hand slipped under my tank top, finding my breast. I arched my back, pressing closer to him.
While this wasn’t my first kiss, this was my first trip to second base and I had no idea I would like it so much. Things were moving quickly, and I didn’t know how to stop. How to stop us.
Or even if I wanted to.
He kissed me harder, his mouth taking mine until I released a breathy sound that came from the very center of me. Led by instinct, I reached for his jeans, slipping my fingers into the waistband and sliding them around to find his fly.
He shivered and laughed at the same time. “God, that tickled.”
Enjoying torturing him, I slid my fingers back, dipping them further inside his boxer briefs.
“Ruby,” he hissed, settling his body more firmly on top of mine, before pulling away completely and jumping to his feet. “I-I can’t.”
I blinked up at him, cold reality suddenly washing over me. “You can’t?”
He gave me a tortured look. “Kristen.”
The chill that swept over my body turned to a fire of anger. “Oh, my god.”
“I’ll be right back,” he insisted, holding his hands up placatingly. “Don’t move. I’ll be right back.”
He rushed from the balcony back into the house while I collected myself into a sitting position. I eyed the balcony ledge and contemplated jumping to end this humiliation.
“What was that?” I asked the dark, Nebraska night. He wasn’t into me. He had a girlfriend. He’d just brought me up here to… to… Holy shit, was this another one of his pranks?
I folded my legs and buried my face in my hands, feeling the heat of my blush. “Son of a bitch.”
The folded bucket list in my pocket dug into my thigh and I suddenly remembered why I was here tonight. I had been planning to make out with a Cole brother, just not that one.
Logan was probably here by now. I could still check everything off the list and give the middle finger to Levi. The night wasn’t totally lost yet.
It was my turn to jump to my feet and rush inside the house. I knew I looked crazy. My hair was wild from being outside and rolling around on the ground and I’d never had a drink before tonight, so I was definitely buzzed. But I was also on a mission.
I found Logan playing ping pong in the basement with some of the other football guys. He smiled when he saw me and set his paddle down to wrap me in a hug.
“I was hoping I’d see you tonight.” His body was warm, but it wasn’t hot like Levi’s. He was familiar, but it didn’t compare to the lifetime of tug-of-war familiarity I felt with Levi. He was Logan and he was my friend. And Levi was my enemy. I should stop comparing them.
I should.
The weird thing was, I didn’t usually compare them. Logan was the guy I sometimes chatted with online, when we happened to be on the same social media app at the same time and neither of us had anyone else to talk to—so not often. But we did talk occasionally. And we’d been friends for the two years we were in high school together.
More importantly, I’d had a crush on him since I was a little girl. Er, I’d thought he was nice since I was a little girl. Now that he was here, I could admit the crush hadn’t come until later. Probably around my freshman year, when I’d felt it was time to have a crush on somebody. I mean, Coco’s crush had changed every other day. I knew I had to pick someone, or she would likely question my sanity. And Logan Cole was the obvious choice.
There wasn’t anything about him that I didn’t like. He was nice and friendly and… not mean. I knew those all sounded like the same thing, but in my head, they were different.
I hugged him tighter. The most important thing about Logan was that he didn’t feel like Levi. He didn’t make me feel too hot and too overwhelmed and too… confused. He just made me feel nice. And after this day and kissing his brother and a lifetime of feeling like an outsider, I just wanted to feel nice. For once.
For a night.
“Me too,” I told him, letting the hug linger. I’d been better at flirting with him when he lived here. Admittedly, I was rusty with the whole batting my eyelashes and getting him to notice me. But I was on a mission tonight. Plus, he was a guy. All of my experience with men told me it wasn’t super hard to convince them they wanted to get laid. I mean, my mom got a crazy amount of action. And no offense to her, but… if she could do it, surely, I could do it. At least once. Just saying. “I was hoping we could hang out tonight,” I whispered in his ear. “Alone.”
He pulled back, his eyebrows drawing together in confusion. “Alone?”
Shrugging coyly, I dropped my hand into his like Levi had done earlier. I had to shake my head and adjust my smile back in place to banish Levi from my thoughts, but I pushed on. “Yeah, I don’t know, I thought it would be fun to… catch up.”
His slow smile confirmed that he finally understood. He told his friends he was going to grab another drink but took me upstairs instead. We did grab more drinks and we did catch up for a long time. And it was fun to hangout with him again and laugh and believe he had no sinister motive other than hanging out with me because he genuinely liked me.
Not because he wanted to embarrass me. Not because he wanted to torture me. Like his brother.
When my head felt sufficiently fuzzy and my fingers were numb, I kissed him. And didn’t stop kissing him until my entire bucket list was crossed off.
“I’m sorry I’ve been an asshole.”
I smiled and it felt real. Two hours ago, I’d expected to go to my grave hating Levi Cole. Now he was apologizing for his assholery? What a crazy night. “I forgive you.” He scooted closer, his hand resting on my hip—the heat of it burning through my clothes and skin and somehow branding the bone there. I sucked in a sharp breath at the contact. “I’m sorry too,” I whispered, meaning it.
He held my gaze. “Then I guess you’ll make me visit you, too.”
Confusion interrupted the heating warmth in my belly. “What?”
“If I want to see you, I’m going to have to go to you. Since you’re never coming back here again.”
