Panting, we collapsed to lie sideways on the bed, still somewhat locked together, and I let out a long sigh.
“Coop was right,” I exhaled the words.
“Was Coop here?” he snarked and bit down on my shoulder lightly.
Grinning, I stroked his hand where it still nestled between my legs. A mistake, because it added pressure to my already sensitive body, and I clenched around him. We both let out a hiss. “Yeah,” I admitted after that round of shudders passed. “You have great form.”
He chuckled and rolled me over until I was on my back and he was over me again. This time, his kiss was as much sweetness as steam. “And I haven’t even gotten your bra off yet…”
Chapter Four
We Belong Together
I’d ridden to school with Archie that morning, but I came home with Jake. Coop was going to get some work hours in, so he’d kissed me at school and promised to see me later. Ian wasn’t far behind us, and Archie would be over to scoop me up later for a date. The guys grumbled, but Archie wanted to steal me away for dinner, and being asked with a rose and a cup of coffee first thing that morning made me more than amenable to the plan.
Not that he had to bribe me with coffee. Or roses. Still, it had been sweet. Ian and I had plans this weekend to work on the recording for his demo tape. I still hadn’t quite worked out why he insisted I record with him, but the quiet words of praise and encouragement in his eyes made it so damn hard to say no.
True story, I didn’t want to say no. He made me sound like I knew what I was doing, so as long as it made him happy, I was there for it.
“I’m going to check the mail,” I called over my shoulder as I headed for the front door of the apartment. Jake had snagged my backpack. Another boyfriend perk, apparently, or maybe it was a requirement. They no longer let me carry my backpack, constantly tugging it off my shoulders or snagging it themselves. It was a ridiculously little thing that made me warm and gooey inside.
“You want me to just go ahead and order the pizza now?” Jake called as he paused at the fridge. “I know you and Arch are going out later…”
At the front door, I glanced back and grinned. “But you’re hungry and I can always eat. So sure, it’s not like we won’t eat it. Though…” I hesitated.
“If you say it costs too much, I’ll spank you.” There was no threat in those words at all, but a shiver went right through me.
“Promise?”
His eyes heated and the fridge door slammed as he stalked toward me.
Laughing, I escaped before he got there. The air had a bite to it, and the wind had picked up. Thankfully, I still had on Jake’s jacket, so I huddled into it. Trina was checking their mail, and she threw me a grin.
“Hey,” I said with a quick sideways hug that turned into a real one. “You okay?”
“I hate my parents,” Trina confessed. “Dad’s turning into a real dick. He was supposed to take my side with Mom, but Mom won’t even hear a word he has to say.” She made a disgusted sound and then slumped back against the mailboxes as she eyed me. “If you and my brother weren’t making sex eyes at each other all the time, I’d ask to move in with you. At least you have no parents to have to deal with anymore.”
Yeah, no parents to deal with. “You know your mom loves you, right?”
Trina scoffed, and I stared at her a beat.
“Trina, my mom couldn’t care less about what I do.” I ignored the breeze for a moment. “I get you don’t like being grounded or fighting with them. But at least she cares.”
The younger girl made a face. “It’s not the same thing.”
“No,” I agreed with her. “It’s not.” I sighed and leaned against the mailboxes. “Seriously, it’s not. Maddy’s…Maddy’s never been there for me. I used to tell myself she was, even when she wasn’t. I used to make excuses for her. She was busy. She had bills to pay. She did her best. She just wasn’t like that… You don’t have to make excuses for Carly.”
When Trina bit at her lower lip and chewed on it, she looked a lot younger. “It’s just that… Why is it okay for Coop to date and stay out all night, and I can’t even look at a guy?”
“Is this really about the guy?” I ignored the breeze sweeping around the mail center and focused on her. “I mean, really.”
Slumping with her back to the mailboxes, Trina stared away from me. “I don’t know. I get the smoking thing. Fine, I didn’t even really like it, I just wanted to be cool.”
“Well, I can’t say I haven’t done things I wasn’t all that interested in to get people to like me.”
She scoffed. “Everyone loves you.”
Not everyone. Maddy certainly didn’t. That thought burned a little, but I shoved it aside for now. This wasn’t about me. “Trina…”
“I know,” she grumped and made a face. “But it’s different. You and Coop—it’s always been you and Coop. He’s my brother and he’s gross, but I want a guy to look at me the way he looks at you.”
“And you’re fourteen,” I pointed out. “You literally just turned fourteen.”
“So? When you were fourteen, Coop looked at you the same way.”
I’d give her that. Even if I hadn’t seen it the same way she did. “He’s my best friend, has been for as long as I can remember. I didn’t see him as a boyfriend.”
“Well, that was stupid,” Trina informed me with all the sage wisdom one has at her age. Then again, she wasn’t totally wrong.
“Agreed,” I told her with a wry smile. “But my point is, we were friends first. He never asked me to be anything but what I was and who I was. If you have to change who you are?” I lifted my shoulders. “To get the guy to look at you? Then no, he isn’t the guy who deserves you.”
Trina frowned.
“And cut your mom a break. I don’t live your life and I’m not there every day, but she cares enough to meddle and to keep involving your dad. I’d trade you for that. Maddy might not have cared what I did, but that wasn’t because she was cool. It’s because she just doesn’t care unless it gets in the way of what she wants.” Erin would be so proud of me. It was what she’d been working on getting me to verbalize for weeks. And I managed it without a stutter.
Go me.
Teeth dragging at her lower lip again, Trina cast me a long look. “So what you’re saying is find best friends with benefits?”
I rolled my eyes, but the corners of her mouth quirked into a hint of a smile.
“I’ll try,” she promised, though it was half-hearted at best. “Dad mentioned I could go and stay with him for a while if it got too tough here.”
I winced, but that was not an argument I could weigh in on. She was lucky to have two parents who both wanted her around. “That’s your call, but talk to your mom and Coop before you make that decision.”
“You guys are gone next fall,” Trina said slowly. “Then it’s just gonna be me and Mom, and if we’re still fighting like this, maybe I should live with Dad.”