I growled. “Roy. Cut the shit.”
He barked with laughter. “Ho-lee shit. Are you fucking kidding me? You got it on… with her?”
Roy threw his head back with laughter as Rae turned bright pink. I looked over at her, trying to tell her how sorry I was with my eyes. But all she did was look down at her feet.
“Glad you’re doing okay,” she murmured. Then she turned on her heel and walked down the porch steps.
Roy slapped my back. “Holy fucking shit. That’s a serious trophy, dude. Was she still a virgin? Does she shave? I feel like a girl with the last name ‘Cleaver’ either shaves everything, or shaves nothing. Come on, man, you can tell me. Wait a second, why the fuck didn’t you tell me in the first damn place? We’ve got so much to talk about!”
I slammed the door closed and whipped around on him. I glared at him through my good eye, backing him slowly into the living room. He held up his hands in mock surrender, furrowing his brow deeply at me.
Then I licked my lips. “That was some bullshit you just pulled back there.”
He scoffed. “And?”
“You were an ass. And you had no right to be.”
“Oh, come on, Clint. There’s plenty of bitches in the sea, dude. Don’t waste another minute on the likes of that stuck-up snob. She’ll end up like her mother, and you’ll be glad you got rid of her when you could. You know they all end up like their parents.”
I wanted to strangle him. I wanted to rip his tongue straight from his head. But I didn’t. I drew in a few deep breaths before pushing by him, then scooped up my game controller. I fell against the couch and sighed, closing my eyes as a headache spread along the back of my skull. My mind conjured the face of Rae. The embarrassed look in her eyes. The bright pink tint of her cheeks. Maybe this was for the best. Maybe she was embarrassed, having been with me.
I mean, I was the school bully, after all. The big, bad, manwhore wolf. The man who couldn't even stand up to his father for fear of losing his own fucking life.
I certainly wasn’t some prize to take home to Mommy.
“You ready for another race?”
My good eye flew open as Roy flopped down beside me. His Coke sloshed over the side, falling to my jeans with a cool splash. I slowly looked down at it, then glanced at him as he took a sip.
“You gonna cry over spilled Coke? Or are you gonna fill me in on the dirty, nasty details of the school slob?”
I quirked an eyebrow. “There a third option?”
Roy clicked his tongue. “Come on. Really? You’re gonna hold out on me like that? I tell you every little fun detail with Marina, but you’re not going to tell me about bagging the school sass-mouth? That’s just wrong, dude. On so many levels.”
“How is Marina doing, anyway?”
“Oh-ho-ho, she’s fantastic. Really taking a liking to the taste of my dick after her lunch banana.”
And as he launched into his latest escapades with his girlfriend, I started up a new race for us, hoping it was enough to distract him from the fact that I’d never divulge those details with him.
Because I sure as hell didn’t need the questions that would conjure.
23
Raelynn
I pulled my ponytail out and ran my fingers through my hair while Allison fixed her makeup beside me. I’d been spending lunches in here with her, especially since I hadn’t been hungry. All this week, I’d been worried about Clint. Worried he was hurt, or in the hospital, or worse. And when I showed up at his house yesterday after school, I got shooed away and laughed at.
I wondered if he was embarrassed of me. It sure seemed like it, with how quickly he tried to get me to leave.
Allison sighed. “How are things with your mom?”
I rolled my eyes. “About as good as you can expect.”
“Didn’t D.J. show up last night? I think that’s what you said before you hung up the phone.”
“Yep. To apologize, like always. He brought flowers for Mom. A nice dinner I was forced to sit down and have.”