“Yeah, but you won’t—”
“I will,” he promised, cutting me off. “I will want to see you again.”
“Levi, we’re going in separate directions. This ends tonight.”
His body moved closer to mine, pressing against me from toes to chest. “You’re wrong, Ruby Dawson. This is only getting started.” And then he kissed me into oblivion.
Rolling me underneath him, he took my mouth captive with his. He tasted like beer and breath mints and something solid and lasting and like nothing I expected.
Where I thought his lips would be hard and rough, they were pillow soft and enticing. His kisses were insistent, yes, hungry even. But not invasive.
My fingers curled into his Clark City Football t-shirt and I held him closer to me, desperate for more of him, more of his mouth on me. His hand slipped under my tank top, finding my breast. I arched my back, pressing closer to him.
While this wasn’t my first kiss, this was my first trip to second base and I had no idea I would like it so much. Things were moving quickly, and I didn’t know how to stop. How to stop us.
Or even if I wanted to.
He kissed me harder, his mouth taking mine until I released a breathy sound that came from the very center of me. Led by instinct, I reached for his jeans, slipping my fingers into the waistband and sliding them around to find his fly.
He shivered and laughed at the same time. “God, that tickled.”
Enjoying torturing him, I slid my fingers back, dipping them further inside his boxer briefs.
“Ruby,” he hissed, settling his body more firmly on top of mine, before pulling away completely and jumping to his feet. “I-I can’t.”
I blinked up at him, cold reality suddenly washing over me. “You can’t?”
He gave me a tortured look. “Kristen.”
The chill that swept over my body turned to a fire of anger. “Oh, my god.”
“I’ll be right back,” he insisted, holding his hands up placatingly. “Don’t move. I’ll be right back.”
He rushed from the balcony back into the house while I collected myself into a sitting position. I eyed the balcony ledge and contemplated jumping to end this humiliation.
“What was that?” I asked the dark, Nebraska night. He wasn’t into me. He had a girlfriend. He’d just brought me up here to… to… Holy shit, was this another one of his pranks?
I folded my legs and buried my face in my hands, feeling the heat of my blush. “Son of a bitch.”
The folded bucket list in my pocket dug into my thigh and I suddenly remembered why I was here tonight. I had been planning to make out with a Cole brother, just not that one.
Logan was probably here by now. I could still check everything off the list and give the middle finger to Levi. The night wasn’t totally lost yet.
It was my turn to jump to my feet and rush inside the house. I knew I looked crazy. My hair was wild from being outside and rolling around on the ground and I’d never had a drink before tonight, so I was definitely buzzed. But I was also on a mission.
I found Logan playing ping pong in the basement with some of the other football guys. He smiled when he saw me and set his paddle down to wrap me in a hug.
“I was hoping I’d see you tonight.” His body was warm, but it wasn’t hot like Levi’s. He was familiar, but it didn’t compare to the lifetime of tug-of-war familiarity I felt with Levi. He was Logan and he was my friend. And Levi was my enemy. I should stop comparing them.
I should.
The weird thing was, I didn’t usually compare them. Logan was the guy I sometimes chatted with online, when we happened to be on the same social media app at the same time and neither of us had anyone else to talk to—so not often. But we did talk occasionally. And we’d been friends for the two years we were in high school together.
More importantly, I’d had a crush on him since I was a little girl. Er, I’d thought he was nice since I was a little girl. Now that he was here, I could admit the crush hadn’t come until later. Probably around my freshman year, when I’d felt it was time to have a crush on somebody. I mean, Coco’s crush had changed every other day. I knew I had to pick someone, or she would likely question my sanity. And Logan Cole was the obvious choice.
There wasn’t anything about him that I didn’t like. He was nice and friendly and… not mean. I knew those all sounded like the same thing, but in my head, they were different.
I hugged him tighter. The most important thing about Logan was that he didn’t feel like Levi. He didn’t make me feel too hot and too overwhelmed and too… confused. He just made me feel nice. And after this day and kissing his brother and a lifetime of feeling like an outsider, I just wanted to feel nice. For once.
For a night.
“Me too,” I told him, letting the hug linger. I’d been better at flirting with him when he lived here. Admittedly, I was rusty with the whole batting my eyelashes and getting him to notice me. But I was on a mission tonight. Plus, he was a guy. All of my experience with men told me it wasn’t super hard to convince them they wanted to get laid. I mean, my mom got a crazy amount of action. And no offense to her, but… if she could do it, surely, I could do it. At least once. Just saying. “I was hoping we could hang out tonight,” I whispered in his ear. “Alone.”
He pulled back, his eyebrows drawing together in confusion. “Alone?”
Shrugging coyly, I dropped my hand into his like Levi had done earlier. I had to shake my head and adjust my smile back in place to banish Levi from my thoughts, but I pushed on. “Yeah, I don’t know, I thought it would be fun to… catch up.”
His slow smile confirmed that he finally understood. He told his friends he was going to grab another drink but took me upstairs instead. We did grab more drinks and we did catch up for a long time. And it was fun to hangout with him again and laugh and believe he had no sinister motive other than hanging out with me because he genuinely liked me.
Not because he wanted to embarrass me. Not because he wanted to torture me. Like his brother.
When my head felt sufficiently fuzzy and my fingers were numb, I kissed him. And didn’t stop kissing him until my entire bucket list was crossed off.
