Page 28 of Something Reckless

EASTON

A lba’s green doe eyes literally sparkle when I hold up the sugary scented paper bag.

“You…I…Wow,” she stutters, shocked to see me standing here with her favorite donuts and two cups of pink lemonade at this hour of the night. “This is amazing.” She takes a sniff of the bag. “I should say that I can’t accept this… but these donuts smell too good to turn down. Thank you.”

“Perfect. Because I don’t want you to turn them down,” I say on a laugh. “Here. Dig in.”

She quickly grabs a thin blanket from inside and wraps it around her bare shoulders. Then we sit side by side on the porch bench and enjoy our dessert in the summer evening air. We take turns reaching into the bag, sugar and glazed frosting flaking from our fingers with each bite.

Silvery slivers of the full moon illuminate the porch. I glance around for nosy neighbors, but the dense foliage of the towering oak tree shields our second story hideout from any curious eyes that might be peeking out from behind their curtains .

I’m only allowing myself a few of these, secretly letting Alba enjoy most of the donuts, since I need to try and maintain my glowing, hockey figure.

I don’t want to be like Alan, a former right winger who used to be on my previous team, before he packed on thirty extra pounds while trying to heal from a knee injury.

Yeah. Alan was nice and all, but I sure don’t want to turn out like that guy.

“Gosh. Remember that time we decided to put money together to get a dozen of these donuts back in the day?” Alba laughs.

“It’s embarrassing how long it took to scrounge up my half of the money.”

“Yeah. You had to get real creative to find enough money,” she adds. “Like offering to clean out my parents’ cars, just in hopes of finding loose change under the seats.”

“And rummaging through the cracks of all the church pews.”

“Oh!” She giggles. “You definitely hit the jackpot there.”

“And you’re conveniently leaving out the part about you covering more than your own share. The rest of the cost, you paid for out of your own money.”

“Shit. I didn’t think you’d noticed.”

“Yeah, you thought you were being sneaky about it.” I shoot her a pretend glare.

She winces and shrugs. “Well, your scrounging would have only gotten us so far at the cash register.”

“I cringe, thinking back to all the loose change I collected that day,” I say. “Do you think that counts as stealing?”

A rueful look comes over her face. “Oh, that was peanuts compared to all the money the adults were stealing at the time. The pastor’s wife and my dad, I mean.” She emits a pained chuckle.

I make a face of disgust, and Alba breaks out into giggles. Damn—at least she can laugh about it. If it were my dad I’d be so damn pissed.

For a while, we reminisce about our teenage years.

Then Alba catches me up on major happenings I missed here in Fairy Bush.

The Math teacher who got fired for getting drunk on the job and falling asleep in the cafeteria.

The high school football star who flunked out of college and came right back home the same year.

The librarian who quit to open a burlesque dance studio in the sketchy part of town. A lot has changed.

“So, tell me, how has your life been? You blew up so fast! Is hockey everything you’d dreamed of?” Alba asks after a while.

I huff out a laugh, trying to sum up the past nine years of my life in my head.

“Yeah. I’d have to say it has been. It’s been a hell of a lot of work, but that also meant being able to buy my mom a house and helping to put my brothers through college, so I’d say it was worth it.

Plus, getting to do what I fucking love everyday?

It’s just a bonus to get paid for it. I’ve loved everything about playing hockey. ”

“I’d bet being named one of the Top Fifty Prettiest Men on the Ice didn’t hurt, either.” She jabs me in the ribs with her elbow. “You were on the cover of a magazine, Mr. Tower!”

“That was…fun.”

“By ‘fun’, do you mean all the women who were probably throwing themselves at you?” Alba smirks but there’s hurt in her eyes.

Her pain is a reminder that, while I was out there, living a reckless life, she was here in Fairy Bush, juggling the responsibilities that should have been mine.

