I merge onto the highway then pick up speed, cranking the throttle as I weave in and out of the early-morning traffic. My eyes are burning with exhaustion. I’ve been up for thirty-two hours, and I can fucking feel it too.
I didn’t want to go out tonight. I almost didn’t. A bunch of the guys are regulars at that place and wouldn’t stop fucking bugging me to come out with them. I finally caved just to shut them the fuck up. Now I’m fully realizing what a fuck-up that was because not only am I deadass tired, but I also now have those stupid fucking grey eyes practically burned into my head. Eyes I’ve worked very hard to forget.
Her grey eyes look up at me, her lower lip jutting out. Goddamn. Is she able to make them bigger when she wants something? Christ, it’s like two oceans looking up at me, pleading with me. She makes it so damn hard to say no to her.
Something I never do.
Except tonight. Tonight is a hell fucking no, and she needs to understand that no matter how many tricks she pulls, I’m not caving. Not this time.
“Kol, please,” she asks, the soft lilt of her voice tugging at my chest.
If only she knew how wrapped around her finger I am. It would be the end of both of us, for sure.
“Peaches, I said no.”
She frowns at that, crossing her arms like a petulant child, not a fifteen-year-old who’s on the honor roll, the captain of the debate team, a prize-winning chess player, and a closet sculpture artist. I couldn’t even name a sculpture artist to compare her to. It would be useless because they don’t hold a fucking candle to her anyway. She’s brilliant and kind and soft and beautiful…
“C’mon, you’ve never let me ride your bike. You take all the hussies around town on it but not me. Am I not good enough?”
I laugh at that and shake my head, pinching her chin between my thumb and forefinger. “Hussies? What are you, a seventy-nine-year-old woman?”
“I’m serious,” she whines.
My tone takes on a level of seriousness I didn’t plan as I lower my gaze to hers. “Peaches, it’s dangerous. They don’t matter; you do.”
Her pupils flare, the way they always do when I give her this level of attention. She wants me, the same way I want her. I’ve known it for a while now. She’s probably wanted me for even longer, though I don’t see how that’s possible.
Naomi runs her tongue against her bottom lip, wetting it like she’s preparing herself. It fucking pains me, and every fiber of my being is ready to say to hell with everything and taste her lips once and for all. Fortunately or unfortunately, one of the prime reminders of why I can never have her comes bouncing into the room. and I release her chin with a rough jerk.
Nick’s eyes bounce between us for a moment before he smirks. “Kolter, you gotta tell me when we’re roughing up Nayso I can help!” he says and wraps her up in a headlock, rubbing his knuckles against the top of her scalp.
“Nick! Darn it! Stop it!”
Nick laughs. “Ooooh, darn it. You hear that, bro? Our little sister has quite the potty mouth.”
Nick is my best friend and technically my brother, but that doesn’t mean I’ve ever looked at Naomi like a sister. Not once.
Figuring this is my best way to escape, I grab my keys and wallet and shove them into my jacket as I head for the door.
“Wait, where are you going?” Nick asks, slightly out of breath before releasing a pissed-off Naomi.
“Out,” I say over my shoulder.
Nick frowns. “With your dad?”
I give him a rough nod, and what looks like disappointment crosses his face.
“Man, since he got out of prison, I never see you anymore. We were supposed to go to college together, chase tail all over this town; instead, he’s got you working crazy hours, and for what?”
Nick isn’t judging—he just doesn’t understand. His dad bailed before Naomi was born, so he doesn’t get why I would want anything to do with a father who was absent from my life for so long. I wish I could explain to him that I go out of necessity, not loyalty; that my dad is a crazy fucker, especially when he doesn’t get his way, and this is safer for all of us.
“I’ll be back as soon as I can,” I say to him, though my eyes are heavily on Naomi.
She looks more upset about my leaving than Nick, and I hate to admit that I really fucking like it.
Before I know it, I’m parking in front of the clubhouse. Shaking my head, I look around the empty street and wipe a hand down my face. Reminiscing about the past while I’m driving? I need some goddamn sleep.
Chapter Five