Page 23 of Forever & Always You

Austin drives my car across town to the auto repair shop all while complaining about my beloved Prius’s pathetic acceleration, useless AC fans, and lack of parking sensors.

“If you can’t use your own eyeballs to maneuver a car, then you’re the one who has problems,” I tell him. And conveniently leave out the fact I reversed into a barrier at the mall last month.

Austin looks over at me, and I don’t know why, but the sight of him driving my busted-up car is even sexier than him driving his luxurious one. “Why’d you get rid of the car your parents got you, anyway? Did you need quick cash or something?”

“Yeah,” I lie, because it’s easier than saying: I didn’t deserve nice things.

“You really confuse me,” Austin says.

“What’s confusing, exactly?”

“You. This life you’re living,” he explains, shaking his head as he drives. “The falling behind at Duke and dropping out after losing your dad? That, I get. The rest, I don’t.”

“The rest?”

“Working odd jobs. Renting a crap apartment. Driving this pile of rust. You don’t seem to have any friends. Or ambitions. You’re .?.?.” He bites his lip and sucks in a breath, letting the words die in his throat. “Forget it.”

I’m not even offended. My gaze never leaves his face, not once. “Finish that sentence.”

Austin scowls, reluctant to say it. His fingertips dance guiltily over my steering wheel and he at least looks me in the eye when he says, “You’re a loser.”

“Thanks.”

“You’re a loser by choice, ” he adds sharply.

“You could be in school. You could have started your career by now. You have a trust fund that you claim you haven’t spent, so you can absolutely afford to rent an apartment that won’t flood and own a car that isn’t billowing smoke in the rearview.

You have a personality that could win so many friends, yet you only have me. ”

I ignore every sentence he just spoke except the last.

You only have me.

Up until last night, I wasn’t sure I had even that.

“Maybe you’re all I need,” I say, smiling sweetly at him.

“Cute,” Austin says, but it’s not enough to distract him from his psychoanalysis of me, because he immediately adds, “Don’t ignore everything I just said. What’s up, loser? What’s the deal?”

“There is no deal,” I say with a shrug.

“From one former loser to another,” Austin says, “it’s not fun.”

We pull up on the roadside next to the auto repair shop, and I wait patiently in the car as Austin heads inside to hunt down one of mechanics.

I’m useless at these things. My father took care of everything , for all of us, all of the time.

When it came to signing the lease for my apartment, Zach had to walk me through every step of the process, and he only knew because Dad had walked him through every step once.

Dad took a lot of pride in taking care of his family.

Mom never stressed over a single thing, and any issues Zach and I had growing up were resolved quietly and quickly.

I’m getting better at doing things for myself, though. I changed my flat tire on my own. I’m dealing with my property manager on my own. Fixing my mistakes on my own.

Austin returns, throwing open the passenger door and pressing his hands to the roof of the car as he bends down to look at me. “They’re going to check it out, but we need to leave it here for a bit. You up for a walk?”

I stare up at him from the safety of my passenger seat, legs crossed lazily. “A walk?”

“That thing you do with your legs when you cover ground.”

“When did you become such a smart-ass?”

“I’m only a smart-ass to you, loser,” he says, then extends his hand to me. “We can’t wait around for hours. My parents live not too far from here, and I haven’t seen them in a couple of weeks, so I was thinking .?.?.”

“You want to take me to meet your parents? So soon?” I bat my eyelashes at him.

“You’ve already met them,” Austin says, forcing his hand into mine and yanking me out of the car. He’s so strong, it only takes one swift pull to have me on my feet in front of him. “Granted, it’s been a while.”

I tilt my chin up to look at him, so close to one another our chests almost touch. “You think they’ll remember me?”

Austin’s gaze dips to my lips. “You’re pretty unforgettable, Gabby.”

I have to look away, because I’m blushing again . He’s right, I do enjoy when he’s mean to me, but I think I love when he’s sweet even more. And thanks to his conflicting feelings about me, I get both.

“How far is their house from here?”

“Fifteen minutes, maybe, but with your short legs to contend with .?.?. make it twenty.”

“ Ugh ,” I whine, stepping around him. It’s hot as hell today, and this humidity is going to send my curls haywire. “When I show up at your parents’ house looking like a sweaty rat with hair that’s doubled in volume, it’s on you.”

Austin slams my car door shut and says, “But I like helping you work up a sweat.”

