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Without You(5)

By:Kelly Elliott


I punched him in the stomach. "He won't."

He dropped his arm as we walked into the house. "For his sake, I hope not," he whispered.



Grace, Maegan, Libby, and I all sat on Will's tailgate as we watched  Colt, Will, and Luke load a trailer with square bales of hay. Luke  stopped to pull his T-shirt off, and he threw it down on the ground.         

     


///
 

Maegan and Libby both sighed.

"I swear, Grace, your brother has the body of a god. What I wouldn't do  to have my legs wrapped around him," Maegan said as she fanned herself  with a piece of paper.

Grace looked at Meg. "Gross, Meg. I just threw up in my mouth."

I giggled, but then I noticed how Libby shot her head over and looked at  Meg. Both Libby and Meg had a thing for Luke. He was getting ready to  head off to his second year at A&M, and from what Will and Colt had  said, Luke had his fair share of girls falling over him. He was totally  clueless when it came to Meg and Libby liking him.

I bumped my shoulder into Libby's. "You getting excited about heading to A&M?"

She smiled. "Yeah, I'm pretty excited about it."

Meg looked over and let out a sigh. "Crap, I really wish my parents weren't so hell-bent on me going to Baylor."

Grace started laughing. "Please, bitch. The only reason you want to go  to A&M is because Luke is going there. Hence, the reason your daddy  won't let you go to A&M."

We all started laughing.

"Right? I wonder if I have any chance of hooking up with Luke before the end of the summer," Meg said.

Grace jumped off the truck, and as she turned to look at Maegan, she put  her hands on her hips. In that moment, I saw Aunt Ari all over Grace's  face.

"Jesus H. Christ, stop with the talk about my brother. I can't take it. It's disgusting, Maegan."

I peeked over at Libby, and she was staring at Maegan. I glanced back  out and noticed the guys were nearly done. I leaned over to Libby and  said, "You should go offer them a drink of tea."

She quickly looked at me. "Yeah?"

I smiled as I nodded my head.

Libby wasn't shy by any means, but when it came to Luke, she was beyond  shy. Last year, Luke had kissed her behind the bleachers before he  headed off for college. After Will had found out about the kiss, he'd  punched Luke, but then Luke had explained that he hated himself for  kissing Libby. It wasn't because he hadn't wanted to kiss her. It had  just made their friendship awkward. They used to spend a lot of time  together, but Libby and Luke's friendship hadn't really been the same  since.

While Grace and Maegan were busy going back and forth, Libby jumped down  and grabbed three bottles of tea before making her way toward the guys.

"Where is she going?" Maegan jumped off the tailgate.

"Taking tea to the guys." I looked at Grace and winked.

Grace rolled her eyes and put her finger in her mouth like she was  gagging herself. I chortled and jumped off the tailgate. I needed to  distract Maegan for a bit to give Libby a chance. I wasn't playing sides  by any means. I just knew that Maegan wanted to sleep with Luke only  because she knew Libby liked Luke a lot.

"What are y'all wearing to the party tonight?" I asked.

Grace was the first to answer, "Oh my gosh, I found the cutest dress in  my mom's closet. It's all vintage and shit. I'm totally wearing it."

"Jean shorts and a T-shirt," Maegan mumbled as she watched Libby.

I looked at her. "You of all people wearing just shorts and a T-shirt?"

Maegan glanced back at me and smiled. "Yep. I'm so sick of dressing up  for these country bumpkins, only to have them talk about fences and  cows. God, I can't wait to get out of Fredericksburg and Mason. I just  want to be in the city."

My heart sank a little when Maegan talked about leaving. She and Grace  wanted to leave Mason as fast as they could while Libby and I dreaded  leaving. Mason was my comfort zone. It was where I felt happy, safe, and  loved. I hated the few times I'd been to Austin, and I hated UT also.  It was too big and had way too many people. Grace was over the moon  about going to UT, especially after she'd found out that Michael Clark  was going there.

I glanced back over and saw Luke talking to Libby. I turned back to distract Maegan, but I was too late.

"Oh, hell no. Libby is not moving in on my man," Meg said.

She was about to take off, but then Grace pushed her.

