Patriot and his Secret Baby (The Rossi Family Mafia Book 1) (2 page)

Had Reggie forgotten about me?

I checked the messages on my phone for the umpteenth time. I asked him during lunch what time he expected to pick me up and he replied with "4pm by the flagpole.”

Well it was 4:16 and he was AWOL. My hands found their way toward my red hair, fingering it nervously. In my head, thoughts were flying 100 miles per hour.

Had Tim Burns told the other guys on the swim team that I was frigid? The last date with him had ended in disaster, with me pushing his face away from mine. He had been furious. I remembered the bright flowers strewn across my family’s lawn after he had tossed them to the ground. His shame had been palpable.

The clock was ticking away as I worried on. My head bobbed up and down to my iPod’s music, trying to distract myself as the time went by. It was getting colder and my jacket wasn’t all that warm.

“Want a smoke?”

The voice appeared just near my right ear and I about jumped out of my skin. I let out a squeak of surprise and my head whipped around to see who was standing next to me. It had BETTER be Reggie Miller.

When I turned my heart dropped. No, it wasn’t Reggie. It was Lance.

Lance, the senior kid in ROTC. I had only crossed paths with him once or twice. He was smart to stay away from me, with my over-protective brothers and all.

His brown hair was tousled and a faint 5 o’clock shadow was visible on his jawline. While he was athletic, his stature wasn’t imposing.

He was holding a pack of Marlboro Reds with a shit-eating grin on his face. I took my sweet time thinking over his question before sighing and offering him my hand, palm up. Lance deposited the cigarette in my hand and then gave me a light.

I wasn’t one to smoke often; only when I felt rebellious. During my junior year of high school, that seemed to be more and more often. Juggling dates, AP classes and college prep, I needed some sort of release from the stress.

“Thanks for the cancer stick,” I said, exhaling a plume of tobacco smoke into the chill air.

“My pleasure. Would you like a side of asthma with that?”

“Don’t mind if I do.”

He was the first person to make me crack a smile in weeks and it was a relief. I watched him as he took a long drag and nodded toward the clock.

“You’ve been eyeing that for a while. You late for something?”

“Have you been spying on me? Are you some sort of creep?”

He shrugged. “Meh, bored. My mom doesn’t pick me up until 5, so I spend my time people-watching.”

“So, you are a creep.”

“We’re getting off topic.”

I sighed. The last thing I wanted to do was explain that I’d been stood-up by some lame captain of the swim team.

“I was going to meet a friend to study for mid-terms, but she bailed on me.”

“Which class.”

“Uh, P.E.?” As soon as it left my lips I was swearing internally. I was a horrible liar.

“They have P.E. finals?”

“Yeah, um … you know …,” I tried to save face. “Running and … sports?”

“Running, hm?” I could about see the wheels turning in his mind. “So let’s study together.”

“W-What?”

“You said your friend bailed. I assume you have some gym clothes in the locker room. I’ll meet you on the field in ten and I’ll help you train.”

I stood there stunned, caught in a trap that I’d unintentionally set for myself. Damn it. “That’s very nice of you, but I
―
"

“I insist.” With that, Lance grabbed my arm and started walking with me toward the gym entrance. He was forceful, but not enough that I couldn’t get away. His style was playful, but firm. We both threw our Marlboros on the ground before the doors of the gym closed behind us.

From that day on, Lance and I would meet after school to “study” for the “P.E. finals”. Even if I had fibbed, it was a good chance for me to work out. Having a secret male friend who I liked hanging out with was rare. I allowed myself to enjoy running with him. We didn’t talk much, but that was alright. The sounds of our labored breaths and our feet against the ground was enough.

Every now and again, I’d steal a glance at him when he would get ahead of me. The sweat glistened off his skin and sometimes rolled down his temple. I could see his lean arms and wondered what they’d be like wrapped around me.

Whenever I had those thoughts, I would brush them off. But dammit, they kept popping up even after our workouts. Sometimes when we were stretching and other times when we passed each other during lunch. Our friend circles were different, so it was difficult to say more than a “hey” in passing. It was high school. Any mixing of the tribes and our friends would get touchy. I looked forward to the end of the school day. It made my junior year feel all that much better.

