“My only advice is to proceed with caution,” she gently warns. “As far as I’m concerned, all guys are to be fed with long-handled spoons until proven innocent. Not just West. So, while I’m all for keeping your heart open, never forget to keep your eyes open, too, you know?”
The tension leaves me and I’m so glad I opened up to her.
“Thanks, Jules. You always know what to say.”
“No problem, kid,” she teases. “Just remember this when I call you with boy trouble.”
I laugh, because we both know she’ll never take a guy seriously enough to let him give her trouble.
“Anytime,” I promise.
She’s quiet and it makes me suspicious.
“You’re looking at that pic again, aren’t you?” I accuse with a laugh.
Caught, she stutters a bit, then doesn’t bother lying to me. Instead, the line goes dead when she hangs up, and I can only shake my head at her.
She’s crazy, but she’s also my best friend. The one who always knows how to make me feel better. Her advice is sound, suggesting that I keep my guard up within reason.
And I can do that.
As I begin to think about regionals in a couple weeks, my immediate plan is to keep West at arm’s length. Still harboring some pretty deep-seated trust issues, I don’t think we’re ready for whatever aftermath we would face if sex were added to the equation. However, if I find him harder to resist than I expect, I’m also committed to not beating myself up if I give in.
As for the future, who knows where West and I will end up, but wherever we’re headed, we’ll get there at my pace.
Which, for now, is set to super slow.
Well, mostly.
… Kind of.
Why don’t we just say I’m a work in progress.
Chapter 36
WEST
“You and Parker back at it again?”
I peer up from my duffle toward Dane when he asks. I’m confused at first, until he points at the strip of condoms I just dropped into the bag.
Smiling, I zip it closed. “Nope.”
Curious, he shoots me a look. “Who then?”
I shrug, pretending not to have anyone specific in mind, but there is definitely someone specific in mind. My brothers just don’t need to know that. Not right now, anyway. Eventually.
I’ve spent two weeks thinking about this weekend, and not because our team dominated in the district finals last week, clawing our way to regionals. What I look forward to has perfect C-cups and an ass I want to sink my teeth into.
Now that we’re done with the swimming unit, I haven’t had an excuse to be around her. No excuse to touch her. Sucks that I even need one. I’ve given her plenty of reasons to keep her distance from me over the past couple months, though. Now, she naturally avoids me.
She’s at every game, snapping pictures for the paper, but as far as interaction goes, there isn’t much of it between us. Not unless you count how we can hardly keep our eyes off one another during the one class we do share, when we pass one another in the halls and during lunch. I’m always aware of her.
Always.
I’ve even gone as far as telling the girls to pull back. Most couldn’t care less either way, but for Parker, everything concerning Southside is personal. Probably because being told that her sole target since the beginning of the school year is now off limits serves as a glaring statement. It speaks to my growing respect for the girl I once vowed to destroy.
I haven’t gone soft by any means, but I’m not so stubborn I can’t see the need to reevaluate. Starting with a decision I made about two nights ago, when I couldn’t sleep because I couldn’t stop thinking about …
It actually doesn’t matter who or what I was thinking about. The point is I was restless.
It was during this restlessness that I accepted something. Southside and I are long overdue for a conversation. One she’s been asking to have since the beginning. One in which I plan to lay everything out on the table, including what I believe about her involvement with my father. Having had that man’s heel pressed to my neck my whole life, it hasn’t been hard to see how she could get roped into whatever happened between them.
If it’s happened between them.
It’s the reason I’m past the anger and looking forward to putting this shit behind us. Honestly, I just want the air between us cleared.
Finally.
So, while the team and dancers are all partying in Trip’s room tonight, I’ll be with Southside, laying my full truth bare. After that, neither of us will have any need to fight whatever happens next. All questions will be answered, all our secrets will be out in the open. A clean slate.
“All right, we gotta go. Bus leaves in forty-five.” Sterling announces, hiking a bag up his shoulder.
Dane grabs his jacket and I shrug into a hoodie, since winter is officially on our heels.
A text has my phone vibrating and I glance down to read the message.
‘We need to talk,’ Parker insists. ‘And don’t blow me off, West. There’s a chance I can help you. Whether you like it or not, you need me right now.’
That knot in my stomach is back and the text has me on edge, wondering what in the hell she’s talking about. As much as I’d like to think none of those privy to the only secret I have would’ve told Parker, it’s feeling less and less like she’s bluffing.
“Everything okay?” Sterling glances back to ask when he sees I’m suddenly feeling anxious.
“Yeah, just a stupid text from Parker,” I say, but I’m making light of things. Truth is, if this girl opens her big mouth, I can kiss my football career beyond high school goodbye.
We get to the elevator just as the doors are parting and the message I just received is shoved
