Page 41 of Wreckage of My Life
“Becca,” he tries to get my attention.
“No,” I repeat to him what he texted me almost three weeks ago. What I texted him back on that same night. Just no.
“You don’t understand what…”
“You’re right,” I nod even though he can’t see me. “I don’t understand any of this. Thank you for clarifying it for me,” I say even though he didn’t clarify shit. “Goodbye, Dylan,” I whisper and hang up.
I continue sitting at the table in the kitchen, my leg still bouncing relentlessly against the floor. I don’t understand what it is about this man that has me so tied up in knots.
A soft knock at the front door brings me back to reality. I need to let this go. Sex with Dylan was amazing, but all this drama that follows him around may not be worth the trouble. I say that to myself as I walk to the front door even though I don’t believe a word of it. He really got under my skin, in a big way.
“Hi,” Emily is smiling shily at me when I finally open the door.
“Em,” I grab her by the arm and pull her into a hug. “What are you doing here?”
“I had to drop off some groceries for Mrs. Thompson down the street from you. Thought I’d stop by,” she shrugs as she explains.
“So glad you did. You want breakfast?”
“Nah, I’m good. How’s the quarterback?” she asks about my brother with a big smile on her face. She’s always treated Colton so nice, and I’ve loved being friends with her for the last couple of years.
“He’s good, got a big game tonight. You wanna go with me? Scouts are going to be there,” I explain while moving around the kitchen, picking things up and putting them away.
“Oh, that’d be fun. I’ll come,” Emily nods enthusiastically. I can tell though that’s she didn’t just stop by to make small talk.
“What’s going on?” I tease her. “Did you come to tell me you’re in love?”
Even though she blushes to the roots of her pretty light brown hair, she shakes her head in denial.
“Not so much, I wish,” she rolls her eyes, but the smile stays on her face. “I was wondering if you could do me a huge favor…”
“A-ha,” I point at her. “I knew there was something on your mind!”
“Well…” I know we’re not best friends, but we are friends. I’d even venture to say we’re close friends, so I’d hope she’d feel more comfortable telling me what she needs.
“Spill it, Em,” I laugh.
“I got a letter in the mail from my mother’s estate about some property that needs to be sold,” she finally spills, worrying her bottom lip. Her mom died of cancer right around the time she and I became friends, and it was really hard on her. “My dad doesn’t want me to go,” she continues. “If I wasn’t of age, I’m pretty sure he’d ban me from going.” We both chuckle at that. Emily’s father is very intimidating at times, I can totally see him doing that. “I don’t want to go by myself,” she explains, and I smile in encouragement, guessing where she’s going with this.
“I’m always down for a girl trip, just so you know,” I grin at her. “Where are we going?”
“Texas.”
18
Wrecker
The ride hometo Texas all the way from fuckin’ northern Illinois was a nightmare. The kid cried every second that he was not asleep. Puck, like the goofball that he is, tried his hardest to entertain him with magic tricks and all kinds of shit. Nothing worked. We thought we’d lose our minds.
“He really took after Wyatt’s woman, huh?” Sully mumbled around a puff of smoke when we were at a break stop, just standing away from the van to clear our heads and have a smoke while Puck was explaining to the boy that food was important and he had to eat it if he wanted to see Ali again. Told him he’d die of starvation. Not sure that’s the way to talk to a kid, doesn’t sound right, but at least it got him to eat a couple of bites off a burger.
“Yeah, looks like it,” I told Sully, then let the smoke out of my lungs. Fuck, that felt so good. I couldn’t smoke while at Wyatt’s, his bitch would’ve had a conniption fit had I tried.
“Whatcha gonna do with him now?”
“Fuck if I know, brother.” And I really didn’t know.
Now, we’ve been home for four days, nothing’s changed except for the fact that my mother is trying to reason with him instead of Puck. I think Puck was more successful in his attempts though.
