Page 33

Gram sniffed in disagreement. Nodding her head toward my basket, she noted, “I don’t have to clean nearly as many socks for you since you moved out. You must be masturbating less.”

Used to my grandmother’s blunt and way-too-personal line of questioning, I shrugged. “That’s because I’ve been having indiscriminate sex with loads of hot girls across campus instead.”

Narrowing her eyes with disapproval, Gram merely lifted her nose and primly responded, “Well, as long as you’re using the proper protection.”

“Always, Gram.” I pressed a solemn hand to my chest. “I’m not my no-account, good-for-nothing, loser of a father, I promise you.”

Nodding as if that made everything better, she demurred, “Of course, you’re not. I raised you better than that.”

“Yes, you did,” I agreed, vaguely wondering what the no-account, good-for-nothing loser was up to these days.

I hadn’t seen him since—shit. I think Nana had made him come around for my high school graduation.

It’d been a week after the fact when he finally made an appearance, but he’d actually given me a card with twenty bucks in it.

Of course, he’d taken off about two minutes after showing up, but that had been over a year and a half ago.

I hadn’t seen hide nor hair of him since then.

I’d tried calling him this past summer when Grandpa had gone into the hospital for an emergency surgery to get some gallstones removed, but the number I had for him had been disconnected.

Oh well. His loss.

Gram and I talked for another ten or fifteen minutes before I headed out, carrying my laundry basket to the Jeep.

From there, I traveled to the Dugger house, so Nana wouldn’t feel slighted.

After pulling into their driveway, I grabbed a clean T-shirt from my laundry basket in the passenger seat and exchanged it for the hoodie I’d been wearing, which I tossed negligently into the back.

Two states north of here, folks were posting pictures of their cars slipping around on icy roads and all the snowmen they were building. But Westport, Texas was bright and sunny with a winter heat wave that was headed toward the seventies.

Feeling cooler, I popped from the Jeep and strolled up the walk to my second set of grandparents’ door.

When I stepped inside, Grandpa was stretched out in his recliner with his feet kicked up and his seat tilted back as he watched college basketball on the television.

“Hey, Grandpa,” I greeted, wiping my feet on the mat as I shut the door behind me. With a glance at the screen, I noticed my own Stallions were playing Tulane.

“We winning?”

He grunted out a moody sound of defeat, letting me know Haverick was indeed not winning their game.

Poor Grandpa always descended into a sour mood when any sports team from Westport lost. He followed it up with a glower in my direction, adding, “And your friend in the kitchen is eating all my chocolate cake.”

“Friend?” I stalled short, straightening my back in dread. “Which friend?”

Shit, I hadn’t been paying attention when I’d pulled up to notice if one of Parker’s vehicles had been parked out on the street or not. But surely, I would’ve noticed. Nice shit like his would stand out in this neighborhood.

Worried he’d come here to force me into a confrontation, I started to back toward the door when Grandpa motioned to his own bald head. “The tall, curly-headed one.”

Shoulders slumping in relief, I breathed, “Oh, thank God.” It was just Alec. And no, I wouldn’t have seen his vehicle out front, since he didn’t have one. He would’ve parked his bicycle in the back, out of sight.

“Wait,” I gasped in outrage. “There’s chocolate cake?”

Oh, hell no. Younger was not going to take the last piece. Nana’s chocolate cake was legendary. My mouth was conditioned to water at the mere mention of one of Cynthia Dugger’s baked confections.

“That son of a bitch.”

As I stormed through the living room, Grandpa cheered me on. “You get him, boy. That cake is ours .”

Hell, yes, it was.

As soon as I reached the kitchen, however, I jarred to a halt to gape in horror at my best friend, who sat at the table, picking at the last few crumbs left on his plate with the tines of his fork.

Brown frosting was smeared across the edge of his lip, just taunting me.

Bastard.

“Mmm,” he greeted with a full mouth when he noticed me. Pointing his fork to his empty plate, he muffled out the words, “This is the best cake ever. Swear to God.”

My mouth fell open. “You ate all the cake? How could you?”

Alec sniffed and rolled his eyes. “Whatever. Nana set aside a piece for you and your grandpa too, you moron. They’re on the counter.”

I glanced over, and suddenly, life had meaning again. “Oh, thank goodness.”

