All For You (Boys of the South) (10 page)

“Did it hurt
your feelings?”

“A little.”

“Good,”
she says. “Now take that little and multiply it by a whole hell
of a lot, and you might get a tenth of how I felt the next day, when
you didn’t show up.”

“I don’t
remember everything I said to you,” I finally admit, my cheeks
heating. “All I remember is being with you, but the rest is a
blur. I was drunk, McKenzie. Too drunk to have ever touched you.”

Her eyes widen,
humiliation filling them. “Is that supposed to make me feel
better?”

“It’s
the truth, baby.” I take a step toward her, but she holds up
her hands, warding me off. Exhaling, I steel myself, knowing that
what I’m about to tell her will probably make her hate me more
than she ever did, that whatever feelings she’s developed for
me will probably disappear. But I deserve it, and she deserves the
truth. “All I knew the next morning was that I felt guilty as
hell, and instead of talking to you, instead of being a decent human
being, I took the coward’s way out and bailed. I rationalized
my actions by thinking that if I left you alone, everyone else would,
too.”

“You were
wrong,” she snaps. “Charlie found out about us, and she
made my life more of a hell than you ever could the last two months
of school.”

“I’m
sorry.”

“Sorry doesn’t
fix it or erase the past, no matter how many times you say it, no
matter how many times we have sex, or how many gifts you give me!”

Reeling from the
vehemence in her voice, I step back. “If you still felt that
way, then why are we together? Why are you spending time in my bed,
in my arms?”

“I made a
mistake,” she says, and it feels like I’ve been sucker
punched. I reach for her, but she shakes me off. “Don’t…
don’t you dare touch me.”

Damn it. This isn’t
the way I’d envisioned tonight going. “I made a mistake
too, but I came by tonight to fix it.”

She takes off my
coat and hands it to me. “Thanks for being honest with me this
time, West.”

“What?”
I have no idea what’s happened. Or what’s in her head.
Before I can find out, Julia comes busting out the door, screaming
McKenzie’s name.

Parker’s right
behind her, exasperation written all over his face. “Sorry, but
that girl is a menace. She almost started three brawls just by
winking at the wrong guys at the same time.”

“You look
okay.”

“Dude, I told
them I was her brother.”

I cut my gaze to
Julia and then back at Parker. “Were they drunk?”

Parker grins. “Julia
started calling me her brother from another Latin mother, and gave me
a noogie.”

He always did have
the luck.

I turn back to
McKenzie, only to see her and Julia climbing inside a cab. I shout
McKenzie’s name, but Julia looks me dead in the eye, flips me
off, and slams the door shut. The cab takes off for parts unknown,
and it would take too long for the valet to get my car so I can chase
after them.

“
Men-ace
,”
Parker reiterates. “Still, she’s a cool girl.”

“You think all
girls who look like Julia are cool.”

“Yeah, but I
stay the hell away from her. She’s Beau’s cousin, and I
sure as hell don’t want him or his older brother kicking my ass
for touching her.”

“Might be
worth it,” I say, trying to get a bead on whether or not he’s
really into Julia.

“Seriously,
bro. I don’t want to protest too much, but Julia and I…
yeah, not happening. She’s too damn wild for me.” Which
is code for Julia reminds him of his mother and he won’t touch
her with a ten-foot pole.

“Just
checking.”

“Thanks.”
A BMW slows down, and Parker just stands there, staring at the tinted
windows as it passes by. “Besides, I’ve got my eye on
someone else.”

“I appreciate
your help tonight,” I say.

“Can’t
stay mad at your forever,” Parker says, hitting my shoulder.

“You
underestimate yourself.”

He cocks his head to
one side. “Look, I figure anyone who goes to that much trouble
to prove he’s sorry, especially stripping down to his bare ass
in public, deserves a second chance.”

“I wasn’t
down to my bare ass.”

“Are you
really going to ruin our moment?”

“Did you
really just call this moment
our
moment?”

“Damn right I
did.”

This time, I punch
Parker in the shoulder. “I’ve missed you, bro.”

His grin falls, face
turning serious. “Maybe you’ll start coming home more?”

“Yeah.
Thinking of transferring to Carolina next year.”

“Sweet. I need
all the help I can get beating Wyatt and Beau at Texas Hold ‘Em.”

I nod at the bar.
“Beer?”

“Don’t
mind if I do.”

He slings his arm
over my shoulder and we head back inside. Tomorrow, I’ll take
care of everything.

***   ***   ***

McKenzie

Weeding the
nonexistent weeds in the Foster’s flowerbed is exactly how I
want to spend a Thursday morning. Even better, my head is killing me,
and the painkillers have yet to kick in.

But as I prune the
deadheads on the mums with my shears, I start to feel better.
There’s something about working with nature; it makes me feel
like I’m a part of it, like it’s the one place I do
belong and have always belonged.

I can still remember
my mother taking me outside, naming flowers and how to talk to each
one.

“
They have
a language all their own,” she says, her long hair, the color
of leaves in fall, brushes my face and tickles my nose.

I giggle. “But
I can’t hear them, Mommy.”

She gives me a
sad smile. “Don’t listen with your ears, Meadow.”
She presses her hand against my small chest. “Use your heart.”

Funny how I still
remember the things she would say, the way she would call me by my
middle name, but I can’t remember exactly how her voice was
pitched or the color of her eyes, without watching a video of the
three of us.

“Hope you’re
happy.”

Charlie’s
shadow looms over me, though she stands a couple of feet away. I peer
up at her, and for a moment, I’m back in high school and she
has me cornered in the girls’ bathroom. My heart races and my
muscles gather, all too familiar with the top predator of
Forrestville High School.

