“No, I’ll be fine. Can you meet me down the road around midnight? They should be in bed by then. Or is that too late?” I ran my hand up and down my thigh, waiting for his answer.

Actually, they’ll both be passed out by then, but that’s beside the point. They won’t know I’ve left the house.

“I need to see you. I don’t care what time. I’ll be there.”

I looked straight ahead through most of dinner. I spoke when spoken to. I smiled when I was supposed to. Answered questions, played the part of adoring girlfriend. All the while, I screamed, railed, and cursed inside. I was trapped, both physically and in my own head. I didn’t want to be there. I didn’t want to be sitting next to Jaden. I tried not to cringe when he touched me, and I had to force myself not to gag when he kissed me.

I kept looking at the clock. The hands moved so slow it was as if they were moving backward.

“Have somewhere to be?” Jaden asked, looking at me. I looked up at him and noticed he gripped his fork so tightly that his knuckles were turning white.

“No.” I shook my head and forced a smile. “I just have a ton of homework tonight. My history teacher assigned another report. Did yours give the same assignment?” I took a bite of dinner, forcing myself to keep eye contact with him and my expression neutral.

“Yeah, she did. It’s due Friday.”

“Mine too.”

“We should work on it together this week after school. I could pick you up after football practice tomorrow and Thursday. We can go to the library and knock it out.” He smiled like he knew he’d just one-upped me and taken away any chance I’d had at seeing Brody after school the evenings he had football practice.

“Oh, that sounds great, doesn’t it, Willow? You and Jaden haven’t been able to spend a lot of time together since football season started,” my mom said, looking between Jaden and me.

“Yes, that does sound great.” I kept my smile in place and my eyes never left Jaden’s.

Jaden didn’t leave until eight. My nerves were nearly frayed, and I’d chewed my fingernails to the quick.

I put my ear buds in and listened to music to distract myself as I cleaned the kitchen from dinner and bagged up the garbage, picturing Jaden’s face as I stuffed the garbage bag into the dirty garbage can outside.

“I’m done with my chores. I’m going upstairs.”

“Okay,” my mom said.

“Goodnight.”

And then I waited. I heard my mom go to bed at ten-thirty. My stepdad stayed up. Eleven o’clock came and went, and he still hadn’t come upstairs. Eleven-thirty passed, and he still hadn’t gone to bed.

Adrenaline flooded my bloodstream, and my head began to pound. I paced my room, wringing my shaking hands, and trying to think of other ways to get out of the house.

Can I climb down from my window? Can I climb out of the bathroom window and into the tree next to the house? Is it too far to reach? Can I climb down the trellis or is that something that only works in movies?

And then I heard it and my heart started racing. The floorboards creaked outside my bedroom door as he walked by. I wanted to do a happy dance. I would’ve if I weren’t afraid he or my mom would hear. So I forced myself to sit on the edge of my bed and text Brody.

Me: I’ll be a few minutes late.

Brody: I’ll wait.

At midnight, I stuck my head in the hallway and looked toward their bedroom door. The light was off, and it was quiet. I slipped out my door, carefully avoiding the floorboards I knew creaked. I’d learned which were safe about a month after moving into the house. It was a skill that had come in handy more than once.

I bypassed the front door because it was directly under their bedroom. Instead I made my way to the back corner of the house and let myself out through the sunroom.

I saw Brody’s Jeep parked three houses down from mine. The engine was running, but the lights were off. As soon as I step on the sidewalk, the Jeep rolled forward and I climbed into the passenger’s side.

“Hey, Ace,” I said and grinned at him. I wanted to touch him so bad. I could hardly keep my fingers to myself. I slipped my hands between my thighs and the seat to keep from reaching out to him.

“Hey back.” He smiled at me as he steered away from my house. “Where do you want to go?”

I shrugged. “I don’t know. I thought you had this planned out.”

His eyes met mine. Open and vulnerable. His voice was soft when he said, “I just needed to see you. I didn’t think beyond that.”

“Um, there a small park down the road and to the right. We can go there if you want.”

We drove in silence until Brody turned into the park’s parking lot and turned off the Jeep. He turned sideways in his seat and looked at me.

“So.” He rubbed his hands up and down his thighs.

“Yeah.”

Why am I so nervous? I’ve been out with him before. I wasn’t nervous the night we drove to his aunt’s property and watched a movie. What’s different now?

Brody rubbed the back of his neck and gave a short laugh. “I’m freakin’ nervous.”

“Why? It’s just me.” I didn’t tell him I was nervous too. I thought that might make him more nervous. “Let’s go swing.” Jumping out of the Jeep, I started running toward the swings. “I’ll race ya,” I called over my shoulder, laughing.

Brody caught up with me easily. I squealed when he grabbed me around the waist and lifted me in the air

He let go of me, letting me slowly slide down his body. My breath quickened. And desire flowed through my veins. I held on to one of his arms, my other hand resting on his chest, where I could feel his heart beat racing, mimicking my own. I looked into his eyes as he leaned his face closer to mine. My lips parted, and I moistened them with the tip of my tongue. Brody watched my tongue move across my lips and groaned a curse.

He cupped the side of my face with one hand and placed the other on my hip, pulling me closer to him. Placing his thumb under my chin, he tilted my head to meet his. His lips were so close to mine that our breath mingled. Then he moved and kissed just in front of my earlobe.

He let his lips rest in front of my ear and murmured, “I’m not going to kiss you tonight. I’m not going to kiss you tomorrow, or the next night, or the next, or even the night after that. I want to. You don’t know how damn much I want to, but I won’t. Not as long as you belong to Jaden.” He kissed the side of my face again, sucking my earlobe gently into his mouth. I gasped, fisting my hands in his shirt. He pulled his head back and rested his forehead against mine.

He took my hand in his. We walked to the swings and sat down next to each other, swaying back and forth.

“So tell me all about Willow McKenna,” Brody said.

“Well, first, my name is Willow Rutherford, not McKenna. That’s Ralph’s name. He’s my stepdad.”

“Huh. How come I didn’t know that? I mean, I knew he was your stepdad, but I didn’t know your last name.”

“That’s because you were too mesmerized by my beauty and wit to be bothered by things as trivial as names.” I flipped my hair and batted my lashes at him.

He chuckled at my pose and kissed me on the nose. “That has to be it.”

“Either that, or you didn’t bother to find out my last name because you thought I was a bimbo.” I giggled at him.

“You will never let me live that down, will you?”

“Probably not. In fact, I’m thinking about putting it on a T-shirt,” I said.

“No way.”

“What? You said you liked my T-shirts.”

“I do, but you’re not going to wear a T-shirt that reads bimbo.” Brody shook his head. “Nope.”

“Oh, I wasn’t going to get it for me. I was going to get it for you.” I poked him in the chest and grinned.

“Ah, I see how it is.” He chuckled. “So Rutherford was your biological father’s name, then?”