The thought of my parents thinking I was perfect made me laugh, but he had the disapproval part down perfectly. “My parents aren’t afflicted with the misconception of thinking I’m perfect. They’re not delusional.”

He turned to look at me briefly. “But they wouldn’t approve of me, would they?”

I looked out the window and watched the street lights quickly passing. “No, they would not approve of me being with you and that’s putting it mildly.”

He was quiet for a few seconds and I wondered what he was thinking. “What do your parents think of Jessie?”

I had heard them voice their feelings over and over but I was going to leave off the part about how they thought he was trash and would never amount to anything. “They commend the Deverauxs for helping Jessie, but they believe it’s a mistake for them to take him in their home. They’re pretty much outraged that they would allow their daughter to be in a relationship with him.”

“They would prefer he be left to live with his drug dealing grandmother?”

“No, they’re not that uncaring. Their solution would have involved throwing some money at a charity and leaving someone else to do the dirty work.”

He turned onto the highway leading from Franklin to Collinsville. “I’m assuming you don’t mind going to Collinsville since you’d probably prefer we didn’t run into your parents.”

I looked in his direction. “My parents are out of town, but that’s probably best so we don’t run into any of their friends.” I felt guilty about it, but I was glad he was taking me away from Franklin.

His expression was one I couldn't quite place but then my curiosity was forgotten when he changed the subject. “Do you have brothers and sisters?”

“Come on, do you really think my parents could handle another me?”

“So, you’re a handful?”

“Absotively. What about you? You said that your dad didn’t care what ‘we’ did so does that mean you have brothers and sisters?”

“One of each and I have the pleasure of being the disturbed middle child.”

I squirmed in my seat to turn in Nick’s direction so I could see him without twisting my neck awkwardly. “Tell me about them.”

“Well, Jake is twenty-one and he works for the water and electrical department in Collinsville. He still lives at home with us and he has a girlfriend named Gabbi. You remember her, right? I believe you referred to her as ‘Miss Black Halter Top’ last night at the club.”

Yeah, I remembered ‘Miss Black Halter Top’ and I also remembered the unexpected jealousy I felt when I thought he was making plans to hook up with her while he was at the bar buying a drink for me. I kept that thought to myself as he went on. “My sister, Dallas, is seventeen and she’ll be a senior at Collinsville this year.”

“Your brother isn’t in college?”

“Nah, school wasn’t really his thing.”

He said it so matter of fact, like it was fine with his family that he wasn’t in college. “What about you? Is school your thing?”

It would be a shame if he didn’t have goals for himself. “Not really, but I’m going anyway because I’m following in my old man’s footsteps. Police force.”

Shiz, Nick in a fitted uniform would probably be more than I could stand. “You’re gonna be a cop?”

“Yeah, why so surprised?”

“Because being a police officer is dangerous.”

“I happen to like danger.”

The street ahead of us was blocked and a police officer was directing traffic around whatever was going on. “Unless you get stuck showing drivers which direction to go like this guy. That would not be dangerous or exciting. What’s going on?”

“The fair is in town.”

I looked over and saw the lights of the Ferris wheel as it circled. “I always wanted to do that when I was a kid, but my mom would never take me.”

“You’ve got to be shittin’ me. You’ve never been to the fair?”

I looked away from the rides and flashing lights toward Nick. “Nope.”

He looked at me in disbelief. “You’ve never eaten hotdogs, funnels cakes and cotton candy and then puked after riding the tilt-o-whirl?”

Ewe...Maybe I wasn’t missing much after all. “Not once.”

He whirled his head to look at the traffic in the outer lane and then quickly changed lanes and wheeled into the parking area on the fairgrounds. “What are you doing?”

“Like you don’t know.” He smiled and I knew what he was suggesting. “I’m taking you to the fair.”

That was ridiculous. I wasn’t letting him take me to the fair. “No, you’re not. I’m too old for kiddie rides.”

He pulled into a spot and then looked at me. “No, you’re not but how would you know if you’ve never been?”

“Stay there,” he said before he got out and jetted around to open my door for me. “Come on, Doll Face, this is gonna fun.”

I felt ridiculous. What eighteen year-old went to the fair? Apparently me. And with the Sex Tricks Jedi, no less.

