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Jessica climbed onto the bank. Her blonde hair was wet, tangled around her face, down her back. Her white dress clung to her body making every young curve visible, and she took off. She’d always been real pretty, but so had lots of other girls. Spitting mad, I ran after her, not caring one lick that I was naked.
I caught her easy enough — I was the better ru
“Where are my shorts?” I demanded, furious.
Her body shook beneath mine; she was laughing. She was laughing so hard she couldn’t hardly breathe, and I remember thinking she was beautiful.
Then she said, “I threw them in a tree.”
I watched her, again losing her breath to laughter, and I couldn’t stop my smile. “You threw them in a tree?” I asked, feeling a touch of wonder at her cleverness.
“Yeah,” she’d said, her smile wide and crooked, “you think being mean is enough. Being mean and being smart is better.”
That was the moment. That was when it happened.
I hadn’t noticed her, or any other girl, until I was nearly fourteen. By then it was too late. She disliked me. But she worshipped my brother. He didn’t see her, not really. Not like I did. I’d always liked her, but I fell hard the day she threw my swim trunks into a tree.
Presently, I was sitting on the edge of Bandit Lake, staring at the bonfire Beau and I had built hours before and feeling downright sorry for myself. I stood, shaking my head, and pushed the memory aside. I glanced at my cup. It was empty, and I was two vodka shots shy of drunk.
I was refilling the cup when Cletus suddenly appeared at the edge of the bonfire and gave me a fright.
He was a floating head, his body invisible. I was the first to see him, and he scared the butter off my biscuits. I inhaled sharply and jumped about three feet. He also made me spill the vodka.
“Dammit, Cletus!” I closed my eyes, concentrated on slowing my pulse.
Then one of the girls screamed. Then another. Soon they were all screaming. I sighed because they were irritating.
Cattle, I thought. It was an uncharitable thought. My mother would have been disappointed.
I opened my eyes, grinding my teeth, and set about the task of pacifying the screamers. “It’s Cletus, my brother. Tina, listen to me, Tina — it’s just Cletus.”
Tina’s screams continued until I covered her mouth with my hand; her blue eyes were wide and worried as she glanced from me to my older brother. When I was sure she wasn’t going to scream again, I took my palm away.
“Cletus?” she parroted, frowning. Her face was framed by a black and yellow wig; her cleavage was spilling out of the sexy bee costume she wore as she gathered gulping breaths.
“Yeah. It’s Cletus. Just Cletus.” I glanced at him. He wasn’t helping the situation by hovering just beyond the glow of the fire, his eyes eerily wide. I pressed my lips together to keep from laughing. He really did look like a floating head.
The other guys had also stood, but were now shaking off the brief fright and moving forward to welcome my brother.
In all, we had about twenty-five people gathered, almost an equal amount of guys and girls. The bonfire had been Beau’s idea, and he’d promised to keep the party small. Twenty five felt like a crowd. The mood I was in, I would have preferred five or six…or one.
Tina wrapped her arms around me, giggling into my chest. She was two vodka shots past drunk, and she was pissing me off. “Duane, baby. Hold me, I’m scared.”
I placed my arm around her shoulders, mostly to keep her from falling into the flames and ruining everyone’s good time, and walked her over to a blanket. My plan to remove her from my person proved difficult, because she seemed to have grown two more arms. Each time I removed one, another three took its place. Too late I realized this was because she was now climbing me with her legs. She made my skin crawl.
“Come on, Tina.” I pushed her away, cursing my brother for inviting her in the first place.
Tina and I had been seeing each other on and off for going on six years until I’d called it quits once and for all four months ago. This was the first time I’d seen her since.
Looking back, six years with Tina was five years and eleven months too long. Sure, she was pretty enough, beautiful even. She had a free-spirited wildness that had been fun for about ten minutes. She also had the body of an exotic dancer — because she was one — and never lacked enthusiasm when we fucked.
But that’s all it had ever been — fucking.
And six years of fucking around was more than enough.
What Tina had in looks she lacked in sense. She was shrewd but ignorant. I couldn’t talk to her about anything, because she didn’t know about anything other than townie gossip, biker gossip, how to work a pole, and how to spread her legs.
Hell, I was ready shoot that horse four years ago. But she’d become a bad habit. She was easy and soft and persistent. And that had been enough to keep me from turning her away.
Until last July.
Until I found out from Jackson James that his sister was moving back to town.
With a firm grip I finally succeeded in removing Tina’s claws, setting her on the blanket and away from me.
“Stay there,” I ordered, then walked around the circle of flames to greet my brother, throwing my cup in the fire. Tina climbing on me was incentive enough to sober up. I heard her call after me, but I ignored it. Two shots shy of drunk was where I wanted to stop, especially since I was still frustrated from earlier events.
“It’s me, your brother Cletus,” he said u
I felt my lips tug to the side. He was wearing a black turtleneck and pants; this explained why he looked like a floating head.
“Hey, are you sticking around?”
“Nah, just dropping off the supplies Beau wanted.”
I studied him. He looked cold. “You want to warm up next to the fire before you go?”
“Sure. Maybe for a bit.” He shrugged, glanced at the crowd. “Who are these people?”
“Mostly Beau’s friends.” I sca
I knew the moment his eyes found Tina because they turned mean. “What’s she doing here? You two back together?”
“No.” I said, feeling revulsion at the thought. “No way.”
He nodded, frowning in an atypical display of dislike. “Good, cause she’s a crazy bitch.”
I didn’t even have three seconds to register or feel surprise at Cletus’s words before Beau reappeared at the edge of the bonfire, drawing everyone’s attention to him and the girl he had tucked under his arm.
If Cletus’s statement had surprised me, then the sight of Jessica James pressed against my twin nearly knocked me flat on my ass.
Time slowed. I couldn’t breathe. My vision turned red. My throat and chest burned. I wanted to punch something…or someone.
“What the fuck…?” My thoughts escaped on a breath, and a deep, piercing pain twisted in my gut. Thankfully, only Cletus had heard my curse.
“Oh, yeah. Catastrophic engine failure.” Cletus lifted his chin toward Jessica as though Catastrophic Engine Failure was her name. “I’m taking her home.”
I turned my glare to Cletus and snapped, “What do you mean you’re taking her home?”
His stare narrowed, and he openly studied me. I hated it when he did this. When Cletus put his mind to something, he could see everything. I adverted my eyes but then instantly regretted it, because Jessica was looking straight at me. Images of her exposed breasts, her hot looks, bringing my hand to her flimsy panties played through my mind’s eye.
I swallowed so I wouldn’t groan. Again my gut twisted, again I couldn’t breathe. I fought to distance myself from her gaze, but she reeled me in. Jessica was so much more than beautiful.