Giving It to the Bad Boy (18 page)

and Reese didn’t plan on letting her go.

****

Kiera’s parents and brother came home later Sunday afternoon, and Kiera hadn’t realized how

much she had missed Alex until she saw him climb out of the truck. When he saw her making her way

toward them his smile grew.

“You sure are a sight for sore eyes, Goober.” Kiera rolled her eyes at the lame nickname Alex

called her since she was five years old. He wrapped his arms around her, and she let herself get lost in the familiarity of her brother.

“I’m sorry I didn’t come with Mom and Dad.”

“No worries. I really didn’t need both of them there anyway, but you know how Mom is.” He

chucked her under the chin and led her into the house with his arm still draped over her shoulder. “Let me get my stuff unloaded, and then let’s you and me go somewhere and catch up. I felt like I haven’t seen you in forever.” He left her in the foyer while he took a few of his bags up to his room. It was nice having him home, but she worried her bottom lip at the idea of telling about the obvious

relationship she was in with Reese. There was no doubt Alex knew about him, about his reputation,

so she needed to tread very carefully.

An hour later and Alex was done unpacking and they were in his truck pulling away from their

parent’s house. He looked over at her and asked, “You hungry?” She shook her head. “Well, I’m

going to go to the drive-thru and pick something up.”

After he grabbed some food they made their way to the park. Alex pulled the truck into a spot

and turned off the engine. For several moments they sat there and stared at the playground. Since it was a Sunday and the weather was nice, the park was packed. When Alex first started driving they

had come here a lot. A small pond sat a ways away from the playground and was normally people-

free. A tennis court sat beside the park, and a thick patch of trees opposite that.

“You want to hang out in our spot?”

Kiera nodded, and they climbed out. They walked around the pond and headed into the cool

shade the trees provided. For some reason no one ever came back into the woods, but it worked out

well for them. Kiera hadn’t been here in years, so this was a nice treat. A group of large boulders

were in a semi-circle, and they sat down, facing each other. Alex immediately started digging into his food. They didn’t speak while he ate, and Kiera just enjoyed the quiet and still surroundings. It wasn’t until Alex finished eating and stretched his legs out that she noticed what was on his arm.

“Alex, what the hell is that?” She leaned forward and pulled up the sleeve of his shirt. Dark ink

in swirling lines started on his upper bicep and disappeared to his back. “When did you get a tattoo?”

She dropped the shirt and leaned back. “Do Mom and Dad know?” No doubt they would freak if they

saw that. Her parents were conventional in that sense.

“They do now.” He grinned and leaned back against the tree that stood behind the rock he sat

on. “They came earlier than I thought, and I answered the door only wearing my pants.”

“I bet Mom freaked out.”

His smile widened. “That is an understatement, but what can they say? I’m an adult and pay my

own bills.” He was right, but still, his tattoo seemed pretty big. “Wanna see it?” She nodded. He

stood and lifted his shirt. He turned around, and her mouth dropped open. The majority of his back

was covered in dark, intricate lines.

“Why didn’t you tell me you got that? I mean … damn, Alex. That’s a lot of ink.”

He dropped his shirt and sat back down. “Honestly?”

She looked at him like he lost his mind.

He chuckled. “It all started when I lost a bet.”

“You got that because of a bet?” She could hear the incredulous note in her voice.

At least he had the decency to look embarrassed. “A drunk bet, yeah. The next morning I

realized I had Scooby Doo tattooed on my back.” Kiera burst out laughing. Tears slipped from the

corner of her eyes, and she wiped them away.

“That’s priceless.”

He scowled. “Anyway, I got it covered and just went from there. Took a couple of months to

finish it.” He shrugged.

“Well, I like it. It’s shocking, but looks nice.”

He grinned and put his hands behind his head and regarded her. He had bulked up since the last

time she saw him.

“You’ve been working out.” She stated the obvious.

“Yeah. Coach has been busting the guys’ balls on getting bigger and staying in shape, especially

since we came to practice hung-over on more than one occasion.”

