The Summer of Me & You (8 page)

“Don't worry,” Gunner said. “No one missed you.”

“Well isn't
he
just a complete smart ass tonight.”
 

“I think it's called a
joke
,” Gunner rolled his eyes. Matt eyed me, making me uncomfortable. I tugged on Gunner, secretly begging him to get me out of here.
 

Seth handed me a drink. “C'mon, Kayleigh. Just a few sips. You gotta live a little.”

I hesitated momentarily, before taking the plastic cup from him. Everyone was drinking. Maybe I'd fit in better if I had a few sips. It was a party after all. A little bit wouldn't hurt, right?

CHAPTER SEVEN

Couldn't get Kayleigh off my mind

*

I decided to go to Ashley's party after all because I needed to get away. I couldn't get Kayleigh off my mind no matter how much I tried. All I did was think about her. I arrived at the party late. As soon as I got there I had three girls lined up for my attention, but I pushed them away. I was here for a drink, I was here for—

Kayleigh? She was the last person I expected to see at this party. But across the room, there she stood, giggling. How had she gotten here? Why had she decided to come?

Suddenly, I didn't care about the alcohol or getting drunk and forgetting everything. My main objective was getting Kayleigh out of here.

Her next door neighbor was sitting on the counter, flirting with some guys. It dawned on me how Kayleigh had gotten to this party.

I approached Gunner. “You brought her here?”

“Yeah,” he said.

“What in the hell were you
thinking
?”

“I was thinking that Kayleigh needed to have some fun. Why?”

“Kayleigh's never been like this before, man. I don't like it. And I don't appreciate you bringing her here tonight.”

“Then do something about it, dumbass, and stop standing here.”

I turned away from Gunner, focusing my attention on Kayleigh. I watched her from a vantage point. She was drunk. So intoxicated she could barely stand so she leaned against some guy. My blood boiled. Seeing her like this was so out of place. For a second I thought I'd stepped into some alternate dimension.

Okay, so maybe part of me was jealous because I'd seen her with someone else and I didn't like it—I didn't like the way it made me feel—but the other part of me just wanted to get revenge on Kayleigh for having found me in my weakest moment. This was more about getting even. Everyone had a shadow side. I'd found hers.

I stood at a vantage point and watched as she inhaled smoke from his cigarette and drank beer from a red plastic cup. If she was going to act that stupidly and share a cigarette with a guy, then it sure the hell was going to be me. No one else. Now I was super pissed.

I never imagined seeing Kayleigh at a party like this. It wasn't her. As I watched, the guy rubbed on Kayleigh's arms—her
small
arms. Suddenly, I felt very protective of her. The guy was three times her size, and with her being intoxicated, he could do anything he wanted to her. The thought made me sick. I had to stop this. Kayleigh didn't know what kind of danger she could be in. I knew she didn't come to these kind of parties. Ever. This was her first. And for whatever reason, she'd decided to show.

The guys here were too old for her. She could pass as the little sister to any of them. And the way she wore those Buddy Holly glasses—she was too vulnerable. I couldn't leave her here knowing what might happen.

Anger boiled in me when he leaned in, jerked her towards him, and tried to force a kiss. She tried her best to scramble away. But he grabbed her. Oh fuck no.

Was no one else seeing this?

I dashed across the room. I tapped him on his shoulder to get his attention and when he spun around, I knocked him the fuck out with my fist. He staggered back and crashed into the towering stack of plastic cups. One of the other guys asked, “What in the hell did you do that for?”

I reached for Kayleigh. “She has to go home.”

“Who the hell are you? Her brother?” The guy shoved her behind him, stepping into my face. He had tattoos and piercings. He looked intimidating but I didn't care. This was Kayleigh we were talking about. I'd do anything to protect her, including the chance that I could get my ass kicked, probably even end up in the hospital after a guy his size beat me down.

“No, asshole. I'm just the guy who does this—” With my fist already tight, I decked him in the jaw, too. “She's sixteen!”

Everyone stared at me. From somewhere in the back, someone yelled, “Go, Kaleb! Whoo!” I recognized that voice. It was Gunner's stupid ass.

“I'll be seventeen in November,” she laughed. I glanced up. Seth hovered in the crowd, watching with amusement. My gaze caught his and I glowered at him.

I was furious. “Shut up, Kayleigh. Let's go.” I reached to pull her away from him, but the first guy I'd decked grabbed me from behind and jerked me around. When I was face to face with him, he punched me. Now we had spectators. The music shut off and the room momentarily quietened to watch us brawl. He'd busted my lip, making it bleed. I was so enraged I thought I was going to explode. I launched into him, tackled him to the floor. I punched him in the face. And again. And then again. “You don't take advantage of sixteen year olds you son of a bitch!” I said it where everyone could hear. “Don't even think about calling the cops and trying to press assault charges against me or you'll be the one going to jail.” I hit him again. “And if I go to jail, when I get out, I'll kick your ass again!”

Gunner rushed over and jerked me off the guy. “Kaleb, stop! You've done enough damage.” I looked down, but I couldn't see straight. I knew the guy was bleeding though. No one else wanted to mess with me.

“Good,” I spit blood. My lip was still bleeding. I wiped my mouth. “So much for a fucking party. Someone invited a predator.”

I glanced at Kayleigh. After seeing what I'd done, she'd sobered a little. She looked horrified. “Come with me,
now
,” I demanded. She sat her cup down, and stepping around the guy I'd just punched the shit out of, she walked over to where I was.

“See you later, Gunner,” she said. I still hadn't calmed down. I was sweaty and mad, and grrr! As soon as we were out the front door, I said, “He's twenty-four. What in the hell were you thinking?!”

