Weeks passed after that first conversation with Madeline at the lake. Not only did it seem she was everywhere I turned now, infuriatingly, she invaded my every fucking thought. I managed to keep her off my mind while I was busy working, but anytime I was in town, all I could think of was the next time I’d see her. More frustrating, who I’d see her with.
Before she could make good on her threat—because there were no two bones about it, I’d since decided it’d been a purposeful threat—I made good on my promise. That same night at the lake, first chance I got Nolan alone, I made a few things clear.
“Stop laying it on so thick with that Hellman twin.”
As expected, he’d been surprised when I explained about Madeline’s request. “Why didn’t she come talk to me?” he’d asked, already looking around for them.
“Because I told her I’d take care of it. You can flirt with Maggie. Just tone that shit down. It makes her uncomfortable. But you stay the hell away from Madeline altogether.”
“What?” he’d started to laugh but then misunderstood. “Did she tell you to tell me that too?”
“No. I’m telling you to stay away from her.”
Little did I know this was only the beginning of what would become our game. Because of her “big bad Cortez brothers” comment, I knew she was aware of the reputation we’d earned around town. It was no secret any girl on the back of any of our bikes was not a girlfriend but someone who was just getting a ride. None of us had ever done the serious girlfriend thing, or even casual girlfriend for that matter. Between the girls from Huntsville and the ones from neighboring towns, there’d been plenty of different girls Madeline had seen on my bike in or around town.
If she had before, I’d never noticed, but just like that air of energy she carried so candidly, the disgust whenever she saw me with yet another new girl hadn’t been missed. Worst of all, many of those times her mother had witnessed it too. Sometimes when Madeline wasn’t even around.
A few new things had been spinning in my head ever since the encounter at the lake. I’d begun to feel like a fucking creeper for constantly keeping an eye out for her and being incapable of keeping my eyes off her once I had her in sight. Yet, her comment about my motorcycles getting bigger made me think maybe she’d been keeping tabs on me as well. Right?
I mean what girl would notice something as insignificant as my upgrading my used motorcycles? I could see if I had a new badass hog I might have shown up at the lake with. But so far, all my rides had been refurbished bikes. Even the one she’d noticed was bigger was in dire need of a paint job. Most motorcycle novices, as I imagined most sixteen-year-old girls would have been, wouldn’t even have noticed the difference between the one I was on that night and the previous one I had.
Yet she did.
She mentioned the size, but in hindsight now it seemed she may’ve had that line prepared. Only it’d been my first night out on that refurbished bike. So she couldn’t have had too much time to prepare. And yet all the times I’d observed her from afar, except for the day at the cafe with Ama, I’d never noticed her notice me. Just when I’d decided I was being delusional, that she hadn’t actually been watching me that close, I had another run-in with her that changed that.
I’d walked in to pay for my gas at the gas station convenience store when I spotted her and her sister on the other side of the store by the fountain-drink dispensers. For the first time in the last several times I’d seen them, I couldn’t immediately tell who was who since both were facing the other way and were busy filling their cups and not doing any talking.
For a moment, my wuss ass considered ducking out. I didn’t see Loretta anywhere, so I assumed they came in her friend Shelby’s car since I also spotted her an aisle away from the twins. I started to inch my way back when something Shelby said suddenly got my attention.
“Ooh, Maddie, you’re gonna love this.”
Shelby was holding a magazine in her hand as she walked over to show Maddie something. Suddenly, I was beyond curious to see or hear about what she was going to love. Slinking behind the doughnut case display, I waited, peeking around, glad none of them were facing me. Both sisters huddled around Shelby and the magazine.
“Remind you of someone?” Shelby asked as the girls leaned in.
“Nice,” one of the twins said, but I still couldn’t see their faces, and apparently they also sounded exactly the same.
“Eh,” the other twin said, not sounding as impressed, and I was pretty sure this was Madeline. “That guy’s hot, but he’s way hotter than that.”
“Oh c’mon,” Shelby protested, lifting the magazine closer to her. “Look at those eyes.”
Already my breath hitched as my mind started to jump to conclusions, and then Madeline replied, “God no. I don’t think anyone will ever touch the Cortez green eyes, not even some model on the cover of a magazine.”
She walked back to the fountain-drink dispenser and added a little more of whatever she was drinking into her cup. I stood there, debating whether to make a run for it before she saw me and knew I heard what she just said. But something had me staying. She mentioned the Cortez brothers, just as she had at the lake, the night she also made it clear that she might have more in common with Nolan before so unceremoniously walking away. So my curiosity now about who she meant when she said he’s way hotter was through the roof.
