Authors: J. Sterling
Jack led me in the direction of his car. Since I had no idea which one was his, I followed blindly one step behind. He walked over to the passenger side of a vintage white Ford Bronco covered with dents, scratches, and chipped paint.
“Are you sure this thing’s legal on the streets?” I asked, eyeing the giant, oversized tires and lack of a roof.
His eyebrows pinched together. “You scared?”
“Are you high?” I squinted toward him. “No, really, do you do drugs ’cause I don’t date guys who do drugs.”
He turned the key and the door unlatched with a pop and squeaked open. Then he took me by the hand and gently helped me up into the seat, placing his hand firmly on my rear.
“Hands off the ass, Carter,” I snapped.
“I was just helping you up. Honest.” He feigned innocence as he closed the door behind me. “You sure you’re not scared?”
“I’m not scared. This car just looks like something that belongs on a sand dune or in a monster truck rally or a repair shop.” I glanced down, noticing the silver-dollar-sized hole in the floor.
“Is it the tires?” he asked sincerely.
“They are massive.”
“Just like my—”
“I swear to God,” I quickly interrupted and turned away.
“What?” He laughed. “I was going to say
heart
. The tires are as big as my heart.” He patted his chest for emphasis.
“You mean as big as the hole in your chest where your heart’s supposed to be?” The verbal jab dropped out of my mouth before I could stop it.
“Ouch. Can we at least wait until dinner before you decide I’m heartless?”
“If you insist.”
“I do.” His brown eyes softened and he grabbed the wheel, put the key in the ignition, and turned. The engine rumbled to life and my seat vibrated under me. I strapped the old seatbelt around my body and gave Jack a wary glance.
“You are scared,” he said with concern.
I shook my head defiantly. “I’m fine, just go.” I gestured toward the road.
He removed his hand from the stick shift and placed it on my leg. I winced in response.
“What did I tell you about the touching?” I asked, giving him a sideways glance.
“Fifty cents. Don’t worry, I got it covered.” One dimple greeted me before quickly disappearing. “You sure you’re okay?”
I nodded as he put the car in drive and it rocked forward as he gassed it.
“Shit.” He muttered under his breath.
“What is it?” Suddenly I was concerned for our well-being. We were going to tip over from the massive tires and die.
“I meant to ask you this
before
we left, but I got distracted. You’re so feisty all the time, you make me forget things.” His left arm rested on top of his door panel and he leaned his head into his hand. I watched as his fingers made their way through his hair, grabbing fistfuls as he eyed the road ahead.
“So are you going to ask me, or are you going to make me guess?” I tried to hide the snark in my voice, but failed.
Jack turned to look at me briefly before returning his gaze forward. “I meant to ask you if you eat meat or not?”
I felt my face contort into a look of confusion and surprise. “So you want to know if I’m a vegetarian?”
He let out an exasperated sigh. “Yeah.”
“Why?”
“Because I want to buy you a cow. Why do you think?” He tried to keep calm, but his cheeks were slowly turning a nice shade of red.
“I don’t know. Where are you taking me?”
“I’m taking you to the best burger joint in town and they don’t have a menu for vegetarians.”
“Really? They don’t serve salads?” I asked incredulously.
“No. They don’t.” His tone turned serious as he glanced in my direction again.
I couldn’t stifle my laughter as I almost choked on my words. “I eat meat.”
He raised an eyebrow and eyed me tentatively before I smacked the shoulder nearest me with the back of my hand. “Not
that
kind of meat!” I huffed before looking away. “I’m not a vegetarian! You’re so irritating.”
“You keep saying that, yet here you are.”
“I didn’t realize I had a choice.” I rolled my eyes so he’d notice.
“What did I tell you about that, Kitten?”
“How many times do we have to go over this whole ‘Kitten’ thing?”
“How many times do we have to go over the eye roll thing? It’s bad for you and I’d hate to see anything happen to those gorgeous green eyes of yours.”
I struggled to formulate a comeback as his compliment floated in the air. My breath faltered and my mind stopped focusing on anything but the sound of his voice and the look on his stupid, beautiful face.
“Cat got your tongue, Kitten?”
“The next red light you come to, I swear to God, I’m jumping out of this death trap and walking home.”
He chuckled, clearly amused. “Alright, I’ll stop.”
I narrowed my eyes, refusing to believe his words. When we arrived at the restaurant, I hopped out of the car quicker than he could turn off the ignition. The place was a converted old ice cream shop. The few items they offered were written in chalk on the wall when you first walked in. An old cash register sported a handwritten note that read
Cash Only,
and when I got a look at the number of diners packing the room, my brain quickly went from wondering how they stayed in business to how they kept all their customers happy.
“Is it always like this?” I asked Jack, shocked at the massive crowd.
“Hey, Jack.” A gorgeous brunette rushed passed us, reaching out to touch his arm.
“Hey, Sarah. Busy tonight, eh?” he shouted, trying to be heard over the hum of the crowd.
“Always!” she answered with a smile and a wink.
It figures.
“Come here often?” I asked, annoyed already.
“I told you, it’s the best burger place in town.”
Sarah reappeared and rested an arm on Jack’s shoulders. “Sit anywhere you want, sweetie. You want your usual?”
He glanced at me before answering her. “Cass, you like bacon? Fries?”
I nodded my head. “Mm-hmm.”
“Make it two, please. Thanks, Sarah.”
She looked at me briefly before turning her attention back to my date. “I get off at midnight,” she whispered in his ear loud enough for me to hear.
“I’m on a date,” he said harshly.
