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

our small square island. “Maybe his mom is vacuuming and it was too noisy. I don’t know.” I wasn’t about to try and understand why people did what they did. I had enough of my own problems.

She backtracked to look at them again, but I blocked her. “I don’t want his dad to see us eavesdropping.” Once again, I ushered her to the island. “If his dad sees us, he’s likely to storm over here. It’s bad enough that I had a weird encounter with him the other day.”

She commandeered a barstool. “Weird encounter? Please tell me he’s not a dirty old man.”

I shuddered. “Ew. But he did ask if Colton was sleeping in my bed.”

Her pretty blonde brows lifted. “OMG! What did you tell him?”

I grabbed the milk out of the fridge. “Nothing. Mrs. Caldwell interrupted us.”

She dove into the homemade cinnamon rolls. “So I’m dying to hear what happened with Colton after I left the beach yesterday. And don’t leave out a drop of detail.”

I poured two glasses of milk, giggling. “I’m surprised that wasn’t the first thing you asked me when you walked in this morning.”

“I would’ve, but you were with your dad.”

“When has that stopped you?” I teased.

She bit into the cinnamon roll while I set the glasses of milk on the island. “Mmm. These rolls are heaven.”

I sank my teeth into one, and the cinnamon exploded on my tongue. “Yum.”

As we ate, I kept looking at the kitchen window, but I couldn’t see much from where I sat.

Georgia inhaled her roll, watching me as she chewed. “Well, talk.”

“How can I?” I asked between bites. “This is too good.” I pointed to the roll in my mouth.

“Okay, I’ll talk. I sent Kyle a text last night, but he hasn’t responded.”

I twirled an imaginary circle around her mouth. “Then why the frown?”

“He read it, but nothing.”

I hated when someone read a text and didn’t respond. “I’m sorry. Maybe he was in a place where he couldn’t.”

She wrapped her fingers around a glass of milk. “I should just stick to guys around here. Those out-of-towners only break your heart.”

I sagged in my seat. “Colton is leaving town next weekend.”

She almost spit out her milk. “What the… seriously? He’s going back to the academy?”

“Not really. He needs space. He’s going to stay with a friend.”

“Girl or guy friend?”

I took a drink of milk. “Don’t know. I don’t want to, either.” The less I knew, the better my mind would be. It was none of my business, anyway.

“Is Colton okay?” she asked. “You know, he would’ve run into a tree Friday night if not for you.”

“I didn’t bring that up. He didn’t seem as agitated yesterday. I think Grady helped too. Plus, he didn’t tell you or Mia. Remember, Mia overhead him tell Grady. Anyway, I couldn’t blurt out, ‘Hey, were you really going to run into a tree?’ I figure when and if he’s ready, he’ll tell me.” He’d shared one of his demons with me, and that was a step in the right direction for him to heal.

“Fair enough. What else happened?” She checked the archway. “Please tell me you lost your virginity.” Her voice was low.

“No. Although I tried.”

“Shut the front door. You came on to Colton? I think you’re my new hero.”

I snorted. “I’m sure Mia has that trophy. She’s the one having sex.” It was my turn to check if the coast was clear. While I wouldn’t care so much if Nan heard, I wasn’t ready to cross that bridge if she decided to play mom. Satisfied she wasn’t anywhere nearby, I said, “But we had an extremely passionate kiss. And yes, if you must know, it was the best ever.” I touched my lips, almost feeling his on mine.

“You’re toast, girl. We need a plan to make sure he doesn’t leave.”

“For sure.” I was praying he was working out his differences with his dad. Maybe he wouldn’t leave after all.

“Back up,” Georgia said. “You tried to get him naked and he said no?”

“I was wondering when you would catch on to that. He isn’t ready.”

She choked. “What dude in their right mind says he isn’t ready?”

“In all fairness to him, I guess I wasn’t either. I’m not on the pill, and he didn’t have a condom, anyway.”

A shudder wracked my body as I reminisced about our intimate interlude.

“But he slept with Amanda.”

“He didn’t.”

She straightened her spine. “Mmm.” Her tone was skeptical. “She is all talk, though.”

It didn’t matter if she believed that statement or not. I did, and no amount of skepticism on her part would change my mind. Then why do I suddenly feel nauseous?

23

I cruised around the track that circled the football field, feeling free and energized. The last time I’d been on my skateboard was the day Colton had run over it with his truck, which seemed like eons ago, when only a month had passed.

With the balmy wind in my face, I scoured the field for Colton. It had been four long days since our time on the beach, and I hadn’t seen him at all, not even at lunch, when he usually sat with the football team. When I left school each morning, his truck was gone.

Mia had mentioned that Colton was staying with Grady for a few days. That told me the conversation he’d had with his dad hadn’t gone well. Still, he wasn’t in school, and he hadn’t left town because Mia would’ve told me… unless she didn’t want to hurt my feelings.

I kept scanning the field as my stomach wound into a ball of knots. I homed in on Grady, who was getting ready to throw. I coasted along, watching as the football left his hand and soared through the air until it landed in the hands of a beefy guy who wasn’t wearing red cleats. Colton was the only one on the team who wore red cleats.

So I inspected each player, coming up empty each time. I hoped I hadn’t missed the chance to