“Can’t lie—being in the spotlight has never really bothered me. My mom is always saying I was born for this life.” I peek at Alba out of the corner of my eye. “But lately—ever since the injury—I can see that something was always missing from my life…”

I have it all. Money. Family. A job most guys would kill for. Good friends and teammates.But there’s this hole deep inside me. A hole that Jagger—and his gorgeous copper-haired aunt—seem to fill whenever I’m around them.

When my eyes fall to Alba’s lips, her tongue darts out, licking away the sugar clinging to the corner of her mouth.

Her voice sounds different—low and husky—when she speaks again. “I’m happy for you, Easton. Truly. It’s been fun to follow your career.”

Her eyes shift to mine, and I can’t fucking look away. She’s too fucking beautiful, and I want to kiss her so bad. I think she feels it, too.

She abruptly shakes her head and forces a small smile. Then she pushes the donut sack toward me with a groan. “I can’t eat anymore. I’m so freaking full. Thank you for the treat.”

This has to be like the eleventh time she’s thanked me since I showed up here.

“Sheesh, woman. Would you stop thanking me? It’s just a few donuts.”I frown at her.

“Still. It was very thoughtful of you,” she insists.

I wag my head. “You act like it’s the first time anyone’s ever done something nice for you.”

I expect her to laugh, but she doesn’t. Alarm bells sound in my head when I see a shadow come over her eyes. My brows pinch together in concern as I turn to face her fully.

“Wait a minute. Don’t tell me you’ve been out here dating jerks who don’t do nice things for you, Alba Anderson.” I reach out and gently adjust her crooked glasses.

She scoffs and mumbles, “I haven’t been dating anyone at all.”

“I…Whoa…No, Seriously? You…haven’t been… what ?” I struggle to string a sentence together, absolutely floored by what she is saying.

How does a woman who looks like Alba—a woman who’s as smart and sweet as Alba—not go on any dates?

She shrugs.“It’s not something I have time for.

With Jagger and work and studying, I haven’t had the time or the energy to waste on dating.

Plus, life sort of came at me fast. I kind of went from being the coach’s untouchable daughter to being full-time guardian to a precocious little boy.

I had to learn to prioritize.” She huffs out a breath.

“And besides, these days, when guys look at me, it’s like they see a no-fun zone.

I have ‘responsibility’ written all over me. ”

Shit.

I feel fucking guilty right now. And then an even worse realization hops into my brain.

“Wait…Are you saying you haven’t been having…?”

“Sex?” she finishes for me, with a little snort-laugh. “No, Easton. I haven’t been having sex. I…um…” she flinches. “I never have.”

The paper bag slips from my lap, donuts rolling across the wooden porch.

“Alba, are you a…you’re a virgin?”

She just bobs her head up and down, a blush spreading across her cheeks.

Fuck. I’m pretty sure my head’s about to explode. I just can’t fathom it.

Alba’s a virgin? She’s never had sex ?

I’ve been struggling to make it the past few weeks without sex. Hell, just one week is torture enough.

The one thing that’s been keeping me sane is the fact that I’ve been jerking it in the shower every morning to the thought of Alba sucking me off.

Meanwhile, she’s never had sex at all?!

“But what about Christopher?” I ask, hating to mention his name, but needing to know the truth so bad it makes my brain itch. “What happened with you and him?”

Alba releases a sigh. “When Raya left Jagger with me, Christopher wasn’t happy about it. He said that having a kid around all the time was not what he signed up for.”

“So he broke up with you because of Jagger?” Rage shoots into my head so fast it almost makes me dizzy with anger.

Alba squints. “Not immediately. He stuck around for a few months. But he broke up with me once he realized that I couldn’t go out with him whenever he wanted to.

I couldn’t drop everything to spend time with him whenever he’d show up at the house.

He couldn’t get access to me like he felt entitled to, and that pissed him off. ”

“What a fucking prick…” I mutter. “I should have kicked his ass when I had the chance.”

“You never told me why you fought with him that night…” Alba muses.