Rushing forward before Alec got any bright ideas to fight me for it, I snatched up my plate, got a fork from the drawer, and planted myself across the table from him.

It took me two bites and one very long, orgasmic moan before I finally glanced over and asked, “So how’d you find me?”

Alec only shrugged. “After Parker said you hadn’t been at the library, I figured you’d camp out at one of the grandparents’ places for a while.” Motioning to his empty plate, he added, “And this one always has food, so…”

“Dammit, Younger.” I pressed a hand to my chest. “You’re going to break poor Gram’s heart if she ever hears you say shit like that.” Even if it would make Nana happier than hell to hear.

“Don’t you dare tell her,” he warned.

I laughed. “You’re such a dork. But news flash. I actually was at the library for a while.” With a bounce of my eyebrows, I smirked at him. “Frankie covered for me.”

Except mentioning her caused my abdomen to tighten.

Those few brief moments we’d shared behind the circ counter were still haunting me.

But her eyes had been so big and brown and understanding. And her lips. Fuck. I’m not sure how one damn haircut could reshape a mouth like that, but I felt absolutely positive her lips hadn’t looked that kissable before.

Which was bad. Waverly was firmly on my list of untouchables. She was even on the list of untouchables that thou shalt not even flirt with. And fuck, not even my best friends’ girls were on that list. Flirting with my buddies’ better halves was actually one of my favorite pastimes.

But I’d just barely touched Waverly’s hair, and now everything felt off balance. Like the universe was no longer located where it was supposed to be.

I just needed to get everything back where it belonged.

Across the table, Alec blinked in shock. “Library Girl?” he asked, only to wince and blow out a low whistle. “Oh man, what kind of favor do you gotta do for her in return? I bet it’s brutal.”

“Favor?” I lifted both hands in outrage. “What the fuck do you mean, favor ? She did it for me out of the kindness of her heart.”

He sent me a look that told me I should know better.

“I’m serious,” I cried. “She loves me. She’d do anything for me.”

I was totally joking, of course, but I couldn’t help but wonder if she actually would’ve let me kiss her when I’d leaned in. From the look that had been on her face, I kind of thought maybe she might have.

Jesus.

I should not even think about going there. Back off, brain. Do not enter.

“You mean, she loathes you,” Alec goaded. “She’s never going to let you hear the end of this.”

“Whatever.” I stuffed more cake into my mouth, refusing to think about her anymore. Too dangerous. “You just don’t understand the nature of our relationship. We snarl, we argue, and we part ways feeling so much better about ourselves again. The girl adores me.”

“Of course, she does,” Nana answered, bustling into the kitchen with a sack of flour loading down her arms. After plopping it onto the counter, she hobbled over to wrap an arm around my shoulders and kiss the top of my head. “Who wouldn’t love my sweet Keenie beanie?”

“Thank you, Nana,” I said, grinning angelically up at her and covering her hand with my own. “That’s what I keep telling everyone too.” Transferring a mocking glance at Younger, I stuck my tongue out at him.

He rolled his eyes as Nana pulled away. “Any time, baby,” she told me as she patted the side of my arm and returned to the counter to open her bag of flour. “Who’re we talking about anyhow?”

“Just someone from school,” I dismissed with a wave of my hand and turned back to Alec.

As Nana began to hum under her breath, lost to her cooking, I leaned close to my friend and lowered my voice.

“You’re not here to drag me back home so everyone can gang up on me with some huge intervention, are you?

Because I gotta tell you, I’m not in the mood to hold hands and go around the circle, sharing my feelings tonight. ”

He scoffed. “Trust me, no one wants that. Besides, that’s not why I’m here. I think everyone’s finally realized you just need a little space, and they’ve backed off until you’re ready to come around on your own.”

“Then?” I furrowed my brow, wondering why he’d felt the need to track me down.

He grinned. “I worked on my own list for you.” Shifting in his chair, he plunged a hand into his pocket and produced a folded piece of paper. “There. Don’t say I never gave you anything.”

When he tossed it at me, I caught it against my chest and frowned, sending him a suspicious squint before I unfolded the page and dropped my gaze.

“Dude,” I murmured in awe. Alec had composed a list of girls, and after reading their names, I knew he’d tried to think of everyone he could remember seeing at the party last night.

Strangely, I’d forgotten all about my mystery girl since my trip to the library. But now the obsession was back, and I really wanted to know who she was.