“Oh, of course you are. Later then.” She scurried away, her face flushed from embarrassment.
“Sorry about that.” Jack put his hand lightly at the small of my back, leading us to a small booth in the far end of the room. “Oh, I almost forgot! I’ll be right back.”
Before I could argue, he hopped from the booth and ran out the front door. I watched through the restaurant’s large plate-glass window as he opened the passenger side of his death trap and reached into the glove compartment. I fiddled with strands of my hair, tucking pieces behind my ear as I watched Jack’s every move. Two water glasses appeared in front of me and I turned to greet Sarah with a smile. She didn’t return the gesture as Jack reappeared and slid into his side of the booth.
“First things first,” he said, pulling a paper bag from his jacket pocket. I heard the sound of metal clanking against fiberglass as he poured the entire contents of the bag onto our table.
Quarters spilled out in every direction. Several rolled off the table, spilling onto the
floo
r a
nd
into my lap, the rest covering portions of the tabletop. “What the hell?”
“Fifty cents a touch, right? This oughta cover me for a while.” He grinned, obviously proud of himself, as he folded his arms behind his head and leaned into them.
I welcomed the heat rising in my cheeks. “Cute,” I admitted reluctantly, gathering the quarters into a pile at the end of the table, fighting a smile.
One for Jack Carter.
Dammit.
He didn’t respond. He simply sat there smiling, focusing those dark brown eyes on me. “Stop looking at me like that,” I said, flustered.
“Like what?”
“Like I’m a slab of meat and you’re hungry.”
He laughed loudly
and relaxed into his seat, slinging his muscular arm over the back of the booth. He rubbed his hand over his face and looked around, letting his eyes roam the restaurant and then his gaze slid back to me as he sipped his water. “You’re different.”
I
rested my elbows on the table and leaned toward him, intrigued.
“How so?”
“Well for starters, you’re sassy. I never know what you’re going to say or do next.” He grabbed one of the quarters and flicked it, watching as it spun in circles.
“That’s just sad, Jack.” I couldn’t help but be annoyed that my sassiness was so defiant in his world.
“And you’re not impressed by me.”
Oh my God…he actually winced.
“Oh, I know how tough that must be for you. I mean, you are just…” I waved my hands in his direction, “so impressive.” My eyes widened sarcastically with the words.
“I mean it. Every other girl is always clamoring to get near me and you’re the first girl trying to get the hell away.”
I fell back into the booth laughing, feeling my tense muscles relax for the first time tonight. “What can I say? I guess I’m not like every other girl.”
He shook his head, burying a smile. “So tell me, Cass, what’s your story?”
“What do you want to know?” I took a gulp of water, casting my eyes away to hide the truth I just might be willing to tell him.
“Why haven’t I seen you before this year?”
“I went to community college the past two years. I just transferred.”
“Lucky me.” He took another swig of water and placed it back down. “So where are you from?”
“About two hours northwest of here. Lived in the same house my whole life. What about you?”
“I grew up ten minutes from here.”
“Really? So close. Did you even think about going anywhere else? I mean, I’m sure you had a lot of offers for baseball.” I was genuinely surprised, considering what I’d seen of his talent and everyone’s reaction to it.
He grimaced slightly before his expression softened. “I got offers everywhere. I could have gone to USC, UCLA,
Texas
,
Florida
,
Georgia
,
Alabama
…you name it.”
“So why didn’t you?” I leaned into the table with interest.
“I wanted to play for Coach Davies,” he explained. “But mostly I wanted to stay near my grandparents.” His voice lowered with emotion, his eyes focused somewhere in the distance.
“Oh.” I leaned back in shock.
“Not the answer you expected?”
“Not really. I mean, it’s sweet and all, but I don’t get it. Why your grandparents?” I craved honesty from him. Honest words, honest thoughts, honest emotions.
“They practically raised me and Dean.”
I smiled at the mention of his brother’s name. “I like him.”
“Want me to put in a good word for you? I know him pretty well.” Jack sounded like he was teasing, but there was a bit of a sharp undertone to his offer.
“No thanks. He’s not really my type. Too nice,” I added, erasing the worry lines from his face. “How’d you both get into the same school, anyway?”
“It was one of my conditions.”
“Conditions?”
“Yeah. I only agreed to come here if they agreed to let him in too.”
My jaw dropped. “You bribed the university?”
He wagged his finger. “No. I just said I’d come here as long as when Dean was old enough, they’d let him in too.”
“And they agreed to that?” I asked, somewhat horrified. “I mean, obviously they did ’cause you’re both here.”
He laughed. “Dean would have gotten in anyway, but I wanted assurance.”
“Interesting.” I ran my fingers through my hair, tucking the stray strands back in place behind my ear, quietly fighting the sense that this guy might not be so bad after all.
He leaned across the table, inching closer to me. “What is?”
“You’re just different than I expected,” I answered, focusing on his full lips.
“That’s ’cause you’re judgmental.” He leaned back with a smile.
I closed my mouth and narrowed my eyes, unprepared for the rant that was about to leave my lips. “No. That’s ’cause you’re a pig. You’re typical and selfish and pathetic and you treat girls like shit and…”
“Hey!” he interrupted, his tone offended. “Who says I treat girls like shit?”
“Sorry, Jack, but I don’t know anyone who enjoys being fucked one minute and forgotten about the next.”
“You make it sound so heartless when you say it like that,” he admitted, my words apparently stinging.
“Well it kind of is.” I shrugged. “And you wonder why I wanted to stay away from you?”