A Whole New Crowd(36)
I laughed. “Yeah, right. Thanks for trying.”
“No, they don’t. For real.” He dipped down and pressed a kiss to my lips. Dear god. My hand found his cheek. As he pulled away, I tugged him back down. Each nibble from him was a morsel to my starving hormones. Then I heard what he said and pulled away. “Wait. What do you mean?”
He pressed another kiss, this one chaste, before sitting up. “I thought it was a joke when I heard they adopted a girl. They’re never home. Mandy’s dad is a doctor, but he hardly practices. Then I saw you.” He looked at me wolfishly and made a show of scanning me up and down. “I got a different idea. Maybe Kevin wanted to adopt you for a different reason.”
I hit him. “Are you kidding me?”
“No.” He laughed, pretending to rub at his arm. “I’m not, not about Mandy’s parents. They’re not real nurturing parents. Mandy’s fucked in the head because of them.”
“What do you mean by that?”
He gazed at me in disbelief. “She’s high-strung.”
Yeah? I lifted an eyebrow.
“She’s got some perfect complex. That’s all from her parents.”
“I don’t believe you.”
“You don’t have to. Go home and watch how fake they are.”
I couldn’t argue that. They were fake. They acted like they were perfect with no problems, no worries, and there was some truth in what he was saying. Still. I shook my head. “Why did they adopt me?”
“Exactly. When do you turn eighteen?”
Two months. I frowned. “They must care about me. Why would they bring a teenager into the house if they didn’t?” I glanced at the bed, remembering what we had done. Parents cared about that, right? My fosters hadn’t. They cared if I broke curfew, but that had been it.
“Come on.” He softened and tapped my hand. “I’ll stop and get us some breakfast on the way to Dylan’s.”
“No.” I stood and grabbed my clothes, dressing in record time. “Let’s just get my car. I should be at the house when they show up.”
I bent down for my shoes and Tray groaned from behind me. “We could shower first. You should be clean. You want to shower?”
“We don’t have time.”
He chuckled. “I’ll drive fast.”
I started for the door. “You’re going to have to drive fast anyway. I don’t have long anymore. You know,” I winked at him as we went outside, “with all the talking just now.”
He laughed, and followed behind me to his SUV. After getting to Dylan’s house, he pulled next to my car. I got out, but Tray called after me.
“Yeah?” I turned back.
“Call me tonight. If you want to, I don’t know, come over and watch a movie or something.”
“Thought we were both assholes.”
He shrugged. “Assholes can watch movies too.”
“Okay.” I laughed. “I’ll call you later.” Then I stopped thinking and took off for home. When I got there, I was relieved—the parents weren’t home yet. Hurrying, I swept inside and up to my room where I grabbed my robe before heading into the bathroom. I could hear Mandy in her room on the phone.
After my shower, I went downstairs, and caught Austin poking around in the fridge, his lanky form wearing basketball shorts and a Rawley jersey.
“Hey, kid,” I spoke up, reaching around him, grabbing a yogurt.
He raked his eyes over my form. “Showering doesn’t hide your recent lay.”
“Excuse me?” I muttered, startled. The kid was in eighth grade.
“Mom and Dad are going to know.”
“Hey.” I shot a leg out and blocked his exit from the kitchen. “What the hell’s your problem?”
“Nothing. I’m just telling you—you look like you got laid last night, and showering isn’t going to hide it.”
I tipped my head to the side. “You get laid last night?”
He snorted. “I’m fourteen. Mom and Dad would skin me alive.”
Would they? I still played with him, seeing how uncomfortable he was. “So what’s her name?”
Austin scowled at me, shoved my leg off the counter, and walked out of the room with a plate of pizza. I heard him mutter as he went, “I don’t have a girlfriend.” A second later the television was turned on at full volume.
“When did you leave last night?” Mandy asked, coming down the stairs.
“When you and Dylan decided to start a make-out session at the table.”
“Everyone saw you and Tray leave together. Seriously. Jennica and Devon showed up with Grant at the party. Jen still has it for Tray and I guess they showed up just when you guys were taking off. I loved it!” she chatted happily, grabbing a Pop-Tart.