"Stop it, Meg. You know how much Libby likes Luke. Why are you going  after him so hard? If you want to have sex with someone, plenty of guys  are waiting in line here in Mason or in Fredericksburg."

Maegan's mouth dropped open. "Excuse me?"

Oh shit.

Grace said, "Tell me you aren't after Luke just for sex."

"Go to hell, Grace."

Maegan turned and started walking off, but then Grace grabbed her arm.

"Meg, I'm serious. All you ever talk about is wrapping your legs around  him and how great he probably is in bed. Do you seriously think Luke is  interested in screwing you?"         

     


///
 

Maegan pushed Grace's hand off her arm and smirked. "You seriously think Michael is interested in screwing you?"

"Stop it. Now," I said. "Just stop this. Meg, Libby is just asking them  if they want some tea. Stop being bitches to each other and make up. We  have a party to get ready for."

Grace glared at Maegan.

Meg looked at Libby and Luke and then turned back to Grace. "Fine. Just  so you know, Grace, I like Luke and not just because I want to sleep  with him." She turned and started back toward the ranch Jeep.

I let out a sigh and looked at Grace. "Why did you say that?"

She shook her head and walked closer to me. "Alex, you know as well as I  do that Meg only wants to sleep with Luke because she knows Libby likes  him. Meg has been jealous of their friendship for years."

I knew she was right, but I didn't want to be pulled into this argument that had been going on for the last few years.

I let out a sigh and said, "I don't think Luke is going to sleep with or  even go out with either one of them, so let's just drop it."

I turned and started making my way toward Will. He was covered in sweat,  and my body ached for his touch. The closer I got, the more turned-on I  got. I bit down on my lower lip, and I was pretty sure I let out a  moan.

I looked over my shoulder to see Grace hadn't followed me. She pulled  out her cell phone and started texting someone. I glanced back to see  Will smiling at me.

When I walked up to him, he grabbed me and pulled me in for a kiss. I  didn't even care that my brother and cousin were standing there. I  wrapped my arms around Will, and as he picked me up, I wrapped my legs  around him.

"Motherfucker, put my sister down now," Colt said.

I pulled my lips from Will's. I turned to Colt and smiled.

"Seriously, Alex, get the hell off of him."

The last thing I wanted to do was piss off my brother. He'd go running  back to our father and tell him. I looked back at Will and pouted as he  slowly let me down.

He put his lips to my ear and whispered, "I can't wait any longer. Tonight, baby."

Holy crap. I was sure my heart had stopped beating.

I had no idea what he'd meant by that, but I was sure hoping that he'd meant tonight would be the night he made me his.

"You going to the party tonight, Lib?"

I looked over at Luke, who was trying to act like he didn't really care what Libby's answer would be.

She shrugged her shoulders. "Not sure. Jason Stone asked me to meet him there."

Luke had been getting a drink of tea when he choked on it. "What? Jason Stone asked you out, and you said yes?"

I glanced at Will. He was smirking and nodding his head.

He grabbed my hand and said, "Come on, we're finally done. I need to get  home and take a cold shower. It's hot as hell out here."

Colt was already walking ahead of all of us as he texted on his phone, and Will and I began following him.

"I didn't say he asked me out." Libby started walking next to me.

Oh, she is good. I tried to hide my smile, but all I could think about was how Maegan had no idea what she was up against.

"Um … yeah, ya did. You just said that Jason Stone asked you to meet him there."

I watched as Luke walked next to Libby while he frantically pulled his T-shirt back over his head.

Libby shrugged her shoulders. "So? That's not a date, Luke. What do you  care if it is a date anyway? I heard you making plans to meet up with  Hope Kirkland."

Luke started laughing. "Hope? Please." He rolled his eyes, and then he  began walking backward as he looked at all of us. "Hey, I have an idea."

"No," Will, Libby, and Colt all said at the same time.

I began laughing. Luke was always coming up with these crazy plans. He  had gotten us all in trouble more times than I could even remember.

"Come on, y'all. Let's all meet at the river first. We can hang out a  bit before we go to the party. Are Lauren and Taylor going?"

"Yep," Libby said.

"Shit. No alcohol if they're going to be there," Luke said.