Summer after Corri's Sophomore Year

As I stepped down from my truck, I scrubbed my hands down my face and sighed in frustration. This night hadn't gone anything liked I had hoped it would. I paused near my truck bed when a loud muscle car pulled up alongside the end of our driveway. 

I marched to the passenger door when I heard the voices inside being raised. Corri shoved the door open before I had a chance to yank it open. She rolled her eyes at me and gave me a harsh glare as the driver called out to her. 

When Corri shoved past me, I leaned down to find Beau staring up at me with wide eyes. She was pissed and he was obviously to blame. I made a split second decision to chase her instead of shaking the truth from Beau.

"Corri, wait!" I called as Beau sped off, barely giving me a chance to slam his car door. Corri was stomping into the garage, muttering to herself as I caught up to her near the bottom of the stairs. I curled my fingers around her arm and pulled her close to me, much to her dismay.

"Just don't," she whimpered when I lowered my head and tried to catch her gaze.

"You can tell me what you're so pissed about or I can go find Beau and beat the story out of him. Your choice."

My voice was stern and my mood was for shit. I just wanted to know if she was okay. It had been almost three months since the prom and I hated the distance between us. I wanted her to talk to me. I needed us to be close like we were before.

But I knew she wanted more. So I kept my distance because once I had held her in my arms all night, like we had in her closet, I wanted it all. Half the time I was trying to convince myself that Charlie would understand and the other half of the time, I just wanted us to move onto other people so I could forget how good it felt to hold her.

Corri finally lifted her head and there was a moment of vulnerability where I was certain she was going to open up to me, but then a flash of pain blazed through her eyes and I could feel it. I was losing her.

"Go away," she replied, turning from me.

I growled in frustration, "Fine. We'll do this my way then."

Cori squealed as I pulled her up and over my shoulder in fireman's carry, blasting up the stairs to my room before she could wriggle away. I carefully dropped her onto the center of my loveseat, taking the spot across from her on the coffee table. "Talk," I ordered gruffly.

"And say what?" she sassed, crossing her arms over her chest defiantly.

"You can start with where you were tonight."

Her face crinkled as she scoffed at me. "I don't answer to you, Colt. You're not my dad, you're not my brother and you're sure as hell not my boyfriend so just drop it!"

Corri stiffened her arms in an attempt to push herself off the couch, but I leaned forward and pressed my hands to her shoulders. "What's this?" I pressed, fingering the torn strap of her tank top.

Her mouth fell open as she glanced down at the ripped part of her garment. She brushed my fingers aside and tried to cover it with her own hands. But I had already seen it.

"Beau did this?" I demanded, jumping up from my spot in front of her.

Corri was wedging herself between me and the door before I had even grabbed the handle. "It's fine, Colt," she sighed in exasperation. 

My whole body was tingling with a jealous anger I had never experienced before. I let my head fall back, looked up at the ceiling, and took a deep breath. "I swear I'm gonna kill that mother fucker," I mumbled under my breath.

Corri's hands coasted up my chest and cradled my face. "No you're not. You can't say anything to him. It's not worth it."

Just as quickly as she had touched me, her hands dropped to her side and I hated it. She spun away from me and began pacing. "I don't even know why you care. We haven't talked in months. You've been keeping your distance from me."

I could hear the way she was struggling to hide her emotions. "I've been busy," I lied. "But that doesn't mean I don't care about you."

"I can take care of myself."

"Yeah?" I sighed, striding toward her as I noticed the look in her eyes. She was like a trapped animal, trying to be tough even while she was in pain.

I pushed my fingers through her hair near her neck, revealing the angry red marks that he had left behind. "Then what the fuck is this?"

I was barely able to control myself when I saw the way he had marked her. "You're crazy if you think I'm gonna let Beau hurt you, Corri."

"That was...it was a misunderstanding. I thought I wanted something, but I was wrong."

She wanted him. The guilty look was written all over her face. "You have every right to change your mind. He should've respected that. He should've respected you." I rubbed my thumb over the red spot on her neck, willing it to disappear from my line of sight because I couldn't handle thinking about his hands on her. On my girl.

"I know that. And I handled it."

"Yeah?"

A mischievous smile spread across her face as she replied, "I kneed him in his dick."

My mouth fell open in surprise as Corri continued to beam up at me. "Good for you. But I don't even understand why you were with him."

Her proud expression fell away and was replaced by the same bitter scowl I'd seen her sporting for months. "I'm sure you wouldn't understand," she huffed.

She tugged my hands from her skin and shook her head in exasperation. "I didn't want to be alone," she murmured softly. "I'm sick of it. And I can't be with the one guy I really want so…"

"So...Beau? That's your solution?"

