Clipped by Love
Page 22

“When do you leave?”
“Tomorrow,” she laughs. “We are leaving around eight tomorrow night. My dad will flip if I’m not home by Monday morning. He’s already been texting me like crazy.”
I smile. “Not used to you being gone?”
She shakes her head. “Not at all. Everywhere I go, he goes, or the other way around. It’s always been me and him.”
She doesn’t mention her mom and I worry that it’s a sensitive subject, but I ask anyway. “Your mom?”
She doesn’t say anything or even move until she finally lifts her cup and downs it. As I watch her throat move with the liquid going down it, I know that she doesn’t want to talk about it, and I wish I could take the question back.
She then hands me her cup before saying, “Didn’t want us. Left when I was one day old.”
Making her another cup, I find myself saying, “My dad is a cheating bastard. My mom is amazing.”
I don’t usually talk about my dad, but I thought maybe it would make her feel better.
“Sucks,” is her answer as she takes the cup from me. “At least you have brothers.”
“Only child, then?”
“Yup, just me. Dad never remarried, always said he couldn’t find someone to complete him.”
“Wow,” I say softly. “That’s deep.”
“Yup, he always tells me, don’t fall for someone who can’t make you better. That won’t complete you.”
“Great advice.”
“I think so, but of course, my standards are through the roof,” she says with a laugh.
Looking down at my cup, I nod before taking a long pull. “They should be.”
I can feel her looking at me, and when I look over at her, she says, “That was kind of deep.”
I chuckle. “Yeah, but it shows what kind of dad you got. One who won’t let you settle for less than the best.”
She smiles. “Some people think he’s a dick.”
“Yeah, but some think you are a bitch.”
“Touché,” she says with a nod. “But obviously you think different?”
“I don’t go for face value. I’m sensitive, remember.”
That makes her laugh as she nods. “It’s refreshing.”
I don’t know what to say to that, so I finish off my drink and make myself another as the fire crackles in front of us. Leaning back against the couch that Jace dragged out here, I let the alcohol course through my veins. I’m usually not a drinker, but I’m on vacation, so I’m gonna enjoy the buzz the fiery liquid gives me. Got me a good drink and a hot, complicated girl to keep me company.
Can’t think of anywhere else I’d rather be.
“Hey, sweetheart, wanna go for a dip?” someone yells. I didn’t even realize they were talking our way until Baylor sits up and glares.
“Fuck off,” she says, flipping whomever the bird, but I can’t see them because of the fire.
So I stand, and when I see that it’s my buddy Jeff, I give him a “What the fuck?” look. “Dude,” I say, and he holds up his hands.
“Sorry, man, didn’t see you there.”
I roll my eyes before dropping down on the couch. “Sorry about that.”
I pull a Coke out from under my ass as she says, “Guys are dicks.”
“They can be,” I agree, throwing the can on the ground as I blink slowly.
Getting up so quickly left me a little dizzy.
“I was walking over here and got hit on so many times.”
“It’s the tank, the sides of your tits were showing,” I say with a grin.
She grins back. “I don’t usually dress like this.”
“Thank God for small miracles then, because I’ve enjoyed the view.”
She giggles. “I would usually tell a guy to fuck off if he said that to me.”
I glance over at her and wink. “Yeah, but you like me.”
She gives me a look that says differently, but her body is basically singing for mine. Just in case the look didn’t let me know her feelings, she says, “I don’t like you, like, fuck you, like you, but I mean you’re cool.”
“Yeah, of course,” I say, playing along, but I know she’s full of it.
Either that, or I don’t know a female from a hockey puck.
And I know what a hockey puck is.
“Okay, let’s do this,” I say then, smacking my thigh.
She looks over at me confused. “Do what?”
“Pick your brain stuff,” I inform her. “Tell me your favorite movie.”
She smiles as she leans back, obviously relaxing. For the next two drinks, we go back and forth, talking about all our favorites. It seems that we are the same person. She loves Mighty Ducks, but then again, what hockey player doesn’t love that movie? Her favorite candy is Nerds, also my favorite. Soon though, the conversation leads to hockey. She’s pretty successful, but that isn’t what has my jaw hanging open. She is my hockey twin. She tapes her stick left to right like I do, and she also puts her right skate on first, like me. While I tape up my left wrist, she does her right.
“This is spooky,” is her reaction and I laugh.
“Right?” I say, shaking my head. “But cool.”
She doesn’t seem to think so. I can see the doubt and hear it in her voice as she asks, “Sure, are you sure you do all this? Nerds? That’s not normal favorite candy shit.”
I nod. “Been my favorite since I was a kid,” I say, and when I see Jace coming out of the ocean with Delanie, both of them laughing and looking like they are about to go have sex, I yell, “Hey Jace, what’s my favorite candy?”
He gives me a look and then shakes his head. “Nerds, right?”
I look at her triumphantly and she laughs. “Fine, I believe you.” Grinning over at me, she says, “That was convenient too. Did you plan that?”
“What?”
“Your brother coming at the right moment to verify your claim.”
I nod. “Oh, of course. I knew that at this particular moment, we were going to talk about my favorite candy. And so I planned for him to frolic in the ocean with Delanie until I smacked my hands together twice. Then he was to come out of the ocean and answer my question,” I say, and I realize I’m talking a lot with my hands. “Yeah. Planned it all.”