Page 68

WAVERLY

I had no idea how long we stayed at the beach, but I kept stealing drinks after Keene tried to cut me off.

And by the time Xander claimed she was too cold to sit there any longer and we had to douse the fire and return to the Jeep, I couldn’t walk a straight line.

“Fuck.” Keene caught my arm, grabbing me tight to keep me from tripping. “Your mom’s gonna kill me if I bring you home like this.”

“We need to stanch her blood alcohol level with some greasy drive-thru,” Xander said.

Keene scoffed. “Whatever. That’s not a thing.”

But my best friend only shrugged. “It could be. And besides, I’m hungry. Plus I want caffeine, so you should really take us somewhere.”

“Do I look like your boyfriend?” Keene muttered as we loaded into the Jeep and he cranked the engine to life. “I ain’t taking us to a drive-thru just because you’re hungry.”

“Frankie,” Xander pleaded, tapping my arm from the back seat. “Make Keene be nice to me. Baby needs caffeine if she’s staying up until one to drop you off right before your curfew.”

I turned to Keene and didn’t even have to speak.

“No.” He pointed meaningfully as he put the Jeep into gear and steered us toward the road. “Don’t do that. Cut it out.”

“What?” I laughed and lifted my hands. “I didn’t even do anything.”

“Yes, you did. You’re using your vagina powers on me.”

In the back, both Alec and Xander howled with delight before Xander demanded, “Her what powers?”

“Her vagina powers,” he repeated as if it were the most common, well-known phrase in existence. “You ladies can get anything you want with that shit.” He motioned his finger in the general direction of my lap. “End wars. Start revolutions. Save starving, orphaned puppies from going blind.”

I shook my head. “How in the world could my vagina keep a puppy from going blind?”

“I don’t know!” He threw up his hands in disgust before merging with traffic. “You’re the one with the magic pussy. You tell me .”

I blinked at him with no idea how to respond.

And he frowned, pointing. “See you’re doing it right now. Batting the lashes to those big brown eyes, and I can actually feel myself turning into fucking putty. So… Stop it.”

I snorted at his ridiculousness. “Why don’t you just use your penis powers and guard yourself from my oh-so-mighty vagina?”

“Yeah,” Alec chortled, clearly on my side. “Lift your shields, Dugger. Fight the draw.”

“Seriously?” Keene barked out a harsh laugh.

“You think this thing”—he motioned to his junk—“has anything on yours ? Your vagina is like a whole pleasure kingdom. A penis can only dream about visiting there. When he’s lonely, bored, feeling frisky, wanting to show his affections, that’s where he wants to go.

But with you, it’s all moot because you’re already there.

All the time. You don’t need a penis. While, I absolutely, one hundred percent need a vagina.

Vagina power trumps penis power every time. ”

From the back, Alec leaned toward Xander, claiming, “It’s a mathematical certainty.”

I glanced behind me and met Xander’s gaze.

Together, we snorted.

“You’re crazy,” I told Keene.

Taking my hand, he drew it to his mouth and kissed my knuckles, murmuring, “Crazy for you .”

Intense heat stirred through me. Gaze swirling with the same emotions I was feeling, he groaned and announced, “Okay, okay. I’ll stop at a drive-thru. Haven Harbor is still open until midnight, right?” When he glanced into the rearview mirror toward Alec, Alec gave him a thumbs-up.

Xander whooped with joy and patted my arm. “Thank your vagina for me, Frankie. That thing rules.”

“Hey, I’ll be thanking her vagina, thank you very much,” Keene muttered moodily as he switched lanes. “No one else is allowed near it.”

“Ooh,” I sat up straighter, distracted by where he was headed and completely ignoring his ridiculous comments. “If you’re going to Haven Harbor, you should turn at this light. The next block goes to a dead end.”

“No,” Keene argued, stopping at the light and not turning or even flipping on his blinker. “You’ve got it backward. That street is the one that doesn’t go through.”

I turned to blink at him. “Yes, it does.”

He glanced over at me and shook his head. “Nuh-uh. I’ve lived in this town my entire life, sweetheart. I think I know how to get to fucking Haven Harbor.”

“Well, I have too,” I told him right back. “And you need to turn here.”

“Do not.”

“Yes, you do !”

“What do you know?” he argued. “You’re drunk.”

“So what?”

“So your way is a dead end.”

“I promise you; it’s not.”

“You know what?” he muttered, flipping on his blinker and turning sharply to the right as soon as the light flashed green.

“We’re going down this street just so I can show you how wrong you are and then laugh in your face when—dammit.

” Realizing I was right and he was wrong, his jaw went hard before he zinged a hard glare my way and pointed. “Don’t.”

