Reject Me (Kin #5)(17)
Author: Jennifer Foor

I hopped off of the bed. “Deal.”

After rummaging through his drawers, like I was so used to doing before, I found some old clothes that I knew he wouldn’t get upset over if they got ruined, and put them on. While getting ready Jamey made sure to be extra affectionate with me. When we brushed our teeth together he mimicked my technique and kept winking at me, showing me those sexy eyes of his. To be honest, I was in awe of him, never once considering how hard it was going to be to explain our relationship to my family.

A honk of a horn let us both know that our ride had arrived. Jamey smacked me lightly on my backside before hustling down the stairs to greet his friends. I say his friends, because even though we grew up with them, they weren’t exactly keen about Jamey being with me, or anyone for that matter.

In fact, for the longest time I swore they were his alibi so that he could hook up with other random chicks. They acted shady, and sometimes even flirty with me, as if Jamey would have been willing to share me with them. The idea of being left in a room alone with any of them made my skin crawl, because I couldn’t ever tell what their true intentions were.

As I made my way down the stairs I heard Jamey talking to them. The sound of the four-wheeler starting let me know that he was loading it onto the trailer. I grabbed soda out of the refrigerator and headed towards the back door. A female voice stopped me dead in my tracks. “Peyton?”

I turned around prepared to face Jamey’s mother. “Hi. It’s been a long time.”

She cocked her eyebrow, staring with a not-so-amused stare. “What are you doin’ in my kitchen?”

“I spent the night here last night with Jam-.”

She didn’t let me finish. Her hand went up in the air and I froze in place. “Just wait a cotton-pickin’ minute. You mean to tell me that after everything you put my son through you have the nerve to come back into my house and sleep in my son’s bed?”

“With all due respect, Mrs. Billings, I didn’t do anything to your son. He did that all to himself.”

“Not another word, Peyton. You may have my son fooled, but I’m wise to this game you’re playin’. Don’t you dare think you’re movin’ back in here. Over my dead body!”

I could feel the tears welling up in my eyes, but not just because her words were hurtful. It was more so that I knew my family was going to reacted ten times worse than this woman was. My lips began to tremble as I replied to her. “I am in love with your son. That’s never changed. You may not believe me, but it’s the God’s honest truth. Jamey’s invited me to move back in with him, and I said y-.”

The woman whipped past me and pulled open the storm door. “Jamey Billings, get your ass in here right now!”

I stood against the cabinets and watched him come into the house with a smile on his face. It dissipated after taking one look at his mother. “Mom, I can explain.” He already knew what she was going to say, which could only mean that she’d talked to him about being with me before. It was another blow to my heart.

“You better start, because I’m not understandin’ that you’d invite this girl back into your bed, not after her breakin’ your heart and havin’ you locked up.”

“Mom, it wasn’t even like that and you know it. Peyton didn’t make me drink. She certainly didn’t put a set of keys in my hand, or force me to act like an ass to an officer of the law. I did all of that on my own. Give her a break, will ya?”

Their voices continued to get louder. I had a choice to make, and since it was making me so over-emotional I chose to take the high road and walk out of the house. Tensions were too high to be caught in the crossfires of that woman and her son.

From the moment I stepped out the door and Jamey’s friends saw me I wondered if the kitchen was going to be safer than where I was headed.

“He’ll be out in a minute.”

They were ducked down fastening the straps to hold the four-wheeler on the trailer as one of them spoke. “Sounds like she’s pissed.”

“She’s mad about me. Jamey invited me to move back in with him last night. She just found out.” A part of me liked rubbing in that we were back together. As upset as I felt, that made my heart start beating faster.

“Maybe it ain’t such a good idea.”

I was half-tempted to walk around the vehicle, find out who was saying it, and kick them in the balls. “Jamey wants us to be together, and so do I. I don’t care what anyone else thinks about it.”

I heard them snickering something, It was certainly about me, but meant so that I couldn’t hear. A slam of a door caught my attention and Jamey came walking up to the truck. “Y’all ready to go?”

“You sure you’re done with your momma?” They teased.

“Fuck you, and f**k her. If I listened to ya’ll then I’d never have my girl back.”

I felt his hand grabbing and squeezing mine. “Come on. Let’s not let my mother ruin our day. We’re goin’ to have fun. I promise.”

I trusted that Jamey believed that whole-heartedly he was doing the right things and that we could have a chance to be happy again. After all, he’d invited me to do something that I’d never been able to do with him before. The idea of it was exciting, and I knew I couldn’t let her or anyone else get to me.

“We don’t have room for your girl, dude.”

I tried to look through the back tinted windows as he spoke. Seeing as there were two guys, and Jamey would have to sit in the back, I knew there was still a seat. Then Jamey grabbed my hand and squeezed it. “We’ll just follow you in my car. It’s not a big deal. I invited my girl, and she’s comin’ with me.”

Feeling content, I didn’t even think about the other person in the truck, not until we started on our way there and Jamey got quiet. “Do you know who the other person is?”

I thought it was a simple question.

“No clue, baby. Who knows with those two. They probably picked up some douche off the street. It doesn’t even matter. You and I, we’re goin’ to have a good time, right?”

I wrapped my arm under his and leaned closer to him. “Yep.”

Our relationship was off to a perfect start and I was so optimistic that this time it was going to be different.

Chapter 10

Jamey

Being with Peyton again had made me happier than I’d been in a long time. The argument with my mother wasn’t over, but I was damn sure that she wasn’t going to come in between us.