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I feel my heart clinch, and I want to shout, "No," but instead, I nod my head. She can have her way. We can be friends for now, but not for long. I am going to get my girl back.

CHAPTER THREE

"Guess what?"

"What?" Lindy asks.

"I get to go to football camp next week," Lucas says with a smile.

Lindy frowns. "You won’t be here for my birthday."

LINDY

Tara and I are finally moving into our own place. It’s taken us over three weeks, but we are getting in. We bought almost all of the furniture we need. It all came from yard sales and second hand stores, but it’s ours and that’s all that matters. All we have left to get is our bedroom stuff. Thankfully, mom is giving me my bed and dresser from her house. Paul should be on his way with it anytime now.

Tara started her job yesterday. She just graduated with her nursing degree, and she was lucky enough to get a position at the local hospital. She was worried that she would have to drive all the way to Mobile or Gulf Shores to find work, but she ended up landing the first job that she applied for. It also happens to be the one she wanted the most, because it is less than ten minutes from our new house. That left me with a ton of unpacking and cleaning to do on my own.

I'm standing on a chair, trying to screw a light bulb into the ceiling fan, when I hear Paul's truck pull up. I try to hurry and finish, so I can help him with the bed. In my rush, I lean a little too far and the chair starts to rock. I'm just about to fall, when a pair of arms grabs me around my waist and sets me on the floor.

I take a second to catch my breath. "Thank goodness, you caught me, Paul. If not, I would have gone down hard," I say, without turning around.

"I'm not Dad, but you're welcome."

I turn around and stare at Lucas. It seems like he has been everywhere I have been over the last three weeks. Against my better judgment, we have fallen back into our old routine. He even climbs through my window every night, and we talk about our day. The only difference is that he stops by during the day too. He comes over as soon as he gets off work and stays until mom runs him off. It’s like I am still a kid, and she doesn’t want a boy in the house unless she is around to watch us. As soon as he leaves through the front door, he makes his was back in through my window. Some nights, he is already in my room when I get there. He’s even asked me to go out with him a few times. He says it doesn’t have to be a real date, but I keep saying no anyway. If he keeps on, I know I am going to cave in.

I give him a little smile. "What are you doing here?"

He looks at me like I'm crazy. "Did you really think your Dad could move all your bedroom shit by himself?"

I stick my hands on my hips and give him a
screw you
look. "I was planning on helping him."

Lucas laughs at me. Yes, laughs. "What is so funny?" I nearly shout in frustration.

"You were going to help your dad? Those spaghetti arms would have been a big help." He reaches out and gives my arm a squeeze.

"You can kiss my ass." I jerk away and head for the door.

"Anytime, baby," he says with a leer and follows me out the door.

It takes us nearly two hours to get all the furniture inside and set up. Luckily, Chris showed up with Tara’s bedroom stuff too, so we won’t have to share my bed. It wouldn’t have been the first time we had to share one, but I hate sleeping with her. It’s like being in a kickboxing match all night. As soon as we are done, Paul goes out to his truck and carries in a cooler. He reaches in and tosses a beer to Chis and then one to Lucas. He lifts one to me, and I scrunch my nose. I go to the fridge and grab a soda, then we all sit around the table and talk for a bit.

"Tara said you guys are paying out the ass for this place. Why did you girls decide to get something so big?" Chris asks as he looks around.

"We really didn’t want one this big, but it was all that we could find that was even close to our price range. We wanted to stay around $600 a month, but we couldn’t find anything even near that."

Paul looks over at me, and he has that worried Dad look on his face. "Are you struggling, girl?"

It’s hard for me to share all of this with them, but I know Paul. Either I tell him what it is going on or he will dig until he finds out on his own. "No, it’s just a little tight. I will be fine as soon as school starts. I won’t get my first check until the end of September. I’ve tried to find a job for the summer, but no one wants to hire me when they know I’ll be gone in two months. But it’s not so bad. I have some money saved up to live off of. Tara says that she will cover my rent until I get paid. Then I’ll pay her back."

"You girls got three bedrooms here, don’t you?" Chris asks.

I nod, knowing where he is heading with that question. "Yeah, we’ve been thinking of getting a roommate, but we don’t want a stranger living with us, and we don’t really know anyone here anymore."

Chris looks over at Lucas. "You’ve been looking for a place, haven’t you?"

Lucas looks at me and a smile spreads across his face. "Sure have. Haven’t had much luck though."

"Well, that’s settled then. Pack your shit and get out. Your mom won’t let me touch her anywhere but the damn bedroom when you’re living with us. She is always afraid your sorry ass is gonna come home. I am too old for that shit. If I want a piece,
I should be able to get it wherever I want," Paul says and slaps Lucas on the back.

"Fuck
, Dad! Don’t say shit like that around me," Lucas says, shaking his head.

I start to look between the three men, hoping one of them will say that they are just joking. But they start talking about freaking NASCAR like they haven’t just thrown a major monkey wrench into my life. I know Chris is just trying to help but, but I don’t want to live with Lucas. Sure, Lucas and I are getting close again, but if we live together, I know it will only be a matter of time before I cave in to what he wants. Not that he has been pressuring me, but he has made it clear that he wants more than just friendship.

I wait for the conversation to die down and say, "I just don’t know if that would be a good idea."

All three men look at me like I am stupid as hell. "Lindy, you girls can hardly afford this place. Luke here will help you. To be honest, I will feel better knowing he is here looking after the both of you. I don’t like the idea of you two here on your own anyway. It was bad enough when you were at college. But at least there you were in the dorms. Here there is nothing stopping some asshole from coming in and hurting either one of you, so he is going to move in. End of discussion," Chris states while giving me a look that says he is not going to take any shit about this.