Then she clarified even more than I could’ve asked for. “Besides, let me see?” She walked back to get a closer look again. “Yep. That’s a Bolt. Poor man’s 883. I doubt Nico would ever own one of those. His might all be older models, but I’ve never seen him on anything but a Harley.”
Why I was floored I wasn’t sure, but a mix of something was going on in my gut. I felt like a fucking giddy chick, but at the same time, I was panicking. I needed to get out before she saw me, especially now. Only there was no way I’d make it out without any of them seeing me. The moment their attention was on the sandwich area I beelined it to the opposite side of the store with the refrigerators and pretended I was looking for something to drink from there. Something on the lower shelves.
At least if they saw me now, I’d have been far enough away, and they’d be left to wonder if I’d heard, not know for sure I did. Okay, so she thought I was hot, and she even knew more about motorcycles than I would’ve imagined. Specifically that I rode an 883. But as stupid as it may have sounded, I loved that she knew I’d never ride a fucking Bolt.
“That’s ’cause you never listen!”
My thoughts were momentarily interrupted when a couple who looked a little older than I started to argue near the front of the store. After the man’s loud outburst, she hushed him, and their arguing continued too low for me to hear. Still, they’d gotten everyone’s attention in the store, including the girls, and it was obvious the woman was embarrassed and angry.
It was only noon, but the town got pretty touristy in the warmer months with big city folks driving in to the lake and riverside campsites. So it wasn’t too rare to have a few run-ins with drunks this early in the day. Except neither of these two looked or sounded drunk.
I caught bits of their conversation, but when the woman left whatever she was holding on the counter and stormed out, I went back to pretending to search the refrigerators, especially when I saw Madeline and her crew start toward the counter.
Until I heard what sounded like Madeline say something, and then that same man who was arguing responded to her, but I couldn’t make out what either of them said. As curious as I was, I dared not look their way until the man’s voice was suddenly loud again. “ . . . maybe if she’d listen—”
“If she wanted to listen to an asshole,” Madeline retorted just as loudly, and instantly they had my full attention. “She could just fart!”
Shelby giggled, but Margaret looked nervous. A few others, including the attendant at the counter, chuckled as well, even though Madeline seemed livid. Did she know these people? The guy who was stunned silent, glared at her as she and the other two paid for their things and walked out of the store.
I watched as he paid at the counter then stalked out with a purpose, and I was off. When I got out there, it was clear Madeline did know them because she was standing out there talking to the woman who’d stormed off. They were standing at the back of a car with an open trunk The man charged toward them, and I wasn’t far behind, if nothing more than to make sure his ass didn’t say or do anything stupid.
“Road trip to Fayette,” Madeline announced as she took one of the bags the woman pulled out of the trunk.
“Where you going?” the guy asked as he neared them.
“We’re taking her the rest of the way.”
Madeline didn’t even look at him when she said it as Shelby quickly opened the trunk of her car and they put the woman’s bags in. The man started to argue, but Madeline turned to him as the others quickly climbed into the car. “Ah, ah, ah.” Madeline lifted her finger at him with a raised brow. “She doesn’t listen to assholes, remember?”
The only moment she slowed was when our eyes met and her expression softened. She seemed to take a deep breath almost as if she had something to say to me. But the moment was short-lived because just as quickly she was in the car with the others.
“You’re gonna regret this, Rachel,” the man yelled out as they started the car.
In the next moment, they were off. As if whisking his girl off like they did and calling him an asshole more than once wasn’t insulting enough, all four lifted their hands out of their windows and flipped him off.
The guy pulled his ball cap off and banged his own car’s roof with it. “Bunch of . . .” He stopped when he turned to see me eyeing him in anticipation of what else might come out of his mouth. “You know them?”
“Yeah, I do,” I said, silently daring him to say more, but he didn’t.
Wisely, he shrugged, muttering something about it being a better drive alone anyway as he got in his car and slammed his own door shut. After all was said and done, I was left standing there wondering what the hell that was about.
Trying to get her off my mind before was hard enough. Now I had so much more to obsess about. First, the realization that this girl had been putting a lot more thought into me than I ever imagined. But up until then I’d seen nothing but her sweet bubbly side. Now I’d seen what a spitfire she could be. More than anything, I knew I’d now obsess about that change in demeanor just seeing me did to her because it was exactly what she did to me each time I laid eyes on her. This was only the beginning of my obsession.
