My stomach dropped, but I tried my hardest to control my features. The last thing I needed was him knowing how much he affected me. He already knew how affected I was by his cruelty, but I wouldn’t let him have this. I refused to let him know how much I was bothered by him almost being more.
He handed me my snow cone, and I was careful not to let his fingers touch mine. I couldn’t handle it right now. I couldn’t handle his smirks or charm or the way he was looking at me.
“Thank you, Bob.” I took a bite of my snow cone and practically melted on the counter. “It’s just as delicious as I remember.”
“You’re welcome.” Bob grinned, and it was odd for such a burly man to feel so lovable. “But you don’t stay away for so long again or next time I’m going to have to charge you for those.”
“I won’t.” I chuckled and gave him a three-fingered Girl Scout salute. “Promise.”
I climbed down from the counter as Carson walked past me and toward the door. “Thanks, dude. We’ll eat these outside and get out of your way so you can get home.”
He waved his hand as if it was no big deal. “You two be good.”
“We will,” I answered just as Carson said, “Not a chance in hell.”
I knocked my shoulder into his and moved past him to the door. I pushed outside, the warm, humid air hitting me immediately. We weren’t too close to the beach now, but you could still smell the saltwater in the air, could practically feel it on your skin.
“Where to now?” I ate a giant bite of my snow cone and dropped some on my chest. “Dang it.” I used my finger to clean it up before it could reach my shirt and shoved my finger in my mouth.
When I looked up at Carson, he was watching my mouth like he was mesmerized.
“Hello? Are we done for the night? Was this the last stop?”
His gaze snapped up to mine, and I shoved another spoonful of snow cone in my mouth.
“No way, but you’re not getting back in my car with that thing. You are too messy of an eater.”
“I am not.” I licked the edge of my cone where the syrup was starting to leak down the side.
“Yes. You are. You’ll have my car ruined in no time.”
I rolled my eyes because it was just a dang car. “All you Prep boys are all the same. Your daddy will just buy you a new car if it gets dirty.”
What I said was meant as a joke, but there was a second of anger that passed over his face.
“You would know, huh?” He leaned against the hood of his car and crossed his ankles.
“Oh, yes,” I said dramatically. “I know we don’t know much about each other anymore, but I definitely make my rounds with the Prep boys. Haven’t you heard?”
He paused; his bite of snow cone held halfway to his mouth. “First of all, I have heard.”
I scoffed because he had lost his damn mind.
“I’ve heard the way they all talk about you. The way they are all interested in the elusive Allie Taylor.”
“I am not elusive.”
He finally took a bite of his snow cone and watched me. “Secondly, I still know plenty about you. I see you all the time now that Beck and Josie are dating.”
“Seeing me and knowing me are two different things.” He used to know me once upon a time. He knew me better than anyone.
“I know you.”
“No. You don’t.” I looked him over. There was so much about him that had changed. There were things that were the same too, but even those things felt foreign now. “I don’t know you either. Frankie knows you better than I do. Heck, even Josie does, and she’s lived here for less than a year.”
“What do you want to know?” He looked so cool and calm as he asked me that, but I knew that he wasn’t. There were things that he would refuse to talk about. The things he wanted to pretend didn’t happen.
And they were the things I wanted to talk about most. I wanted to ask him about his parents, about his mom. I wanted to know what being at home was like for him now. Did he hate it more now than he did back then? Was it better?
But those questions didn’t belong to me anymore. I didn’t have the privilege of knowing those things about him, but part of me wondered if anyone did. Did he talk to Beck or Olly or Frankie about what had happened, or did he just smile and pretend like he was this perfect guy with his perfect little life.
“I don’t know.” I tucked my hand in my pocket and tried to think of something I wanted to know that wouldn’t piss him off. “How long have you been dating your new girlfriend?”
He smirked, and it was so mesmerizing. It didn’t matter that it was probably fake, and it was probably the same exact smile he gave to every other girl, it still made me want to fall into his chaos.
“She’s not my girlfriend.” He rubbed at the stubble on his chin. “I don’t really do the whole girlfriend thing. You know that.”
“Actually, I don’t.” I shrugged my shoulders. “I try to avoid any conversations about your love life if possible.”
He cocked his head to the side and watched me. “Jealous?”
“Absolutely not.” He could probably see straight through my lie. “It’s just not something I really want to hear about.”
He chuckled, and it grated on my nerves. “Would you want to hear about me with some guy you knew? Or multiple guys, for that matter?”
He clenched his jaw, and I already had my answer before he even spoke. “No. I don’t think that I would.”
“Exactly. You were my childhood best friend. The last thing I want to hear about is your…” I waved toward his junk. The last conversation I overheard about him was exactly that. How good he was. How his moves on the baseball field weren’t limited to that diamond. How he fucked like a champion, but he never kissed.
I didn’t know whether I believed that last fact. I didn’t want to. Was Carson so messed up that he didn’t even kiss the girls he was with? Was he that damaged?
“My cock? You can say it, you know.” He chuckled again, and I could feel my face heating. “I don’t have any issue with you thinking about my cock if you want to.”
“Thank you for being so selfless, but I think I’m good.”
He stood and nodded toward his car. “Come on. Let’s get out of here.”
I tossed my empty snow cone into the trash can before following him. “Where are we heading now?”
“Wherever the hell we want.” He opened his door and grinned at me over the hood. “You still have a night full of yeses to give me.”
Chapter Nine
Carson
My phone went off in my pocket for the millionth time. Olly had been blowing me up to see what the hell I was doing, and after I snuck a picture of Allie eating her snow cone and sent it to him, Frankie started blowing me up.
I didn’t read any of her messages, though. I already knew what kind of threats were probably waiting for me there regarding her friend, but she barely even knew Allie. Allie didn’t need to be protected from me. She was a big girl, and even though she tried to act innocent, she knew exactly what she was doing.