I finally nod, because I know that they will get their way. Even if I tried to put a stop to it, Tara would cave when Chris talked to her. She could be kind of wild. She dated her fair share of boys, had sex with a few, and I have seen her drunk more than once. But she always listened to everything her parents said, especially her dad. She may whine a little bit, but then she would finally do as she was told.

I look over at Lucas, and he is leaning back in his chair with a shit-eating grin on his face. He leans towards me and whispers in my ear, "Guess I won’t have to crawl through your window anymore."

LUCAS

I cannot believe the way that shit went down. It could not have been more perfect if I had planned it myself. If I didn’t know that Chris would kick my ass, I swear I would have kissed him as soon as he mentioned me moving in. Things have been going pretty good with Lindy, but they are still not where I want them to be. We are almost as close as we were before I fucked everything up, but it’s different now. There is a pull between us, and I know she can feel it too. We no longer sit side-by-side on her bed. Instead, she ends up in my arms every night. It feels so fucking good to hold her. But each time, it’s a little harder to let her go.

I am just finishing packing the last of my clothes when my phone rings. I pull it out of my pocket and look at it. Fucking Kelsey again. She has been blowing up my phone for the past three weeks. I’ve tried avoiding her, but it’s not working. I sent her a text reminding her that we were over. I even went as far as to drop her key in her mailbox, but the bitch is still not getting the hint. So I guess it’s time to tell her to fuck off. I definitely don’t want her calling when I move in with Lindy. That would not go over well at all.

"Hello," I growl into the phone.

"Luke, baby, I have been trying to call you for weeks," she says trying to sound sexy, but it comes out sounding stupid.

"And I’ve been avoiding your ass. I figured you would catch the hint by now," I say in frustration.

"You don’t mean that. Not after everything we have been through," she whines.

"I am sorry about the baby, but that’s been damn near five months ago. We were not dating when you got pregnant. It was just a onetime fuck, and you know it. There was never anything between us. Hell, I fucked your ass in the back of a damn bar." I can hear her start to cry, but I know it is fake as hell. "Shit, I haven’t even touched you since that night, and I won’t be touching you again."

"This is because of piglet, isn’t it?" she screams.

"Don’t you fucking call her that ever again! But to answer your question, this is because of you. You are a bitch. You always have been and you always will be. Now, stay the fuck away from me." I hang up the phone and toss it on my bed.

"Kelsey?" Ma asks as she walks into my bedroom. I just nod my head and blow out a frustrated breath.

Ma’s face fills with concern. "I wish she would just leave you alone. There is something off about that girl. I never have liked her. Did I ever tell you about Lindy’s tenth birthday party?"

I shake my head. "I was at camp, right?"

"Yeah, it was your first year there. Maggie wanted to do something special for Lindy, because Sammy had just died. So she invited all the girls from Lindy’s class. I helped her plan the whole thing. Maggie and I decorated the entire back yard with all kinds of girly stuff. I swear it looked like something from a fairy tale. When Lindy saw it, her eyes got so big that I thought they would pop out of her head," Mom says with a smile.

I smile back at her. "I bet Lindy loved it."

M
a’s smile turns into a frown. "Everything was going good, until Kelsey showed up. She kept making pig noises. At first Maggie and I couldn’t figure out what was going on. But then Lindy starting opening her gifts, and Kelsey had bought her a Piglet doll. As soon she opened it, all the girls started to laugh. Lindy ran into the house crying. Maggie tried to get her to come back out, but she wouldn’t."

Shit! The thought of Lindy hurting like that kills me. "Then what happened?"

Ma shrugs her shoulders. "There wasn’t much we could do. We ended up having to call all the parents to come get their kids early. It was just terrible. Even worse, Lindy wouldn’t tell her mom what was going on. Finally, Tara told us about how Kelsey had been treating Lindy. But what could Maggie do?"

"Shit
, Ma. Why would she do something like that? Everyone knew that Lindy’s dad had just died," I said, wondering just what kind of person Kelsey really is. Hell, I already knew she was a bitch. I guess this just confirms she has always been one.

"I don’t know. Tara said that Kelsey didn’t even start to pick on Lindy until after Sammy got shot. She said they had all been friends before he died. I never could understand it," Ma says with a shake of her head. Then she leaves the room without saying another word.

I sit down on my bed and think about the year after Lindy’s dad died. That’s when everything changed for her. That’s when everybody started calling her names and making fun of her all the time. Before that Lindy was just a normal kid. She laughed all the time and had lots of friends. I always thought Lindy must have changed after her dad’s death, and I just couldn’t see it. Looking back, I realize that it was everyone around her who changed. I bet Kelsey is the one who started it all. She definitely started that fucking nickname when she bought her that damn piglet doll.

Fuck! I cannot believe I had my dick in that psycho bitch.

LINDY

"My dad did what?" Tara shouts from the other end of the sofa.

"He invited Lucas to move in with us."

Tara pulls out her phone before I even finish my sentence. I don’t even bother to stay and listen, because I know how the conversation will end. I walk into the kitchen and pull out the ingredients for chicken and dumplings. I am just rolling out the d
ough when Tara walks into the room with a guilty look on her face. She starts to talk, but I shake my head. "I already know. Your dad is just worried about us. He loves us both, and he only wants what’s best for us. Right?"

"I’m sorry, Lindy. I know having Lucas her
e is going be hard on you, but Dad had some good points. We really don’t have the money to afford this place by ourselves, and Dad says there have been a bunch of break-ins in town lately so he and Paul are both really worried about us being here on our own," Tara tries to explain.