Her phone beeped with an incoming message, and she pulled it out of her pocket and pulled it

up. A smile formed on her lips when she saw it was from Reese.

Reese:
Bummed I didn’t C U. Thought of U all night tho ;)

If she was the swooning type she would have done it at that moment. She typed out a quick

response then put her phone away. Alex watched her with a knowing expression.

“What?” she asked.

“Don’t ‘what’ me. I know that look.”

Kiera feigned innocence. “What look?”

“The look a girl gets over a guy.” She stayed quiet, and they seemed to have some kind of stare-

off. Kiera wasn’t going to hide her relationship from Alex, but now faced with it she couldn’t deny

she was a bit apprehensive in actually talking about it. Alex had always been the typical big brother when it came to boys. “So, baby sister, whose ass do I have to kick?”

She laughed, but the sound died when she realized Alex was serious.

“Stop it, Alex.” Shifting, Kiera looked anywhere except at him. “So, football’s going good

then?”

“Don’t change the subject, Kiera.”

“I’m not changing anything.” The hard look on his face told her he wouldn’t let this go. She took

a deep breath and decided just to get this over with. “Okay, okay. I am seeing someone, but you don’t need to get all protective or anything.” He lifted a brow at her statement. “He’s a really great guy and treats me good.”

“I’m not supposed to be worried that my little sister is dating someone for the first time?”

She straightened her shoulders. “I’ve dated before.”

His look spoke volumes. “Letting some tuba playing guy flirt with you isn’t really considered

dating, Goober. So, who is he?”

She wasn’t about to debate with Alex that she had two boyfriends, and who cares if one of them

did play the tuba? Her hands were extremely interesting at that moment.
Just spit it out. He is bound
to find out eventually.
“Reese Trenton.” She said his name soft and fast, and at Alex’s silence she assumed he may not have heard her, but lifting her eyes to his showed that her brother had heard her just fine.

“Reese Trenton?” He dragged his name out.

She nodded. “Yeah. I take it you know him?”

“Shit, Kiera.” He stood and started to pace. “Do you even know who he is? I know damn well

you’ve heard the rumors.” He stopped in front of her and stared down with an unhappy expression. “I

hear the rumors, and I don’t even go to that school anymore.”

“I don’t care about all that, Alex. That’s what they are, just rumors. He is totally different. He’s a good guy.” She had noticed a change in Reese, a good one that had her heart skipping a beat and her belly tightening. What they had done just the night before replayed in her mind, and she flushed.

Fortunately, Alex had turned away and started pacing again, so he didn’t see her. No doubt he would

be able to tell exactly what she was thinking.

“I’m going to beat his ass.” She didn’t doubt her brother could hold his own, but there was

something different inside of Reese, something dangerous and scarred. He was ruthless, that much

was clear in the way he defended her at Haden’s party.

“You don’t need to do that, Alex. He has treated me with nothing but respect. He’s good to me.”

Her brother looked over at her, his expression uncertain.

“Out of all the guys you could have picked, you chose that one.” It wasn’t a question, and she

could tell he was talking to himself. “Now I wish I would have let you date that tuba player.” Kiera couldn’t help it. She laughed out loud. “I don’t like this, Kiera.”

“It doesn’t matter if you like it or not, Alex. I’m a big girl and can make my own decisions. I

love that you look out for me, but this is my life.” He stared at her for several long moments then

shook his head in defeat. He knew she was right. “Besides, if I believed every rumor I would put you in the category of womanizing party-animal.” She grinned because the latter was true. She was trying to make a point, though. One couldn’t always go on what others said. Sometimes she had to find out

for herself who they were. That was exactly what she was doing with Reese.

“Shit, Kiera.” He ran his hand over his dark brown hair and sat back on the rock facing her.

“Just promise me something.” She nodded and smiled because she loved her brother and the fact he

trusted her to make her own decisions. “Be careful with him. He’s got a fucked-up past.” His eyes

grew hard. “And you’ll tell me right away if he does or says anything to hurt you, yeah?” Although he was deadly serious, Kiera couldn’t help but smile. He was always looking out for her.

