The Vincent Boys (The Vincent Boys #1)(36)

“Come on, Ash, tell me what’s going on.”

“My uncle cheated on my aunt and now my aunt and my cousin have moved into my house. Lana is in my room all the time. I have no privacy. My aunt is crying and retelling the awful story of how she caught him. There’s nowhere to hide. I just want to run off into the woods and scream.”

A soft chuckle from beside me should have ticked me off to have him laughing at my predicament, but I’d missed the sound so much it made me smile.

“Family can be a bitch,” he said a little somberly. I wondered if he was talking about Sawyer. Did he care I was with Sawyer? I couldn’t tell. I wanted to believe he was hiding his feelings from me but it seemed very unlikely. He laughed and flirted with every pretty face at school just like he’d always done.

“So I found you standing a few feet away from your car glaring at it like it had teeth and was going to bite you, because you didn’t want to go home?”

I thought about admitting I missed him. That I’d fought the urge daily to get in my car and ride down to the bar he’d taken me to play pool, hoping to find him.

He patted the spot beside him and I scooted over without hesitation. His hand found mine and he squeezed it. For the first time since Sawyer had come home I felt complete. Being with Beau made me believe everything would be okay. That the issues keeping us apart wouldn’t always matter and everything would eventually turn out alright.

We pulled onto our piece of land overlooking the Mobile Bay. Everything seemed so different in the sunlight. He released my hand and I started to scoot away when his arm slid behind me to pull me closer to his side. I let out a contented sigh and rested my head in the crook of his arm. Neither of us spoke. We just sat there and watched the sun set over the water in silence.

My eyes began to droop and I smiled, thinking how easy everything was with him.

“Ash.” Beau’s breath tickled my ear. My eyes flew open and it took me a moment to remember where I was at. Rubbing the sleep out of my eyes I slowly sat up.

“I fell asleep,” I mumbled.

Beau chuckled. “Yeah, you did.”

“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to.”

Beau tucked a strand of hair behind my ear and flashed me the crooked smile that never failed to make my heart flutter.

“Don’t be. I can’t think of a better time I’ve had since . . . well, since.”

What did he mean by that? Since when? Since this summer when it’d been just us? Before he’d let me walk out of his trailer without an argument?

“I need to get you back. Sawyer’s texted your phone and called you several times. The last time he called I figured it was time I woke you. Even though I enjoyed having you sleep on me.”

My heart thumped against my chest. Hearing him say things like that to me gave me hope. Hope for what, I didn’t know. I’d been the one to decide it wasn’t worth it. He handed me my phone.

“Answer him. This is going to be hard enough to explain as it is.”

I read both texts from him asking me where I was at. He sounded concerned in his last one. My car being left at the school parking lot was bothering him.

Beau’s phone rang and he glanced down at it and frowned. “It’s Sawyer.”

I reached for his phone. “Here, let me answer it. I might as well explain. Besides, we did nothing wrong.”

“Hello?”

“Ash? Where are you? Why’re you answering Beau’s phone. I’ve been trying to call you.”

“I’m sorry. I know. I was just about to call you. I’ve been asleep. Beau found me in the parking lot. I didn’t want to go home and face all the drama. He offered to listen to me rant some and I ended up falling asleep. He let me sleep. But he’s bringing me back to my car now.”

Sawyer was quiet for a moment. I glanced over at Beau, who was watching me with something that reminded me of a lion who sensed danger and was getting ready to pounce.

“Okay, I’ll go wait for you at your car,” he finally replied.

I wasn’t sure what Sawyer was thinking by the tone of his voice. Normally I could gauge his mood over the phone.

“I’ll see you in a little while then,” I said and handed the phone back to Beau. He closed it and nodded toward the passenger side of the truck.

“If he’s going to be waiting on us you probably need to scoot over. I’m not sure he’d be that understanding.”

Beau cranked the truck and turned it back toward town. Reluctantly I slid back over to the far side of the truck. Away from his warmth.

“Beau . . . thank you. I needed this. I needed, I needed . . . you.”

He let out a heavy sigh and shook his head.

“Saying things like that to me makes this so damn hard. I’ll always be here for you. But don’t tell me you need me.”

“But I can’t help it. I do.”

“Damn it, Ash. I can’t listen to that. I can’t think about it. I can deal with denying myself what I need. What I want. But I can’t deny you.”

“You love Sawyer. He’s like your brother. Could you really hurt him that way? Could you really lose him over a girl? I don’t know if I could let you do it. One day you would resent me for coming between the two of you. You would never be able to love me. I would always be a reminder of how I was the reason you lost Sawyer.”