Any hope that this little infatuation of mine would soon wear off, was a joke. Each run-in I had with her from then on only sucked me in deeper. It took my dense ass awhile to pick up on the game, but Madeline did things so subtly I was still not sure I was a hundred percent about it. Maybe she’d always been at those lake and river parties, and I just hadn’t cared enough to pay that close attention. But after that one conversation with her at the lake, it seemed she was there every time I was. I didn’t even have to see her to know she was there. Where there was laughter or loud animated conversation, I knew she wasn’t far.
On my way to the dollar store on my bike one afternoon when I was off, I noticed the twins and their friends among a few boys at the town’s center park. It was where the high-school kids who didn’t take the bus waited for their rides home from school. The school year had just begun. I’d seen her there before but never paid enough attention to what day of the week or time of day it was. If I’d known she was there every day after school around two thirty p.m., I probably would’ve never agreed to pick Jenna up after her shift at the dollar store just across the street from the park.
They all turned as I drove past toward the dollar store. Of course, my eyes were instantly drawn to hers and only hers. The group of people she was with consisted of four girls and two boys. Of course, one of the boys stayed near her. I parked in the lot. When our eyes met again, she walked away from the boy who’d been talking to her and over to one of the brunette girls on the other side of the picnic bench.
One of the girls with her group sat on the table. I watched as Madeline took a seat on the bench in front of the girl, and made herself comfy between the girl’s legs as the brunette proceeded to braid her hair. For the sake of not being too obvious like Ama had pointed out, I attempted to glance away, but my eyes inevitably ended up on Madeline again.
Jenna finally walked out of the store, looking tired, but seemed to brighten up when she saw me. She hopped on my bike for a moment. “Oh shit,” she said, climbing back off.
“What?”
“I forgot my mom’s Tupperware. She’ll kill me if I don’t bring it home.”
I nodded, glad for the extra time I had to indulge my eyes on Madeline. By the time I glanced back across the street, she was over by the boy who’d been talking to her when I first drove by. The smile she wore now wasn’t quite as bright as it normally was, but she laughed about something. Then the guy reached out and wiped something off from under her eye. Thankfully, Jenna was out quickly and on my bike fast enough for me to get the hell out of there before I had to watch for even another moment.
The next time I saw Madeline was two weeks later, and I was free of any female company. The guys and I were down by the cliffs near the river, taking turns jumping in. There are a few perfect spots for diving, some more dangerous than others. She and her friends were just relaxing in the river nearby. Some guys were with them—as usual—but no one was paired off. As was the case now, our eyes met every few minutes because neither of us bothered to try and hide it anymore. I couldn’t keep my eyes off her, and she was not only aware of it, she enjoyed it enough to smile each time our eyes met.
No matter how much I reminded myself she was jailbait, she was in a two-piece bathing suit and God damn! Even the judge would have had to give me a pass on not being able to keep my eyes from roaming.
When one of the boys went over and sat by her, she smiled sweetly enough. She spoke with him for a few minutes before splashing over to where another girl was floating on an inner tube, and Madeline made herself comfortable hanging off the side of it. The two girls floated along for a while, holding onto some branches where they had a good view of us diving in. The rest of the time I was there I was privy to watching her—away from the guys—while she laughed and chatted with her girlfriends and sister. Then she indulged me every few minutes with that beautiful knowing smile.
It took some time, but I began to pick up on a pattern. The infuriating times I was forced to watch her be friendly with the drooling boys around her, directly coincided with the times she’d either seen a girl on my bike or I looked ready to leave with one. It felt like an evil game of quid pro quo, as if she knew—because it was so obvious—how maddening it was for me to have to watch those little fuckers creeping around her. As long as she didn’t have to watch me with anyone else, she spared me the irritation as well.
I decided to test my theory because I still thought it was crazy. She couldn’t have been that evil a genius. But if that was the case, then shit was about to change. Staying away from other girls while in her presence was hardly a sacrifice. Although it did feel like she was everywhere now, plenty of opportunities to hook up were available when she wasn’t around.
I still didn’t think there was a chance in hell that anything more between her and me could ever be. But if it’d spare me having to deal with watching guys throw their pathetic moves on her, I was all for it.
