Luke glared at Zach. “What year are you, Zach?”
Will shot Luke a look of warning. Smirking, Luke looked back at Zach.
“I’m in my sophomore year,” Zach replied with a smile.
“Where are you from?” Luke asked as Will cleared his throat.
I’m going to kick Luke’s ass. I glanced at Grace and Alex as they just stared at Luke.
“With the twenty questions, I’d think Luke was the brother,” Zach said with a laugh. Will and Luke both looked at Zach.
Shit. Shit. Shit.
Grace and I both let out a nervous chuckle as I said, “Zach, one thing you need to know is we are all very close. We grew up together. Will, Luke, and Alex’s brother, Colt, have always been a bit … overprotective? Let’s chill out on the questions, Luke. Okay?”
With the way Luke was staring at Zach, Zach should have dropped over in his chair. He slowly turned and looked at me as he barely said, “Fine.”
Zach cleared his throat. “Well, to answer your question, I’m from Colorado Springs.” I smiled as I looked at Zach.
“I love Colorado,” I said.
Turning to me, Zach smiled and winked.
“So, what? No good schools in Colorado? You had to come to Texas?” Luke asked with sarcasm oozing from his lips. My mouth dropped open slightly as I glared at Luke. I couldn’t believe how he was acting.
Zach glanced back over to look at Luke, his smile lessening a bit. “No. We have plenty of good schools. My father lives in Austin. I wanted to be close to him while I attended school. My mother passed away during my senior year of high school.”
I sucked in a breath of air as did Grace and Alex. “I’m so sorry,” the three of us said at the same time.
Looking at Luke, I saw him look down and then back up. “I’m really sorry to hear that.”
“I’m sorry to hear that, Zach,” Will said.
Zach smiled. “No worries. Thank you though. It’s much appreciated.”
Zach and I spent the rest of dinner mostly talking to Will and Alex. Luke’s voice was driving me insane as I tried to focus on Zach and what he was talking to Will about.
“I’ll show you around campus tomorrow, Sweat Pea, if you want,” Luke said with a smile and wink to Grace.
Grace nodded her head. “Oh gosh, yes! I want to see everything Texas A&M has to offer.
I peeked over and watched Luke take a drink of his tea. I licked my lips instinctively and quickly looked away when he looked at me. Zach had reached for my hand that was sitting on the table. I quickly moved it down to my lap. I hated that I was trying to hide it from Luke. The feelings I was feeling now confused the hell out of me. It seemed like Luke was jealous. Why would he be jealous?
He didn’t want me. He made that clear on more than one occasion. I closed my eyes and saw Luke’s green eyes looking into my blue eyes.
“I love you, Libby. I’ve always loved you.”
Quickly opening my eyes I saw Luke was watching me. My breathing increased as I remembered the night he told me he loved me. I needed away from him. Looking toward Zach, I asked, “Are we ready to head out?”
He turned and nodded his head. “Sure, if you are, Lib?”
Quickly standing up, I nodded my head. “Yep.”
We walked out to the parking lot and I watched Luke kiss Grace and Alex good-bye. I longed for his lips to be on my body.
I shook my head to clear my thoughts. Stop this Libby. Stop this right now. You’re with Zach.
Luke walked up to Zach and reached his hand out. They shook hands while Luke said, “It was nice meeting you, Zach.”
“Same here, Luke.”
Turning to me, Luke captured my eyes. They looked sad. Heartbroken. I so desperately wanted him to beg me not to leave with Zach. I wanted him to take me in his arms and tell me he loved me. That he needed me.
“Lib, I’ll see you around.”
My eyes filled with tears as I nodded my head. I couldn’t even say anything for fear of crying. I watched as Luke turned and walked off toward his truck. He pulled out his phone and began texting someone.
Abigail. He was probably going to Abigail. Looking away, I saw Alex staring at me. I gave her a weak smile before taking Zach’s arm. “I’m not ready to end the night. Let’s go dancing.”
Alex and Will both shook their heads. “I’m tired, so I’m going to have to pass,” Alex said with a smile.
Grace did a little jump. “I’ll go with y’all!”
