“Shut the fuck up!” I yelled, my voice cracking.
“You think I didn’t know my little brother? You think I didn’t know him?” he asked quietly, his eyes narrowing into slits.
I froze, my heart thumping so hard I could hear it in my ears. I was so shocked I didn’t move as he took a few steps forward and was suddenly just inches from my face. “You get a free pass this time,” he said after a moment, like he was doing me some sort of favor.
I swallowed hard as his hands came up, his fingers brushing along the sides of my face until they’d tunneled into the hair by my ears, and he was cupping my head in his long hands. He tilted my head back as the rest of my body stiffened and leaned his face until our noses were almost touching.
“You get one free pass,” he whispered again, his breath tickling my face. “You had that one shot and you took it. You don’t get another one.” His nose slid against mine, and I couldn’t help the way my eyes grew heavy. My body was still stiff and unmoving, but every sense was heightened by his presence. I noticed everything—the cologne he was wearing, the gentle way his fingers wrapped around my skull, the way his chest rose and fell with every breath, his wide lips moving so close to mine. He was gorgeous. So fucking gorgeous. And he didn’t care. His shirts were always dirty and the mop of hair on the top of his head was always a mess. His clothes usually looked like they’d been slept in and, when he wasn’t outside or working, he sometimes wore the ugliest reading glasses I’d ever seen.
It didn’t matter. He was still…mesmerizing.
And such an asshole.
And I had a guy waiting for me whenever I escaped from this place.
“Tommy,” I warned, pulling a little against his hands. “Let go.”
“You know why you get that free pass, don’t you?” he whispered against my mouth.
I knew. Of course I knew. But I wouldn’t give him the satisfaction of an answer. I didn’t keep secrets for him.
He tilted my head back even farther, and I automatically grasped his sides to keep my balance. As the fingernails he’d bitched about scratched against the leather cut he was wearing, his jaw tightened and his hands fisted in my hair.
“Thomas, what the fuck?” The loud incredulous voice coming from the back of the clubhouse made me jump almost a foot in the air. “Fire!”
Tommy’s hands fell from my head as he spun around, and we both watched in horror as fire spread through the dry grass sickeningly fast.
“Fuck!” Tommy yelled, running back toward the clubhouse as I stood there stupidly. The fire was spreading like crazy in almost every direction, lighting up the grass in small waves.
“I’m gonna beat your ass!” Tommy’s older brother Will yelled as they both came running toward me with garden hoses.
“And what the fuck are you doin’?” he asked me as they started spraying water. “Get inside, idiot!”
I stumbled backward as more men came pouring out of the back of the club carrying five gallon buckets full of water like they weighed nothing.
“Girl, you better get outta the way,” an older man warned me as he rushed past. “These boys’ll run your ass over.”
I nodded and shuffled to the side until I was out of the way of their little water brigade. The way they moved, like each one knew what the other was going to do before they did it, was impressive, but it still took them a full twenty minutes to get the fire out. By the time they’d turned off the hoses and were standing around with their hands on their hips, most of the women from inside the club had come out to see what the hell was happening and how they could help.
The crowd went silent as Tommy’s dad, Grease, moved toward him, reached him, and lifted him off his feet, hands fisted in the front of his shirt.
“What the fuck were you thinkin’?” he bellowed.
I flinched at the sound, but Tommy didn’t move. “Dropped my cigarette,” he answered roughly, holding his dad’s gaze.
“You dropped your motherfuckin’ cigarette?” Grease yelled, shaking Tommy. “We got buckets of water all over the place, and you dropped your cigarette in the dry grass?”
“Yep.” Tommy’s bored, one word answer seemed to enrage his dad, and Grease dropped him back to his feet, then cuffed Tommy’s ear, making him stagger to the side. The sight made everything inside me tighten.
“I hit him in the balls,” I yelled absurdly, capturing everyone’s attention.
“It’s none of your business,” my sister hissed, hurrying toward me.
I brushed her off as she reached me and took a step away from the side of the clubhouse where I’d been practically hiding.