Until the End (Sea Breeze #9)(8)

I stepped in front of Krit and lifted my eyes to meet Rock’s. “I just didn’t want to be left with the seats in the back of the bus. I don’t like those.”

Rock’s grin grew even bigger. “I got a truck. Lucky for you, I like giving my friends a ride.”

Oh, no. I wasn’t letting him see where we lived. Not today. Not ever. “Uh, no, that’s okay. The bus works just fine.” And as if on cue, the bus rolled up and Mr. Freds called out over his megaphone for the riders of A138 to board.

I grabbed Krit’s arm. “That’s us. I’ll see you tomorrow,” I told Rock quickly, and pulled my brother to the bus line. I didn’t look back, and I was almost afraid Rock would get in line with us. Even though he was supposed to be at football practice.

Getting this guy to back off wasn’t going to be easy. Getting my heart to stop going into a frenzy whenever he spoke to me was also not going to be easy. He was every daydream I had allowed myself to have since I was a little girl. A big, beautiful, strong man who could keep me safe. Someone who would love me and ride in on his horse and wrap me up in his arms so that no one could hurt me again.

Rock Taylor did not want to save me and my brother. He was a teenager with a football career ahead of him. Everyone knew the college scouts were watching him. He was going to be big one day. I would be a waste of his time.

“Rock Taylor has the hots for your sister,” Green announced to Krit as we sat down. I ignored his comment.

“Yeah, I saw that,” Krit replied, sounding pissed.

I turned to look at my brother. I would have thought he would love any excuse to get to talk to Rock Taylor. “He doesn’t have the hots for me.”

Krit scowled. “Yes, Sis, he does. I saw it. He’s not what you need, though. He ain’t got time to deal with our shit. He won’t stick around, and you’ll get hurt. Then I’ll have to kill him.”

Green let out an amused, hard laugh. “You can’t kill Rock Taylor. He can step on you and squish you like a bug.”

“You have no clue what I can do,” Krit said, staring straight ahead with a determined gleam in his eyes.

I had to deal with Krit. But not here on this bus where people could hear us.

Rock needed to understand I didn’t have time to be his friend or anything else. I wouldn’t fit into his world. I had my world to survive.

Chapter Seven

Rock

“You good tonight?” I asked Preston as we walked from the field house out to Marcus’s truck. This was a daily thing. Preston’s home life was shit. If it weren’t for his younger brothers and baby sister, he wouldn’t ever go home. His mother was a user. In a very bad way.

“Yeah. It’s all good. I’m anxious to hear about Jimmy’s first day of school,” Preston said with his easy smile that the world believed. But I knew better. Behind his pretty-boy looks and carefree smile was a guy who had seen bad shit. He was basically a father at seventeen. He was the only love and protection his siblings got.

“Jimmy start kindergarten?” I asked.

Preston nodded, then sighed. “He was scared as hell this mornin’ too. It was hard not going with him. I wanted to sit in his class with him all day. You know?” He chuckled and shook his head. “I can’t imagine doing this with Daisy May.”

Daisy May was the baby. She was only one. Preston had been taking care of her since she was born. His mother had come home from the hospital and then left for a week. Preston had lost his job that summer because he couldn’t leave the trailer they lived in. Jimmy was only five then and Brent was about two, I think.

“We’ll all go sit with Daisy May on her first day of school. Threaten anyone who looks at her. She’ll be the most protected first grader there is,” I assured him.

Preston laughed, and then his smile turned into something real. I was reminding him that he wasn’t alone. That all he had to do was let us know when he needed us. We were his family too. Sometimes he needed reminding. He was bad about figuring shit out alone.

“Saw you talking to Trisha Corbin today,” Preston said with a smirk. “Two days in a row.”

Trisha had been hard to track down today. It was like she was avoiding me. I found her anyway. Chasing a girl like this wasn’t something I excelled at. But damn, she smelled good. And that smile of hers. . . . If I could get her to smile, then it made everything worth it.

“She’s not gonna be easy,” Preston warned.

He had no idea. “Yeah. I got that. I wasn’t looking for easy. It ain’t about f**king.”

Preston tossed his bag into the bed of Marcus’s truck and frowned. “Then what the hell is it about? Have you seen her tits and ass? Day-um.”

I would have snapped if it was anyone else who had said that. But it was Preston, and he graded all girls on their tits and ass. He was a player in a very bad way. He didn’t have a good opinion of females, thanks to his mom. Daisy May was the only female he put on a pedestal. Well, Amanda Hardy, Marcus’s little sister, too. But she was so off-limits it wasn’t f**king funny. Like any of us, Preston would beat anyone’s ass who touched her. But he wouldn’t talk about her body or go near it.

“It’s more. Something about her . . .” I wasn’t getting into this with him. He’d make fun of me for weeks. Months. Hell, all f**king year.