Chapter Thirteen
Cash
Kissing Katie was everything I’d been imagining it to be, and more. There was definitely something to be said for anticipation. Sure, I’d only been waiting for like twenty-four hours, but it’d felt like a lifetime since I’d first saw her dancing in the firelight.
I splayed my palm against her lower back, holding her even tighter. I couldn’t seem to get close enough. My tongue tangled with hers and the little moan she let escape about brought me to my knees. I dipped her backward, plastering the length of my body against hers. She tasted like the wine Avory had slipped her at dinner, and the strawberries she’d eaten after. I stood up straight, wrapping both arms around her waist and lifting her until her feet were off the ground. Her legs automatically went around my hips, but then she froze up. No doubt my hard-on had shocked her. I mean, this was her first kiss after all.
“Cow.”
When she pulled back, I could see her eyes darting behind us. “What?” I looked over my shoulder and started to nod. “Yeah, of course. Why wouldn’t I get cock blocked by a cow?” I slid her down my body until she was steady on her feet then took her hand and led her away from the livestock standing less than a foot away from us, and steadily coming closer.
“In all fairness, you did try to push the poor thing to the ground five minutes ago.”
I put my hands on her ribs, pulling her against me and tickling her at the same time. “The poor thing?” Her laughter was infectious. “You’re the one who wanted to see a two-thousand-pound animal fall over.” She wiggled out of my grasp, but didn’t go far.
She reached for my hand this time, threading our fingers together. “Yes, but out of the two of us, you’re the only one who actually attempted it.” She ducked down, climbing through the two pieces of barbed wire I was holding open for her.
I climbed out next, hiking the short distance to the truck with my hand on the small of her back. I never wanted to stop touching her. When she hopped inside the dimly lit cab I moved closer, rubbing my palms on her jean-covered thighs. “I’d do anything you asked me to, don’t you know that?” I winked before stepping back and shutting the door. I’d known this girl for one damn day, how did she already have this hold on me?
“So. What’s on the docket for tomorrow?”
I started the truck, turning the radio down a little before answering her. “I don’t know. What would you like to cross off the list?”
She pulled it out of her pocket, unfolding it and then holding it closer to the light of the dash. “Well we can mark off trespassing.” She grabbed a pen from my cup holder and drew a line through it. “And first kiss.” She marked through it without meeting my eyes. “Let’s see…get a tattoo?”
“Really?” I glanced her way, not trying to hide the surprise on my face. “You’re ready for ‘get a tattoo’?”
“I’ve always wanted one.” She leaned over, her arms on the center console. “And my Uncle Pax instructed me to get one during his Live It Up speech.”
“Do you know what you want?”
I didn’t have any tattoos, unlike most everyone else in my family. I figured I’d have one at some point in my life, but I could never figure out something that I’d want on my skin for the rest of time.
“I do.”
“Okay, well tattoo will have to wait for Tuesday. The guy the parents use isn’t open on Mondays. I’ll call and set something up.”
She nodded. “Great, thanks.” She leaned forward, reaching for the radio and turning it up. “I love this version of this song.”
“You know who Aaron Watson is?” Would this girl ever cease to amaze me? She didn’t answer my question, just sang along with the cover of an ancient Merle Haggard song.
That was how we drove the rest of the way home in comfortable silence; listening to a song on the radio older than we were. I’d been miserable for the better part of a year. The whole time I was angry at Crue for asking me for such a big favor. I was angry at Avory for going along with it. And I was angry at myself for saying yes. I thought anger had everything to do with my attitude about life. I thought it was my biggest problem. But the last day or so, being around Katie and basking in her light, I realized something. Anger wasn’t my only problem, loneliness was too.
I was constantly surround by people I loved, and people who loved me. But at the end of the day, I’d been missing something. And with Katie sitting beside me, singing to the radio, it finally fell into place. I reached across the console, taking one of her hands in mine. I brought it to my lips and kissed it gently. “Thank you.”
Her smile was bright, and a little wary. “For what?”
“For today, for last night. For letting me in. For that amazing first kiss. For making me laugh. For making me work for your affection.” I shrugged. “For all of it.”
***
I took Katie home, and I walked her to the door. She let me kiss her again. Then she let me pick her up and kiss her some more against the front of the house. I told her I would pick her up in the morning. During the few hours that she hasn’t been talking to me, I’d worked with my brothers to come up with a fun day for her tomorrow.
“Hey, son, you just getting back?” I stopped short when I came in the house and found my dad awake and on the couch.
“Uh, yeah.” I stepped down into the living room. “What are you still doing up, old man?” I sat next to him, taking his whiskey glass from the coffee table and taking a small sip. There was a pill bottle on the table too. “Isn’t it past your bedtime?” I eyed the prescription label, suddenly a little concerned.
He took the glass from my hand. “Isn’t it past your curfew?” He raised a parental eyebrow. “You first.”