In Huntsville, it didn’t matter if you were a student attending the high school or a twenty-year alumnus. Most home football games were packed, but for the big rivalry game, it seemed the whole damn town shut down to be there. Even my dad and Ama made it out. There were tailgating parties and everything.
My brothers and I were standing out by our bikes in the school’s parking lot, smoking and talking football with some of the other guys tailgating before the game. Loretta’s minivan pulled up, parking just a row over. I watched as several girls aside from just Madeline and her sister spilled out of the van’s sliding door. Nolan hadn’t been kidding when he said the twins were popular in school. No sooner did they arrive than another group of girls approached them and they were all chatting excitably.
Like everyone else who arrived early at the games, Loretta quickly set up a table behind her van with snacks and whatnot and brought out an ice chest. Madeline’s mama and grandma sat by the table, chatting and listening to a small radio. No doubt they were listening to the local radio station hyping up the game. It didn’t take long before guys joined the group of girls.
Just as I was hyperaware of her presence any time she was around, I knew she was of mine. We’d already exchanged a few glances that night, so I knew she was aware I was watching. The varsity players always walked around the parking lot in their uniforms minus their shoulder pads, during tailgating parties. They usually mingled until a few minutes before the end of the junior varsity game.
Nothing had changed since my days as a player. The girls always flocked to them, and it was no different with the girls in Madeline’s group. When one of the boys approached her, she responded with that beautiful smile and what appeared to be polite conversation. Then it happened.
Sure as shit, she glanced my way, and of course, my eyes were glued to her. She held my gaze for a moment before turning back and saying something to the boy then walked away to sit with her mom and grandma.
“You’re shitting me,” I whispered under my breath, feeling the smile spread across my face.
Even just sitting with her mama and grandma she was laughing within minutes. It didn’t take long for her laughter and the goodies she kept pulling out of the bags and ice chest to draw her friends over to her.
It seemed once again Madeline knew exactly what she was doing. While her friends rushed over to see what she was pulling out of one of the bags that had her squealing in delight, the boys stayed behind. For once, I appreciated all the stories of Loretta and her shotgun. Clearly, those boys had heard the stories too. For the rest of the tailgate, the girls flocked around the small table, munching and laughing—minus any boys.
As always, but especially now, I was incapable of glancing away for too long. Our tailgate was approached by a few girls, but similar to Madeline’s situation, they weren’t nearly as touchy-feely as they might have been if Ama and my dad weren’t there. I engaged in a loud purposely disagreeable discussion with my dad and Quino about the upcoming game and what strategy we all thought was best. It was always fun as hell to get dad fired up. It left Xavier and Nolan, who’d driven home from his internship just for the game, open to chat with the girls who had approached.
“There’s no way Jefferson wins tonight,” my dad argued.
“Even with both receivers healthy and starting tonight?” Quino asked. “They’re good, Pops.”
Dad shook his head. “Doesn’t matter. Can’t do shit without a good quarterback. Jerry Rice could be out there playing for them, and I still wouldn’t be worried.”
Both Quino and I laughed, and it caught the attention of a few of the girls nearby, who smiled in our direction. I turned back to my dad without acknowledging them and threw a few more stats at him.
My disinterest in the girls was rewarded with a few very sweet smiles from Madeline. I was sure of it now. Madeline had been one step ahead of me from the very beginning. It was as if she knew I’d catch on eventually, and she was sure I’d be on board with this unspoken agreement.
Things remained this way for the next several weeks. My fantasies about what I’d do to her if I ever got the chance, got dirtier with every dream I had about her that had me showering with my cock in my hand. But I still dared not take a chance.
All I could hope for was that she’d still be waiting and, hopefully, if I had it right—willing—in the few years it’d be before she was legal. But I’m only a man. Her being legal was almost two years away. So, in the meantime, as ridiculous as it sounded, and of course I shared my reasons with no one, I’d mastered the art of getting laid on the down low.
Until the night in Kings Falls.
I knew Loretta would be my biggest hurdle when it came to anything happening between her precious baby girl and me. Even when Madeline was finally of age, I was certain Loretta would be opposed. I was the oldest of the big bad Cortez brothers. I’d overheard the comments about us being the town’s terrors. Mostly because we rode around on our bikes probably too fast and revving them too loudly. But we’d also been in quite a few fights and brawls over the years, and I was sure it had gotten back to her.
