Beckett
Mia fits in perfectly with my family. I knew she would. My parents were a little surprised when we first got here, but they both believe in my innocence. For a decade, they asked me at every visit to tell them who I was covering for, begged me to let them help, but I would just go silent and look away. There was nothing anyone could do for me while I was in prison. And I wouldn’t put them at risk. If my father knew that his best friend had set me up, he would have ended up in the cell next to me, or possibly dead.
They don’t question what I’m doing with Mia, and I’m grateful. I don’t feel like being grilled about our relationship and what surely is going to be something along the lines of them wanting to know what Mia knows or thinks about the night Clay and her were shot.
And I’m sure that one of my siblings probably gave them some sort of information about the details of today’s argument.
We’re halfway through our sandwiches when Gabriella comes in. “Mia! Where did you find him?”
Mia blushes again, and I like to assume she keeps thinking about the shower.
I’m pretty sure if I asked her for a replay, she’d give me one, so my ego is feeling pretty good that I didn’t mess it up.
I definitely want a replay.
“Umm—”
“Swimming,” I tell Gabriella. “Where have you been?”
“On another crappy date.”
“What happened?” I sternly ask her.
She rolls her eyes. “Chill out, Beckett. Nothing you need to go beat anyone up over. Just no chemistry. Friendzone forever.”
“Carlo?” Connie asks.
“Sean?” George asks.
“Leo?” Connie asks.
“Jesus. How many ‘friends’ do you have?” I growl.
“Easy there. I’m not sleeping with them. I happen to be a nice person, and people want to be my friend,” she claims.
“Sorry, sis, but dudes do not want to be your friend unless they want to get in your pants. You’re twenty-three, not three.”
“Can we not talk about getting into your sister’s pants, please?” My dad winces as he says it.
“Sorry, Dad.”
Mia excuses herself to the bathroom, and my mom shows her where the new one they just added on is.
“So you and Mia are friends now?” Gabriella asks.
“Yes.”
“Guess you made your point, then.” She cockily raises her eyebrow at me, and I realize that I just stepped into her trap.
Shit. Yeah, I want to have sex with Mia. It’s all I can think about. The fact I just admitted it to my sister makes me nauseous. Mia isn’t someone I want to fuck and be done with.
“Not the same thing.” I glare at Gabriella.
“Why is that?” Gabriella smirks at me.
I stop myself from answering so I don’t step into another one of her traps. She wants me to tell her how I feel about Mia, and I’m not going to. That’s between Mia and me, and I’m not going to tell Gabriella before I tell Mia. And to be honest, my thoughts are all over the place about how I feel about Mia.
A few days ago, I had no one. I slept on the bottom bunk with a smelly guy on the top bed, who farted and snored all night. Last night, I slept next to Mia. Well, I didn’t sleep much because I iced her arm on and off, and I kept staring at her and kissing her head.
The only person I can think of is her, and I’ve never felt the things I’m feeling about her about anyone else. But what do I know about this kind of stuff? And I don’t want to scare her off and tell her any of this. She’s probably had so many boyfriends she can’t keep track of the number who have professed their feelings for her.
Mia comes back into the kitchen.
“Let’s drop it,” I say to Gabriella, who smirks at me again.
Mia pauses. “Did I interrupt something?”
“Nope.”
She narrows her eyes.
“Mia, I’m going shopping tomorrow. You want to come?” Gabriella asks.
“Clothes shopping?”
“Yes.”
Mia nods. “Yes, please. I need a new wardrobe. Most of my clothes are for cold weather.”
“Well, don’t throw them out. Your blood will thin quickly,” my mom tells her.
“Isn’t that an old wives’ tale?” Mia asks.
“Not at all. You’ll see. At seventy degrees, you’ll be in a long-sleeved top and pants.”
“Really?”
“Yes.”
“All right. I won’t. What time do you want to go?”
Gabriella shrugs. “Maybe after lunch? Maybe before? I can text you if you want.”
