The Crush (6 page)

“Hey bud you ready to make some of your famous banana puddin’ today?” Vance asked as I slid in to the seat next to Wynn in our home ec class where she was wedged between us with her nose stuck in a book. Her emerald green eyes came up to meet mine and she let out a quiet laugh.

“Your famous pudding Grier? I figured you guys just took this as a blow off class, I didn’t know you actually liked to cook.”

“Uh yeah,” Vance replied with a smug look on his face. “I eat at this guys house almost every night, he’s the one that convinced me to take this class and I agreed as long as he helped me to get an A.”

“Well my mom works late a lot, so I end cooking most of the time so I sorta taught myself a few things,” I explained. She answered me with a nod and continued with her book before Vance leaned over and shut it for her.

“So Wynn, you planning on coming to the game tonight? I’m gonna be wearin’ those tight football pants you girls are love. You need to come see the ‘Bama Brothers in action, I make this guy look good.”

“Oh really I never noticed the uniform, I normally watch the game when I go to those things.” Wynn deadpanned back to a smirking Vance.

“A girl who
likes
to watch football? Yup I’m convinced now, you are the perfect girl for me. You want to meet up afterwards for the bonfire at Daniels place?” He pushed his phone towards her and she looked down and just blinked at him. “I think something’s wrong with my phone, it’s missing your number.”

This guy really needed to brush up on some of his pick up lines, they were getting old.

Wynn quickly stood up without answering, “Um I think I’ll go get all of our ingredients.”

“Wait up darlin’, I can get those,” Vance replied, reaching out to grab her wrist and she flinched like Vances simple touch had scalded her.

“Please don’t touch me,” she whispered, her eyes looking even wider than usual laced with fear and turned on her heel towards the front of the classroom.

Vance turned to me giving me a what-the-heck-was-that look and I just shook my head at him, looking down at our instructions for the day. Obviously there was something going on with that girl and she didn’t need Vance to bother her.

Wynn

Oh what a freakin’ day, I was so glad it was Friday. I had managed pretty well to avoid Vances wandering hands until today when he had to go and grab me around the wrist, probably one of the worst places for someone to touch me.

 And then when I got home my mom informed me that Richard somehow got all charges dropped against him which in turn meant our restraining orders were no longer in effect. I know he had a lot of pull back home but I didn’t think he would be able to weasel his way out of that one.

Collins tried with all of her might to get me to go to the football game that night and the bonfire afterwards where they were all meeting up but I really wasn’t looking to be around people. Especially Vance, he seemed like a nice guy and I could tell he was interested but I didn’t need to add any fuel to that fire. So I stayed home reading a book and went to sleep early.

I didn’t wake up again until I felt a set of small hands shaking me awake and I immediately began to thrash and kick around until I peeled open my eyes and saw a bleary eyed Collins standing above me who looked completely freaked out with wide eyes and a scared look on her face.

“It’s okay Wynnie I’m here. I think you were havin’ a bad dream with the way you were screamin’ your head off.”

 I squeezed my eyes shut tightly and immediately remembered the visions that seemed to run through my head constantly like a scary movie reel. Unfortunately the dreams weren’t like a real movie and I could never seem to stop them from coming.

“I’m alright Collins, sorry I woke you up.”

“Don’t worry about it Wynn, I just got home about an hour ago anyways,” she crouched down next to my bed and reached up to push my damp hair off my forehead. I glanced over at the small alarm clock that was situated between our beds and saw that it was a little after one in the morning.

“Think it would help if I slept with you?”

“You don’t have to do that Collins, there’s not much room. I’ll be fine.” And I really didn’t want anyone to touch me right now.

“Okay Wynnie just let me know if you change your mind. I know it’s been hard and I can’t even imagine what you’ve went through but I’ll always be here if you need someone to talk to, understand?”

“Thanks Coll it means a lot.” I had never really had any close friends like her and Hallie before even Tessa with her snappy attitude and it meant a lot to have them around for support.

