Chapter 15
My house was seven miles away and in the dark walking very far wouldn’t be smart. Besides, Beau would just find me and drive alongside me trying to get me to get in his stupid truck. I turned and ran down the narrow paved road leading to the high school. The street lights lit up the tree-lined road enough to keep it from being spooky. It was less than a mile from Hank’s and I could go sit on the bleachers at the football field and have Sawyer pick me up there when he was finished.
My phone dinged and I glanced at the text message.
Beau: Ash I’m sorry. Please tell me where ur at
I clicked ignore and kept heading toward the football field.
Right before I reached the gate entrance, headlights illuminated the darkness behind me. I didn’t stop walking. If it was Beau, and I was pretty sure it was, I needed to get away from him. I wanted to cry and I couldn’t cry with him around to watch. His truck door slammed and I heard his feet running on the gravel. I’d never be able to outrun him but I could try.
“Ash, I’m sorry.” His arms came around me before I could break out into a run.
“Beau, let me go. I want to be alone. I’ll call Sawyer and he can pick me up later and take me home.”
“No,” he replied.
“That wasn’t a yes or no question. It was a demand. Now, leave.”
“Ash, you’ve got to listen to me. I didn’t mean anything I said. I was just trying to see the fire behind your eyes. I missed it and I selfishly lashed out knowing you’d get angry. I was wrong and I’m so, so sorry. Please.”
He buried his head in the crook of my neck and took a deep breath. If I had any intention of staying mad at him it flew right out the window when he did something so vulnerable as nuzzling my neck.
“So you don’t consider this a babysitting job in which Sawyer owes you one?” I asked in a much softer tone than I’d been using.
“God no, you know that,” he replied, still nuzzling my neck. He threaded his fingers through mine. “And asking for me as your spirit girl wasn’t some great service you did for him? Because I can refuse to do it and you can ask for another girl.”
He stilled then made a trail of kisses up my neck to my ear.
“The thought of you doing things for Sawyer on game day is hard enough. I couldn’t imagine you making cookies for some other guy and decorating his locker and kissing his cheek at the pep rally. The only spirit girl I’ll ever want is you.”
I turned around in his arms and stared up at him.
“I’m not real strong emotionally right now. With everything going on at home and then coming to school and seeing you . . .” I stopped explaining. Telling him how much I hated seeing Nicole in his arms and hanging on him wasn’t fair. He cupped my face in his hands.
“And I’m the biggest asshole in the world for not thinking about that before treating you the way I did. I’m so sorry, Ash, please forgive me.”
I stood up on my tip toes and kissed him. “You’re forgiven,” I whispered then reluctantly took a step back. “We should go,” I said then turned to go to his truck.
I didn’t scoot over to sit beside him as he pulled out of the parking lot. I glanced down at his hand and noticed the tight grip he had on the stick shift. This wasn’t how tonight was supposed to go. I was in Beau’s truck again. We were alone and it was okay with Sawyer. I sighed and turned my head to stare out the window and watch the trees pass by as Beau drove back to Hank’s.
“Wait here. I’ll be right back,” he said then jumped out of the truck and went inside. He returned seconds later with a takeout bag in his hand.
I watched as he climbed back in the truck and gave me his crooked grin.
“Bacon cheese burger on a toasted bun,” he explained as he held it out to me.
“Thank you,” I replied, feeling my heart swell up from the simple fact he remembered what I liked to eat here.
“I couldn’t let you go home tonight without feeding you. Especially after I’d made sure we would be eating somewhere you actually liked. I didn’t save you from the Shrimp Shack for nothing.”
So that was why Sawyer had changed the location. I grinned and opened the bag.
“Well, you still owe me your company while I eat.”
He raised his eyebrows. “Really . . . you think so?”
“Definitely. I’ll feel gypped if I’m forced to eat alone.”
He nodded and turned his truck towards the outskirts of town. It looked like we would be ending our night with a game of pool.
“You think you can remember those skills I taught you? Because I’d really like to see you bent over a pool table the rest of the evening.” The teasing tone in Beau’s voice did little to distract me from his words. My face felt warm and I cut my eyes over toward him.
“Damn. My imagination got away with me,” Beau said in a tight voice as he shook his head. “I need to think of something else. Fast.”
I needed to think of something else too but my mind kept replaying the night in the back of his truck. Every sound. Every touch. My body tingled from the memory.
“Please, Ash. Don’t look at me like that. I’m going to drive us to the bar. We’re going to play pool. That’s all. I can’t think about anything else. If I do . . . well, I just can’t.”
My breathing was a little shallow but I nodded then forced my mouth to open so I could take a bite of my burger. Anything to get my mind off how good it had felt wrapped up in Beau’s arms.
Neither of us spoke again until he pulled into the parking lot of the bar. I opened my truck door before he could do it for me, and jumped down. Having Beau touch me while my body was on high alert from the knowledge of just how good he could make me feel, was a bad idea.