I wasn’t a hundred percent sure when my curfew actually was to be honest. I leaned back, putting my hands behind my head. “I was with Katie. We went on a little drive after dinner.” Where she somehow convinced me to try and tip a damn cow. I couldn’t help but smile at the memory.
My dad elbowed me playfully. “Is she the reason you’re grinning like a lovesick fool right now?” He wagged his eyebrows and elbowed me again. “Huh? Huh?”
I snorted. “How much whiskey have you had tonight?” When he shoved me to the side, I started to laugh. “Yes. Yes, Katie is the reason I’m smiling like an idiot.”
“You know, you can talk to me about girls.” My dad stuck out his bottom lip, still in a playful mood. “None of my boys ever want my advice about the ladies.”
“Don’t feel bad, Dad. Jett is too busy planning to take over the world with Marley, and Crue…”
He held his hands up, surrender style. “Crue is a fuck boy. I get it.”
I barked out a laugh. “Did you just say fuck boy?” I shook my head. “I don’t think you should use that phrase, old man.”
He shoved me to the side again, but then handed me his whiskey drink back. “I won’t say fuck boy anymore if you tell what’s going on in that head of yours.”
I took another sip then let out a sigh. “Honestly, I feel a little unhinged or something. I’ve only known Katie for like, a day. But I want to be with her all the time. I want to hold her hand and listen to her sing along to the songs coming out of my radio.” I shrugged. “It all seems unreal, you know? Like there is no way I should feel like this about someone I just met.”
My dad smiled, clapping his hand on my shoulder. “Son, time means nothing when it comes to feelings.” He grabbed his phone from the coffee table and pulled up a picture, turning the screen to show me. It was my parents and all my aunts and uncles. I’d seen it before. It was for an old Texas Monthly cover they’d done back in the day. “If you tell any of the other kids the secrets I’m about to spill, I’ll murder you and let Jett and Marley think of a clever way to dispose of your body.”
I crossed my heart. “I won’t tell a soul.”
“Okay.” He pointed to my Aunt Lexi. She was perched on the edge of a gaudy throw that Uncle Dash was lounging in like the ultimate player. “Dash and Lexi hooked up the first night they met, and Halen was conceived like forty-eight hours later.”
“Really?”
He nodded. “They had an instant connection. It was intense. We could all see it. Dash loved Lexi from the get-go, and when they found out about Halen, they were both over the moon happy.”
Dad pointed to Uncle Smith, who was sitting on the ground at Dash’s feet, looking down at Aunt Dilly who was lying with her head in his lap and her face turned toward the camera. “Smith changed everything about himself to be good enough for Dylan. He stopped using drugs, and he stopped whoring around. He stayed on the tour bus and binge-watched Netflix instead of partying with Uncle Jacks.”
My brows went up and he nodded. “Smith and Dylan were inseparable after, maybe, four days?” He laughed quietly. “Jacks and Bryan? That’s a crazy insta-family story too.” In the picture Uncle Jacks had Aunt B slung over his shoulder, his hand on her leather legging-clad ass. They were both looking at the camera, mock-serious looks on their young faces. “Jacks and B were friends first, but the second Landry came into his life, Bryan was there. They became a family of three in about a week. They had their issues, and it was hard at first. But they never let any of it break them apart.”
“And you and Mom?” In the photo, they were sitting side by side on a velvet loveseat. My mom had one leg swung over my dad’s lap and his hand was dangerously high up on her thigh. If they weren’t my parents, I’d think it was hot.
“Your mother…I think I loved her after I heard her first ridiculous ramble, which probably happened about five minutes after we met.” He looked at me. “Falling in love, fast and hard, it’s real. It happens all the time. Hell, it’s in your blood, kiddo.” He put his hand on my shoulder. “If you feel something for Katie, then go with it. Don’t balk at the emotions because you’re using your brain instead of your heart.”
“Thanks, Dad.” It’d been a really long time since I’d sat down and talked to my father. I’d been so consumed in my own shit, with my own problems, that I’d pushed my parents to the side. “I think us kids forget that you guys lived whole lives before we ever came along.” Us against the world—it was what our parents had taught us. I wasn’t sure when we’d decided to leave them out of our pact, but tonight, it was making me a little sad. “Now, you want to tell me why you’re up after midnight, mixing booze and pills?”
His forehead wrinkled. “Huh?” I pointed to the pill bottle on the table. “Oh.” He laughed. “Your mother and I have to head to the New York office for the day tomorrow. I’m making her special flight cocktail.” He put his finger to his lips. “Shhh.” My dad opened the bottle and started crushing pills into a fine powder.
Almost twenty years later and my mother still didn’t realize that someone drugged her every time she stepped foot on a plane. She thought that planes had suddenly started to make her real sleepy. Maybe it was those kind of things that made us kids feel like some lies were okay.