“Yeah, Alex. I’ll be careful, and thank you for being you.”

“Reese, have you seen the pictures of you at Harrison’s party?” Reese slammed his locker shut

and turned around to stare at Marcus.

“What pictures?” Reese started walking. He didn’t give a shit about some camera phone

pictures drunk ass people took of him kicking the shit out of that douche-bag Chris. He had deserved the beating, especially after he started mouthing off about Kiera. He headed into the lunch room and grabbed a pop. He glanced at his watch, and a giddy feeling he had been unaccustomed to until Kiera

came into his life filled him. She’d be here soon, and he couldn’t help the smile that formed on his lips.

Marcus sat across from him at the table. He pulled his cell out and scowled through what Reese

assumed to be the pictures in question.

“These, man.” Marcus all but shoved the phone in his face, and Reese snatched it out of his

hand. The first few pictures were stills of him and Chris grappling. The others showed Reese’s fist

connected with Chris’s jaw. He went to hand the phone back, not caring about them. Yeah, it was

evidence, but he knew they wouldn’t go far. Marcus shook his head. “Keep looking.” Reese felt his

brows dip low and scrolled through more of the same photos, but the next one had everything inside

of him stopping. Someone had snapped several photos of Chris’s girlfriend kissing him, and her hands all over his body. Reese knew they were innocent, that he hadn’t wanted any of it, but they sure as

hell looked incriminating. He knew the truth, knew that he had been trying to push her away, but from the photo it appeared like he was holding her to him.

“Where the fuck did you get these, and why would someone wait to send these out days after a

fucking party?” He swiped his finger across the screen and looked through the rest, but they were all the same just. Reese noticed there was none of him shoving her away. Anger, white-hot and burning,

moved through his veins.

Marcus held up his hands, and a wary look crossed his face. “Andrea sent them to me along

with twenty other undisclosed numbers. I know Christian and Leo got them, too. You didn’t get

them?”

Reese shook his head angrily. .

“Shit, man, no doubt it spread like wildfire, and the whole damn school has a hold of them.”

Marcus looked around before leaning in. “I know you wouldn’t do anything to jeopardize what you

have with your girl, not when I can tell she’s somethin’ special to you. If this gets to her she’s going to see something in those photos that isn’t really there. I was there, Reese, and I know you pushed that chick off, but these pictures.” He pointed to the phone. “Those look like something else was going

on.” Reese tossed the phone on the table. His heart slammed against his ribs. Looking around the

cafeteria showed him Kiera hadn’t arrived yet. He needed to get to her and explain it all. He didn’t want her to get the wrong idea, because he couldn’t deny that the pictures looked bad. What in the hell would she think if she thought he had been all over some other chick then was intimate with her right after? A sick feeling spread through him, and he stood abruptly.

“I need to find Kiera.”

****

“Hey.” Kiera turned around when she heard Andrea behind her. The false sweetness in her

voice didn’t go unnoticed by Kiera. Andrea wore her cheerleading outfit—big surprise— and her

posse stood behind her, suspicious grins on their face. Before Kiera could say anything Andrea was

talking again. “If you think for one moment that Reese wants anything from you besides a piece of ass, then you are mistaken.”

What in the hell brought this on? Ever since Kiera had approached Reese’s table all those days

ago and didn’t stand down form Andrea, the girl had left her in relative peace. She tried to ignore

Andrea, because Kiera knew a reaction was exactly what the other girl was aiming for. She went to

walk away, but Andrea stepped in front of her. Andrea smirked, and Kiera felt her anger and irritation grow.

“What do you want, Andrea?” She crossed her arms and glared at the other girl. Kiera was sick

of this and had enough of the petty bullshit. “I understand you’re upset because Reese doesn’t want

you, but taking it out on me is ridiculous.” Kiera hadn’t even been so verbally open and stood up for herself before, and she admitted it felt damn good, especially speaking her mind to Andrea.

Andrea narrowed her eyes and held her hand out behind her, as if trying to hold back her friends