I smiled and gave Grace a high five. “Perfect! Let’s go have some fun!”
I SAT ON the sofa and let out a sigh. Will and I had moved into the house our parents all chipped in for this past weekend. Libby declined to move in and I knew it was because of that fucker she was dating. My phone went off and I looked at it sitting on the coffee table. Abigail’s name flashed across the screen. I rolled my eyes as I picked up the phone.
Abigail: Hey baby. It’s been a few weeks. I want a repeat.
Hitting delete, I tossed my phone back down onto the coffee table. I hadn’t been back to Abigail’s house since the night I had dinner with Libby and her new boyfriend Zach. As soon as I left the restaurant, I sent Abigail a text and spent much of the night screwing her and trying to get Libby’s face erased from my mind.
It hadn’t worked. Every time I closed my eyes, all I saw was Libby. Every time I fell asleep, all I dreamed about was Libby. I stood and headed upstairs. I was going home for the weekend. The faster I got out of College Station and away from Libby, the better.
“WANT TO TELL me what’s on your mind, Son?” my father asked as we rode along in silence. I shrugged my shoulders and looked off to the west.
“Girl problems?”
I let out a husky laugh. “You could say.”
Stopping his horse, my father cleared his throat. I stopped mine and turned her around so that I was facing my father. “You know, I’ve been your age once before. I kind of know a thing or two about this subject. I am after all married to your mother.”
I let out a small laugh. “You and Mom have the most amazing love I’ve ever seen, Dad. The way she looks at you when you walk into a room.” I shook my head. “The way you look at her when she walks into a room, it’s magical.”
My father smiled. “I do love your mother very much. She’s my life. There isn’t anything I wouldn’t do for her.”
My smile faded as I looked away. “You’d never hurt her.”
“How do you know that?”
My head turned back quickly as I looked at my father. “What?”
He narrowed his eyes at me. “Do you think our love is perfect son? That we don’t make mistakes? Hurt each other?”
“I know you would never purposely hurt Mom, Dad. You love her too much.”
My father looked away as he said, “No. I’d never knowingly hurt your mother, but I have hurt her before. Deeply.” His voice was filled with sadness as he turned to me. “There was a time that I thought I might have lost your mother forever. I had two choices. Walk away from her and never risk hurting her again, or stay and fight for our love. If I stayed, I knew I risked the chance of hurting her again, but our love was worth the risk. Love has a way of melting our defenses, Luke. You just have to know when to let those defenses fall.”
I wanted to ask him what he did, but for some reason it didn’t feel right asking.
“It must not have been that bad. She forgave you,” I said quietly.
“She forgave me because she loves me, Luke. She knows how much I love her. No one is perfect, Son. We all make mistakes. Sometimes we hurt the people we love in the process. That doesn’t make us love them any less and that fear of hurting someone shouldn’t stop us from loving them.”
I felt the tears building in my eyes so I looked away. “What if you know the girl you love deserves so much better than you? Deserves so much more than what you can give her.”
“Does she?”
Looking back I asked, “Does she what?”
&nb
sp; He dropped his head and stared at me for a good thirty seconds. “Deserve better than you?”
I nodded my head. “I think so, sir.”
“Have you given her the chance to decide that for herself?”
I was about to respond when we heard a horn honking. I looked over my shoulder and saw Gunner driving up in the ranch Jeep. He smiled big when he saw me. Coming to a stop, he jumped out of the Jeep and I quickly jumped off my horse. He walked up to me and pulled me in for a hug as he slapped the hell out of my back.
“Well, son of a bitch. Look who’s home. Miss the ranch that much?” Gunner asked with a huge smile on his face.
Nodding my head and letting out a laugh, I replied, “Yes, sir. Very much so. I needed a weekend home.”
Gunner smiled. “Colt know you’re home?”
“Yes, sir. We’ve already made plans to go out this weekend.”
Gunner placed his hand on my shoulder. “Good. Make sure you talk to him. He seems to have his head in his ass and I’m pretty sure it’s about a girl.”