I glower at him, but I’m smiling at the exact same time. Actually, I love it when he flirts even more than when he’s mean and when he’s sweet. Maybe I just love everything about him. “How about you don’t turn me on when we’re en route to your parents’? That’d be really great, thanks. Which way?”

“This way,” Austin says, heading left down the street as I fall into step by his side. “And I think .?.?. Nope. Can’t follow that instruction. By the time we get home later, I want you begging for me.”

I immediately stop walking. “Oh my God. Who are you?”

Austin also stops, turning around to look back at me with an incredibly sexy smirk.

“I’m very clear with my words these days.

If I want something, I’ll make that known.

Even plead for it.” He cocks his head to one side in amusement at the flash of heat I’m suffering through. “Aw. Are you shy, Gabby?”

“No, I’m just .?.?.” I splutter, but I don’t even know what I am right now. Turned on, for starters, but nowhere near confident enough to flirt back. I flirt via suggestive innuendos. Austin flirts very literally.

“Just what?” he presses.

“Just getting used to this ,” I say, gesturing between us. I can’t believe this is my Austin saying these things to me. We used to hunt out lizards together as kids, for God’s sake.

“And are you complaining?”

“Definitely not complaining.”

He grins. “Then shut the fuck up and come here.”

I move toward him, closing that gap I created.

That smirk is so gorgeous, it makes me feel dizzy, like the ground under my feet is unstable as I bring myself to stand in front of him.

I think I’m severely crushing on Austin Pierce in a way I have never crushed on anyone before.

There goes my racing heartbeat again, and the goosebumps, and the nervous tremor in my hands . .?.

Austin cups my cheeks and tilts my face up. “I’m sorry,” he whispers, grazing his lips over mine, “for this morning.”

“I’m sorry,” I whisper back, “for everything.”

“You better be.” He presses his lips to mine, sinking us both into a kiss that’s so soft and simple, just his mouth and mine for a moment in time I want to memorize forever. Austin draws back, his smile reaching his eyes. “Now be a good girl today, and you’ll get more later.”

I throw my head back to the sky, Austin’s hands still cupped around my jaw. “Lord, please. Take this man away from me.”

Austin laughs and angles my head back down again so he can plant one final peck on my lips. “C’mon, loser. Start walking.”

And the walk isn’t that bad. We stick to the shade beneath buildings and trees as the industrial park gradually eases into residential neighborhoods, and the conversation with Austin is just so easy that time passes quickly.

Around him, I don’t need to think before I speak.

There are never any unnatural pauses in our chat.

We bounce off one another, and I haven’t had this much social interaction with another human being in months.

It’s been pretty damaging to my mental health to keep to myself as much as I have been the past few years, and being around Austin is lifting my mood an immeasurable amount.

We even exchange our phone numbers, finally.

And as we approach Austin’s parents’ house, I’m too happy to even be nervous.

It’s a lovely neighborhood. Not a private gated community with extravagant homes like Austin’s neighborhood, but a very down-to-earth street with cute Colonial homes and kids’ bikes left out in front yards.

It’s a huge step up from the projects they once lived in and I’m so glad they found their way out of there.

“This is really nice,” I say as we step up onto the porch.

There’s even a car on the drive, and Austin grew up without his parents ever owning one.

It seems things have really turned around for all of them, and I can’t help but wonder if that’s thanks to Austin taking care of them. “Did you help them out?”

“No,” Austin says. “They moved pretty soon after I left for college. Dad’s still a trucker and on the road half the time, but Mom finished her studying and climbed from custodian to nurse to now practitioner. And my grandmother passed, so there was a little inheritance there, too.”

“Oh,” I say. “I’m sorry about your grandmother, though I’m glad things got better for all of you.”

“I won’t lie. With their schedules, I had no idea either of them would even be home.”

I narrow my eyes. “You made me walk twenty minutes on the off chance they would be?”

“Sun’s out, Gabby,” he says, smiling. “Appreciate it.” He raps his knuckles against the door before pushing it open, calling out, “Mom? Dad? It’s me.”

I follow him through the door, nervously toying with the ends of my extra curly hair.

Thanks, humidity. Austin’s right—I’ve met his parents before, many times back when we were kids, but I haven’t interacted with them at all since my friendship with Austin blew up.

Whether or not he ever told them the full extent of how I treated him, I have no clue, but I’m walking in here braced for hostility.