Two Thousand Miles (9 page)

“Sure,” I smiled and we shook on it.

“Night y’all,” I said.

Bit laughed out loud, pointing at me. “Did you hear that,
y’all
?”

Shelby piped in, “We’ve got her in our clutches now. California won’t
ever
take her back.” I hoped that wasn’t true. I smiled and waved at them before stepping inside.

Mason followed me.

“There’s been a lot of back and forth between me and Dixie over the last year,” he said. 

“
Year
?” I gasped. I never would have guessed that he and Dixie had spent a year together.
No wonder she was so pissed about me
.

“It wasn’t how it sounds
.”

“I’m really tired, “I said. “And you don’t owe me any explanations.”

Mason caught my arm before I could turn away from him. “Kat,” he whispered. “Dixie and me really are done this time,” he said, his blue eyes begging me to believe him. And with that, I knew why he hadn’t kissed me in his garage. Until that moment, Mason hadn’t believed what he’d just said to me. His feelings may not have equaled Dixie’s, but he did still care about her.

“Thank you for dinner,” I said and kissed his cheek. I f
elt I’d earned that much. I also figured it would be the only time I’d get to kiss him. “Good night, Mason,” I said and disappeared down the hallway.

When I lay down, my plan was to go to sleep and not think about Mason
Dugas at all, but that plan failed miserably.

I rolled onto my back and closed my eyes, deciding to force myself to sleep by counting sheep. At two-hundred-fifty-three, the bedroom door creaked open. Mason came in and
laid next to me on Garrett’s twin bed and joined me in staring at the ceiling. His shoulder was barely touching mine, and I know it was a small thing, but when someone fills your thoughts the way Mason filled mine, even the smallest bit of contact could make your heart flutter.

Mine was pounding.

“You’re so different than I thought you’d be,” Mason finally said, his voice soft, hushed. “I mean, you showed up on a private plane, wearin’ a dress and shoes that would have probably paid for my gas for a year…” he rambled, as if he was trying to reason with himself. I wondered if he’d meant for me to hear him.

“I think I just expected you to be…”

“A shallow bitch,” I offered, turning toward him. Mason curved onto his side and looked at me. “Yeah,” he mumbled, reaching out to play with my hair. “I know I held something back, Kat, but so did you,” Mason said, his eyes boring into mine, vibrantly blue and slightly glossy. “You’re not bein’ honest about why you’re here,” he breathed. He was right; I wasn’t.

The back of Mason’s hand brushed
over my cheek. His fingers traced the shape of my mouth as he leaned in, his breath coming heavier. “Why are you here?” he muttered just before his lips met mine.

Part of me didn’t think it was fair. Earlier, Mason had aggravated me to the point that all I wanted was to get away from him
, and now he was kissing me.
And doing a hell of a job
.

His hand curled up at the back of my head
; my hair tangled between his fingers. It did cross my mind not to kiss him back, but I couldn’t help myself. This was what I wanted.

Mason’s mouth was cold and tasted like beer, but I didn’t care because kissing him felt like a dream
that I didn’t want to wake up from, sweet and exciting. Mason moved me onto my back and kissed my neck, stroking my hair. His mouth covered my shoulder; he slid the strap of my tank top out of the way and sunk his teeth into me. I gasped, somehow feeling the sensation of the bite in my thighs.

Mason put his tongue back in my mouth an
d shifted, settling on top of me. I wound my legs around him and slipped my hands inside the back of his shirt. He rose up slightly and yanked the shirt off, making what was happening suddenly seem serious. Pausing for a moment to watch me, Mason concentrated on my eyes as his hand slid over my chest.

Although I knew it was way too
early for us to have sex, we were primed for it to happen. The thing about that was, it would feel good now; but what would happen in the morning? We’d just had our first kiss five minutes ago, and, according to Mason, we hadn’t even been on a date yet. Reasons—good reasons—we should stop flooded my head, but then Mason leaned in for a long, slow kiss that steadily melted my apprehension to keep going. 

