Kate shook her head, looking back at her dad, clearly upset. “I don’t understand why you would—” Her words cut off, as something seemed to occur to her and her back stiffened. “Daddy!” she snapped sharply. “It’s not him.”
Something happened in that moment. Mrs. McCullough looked at her daughter with wide eyes and Mr. McCullough’s face paled, all signs of menace leaving his scowl at once as he croaked, “What?”
Kate glared at him, her hands forming tight fists at her side again. “Even if it was, you had no right to do this! He could have died in those woods! Are you insane?” she practically screeched.
“I thought—”
She turned away from him, her eyes shimmering. “Come inside and let me clean you up.”
He wasn’t sure what was happening, but Mr. McCullough lowered his head, seeming to deflate before their eyes, and walked to his truck. His wife and daughter scowled at him as he turned on the engine and drove away.
The next several minutes were passed in a flurry of motion. Kate cleaned the scratches on his arms and doctored the bug bites at his neck and face while her mother practically force fed him ham and pudding, while taking long pulls from a bottle of whiskey she found under the sink.
They were very apologetic and he was happy to finally be sitting down. Once his rage cooled and his thirst was quenched, Mrs. McCullough left them alone in the kitchen.
“I’m so sorry, Anthony. I had no idea he’d do anything like that. Especially to you.”
He looked at her, scrutinizing her sincerity and unsure if he could survive this family. Her hands continued to touch his arms, which helped calm him down, but didn’t take away his frustration. “Your dad’s a fucking maniac, Kate.”
“He’s really not. Usually my mum’s the crazy one. You just caught him on a bad day.”
He scoffed. “A bad day? Kate, he just left me there.”
“I know, but he would have said something eventually and I would have come to find you.”
He shook his head. They were all crazy. And the man made it pretty clear he didn’t want him dating his daughter. The longer he stayed around them the more nuts it seemed to even want to get close to her. He was catching their insanity. And for what? “I have to go.”
Her brow puckered. “Please don’t let this ruin our friendship. I’ll talk to my dad and get him to apologize.”
“I don’t want his freaking apology.” Didn’t they realize how foreign those woods were to people who didn’t grow up there?
“Then tell me how to make it right,” she pleaded, gripping his arm.
He glanced around the kitchen, searching for an answer. This was just too much. He liked Kate—liked her a lot—but she wanted a friend and he cared about her in a different way. Her father was a step away from being a backwoods murderer and he didn’t know how much more he could survive.
He’d said he could take it slow and was willing to put in his time, but this was crazy. She wasn’t interested in him and her father tried to kill him. Okay, maybe he was being dramatic. He’d made it out of the woods with only a few bites, blisters, and scratches, but none of that needed to happen.
Looking into her green-blue eyes, he shook his head, wishing he could offer more. “This isn’t working for me, Kate. I’m sorry.”
Her mouth pursed as her chin trembled. He hated hurting her. Brow pinched, she nodded. “I understand.”
He looked away. Still, he got nothing from her, not even a push for him to hold out a little longer. He was tired of being hurt when she’d been nothing but clear about her feelings. It was his own damn fault for forcing something that clearly wasn’t there. She wasn’t interested and he had to move on, get away from them for a while, for his own good and hers. “Can you give me a ride to my car?”
She stood and collected her keys from the counter without a word. She was silent as they drove to the trailer and, as she pulled her car next to his, she still didn’t speak.
“I guess I’ll see you around,” he mumbled, opening the door and digging out his keys.
“Anthony, wait.” She got out of the car and rounded the front, stopping just in front of the headlights.
He paused, only a foot away from her and waited. He had nothing left to say.
She wrung her hands and whispered, “I don’t want to lose you.”
Glancing at the woods, he rolled his eyes. “What do you want from me, Kate? A friend? I tried taking it slow, but this isn’t a pace thing, it’s a never thing. All you want is a friend and you know damn well I like you more than that. Your dad threatened me with a fucking chainsaw—”
“I’m sorry!”
“Well, maybe sorry doesn’t fix it! Jesus! I could still be out there. I didn’t know where I was. It’s black as shit in the woods at night and I’m pretty sure I heard a bear. I’m not from here. Where I come from, people don’t do shit like that—”
His words stifled as she took a step forward and pressed her lips to his. Everything in him went still. His hands lifted, catching her hips and holding her there as if she were a fantasy that might fade into thin air.
“I don’t want to lose you,” she whispered against his lips, slowly pulling back and blinking up at him.
His heart raced as he tried to understand what this meant. Was this a pity kiss, some last ditch attempt at saving their friendship? He couldn’t handle any more games. “What was that? Why did you kiss me?”
Her face lowered and he caught her chin, needing to see her eyes. “Tell me, Kate.”
Her lips parted, those beautiful blue eyes shifting to green in the light casting from her car as she blinked quickly. “I wanted to kiss you for a long time, but I knew it was wrong.”
How could she say that? What was wrong with him? “Why?”
She shook her head and sniffled, the porcelain skin around her nose flushing as her eyes shimmered with unshed tears. “Because, no matter how I feel, I can’t go out with you, Anthony.”
“But you feel something? Something more than friendship?”
