Page 82 of Past the Broken Bridges

Dixie gasps. “Was she okay?”

Dawson’s lips twitch upward, fighting a smirk that he doesn’t want to give me. “I avoided her.”

“Yeah,” I snort. “And he ended up landing in somebody’s rose garden. They weren’t very happy.”

Sawyer cringes. “That sounds painful.”

Dawson’s eyes brighten the way I hoped they would by bringing up the story. “It wasn’t all bad. There were a few sorority girls who saw what happened and decided to play nurses. I spent a lot of time at their house getting thorns taken out of me while they served me alcohol.”

He talked about that formonths. It was the first thing that really got us past the Desiree situation because he finally had people paying attention to him who were completely separate from me. And I was happy for him, even if it looked like he’d gotten into a fight with a porcupine after.

“I still have that football,” he reminisces.

Dixie elbows his rib cage playfully. “I’m surprised you didn’t give it to the sorority girls for helping you.”

He winks at her. “Don’t worry. I gave them something else.”

Sawyer rolls her eyes, and Dixie blanches at the crude remark. It’s something I would never say in front of a girl who’s obviously got it bad for me, but that’s Dawson. He doesn’t always think with the right head.

When the music starts getting louder, I see Sawyer’s face light up. She leans forward, trying to see past other people nearby, her lips stretching upward as she sees the floats make their way toward us.

“They must have pretty good aim,” she remarks, shaking her head. “I’d never be able to do that. I’d be hitting cars or windows.”

I explain the parking bans they have leading up to the event. The businesses lining the streets are far enough away to be safe from the bigger items being thrown, but there have definitely been a few injuries over the years that the medics on standby have dealt with.

Fifteen minutes later, I’m laughing along with the bubbly blond, who’s jumping as the last float goes by. The collection of colorful beads I’ve helped her catch is around her neck, bouncing right along with her chest. I peel my eyes away from her in time to catch another purple necklace before it smacks me in the face.

Sawyer turns to face me. I smile down at her as I put the new addition around her, my knuckles accidently grazing the swell of her breast. Her teeth bite down on her bottom lip as she looks up through her lashes at me.

Even with all the noise, I can hear the subtle intake of her breath that accompanies the rise of her chest.

The moment is broken when Dixie asks, “Where did Dawson go?”

I quickly look to the spot Dawson occupied only moments before.

He and his backpack are gone.

“Shit,” I mumble under my breath, stepping away from Sawyer to search the area. “He couldn’t have gotten far. Come on.”

The girls follow me, calling out Dawson’s name. I tell them to stick together while I go over to the group of people by the food vendors, hoping he’s just grabbing something to eat since he’s been bitching about being hungry for the past twenty minutes.

After a few moments of looking through the different crowds gathered by the food trucks, street vendors, and surrounding bars, I come up empty-handed.

“Where the hell did you go?” I ask under my breath, irritated that I took my eyes off him.

Suddenly, I hear a frantic, “Banks!”

Looking over my shoulder, I see Dixie lowering Sawyer to the ground.

I bolt over to them, quickly realizing that something is wrong. Wrapping an arm around Sawyer’s waist, I take her from her struggling friend and rest her on my lap on the pavement.

I look up at Dixie. “What happened?”

Dixie is pale, shaking her head. “I don’t know. She said she was feeling dizzy, and then all of a sudden she was falling.”

Fuck.It’s warm, and she’s been jumping around trying to catch things. I should have gotten her a water before we settled in. “She’s probably dehydrated.” I reposition her as her eyelids start flickering.

There’s barely any color on her face as she comes to, blinking until those striking eyes look up at me.

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