My father let out a chuckle as I looked over at him. “Must be something in the air,” he said as he started walking off on his horse.
SITTING ON MY tailgate, I kept my eye on Colt. Taylor had told us that Colt seemed to be drinking a lot in the beginning of the year until his football coach set him straight. One thing I noticed though, he couldn’t keep his eyes off Lauren. I glanced over and saw Lauren sitting on a log laughing at something one of her girlfriends said. She looked up and caught me watching her. She smiled and waved. I waved back and grinned.
Someone bumped my leg and I looked to see Colt standing there. “My dad told you to keep an eye on me or something, Luke?” I smiled and let out a chuckle as I nodded my head. “I know he’s worried about me, but I think he’s more worried about Alex.”
I looked over at Colt. “Alex? Why?”
Colt shrugged. “Probably the same reason we all worry about the girls.”
I followed Colts gaze. “You ever talk to Lauren and get things straightened out?”
Colt lifted the Coke bottle to his lips and shook his head. He took a drink and then laughed. “Nope. She just pretends like we are the best of friends. She isn’t dating anyone, but that’s not very fair of me to be happy about that.”
“How are things with you and Rachel?”
“I broke up with her.” He turned and looked at me. “She wanted us to sleep together.”
I pulled my head back and looked at him. “You broke up with her because she wanted to sleep with you?”
Colt let out a sigh. “No, I broke up with her because I walked in on her fucking another guy. She was pissed at me because I wouldn’t sleep with her. I didn’t want to sleep with her. I mean, I didn’t love her. She deserved to have her first time be with someone who loved her and would cherish that moment.”
I lifted the left side of my mouth into a smile. “So much like your damn daddy, you know that? Romantic bastard.”
Colt laughed and then shook his head. “I guess, maybe it’s because I want my first time to be with someone I love. Someone who I’ll cherish the moment with.”
My smile faded as I looked back out into the crowd. I’d never have that moment back. Lauren was now up and dancing with a few friends while they laughed.
“Yeah, you never get that moment back, Colt. Don’t fuck it up like I did.”
Colt turned and looked at me. I knew he wanted to ask me about it, but he didn’t.
“If you could go back and change that night, would you?” Colt asked. I slowly turned and looked at him.
“In a heartbeat. If I could take away the biggest mistake of my life, I’d do it no questions asked.”
Colt smiled weakly and nodded his head. “Why don’t you just tell her, Luke?”
My heart instantly hurt. “Because she’s moved on.”
Colt looked back out to Lauren. “Why do they have to fuck with our heads and hearts so much?”
I closed my eyes and thought back to me kissing Libby in the rain. Opening my eyes I said, “They probably think the same thing about us.”
ZACH WALKED UP and took me in his arms. “I’m really going to miss you, Lib.”
I smiled and reached up to kiss him. “I’ll miss you too, Zach.” I stepped back and turned to shut my suitcase. I would be leaving soon to meet Alex and Grace in Austin. Then we were driving to the coast for spring break. The thought of being with Luke all week raced through my mind. I closed my eyes and took in a deep breath. I hadn’t seen much of Luke at all. Will told me Luke spent most of his time working out or studying. According to Abigail, he spent much of his time fucking her. Any chance she had to talk to me, she was sure to tell me about their hook ups.
I hate her.
I jumped when Zach placed his hands on my shoulders. “Let me relax you, Libby.” His hand slowly moved down my arm to my stomach. “Baby, you seem so tense.”
My stomach clenched at the idea of Zach relaxing me. We had yet to have sex and Zach knew I was a virgin. I appreciated the fact that he was not pushing me. He did, however, manage to give me amazing orgasms with his skillful fingers. I closed my eyes and let out a moan. Zach slipped his hand around and into my panties. “Libby, let me make you come.”
I dropped my head back against him and lifted my leg. “Yes,” I whispered as I let Zach push all thoughts of Luke from my mind.
Zach pulled me closer to him, feeling his hardness press against my body caused me to moan.
