Page 7 of Spur of the Moment
Bailey
Six Years Earlier…
“You gonna grab me a beer, too?” I asked Reed, who was heading inside from the front porch where we’d been sitting for the past hour, waiting for Lettie to get home.
“You’re not twenty-one yet, genius,” he called over his shoulder as he disappeared through the door.
I jumped out of my chair, following him inside. “My birthday is in three days. I’m basically already twenty-one.”
He closed the fridge, only one beer in his hand. Popping the top off onto the counter, he took a long swig. “Basicallyisn’t the same thing asactually. Not in the eyes of the law, at least.”
I rolled my eyes, opening the fridge to grab a beer anyway. We’d been drinking beers together since I was thirteen and Reedwas sixteen. Though my liver andthe lawhated it, I wasn’t going to stop three days before I was actually legal.
“You’re a buzzkill, you know that?” I said as I popped the top off my bottle using the edge of the counter.
He shrugged. “You still hang around me.”
“I’ve been questioning thewhybehind that for ages now.”
He punched me in the shoulder and I cracked a smile, leaning back against the counter. Right as I was bringing the bottle up to my lips, Lettie came storming through the front door.
Without taking a sip, I lowered the bottle to the counter beside me as she glanced up, briefly making eye contact with me before beelining it down the hall to her bedroom. The door to her room clicked shut, and Reed sighed, looking down at the toe of his boots as he adjusted his black cowboy hat.
“If that fucker did something,” he started.
“We’ll have to kill him,” I filled in. “I know.”
We wouldn’tactuallykill him, of course. Just rough him up a bit. We always had a plan in place for Reed’s little sister if shit ever went south with a guy she was with. Not that it had ever happened before, but we all protected Lettie.
“I’ll go see what’s up,” Reed said, taking a step before I stopped him with a hand to his chest.
“I’ll go,” I offered. I wanted to be the one to hear it from her lips before I grabbed my shotgun.
I was exaggerating. Okay, maybe I wasn’t. The point is, no one fucks with Lettie and gets away with it. Not on my watch.
He eyed me. “You sure? She can get a little snappy with you.”
I raised an eyebrow, dropping my hand from the center of his chest. “As if she doesn’t do the same to you?”
“You’re right. You better talk to her. I’ll probably say the wrong thing, then she’ll go get Dad, and it’ll be a whole thing.” He grabbed his beer and walked past me, heading for the couch.
I let out a small snort at his comment. Lettie was always using the “dad” card on Reed because she knew he was always doing his best to live up to his high expectations. He loved all his kids, and me, but that didn’t mean he didn’t have high standards for all of us.
I hated thinking of Lettie out with some guy, even if I knew who he was. She was worth more than some lowlife from school who played tennis. I mean, really,tennis, Lettie? On top of that, the guy was thinner than a toothpick. She could probably lift more with her pinky than he could using both arms.
Lettie was the most beautiful woman I’d ever seen - aside from my mother, of course - and I’d always had this unwavering attraction for her. She could trip me in the mud at the creek and I’d still worship the shin that made me fall.That’show fucking gone for her I was.
Would I ever admit that to her, though?
I didn’t know.
It felt weird thinking of crossing that line with her no matter how much I wanted to cross it. Lettie and I had this relationship that was like an unspoken truce. We were always there for each other when we needed someone, but only ever just as friends.
Did she even want more than that with me?
Leaving my beer on the counter, I made my way down the hall, coming to a stop at Lettie’s door. I went to reach for the handle, but stopped myself. What if she was indecent?
Tapping my knuckles lightly on the door, I heard her bed shift, then light footsteps padding on the hardwood. Setting a hand on the door frame above my head, I waited for her to peak out.
