All I Need (3 page)

We probably had forty minutes or so until we should be warming up for real. My heartbeat sped up at the realization. I really wished Bree would get here already. I knew from her texts that she was already in town. She had to be around here somewhere.

Jubby was my best friend. He knew me better than anyone. Got me. But Bree was the sister I never had. She rarely missed an Internal Insurrection show. In fact, she was the one who had come up with the name for the band. And designed the cover art for our demo.

I was pretty sure she was no more excited about being back in Abbott Springs than I was. But she’d promised she’d come, so I knew she would. And while her friends Maya and Sami were always nice to me, I wondered sometimes if they just tolerated me because she loved me so much.

My mom started in about getting some ice on my ankle so I backed up out of her reach. “Really, I’m fine. I’m going to run by the house real quick and grab some shoes. If I’m not here by show time, you can fill in for me.”

She grinned and shook her head. “Well, be careful. But get a move on. Soon there won’t be any parking left.”

I reassured my mom for what felt like the hundredth time that I was really okay and she returned to helping the ladies decorating the barn for the show.

Dax chatted briefly with a friend of Jubb’s who had come to help us out, and they headed off to the stage area to work with the organizers.

I turned to Jubb. “I can probably walk to my house from here. You can stay with Dax.”

His forehead winkled. “How ‘bout no, Captain Crazy Pants. I’ll carry you again if you want, or we can take the van and risk losing our parking spot. But over my dead body are you walking on that ankle—and damn sure not alone.”

“Seriously—I’m a big girl. I can handle myself.” It was Abbott Springs, for God’s sakes. Not the streets of Harlem.

“You can say that again,” a male voice piped up from behind me. I closed my eyes in an attempt to keep my world from spinning too fast. My blood ran cold as chills broke out over my skin. I’d know that voice anywhere.

Kennedy Hale, the mayor’s son and Abbott Springs’ very own Golden Boy extraordinaire, stood behind us. Swallowing hard, I turned to face him. There was dark stubble on his face and his dark hair was longer than I remembered, flopping to one side like he was planning to audition for a boy band later tonight. The bright white polo shirt he wore fit him, snug in all the right places, as did his khaki pants.

“Okay, I will,” I said, forcing the widest smile I could manage. God, I couldn’t believe this guy still had this effect on me. “I’m a big girl. I can handle myself.” I barely managed to leave off the word
asshole.
My gaze slid over to Jubb, who looked like he was about to murder someone.

He and Bree were the only ones who knew what had happened at this very same festival last year. They both promised they’d never mention it to anyone, and they hadn’t. But the look on Jubb’s face was making it pretty obvious that he hadn’t forgotten.

“Breathe, Jubb,” I said under my breath so only he could hear.

He cut his eyes to me for a split second, a muscle in his jaw clenching as he did. I gave him a slight shake of my head.

“Long time no see, Pinky,” Kennedy said, stepping close enough to touch a pink strand of my hair. I could smell the alcohol on his breath. Whiskey, probably bourbon if I had to guess.

There was a lot less pink in my hair than there had been in high school. Just a few streaks in the front now, mixed in with some blond highlights. But he’d always called me Pink or Pinky. It used to be cute, made me feel special. Now it just grated on my already exposed nerves.

“Shame. I’ve missed you terribly,” I deadpanned.

“Meet me at the lake later?”

Fuck. Him. Well, not literally. Did that already. Last year. At the lake. My first—and last—time. He was a dick for having the nerve to even say that to me. It was a serious struggle to control my breathing. “Pass,” was all I could manage to get out.

Jubb stepped between us so fast he nearly knocked me over. “We gotta get going if we’re going to run by your house.”

Seeing the two of them that close, I realized Jubb was bigger than Kennedy. When had that happened? He wasn’t really taller, but he was definitely broader. And he kind of looked like he might’ve been planning to beat Kennedy Hale to a bloody stump. I tugged his arm and pulled him back.

“You’re right. We should go. Great seeing you, Ken,” I called out even though I couldn’t see him around Jubb.

Kennedy let out a harsh laugh as we started to leave. “Oh, it’s like that with you two now?”

Jubb’s muscles went rigid under my hand. “What the fuck is that supposed to mean?” He whirled out of my grip and turned back to face the asshole of Abbott Springs.

Kennedy didn’t appear at all fazed by Jubb coming at him. But he did hold his hands up in a gesture of mock innocence. “Hey, man. It’s cool. Just be warned, she’s a screamer.”

The walls of my small world, the ones I’d been working so hard to hold up since the moment we’d stepped foot back in this town, caved. Just like that. Jubb’s eyes met mine and I knew he could feel my pain. The shame. The humiliation.

I was assaulted by memories so vivid it was like being transported back in time. I was stupid, so damn stupid. I’d given myself to Kennedy Hale because I was dumb enough to believe he actually liked me. He’d been flirting with me relentlessly every time I hung out with Bree at his house. It wasn’t until afterwards that I’d noticed all the little comments, the small touches, and the teasing had been done in private. Where there weren’t any witnesses.

When he’d asked me to take a walk down by the lake last year at Winterfest, I thought he was going to ask me to be his girlfriend—or at the very least, out on a real date.

I couldn’t have been more wrong. Once we were out of view of the festivalgoers, we sat by the lake and started making out. Kissing led to his hands under my skirt as he tugged my black fishnets down and thrust his fingers inside me. It was kind of uncomfortable, but it was the first time anyone had ever done that to me so I had nothing to compare it to.