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I decided to get out of bed after listening to Collins loud snores for hours after I woke up and couldn’t fall back asleep. I grabbed a hooded sweatshirt and pulled it over my tank top, throwing my hair into a messy bun before tiptoeing through the still quiet house and making my way out to the empty beach.

I wrapped my arms around my legs settling myself on the white sand and looked out at the soft rolling waves that seemed to help calm me down since I had moved down here. My life seemed about as unsteady as the ocean lately but I was determined to make it better. Just because Richard had tried to ruin me, didn’t mean I needed to keep letting him doing it.

I brushed a lone tear away with the sleeve of my sweatshirt before I snapped my head up hearing footsteps coming towards me.

“Hey girl, whatch ya doin’ out here all by yourself?” Grier asked as he planted himself down in the wet sand in front of me, looking at me intently with those eyes that seemed to cut straight through to my soul. He looked like he was out for a morning run judging by the black mesh shorts he was wearing and the sweat dripping down his bare chest.

“Not much,” I replied with a sniffle. “Just like to come out here and think.”

“You been cryin?” he asked with a concerned look on his face.

“Oh I’m sure I look like a mess, sorry.” I swiped at my face again and he reached out to run his rough thumb over my cheek, setting off a million feelings inside me that I didn’t think I would ever have again.

“Don’t worry you still look beautiful girl. You want to talk about it?” He asked, moving over to sit in the sand next to me and propping himself up on his elbows. For some reason I felt a connection with Grier and for the first time felt like I could really open up to someone, other than my therapist.

“My step dad almost raped me,” I quickly blurted out and I noticed his quick intake of breath even though he kept his eyes focused on the ocean.

“I came home from school early one day and apparently I surprised him, trust me it was one heck of surprise for me too. He tried to bribe me into not telling my mom and for some reason I was too stupid not to agree. After that he went crazy and attacked me. If my mom wouldn’t have come home when she did, he would have succeeded and who knows what else? I had never seen him like that before and I think he really would of killed me. The man was like a real dad to me since I never knew my own.”

“Is that why you don’t like being touched?” He asked in a soft voice.

“Among other things, yup. I also try to avoid crowds as much as possible, I have a ton of trust issues and I absolutely hate showing off any part of my body.” He nodded his head and turned to me with a questioning look covering his beautiful face. I never knew a guy’s face could actually be beautiful but it was with his olive skin, strong jaw, those blue eyes that did strange things to me and were framed by thick black eyelashes that any girl would be jealous of.

“How come you don’t seem to mind when I touch you? The other day with Vance you freaked out.”

“Well for one Vance grabbed my wrist and that’s…..thats just one place I especially hate being touched,” I rolled up the sleeve of my sweatshirt and quickly showed him the scar that would always be a reminder to me. The way Richard had held me down so tight and ripped straight through the skin on my wrist flashed in my head and I blinked my eyes quickly, trying to erase the memory.

“And for some reason your one of the only people I feel comfortable around. I know that sounds wrong since you have Lexie but it’s like I feel some kind of connection to you.”

Grier

My mind was swirling with all of the new information spilling out of Wynns pretty mouth. I’m pretty sure this was the most I’ve heard her speak since she had come to town. I couldn’t grasp the idea of someone wanting to hurt her especially the guy she thought of as her dad. I felt the anger bubbling up in my chest at the thought of her step dad and the things he tried to do to her, if I ever met that worthless piece of shit he would end up in the hospital.

“You’re quiet,” Wynn whispered out in that soft voice of hers and I stared back into her emerald eyes that were glittering with unshed tears. “I just felt like I needed to get that off of my chest. I’m sorry if I overwhelmed you. Please don’t tell anyone.”

“Don’t worry about it girl. Your secrets safe with me. Whenever you need someone to talk to, I’m here, obviously you’ve had it pretty rough.” I reached down a hand to her and she placed hers in mine with a quizzical look on her face before I pulled her up.

“C’mon you need to have some fun.” I kicked off my shoes and socks before turning back to her. “You’re probably going to want to lose that sweatshirt, it’ll weigh you down.”