I grinned smugly, unable to help myself, but I lifted my hands to let him know I wouldn’t laugh in his face the same way he would’ve if he’d been right.

A second later, he huffed out a breath and shook his head, sending me a reluctant smile. “Just so you’re aware,” he warned, shaking a bemused finger in my direction. “You are the only person ever who’s allowed to win an argument with me.”

I preened, proud of myself. “Thank you.”

Haven House was more of a drive- in than a drive-thru, so Keene found a free spot to park between two other vehicles.

Alec and Xander immediately started putting in their order before he could even ask for them, and I smiled as he argued with them to slow down. Then he glanced at me.

I absolutely loved how he included me.

“What about you, Waves? Make sure to get something greasy so we can prove to Girl Union it doesn’t do shit for your state of sobriety.”

“It’s gonna help,” Xander insisted. “Just watch.”

Grinning, I bit my lip and glanced at the menu over the order box. “Umm… I want fries and a dirty Dr. Pepper, please.”

“Ooh, you like ’em dirty, huh?” Xander asked curiously.

Snickering, Keene met my gaze and winked. “Hell, yes, she does.”

“Oh my God,” Xander groaned, slugging his shoulder. “How do you always make everything sound so filthy?”

“ You’re the one who literally said dirty,” he argued back.

And I laughed.

I couldn’t remember being this happy since…

Ever.

“I’ll let you taste it when I get it,” I assured Xander, knowing that’s what she’d been hedging for when she’d spoken in the first place.

Placated, she sent Keene a raspberry, only to squeeze my arm gratefully. “Thank you, Frankie.”

I nodded, shuddering and hugging myself as a chilly breeze entered while Keene rolled his window down to put our order in. Now that I was no longer drinking or cuddled in his arms in front of a fire, I was freaking freezing.

Keene rolled the window up once he was done and turned back to us, only to catch sight of me and hiss, “Jesus. Your lips are blue. Here, I think I have a hoodie in the back.”

When he reached into the back seat, Alec jumped and squawked, “Hey, hey. Stop getting fresh with me, skeeve. I’m not that kind of boy.”

As Xander threw her head back and laughed, Keene groaned and rolled his eyes. “You wished I was interested in you like that, fucker.” Then he grumbled, “Move your damn ass. You’re sitting on the hoodie I need for Waverly.”

“Oh.” Sounding mollified, Alec quoted the movie he and Xander had been watching earlier, “Well, that’s one I haven’t been on before,” which made Xander howl with more laughter.

Chuckling, Alec called, “Here you go,” and he flung a piece of black cloth into the front seat.

“Perfect.” Grinning at me in relish, Keene lifted the hoodie and instructed, “Arms up, darlin’.”

I blinked at him, unable to believe he wanted to put it on me too. And he must’ve given up on waiting because he merely pulled it over my head and tenderly grasped my hair to slide the locks free.

“Thanks,” I murmured, still astounded by his consideration. I pushed my hands into the arm holes, only to grip the front of the hoodie as soon as they were through so I could draw it up to my nose.

Keene sent me a funny look. “What? Does it stink?”

“No.” I gave a dreamy sigh and took another long whiff. “It smells like you.”

Blinking, Keene shook his head, but the look in his eyes told me he liked my answer. “I’m never getting that hoodie back, am I?”

Grinning goofily, I shook my head. “Nope.”

If anything, Keene only looked happier about the loss.

* * *

Once we had our orders delivered and were all happily gorging ourselves on drinks and snacks, Keene pulled out of the restaurant and back onto the road before announcing, “Well, that took all of twelve minutes. What’re we going to do for the next fifty until one o’clock?”

“What do you think, Frankie?” Xander asked me. “What’s something else you never did that everyone in high school always seemed to do around you? This is the perfect night to do a few more firsts.”

“Well, in that case, we should get Younger laid,” Keene announced with a snort before picking up my dirty Dr. Pepper and drinking deeply from the straw. “Damn, that’s good shit,” he said while Alec slugged him on the side of the arm, nearly making him drop the drink altogether.

“Suck it, motherfucker,” Alec growled, but Keene only laughed.

“What? Like I’m lying?”

His comment had me lifting my eyebrows and glancing back at Xander in question. She returned my glance with a wide, curious stare, looking as if she might be wondering the same thing I was: Was Alec actually a virgin?

It seemed unheard of that I’d done something another member in this vehicle hadn’t yet tried.

Huh. Maybe I wasn’t quite the freak I’d always assumed I was. Maybe it was okay not to have experienced everything before I hit twenty-one.

Still chuckling to himself, Keene set the drink back into the cup holder and turned a corner at the next intersection before saying, “Hey. Have you ever TP’ed anyone’s house before?”

* * *