I watch him a little longer and see that Callie leaves him, hurrying back to where Katie is sitting. Now that’s a girl I could get into. She’s been so twisted up in Jake, that I’ve not messed with her, but she’s got some fucking phenomenal tits—the kind a man could press his cock between. I heard Jake got rid of her. Might be time to give her a try. I’ve been dating Carol for a while, but I’m growing bored. I only started dating her to piss off her old man—the county sheriff.
I saunter over to the girls, taking my time. Katie’s eyes land on me first. She’s wearing a tank top that squeezes her aforementioned breasts and gives me a great view of her cleavage. Fuck, Jake is a crazy man.
“Hey, ladies,” I croon, flashing my smile in Katie’s direction and then Callie’s.
“Hey, Mitch,” Callie says softly. For her part, Katie doesn’t respond to me at all, which kind of pisses me off. Maybe Jake got rid of her because she was cold as fuck between the sheets.
That would be a damn shame.
“You girls going to the homecoming dance next week?” I ask, my gaze never leaving Katie’s.
“You’re barking up the wrong tree, Lane. Callie isn’t going and I’d rather kiss a wild boar while letting a dog piss on my shoe than go out with you,” she says with a smile that makes me long to slap it off her face. She has no idea who she is fucking with. I think it might be time to show her…
“I wasn’t asking you, specifically,” I lie. I look over at Callie then.
“I can’t,” she says. “Sorry, I’m working that night.”
“Oh, that’s right. Reed says you babysit some old woman or something.”
“I take care of Mr. Johnson’s wife one night a week so that he can go to his lodge meeting. It just happens the dance is Friday night and that’s the night of the lodge meeting.”
“That sucks. I was looking forward to spinning you around the dance floor.”
“It wouldn’t be fun. I have two left feet,” she says, but she’s wrong. It’d make my brother miserable—and that would be a hell of a lot of fun.
“I’m sure that’s not true,” I tell her, keeping my eyes away from Katie’s tits. Jesus, I think they’re growing. Aren’t girls done growing by our age? Mother Nature has been really kind to that bitch. Too bad it hadn’t found a way to make her mouth stay closed. Of course, if it was full of my cock, she couldn’t annoy me.
“Oh, it’s true,” Katie says with a smile. “In fact, I’d probably pay her to step on your toes,” Katie says sweetly—proving that she really is a bitch.
“I was wondering why Jake Ryan got shod of you. Now, I know,” I respond with a smirk. She keeps her face neutral, but I can see my remark wounds her and it makes me smile. Before I get the chance to rub it in, however, someone grabs me from behind. I hear Katie and Callie cry out as I stumble. I look up just in time to see Jake’s brother, Jeff, draw back with his fist and slam it into my nose. Pain is instant and blood runs down my face. I can taste the coppery bitterness almost at once. I don’t stop to worry about it, I launch myself into him. Burying my fist into his ribs. He thinks he can beat me down? I’ve spent my life learning how to dodge blows and deliver better ones. If my old man taught me anything—it was that.
11 Reed
“Did you have fun at the rodeo?”
I frown as I look over at Callie. She’s been kind of cool to me all week. It’s Wednesday evening now and it’s the first time she’s spent much time around me at all. I didn’t know what was wrong, and now, if I didn’t know any better, I’d say she was jealous.
“It was okay. Jake qualified to take part and ended up winning the amateur division,” I tell her. He was so proud, and it seems to have just strengthened his decision to quit school early. He’s still on me about leaving Texas in the review mirror, too. I can’t seem to agree to that. I know deep down the only thing stopping me is Callie.
“Gee, it seems like he’s taking the break-up awesomely,” she says snidely. My frown deepens as I look at her.
“Are you pissed at me because Jake broke up with Katie?”
“No,” she denies at once. “Not exactly. It’s just…”
She sighs and I move in closer. We’re sitting on the back of my tailgate watching the stars in Mr. Johnson’s hayfield. It sounds boring, maybe, but it’s one of Callie’s favorite things to do.
“What’s got you pissed, Bluebird?”
“Katie’s really hurting, Reed. Jake doesn’t even seem to notice.”
“He notices, Callie. Jake loves her.”
“He’s got a weird way of showing it. He broke up with her and she’s spent all weekend crying her eyes out. Meanwhile, you and Jake were off sleeping with rodeo groupies.”
“You sound jealous, Callie. Are you? You’re the one that told me you only wanted to be friends. Have you changed your mind?” I remind her, mentally begging her to tell me she had. To tell me that she is jealous—that she wants me.
Her eyes dilate and shock is written on her face. For a second, I feel hope—but it’s quickly dashed.
“Of course not. We’re friends. If we weren’t, then there would have been big issues with you going with Jake to the rodeo, right? I mean, obviously, if you liked me—like that—you wouldn’t have felt the need to go scoping out other women with your buddy.”
“Callie—”
“And obviously, if we weren’t just friends, I would have said something and asked you not to go. Right?” she adds quickly, dousing any hope whatsoever.
I fucking hate the friend zone.
“I suppose so,” I tell her, ignoring the pain she unwittingly delivered.
“It almost killed Katie, though,” she adds, and I let out a breath—while simultaneously letting hopes for more with Callie die.
“Listen, we can’t let what’s going on between Katie and Jake get in between our rela—our friendship. Their choices are theirs to make. Jake has the rodeo in his blood. He wants to pursue that. Katie wants to get out of school and settle down. They want different things in life. Isn’t it better they find it out now instead of later?”
“I guess so,” she grudgingly agrees. “What do you want out of life, Reed?”
“I never really thought about it. Jake says I should go to Nashville and pursue music, but I guess I never thought of doing much more than living here in Texas. I think I could do good running my own garage. Mr. Johnson says I have a knack for it. What about you, Callie?”
“Wait, Jake’s heard you play? You never talk about it. How come I haven’t heard you play?”
“I don’t know. I just don’t think I’m that good, so it’s hard for me to play in front of people,” I mutter, slightly embarrassed.
“Okay, but I’m not just people, am I? I care about you, Reed.”
“You do?” I ask, searching her face for some sign that she feels at least something for me other than friendship.
“Definitely,” she says so strongly that I can almost convince myself that she’s admitting her love to me. I want to kiss her, and I have to stop myself from physically bending into her and taking what she’s positively not offering. Friend zone.