I’ve taken advantage of every opportunity to tell him how perfect I think he is. I know he doesn’t believe me, but one day he will.
Joe pulls me into a hug. “I love you like a little sister already, Blue. Can’t wait to see you again.”
I squeeze her right back. “Thank you for everything, and I promise you I’ll never quit loving your brother.”
“I know,” she whispers. “Mom and Dad would’ve loved you.”
Tuck’s voice interrupts us. “Let’s go, ladies. We have a long drive ahead of us, and we both have to get settled back into college life.”
Joe slugs his shoulder, shaking her head at him, and then says the most embarrassing thing that has ever happened to me.
“Don’t worry, little brother, I’ll get all your man juice cleaned out the hot tub before my next dip.”
I hide behind Tuck to conceal my giggles and the red blush I’m certain is covering my face.
“Oh my god.” I slide into the middle position on the bench seat. “That was a bit horrifying.”
Tuck just chuckles and continues to shake his head at his sister. Little Ruger stands on the front porch waving frantically at us with his football tucked under his other arm. I have no idea how Tuck has the willpower to drive away from this perfect family.
I lay my head on Tuck’s wide shoulder, pull my aviators down, rest my hand on his thick thigh, and let out a sigh of contentment.
“How long is the drive?” I ask, realizing I have no clue. I’ve literally been in la-la land the last few days.
“Five hours.”
“Mmmmm. Five hours in a truck alone with you. What shall I do?”
I run my hand up his inner thigh, creeping so very close to his most favorite part of his body.
“Behave, Blue.”
“What fun would that be? Plus, I need to work on stretching for cheer practice.”
I free him from his pants before he has the chance to argue. The bonus to doing an athlete is they’re always dressed in elastic waistband pants. And then I do something I haven’t done yet. My lips kiss the tip of him, and he jerks and takes a sharp breath. And I go for it, licking him from the base all the way to the tip, and then taking all of him in my mouth.
“Son of a bitch.” The truck comes to an abrupt stop, but I don’t.
My tongue and teeth invade and relish every scent and sensation. I help him along, working him hard at the base.
“Fuck, Blue. Oh fuck.”
He grips onto my hair and tugs gently, trying to pop me from him, but I resist him and enjoy the twinge of pain he sends through me. It doesn’t take long before I feel him spill into my mouth. My tongue laps it all up and takes a few more glides along his still rock hard shaft before I come up face to face with him.
“And?” I crook an eyebrow up in question at his sated face.
“You are going to be the death of me.” He adjusts himself back in his pants and pulls from the parking lot we landed in. “And I’m going to love every second of it.”
I lie back down on his lap with a very large smile on my face.
“Oh, and Blue, anytime, anywhere you feel the urge to do that again, just get on it.”
I giggle at his response.
“Your turn.”
I pop up and look him at him, confused.
“I’ve spilled a lot of details the last couple of days. I want to know about your childhood.”
I sink back into him and focus on the road.
“Not much. I’m an only child. My mom was determined I’d be a beauty queen or some shit like that, hence the odd name Blue to stick out. I was in every single sport and activity growing up. My mom pushed me hard, but in the end I loved basketball and cheer. But I chose cheer, and it drives my dad nuts.”
“I can only imagine. I mean, if you were my girl, there’s no way in hell you’d be in those short skirts. I don’t even like it.”
“Wait. What?” I push up off of his shoulder and turn to face him.
“It drives me fucking wild seeing you in that tiny outfit at games. I want to cover you up in a burlap bag, for Christ’s sake.”
I lie back, leaning my head on the door and laughing hard. “Hell, I didn’t think you even noticed me, Tuck.”
I send my flip-flops flying to the floor and nestle my feet into his lap.
“Blue, you’ve haunted me.”
“Well, maybe if you mark me and make me yours, others won’t look. You know that night at the party when I tried talking to that guy?”
“You mean grinding on him and making me blow my fuse?”
“Yeah, that too. Well, when he found out that Noah and you were eyeing me, he backed off and went running for the hills.”
“Good.” He shifts his gaze to me quickly and then focuses back on the road. “What do your parents do career-wise?”
“Mom is a stay at home freak, and Dad is a plastic surgeon.”
Tuck’s jaw immediately tenses, and it dawns on me what has him so uptight. “He’ll love you, Tuck. He’s into sports and hates that I’m a cheerleader. You two will get along perfectly.”
“He’ll want to fix me.”
The words are hollow and full of anger.
“Do you trust me?”
Tuck doesn’t answer, so I push him.
I sit back up and invade his space. “Do you trust me?”
“Yes, you know I do.”
“He won’t want to fix you, I’ll promise you that.” I creep up his gym shorts and begin to stroke burned parts of his thighs. “He will want to fix me, though. I swear he hates cheer.”
I change the subject back to me and carry on about my dad’s odd sense of humor and how he’d cut off one of his legs if I would play college ball. Tuck seems to relax the more I talk about my dad and his personality. I know deep down in my heart my dad would never push more surgeries on Tuck, but he’d also be the first one to step up and help him if that’s what Tuck wished.
***
“Blue, we are thirty minutes out. You can hold it.”
“Tuck, I had to piss, and like ten minutes ago.”
“For the love of Christ.”
He pulls over to a gas station. I smile, place a quick kiss on his cheek, and dart for the bathroom before I piss down both legs. I really tried to hold it this time, but I drank way too much water trying to keep myself awake the whole way home so I didn’t miss out on any conversation with him.
After relieving myself, I snag a diet Pepsi and some licorice for the dorms, and his face is priceless when he sees me packing the loot back to the truck.
“Are you serious, Blue? I’m not stopping again.”
“You will if I ask.” I slide across the bench and snuggle back up to him.
“You’re probably right.” He flips his ball cap on backward and continues to drive.
“I want you to stay with me tonight until I can find out more about your attack.”
“But Sophie has been dying for me to get back and hang out.”
“I’ll drop you off at the dorms, go work out, and then come get you.”
I try to talk, but he cuts me off.
“One, you’re not working out tonight, and two, you don’t have an option about staying with me.”
It’s as if he can now magically read my mind. I decide not to argue with him, but instead crack open the soda and give him an evil grin.
“You really need to talk to your coach about the attack.”
“Okay, grandpa, get off my case.”
“I think it was deliberate, Blue. Whoever it was had been watching you. No way in hell did they randomly find you that late at night running and attack you the furthest from safety.”
It’s nothing new. I’ve run it over and over in my mind a thousand times.
“You won’t be out of anyone’s sight until I find out who in the hell did this.”
“What are you going to do about it?” I pop a piece of licorice in his mouth.