Impulsion (Station 32 #1)(20)
“I’m not picking up Dorcas,” was his only protest.
Dorcas was old enough to drive but didn’t have a car. She had managed to become one of Ava’s ‘best friends,’ even though she was older. Ava was hanging out with her for the obvious reasons; she wanted to learn all about boys, how to flirt, the makeup, the clothes, all things Harley would not or could not teach her. Dorcas was hanging out with Ava for reasons that were apparent to Harley; it put her close to all the Doran boys. Harley’s mother called girls like Dorcas gold diggers, yet most of the girls Harley knew back home like Dorcas were far less obvious.
“Truman can,” Camille said, closing her magazine. “Ya’ll get ready. I’ll send Beckett to the bank to get some cash.”
Getting ready to go shopping and to a movie should not be hard, but it was for Harley. She knew from the look in Wyatt’s eyes that she was getting ready for more than that—at least she hoped. She changed her summer dress a million times over, finding something about each one that would hinder her down the road.
She was standing on the front porch, watching the trucks in the distance. Easton was at Wyatt’s apartment, but that wasn’t odd; Kate was sure to go out with Ava tonight. What was odd was that he had dropped Kate off at the house, and now he and Wyatt were having some kind of pow wow in the barn.
“I want to eat at that new Chinese place,” Ava was saying.
“What time is the movie? I want to pick up some new earrings,” Kate was saying.
“Not ‘til nine. Dorcas said she would go with us to buy makeup so we could learn to make it look natural.”
Harley smirked at that; nothing about any of Dorcas’ makeup skills was natural, no doubt there.
A moment later, Easton, with Truman in his passenger seat, pulled up in front of the house, along with Wyatt in his own truck. Ava rode with Easton and Truman to go pick up Dorcas and some other girl. Kate and Harley rode with Wyatt to pick up even more of Ava’s friends across town. Harley rode in the back, still trying not to seem obvious. Kate never noticed the glances Wyatt was giving Harley in the rearview mirror, but Harley felt the heat of want in each one slide through her body and warm her core.
At the shopping center, everyone was dropped off at the door while the trucks were parked because it was raining.
“They must’ve been afraid you were going to melt, Miss Priss,” Dorcas taunted.
Harley turned to face her; the rain had not only made the foundation Dorcas had layered on her cheeks look like bullet holes, it had also managed to make her eyeliner run. Harley reached her finger for Dorcas’ cheek, pulled away her thumb, which was now covered in black. “I’m not the one melting.”
Dorcas gasped and took off for the corner of the overhang and pulled out her mirror. Moments later, Wyatt, Easton and Truman could be seen running across the parking lot, laughing as they did so.
Just to ensure that Dorcas had no grounds for gossip, Harley went off on her own more than a few times. When she was with the group, she managed to keep a placid expression when she saw Dorcas lean into Wyatt and hackle a fake laugh at something he had said.
When it was time for the movies to start, Wyatt let out a warning to his sister not to leave the center and to be outside at eleven-forty sharp or he was going to leave her there.
Harley had picked a movie she knew Ava would hate, that the boys would hate. She even smiled when Ava told her that only she could find a way to be alone when she was supposed to be hanging out with everyone.
Wyatt made out like he was following Easton, but he hit the first exit door he could find so he could retrieve his truck. Harley lingered with Ava a few minutes longer, even walked with all of them to their theater, before acting like she was going to hers.
She stood in the hallway to the door she was supposed to enter for a minute or two, listened for the girls down the hall, then dove around the corner and nearly jogged down the dim hallways, looking for the exit she and Wyatt always snuck out of.
He was there as soon as she opened the door, leaned across the truck to open her door and help her in. It was pouring constant sheets of rain.
Wyatt brought their laced hands together, let his lips kiss her flesh. “You want to go up there?”
He was content just to drive around or park in the back of the parking lot, but without a doubt he wanted to use these stolen hours to hold her, at least let his lips run across her.
“I do,” she breathed.
His hand tightened around hers just before he let it go and shifted the truck into gear.
The thought of this hilltop had always made Harley’s heart race. It seemed like every major first happened up there, the awkwardness of it. They would always find a way to perfect whatever line they crossed in the hayloft or on the creek side later, but this was the place they had come the closest to being flesh to flesh. It was almost poetic that this night had found a way to exist.
Wyatt parked the truck deep in the shadows of the hilltop and turned out all the lights; even if someone else dared to come up there, they would see them first. Wyatt doubted anyone would come up, though. This place was meant to be used to see the stars, or the distant hills when they changed colors; you couldn’t see anything tonight, not under this canopy of rain.
He nodded to the back seat in a silent question. When she smiled, he stepped out, then got in the back seat through the passenger door. He was far too tall to climb over the seat, but Harley wasn’t; she had glided over just as he slid into his seat. Wyatt’s build could have contributed to the awkward moments they had in this truck. He was too tall to lie all the way down—his shoulders were broader than the seat—but they both knew no matter how awkward it had been in the past, they had no issues finding their way to the positions they wanted to be in.