I huffed, but I couldn’t prevent the smile that had been threatening to come to the surface since he told me what we were doing. He reached for my hand and grabbed it like he was afraid I might bolt at any minute. We walked toward the admission gate and I looked over at him. “I can’t believe we’re doing this. It’s silly. You know that, right?”

“Nothin’ wrong with being silly. It’s going to be fun.”

I shouldn’t have gotten my phone out of my purse, but I did anyway. I knew I would get a million texts and calls from Jessie and Claire and I didn’t want to hear all the reasons why I shouldn’t have left with Nick Hawke. In this moment, no one could convince me this was wrong.

8 Let’s Call It A Non-No

Nick

I had no idea where I was taking Payton Archer when I asked her to leave Dane’s party with me, so it was safe to say that I never guessed we would end up at the fairgrounds in Collinsville. Better yet, I never guessed how much fun we’d have riding kiddie rides and eating pink cotton candy.

We shared a seat with a couple of rug rats on the tilt-o-whirl and they looked at Payton like she was crazy when she squealed hysterically while spinning in circles as we tilted back and forth. When the ride ended, she didn’t make a move to get out of her seat and looked at me with a serious expression I didn’t like.

“What’s wrong?”

Here it came. The part I had dreaded, the part where she told me she made a mistake by leaving with me and I should take her back to Dane’s house. I waited for the words but they didn’t come. Instead, she squeezed her eyes tightly and began to fan her face with her hand. “I should probably not do that again anytime soon. I feel like I could puke and it would be a shame to do that to you two nights in a row.”

I was so relieved she wasn’t telling me to take her back to Dane’s that I didn’t care if she puked on me again. I reached for her hand and helped steady her as she stood. “You okay?”

“Yeah, I’m good, but I probably shouldn’t have ridden that. I get car sick, so anything going in circles tends to not agree with me. I can barely make it around a circular ramp on the highway.”

I held her hand and helped her down the steps of the ride. “Okay, no more tilt-o-whirl for you. How ‘bout we play some games? I could win you a huge teddy bear as a souvenir for your first fair.”

“I’ve never been to a fair and even I know that those games are rigged. I bet you don’t win anything.”

It was a challenge. “Have you not learned your lesson with me yet? Don’t bet against me, Doll Face. What kind of prize do you want?”

She looked around and then pointed toward a huge teddy bear in overalls hanging up by the basketball goals. “I want that big gaudy teddy bear.”

Perfect. Basketball was my game of choice. “How ‘bout I win you that teddy bear and you give me a kiss?”

She smiled and I took it as an agreement because it’s what I wanted. “Is that a ‘yes’?”

“Let’s call it a...non-no.”

I’d gladly take a non-no if it got me a kiss from her.

The guy behind the counter noticed us showing some interest in his booth and he began to shout in our direction. “Three hoops wins the little lady her choice of a prize.”

I slid my wallet out of my back pocket and reached for some of my earnings from the race. “How much?”

I watched him eye Payton up and down. “Five dollars for five tries. Three hoops wins her choice of prize.”

I loudly slammed a five dollar bill on the counter to take his attention off of Payton’s cleavage and he slowly pulled his eyes from her to look at me. “Best of luck, sir.”

“Yeah, right.”

He tossed a basketball in my direction and I bounced it a couple of times before I confidently took the first shot and missed. The guy behind the booth laughed. “You’re gonna have to do better than that to impress this little lady.”

I didn’t say anything as I took the ball from his nasty hands a second time to take my next shot and then missed again. Yeah, this was definitely rigged. I had played basketball for six years and could have made this shot with my eyes closed.

“Awe...Missed again. Now you have to make every shot left to win this little beauty a prize.” He leaned over the counter to look at Payton’s legs and I wanted to punch his face and knock out the last three teeth he had left in his head. “What do you think, Beautiful? Can he do it?”

She looked at me and smiled. “I’ve learned to not underestimate him when there’s something he wants.”

I took another ball from the sleaze bag and looked at the hoop closely to judge my next shot. I heard Payton ask, “Sir, do many people successfully make three hoops?” and I took my shot as she distracted him. A loud beep signaled my ball going into the hoop.