“Baby giiirrrllll!” Howard hollers out, his arms stretched wide.
He’s the captain of our basketball team and you can tell. His shirt is off and tied around his forehead, and his jean shorts are pulled down slightly to show the top of his boxers.
“I was beginning to think you weren’t coming.” I place Poppy down on a chair before tapping his fist with mine.
“I almost didn’t. This is my friend Poppy.” I gesture with my thumb to where she sits.
They all nudge their heads at her. It’s half of the basketball team and football team out here with their girlfriends or their girls for the night. I know I promised Betty I would let loose and have a good night tonight, but now that Poppy is here, I don’t want to get too stupid. I need to somehow sneak past the fact that Betty is always the one feeding us drinks throughout the night.
“So.” Betty takes a seat on the chair beside Poppy. “How much do you think your brother is going to hate her after he finds out that she brought you here?”
“My brother doesn’t hate people,” Poppy says, and I ignore Betty’s attempt at stirring the pot. “He simply doesn’t care.”
I watch as people dance around the place, drinking and snorting. It becomes painfully obvious how much Poppy has had to drink, so around the three-hour mark, I take her by the hand and pull her to her feet. “I’m going.”
Betty flicks the rolled up hundred-dollar bill at me, wriggling her ass on her take-home for the night. “Oh, come on, Rubs. Have fun!”
“I’m taking her home. You coming or not?”
Betty shakes her head slowly, and even though I already knew she was staying behind, I wanted to triple-check.
“Betty…” I know no one will hurt her here, mainly because they all know she is practically my sister and well… everyone knows who my dad is. “Are. You. Sure?”
Peter, the guy she is currently sitting on, waves me off. “Come on, Rubs. You know I’ve got her.”
I smile down at him sweetly. You better.
Tucking Poppy beneath my arm, I start directing her out of the house and through the same way we came. Finding Oscar near my car, I rub my finger and thumb together to gesture my keys and he tosses them at me just as a loud Harley guns it down the street, slowing to a stop behind Oscar’s car. When his long body rolls off the bike, I unlock my car and push the button to open the doors.
“Hey…”
Wicked looks straight past me and brings his hands to his sister’s face, forcing her up to look at him. “How much has she had to drink?”
“A bit…” I admit, tossing my keys into the car.
“And you?” When he turns around to face me, I feel my heart speed up in my chest.
“Um, none since being here. Once I realized how much she had, I stopped.”
He drags his eyes away from me and carefully puts her into the back seat of the car, pushing the button for my door.
Oscar looks between Wicked and me before backing up slowly and slipping back into his car. Now it’s just he and I, and—I expect his anger.
“First, she’s fourteen, so I don’t know what kind of shit she has told you.”
My mouth falls open as I’m sure shock sprawls over my face.
“Second”—he slams my door closed so she can’t hear—“why the fuck didn’t you run this past me before taking her?” His chest is a whisper from mine and the goose bumps that prickle on my arms have nothing to do with the temperature of the air.
“I’m sorry… I didn’t know she was young. I thought she was my age.” I fold my arms in front of me and his eyes fall down to the movement before following down past my thighs and back up to my face. I feel his eyes move over my exposed flesh like hot laser beams.
His head tilts to the side and the moonlight bounces off his sharp jaw. “Did she tell you anything?”
I run my tongue over my bottom lip, tucking my hair behind my ear. Doing all of the things I do when I’m trying to distract myself or—well, it has never happened yet—find someone attractive. Which I do. I think Wicked is the hottest guy I’ve ever seen. “A little bit.”
“And have you told her anything?”
My eyes come to his, and the way he looks at me is as though he can see right through my soul. “A little bit…”
“Yo!”
I quickly spin around and fall back slightly against Wicked’s chest. He doesn’t shift his weight. “What’s up?” I yell out to Jackson Paul as he trots his way down to my car.
He flings his shirt over his shoulder, his eyes drifting over mine and landing on Wicked. His smile disappears. “You good?”
“I’m fine, Jackson…” Jackson has had a crush on me all his life, but he’s respectful in a way that he’s allowed us to maintain a friendship.
“Who’s this?” He flicks his finger toward Wicked. “He coming in, or is he the reason little Miss Ruby La Rosa is leaving the party early…” Jackson hooks his arm around my neck to pull me into his chest, only Wicked catches my dress and yanks me back carefully.
I remove Jackson’s arm. “He’s a friend of my father’s, Jackson…”
His face instantly falls. His eyes widen before he flashes Wicked a wide smile. “Oh, hey, man. You wanna come in?”
Wicked grabs me by the hand and turns me back to face him. Everywhere he touches burns like a memory I’ve tried to forget.
I tilt my head up to look at him, only my eyes fall to his lips. The corner twitches.
“We’ll finish this at home.”
Then he backs away, stopping at Oscar’s door and leaning down to look at me over his shoulder slightly before going back to his bike. He fires up the Harley, and as the deep engine growls through the night, a sinking feeling drops to the base of my gut.
Why does he remind me of Papa already, and how is he already so comfortable bossing me around?
“You sure you’re okay?” Jackson asks, opening my door as I slide in.
“Yes. Just take care of Betty tonight.”
He shuts my door and leans in when I lower my window. “She good?” He gestures to the back seat and I look over my shoulder to see Poppy lying on her back.
“I’ve just got to get her home.”
“Alright, Skippy. I’ll see you later.”
I start my car and pull away, looking in my rearview mirror to see Oscar’s headlights beam as he follows. That space is replaced with Poppy’s head.
“Hmmmm. Interesting…” she murmurs, catching my eyes in the rearview mirror.
I go back to the road, squeezing the steering wheel with my hand to try to erase the feeling of Wicked on me. “What is?”
“My brother is going to change, isn’t he? This is just the beginning.”
I don’t know how to answer that. I don’t want to lie to her, but I don’t want to scare her.
“Let’s hope not.”
He is.
“He likes you, I think…” Poppy adds, and now I wish I had Betty in here to burn the conversation.
“Why do you say that?” I take the roads that lead to the city.
“He touched you.” She looks out the side window and I turn the music on to drown out both of our voices. She’s drunk and I don’t want her to say anything to me that she might regret in the morning.