My mind drifts back to the night of the bonfire, and I get angry all over again. I’d had him pinned to the ground with my fist stomping his face. I let my friends pull me off of him before I was done getting my rage out. I should have finished the job.

“He had been talking shit about you,” I spit out.

“He’d been bragging about how much he couldn’t wait to take your virginity, get you knocked up and have you barefoot in his kitchen.

” He’d also said that I’d never be good enough for you.

But I don’t admit that part out loud. “There’s no way I’d just stand there and let him say those things about you. ”

“Wait—you fought Christopher to defend my honor?”

“I guess so.” I shrug impishly. “We’re friends. You deserve friends who’ll protect you. Even when you’re not around.” My mind goes back to Jules and the way she fiercely guarded Alba’s secrets that night at the Whiskey Barrel. That’s loyalty.

Alba’s expression is shocked. Then embarrassed. Then remorseful.

“When Christopher and I first got together, he was understanding about the fact that I wanted to wait for sex until marriage,” she whispers.

“But once Jagger was in the picture, he started giving me ultimatums. He said that there were other girls who wanted to give him all the things I was holding back. He said that I had to keep myself ‘interesting’, if I wanted to beat out the competition.”

“He pressured you for sex, even after he’d agreed to wait?” I grind out, hating that guy more and more by the second.

She nods. “And I almost went through with it. We were naked in the bed and everything.” She chuckles embarrassedly.

“But something just felt… wrong . I can’t explain why, but…

I just couldn’t go through with it.” She sighs.

“He got mad. Really mad. But he didn’t push me to continue.

He just got dressed and stormed out of the room.

The next day, he broke up with me in a text message. He never talked to me again.”

“In a fucking text message?!” I almost yell.

“Yeah, the break up was pretty brutal,” Alba admits.

“And he got married to someone else shortly after. It was painful at first. But ultimately, I feel like it was for the best.” She sighs.

“Anyway, dating hasn’t really felt ‘safe’ since Christopher.

I’ve been scared that every guy would feel like I needed to compensate for having Jagger in my life.

I didn’t want to feel like I owed anyone something.

I didn’t want any man feeling like he was settling for me. So I just…stayed away.”

I rub the back of my neck. “That's…rough.”

I sound like a genius right now.

Alba giggles softly, staring out into the yard. “Being a virgin…it’s not that bad. It’s…fine.”

But it’s not fine. This whole situation is the furthest thing from fine.

I stare at Alba’s profile, as she turns her eyes up to the stars.

I can’t decide if I’m more shocked or more pissed off that a woman as perfect as Alba missed out on dating and sex and having fun.

She missed out on her college years. Most of her twenties.

All because she was busy taking care of my child.

And there I was, out there living my best fucking life.

I feel like an asshole.

Before I can figure out a way to apologize, Alba lets out a loud yawn. “Sorry,” she cringes, looking a little embarrassed. “I had a hard day at my cleaning job. And I’m retaking my realtor exam soon, so I still need to study.”

I let my cheeks fill up with air before expelling it all. I hate, hate, hate that Alba works so damn hard, day and night, to take care of Jagger. Lincoln has already set up some investment things for my son. But I feel like I should be doing more.

Because what I’m seeing here? I know it’s only the surface. Alba has been handling all this responsibility since she was practically a kid herself.But tonight isn’t the right time to broach this conversation .

I push myself to my feet. “I’ll go ahead and get out of your hair.” I bend down quickly, scooping the fallen donuts off the ground and stuffing them back into the paper bag to throw away.

Alba smiles at me. “Goodnight, and thank y—”

“Don’t you dare say it,” I only halfway joke.

I’m standing at the bottom of the porch steps when I turn back to her, pinning her with my stare.

“I’m the one who owes you. Seriously. I just want to say thank you for all the sacrifices you’ve made to build a life for my son.

It means more than you know.” One corner of my mouth tilts into a smile.

“Goodnight, Tiny Tiger. Get some sleep.”