“Um for what?” She quickly realized my plans as I dragged her closer to the water and she planted her feet in the sand. “Oh no, I am not going in there. It’ll be freezin’.”

I lifted a brow at her and tried to keep my mouth from curving into a smile. “You have five seconds before I pick up your ass and throw you in. Just remember I am the schools star quarterback, so I can lift you like a feather.”

She reluctantly lifted her sweatshirt off, tossing it into the sand, landing by my shoes to leave her standing in a tight fitting tank top and those tight black yoga pants she liked to wear. Mind out of the gutter man, that’s the last kind of thoughts that need to be running around right now about this girl. Lexie would neuter me if she found out I was even talking to her.

I lightly placed my hands around her waist, making sure I wasn’t trapping her in any way before lifting her over my shoulder and running towards the water while she squealed out a giggle, probably the happiest sound I had heard come out of her lips since I met her.

“You better hold your breath girl, we’re going under.” Our bodies slammed into the cold water and we were pulled under, limbs intertwining until we both broke through to the surface.

“Wow that’s cold, but it’s exhilarating.” I nodded my head, pushing my hair back out of my eyes while we swam in place.

“So Grier Daniels I told you all of my secrets, tell me some of yours.”

“None to tell Wynn, haven’t you learned that by now? This is a small town everyone knows each others business.”

“Okay,” she answered back with a raised brow. “So I know you’re the star quarterback and apparently good enough to basically pick any college you want to play for. Of course I know about you and Lexie, who wouldn’t,” she stated with a roll of her eyes. “I still haven’t figured that one out yet, she is not a very nice girl.”

“Lexie has her moments, trust me I know but she really does have a good heart. Sometimes you just have to chip away at that icy exterior she puts up.”

“If you say so, I’ll take your word for it. So your moms obviously a doctor and she is such a sweetheart, I instantly clicked with her.”

Well that was news to me. Of course my mom didn’t breathe a word about her patients but I was kind of surprised to hear that she had taken such a liking to Wynn. She couldn’t stand Lexie and tried to avoid her at all costs.

“So what about your dad?”

I instantly tensed at that question, it was definitely a sore topic for me but I guess if Wynn could reveal her deepest darkest secret to me I could share with her too.

“Well like I told you before, our parents were friends in high school even though mine were a few years older and they got married while they were in college. Mom went on to get her degree and dad got hurt while playing football which basically ended his career. Things went pretty downhill after that, dad hit the bottle and continued on even after I was born, mom divorced his ass and now he’s a bitter old man whose always hounding me about football even though he barely ever shows up to my games and if he manages to show up he’s pretty much wasted.”

“I’m sorry,” she replied with a small frown. I had never actually admitted the whole thing before with my dad being a drunk to anyone but Vance. Even though Lexie wouldn’t mean to I know she would see me differently.

“Not a big deal girl. I got nothin’ on your problems,” I moved closer to her, placing my hands lightly on her hips under the water. I knew what I was doing was wrong but I couldn’t help myself. I cautiously lowered my mouth to hers, looking for any signs of distress but her face looked calm as she squeezed her eyes shut waiting for me. My breath caught in my throat at the sight, her full lips were dripping wet with the ocean water and her hair was matted against that long neck of hers.

 I placed my hands on the small of her back to move her closer and our lips met, hers feeling so gentle and wet against mine and I probed her mouth open with my tongue. She was so sweet and like nothing I had ever tasted before, mixed with the tangy saltiness of the water. I expected her to be timid but she quickly took over, moaning into my mouth and mingling our tongues together before she  pulled back nipping my bottom lip and moving lower to place warm open-mouthed kisses along my jaw.

“Wynnie!”

And just like that the most incredible moment of my life was over, both of us backing up at the sound of Collins voice being carried out over the water from the shore. We swam back to the beach where Collins was waiting with her hands on her hips and a look of disbelief covering her face before she crushed a soaking Wynn in a hug.

“Don’t run off like that without tellin’ me where you’re goin’ Wynnie, you scared me half to death after last night.” She smoothed back Wynns hair before planting a quick kiss on her cheek.