"It was just a miscommunication between us. I handled it and it's over. No need to go all caveman." She paused to look me square in the eye and I swear I felt the temperature in the room drop. "But I still don't know why you care. Or why you're grilling me about my life. You don't wanna be with me so why does it matter?"

"You will always matter to me."

Corri scoffed, "Why? Because my dad told you to look out for me? Half the guys at school won't talk to me because of your overprotective act. I'm sick of it! I wanna date. I wanna kiss boys! I want…"

Her shoulders sagged and I could hear the defeat in her voice. She was broken and it was my fault. 

"I'm going to bed," she announced, moving around on her way to the door. 

I reached for her hand and tugged her toward my window. "Not yet."

She grumbled as I tossed a blanket out onto the roof and lifted her through the open window. I climbed out behind her, pulling her between my legs and easing her back to lean against my chest. She was stiff at first, trying not to relax in my arms. But I lowered my head and whispered into her ear. She melted against me.

"I'm sorry. I hate staying away from you. I hate keeping my distance, but I don't know how else to stop this."

I felt her hands smoothing over my thighs as I wrapped my arms around her waist and buried my nose in her hair. "Stop what?" she sighed.

"Stop wanting you."

It was the truth and it hurt. I spent time with Katrina and my friends but nothing else felt as good as being with Corri. Even fighting with her was better than my best day with anyone else.

"Please don't fool yourself into thinking I don't want more, because I do." Once I opened my mouth, the truth kept tumbling out. "I promise you, there will be a right time for us. And I know I can't ask you not to be with anyone else, but you have to know how much it kills me to know you've been touched. Especially when he's hurting you."

Corri tilted her head a little bit in my direction and sighed. "I just made a mistake. I thought he could make me forget you. But I know that was stupid."

My arms tightened around her and all I wanted was to make time stop so we could stay here forever. Corri shifted until our eyes met. That made it that much harder to control my need to kiss her. That sad look in her eyes had been there for months and it killed me that I couldn't give her the one thing she needed to make it go away.

I felt her fingers smoothing up around the back of my neck and drawing me even closer. She tipped her head back and gazed up at me with her plump pink lips mere inches from my mouth. I was gripping the belt loops of her denim shorts and trying to stop myself from doing what we both wanted. Corri slid her tongue over her lower lip and I couldn't look away. As I leaned in closer, the sky exploded with colors.

We both jumped, startled by the fireworks brightening the sky. I kept my arm around her as the light show continued for more than a half hour. When it was over, we both stayed wrapped up in each other for as long as we could. Eventually I tugged on her hand and ushered her back through the open window.

"This is what I wanted," she smiled up at me.

"What?"

"Someone to watch the fireworks with. That's why I was with Beau. But we never even made it down to the lake."

"I was there," I blurted. "I went down there to do the same thing but I couldn't even have fun when I didn't know where you were or if you were safe."

A guilty look crossed her face. I felt it too. We were both looking for something in other people that we could only seem to find in each other. 

"I'll walk you to your room," I announced, hating to cut the night short, but knowing I couldn't trust myself to be good.

She opened her mouth to argue, but instead reached for my hand as I guided her down the steps. I could feel the tension buzzing between us as I stood outside her bedroom door. I leaned against the doorframe, holding the top with both hands. Corri lifted her hand to cup the side of my face and all I wanted was to press my lips to hers.

"Hey, guys."

Charlie's deep voice cut through the darkened hallway and saw the disappointment in Corri's face. "Hey, dad," she sighed.

I backed away from Corri, careful not to look as though I were hiding anything. Charlie glanced between us skeptically and nodded. "Are the fireworks over?"

They certainly were now. Corri tried to tell her father that we were thinking about watching a movie but he reminded her that it was late and I had to work an early shift in the morning. We both told her good night, but Charlie wasn't done with me. Shit.

I followed him to his office, feeling my heart thumping out of my chest as I waited for him to speak. "Has Corri been okay?" he finally asked.

I nodded quickly and added, "Yeah, she's fine. Why?"

Charlie crossed his arms over his chest and gave me a hard stare. "It just seems like she's been pretty upset lately. And I wondered if you knew why."

Guilt spread through chest in waves when I realized he was right. Corri hadn't been right for months. Keeping my distance wasn't working. She hadn't moved on. I hadn't moved on. We both wanted to be together even though we knew it was wrong.

When I didn't respond, Charlie pressed on. "I know she broke up with Jason at the prom, but I thought she'd be over it by now."

"She was with Beau tonight," I offered lamely. I caught the grimace on Charlie's face at the mention of Beau's name. Even Charlie knew what a dog Beau was.

"What about you?"

"Me?" I gulped. "What about me?"

"Don't you have a girlfriend, Colt?"