“Calm down. Geez-us.”

“Where did you meet him?”

“At the party. Duh.”

“You're acting completely moronic tonight, Kayleigh. You're not the girl I know.”

“Look, just like you said—you don't even know me.”

“Yeah I do. I know he's not right for you. None of these guys at this party are good enough for you.”

“Oh, okay, dad. How would you know?”

“I just do.”

She jerked away from me. “Leave me alone, Kaleb.”

“This isn't you, Kayleigh. You need to go home. You could end up in trouble with that guy. Drinking and smoking to impress him? You're better than that. You don't have to do anything to impress any guy.”

“I can't believe this! You're
not
my father.”

“Yeah, well—I think you need one. Your actions prove it. Girls like you are vulnerable to guys like him. You don't need to end up with daddy issues, Kayleigh. If you need someone to tell you you're pretty, I'll do it.”

“Since when did we become friends?”

“We're not. You saved me from doing something stupid once and I'm here to return the favor.” I scooped her tiny ass up and tossed her over my shoulder. “—And you're going home whether you like it or not.”

“Put me down!” Her small hands beat against my back.

“No. I'm not taking you home while you're drunk. Your mother will kill you. I'm pretty sure you made up some excuse about where you'd be anyway, so you could get out of the house. Your mom can just think that's where you are until you sober. I'm taking you to my place.”

“Oh great—that's just
real
great. You don't want any other guy touching me, but you think you can do it.”

“Don't even start dreaming girl. That'd never happen. I thought you were smarter than this, but I clearly see that you have some self-esteem issues. For that very reason alone, I would never touch you. I'm not that guy.”

“Right.”

“Plus, I don't kiss drunk girls or do anything else with them. That's so wrong.”

“Thought that's how you liked them. Drunk and stupid.”

“Kayleigh, if you could see and hear yourself right now—you look and sound ridiculous. You're not that girl. You're not even a poor imitation of that girl.” I opened the passenger's side door and dipped down to place her inside. “Buckle up and be quiet.”

I raced around to the other side of the car and jumped in, quickly cranking the ignition. When I'd pulled away, heading back to my house, Kayleigh leaned across the seat, reaching out to touch my lip. “You're bleeding,” she said.

I flinched away from her. “Yeah, no shit. You're just now realizing that.” I pressed my foot down on the gas, going fifteen miles over the speed limit.

“I'm sorry,” she said.

“Don't talk to me right now.”

“Are you mad?”

“That would be an underestimate of how I feel right now, Kayleigh.”

As soon as I arrived at my house, I pulled the car onto the lawn, jerked it into park and killed the ignition. I leapt out. Before I could open the door for her, Kayleigh stumbled out of the car, and nearly fell into the grass. I helped her up.

“Stephen isn't home is he?” I wrapped Kayleigh's arm around my neck and supported her as we entered the front door of my house.

“No,” my mom said. “He's still on the road. Won't be back for another week or so.” She sat at the kitchen table and spooned yogurt out of a cup, not looking up. I shut the door with my foot.

“Thank God. Kayleigh needs to stay here tonight. Where's Rebekah?”

“Where do you think? She's at her boyfriend's house where she stays—luckily. I've never seen someone put away so much damn food the way she does and stay skinny. She's probably on drugs or somethin'.”

“Well, who's watching Ali?” I walked Kayleigh to my room.

“Stephen's mother. I needed a break.”

“Mom, Kayleigh's going to sleep in my room tonight, okay?”

That's when she darted her eyes in my direction, fully alert. “Not with you, she's not! Not under this roof!”

I glared at her. “What kind of guy do you think I am?”

She sat her yogurt cup down. “I'm not sure, but I know what kind of guy your father was at your age and that's a pretty good indication.”

I paused, suddenly aflame with emotion. “Don't bring that son of a bitch up to me again. I've never even seen him, and I know just from that fact alone I am nothing like him. I'd never get a girl pregnant and just walk out.” I opened my bedroom door, guiding Kayleigh inside. I laid her gently on the bed where she would be comfortable, then exited the room, quietly closing the door, and walked back into the kitchen.

“I'm sleeping on the couch tonight, mom. Kay was at this party and she had too much to drink. She can't go home like that.”

That's when my mom noticed my lip. “Kaleb? What happened?” I knew it would take a minute for it to register that something was going on. Sometimes she could be way too absorbed in herself to realize that anything was happening outside her little realm of existence.

“I beat the shit out of some guy for trying to kiss Kayleigh. He was too old for her.”

My mother stared back down at her crossword puzzle, fully knowing that this was my typical behavior. Nothing that she should concern herself with. She immediately shifted the subject. “Does her mom know she's here?

“No—like, hello?—that's the whole point, the reason she can't go home like that.” I jerked the table chair out and plopped down. I reached for the cigarette lighter and lit a cig.

“Kaleb,” my mother whined. “I told you no smoking in the house.”

“Look,” I blew out the smoke, “I've had a rough night. Would you please let this one slide?”

She gave me that look. “Be nice and follow the rules and I won't tell Stephen you've been driving his car.”

I took another drag of my cigarette and exhaled. “I know you won't tell him anyway because you know he'd kill me.”

“Speaking of getting someone killed, are you trying to get Kayleigh's mom to murder me?”

“No. I'm not the one who took her to the party. She went on her own.”

“You must really like her, or you don't know who her mother is, one.”

“What's that mean?” I tipped the ashes over into the cigarette tray.

She arched an eyebrow. “You think me and Stephen are hardasses? Haha. Just wait until her mother finds out you two are dating.”

“We're not.”