“You feel so good, Pinky,” he grunted into my ear.

“Mm,” I mumbled against the stubble on his cheek. He smelled like expensive cologne and beer. I still hated that smell. Like rubbing alcohol and old bread.

“You on the pill?” he asked, unbuttoning his jeans.

“Um, no.”

He frowned like I’d disappointed him somehow. Pulling a condom out of his wallet, he grinned like an evil villain in one of my mom’s old movies. I watched, suddenly feeling like a spectator in my own life, and tried to grasp a coherent thought about whether or not I actually wanted this.

“Easy, Hale. Ow,” I’d complained at the unexpected pinching feeling when he tried to enter me.

His handsome face contorted in pain and what I convinced myself was concern. “You okay? Want me to stop?”

“No, I’m good. Promise.” I didn’t want to be a tease or a chicken. But I was scared shitless. The sick thing was, what finally convinced me to go through with it was the thought of what would happen after. All the bitches from high school—the ones who’d called me a freak and a dyke—would have to eat crow when I walked through town on the arm of Kennedy Hale. They’d all wanted him, but he’d chosen me. Or so I thought.

Thankfully it didn’t last long. It hurt like hell but nothing like what he did after.

“Hey, this was fun, Pink. But I should get going.”

When he stood to leave and didn’t kiss me or hug me or even offer to walk or drive me home, reality hit me so hard I saw black spots in my vision.

Afterwards he didn’t even have the decency to ignore me like a normal asshole would’ve done. No, he just continued on as if nothing had happened. Still teasing me about my pink streaks in my hair and pretending he hadn’t taken something I could never get back. Well, he didn’t
take
it so much as I gave it to him, but under false pretenses because I’d been barely nineteen and extremely stupid. We’d fought at the bonfire the last night of Winterfest.

“So what, Hale? You just hit it and quit it?” I’d overheard his friend Craig say to him.

I dropped my marshmallow mid-roast.

“None of your—”

“Do the drapes match the curtains?” Craig snickered, and my blood scorched my veins. My fists clenched with the desire to punch both of their cocky asses right in the face.

I turned to where they were standing right beside me. “Are you fucking kidding me?” Outraged did not being to describe how I felt. “You told Craig? Nice. Especially considering you’ve been pretending like you’ve developed severe amnesia every time you get near me.”

“Don’t be dramatic. Jesus. This isn’t high school,” he said low in my ear.

The prickles that broke out over my flesh pissed me off. “Grow the hell up, Hale. You are such an ass. I can’t believe I was stupid enough to believe your bullshit.” I stood, prepared to give him a good telling off and make my exit, but he grabbed my arm.

“Take it down a notch, Everly. My parents are here.”

“God forbid Mommy and Daddy find out what a condescending dick you are. Wait, knowing your parents, they’d be proud.”

A brief smirk crossed his face as if he agreed with me, and then his douche of a friend broke in. “Hey, Hale, if you’re all done, can I take a crack at her? I got a thing for the feisty ones.” He smacked his lips at me, and I lunged.

“Easy,” Kennedy said, holding me back by my arms.

“Dude, she’s standing right there,” Craig chimed in, his attempt at being funny.

“Get your damn hands off of me,” I growled at him. “Right now. And do not ever come near me again.”

He released his grip on my arm and started to walk off, mumbling something about “immaturity,” and I lost my shit.

“Immature is sleeping with someone and then being too much of a coward to deal with the aftermath. Immature is gossiping with your tool of a friend about it.”

“You made your point,” he said, turning to give me a look like I was lucky to even be permitted to address him in public. And he wished I’d stop.

“I don’t care whose son you are. You can fuck right off, Kennedy Hale,” I screamed at his retreating figure.

Yeah, he was right. I was a screamer.

For the rest of that night, Bree and Jubb had both tried their best to comfort me. But I waved them off. I’d been an idiot and I deserved the pain that followed. How I’d ever convinced myself that a guy like Kennedy Hale would be genuinely interested in a girl like me was beyond me. Too much of Sami’s spiked hot chocolate, I guess. I sat alone by the lake, crying until the sun came up.

“Cohen!” I heard someone shout, pulling me out from under my painful memory. Dax was running toward us. It took me a few seconds to figure out why.

Jubb had Kennedy pinned on the ground and his fist raised above his face.

“Jesus! Jubb, don’t!” I reached them at the same time Dax did and we both worked to yank Jubb off of Hale.

My mind swam, past and present swirling around me as I tried to figure out what in the hell was going on.

I
couldn’t even see straight for how badly I wanted to mangle his goddamn face. “She’s a screamer,” he’d said. Because he knew what it was like to be inside Everly. And I didn’t. The bastard had taken her virginity last year and treated her like garbage afterward. I’d been pretty damned desperate to break his pretty boy face ever since.

I almost wanted to thank him for giving me an excuse. Except I saw it. How deeply his words cut her. There wasn’t anything I wouldn’t give to keep her from having to feel that type of pain. Ever.

Her voice pulled me from the depths of my rage, and I looked up after only managing a glancing blow to his jaw. It was a mistake, because I could see that she really was upset about me wanting to drill my fist through the pathetic fucker’s face.

But her hazel eyes, blazing into mine, pleading with me not to, were enough to stop me. This time.

“Get up. While you still can,” I said to Hale. A few adults made their way toward us, and Everly’s grandpa eyed me hard.

“What’s the trouble, boys?” he asked, making me feel eight years old again.