Page 46 of My Vows Are Sealed

Show You Love

Amazing how looking forward to going to school actually made me happy to get out of bed earlier than normal. I supposed that was a good thing, because this was going to be my life for at least a week. Getting to school the second they opened the gates so I could meet Darla’s bus and be her pack mule for the day. Not that I minded. Even if our talk yesterdayhadn’tgone as well as it did – holy crap, I had a girlfriend now! – I would have done that for her. I wouldn’t have let her lug that monstrosity she called a backpack all over the Charleston High campus with those injuries.

As I pulled into the school parking lot, I decided to still park toward the back even though I had the pick of almost any spot since I was one of the first ones here. I had two perfectly working legs, so I figured I might as well leave the spots closer to the school for the kids who might actually need them. I quickly shouldered my backpack, then grabbed the two mocha Frappuccinos I’d picked up at Starbucks this morning.

The second I opened my car door, I was bombarded by the scent of cigarette smoke. I buried my face in the crook of my elbow as I coughed, then looked around for the source. Smoking wasn’t allowed on campus, not even for the eighteen-year-old seniors, so it wasn’t something I was used to smelling here.

When my eyes landed on the beat-up old Chevy pickup five spaces down from me, I wasn’t even a little surprised. Ryan Correy was the token drug addict at this school, and the rumor was that he was actually a dealer too. He was a senior this year, but I’d be shocked if he actually managed to graduate.

Five kids were sitting in the bed of his pickup, and right in the middle of it all was Ethan Smith, the punk from youth group. I watched as he took a swig from a big bottle of cheap vodka, then chased it down with a drag from a cigarette. And then he put the cigarette out on the side of the truck before just tossing the butt in the grass.

I knew I should say something and try to stop him before he fell in even deeper with that crowd. The entire time I’d been here, I’d seen Ryan preying on the young, vulnerable students and sucking them into a lifestyle they ended up regretting. And Ethan had been so desperate to fit in from day one that he didn’t care what he had to do to make people like him. Even if it meant breaking the law and destroying his lungs and liver in the process.

But, frankly, he’d been making my girlfriend’s life a living hell ever since school started, and now Ifinallyhad some leverage over him to get him to stop. Besides, I had more important things to do than play babysitter this morning, like make sure said girlfriend didn’t exacerbate her injuries hauling around her ridiculously heavy backpack. So, saying a quick prayer for forgiveness, I hurried into the building before Ethan saw me.

* * *

Darla’s lips spread into something between a smile and a grimace as she lugged her backpack off of her bus and walked toward me. I could see the pain written all over her face, and I wished like hell that I could take it from her. Really, I wished her dad would pick on someone his own size. Someone who wasn’t afraid to fight him back. But that wasn’t what bullies did. They never picked on someone they could have a fair fight with, because they knew they’d lose. They preyed on people who were weaker than they were.

“Hey,” I said, holding one of the Frappuccinos out to her. “Trade you a Frappuccino for that backpack?”

She chuckled and set her bag on the ground, then took her drink from me. “Doesn’t seem like a fair trade. This Frappuccino is way more appealing than my backpack.”

“I mean, with how much these textbooks probably cost? I’d say you’re getting the short end of the stick with a five-dollar frozen coffee,” I teased as I shouldered her bag, then took a quick glance around to make sure no one who knew us was in the vicinity before stealing a kiss.

She giggled, and her cheeks turned bright pink. I wished I could just record that sound and play it on a loop all day. It was the best thing ever. I would have done almost anything to elicit that sound from her.

Yeah, I had it bad. No, I had no shame.

“You’re spoiling me. Watch it. I could get used to this,” she mumbled.

Good. I hoped she did, because I wasn’t planning on stopping any time soon. I wasn’t going to be stupid and do anything that would make her dad catch on, but this kind of stuff? I hoped she was prepared, because I had years of moments when I couldn’t do little things like this for her because it would have been weird to make up for.

“Don’t fight it. Just let it happen,” I teased, making her cheeks darken even more. “Come find somewhere to sit with me. I have something else for you, but it’s in my backpack.”

“Okay,” she chuckled. “Do I get a hint?”

“You’ll find out in a couple of minutes. How are you feeling?”

“I got my mom to look at my rib last night,” she sighed. “I told her how bad it hurt, and she was kicking herself for not noticing it sooner. So it’s wrapped now. I can’t really bend over and the pressure kind of hurts, but it feels more stable, I guess?”

“And if she’d just taken you to a damn doctor in the first place like she should have, you wouldn’t have been walking around with an untreated broken rib for two whole days before someone noticed it,” I muttered as we approached one of the stairwells.

“I know,” she agreed. “But if she refuses to, there’s not much I can do about it. I’m the kid and she’s the adult, you know?”

“I get it,” I sighed, sitting down on the third step and dropping our bags next to me, making sure people could still get past us if they needed to. “Come here.”

I took her drink from her, then guided her to sit on the second step between my legs. Carefully, avoiding her bad shoulder and rib, I pulled her back against me and wrapped my arms around her, planting a kiss on her collarbone. She let out a contented sigh as she turned to look at me, and I couldn’t pass up the opportunity for a real kiss.

I finally got why everyone was so obsessed with kissing. Because I couldn’t get enough of the feeling of Darla’s lips on mine, her tongue stroking against mine, the way our souls seemed to reach out and touch each other through this connection. Or maybe that was just because it was with the right person. I couldn’t imagine that it would feel like this with anyone else. And I had no desire to find out.

Someone forcefully shoved both of us, and Darla pulled away from me with a look of absolute agony on her face. Her mouth opened like she was screaming, but no sound came out, and her eyes were squeezed shut, like she was desperately trying to fight off tears.

“Well, look what we have here,” I heard an unwelcome voice saying. “Does Pastor Jones know you’re corrupting his sweet, innocent little girl when he’s not looking, Carter?”

Darla whimpered quietly, and I physically felt her tense and cower into my arms as he said that, like she was already trying to shield herself from her father’s wrath.

Nope. Just no. I wasn’t about to let this shithead be the reason her father found out about us and hurt her even worse than she already was.

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