Draw (Gentry Boys #1)(12)

“You sure you want to do this?” I asked her, ready to back off in a heartbeat while I was still able to.

But Saylor only nodded and slipped her arms around my neck. “I’m sure, Cord.”

I was kind of outside myself after that. I wasn’t gentle because I wasn’t thinking about Saylor. Suddenly what I was doing became a sick sort of payback. I was avenging every crappy thing anyone had ever said or thought about a Gentry even as I was proving what a piece of shit a Gentry could be.

White trash. Vicious. Heartless. Soulless. Lazy. No good. Fuck their own cousins.

Then, when it was over, I didn’t feel a shred of tenderness as Saylor shyly covered her body and tried to smile at me. I didn’t feel a goddamn thing at all. I casually lit a cigarette and said the most awful thing I could think of.

“Well that sucked,” I breathed coolly and watched the shock register on her face. “But it was still a bet worth winning.”

“A bet?” she squeaked.

I smiled. “Sure. You were as easy a f*ck as the three of us figured you would be.”

I smoked and watched her go through the emotions of horror, grief and finally anger. Yeah, she should have known Cord Gentry wouldn’t have latched onto her out of nowhere. She stood up with tears of shame and rage already falling.

“Get out,” she muttered and then screamed it. “GET OUT!”

I took a big drag, blew smoke in her face and laughed. Then I ran all the way home to tell Chase he better pay up. And Chase, who couldn’t keep a secret for love or money, told everyone else.

For the next two years, until we all graduated and scattered, I could never look her in the eye again. I never thought I would have to. Until today.

Mercifully, Chase had taken himself and his blonde to his bedroom. I could still hear them going wild in there but at least it wasn’t happening in plain sight. I was relieved. Saylor was the kind who might make a big deal out of shit like that.

“Hey,” said Creed, and I realized he’d been watching me.

“Yo,” I answered.

My brother nodded soberly. Sometimes he had some sort of supernatural triplet sense when either me or Chase was bugged by something. “It was a long time ago.”

I shrugged, trying to play it off. “Gentrys have done worse I guess. Hell, I know they have.”

Creed didn’t blink. “Shit’s different now, Cord. We ain’t dirty, hopeless boys running around the desert, hoping to god no one’s conscious enough to break wood on us when we get home.”

“That was no f*cking excuse,” I grumbled. “I know it. She knows it.”

Creed dropped the game controller and stood. He looked at the closed door of the bathroom. The shower had squealed to a halt but there was still no sign Saylor was coming out soon.

“Well,” he finally yawned. “I’m hittin’ the sack.”

I stuck out a thumb towards Chase’s room where the sound of energetic bouncing reigned. “It’d be nice to hit it that hard.”

Creed smiled and stretched. “Nah, it’s a beat my own meat kind of night.”

I sank into the couch and waited. The noise of Chase and his lady friend eventually died down but Saylor hadn’t emerged from the bathroom. I hoped she wasn’t in there doing anything weird. She’d always been kind of an intense girl and whatever had happened to her tonight had obviously rattled her cage.

I crept to the door and listened but didn’t hear anything. When the door abruptly creaked open I had to jump back.

“Jesus,” she gasped, dropping a bunch of shit on the floor.

“Sorry,” I said, getting hit by a wave of steam from her long shower. “I started to worry you were in there cutting yourself up or something.”

“No,” she glared. “I wasn’t.” She gave me another hard look, as if she’d forgotten that I would even be around. She had combed out her wet hair and let it hang loose. Apart from her swollen jaw, her complexion was creamy and flawless, her green eyes luminous. She wore the same tee shirt as earlier but had changed to a pair of gym shorts. “Are you going to move so I can get out of the doorway?”

I hadn’t realized I was blocking her. I backed off and headed to the living room, hoping she would follow. “Chase and Creed headed in already but they said to tell you hi. You want a beer or something?”

“No,” Saylor said shortly, sitting delicately on the couch and cradling her purse in her lap. “I mean, no thank you, Cord.” She withdrew her phone and scowled at it, cursing lightly.

“He’s always losing the damn thing,” I commented. She looked at me questioningly. “Brayden and his phone.”

“Oh,” she nodded. “I know.” She looked around with obvious confusion. The place was a mismatch of whatever furniture could be conveniently carried away from Goodwill when we needed it. “You guys been living here long?”

I got a beer for myself. “About a year in this apartment. Before that we bounced around like pinballs for a while.” I took a drink, watching her rub her hands on her bare thighs. It was probably a nervous habit but it got me looking at her legs. They were nice. “So, how’s California?”

Her expression immediately darkened. She pushed her long hair behind her ears. It made her appear younger. “I loved it. Until I hated it. My graduation’s in two days. I’m not going.”