Crazy For You by Alexander, S.B. (best ebook reader ubuntu .TXT) 📕

loved one, and until a person went through a death, they didn’t understand.

“I lost my mom,” I said on a whisper.

Despair washed over him, sending a zap of pain to my heart. Then his chest heaved, and he withdrew his hand. “I've got to run. Do you mind if I take this with me? I’ll see if I can pick up a new wheelbase for you.”

He could take me instead. “Go ahead.” I couldn’t use it, anyway.

With my most precious possession in his grasp, he headed for the door, when his phone rang, the sound blaring in the carless garage. He stopped to answer. “Yeah.”

Amanda’s squeaky voice came through loud and clear, as though he had her on speaker.

I ground my back teeth.

He watched me intently as he listened to Amanda prattle on about being on time for something.

I snarled, not caring that I was laying my cards on the table.

A slow, wolfish grin emerged on those thick lips of his, making my freaking heart beat out of control. I had no idea what was happening between us, but whatever it was had to stop. He was dating Amanda, and I wasn’t a relationship breaker.

“I’m on my way,” he said to Amanda. “Let Grady know I’ll bring the beer.” Then he pocketed his phone.

One of my eyebrows climbed up to my hairline. “Drinking like your dad?” Oh, for fuck’s sake. Shut up, Skyler.

He ambled toward me with a sense of purpose. Yeah, that purpose was probably to cut out my tongue. I wouldn’t blame him.

Once we were toe-to-toe, he brushed strands of my bangs off my forehead. “Grady thinks you were prettier with long hair.”

A gasp lodged in my throat. The word “kill” skipped through my brain like a bubbly child on her way to school. Only I wasn’t happy. I was ready to end Grady once and for all.

I lifted my chin, wondering if Colton agreed with Grady or if he even remembered me in our freshman year. “Is that so? Did you know that Grady is a first-class dick? And that if you keep hanging around him, you might fall into that category too?” Those words didn’t slip out unexpectedly. I was never more serious, and if he did take after Grady, then good looks or not, he wasn’t the guy for me.

One side of his lips turned upward as he leaned into my ear. “Have a good night, Skyler.” Then he slowly dragged his scruffy jaw along my smooth one.

I held back a whimper. Damn guy. Damn heart. Damn hormones.

Carrying my skateboard, he strutted out without even a backward glance. His swagger affected me in all the right places… or the wrong ones, if he turned out to be a prick.

10

Stella purred as she settled next to me on my extra pillow. I flipped onto my stomach, trying to get comfortable. Then I turned on my back. “Argh!” Kicking off the covers, I combed my fingers through my short strands.

Grady’s comment had been bothering me all night. I was prettier with long hair. I growled, when I really wanted to hunt Grady down and give him a piece of my mind.

I couldn’t get that line out of my darn head, and I was dying to know if Colton agreed with the asshat.

I puffed out a heavy breath just as Stella pawed me, as if to say she was there for me. I glanced over at her. “I love you too. You know, guys are maddening.”

One in particular. I was approaching the end of the first week of school, and it felt like so much had changed in the blink of an eye. With Dad and now Colton, my emotions were on the precipice of falling off a cliff—a perfect storm was brewing, and I knew that when it hit, I was going to fall hard, and that terrified me.

Still, I couldn’t shake the entire convo between Colton and me—or rather what had been left unsaid. He knew he was affecting me.

My hand crept down to my panties. I had a constant ache that needed some form of release. Maybe then I would feel like I wasn’t about to explode. I was a virgin, but I wasn’t exactly naïve to that pulsing between my legs. I’d slipped my fingers inside my panties when a car door slammed. I checked the time on my ceiling—I had one of those clocks that flashed the neon red numbers in the dark room. Three a.m.

It was probably Colton’s dad waltzing in like usual, drunk out of his mind. I’d said I wasn’t nosy, but I guessed I was. I had to peek. I climbed out of bed, that pulsing need gone until I ever so lightly pulled down a slat in the blinds. Then the throbbing hit me like a tornado. Colton stood against his truck, shirtless, hair messy around his strong jaw. The spotlight from his garage beamed at him like he was on stage. It took me a beat to realize he was looking up in my direction.

Oh hell no.

Faster than the Flash, I let go of the blind and slapped a hand over my heart. I didn’t know whether to be creeped out or excited beyond belief. I was going for the second option, since the butterflies were fluttering around in my stomach, seeming to travel south in droves. I squeezed my eyes closed for a breath to commit his bare chest to memory until a thought came out of nowhere.

He was just getting home and probably from a romp in the hay with Amanda. The need to scream was on the tip of my tongue.

Stella pushed her head against my leg and I jumped a mile. Do I look again? Or do I go back to bed? The answer to my second question was a flat no. I wouldn’t be able to sleep even if someone paid me a million dollars. I also wasn’t going to give Colton any ammunition to think I couldn’t keep my nose