He remembered. The silly feeling in my stomach should have gone away, but it got sillier and I hated that I was smiling now. My gaze fell to his lips, and I remembered how they had tasted. How much I had enjoyed it. How much I shouldn’t have enjoyed it.

“Didn’t think I’d remember that? I don’t forget much when it comes to you.” His voice was still low so that only I could hear him.

“You gonna feed her next?” Gunner asked loudly, and we both jumped.

I turned my gaze over to Gunner, who had a smile on his face as if he was joking, but it didn’t meet his eyes. He was glaring with that grin, and his glare was centered on the guy beside me. Tension grew thick, and I no longer looked forward to that piece of pizza on my plate.

“Just being polite,” Brady replied with a tightness in his tone that meant he knew Gunner was angry.

Gunner didn’t answer that. He rolled his eyes and reached for a plate, then looked down the table before nodding his head to someone. I didn’t understand him at all.

Seconds later I understood. Gunner had hailed him a female to entertain him with the nod of his head. A blonde with really long hair and boobs much larger than the average high school girl’s sashayed up to him, and he pulled his seat back so she could sit on his lap. Disgusting.

“That should cause a riot with Kimmie,” Brady muttered, and I turned my attention from Gunner and the girl to him.

“When he wants to cause a scene, he pits Serena and Kimmie against each other. It’s his immature way of inflating his ego.” Brady was whispering this so Gunner couldn’t hear him. The Gunner I knew from the tree house wasn’t this guy acting like a jock right now.

“Oh,” I replied, unwilling to bad-mouth him. He was still my friend, and I obviously trusted him enough to hold my biggest secret.

Serena giggled loudly, and I heard Gunner’s deep voice rumble as he said something to her in a low whisper. Jealousy slowly crept over me, and I hated it. I had nothing to be jealous of. Gunner was my friend. Keeping quiet and smiling at Brady or Maggie as they spoke to me was the best I could do. My emotions felt raw, and that was silly.

Lunch getting over couldn’t be fast enough.

Ivy began to demand Brady’s attention, and I focused on my pizza and wished again to be outside with my book at the picnic table. Once I finished my food, I would make an excuse to use the restroom, then bolt. I’d stay in there until the bell rang. I liked being alone. It gave me time to remember where I had been and where I needed to go. Being with Gunner and Brady made me forget at times, and I couldn’t forget. It wasn’t fair for me to forget.

Brady met me outside of our last period and asked me to sit with him, West, and Maggie. So I did. None of them mentioned my escape from lunch. Which was a relief. It made the last class speed by and kept my confusing thoughts off of Gunner for the time being. I had bigger issues.

I wanted to mention the fact I preferred sitting alone to Gunner when he gave me a ride home today. He’d been driving me home before his football practice this past week, but today they were having a break to rest after their big game this past weekend. So he wouldn’t be rushing me home then leaving. I would have time to talk to him about it.

Maggie gave me her cell number before I left the classroom, and I explained I couldn’t text because I didn’t have a cell, but I could call her from my nonna’s landline. Instead of looking at me like I had lost my mind, she smiled as if that made complete sense, and then we parted ways.

It wasn’t until I was in the parking lot walking toward Gunner’s truck that I realized it was gone. Glancing around, I looked to see if he’d moved it, but he wasn’t here. He must have forgotten me. It was only six miles from here to his house. I could walk that.

Pulling my book bag up higher on my left shoulder, I headed out toward the main road. It was odd that Gunner had forgotten me. Almost as if he were angry with me. I had a gut feeling he was. The tension at the table during lunch had gotten thick, and I didn’t know why. Sure, I was jealous of Serena, as much as I loathed to admit that. But I didn’t say anything to him. He had no reason to be mad at me.

In the past eight months I’d dealt with far more important stuff than this. A guy leaving me to walk home wasn’t a big deal. I would survive.

Hello, Son

CHAPTER 28

GUNNER

My brother’s dark hair and hazel eyes were signature Lawton. He looked like our father. I, on the other hand, did not. Nothing like him. Which made sense, seeing as I didn’t have any of his blood running through my veins. Rhett was sitting in the chair to my left. We were both in high-back brown-leather chairs that sat across from Father’s desk.

Rhett had shown up at the school during last period, surprising me with his visit home. But he said we were meeting with Father at three and he had come to check me out so that neither of us were late. This had thrown me off. We’d never been summoned to the man’s office like this. At least not together. This was weird.

“Did he know you were coming home?” I asked Rhett, who didn’t seem concerned about this meeting.

He nodded. “Yes. He requested I return for this. I told him these were the only few days I had available.”

Had he not questioned him about why we were meeting? “So you just came home because he said to?”

Rhett shifted in his seat, and this time he did seem a little nervous. “Yeah” was his simple response.

Because Rhett was the chosen one, he normally bucked our father at every turn. Coming home like this didn’t seem like something he would willingly do. Unless there was something in it for him.