That, and as the weeks passed, I noticed my body becoming harder, leaner, and stronger. That little bit of flesh that I carried around in my early teens became muscle and with that came more boys.
 

Goody.

It was late January when I had turned down another lust-filled teenager. It was starting to get tiresome for me. As the crowds of testosterone-filled madness focused on me, so did the watchful eyes of my brothers.

“I don’t like him.” Matteo told me once after school. I was stretching, waiting for Lance outside the gym to go on our run.

“You don’t like who?”

“That dude you run with.”

My eyes about rolled out of their sockets. “You don’t like any of my male friends, dude. You need to chill out.”

“Trust me, I know what I’m talking about. This guy is bad news, both for YOU and for our family.”

“Hey!” Another voice called from across the lawn.

My brother and I looked up from our heated argument as Lance jogged over to us. All Matteo did was glare at him, not even giving the guy the favor of a hello. Lance cleared his throat uncomfortably.

“Oh, don’t mind Matteo. He’s PMSing.” I tried to shoo my brother away, but he stood there like a statue.

“I have an eye on you, Strong.” And with that, my brother turned on his heel and left us to our running routine.

“Jesus Christ he can be a dick … no offense.” Lance muttered when my brother was out of earshot.

“I know,” I sighed. “My family can be a bit uptight about my male friends.”

He started jogging, naturally taking the lead, and I kept up with his pace. We ran down toward the track. This time, instead of turning into the entrance, Lance detoured toward a trailhead that started just off the path.

He looked back at me with that cocky smile I had learned to love. We had never ran anywhere but the school grounds and the feeling of the forest was invigorating.

“Where are we going?”

“You’ll see.”

Butterflies started to erupt in my stomach. For weeks I had agonized over the crush that had formed for Lance. He was lithe and athletic and had a reputation for being a “bad kid”. However, he had never shown his bad side to me.

We ran until I couldn’t run anymore.  If it was the track it would have been easy, but the rocky terrain and hills tired me.

“One sec,” I huffed, holding my sides. After stopping, I made sure to keep my feet moving. Staring up at the canopy of trees above was my only option. Looking at Lance tended to make my heart beat faster and breathing a bit difficult. 

I could feel him come closer and then felt a hand on the small of my back.

“We’re almost there.”

My eyes met his and I could swear we both felt a spark ignite between us, but it was short-lived. He turned and motioned forward. The forest to the east of the high school was vast, with only the occasional clearing or farm. It wound up to a small mountain. The trail itself only traced the bottom of mountain, but it was still a bit hilly.

Lance lead me up the path, both of us huffing from the steep grade of the landscape. I could tell from the smell of the air that it was about to rain. If it were to storm we'd be drenched.

After a few more minutes, the forest opened up and Lance stepped out to a rock. It looked out on the town that we had grown up in. To the south, I could see the small roof of my house sticking out among the others in the suburbs. In the distance, I could see the rainclouds starting to mist rain down upon the town, creating a blur of dark haze across the landscape.

We sat there in silence for a while. Luckily, it wasn’t the awkward kind of quiet. I liked that about Lance, he was easy to be around. Other boys always expected me to be a certain way
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some girl-next-door porn star that did their bidding. Lance
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well he was fine just being with me, and I loved being with him.

I closed my eyes and smiled, breathing in the fresh, sticky air as droplets started to hit my face.

“It’s starting to rain,” Lance said, his hand resting on my shoulder. “As cool as this spot is, maybe we should head back.”

I turned to look at him. This time when we looked at each other, the spark between us became something akin to a forest fire.

Lance leaned in to me, unsure at first, watching to see if I’d let him.

I did.

Then, when he felt confident that I wouldn’t run away in terror, he leaned in and pressed his lips to mine.

Some people say that their first kisses are overrated. Mine, however, was one of the most magical moments of my life.

