Until the End (Sea Breeze #9)(2)

It was time my woman had the fairy-tale wedding she deserved right before we went on the honeymoon we’d never gotten.

The first time I’d seen her, she had taken my breath away. Getting her attention had been one hell of a ride. She’d been so determined to stay away from me. Or any man. Then I’d found out why . . . and I’d sworn to myself she’d never have to live in fear again.

Falling in love with Trisha had changed my life. My friends and family had said I was an idiot. I was throwing away my future. Butch Taylor, my father, had never been a big part of my life until I had become a high school football star. For once I had a parent who gave a shit about me. It had been something I’d craved since I was a kid. Making him proud and proving I was worth loving had been what drove me to work harder. My dream was within my reach. I had my father cheering me on, and I would make it to college and then—I knew—I’d play pro ball.

Until my dream changed the day a pair of the prettiest blue eyes I’d ever seen stared at me across the parking lot one morning before school started. That was the first day of my sophomore year, and it would be another twelve months before I would be able to get Trisha Corbin to even speak to me.

With one look, that girl had changed my dreams.

Chapter Two

Eight years ago . . .

Trisha

Most kids agonized over going back to school. I sat on the bus, listening to others talk about their summers on the beach, sleeping late, going to parties, and how much they dreaded school. It was like they were speaking a different language. A foreign world I knew nothing about.

I glanced over at the seat across from me, at my younger brother, Krit, and his best friend, Green. Krit was as relieved as I was to be going to school. We had looked forward to this day all summer. Having an excuse to escape the life we lived at home was a blessed relief. Green was excited because they were eighth graders now. Two years ago Sea Breeze had moved the eighth grade to a section of the high school building because the middle school had gotten too full. They were still separated from the high school students for the most part, but they would use the high school’s cafeteria and gym.

My brother had grown at least six inches this summer. He reminded me of a weed. Overnight he’d gone from scrawny kid to tall and slightly intimidating. Didn’t mean his mind had caught up to his almost six-foot-tall frame, though. He was still a kid. A scared kid. One who needed me to protect him. Even if I did have to tilt my head back to talk to him now. He had passed my five feet eight inches sometime around June.

I crossed my legs and tugged at my shorts. Not that it helped. There had been no money for me to go buy any school clothes this year. I had to wear last year’s things. Krit had grown way more than I had, and he’d required an entirely new wardrobe. Every dime I’d made lifeguarding at the pool went toward buying him decent clothing at the consignment shop.

The problem with me wearing last year’s things was that, although I hadn’t grown in height, my br**sts and butt had gotten bigger. So although I was still five eight, same as last year, my shorts were shorter. I wasn’t sure how my legs had gotten longer, but they had—or my butt was just taking up the extra room.

My h*ps seemed wider too. That probably wasn’t helping either. Krit turned his head to see me tugging on my shorts, and I stopped. The frown that wrinkled his forehead told me he wasn’t happy. We had argued about me spending all my money on his clothes. He’d said he needed two pairs of jeans and two shirts. He could wash them every day. I refused to let him go to school in only two outfits that fit him. I had plenty. I would just need to go on a diet and make them fit me right again.

I wasn’t sure how I had managed to gain weight, but that was all that made sense. This was my fault. Not his. I smiled at him reassuringly and acted like the short length of my shorts was no big deal. Picking up my book bag, I placed it in my lap as the bus pulled to a stop in front of the high school.

“We’re here,” I said, standing up.

“They’re too short. I told you to buy new ones,” was Krit’s response. He wasn’t going to let that go.

“My butt and h*ps got big. I just ate too much over the summer. I’ll lose weight and it’ll be fine,” I told him. “Now, forget it and focus on school.”

“We don’t get to eat enough for you to have gained weight,” he snarled.

“Please, for the love of God, don’t lose weight. It would break my heart,” Green said with a flirty grin.

Krit shoved him back down in his seat and scowled at him. “Don’t. Seriously, dude. Don’t.”

I was used to Green’s flirting. He’d been at it since last year when he discovered he loved girls. It was only getting worse. I knew he was harmless, and I remembered when he was scared of the dark and wore Superman underwear. He was like my other little brother.

“I don’t like you in those shorts. Shows too much,” Krit said in an angry whisper as we stepped off the bus.

“I’m fine. No one is looking,” I told him.

He lifted his eyebrows at me. “Really? You’re gonna tell me shit like that and expect me to believe it?”

I started to tell him to shut it, when my heart rate picked up and my breathing hitched. He was here. I hadn’t seen him yet, but I knew he was here and he was close by. My body always reacted that way when Rock Taylor was around. It had been like that since I’d stepped off the bus the first day of school last year and made eye contact with the most beautiful boy I’d ever seen.