And this list was Alec’s show of support. He had come here because of the whole Parker thing. But he was letting me know he was with me no matter what.

Damn. This was why he was my number one.

Glancing up at him, I sent him an appreciative nod, letting him see my approval.

He held up a pen. “You want to start checking off names?”

“Oh, hell, yes.”

He tossed it over, and I caught it with one hand before trapping my tongue between my teeth and studying the sheet fervently.

And all the while that I tried to figure out who’d given me that world-class blowjob last night, my grandmother mixed up batter for bread rolls ten feet away, humming gospel hymns under her breath.

I swear, Nana was so clueless. It wasn’t any wonder how my father had turned out to be the no-account asshole that he was. She probably still thought he’d only had sex once in his life on the night I was conceived. Bless her heart.

“Well, it’s not Tish. I remember coming back inside afterward and checking her wrist. No tattoos.” I marked out her name. Then I slashed a line through Oaklynn and Xander as well as Hope, Raina, and Faith. Glancing up, I explained, “None of them were the right size.”

He lifted his hands. “Plus, no tattoo.”

I pointed the end of my pen at him in agreement. Neither of us bothered to mention the most important detail—that four of them were dating our best friends. That was just too obvious.

“Let’s see,” I said instead, plugging the end of the pen into my mouth and studying the names.

“Andee Valencia’s too short. Riley Patel’s too voluptuous.

Farrah Jude’s hair is too curly. Erin Bana’s too tall.

” I went through the rest of the names methodically until I was done.

Sitting back, I looked at who remained, only to discover I’d crossed off every fucking chick on Alec’s list. “Well, fuck.”

“Language,” Nana sang happily from the counter without even glancing over.

“Sorry, Nana,” I called, only to send Alec a sour glance.

He shrugged. “So I guess I didn’t see her.”

“But I was with you basically the entire time before running into Makayla and then immediately heading outside. If you didn’t see her, I doubt I saw her.”

“I don’t know,” he countered, rubbing his chin in contemplation. “You went inside after the beer pong match a few minutes before I did. Maybe…”

He shrugged and sent me a hopeful glance.

I sighed. “Except I ran into Makayla almost immediately after heading in.”

But as soon as I spoke, a memory flickered through my consciousness. “Oh my God,” I said, slapping the table and sitting upright. “No, I didn’t. Legs !”

Alec glanced around in confusion. “Legs? What’re we doing here? Pretending we have Tourette’s or just randomly listing off body parts?”

I ignored his lame joke and eagerly leaned toward him. “There was a girl,” I said. “She was standing near the stairs that went down to our rooms. And she had these killer legs that just went on and on.”

“So you think it was her?” Alec asked eagerly.

“I don’t know.” I sighed in frustration.

“I never got to her face. I was still checking out those legs when Makayla came up and distracted me. But holy shit—sorry, Nana.” I waved to her in apology before pressing a fist to my mouth and pointing at Younger as my own excitement grew.

“Those legs could’ve totally been my mystery girl’s.

And she was wearing the same kind of skirt and top, too.

And—holy shit, man.” I vibrated in stunned realization. “That was her. It had to have been.”

“Well, there you go,” Alec said proudly, spreading his arms to congratulate me. Or maybe himself. Probably himself.

“Dark, straight hair, green top, short skirt, long legs,” I rattled off, naming everything I could remember about her as I opened my arms right back toward Younger to receive my congratulations fully.

“All we gotta do now is find someone who saw her and knows her, and Mystery Girl will be as good as found.”

“You know how Prince Charming found his mystery girl, don’t you?” Nana spoke up suddenly from the counter.

I cringed, wondering just how much she’d actually been listening to us. “How’s that, Nana?”

“Well, all he had to do was flash around the glass slipper she left behind, and Cinderella came to him .” Glancing my way, she smiled innocently. “So if you really wanna find her, all you gotta do is spread the word that you have something of hers, and she’ll come right to you.”

Alec and I exchanged a startled glance before a slow smile spread across my face. “Nana, you’re a genius,” I claimed, bursting from my chair to sweep her up into a big hug that prompted a surprised laugh.

“Thank you, thank you, thank you,” I praised.

Because it just so happened I did have an article of clothing that belonged to my mystery girl.

Screw chasing after her; I was going to make her come to me .