I walked away from Jordan. If I stayed, there was a chance he would see right through me. A chance he’d see the dirt that I couldn’t wash away.
“Yo, Slater, you ready?” Vic pulled the open metal door shut with a clang.
“Let’s roll, I’ll take the girls.” He didn’t wait for us, just opened his truck door to climb in.
“Raelynn can ride with us if she wants, give us time to catch up.” Devin’s grin made me cold despite the warm night air. I caught myself as I instinctively reached for my throat and rubbed my neck instead.
“That sounded like an invitation.” Breanna needled me, taking my discomfort at face value. “What Jordan said sounded like a command. Us Casey girls don’t like being told what to do.”
“So now we’re talkin’ invitations?” Jordan cocked his head to the side. “Who invited you, Breanna?”
She stuck her tongue out at him.
Everyone had turned to look at me as if I had to choose between the two right then. I hid behind what Aiden would say, what my dad would say. This wasn’t a simple cruise around town with friends. There were serious repercussions to what we were doing.
“I think we’d better ride with Jordan.” I blatantly avoided being in a confined space with someone who was attracted to me. Devin or not, I didn’t think I could handle that yet.
When Devin started to argue, Jordan cut him off. “You want to deal with Aiden if we get busted and one of his sisters is with you?”
Vic stepped in front of Devin and ushered him toward his truck. “Nah. I’ve been on the receiving end of that brand of crazy.”
“It was a four-wheeler.” Breanna put her hands on her hips. “And only six stitches.”
“I ended up with twelve after he started swinging.” Vic shot back as he climbed into the passenger seat.
“He takes that older brother stuff seriously.” Then she spun and raced past me. “Shotgun!”
“I guess I’m riding bitch?”
Jordan grinned and held the door open for me. “Something like that.”
I took the middle seat, tucking my left leg up under me so Jordan could reach the gear shift. I would have given my sister’s much longer legs the passenger seat, regardless.
I couldn’t help but glance at Devin in the other truck, lit by the interior light. His look of rejection was like a punch to the gut.
“He’ll get over it.” Jordan followed my gaze. “If you really want to ride with him, you can. I’ll handle Aiden if something happens.”
“No.” I pulled a steadying breath through my lips. “I don’t want to give him the wrong idea.”
“He’s really not the problem, is he?”
I didn’t have to answer. Breanna saved me by climbing in the passenger side with a lollipop stick dangling from her lips. She patted her pockets full of candy. “I raided Vic’s stash.”
Vic’s sweet tooth was rivaled only by Breanna’s. I couldn’t count the times I was forced to sit in the dentist’s waiting room while she had her cavities filled.
I struggled to shift my weight so I wasn’t pressed so closely against Jordan. His large form made it nearly impossible unless I crawled on Breanna’s lap. When I finally stopped squirming, his brows disappeared beneath his hat in question.
A tingle ran up my entire left side where the heat of his body caressed me. I stiffened, unable to process the hint of desire that prodded my senses. The cold dirty feeling didn’t follow my desire as I’d expected it to. Instead, the heat remained.
Shame burned my cheeks. I shouldn’t be so excited to be close him.
“Did you see the look on Devin’s face when Jordan said we were riding with him? Seriously, the jealousy meter went off the chart.” Leave it to my sister to smack the elephant in the room right on the ass.
I groaned and pressed my fingers to the twitchy
eye.
“You’re a total hottie.” Breanna bit into the
lollipop. “Why wouldn’t he want you?”
“I hate that this isn’t a surprise to anyone but me.”
I let my head fall back against the seat.
“Might be a surprise to Aiden,” Jordan offered. “Yeah, he’s still eagle-eyeing Slater about you.”
Breanna drew a circle in the air with her lollipop.
It was hard to ignore the flutter of butterflies in my stomach when Jordan grinned at me with sheer amusement. “You did moon after me for a while, kid.”
“Stop calling me kid.” I couldn’t help but fidget with the hem of my shirt. “I’m not anymore.” I wasn’t, I hadn’t been for a while. My time away had only hastened my ascent into adulthood. Too much had happened, I wasn’t the same person. I’d been too
stupid, made my own mistakes. I couldn’t take them back, not any of it. I wasn’t a child anymore, my innocence was lost.
“Fair enough.”
“I think you should give Devin a shot.” There it was again, that little edge. I was beginning to wonder how she’d react if I did give Devin a shot.
“I can’t do that, Breanna.” The eye twitching increased each time she spoke. With a huff, she rifled through her pockets for more candy.
A familiar gray king cab truck pulled off into the side of the yard before we pulled out. The man who got out was Jordan’s age, tall and rangy. His dark hair was in desperate need of a cut, the ends hanging over his ears. I knew his face as well as I knew my own. His eyes would be carbon copies of my own sky blue and that once upon a time his smile had been quick and ready.
“Damn, he showed up.” I was genuinely happy when my brother jogged over to the truck, jingling his keys in his hand.
“Go ride with Devin and Vic.” Aiden gestured to my sister as he pulled open the passenger door.
“Ugh, do you know how much it sucks being the tall girl and riding bitch?”
“Nope, never been a girl. But, I’m guessing it sucks slightly less than being a guy riding bitch between two other guys. Get lost, brat.”
“Whatever. I’ll go ride with loverboy.” “Loverboy?” Aiden’s brows shot up. Jordan
focused out his window as if he hadn’t heard the conversation at all. “Who’s that?”
Taking a note from Jordan, I contemplated my finger nails. “Who knows, it’s Bree.”
Aiden took up more room than Breanna. I tried in vain to ignore Jordan’s thick, muscled body I was pressed against. I might have succeeded if he hadn’t stiffened each time a bump in the road pressed me closer.
I couldn’t ignore the fact he was reacting to me as much as I was him. Unlike with anyone else, something inside me tightened in anticipation.
I was still a kid with her first crush, learning time and pain couldn’t change everything.