I think Charlie
Foster is the epitome of “the female is the more dangerous of
the species” saying.

Only we’re not
in high school anymore, and she’s nothing but a client.
Actually, she’s nothing at all. Her parents are clients, and we
do damn good work.

“I’m
always happy to make your lawn look nice.” The customer might
be a heinous bitch, but I will not be less than proud of what put
food on my table and a roof over my head. Besides, I have no idea
what I should be so happy about.

She won, not me.

“If you come
Friday night, then everyone will talk about you, like before,”
she says, reminding me of a petulant four year old. Although, that
might be an insult to the four year old.

“I told Julia
I’m not going as her date.”

“You’re
such a lying bitch,” Charlie snaps.

“That’s
me, a lying bitch,” I say, pruning the last deadhead. Gathering
my courage, I finally ask her the question that every victim of a
bully wishes they could get the answer to—why? “What did
I ever do to you, to make you treat me so horribly?”

I stand up, taking
off my gloves and tossing them, along with my pruning shears, inside
my bag.

Charlie blinks at
me, as if the butterfly had just pinned the lepidopterist
and was studying her under a magnifying glass.

“I didn’t
steal your boyfriend, no matter what you say or thought… we
weren’t in the same league. I didn’t want to be a part of
your group. I wanted to be left alone, while y’all went out of
your way to hurt me.”

Charlie steps
closer, but I don’t back down. I refuse to be intimidated
anymore.

We’re eye to
eye, toe to toe. In high school, I used to think she was tall,
invincible, but now I know she’s nothing more than a mortal
like me.

She looks me over,
her mouth pinched and her nose tilted up. “Because I could.”

“You treated
me that way because you could?” I gape at her, entirely stunned
by her answer. “Are you kidding me?”

She shrugs. “Some
people are born victims. I can’t help that you attract your
superiors and make them want to—”

Anger boils inside
of me, and I’m so furious that a part of me wishes I still had
the pruning shears in my hand, because I want to cut off that perky
ponytail she’s styled her hair in.

“My fault?”
My jaw clenches as I shake my head. “God, you’re a piece
of work.”

“But I’m
honest, which is more than I can say for West,” she says
smoothly, crossing her arms.

I think of West’s
non-excuses, of his insistence to make things right. To even go as
far as to throw away his keys and strip down in a public place, to
know how it felt for me to be so exposed.

I think of every
conversation we had, how we stayed up all night talking about
everything and nothing, and how he held me, how he kissed me. How
vulnerable he allowed himself to be with me.

Of his insistence to
keep his word, even to a witch like Charlie. He was trying to do the
right thing, even if I had thought it was the wrong thing.

Maybe I had been
wrong and right about him. Maybe I needed to give him the benefit of
the doubt. People can change for the good. Sometimes, they just need
the chance to prove it to the one they wronged.

West keeps calling
me, my phone constantly lighting up like it’s the Fourth of
July with his text messages. But I’m not ready to make nice.
I’m not ready to talk to him again. I need more time to sort
out my feelings. More time to assess our situation.

“Thanks for
the insight into your brain.”

There’s
nothing more to say to Charlie, nothing more to glean for her. She’s
a big fish in a small pond and she’ll always be one, until all
the other fish realize that they’re part of an ocean.

And I’m ready
to swim with the dolphins.

Smiling with a
lighter heart, I gather my things and begin to walk away.

“God, you’re
pathetic,” she says. “Go home and cry yourself to sleep,
you little slut.”

Pausing, I turn to
her, taking in her designer jeans and pink sweater, with the letters
of her sorority on a pendant around her neck.

“Grow up,
Charlie.” There’s so much more I’d love to say, so
many names I’d love to call her, but I refuse to be like her.

Standing up to
someone doesn’t mean you have to stoop to their level.

Chapter Twelve

McKenzie

It’s Friday
afternoon, and I’m hanging out at Julia’s house, watching
as she gets ready for The Oaks’ Christmas Party.

“I have
something to tell you,” she says to my reflection.

“You’re
secretly dating Liam Helmsworth, now that Miley’s out of the
picture?” I say dryly.

Julia gives me this
odd look, like she’s wavering between confessing a huge secret
and sucking a lemon through her nose. “So what if West told
Charlie that he’s not taking her to The Oaks Christmas party
tonight?”

My heart gets all
poundy and my palms go clammy. “What?”

Julia sighs. “Her
mother told my mother that Charlie and West have broken up for good.
He came by their house the other night and did the,” she makes
air quotes, “dirty deed.”

Her information
rocks me. “As in the night we went to Cunningham’s?”
I croak.

“The one and
the same,” she says with a little smile. “Maybe you’ll
be my date tonight?”

I take a deep, shaky
breath. “Would it make me the weakest woman in the world if I
went?”

She shakes her head.
“Considering who’ll be there, your presence will make you
Atlas.”

“Let’s
suit up,” I say, and Julia cheers.

***   ***   ***

West

I shouldn’t
have come here tonight. I should have gone to McKenzie’s in
person instead of calling or texting her.

But I’d taken
the easy way out, the leave a message and call me later way out. I’d
thought by giving her time and space that she’d naturally
gravitate back to me.

Obviously, I’d
been wrong.

My dad smiles at me,
my mother and Charlie’s mother deep in conversation. Their
joint future wedding plans stalled for the moment.

Charlie is standing
with our usual group, holding court. Our eyes meet and she smiles
sadly at me. I want to feel sorry for her, but I can’t.

Because of her,
McKenzie isn’t here with me. Okay, so I played a big part in
that too.

Still…

Charlie’s
smile freezes, her brown eyes icier than I’ve ever seen them,
before she turns away. “Does anyone remember McKenzie Walsh?”