Walk away before…
It was too late when the girls came up to find her.
“Oh, my gosh! Does my sister actually have more than one friend?” Ashley asked, pretending to be in shock.
“Step-sister,” Adalyn reminded her.
Lake wanted to disappear, knowing they were all witnessing her humiliation.
“I’ll go see her later today. Let’s go, guys.” She headed back toward the dressing room, not wanting anything to escalate.
Ashley forcefully grabbed the dress out of her hand. “This dress would look so much better on me. Don’t you think, trailer trash?”
Maria sounded strangely sweet when she spoke. “Oh, sweetie, you don’t actually think that would look good on you, do you?” She politely went up and took the dress from a shocked Ashley. “We all can’t be blessed with Lake’s body.”
Lake shook her head. “I-It’s okay. I don’t want it.”
“That’s okay. I wouldn’t want anything which had her hands on it, either.” Maria shrugged, hanging it back on a rack.
Ashley left with her mouth gapping open wide, her friends following right behind her.
“Thanks.” Lake smiled at Maria before her eyes returned to the floor in embarrassment.
“You’re welcome.”
“Adalyn, I, um … really need to get home,” she told her.
Adalyn nodded. “Okay, sure.”
Lake’s head came up when she noticed the boys standing there. She wished she could have at least taken back the last twenty seconds so her eyes wouldn’t water when she saw Vincent’s face.
She headed straight to the car and was grateful Adalyn did, too. The car was silent all the way back to the house. Lake liked to keep things to herself most of the time, and her best friend knew when those times were. When they reached the house, she quickly got out, telling Adalyn bye.
Lake went to her old car, wanting to pull out before Amo dropped Vincent off to retrieve his. She managed to shut her door before they pulled into the driveway and she quickly put the key in the ignition and turned it, only for the engine not to start.
“Come on. Not today!” She turned the key again and held it longer in hopes the engine would turn on.
Lake hit the steering wheel with each word she spoke. “Fuck you, you stupid piece of shit. Why won’t you start?”
She heard a knock on her driver’s side window.
Turning her head, she saw Vincent. Calmly, she rolled down the window, using the knob.
“Yes?”
“Let me guess, it does this, too?” he asked with a smile on his face.
“Yep, it’s just warming up.” She turned the key again and again and again until Vincent reached in and stopped her.
“Okay, sweetheart, I think that’s enough. Pop the hood.”
Lake’s hand shot fireworks from his brief touch. She hated that she was affected by it when he clearly wasn’t. He had barely touched her hand, only to drop it a second later to go to the hood of the car.
As she looked at him through her windshield, he gave her a look to hurry up. She hit the button to pop the hood then got out of the car. Geez, I don’t want to hold you up from probably going to screw a line of girls.
“It’s okay. I don’t need your help.”
Vincent pulled up the hood, revealing the engine. “Yeah, okay, sweetheart.”
Who does he think he is? His sarcastic tone pissed her off.
“I see my dad do it all the time.” She put her hand on his chest and pushed him back.
He started to raise his voice. “I bet you don’t even—”
Lake bent over the hood, looking inside.
“You probably know better than me.” His tone lowered as he backed up even more to get a better view of her ass.
“I think that should work,” she commented after a few minutes of hitting and turning a few things, trying to mimic what her father did.
“That looks really, really good,” Vincent agreed.
Smiling, Lake got back in the car and turned the key again. When it still didn’t start, she went back to the hood, stumped.
“It did sound like it almost started. I think whatever you were doing was working,” he encouraged her.
“Yeah, you’re right; it felt like it almost started to me, too.” She bent back over the hood and jiggled a few more things around.
“See that thing all the way in the back? Try messing with that.”
“What, this?” Lake bent over more to touch a pipe.
Vincent moved to stand close behind her, and then he pointed to something even farther back. “No, that.”
She had to step on her tiptoes to reach what he was pointing at.
“Let me help you, sweetheart,” he said, leaning over her.
Lake held her breath when his body covered hers. Then she slightly pushed her body closer to his, unaware of her own actions. The fireworks returned, wanting more when she could feel his bulge at her backside. A second later, she felt his hand go to the top of her thigh, making her heart stutter. When it traveled up to the very bottom of her revealed ass cheek, thanks to her short-shorts, she snapped out of her haze.
“Vincent, what the hell are you thinking?” She quickly turned around and pulled her shorts down to cover her butt again.
His dark, husky voice enveloped her body. “Sweetheart, you don’t want to know what I’m thinking.”
I do.
She licked her suddenly dry lips and backed up onto the hood of the car, trying to put some room between them. She couldn’t get her mind straight being that close to him.
“Um, Adalyn could see us.” Finally, she got out her thoughts.
“I told Amo to go distract her.” He took a step toward her, covering the front of her body.
“So, you knew this was going to happen?” It came out more breathy than she intended, still wanting to fight the urge to touch him.
Vincent rubbed his thumb over her wet bottom lip. “Sweetheart, my dreams of you haven’t been as good as you bent over the car.”
Lake’s eyes went from his baby-blue depths to his lips. She was so close to kissing him again. She’d had dreams about their last kiss and knew this one was only going to top it. The way he was talking to her made her femininity respond to every word. It scared her how much she wanted this, needed it.