As bad as she pretends to be, I know she has fears and hang-ups because of other people’s shortcomings. Not that I don’t think she’s confident and beautiful and all the other amazing things a guy my age wants, but she’s not like my sister.
Sian’s confidence comes from another place. She’s never had to fight to fit in, not like my Red. Mom and dad always made sure my sisters and I had the best of everything, some might even call us spoiled. But they also instilled values in us. The sort of values that helps me to see past what Belle thinks are her faults, to the beauty that she truly is.
I know that she’s had to overcome a lot of bullshit because her family isn’t as wealthy as most of the people around here. I also know that the more superficial ones tend to look down on her. Seems like she’s had to deal with a whole lot of shit, but I’m here now to stand between her and the assholes.
“You know I’m getting you a ring like the first chance I get right? I don’t think my boy can last much longer than that so make up your mind quick.” She buried her face in my chest. “Jared.” I like the way she says my name like that. Like a prayer! I kissed her head and held her closer. “My Red.”
***
BELLE
***
Well, I guess when he says he knows me, he really does. I’m nervous as all get out, but I’m not about to let on. Later when I’m alone in my room I’ll scream into my pillow and pinch myself a couple of times to make sure that this is real.
I knew from the moment I learned that he was coming to our school that things were going to change. I had no idea those changes would involve me in such a big way though, how could I? the hotshot jock and the outcast? It’s like one of those smarmy teen movies that nobody believes. At least I never did, until now.
It’s like he and his sister had come here just to shake things up in my life. I knew that wasn’t true, things had changed for Tammy and even Cassie as well, but I couldn’t help feeling that mine was the life most impacted.
I was slightly ashamed of my preconceived notions about who he was before we’d even met. He was nothing like the self-important jock I’d built up in my head, and now this. And that story he told about his past and what the coach had said, the fact that he wanted me to know. I think it will take a long time for this glow to disappear.
Now he’s looking at me like he meant every word he’d just said. It was almost impossible to believe that those words were meant for me. And the fact that he was willing to wait before hopping into bed was just the icing on the cake.
Not that I had anything against teenage sex, it’s just that I’m not ready yet. I’m not sure that I want to save myself for the next five years, but it’s good to know I won’t be rushed. “If this turns out to be some sort of sick joke, I’m going to kill you in your sleep.”
His eyes did that thing it does lately when I’m getting on his nerves. I’ve been learning to tell the difference in his moods and looks in the last few weeks. I leaned back and tried to escape when he leaned forward, not quite sure what he was about to do, until he caught me and pulled me into him.
I think I stopped breathing long before his lips touched mine and my body went up in flames.
Chapter 2
TRACK
***
What the fuck was that today?” I paced my room like a caged animal. Yeah I know I’m too intense for a kid my age, or so I keep hearing, but when you have to deal with the shit I do it comes with the territory.
“Look kid, you seem to forget, we don’t work for you.” The asshole on the other end always had a hard on for me, but I wasn’t in the mood to hand him his ass. I needed to get to the bottom of this shit yesterday. Still, every once in a while it was good to remind him of a few things.
“And you seem to forget I’m smarter than you that’s why you people need me. You may think that you don’t work for me, but we both know the deal, now what the fuck happened? I asked one thing of you and you couldn’t come through?”
“How were we to know the local brass was going to come after him? They don’t have anything as far as we can tell.”
“That’s not the point. The point is I told you to give me a heads-up if there’s any movement on that end. What were you doing, jacking off at your damn desk?”
I’m pretty sure he and his partner were tired of me, and my mouth by now, but I didn’t care about them and that shit. Jace is hard headed enough to put his ass in the sling so he could get information. But I knew how easy it was to get hammed up with some shit that wasn’t your doing. I’ve seen more than one innocent get fucked under by this machine.
Jace’s family might be rolling in dough, but there was always someone else who had even more. More money, more clout, more sway. I wasn’t about to see my boy get taken down because of this slag. Though if his hardheaded ass had listened to me in the first place none of this would be happening.
“Look, I need you to make this go away.”
“We can’t do that, not if he’s guilty.”
“He’s not.”
“You don’t know that, you weren’t even there.” This asshole was really asking for it.
He was supposed to be handling me, more like my babysitter when I wasn’t squared away in a think tank somewhere. But the reality was he couldn’t keep up. My brain was always ten steps ahead of his.