For a second there, I was surprised. I had thought for sure that Lance had been gay or uninterested. All the good guys tended to be taken or not attracted to females. But it seemed like Lance really liked me, and … well … I liked him back.

So when we parted lips after what seemed like forever, I kissed him again.

It was new territory for me and kissing felt better than I had imagined. The scent of him was what got me. That was unexpected. His breath crept into my head and drove me insane. Enough so, that I could feel myself getting weak in the knees. My mouth was the first to open, eager for whatever he had to offer. With some hesitation, he followed, our tongues finding each other in the middle.

It wasn’t slimy and disgusting like my brothers had said, but intoxicating. I was already addicted to him and I had only kissed him once.

His arms wrapped around me and brought me close. Even when the rain started to pick up, I didn’t care because he warmed me right up.

Eventually, I allowed myself a reprieve from the kisses so I could look at him. To my surprise, he looked just as dazed as I was. Hadn’t he kissed most of the girls in my class? I could have sworn that was true. How was I any different from the other girls?

“Lance …” I whispered, but he placed one of his fingers on my lips and leaned in to make-out with me again. It was pouring by the time we were done. I was shaking from both the cold and the concoction of chemicals that was reacting in my brain.

Our touches were primal and something stirred within me.

So this was what people were so excited about.

His hand slid around to cup the back of my head. Fingers interlaced with my soggy red hair.

Every good thing eventually came to an end, and so did our kiss. Lance pulled back, letting go of his grasp on me. I smiled up at him, feeling drunk.

“We better get in before we catch a cold,” I said, some semblance of logic returning to my addled brain.

I wanted him to kiss me again, to touch me in ways that I hadn’t been touched before, but not here. The light was starting to fade and the rolling of thunder boomed in the distance.

“Good idea,” I could feel his reluctance too. He stepped aside and raised his arm, offering me to go first down the trail. Taking the lead, I tried to ignore the wetness both from my clothing and the place between my legs. Jogging didn’t help, only further turning me on.

It was longer than expected for us to get back to the school, but when we did, it was still pouring. Our gym clothes were clinging to us and I could see the outline of my sports bra through the white fabric.

He grabbed my hand as we got closer to the gym and my heart soared. It felt warm despite the cold.

After we got to the gym it took a few minutes for us to clean up and get into our dry clothes. I looked at myself in the mirror, feeling like so much had changed in one day. Lance had kissed me. Just thinking about it gave me goosebumps.

Like the silly girl I was, I imagined our life together after that moment. We would start hanging out more and maybe become Facebook official in a couple months ….

But there was a problem. I realized that Lance was in the ROTC. Did that mean he was going into the military soon? He was a year ahead of me and the end of the school year was only in 5 months. I pushed the thought to the back of my mind as I tried to salvage my soaked hair with a hair tie.

When I left the female locker rooms he was waiting outside the gym. There was an overhang near the entrance which sheltered us from the pouring rain.

He looked cute with his wet hair and hoodie. Slowly, deliberately, I stepped closer to him, popping his personal bubble.

Lance grinned.

“I had a nice run,” I said.

“Me too.”

“Hey … sooo I was thinking we should hang out outside of school sometime. Like, go see a movie.”

He raised his eyebrows at me, “Well, aren’t you forward?”

I could feel my face get flush and he laughed.

“I’d like that,” he said before kissing me.

 I saw a car pull up out of the corner of my eye, then heard a door slam. When I was able to get a better look at it between kisses, I stepped away from Lance as quickly as possible. It was too late.

Lance stared at me in confusion. When he realized that I wasn’t focused on him, but something behind him, he turned. Around fifty feet away and lumbering toward us was Matteo, my older brother. His jaw clenched and you could just about see the fumes rise from his figure.

“Oh God,” I muttered. Instead of being smart and getting the hell out of Dodge, Lance stepped in front of me to block him from my view.

“Hey man,” Lance said to my brother with an air of nonchalance. Dammit, I knew this was going to go poorly. Matteo didn’t seem to care what Lance said. I could see that his hands were balled up into white fists at his sides.