Mia’s face turns red. “I don’t have a phone.”
“You don’t have a phone? How is that possible?” Gabriella shrieks.
I roll my eyes. “Not everyone has a phone, Gabriella.”
She gapes. “Yes, everyone does have a phone.”
“I don’t,” I point out.
“You just got out of prison, and Mom bought you one. You’ve chosen not to open it.”
“What am I going to do with it?”
“Ummm...text me. Call me. Surf the Internet.”
I roll my eyes again.
Gabriella looks back at Mia. “Why do you not have a phone?”
Mia shifts on her seat. “My grandparents never got me one, and I didn’t have access to much money. They said I didn’t need it. I had the phone in the dorm hallway for them to call me on.”
“What! How did you communicate with your friends?”
Mia twists her fingers in her lap and looks down as her blush deepens to crimson.
I have no one... Mia’s words from the night before make me come to her rescue.
“She isn’t as superficial as you,” I tease my sister.
Gabriella tilts her head and glares at me. “I am not superficial.”
She throws a grape at me, and I catch it in my mouth.
“Score!” I shout, pumping my fist in the air.
Gabriella laughs. “Still got it, I see.”
I cockily pat both of my shoulders.
She rolls her eyes. “Mia, why don’t you take Beckett’s phone, since he isn’t using it, and I’ll text you tomorrow.”
“Umm...”
I stand up. Mia and I both finished our sandwiches, and I think it’s time for a break.
“Good idea. Come on, Mia. Let’s go figure out this phone.”
Gabriella smirks at me and I ignore her.
Mia looks at me nervously but stands up.
I put my arm around her waist and lead her up the stairs and into my room. As soon as I shut the door, I kiss her. “I have a confession to make,” I murmur.
“What’s that?”
“I just wanted to get you alone. Gabriella can show you how to use the phone.”
She runs her fingers through my hair. “Is this a sanity break?” She presses closer to me and darts her tongue against mine.
I tighten my arms around her. “The best one ever.”
There’s a knock on my door, and I groan as it opens.
Mia spins out of my arms.
Gabriella smirks. “Sorry to interrupt, but I figured you have no idea what you’re doing.”
“You do know you’re supposed to wait after you knock for someone to respond to you before opening the door and coming in?”
She bats her eyes. “Sorry but not sorry.”
Nothing has changed. Gabriella still knows how to get under my skin.
Yeah, but you missed this.
“Where’s your phone?” she demands.
“On the desk.”
“I’ll get it,” Mia says and walks over to the desk then freezes. As she stares at the phone, her face turns crimson. I’m about to ask her what’s wrong, but she snatches the phone, avoids my eyes, and hands it to Gabriella.
“I got a new phone number and haven’t memorized it yet. I left my phone in my purse downstairs. Let me get it,” Gabriella says.
“I’ll come with you,” Mia says quickly and practically runs out of my room.
What just happened?
I look at the desk and cringe. The box of condoms Ryland threw at me when I first got home, with a sticky note that says, “Time to get back on the horse,” was sitting right next to the phone. And it’s open. I had removed one out of the package just to make sure nothing changed with condoms in the last ten years.
Fuck.
I scrub my hands on my face.
Why didn’t I throw that out? The empty condom wrapper is sitting right next to the box, and the condom is on top of it.
Well, you didn’t exactly expect to have Mia in your room.
God I’m a pathetic loser.
I toss the condom and wrapper in the garbage can along with the sticky note. I toss the box in the drawer.
I definitely won’t be needing these now. Mia’s probably not going to allow me next to her again.
Fuck.
After a few minutes of going through any possible explanation of what I could say to Mia, I decide it’s pointless. I’m a loser, and there is no getting around it.
Yep. The once cool and cocky kid who could get any girl he wanted no longer exists.
Ten years have passed, and I feel less confident than a virgin. I officially have no game.
And now Mia knows it, too.