CROSS (A Gentry Boys Novella)(31)

I was still thinking about this when Erin squeezed my hand and rested her cheek on my shoulder. I stopped walking, took her soft face in my hands and kissed her deeply. She melted against me, slipping her arms around my shoulders and letting my tongue slide into her mouth. I knew exactly how she liked to be kissed. Soft and tender to start, teasing the passion to a crescendo. She starting kissing more hungrily and I heard the moan in the back of my throat as I pulled her against me, wanting her, needing her.

HONK!

HONKHONKHONKHONK!!

Asshole Stone and his * date were paused at the corner stop sign and leaning on the horn so much it sounded like an air raid. Stone was driving a beat up black Civic that I assumed belong to Kasey Kean, who giggled in the seat beside him.

My brother leaned out the window and waved. “Sorry about that. Carry on, kids.”

Then he slammed on the accelerator and burned rubber toward Main Street, daring Emblem’s law enforcement to notice.

“Stone’s with Kasey now?” Erin asked with a frown.

“Uh, yeah. I guess.” I still felt a little off balance catching a glimpse of Kasey. Maybe I should have told Erin what happened at the pool last week, but if I said anything now she would wonder why I hadn’t said anything in the first place.

“What about Courtney?”

“Stone isn’t known for monogamy.”

Erin sighed. “I know.”

Even after they’d sped out of sight the intimate moment was hopelessly broken. We went back to holding hands and being quiet until we reached Erin’s door.

“You know,” I said. “It’s not quite eight o’clock. I think my mom’s working late at the pharmacy and I doubt Stone will show up anytime soon. You could come over for a while.”

Erin glanced over at my house. She seemed to be thinking about it but then suddenly shook her head. “Thanks, but I’m not feeling so hot so I think I’m just going to go to bed.”

I raised a suggestive eyebrow. “You could lie down in my bed for a little while. I’ll just sit on the other side of the room and watch you sleep, kind of like that vampire creep all the girls go wild over.”

She smiled over that. “Tempting.” She kissed my cheek. “Another time.”

“See you tomorrow?”

“Of course. Thanks for dinner.” Her hand was on the knob and she was starting to walk through the door so there wasn’t any reason for me to stick around.

I was halfway across her front yard when she called me back.

“Conway! I love you!”

My heart jumped. “I love you too.”

Since I didn’t feel like messing with the front door lock I hopped through my unlocked bedroom window, feeling rather cheerful. Erin and I were due for the standard bumps and bruises that all other relationships endured. That’s all. We were Conway and Erin. We would be fine.

My bedroom was messy and smelled like feet. It was probably a good thing Erin hadn’t taken me up on my offer to hang out. Whistling a Beatles song I’d heard in the diner earlier, I headed to the empty living room and sprawled on the ratty sofa. I didn’t realize I was tired until my eyelids closed. From there I slipped easily into oblivion and didn’t know anything else until some basic instinct jolted me awake. I knew right away I wasn’t alone in the room, even before she said a word.

“Piece of f*cking garbage,” my mother slurred as she slumped in the armchair five feet away. She’d probably topped off her workday with a visit to the Dirty Cactus and put away a few shots. She did that sometimes but she didn’t often get shit-faced enough to chatter nonsense.

I sat up, my neck cramped from an awkward sleeping pose.

“Hey ma,” I greeted her, rubbing my sore muscles.

“Just like him,” she answered and even though it was dark I could see her shaking her head from side to side, the ends of her frosted hair catching the light of the street lamps outside.

The same instinct that jarred me out of my nap told me to just get up and leave the room. It argued that nothing was going to happen here that I’d want to remember later.

“You’re just like him!” She stood up, swaying, howling at the ceiling. “Just like that *. I see it every time I look at you.” A desperate sob escaped her and she sank down to the floor, legs splayed, hands crossed over her stomach. I leaned down and took her arm, trying to help her back up but she twisted away from me.

“Mom,” I said firmly, snapping my fingers to get her attention as I hunkered down at her side. She only cried.

“I tried,” she babbled, rocking back and forth, gulping between heaving sobs. “I thought if I just raised you decent that the bad blood wouldn’t matter. Elijah said it didn’t matter, said you were still his blood in a way even if not directly. He forgave every shitty thing I ever did and loved you both anyway. Loved you even though I told him from the beginning where you came from.”

“Mom.” My head felt strange. My throat felt dry. I wanted her to stop talking. I wanted to jump up and run out the door and never hear whatever jumble of words were coming.

“Chrome,” she said in a moan and covered her eyes. “Him I loved. Always loved him. I let him use me how he wanted because it was as close as I could get. But he was barely a father to the kid he had and didn’t want any more. I thought when he saw Stone he would change his mind but he didn’t.” She curled tighter into a ball and whimpered like a little girl. “I didn’t want to start up with Benton. I understood what Benton was. Mean and violent to the core. Only reason I let that f*cker in was because everybody knew how the Gentry boys were, always competing for the same attention. I thought lying down with Benton would give me Chrome back.” Her voice caught on something that was both a sob and a hiccup and dropped to a whisper. “Instead all it gave me was you.”