Page 47 of Use Me

“Yeah,” I sighed. “Then my night got worse.”

“How so?” She started making circles on my bare chest, and I never wanted her to stop.

“Ran into my high school bully.”

Her finger stopped. “You were bullied as a kid?”

“I was bullied as a freshman,” I corrected. “The asshole liked to roam the halls and pick on those smaller than him. Got worse when coach made me starting center and not him.”

“What happened tonight when you saw him?”

I chuckled. “I called him old.”

“You didn’t!” Ashtyn snorted and rolled to her back.

“I did. I hadn’t seen him since I was a freshman and he was a senior, and tonight he was trying to act as though we’re best buds. He made some comment about me being on TV, and I was two seconds away from punching him in the face.”

“But you didn’t?”

I shook my head. “No. I told him to grow up, and I left.”

Ashtyn moved again, but this time she placed her head on my bare chest. My arm went around her back, and I started to run my fingers along her arm. “I’m proud of you.”

My heart swelled. “That means a lot, Cupcake.”

She snuggled in closer to me. “Tonight was crazy for both of us.”

“Yeah, it was.” I sighed, though falling asleep with Ashtyn in my arms was the best way to end a shitty day.

A few days later, Ashtyn went to her parents’ for Thanksgiving, and I went to mine. Our parents only lived about twelve miles from each other. It was weird to think that the girl of my dreams lived so close to me growing up and I’d never met her.

“Hello,” I called out, walking in through the front door. Instantly, the smell of turkey hit my nose and my stomach growled. Everyone knew you didn’t eat breakfast or lunch on Thanksgiving. It was all about the dinner, and this morning I worked up a sweat with Ashtyn before we’d parted ways, so I was extra hungry.

“We’re in the kitchen,” Mom called back.

My parents still lived in the two-story house I grew up in, and sometimes I missed living in a quiet neighborhood, but now I wouldn’t change it for the world. How many people could say they lived across the street from their girlfriend? This guy. And it was fucking awesome because I didn’t have to get in the car and drive thirty minutes or whatever to her place.

I shut the door and made my way to the updated kitchen that looked out onto a giant backyard. My sister and her husband were already there, and when I rounded the corner, Romi rushed to me.

“Is it true?” she asked, engulfing me in her arms.

“Is what true?”

“Are you dating Ashtyn Valor?”

I broke free from her grasp and looked from her to my mom and back. “What the hell is the big deal about Ashtyn?”

“Because she’s not that skank Bridgette.” She rolled her blue eyes that were just like mine.

“Romi!” Mother scolded.

“What? It’s true!”

I nodded and agreed with my twenty-nine-year-old sister that still liked to gossip. “It is true.”

“So are you and Ashtyn …?” She proceeded to prod me for the answer she was dying to hear.

I chuckled. “Well, now we are.”