I blew out a relieved breath and shook my head. "Nah. I really don't have time for one with work and training and my community college classes coming up in the Fall."

Charlie continued to eye me before shrugging off whatever else he had on his mind. "I should let you get some sleep."

I nodded and stood, moving toward the door. 

"Colt, I really do appreciate you looking out for my daughter. Honestly. She really looks up to you and you've been great with her."

I spun around to face my mentor, praying for the courage to reveal my true feelings for his daughter. But I couldn't take the chance. "She's such an amazing girl. Honestly. I'm the lucky one."

"Hopefully she'll pull herself out of this funk soon.  I hate seeing her like this."

"Me too, sir. Me too."

….

After that night, things changed for us, but they weren't necessarily worse. I tried to keep my distance when I saw Corri with other guys...even when it killed me. As long as she was safe and happy, I kept my opinions to myself. 

Being in different schools helped too. I think Corri was pretty relieved not to have me getting in her way at school, but I still couldn't help being nosy. I glanced around the busy library and immediately caught sight of Corri sitting with another girl and two guys. I dreaded her seeing me because I knew she would accuse me of spying, but I honestly had no idea she would be here. 

Just then, she lifted her head to find my eyes on her and I caught the subtle eye roll. I began packing up my things, determined to make myself scarce before she could confront me. 

"If I had known you were going to stalk me tonight, I would have worn something cuter."

I raised my gaze and found Corri leaning against the table I was sitting at. "No stalking. Just working on my paper."

"They don't have a library at your new school?"

"They do, but all the pretty girls study here." I shouldn't have flirted with her but when she blushed, I knew it was worth it. "New friends?" I commented, tipping my head toward the table she came from. There was another girl and two guys studying with her and one of the guys seemed pretty interested in our conversation. 

"Group project for American history. It was assigned."

"Looks like you have an admirer," I observed, making an effort not to sound jealous. Even when I was. 

I sidled up beside Corri as she glanced back at her group. "Oh that's Kevin. He said he'd drive me home when we're done."

I nodded slowly and inched closer to my girl. "So...I guess I'll see you at home?"

Corri faced me fully and shrugged. "Are you leaving now?"

I nodded and brushed a lock of hair from her shoulder. "Yeah, I'm kinda fried. I'm ready to unwind."

"Going to the gym?"

"Nah. I'm starving. I suppose you don't feel like making me some dinner do you?"

Corri shoved me playfully. "Oh my God. You act like you can't cook for yourself."

"I can," I sighed. "But I like it better when you do it."

"Sorry. I didn't make it to the store today."

I shrugged. "That's fine. I'm kinda in the mood for cheese fries anyway."

"From Paul's?" she gasped. 

"Yep. But I gotta go now because they're only open for another hour."

"Ooh I hate you," she pouted playfully. "You know those are my favorite."

"I can bring an order home for you when I'm done."

"No," Corri whined, pushing out her lower lip in an adorable pout I was dying to kiss. "They won't be as good if you get them to go."

"Then come with me," I shrugged. I watched as she glanced back at her group, who appeared to be packing up as well. "Unless you're afraid of disappointing poor Kevin, who obviously has a major crush on you."

"Oh my God, stop. I barely know him, Colt."

I looked down at her hand as it squeezed my forearm. I saw how close she stood to me and that twinkle in her eye that let me know she was hungry for more than just cheese fries. I knew I should walk away, let that dork take her home, but fuck, I wanted her with me. Always with me.

"Hey, Corri," the dork known as Kevin interrupted. "Are you about ready to go?"

He had her bag in his hands and he was glancing at me with suspicion. Her gaze volleyed between us and I could see she was torn about what to do. "I'll see you later," I tossed out with a smile, letting her think it didn't bother me if Kevin took her home.

As I stepped outside into the still warm night air, I let out a deep breath and tried not to worry about Corri.

"Wait!" I heard a voice call as I reached my truck. 

I spun around to find Corri jogging toward me and I couldn't contain my smile. "You lost?" I teased.

"No," she beamed up at me, standing so close I could feel her breath tickling my neck. "You promised me cheese fries."

I glanced up to catch a sullen Kevin walking to his car...alone. I leaned forward and whispered, "Looks like poor Kevin just got his heart broken."

Corri shrugged and murmured, "He never stood a chance. Against the cheese fries," she added quickly. 

I took my victory with a smirk and opened the driver's side door. Corri slid in and sat close beside me as we drove to the diner in a comfortable silence. 

Maybe I would never get the chance to be her boyfriend, but when Corri tucked herself in tightly beside me and curled her hands around my bicep, I wanted the chance. And even if these moments were all we would ever have, they were still some of the best moments of my life. 

....