Prologue
Ignacio
13 Years Ago
“What?” I ask when Tinley looks up at me.
Bliss isn’t a strong enough word to describe how I’m feeling right now.
With sweat drying on our skin, the warm rush of her breath threatens to lead us right back to where the night started over an hour ago—her under me or straddling me, torn between begging me to go faster or slow down.
It’s not supposed to be like this. At eighteen, you aren’t likely to find the person you can’t imagine spending a day of your life without.
Somehow, Tinley and I lucked out.
She moved to south Houston just over two years ago, right in the middle of our sophomore year of high school. She was the light in my dark world from day one, although it took weeks for her to notice me, weeks of putting myself right in front of her before she even knew my name.
I did something that first day I told myself I’d never do for a girl. I changed. My time spent with my friends raising hell and getting into trouble tapered to nearly nothing. Missing school was no longer an option because lying in bed, hating my life, didn’t afford me the opportunity to see her gorgeous blonde hair shine in the Texas sun. Staying out late with my boys didn’t compare to the way she’d roll her pretty blue eyes when I’d wink at her when she walked into class.
Tinley is my everything.
“What?” I ask again when she begins to nibble on her lower lip. I curl a finger under her chin when she tries to look away. “Tell me.”
My voice is soft in the humid air of my granddad’s truck, the windows fogged from the heavy breathing we’ve been doing since I smelled her perfume as she climbed inside. All it takes is a sideways glance from this woman, and she owns me. I’m insatiable around her, and despite her lack of experience when we first got together, I’ve conquered many of her firsts, taking those gifts and appreciating the preciousness of them.
“I have several things to tell you,” she begins, her teeth working over her bottom lip. “M-my dad got a new job.”
“That’s great, Tin.” Her family moved in with her grandmother two years ago after falling on hard times, and I know they’ve been struggling ever since.
Everyone in our crappy little town is struggling. People come here and never leave. I have bigger plans for my life. We talk about our futures often. How we plan to get out and never return. There’s nothing but pain and poverty here.
But we know deep down it’s only a pipe dream. Getting out is nearly impossible. Staying away is an unobtainable goal, no matter how many plans we make for that to happen.
“It’s in Dallas.”
My hand freezes on her face for a second before I pull it away. “Dallas?”
She nods, her eyes dropping to her clasped hands now that I’m no longer holding her pretty face.
“That’s great,” I repeat, although my heart is in a million pieces and my hands are shaking as I reach for my jeans.
Wincing when I bang my elbow on the driver’s side window, I still can’t look her in the eyes.
This is her chance, the opportunity to leave.
“They have several community colleges—” she begins but my scoff cuts her off.
She knows better. College isn’t my thing. Hell, despite my name on a diploma that will be handed out tomorrow at graduation, the only reason I’ve darkened the doors at school was for her.
“You don’t want to go?”
I turn and glare at her, hating the pain I see in her eyes with my staged anger. I’m ecstatic for her, but it kills me to know she’s leaving.
“Go?” I snap. I want nothing more, but logistically, it doesn’t make sense. “And do what?”
“We can get an apartment or something.”
“Are you forgetting I have no money?”
I had plenty before she showed up, but those ill-gotten gains withered away when I stopped associating with the other guys from school. Tinley’s family may be poor and have fallen on bad times, but they’re upstanding people, going to church every Sunday, spending time together as a family.