Her lips twisted as her lashes spiked. Why was this so hard for her? “I feel more for you than I’ve ever felt for any guy.”
“Then why can’t we be together? What’s the problem? Is it your dad?”
“No. It’s me.” Her shoulders shook on a choppy breath.
He was done with guessing. “Tell me the truth, Kate. What’s going on?”
Her face lowered and she croaked, “Anthony, I’m having a baby.”
His face went numb and his hands fell away. “What?”
She took a step back, collecting herself, that impenetrable mask she hid behind snuffing out her tears. “I’m pregnant. That’s why I can’t go to prom and why I’m not going to college in the fall and why I can’t be your girlfriend.”
His brain awkwardly pieced together her words, but they still only made clumsy sense. Pregnant? How? Since when? This couldn’t be right.
Shaking his head, he frowned. “Who’s the father?” Holy shit. Was the father the guy that took her virginity after barely asking?
Her eyes pinched shut as if answering caused her physical pain. “Nick Porter, but you can’t tell anyone. I’m only telling you, because you’re the only friend I have right now and I trust you.”
“No one else knows it’s his?”
“Just my brother Colin, but he won’t tell. He gave me his word.”
He searched his mind for a face that matched the name. He knew of three Nicks. One didn’t have a chance in hell at getting with a girl like Kate. The other didn’t seem her type. The third, well, he didn’t seem her type either, but he had a reputation for sleeping around. “Nick the lacrosse player?”
Her chin trembled as worry flashed in her eyes. “Are you friends with him?”
Hardly, the guy was a scumbag, the sort that would suck his own dick if he could reach it. He never stopped bragging and the few times Ant had been in his presence he hadn’t stuck around. “No, but I know who he is. Does he know about the bab
y?”
She nodded. “Yes, but he isn’t going to be involved. He wanted me to have an abortion and I didn’t want that.”
His molars locked as he imagined her having that argument with an asshole like Porter alone. “Jesus, Kate. Is that why you went to the doctor’s today?”
She nodded and another thought occurred to him.
“Your dad thought I was the father.” In a strange way this redeemed the man a small degree. He blew out a long breath and gripped the back of his neck. “A baby.” It wasn’t like she was the first to be in this position. Plenty of girls were pregnant in his old high school. Accidents happened. “Are you okay?”
She winced. “Don’t do that. Don’t worry about me after the night you’ve—”
He rolled his eyes and gripped her shoulders. “Are. You. Okay?”
She shrugged, her posture stiff, but her gaze telling him how much her strength cost her. “I’m handling it the best I can.”
“Fuck, Katie, I had no idea.”
She seemed ready to shatter, but maybe others couldn’t see what he saw when he looked into her eyes. He’d come to memorize every detail of each of her expressions, but now she was showing him her vulnerability and it gutted him.
“That’s why you were sick the other day, isn’t it?”
“That was the first time that happened. I wanted to tell you, but it’s still new and I didn’t want you to look at me differently. I’m sorry I lied.”
“You didn’t lie.” Not really. She just left out a serious detail. “Pregnant,” he repeated, still processing.
She made a sound that was almost a laugh, but too full of pain to be any sign of joy. “Now do you see why I can’t go out with you?”
He glanced at her, waiting for something to click, some signal that she was different from the girl she was a few minutes ago. But she was just Kate. “I don’t know. I don’t know how I feel right now.”
She licked her lips, her eyes downcast, and whispered, “Well, at least you know the truth.”
He now understood why she was so resistant, but he didn’t necessarily know if that changed his feelings. Stepping close to her, he laced his fingers in hers. “Come here.”
She took a small step forward and he’d thought to kiss her, but then he simply pulled her into a hug and held her. “I’m still your friend, Katie. Nothing could change that.” He shut his eyes, letting her warmth seep through his clothes as he tightened his hold. “I’m glad you confided in me.”
As her arms pulled around him, holding him close, he tried to remember ever feeling anything that felt that good, that right, but nothing compared. He pressed his face into her shoulder and breathed through her thick hair, pulling her scent deep and committing it to memory. He didn’t know what it was about her, but he couldn’t get enough.
So she was pregnant. Definitely a complication, but what if he never felt this connection with another girl again? She was funny and sweet and bold yet fragile. Despite everything he just found out, his greatest fear was that Nick Porter might come to his senses and take her away from him.
“Are you sure Nick doesn’t want to be involved?”
“He’s known for three weeks and hasn’t contacted me. He offered to take me to a clinic, but that was it. Plus, he’s dating my ex-best friend and cheating on her with some freshman. I’m relieved he’s out of the picture.”
But that meant she’d have to do everything on her own. “What about adoption?”
“The baby’s mine, Ant.”
“You can still make him pay child support.”
“I don’t want anything from him.”
He tried to imagine her a year from now, tried to picture if she’d have a boy or a girl. He’d be in college, more than halfway through his freshman year. His mind broke his future into increments. Four years wasn’t that long. He still hadn’t signed the papers for housing, though he had the scholarship. Damn. Was she worth sticking around and commuting?
Maybe.
