Page 535 of One More Kiss

Worth the Wait

Morgan James

Mick

Then

It wasa night for mischief and mayhem, tricks and treats. The moon shone brightly overhead, but the stars in the sky were nearly invisible, drowned out by the bright street lamps as we made our way across the city to the outskirts of town.

“Come on,” Tito said. “Ramon’s waiting for us.”

I held back a groan. I hated that asshole. He was a one-way ticket to trouble with no stops in between. “I don't know, man,” I said. “He's a dick.”

“Lottie will be there.”

Like magic, just the sound of her name had my dick perking up. Ramon’s sister Charlotte—Lottie for short—was the only reason I went anywhere near the guy. She was hot as hell, and I'd had my eye on her since the beginning of the year. Over the summer, she’d sprouted curves in all the right places, and I couldn't seem to stop looking at her. She was kind of a bitch, but it wasn't exactly her personality I was interested in. She was easy, and we’d made out several times over the last few weeks. She’d even let me touch her tits behind the concession stand at the football stadium after last week’s game.

“You tap that yet?”

“Not yet.” I shook my head.

Tito punched my arm. “Maybe tonight.”

I grinned at the thought of finally getting Lottie alone. “Hell yeah. Where are we going?”

“Ramon said there's an abandoned house over here,” he replied as we crossed the deserted side street. “He’s bringing the goods, so you can find an empty room with Lottie.”

That sounded far better than getting high with Ramon and his buddies, so I fell quiet as we cut across an overgrown lawn and came up behind a dark, dilapidated house. Ramon and a couple of his friends sat on the front porch, given away by the sweet smell of pot and the red flare of the blunts they puffed on.

“Hey, man.” Tito fist-bumped Ramon then the others, and I followed suit. But I was more focused on Lottie, who sat off to the side, looking bored. The porch was cluttered with junk, and I took a seat on a crate next to a pile of newspapers that had been discarded.

“How did you guys make out tonight?” I asked Lottie.

She tossed her long, dark hair over her shoulder with a smirk. “Trick-or-treating is for little kids. We egged Mr. Henderson's house and car instead.”

“Almost got caught.” Ramon chuckled. “But the old fuck couldn't catch us.”

I was no stranger to pranks, but sometimes Ramon and his friends took things a little too far. Case in point: Ramon had thrown a rock through our principal's living room window a few weeks back for giving him detention. One of these days the asshole was going to end up in jail, and I wanted to be as far away from him as possible when that happened.

I watched as Ramon pulled a baggie from his back pocket and tossed it to Tito. “Roll one up.”

Tito set about pulling out the papers and rolled a couple joints to share. He took a hit before passing it back to Ramon. “That's good shit.”

They passed the joint down the line until it reached me. I lifted one hand to signal a pass. Not only would my mother kill me if she found out I was smoking, but I had seen from some of the other kids in town the effects the drugs had on them. “Nah, man, I'm good.”

“Don't be a pussy,” Lottie piped up from beside me. “It's just pot.”

Hitting a guy’s pride was a sure-fire way to get him to do anything. “What the fuck ever,” I said as I took it from his fingers. It was just pot, right? Couldn’t be that bad. I lifted it to my lips and inhaled deeply. My chest spasmed as the smoke filled my lungs, and I dissolved into a fit of sputtering coughs. They all laughed at my reaction, and anger caused my hand to tense. I dropped the joint, and it rolled to the floor. I swept the darkened porch with one hand, but there was too much shit piled up to find it.

“Where the hell is it?” Ramon demanded.

“He dropped it.” I could hear the derision in Lottie’s voice as she pushed out of the chair like she couldn't stand to be next to me anymore.

The back of my neck burned with shame and humiliation as the rest of the guys followed Lottie and stood.

“Fucking newbie,” one muttered as they stomped down the porch steps and started to leave.

Tito met my gaze and shrugged as I rose to my feet. “Don't worry about it.”

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