Then Garrett burst through the door. “No
jiz in my bed, man. Not cool,” he bellowed, stumbling closer to examine me. “Aw bro, she’s not even naked!”

Garrett clumsily swatted at the air and then exited the room, leaving the door wide open. Laughter poured from the living room.

“They’re totally
gonna do it in my bed,” I heard Garrett garble. Then there was a loud whistle and a “woo hoo” that I was certain had come from Shelby. If that wasn’t a real mood killer, I didn’t know what was.

Mason barely looked at me as he got off the bed. “I think I should stay somewhere out there tonight,” he said brokenly, pointing toward the door.

“Okay,” I said, and he left without another word, closing the door behind him.

I lay on my back, my arms and legs spread, allowing the air conditioner vent above the bed to cool my overheated body. Catching my breath, I recalled what had just happened and how
it could have gone too far if it hadn’t been for Garrett bursting in. I knew I would be grateful to him tomorrow, but at that moment, not so much.

I’d had three boyfriends in high school and had slept with two of them, so I wouldn’t have been losing my virginity, but
sex caused feelings to shift. It could make you jealous and more possessive of a person. Not that I would have become Dixie number two or anything. Also, I didn’t fully trust Mason yet. He was sort of all over the place, so sleeping with him so soon wouldn’t have been smart, but most of all, I didn’t want to give him that much of me and have my heart broken in exchange.

The next morning Dana and Garrett cooked a massive breakfast. Eggs, bacon, sausage—andouille of course, country gravy, biscuits, shrimp and grits, and pan sautéed asparagus.

I
’d woke with my mouth watering, and surprised that Garrett was functioning at all after last night. I put on my clothes and stumbled to the kitchen. Shelby whistled loudly. “Hey Kat,” she sang, you have a good night last night?” Russ was lying next to her on the couch. “Probably not, since G cockblocked her,” he snickered.
That was Russ, King of the one-liners
.

“Oh, uh, sorry about that,” Garrett spoke up from the kitchen
. “I really don’t remember doin’ it, but…” he shrugged and sat a stack of paper plates at the end of the bar.

“Speaking of Mason, is he around?” I asked Shelby, ignoring Garrett’s apology. Sort of in the same
way his family ignored his binge drinking.

“Mason went home early this morning, said he’d be back in
a few hours. We’re goin’ ridin’ today.”

“Riding?”

“Four wheelin’,” Garrett answered. “Where’d you say you were from again?” he asked, squinting at me.

“Malibu,” I said, annoyed.

“You ever been four wheelin’?”

“No.”

“You’ll love it,” Garrett confirmed. “If you’re not opposed to gettin’ dirty. Or wet.”

I would be
fine with both of those as long as Mason showed back up. I thought he and I should talk.

“Food’s ready, y’all,” Dana said. “Come fix a plate.”

I ate an embarrassing amount of breakfast, but it was so good I didn’t care, and nobody seemed to notice.

Afterwards, I realized I didn’t have anything to go
riding in unless I wore my bathing suit again, and that just seemed gross, so I asked Bit if she had something I could borrow. She gave me a pair of black Soffee shorts and a black tank top.

“It’s better to wear dark colors, so the boys can’t see through them once you get wet,” she said.
“Do you have tennis shoes?”

“No.” I never wore tennis shoes in the summer.

“You’ll need some, what size are you?

“Eight.”

Bit dug in the bottom of her closet, searching for shoes that matched and finally came up with an old pair of pink and white Nike’s.

“You do have socks
, don’t you?” she asked like
what idiot doesn’t have socks?
I shook my head no. I had no reason to pack socks; I didn’t wear them with my sandals. Bit pulled her dresser drawer open and tossed me a pair of white ankle socks. “Thanks,” I said and went to change.

