Bound Together (22 page)

I tried to decipher the scoreboard, and thought we were winning, but couldn’t be sure. I seemed to be the only one who was confused. The crowd jumped to their feet, or cheered or let out collective groans, other than that I could never tell if what was happening on the field was good or bad.

When the final seco
nds of the game ticked down, we
got up and stretched, stiff from sitting on the metal bleachers
and made our way out towards the field.

“Matt! Matt!” Pete called, waving his arms over his head.

Matt jogged over to the sidelines to meet us. “Hey! You guys came.”

He looked cute in his uniform, bulging in all the right places.
His helmet was tucked under his arm and his hair was damp with sweat
at his temples
.
He smiled at me, and I knew all was forgotten about our awkward cafeteria run in. I bumped my shoulder against his.

“What are you doing
tomorrow
?” he asked.

I shook my head. “Nothing. You?”

“We should probably put our paper together since it’s due on Monday.
”

“Is that your free pass?”

“No. This is just for our paper, I swear.” He held up his hands in mock surrender, but that sexy grin on his face was
damn
hard to ignore.

“Mat
-
ty
!” Justin came up behind him and tried to get Matt in a headlock, but Matt was too quick, ducking under his arm and pushing him away. “Hey a group of us
our
going over to
Bree’s
tomorrow. If we help her older brother pull their dock out of the lake, he’ll buy us beer.”

“Sounds cool, but
I’m
actually
trying to mak
e plans with
Zoey
.”

Justin suddenly seemed to notice me and four smaller versions o
f me starring back at him. “O
kay?” he s
aid,
confused. “See
ya
, then.” He jogged towards the locker room.

Matt turned back to me. “Should I pick you up
—
that way you don’t have to take the bus?”

“
I can just email you my section of the paper. You can copy and paste it in
That way you can still do the lake-beer thing
.”

“
Oh.
All right.
That’ll work too.
”
I listened for disappointment in his voice, but couldn’t pick up any.  “See
ya
.”
He turned and jogged after Justin, leaving me standing there, staring at his ass as he jogged away.

“Ready,
Zoe
?” Cora tugged my hand.

“Oh, yeah. Come on.” I led the troops back home.

*****

The anticipation of using my free pass with Matt was almost better than actually doing it. I kept building things up in my mind and I knew it was stupid to think of him that way. We’d both be moved on soon.
But that didn’t stop me from thinking about his big, callused hands that trembled when he touched me, and the way his breath felt against my neck or the sweet way he was with my little sister.

The
Matt
I thought I knew from school
was always ready with a
cocky grin and an easy laugh –n
othing seemed to get to him
down
. Only if what I’d
seen
was true, there was another side of him that he kept hidden from everyone else. A side he’d shown only to me. It made no sense, we hardly knew each other. But hadn’t I done the same thing letting him come over? If Morgan knew, she’d flip
.

B
ut
what
I needed
was
help figuring this out
. I
t was time
for an intervention
.
I called
Morgan
and told her to meet me at the twenty
-
four hour coffee shop late
r that night
.

Morgan was waiting at a table with two mugs of black coffee with a huge pile of sugar packets in front of her. I slid in across from her.

“Spill it.” She smiled.

I emptied three sugars into my coffee,
then
stirred, thinking about where to start. “Matt seems to…still be interested in me. It’s weird, because I thought it was just the trip
—
the fun, sexy ambience of
Paris
,
ya
know?”

She nodded, encouraging me.

“I don’t know what’s going on right now.”
I picked up my coffee, and brought it to my lips.

“
Okay, let’s break it down.
When’s the last time you saw him?”

I blew into my coffee and took a sip. “The other night.”

“Did anything…happen?”

“We were just working on our paper, then I saw him at the game
tonight
. I took my brothers,” I added quickly.

“Hm. I bet I know what’s going on here.” She
tapped her finger on the table, her nail clicking.
“Boys are very predictable,
Zoey
.”
She nodded,
evading
my unspoken question. “You guys haven’t gone very far
yet
, right?”

I shrugged.

“A guy like Matt isn’t going to walk away from a challenge unfulfilled.
He’s probably used to getting what he wants.
”

I wasn’t following.

“He hasn’t gotten off yet,” she said, less subtly.

“Ah.” I nodded in understanding.

“He wants your lady juice. It’s like ingrained in males
—
like part of evolution,
ya
know?” Morgan took a loud sip of her coffee, sucking it over the rim of the mug. “They have this need to spread their seed, mate with as many females as possible. It’s practically instinct. We can’t really blame him,
ya
know?”

