Fall Guy (A Youngblood Book) by Reinhardt, Liz (knowledgeable books to read TXT) 📕

glad I'm moving on, but, even with all the shit my family got itself wrapped up in, there was still a lot I loved about being so close to them. Evan's Sometimes, Always, Never game flashes through my brain.

I'll always love my family.

I'll see them sometimes.

I'll never be under their thumb again.

But never being under their thumb means that I'll be shut out. There will be secrets I'm not told, there will be problems I don't help solve. I'll miss the downtime, the fun time, the family dinners and UFC fights and masses that are all I've known my whole life. I feel like I'm having an organ transplant. Even though I'm taking out what's poisoning me, I'm still losing a piece of myself. And it aches.

We do the requisite hugging and well-wishing, more so with my siblings than my parents, who look aged and shell-shocked. I feel guilty, but not guilty enough to stay.

And, before anything is resolved, before I know what I'm really doing or if it's really a good idea, I'm driving. It doesn't take long to pull up where I need to be, but this is the goodbye that's really going to hurt. Luckily, it's still a day or two away.

The door to Evan's grandparents' house swings open and Mr. and Mrs. Early give me a lukewarm greeting.

"Winchester," Mr. Early says, gripping my hand too hard and staring me down with a warning glare. For someone who resembles a cross between Colonel Sanders and Santa Claus, this guy is pretty intimidating.

"Evan is up in her room." Mrs. Early still hasn't completely forgiven me for being the persistent suitor they couldn't get rid of. She wanted me to disappear, let Evan date some nice boy from one of the families they knew. But I wasn't about to let that happen.

"Thank you, ma'am." I give her my most charming smile, but she freezes me out. It must be something in Evan's bloodline that makes such scarily cold-hearted women.

I start up the stairs and find Evan sitting at her vanity, putting on the last of her makeup, her phone propped up and the speaker on. Her best friend is chattering to her.

"...nothing to worry about, sweets. He's going to be in a program, okay? A stone cutting program or whatever. Not to totally buy into the gender stereotype, but, realistically, how many girls could there possibly be in a school like that? And that's beside the point. He has you. What guy in his right mind would ever pursue any other girl when he has you?" Brenna's voice is bossy but caring. I love that she's got Evan's back.

I come up behind Evan and kiss her neck. She gets a big blob of black eye-makeup on her cheek. "Winch!" she squeals. "Don't sneak up on me when I'm putting on mascara. I could have poked my eye out!"

"Stop putting on mascara like such a sexy thing, and I won't be tempted." I pull a tissue out the box and try to wipe it off, but she springs back in horror and takes out some little container of round cotton things and goes to work getting the gunk off. "Hey Brenna. I like your advice."

"Hey Winch!" Brenna says, and, though I've never met her, I can almost picture her bouncing in her chair. "I know, right? Your girlfriend is so smart, but she's kind of being an idiot about this."

"You just keep reminding her she's got nothing to worry about, okay?" Evan turns to me, the mascara blob gone, and kisses me full on the mouth. I immediately want her, but I can't have her. Not yet.

"I will. Have a safe trip, Winch. And good luck with the, uh, stone work!"

"Thanks, Bren," I say, not able to keep down a sheepish smile. I’m excited about this. All this. My new life, my new job. I can’t wait.

Evan grabs the phone and takes it off speaker so she can whisper whatever crazy girl secrets she's telling her friend. When she hangs up, she immediately straddles my lap and presses against me.

"Not here," I say when her hand cups my dick, already completely hard.

"We can be so quick," she says as she nibbles my earlobe. "I've missed you."

I stifle a groan. "If Lee Early caught us even like this, he'd put a bullet through my brains, no question. I can't even believe you convinced them to let you stay over with me."

She leans back, her arms linked around my neck and rolls her eyes. "Yeah, it wasn't easy. But I've been on good behavior, my community service is all done, and I think they love you. I mean, they're still pissed as hell at you for dragging your feet. But now that they know you, they love you as much as I do. Well, almost as much." She grinds on my lap and smiles this wicked smile that just turns me on more.

"Stop it before I need a cold shower." I kiss her and move her firmly off me, trying to focus on anything that will make my dick chill out enough so that I can speak to her grandparents without needing to keep something in front of my pants at all times.

I mentally focus on baseball stats, gather her bags, and we head down to say another round of goodbyes, but these are way less drama-filled, both because the Earlys are more easy-going people and because this is all good for them. Evan will only be gone two days, and then I’ll drive her back. I will stay hundreds of miles away indefinitely. It's as perfect as they could have hoped for.

"Why did the only school that offered mason work have to be seven hours away?" Evan grumbles as we buckle into the truck.

"It's the best school for the kind of stonework I want to do," I remind her. "I want to be good at this. I want to start to make a life for us, Evan."

"How do you always manage