While all my brothers were well on their way, I was inked up more than any of them. We were all foul-mouthed and known to not take shit from anyone. None of us were scholars or headed out of town to college any time soon. And I hadn’t helped my case much by driving around town with a different girl on my bike every weekend. Sometimes during the week as well.
I’d seen the disapproval on her mama’s face too many times already. I knew what she thought of us. So between that and this unspoken agreement Madeline and I now had, I’d started doing things like driving out of town for over an hour to meet chicks.
I met America online. She worked at the only fancy restaurant bar in King’s Falls. I purposely set up the day I just so happened to drive out there to be during her shift but knew she’d still be up to meeting. I planned it this way so I could assure myself I wouldn’t get stuck with her, if hanging out in person was different from chatting online—which it usually was.
Turned out America was as hot and easy enough to flirt with in person as she was in pictures and videos. As soon as she got the chance, we snuck out into the back alley on her break. The moon was just as bright here as it was in Huntsville on any given autumn night.
“My God,” she whispered as she flung her arms around my neck. “Your eyes are even more amazing in person than they are online.”
Her blue eyes were pretty—couldn’t touch what Madeline’s baby blues did to me even from afar—but still I figured I could return a somewhat disingenuous compliment. Only before I could, her lips were on mine. Ironically, because of Madeline, it’d been at least a month since I’d messed around with anyone else much less bagged a chick.
The girl’s hands were already traveling, and we’d only just begun to make out. Like the rest of the town seemed to be at this hour, the alley was deserted. America had already mentioned the restaurant being short-staffed for the weekend, so only one staff member was allowed on break at a time. I was fairly certain, especially given how her hand was already rubbing my cock over my pants, that she was thinking the same thing I was. The odds of another employee walking out here while she was on break were slim to none. She had twenty minutes, and I knew I had more than enough time for a quickie if she was up to it.
The harder she sucked my tongue, the more certain it became that she was up to it. Her undoing my jeans while I sucked her neck only confirmed it. We both moaned as things escalated quickly, and her blouse was now unbuttoned all the way down.
When a car turned into the alleyway, bright lights immediately on us, I covered her body with mine. The car didn’t even slow. We zipped and covered up anything that had begun to come off.
Bracing myself when the car slowed, I wasn’t sure what to expect. The idiot driving rolled his window down. I was instantly assaulted with the overpowering stench of cologne.
“Evening.” The goofy older driver in a tie smiled.
But that seemed to wane the moment being this close made it clear what he’d just interrupted. He cleared his throat and glanced away from America, who was still working on tucking in her blouse. It was an obvious attempt to pretend he hadn’t noticed.
“I think I made a wrong turn back there. I’m looking for Barberella Romantica, and according to my navigation thing, I’m here.” He looked around with another goofy smile. “That’s gotta be some glitch.”
Motioning with my thumb to the back door America and I had walked out of, I smirked. The guy was out on a romantic date and this was how it started. “Yeah, this is the backdoor to the place.”
“If you keep going . . .” America finally spoke up.
She explained what the fastest way was to get back to the front entrance. Someone in the passenger seat leaned over to get a better look at us through the driver’s window. I was just beginning to see the humor in the awkward situation when I saw who it was.
Loretta.
It wiped the smirk right off my face. A brick settled in my stomach as she eyed me then America, lifting a brow, and sat back in her seat without saying a word.
“Thank you,” the driver said with a nod and drove off.
America giggled, wrapping her arms around my neck. I had no idea how close Loretta and her daughters were, but from what I’d seen so far, they talked and laughed a lot. I had to wonder now if this would be something she’d get home and gossip about with her daughters first thing.
Technically, I’d done nothing wrong. I was free to be with whoever and however many women I chose to be with. Madeline shouldn’t even have been on my radar, much less someone I had to worry might hear about my escapades.
“So, are you sticking around until I’m off?” America asked once they were gone as she kissed my neck.
“I can’t,” I said, staring straight ahead.
I was having visuals of Madeline and her family discussing and giggling about the awkwardness of what her mom just witnessed. Though something told me Madeline might not be doing a whole lot of giggling. I knew if someone unwittingly told me the story of nearly catching Madeline doing the dirty in a dark alley somewhere, I sure as fuck wouldn’t have been smiling. My only hope was that this was obviously the beginning of Loretta’s evening. No telling how late she’d be out. Then she’d still have a whole hour drive home, if she was even going home tonight. Maybe by the time she got to talk to them, which likely wouldn’t be until tomorrow, she’d forget all about it.
I could only hope.