“You’re so wet. Fuck you’re so wet.” Zach hissed as his fingers began to move in and out faster. I felt my body begin to quiver. Closing my eyes, I let it go. My orgasm ripped through my body as I felt my insides pulsing against Zach’s fingers. He moved his lips to my ear and whispered, “I can’t wait to make you mine.”
My eyes sprung open and tears began to well up. If only I wanted to be Zach’s. If only my heart didn’t belong to Luke.
SPRING BREAK IN Port Aransas was beyond crazy. My parents, Alex’s parents, and Grace’s parents had beach houses here. All right next to each other. We had been coming to Port A for as long as I could remember.
Grace had her face buried in her phone as we walked along the beach. “So, what should we do tonight?” I asked Grace.
She shrugged her shoulders as she continued to look at her phone. “I don’t know. Maybe we could …”
Before I could warn Grace to watch out, she ran smack into a guy who had been standing there talking to his friends. Grace stumbled backward, but he grabbed hold of her before she lost her balance.
The smile that spread across his face instantly caused me to smile and Grace to let out a moan she surely didn’t mean to let escape her lips.
“Grace?”
Grace’s mouth dropped open in surprise. “Noah?”
Wait. What? They know each other?
Noah’s smile turned to a grin. “At least this time I didn’t knock you down.” Grace giggled. I snapped my head and looked at her. Grace never giggled.
“I can’t believe I ran into you again,” Grace said as she bit down on her lower lip. Holy hell. Grace was into this guy in a big way. I cleared my throat and they both somehow managed to pull their eyes off each other and over to me.
Smiling, I held out my hand. “Libby Hayes, and you are?”
Noah took my hand and gently shook it. “I’m so sorry, Libby. Um, Noah, this is one of my best friends, Libby. Libby this is Noah. Ah …”
Grace looked back at Noah and then back to me. “We kind of met a couple months ago and I never did get your last name.”
Noah laughed and shook his head as he said, “My last name is Bennet. Grace and I had another run in, except last time I knocked her to the ground. You were with, Alex, that was her name right?”
Grace nodded her head. “Yep. Alex.” Turning to me she said, “It was when Alex and I went to A&M right after Thanksgiving when all that stuff with Will and Alex was going on.”
I smiled as I looked back toward No
ah. “So are you here for a few days?” Noah asked.
“Um, yeah. Staying with our folks, we, um, we have a house down here,” Grace said as she fumbled over her own words.
I smiled as I took it in. I’d never seen Grace not one-hundred percent in control. She was totally taken with Noah.
“What about you?” Grace asked, looking over Noah’s shoulder at the four other guys standing there watching the whole scene play out.
Noah’s smile turned somewhat wicked. As if an idea came to mind. “I’m staying at my folks place, but Mom and Dad stayed behind for this trip. It’s just me, my brother and his two friends.”
“Really?” Grace said with a bit of seduction to her voice. I slowly looked at Grace, thinking back to her saying she just wanted to hook-up with someone this week.
I looked between the two of them as they both just stared at each other. I cleared my throat before talking. “Grace, we’re gonna be late for lunch.”
Grace was pulled from her trance as she looked at me. “Oh yeah, right.” Looking back at Noah she smiled. “It was nice running into you again.”
They both chuckled and we began to walk off, but not before Noah grabbed Grace’s wrist. “Grace, may I give you my number? Maybe we can meet up later or something.”
Biting down hard on her lip, Grace nodded her head. “I’ll text you it, what’s your number?”
I looked away smiling, knowing Grace wanted to have Noah’s number as well.
“512-555-2424,” Noah said as he watched Grace type it in her phone. A few seconds later, Noah’s phone beeped. He pulled it out of his pocket and smiled when he saw Grace’s text.
“Now you have my number. I’ll um, talk to you later then?” Grace asked as she began taking a few steps backward.
Noah nodded his head and winked at her. “Most definitely.”
Turning around, Grace and I began walking back to the houses. “Oh my gosh, Grace Johnson. Who is he and why have I never heard about this Noah?”
Grace chuckled and brushed me off with her hand. “Honestly, I never thought I would lay eyes on him again. I ran into him as I was running after Alex, he knocked me down, helped me up and we exchanged names. That was it.”