He stopped things that day in Paris
—
not me. B
ut
Mo
rgan
knew much more about sex and teenage boys than I did
.
She
was still looking me, waiting for my response to her theory.
I shrugged
.  “I g
uess so. That does make sense.”

She smiled, clearly proud of herself. “So, are you going to indulge him in this fantasy?”

I looked down into my coffee while my stomach swirled uneasily.
“Undecided.”

Chapter Twenty
-
six

Matt

I was sore and tired and had homework to do, but that didn’t mean my parents would let me out of working tonight.
During the week, the store was open until nine, though it was usually pretty slow. I sat at the counter, hunched over my
P
ysch
book.
The bells on the door chimed, and a guy in overalls
stopped and admi
r
ed
a display of motor oil my mom had spent the afternoon setting up in a pyramid formation.
He approached the counter, looking confused.

“Can I help you?” I asked when he got closer.

“John?” He squinted at me.

“No, I’m Matt.”

“Is John back from
Afghanistan
yet?” He picked at the top of his head.

His dull brown eyes, moved over me, taking in our similarities, waiting for me to answer.
“Ah. He
…
” My palms started to sweat and my heart thumped unevenly in my chest. “Brandon
—
take over,” I called to the other counterman we had in the store. He stepped in front
of me while
I fled to the back,
just in time
behind the rows and rows of dusty auto parts and
hid in
the bathroom.
I slid down, my back against the door and drew in deep breaths, slow and steady.

I didn’t come out for nearly half an hour, until I could be sure he was gone. Whoever he was
he
had known my brother, but not well enough to know about his death. Brandon didn’t question me. He’d heard the guy ask for John and practically winced
along with me
. I left shortly after that, but because I knew I couldn’t go home yet, or my parents would hassle me about leaving the store
before closing
, I drove in circles through town.
Eventually,
I found myself on
Zoey
’s
street without really meaning to be. I stopped and parked and held my cell phone in my hand. I wanted to call her, but didn’t want to
use up
my one free pass.

I was still looking down at my cell, deciding what to do when I felt it vibrate. I flipped it open. There was a new text from
Zoey
.

Where are you?
Wanna
play?
It said.

I waited for what felt like a semi
-
reasonable time, then texted back with,
Yeah.
I’m here.
Come down.

I saw
Zoey
peek out of her bedroom window
to be sure I was really here
. She
came
out the front door a few minutes later, shaking her head with a smug, little grin on her face.

“Stalker, much?” she asked, sliding into the seat next to me.

“I was in the neighborhood.” It was actually the truth. I pulled out onto the street. “You
hungry
? Should we grab a bite to eat?”

She scowled at me. “This is not a date. It’s a hookup, Matt.”

“I know that,” I recovered. “So, this is your official last booty cal
l, right?” I smiled over at her, trying to keep my composure.

“Something like that.”

“Did something happen? At home, I mean?” I kept my eyes in the road
, giving her space
.

Zoey
shook her head.
“I just needed
a
distraction. I could’ve called Morgan…but
then I remembered your abs…and
they won out.”

“Good to know.”
I couldn’t help but smiling.
Zoey
was exactly the
diversion
I needed
too
.
She used me to forget about the bad parts of her life and I used her to remember the good parts of mine.

Without even thinking,
I drove us to the lake access and dusk settle
d in around us
. My truck bounced along the potholes and ruts as I made my way down the dirt road along the lake. I pulled into a spot partially hidden under the locust trees and cut the engine. Then it got really
quiet.
I wiped my palms o
n my jeans to dry them. I didn’t like that this was one of the last times I’d be hanging out with
her
.

“Shall we?” She motioned to the back seat. Just like
the
Zoey
I had grown to know
,
she wasted
no time in getting down to business.
She crawled to the back without waiting for me to answer
and
I
,
of course
,
followed her. We sat cross legged in the back breathing the stuffy air, listening to the silence.
As much as I wanted to kiss her, I knew as soon as I did, it would start the beginning of our end.

“So
why’d you text me? Did something happen earlier?”

She looked down and picked at the hem of
her fraying jeans. “Just…my mom,” she said softly.
“
My mom happened.”

I put my
fingers
under her chin and lifted it to me
et her eyes. She
looked
vulnerable
right then, like I’d never seen her before
. I knew she would have told me if I asked, but I didn’t want her to have to relive whatever it was that had happened
at home
, just like I wouldn’t have wanted to relive what happened to me at the store an hour ago. I ran my fingers along her throat, down to the back of her neck and
pulled her into me, kissing her lips softly. She didn’t respond at first, but then all of a sudden, she was on top of me, knocking me back, thr
usting her tongue into my mouth, pressing her body
against m
ine
. H
er breath
was hot on my lips,
my
neck
,
making my heart beat faster.