The Bride (The Bride #1)(20)

“Okay, let’s break down what you said. You didn’t want to be a virgin anymore. Why?”

“Because everyone has done it except me.”

“And that’s the reason to have sex with someone?”

“Oh please, don’t give me the if everyone jumps off a bridge am I going to jump off a bridge speech. Yes, everyone is having this huge life experience and I wanted to try it too. I mean, it’s supposed to feel good and be fun. As long as it’s safe and no one gets hurt or pregnant, what’s the big deal?”

“Wow. You are a virgin.”

“Uh, hello. What I’m telling you.”

“Ellie, yes sex can be fun and feel good, but man, it’s way more than that. Especially the first time. That first time there has to be huge amounts of trust. Have you ever gotten naked with a guy?”

“No.”

“It’s scary. The first time. For the guy and the girl both, it’s like oh shit… we’re both naked and you can see and touch everything.”

That made her huff out a laugh.

“And the other part. When a woman lets a guy inside her body for the first time, obviously I’m not a woman and I can’t imagine how that feels, but for me it’s like this huge gift from the woman. Like she opened herself up completely to me and my body. Every time it happens I think wow, she is the bravest person for letting me do this. For trusting me with this. Then all that goes out the window because it does feel pretty good.”

She leaned against me as if all the adrenaline had left her. Which let’s face it, the adrenaline must have been pumping through her all day if she thought this was how the night was going to end. Because no one went into that first time without a lot of nerves.

Dinah and I had both been trembling. Before, during and after.

“I thought it was going to be the best night ever.”

“I can’t say I’m sorry it didn’t go as planned. But trust me, Ellie, it’s the person who you’re with that will tell you when it’s the right time to have sex. Not a day on a calendar, but a man who you can trust implicitly with something so important.”

She lifted her head off my shoulder and looked at me. “You were surprisingly good at that. That was a legit sex talk.”

I was. Because I cared about her and I was honest.

“Go wash your face before you fall asleep. You’ve got gunk everywhere.”

I got off the bed and made my way to the door.

“Thanks again for the birthday gift, Jake. And thanks for being cool about tonight.”

“No problem.”

I shut the door behind me and thought that went about as well as it could have, and then I didn’t think of it again. Because Ellie having sex in the hunting cabin… holy shit.

Right now it was my job to protect her. For better or worse, richer for poorer, for the next three hundred and sixty five days.

That was it.





Eight





Ellie





It was the next Tuesday after the prom. I was no longer hanging out with Riley. Obviously. In a lot of ways Jake was right. I wanted to have sex. Riley was the guy I was hanging out with, but I didn’t know how much I wanted to have sex with Riley. I liked him. I liked kissing him. But all that stuff Jake said about Riley penetrating my body and was I cool with that?

Truthfully, I think I probably would have freaked out.

Fine. I didn’t yet know which guy was the one. I would wait. It wasn’t like sex was going anywhere. There would be all kinds of chances in the next forty or fifty years. I wasn’t sure at what age people stopped having sex. My dad was still going strong at fifty-seven, so that had to mean something.

I sat down at our normal lunch table in the high school cafeteria. Karen, Lisa, and Chrissy where there. They all knew what didn’t happen. They all knew about how cool Jake had been about the whole thing. They were all supportive.

They were my friends.

Now it was behind me. We had all vowed to never speak of what became known as the Great Prom Debacle again.

Except in that moment Bobby MacPherson showed up at our table. Sitting down next to me on the bench, facing away from the table.

“So Mason, hear you are looking for some action?”

My face flushed as I realized what he meant. Seriously, that’s how you know you’re a virgin, because it takes you that long to realize what he’s asking you.

Bobby MacPherson was the best athlete in the school, which really didn’t mean much as team sports weren’t that big of a thing in Riverbend. Mostly because we were too far away from other schools to have regular weekly games, but also because non-traditional sports like rodeo were bigger in Montana.

Still, we had a football team that mostly scrimmaged amongst themselves and played the team from Jefferson twice a season. Bobby was QB One and like some bad cliché in a high school TV drama, QB One thought his shit didn’t stink. He made everyone in class call him Mac, which was stupid because his name was Bobby. So I called him Bobby.

“Screw you, Bobby.”

And screw Riley for blabbing. I mean really? He rejects me then has to tell everyone about it. What kind of douchebag move is that?

“No, screw you. That’s what I’m offering,” he snickered at Chrissy’s horrified gasp.