Page 4

Now, for the car incident. It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to do the math here, but Kelly, being a freshman, wasn’t old enough to drive. But she did. She drove a 1967 cherry red Camaro her dad rebuilt for her, with no license. She was a rulebreaker from the start.
It was a Thursday after school when I spotted her Camaro in the school parking lot with the window down and keys in it. So I took it for a ride because one, she left the keys in it, and two, I knew I could get her to talk to me that way.
You’re thinking you know what happens next though, don’t you? If you’re thinking I stole the car and she found me and punched me in the ear, you’d be sort of right. I did steal the car and she did find me, but the ear punch came when the cop gave her the ticket for driving without a license.
“You’re such an asshole. I can’t believe you did that!” Kelly screamed in my face, her anger only intensifying my attraction to her. “How am I going to explain this to my dad?”
Smiling, I shrugged and handed her back her keys. “I guess now would be a good time to tell you my dad’s the sheriff in town now.” I know I left that part out too, but whatever. Some secrets were worth keeping.
“Well then, get him to take this back.”
“That’s not how it works.” I wink. “You do the crime, you do the time.”
This did nothing for my cause. In fact, I think her hate for me amplified in that moment. No, no, it smoldered. I’m not even joking. I could see smoke coming out of her ears.
“I didn’tdothe crime. You did, shithead.” She got in my face, which took some effort because she’s about six inches shorter than me. “If you don’t want me to rip your balls off, then you’ll get him to take it back.”
I certainly didn’t want her ripping my balls off, but the idea of her touching them, yeah, I could get down with that. “How about you go out with me, and I’ll get him to revoke the ticket.”
“That’snot how it works.” She scowled, the space between her perfect brows deepening. She’s fucking cute, isn’t she? Look at those freckles, the sky-blue eyes, and red lips. She had my attention, and other parts of my body so easily impressionable at seventeen.
“Well then.” I paused, stepping back about a foot. “Then I guess you’re going to have to explain the ticket. Why are you driving around without a license anyway?”
Her arms crossed over her chest and the tops of her breasts peeked out of the tank top she was wearing. “Because I can.”
“Then your dad shouldn’t care about a ticket.”
Something flashed in her eyes. “Usually, he doesn’t care what I do. It’s his ex-wife that does.”
Nothing had changed much. Kelly still didn’t like her mother. Growing up in Austin, Texas, divorce wasn’t something that happened often, but it did, and I began to understand maybe that was where the “caring” suddenly came from. Nina Cole was certainly big on the image her daughters presented around town, and Kelly did everything she could to taint it. Another thing, Kelly’s mom hated me. Still does. Andhateis putting it lightly. The Beckett boys weren’t her idea of law-abiding citizens and worthy of her daughters.
“Fine.” I pushed my hand through my hair, Texas heat beating down on the back of my neck. “Just go out with me and we’ll work out the details later.”
To this day, I’m not sure why Kelly actually agreed, but I did get that one date. It ended with me taking her virginity in my parents’ barn. At the time, I didn’t know she was a virgin. I mean, I guess I did, but it never crossed my mind until we were doing it, that she’d never had sex. I felt like an asshole too. Kelly, she just shrugged it off.
After that, Kelly refused to go out with me again. It wasn’t until I was in college at Texas State, almost four years later, and she had just graduated high school, that we ran into each other at a Pearl Jam concert.
I even remember the song playing. “Yellow Ledbetter.” Clearly intoxicated, Kelly smiled and pointed at me. “You’rethatguy.”
My country boy smile flushed her already pink cheeks. “I have a name. And you know it.”
“I know but referring to you as that guy is more gratifying.” Her eyes drifted to her friends behind her. I knew the guy with her but couldn’t place his name. He seemed livid she was talking to me.
I smirked at Kelly, wondering where this was going, and still turned the fuck on by the way she was disregarding my clout in this town. “Why is that?”
“Because you stole my virginity and never talked to me again.”
I laughed. “That’s not how I remember it happening.”
Tipping back the red solo cup in her hand, she swayed and bumped my shoulder. “Tell me something,thatguy… you have a car here?”
“Yeah, over there.” I’m almost ashamed to admit this, but I pointed to the parking lot for the sole purpose of being able to show off my arm muscles in the process. Go easy on me. I had a few things to learn. I probably still do. “You wanna steal it?”
She laughed, both at my poor attempt at flirting, and my lack of dignity. Stepping forward, she met my stare head-on and licked her beautiful red lips while tossing her own cup aside. “No, I wanna fuck you in it.”
Of course I said yes. She might have been a virgin our first time, but she’d been the best fuck I’d had, and I’d wanted a repeat for sure. And that brings us to the two pink lines, and finally how I got to be sitting on the floor eating Cheerios two nights after she told me she thinks we should separate. There’s ten years and a whole lot of fucking heartache in between then and now, but I can’t give it all away at once.
You’re gonna have to trust me on this one.