Page 62 of Rebellious

“Goddamn,” Ryan repeated for a completely different reason. “Every time I see her, I almost drool.”

“How old is she?” Grant asked, studying her as she walked toward them, her hips swinging and her tits bouncing.

“Seventeen,” CJ answered. “Or about to be seventeen. I don’t fucking remember.”

She wasn’t on his radar. Not really, anyway.

“Fuck, too young for me,” Grant grunted.

Once CJ stepped out of the Escalade, he slammed the door shut, yanked his cigarette from behind his ear and lit it.

“What’s up?” she asked, more subdued than expected, given their loss and the importance of the prize money. She glanced over her shoulder. “I can’t be long. We’re having stew for dinner and I’m doing the prep work. The meat takes forever to cook.”

“Yeah, Mom says the same thing.” The breeze fluttered her hair and a sweet scent infiltrated his nose. He took a few drags of his cigarette to calm himself, praying his cock behaved. Of all the fucking days for it to notice Skye. “I can’t stay long.”

“What are you up to?” she asked, forever wanting to know his business, a supreme turnoff to him.

He smoked again and shrugged. “Things.”

Pursing her lips, she glanced at him through the sweep of her lashes. “I was so disappointed that we didn’t win.”

“I thought we would. I liked our Ferris wheel.”

“If we would’ve started sooner, we would’ve had a better chance,” she pointed out with a little sniff.

“Possibly,” he said. “Who knows, Skye? It’s over. I can’t change what I didn’t do.”

Her chin wobbled. “That still doesn’t help me.” She pulled her phone from her back pocket, then handed it to him and showed him an e-bill, a disconnect notice for the electricity.

CJ verified the date and the last name, assuming Star Ratcliffe was her mother.

“We have one for the water bill, too. It will be disconnected tomorrow. I can show you—”

“No.” Jamming the cigarette in the corner of his mouth, CJ dug his wallet out of his back pocket and paid the fucking electricity bill, then handed her the phone. He took his cigarette between his fingers, ignoring her wide, teary shock that quickly morphed into gratitude. “Pull up whatever bill you’re behind on.”

He didn’t question why they had cable if they couldn’t afford fucking basic utilities, but he paid it, the cell phone bill, their utilities, and caught up on their rent. He double-checked to make sure he hadn’t accidentally saved his debit card information so they wouldn’t use it for future transactions. Afterwards, he took out the ten one hundred dollar bills he’d intended to give her, which wouldn’t have been enough anyway. Fuck, the prize money wouldn’t have covered everything either.

He closed her hand around the money. “Buy food,” he told her.

She hugged him. “Thank you, CJ. Thank you so much. One day, I swear I’ll repay you.”

CJ kissed her cheek. “If you do, I’ll thank you. If you don’t, just consider it a hand up when you needed it most.”

Disentangling from him, she stuffed the money into her pocket, once again drawing his attention to her body. “Do you want to go steady?”

“No, bae,” CJ said with a laugh. “I don’t…my interests are elsewhere, so I won’t lead you on.”

“With Harley Banks?”

“Since we were small kids,” he told her, flicking his cigarette away.

“Jaleena said—”

“I wish you’d stop listening to her,” CJ said, sighing. “I liked Jaleena and I wanted a chance with her. Harley and I were going in different directions. Jaleena fucked up and now Harley and I are friends again. I don’t know where it’ll lead, Skye, but I don’t want to string you along.”

“But the way you were looking at me…”

“I’m sorry,” he told her sincerely. “I have little sisters. I should’ve pretended you aren’t a gorgeous girl with a hot body.”