Dana caught me in the hallway. “Can we talk for a minute?” she
asked, her expression drab. “Sure,” I said, cautiously, hoping I hadn’t done anything wrong.

Dana walked to her bedroom and held the door open for me. Her room was bigger than the
others and had nicer furniture. It all matched, and she had a pretty, beige, embroidered duvet and feather pillows on her bed. For an instant, it made me miss all the nice things I had at home.

“Are you and Mason sleeping together?”
Dana asked, which made me choke on my own breath.

“Um,
no…what Garrett said last night—we were just kissing,” I added quickly, feeling my skin flush in embarrassment.

“The reason I asked is
, I wanted to make sure you were protecting yourself.”

I swallowed hard.

“Do you have condoms?” she asked.

“
Me
?” I screeched.

“Yes, you,” Dana snickered. “You can’t
assume that the boy will always have them, and you don’t want to get so hot and bothered that you do it without protection, and risk pregnancy. Pulling out doesn’t always work. That’s how I got pregnant with Garrett.” I couldn’t believe she’d just said that to me. My face couldn’t have been any redder.

“I keep these around for my kids, so they never run out,”
Dana said, taking a box of condoms from her nightstand. She took a few out and handed them to me. “Just in case,” she whispered. “Thanks,” I said faintly, a forced smile on my lips.

I hid the condoms between the mattress and box spring in Garrett’s room. I knew Dana had a
point. I was the only person who could protect me, and it was better to be prepared than not, but I did not want to hear her talk about
pulling out
ever again.

I was fifteen when my dad and I had our
official birds and bees talk, and I swear it was less embarrassing than the conversation I’d just had with Dana, although it was incredibly shorter. My dad wanted to go into immense detail and show off his knowledge of reproduction terminology.

“Dad, I’ve heard exactly the same thing at school,” I protested.

“Maybe, but you’ve never heard it from me,” he volleyed back.

“I don’t
need to hear it from you. I’ve already heard it. I know how I can get pregnant—something I don’t plan on doing until I’m, like, thirty.”

“
Best laid plans…”

He continued with his speech, and
I almost fell asleep twice, but I had paid attention during the part about birth control. Especially the part where he said I should be on some as backup of course because I always, always, always needed to use a condom. He’d just never come out and said that I needed to provide them. He took me to a female gynecologist and after discussing it with her; I decided to use an IUD (intrauterine device) because it was the easiest option for me. I could barely remember to take my vitamins and wasn’t going to trust myself to take a birth control pill every day.

When Mason pulled up, I went outside to see him
, and was slapped in the face by the nasty image of Dixie climbing out of the passenger side of his truck. She smirked and bumped my shoulder as she walked past me. She went inside and I stood there frozen, stunned. When Mason saw me, he said, “I only gave her a ride.”

“She threw freezing water on us yesterday and called me a slut!” I lowered my voice, “We almost had sex last night
, and today you’re giving your ex-girlfriend rides. I knew I’d be thanking Garrett for stopping us. I’ve never been more grateful for anything in my life,” I spewed.

“
Please don’t, this is what Dixie wants—us fightin’.”

“You must
want that, too. Or else you wouldn’t have driven her over here.”

“She got
in the truck while I was loadin’ the four wheelers. I didn’t offer, and I sure as shit didn’t invite her. But what was I supposed to do, drag her out of my truck and give her a reason to call the cops on me with some bullshit story that I’d been rough with her?”

I wouldn’t have put it past her
, but still.

“You can’t let her bully you.”

“My hands were kinda tied, Kat.”

“Well mine aren’t,” I said.

Adrenaline leading me, I rushed inside and put my finger in Dixie’s face and said, “Just know that I’m not putting up with your middle school bullshit. You better not pull anything with me today because I am not afraid to kick your ass.” This was a complete lie. I knew if she wanted to, Dixie could easily beat the crap out of me, but I thought if she thought I wasn’t afraid for that to happen she might leave me alone.