Total pages in book: 84
Estimated words: 77936 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 390(@200wpm)___ 312(@250wpm)___ 260(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 77936 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 390(@200wpm)___ 312(@250wpm)___ 260(@300wpm)
“How are you paying for the repair this time?” Maverick was well used to my cobbled-together system of bartering, swaps, discounts, and do-it-yourself fixes.
“Yardwork.” I tried to sound upbeat. Could be worse. “Doug, the mechanic, has a wife who wants a garden this year. Guess who’s moving dirt this weekend?”
“You could let me loan you the money and get your weekend back.” Maverick shot me a look as he pushed past the speed limit on the narrow county highway. He’d learned to drive in much the same way I paid for things—a little of this and a little of that. Various ranch hands. Faith. Me. And at some point, he’d decided his arcade game attack style of full speed ahead worked for driving too.
“Save your dough.” I braced my shoulder against the seat as he took a curve a little wide. I glanced in the rearview. Maverick wasn’t likely to get a ticket in a Lovelorn Ranch truck, but one could hope. “You can use it for prom tickets.”
“Prom tickets?” He made a rude noise. “You asking me to prom?”
“Not with me.” The back of my neck went hot and itchy. “With all of us. You, me, Betsey, Lulu—”
Mav cut me off with a scoff. “Sounds suspiciously like a double date.”
“Betsey’s too busy barrel racing to date. We’re friends. Same as you and me.”
The heat on my neck gave way to a bead of sweat rolling down the back of my shirt. Nothing was the same as Mav and me—my other friendships didn’t come anywhere close to the intensity. Betsey and I had been friends forever because her folks were friendly with mine. There was a quiet comfortability there, along with a certain relief I’d never confess to when she’d loudly proclaimed her disinterest in dating. On the other hand, Maverick was sharp edges, adrenaline, and unfamiliar feelings. And lately, there was an urgency there, a sense of time dwindling before Maverick left for college and escaped this town for good. I didn’t want to let the girls down, but I also didn’t want to go without Mav. “Come on. It won’t be the same without you there.”
“Give me one good reason you want me there.”
Huh. I sucked in a breath. I lacked the vocabulary for what Maverick was in my life, and besides, any attempt at sappiness was likely to be met with outright disdain. Pointing out how few nights we had left to hang out would mean talking about the future, a topic we’d carefully avoided all year.
“You’ve got the best truck in the school.” I forced a light laugh. “Girls love that shit. And yours is more likely to make it somewhere decent to eat outside of Lovelorn.”
“A sweet ride?” Maverick shook his head as a rusty laugh escaped his throat. “That’s the best you’ve got.”
“And you always make the girls laugh. You’re better at that than me.”
It was true. For all that Maverick was a prickly cactus when we were alone, give him a room of strangers, and he’d develop the ability to transform into a charmer, a chameleon able to converse on any number of topics, a stark contrast to the seriousness I carried with me regardless of venue. He thrived on attention and approval, whereas those same things tended to make me retreat. “They like you.”
“I’m not sure knowing how to bullshit is a strength.” Maverick was unsurprisingly taking the long way back to my house. We did this sort of aimless driving around all the time, but today felt…different somehow. Edgier.
“Well, it beats you being cranky all the damn time.” Frustration laced my voice, which was rare. Usually, I enjoyed being the only one who saw the Maverick behind the shiny truck and sharp wit. “And who knows, if you did get a girl, maybe it would improve your mood.”
Maverick abruptly pulled over onto a wide turnout on the gravel shoulder.
“What?” I held up my hands. Sex and girls weren’t something we discussed often, but my other friends made dating or at least the pursuit of sex into a singular obsession. I didn’t understand it. I’d nod and laugh in the right spots, but the subject just didn’t have the same weight for me. My stomach clenched. “What did I say? I don’t have firsthand experience, but the guys on the team who have done the deed all seem rather proud of the fact.”
“Strutting like a rooster bound for Sunday dinner is hardly a selling point for sex.” Maverick snorted.
“Don’t you want it?” I asked softly. Maybe I wasn’t the only confused one standing by, wondering what gene I was missing.
“No.”
“Oh.” I exhaled, the word filling the cab of the truck. “Me—”
“Colt.” Mav cut me off sharply. “I’m only gonna say this once, and then I’m gonna drive, and we ain’t speaking of it again. Girls aren’t for me. You follow?”