They had to start being honest with each other. He pulled back and looked at her, his hands gently cupping the sides of her face. “Katie, when I said I liked you, I meant it. I don’t know if that’s changed.”
“Maybe you should sleep on it.”
Probably, but he didn’t want to. He wanted her. His head was in a spin bin. “Will you be in school tomorrow?”
“Yes.”
Of course she would. Everything was exactly the same, except there was a baby inside of her. “You jumped off the rope swings. Should you have done that?”
“Probably not, but my doctor said I can do everything I usually do as far as physical activity.”
God, this was a lot to digest. Strange things kept occurring to him. The way she ate. The fact that she never had caffeinated beverages. How she said she didn’t drink alcohol anymore. The moment he found her crying in the car. The constant trips to the bathroom. Without thinking, his hand went to her stomach and gently pressed.
She sucked in a breath and looked up at him, her eyes unguarded for a change. She was growing a person in there. Searching her trusting gaze, he couldn’t see how that should take away from all the other awesome parts of her.
Tilting his head, he brushed his lips to hers and his body shivered. Yes, he still wanted her. His mouth teased hers softly, coaxing her into the kiss and gradually she rose on her toes and slid her arms over his shoulders. All his tension fled as her tongue gently brushed his.
His hands slid from her stomach, around her back and pulled her flush against his front. He’d waited so long to taste her, had countless fantasies about kissing her and touching her.
Her fingers teased the ends of his hair and he breathed deep, her scent filling him like a drug. Sliding his palms down her spine, he lowered them to her plump little ass and squeezed, drawing the softest moan from her mouth.
He deepened the kiss. His hands massaged her curves, dragging over her clothes, and soon his fingers were buried in her thick hair.
His body hardened and ached with need. Trying to slow down, he thought of her dad and his big fucking ax, but even that didn’t impede his desire. She felt too good, tasted too sweet, and kissed better than anyone he’d ever kissed.
Breathing raggedly, he whispered, “We should slow down.”
“What’s the point?”
He dropped his hands and forced himself to take a step back. “The point is I care about you and I don’t want to rush you.”
“I care about you too, Anthony.”
To hear her say those words was like breathing after a lifetime under water. He took another step back and adjusted his clothes, which seemed too tight against his frame. He needed to keep his head. “We aren’t going to rush things, Kate.”
“I get it.” A dejected look stole over her eyes.
“Get what? I’m just saying we should take it slow.”
She glanced at his car. “I should probably get back, and your parents are probably waiting for you.”
“Why do I get the feeling you’re blowing me off?”
“Anthony…” She shook her head, no longer looking at him. “I know how you feel, because I feel it too. But sooner or later, you’re going to realize there isn’t a simple solution to this. And when you do, you’ll go away and it’ll be over. I can accept that, because you have a lot of opportunities coming up that I don’t. I tried to pretend I didn’t feel anything for you, but I feel so much. The lies are starting to hurt.”
“What lies?”
Her lashes lifted and he recognized stark desperation in her gaze. “Once this baby’s born I don’t know when someone else will ask me out on a date again. I don’t know if I’ll ever like someone as much as I like you, because I never wanted to be with someone the way I want to be with you. Even when you’re not there, you’re on my mind, making me smile. Maybe… we could just make the best of the summer and at least take the memory with us when we go our separate ways. I understand our paths are going in different directions. It’s all I’v
e thought about since I met you.”
He wanted to tell her that wouldn’t happen, but he couldn’t. She was right. Eventually, she’d have a baby, a child. She’d be a mother, doing motherly things while he was blowing off steam at frat parties and keggers. Perhaps the summer was all they had together. It could either be great or a dragged out period of avoidance while they waited for their lives to begin.
There was no doubt it would be challenging keeping away from her. He wanted whatever he could get while he was still close by. Because the truth was, he thought about her every second of the day since meeting her and he honestly didn’t know how to stop. He didn’t know what would happen in the fall when they went their separate ways, because his imagination could only take him so far.
He wanted more than a few weeks, but the reality was, that was the most either of them could offer. Pulling her to him again, he looked into her eyes. “Then let’s make it the best summer either of us have ever had.”
“Really?” Her smile was the prettiest thing he’d seen since moving to Center County.
God, how could he deny either of them? “Really.”
Chapter Ten
Kate stepped through the front door and quietly hung her keys on the wall.
“Katie girl, is that you?” Her jaw tightened as she heard her father’s voice.
She was surprised he’d waited up. Stepping into the dim kitchen, she paused at the door. “I have nothing to say to you.”
His blue eyes were tight with regret. “I waited for you,” he rasped. “That’s what a father does. He waits even when he knows his children are old enough to take care of themselves, and he worries, no matter how much he knows they can handle things on their own.”
Blinking, she glanced at the wall. “What you did to Anthony was wrong on so many levels, Dad. I don’t know what to say.”
“I was wrong. I made a mistake. But you’ll understand my reaction soon enough.” He shook his head, his gaze falling to the table as he spread his fingers wide and held out his hands. “I still remember holding you in my palms like it was yesterday. You were my first. The first baby I ever got to truly hold. I wanted everything for you.” His voice cracked. “I wanted to give you every possible opportunity a man can give his daughter.”